Part 4 (2/2)

When Garam finished up his excuse for our being in the alley, we continued on our way. Twice I had trouble finding something sufficiently interesting to stare at when we reached a location, so the first time I used the face of a very old man, and the second a deep rut in the dirt that could only have been made by something very heavy. Our new arrangement worked out well, though, but only after I realized I'd have to help out the shoves I got. Garam was apparently trying to make sure nothing else happened to me, and that was a point of view I didn't care to argue with.

The shadows of the end of the day were already growing and spreading by the time we reached the last location. The crowds that had been everywhere were thinning down to those who had one or two final ch.o.r.es to see to before going home, and Garam took the opportunity to stop and ask directions to the closest hostel that ”didn't charge everything a man owned” for a night's bed and fare. The shopkeeper he asked was hurrying to board and lock his shop before the sun was entirely gone, so the directions Garam was given did nothing more than supply us with a reason for turning off the way we had intended to turn to begin with.

The turning off took us through two narrow streets that followed one another, and just before the end of the second street I ducked into a crack between two buildings that was hard to see if you didn't know it was there. Garam followed without hesitation, joined me in standing there just listening for a long string of ticks, and then, when it was close to certain that no one had seen or followed us he turned as best he could to face me.

”Is this where you're going to stay until the first bell of the night watch?” he asked, his lowered voice still heavy with doubt. ”It looks like the perfect place for the rats of the city to take refuge in.”

”It is and they do, which is why I'm not staying here,” I answered, turning around to give himbetter access to my wrists. ”Can you see well enough to unlock these cuffs?”

”If I can't, you can strike a light and hold it for me,” he said with a grunt, the sarcasm dimmed in the face of the struggle he was having with his pack. ”By the greatness and glow of the High One, girl, couldn't you have found a narrower crack for us to crawl into?”

I would have enjoyed answering him in the same vein, but that was not the safest place in the city for private conversations, only the closest, and I didn't want to distract him from finding what he needed to free me. Too much time pa.s.sed to the accompaniment of low mutterings that sounded like cursing, and then the sounds cut off just before hands touched my wrists. A bit of fumbling and then the sound of a click, a little more fumbling and a second click, and then the weight of the iron was finally gone from my arms.

”Stand still and let me do the collar,” Garam ordered in that same low growl, apparently annoyed that I'd brought my arms forward to rub at them. ”Unless, of course, you'd rather I left the thing on.”

”At this point I don't think it'll make all that much difference,” I muttered, this time feeling the fumbling at neck level before hearing the necessary click. Garam lifted the collar away from me, but didn't s.h.i.+ft immediately to put it in his pack.

”What do you mean, it won't make that much of a difference?” he demanded, his tone aching to be louder than he'd kept it. ”And why does this thing feel wet? What could have gotten spilled on it?”

”My blood got spilled on it,” I answered, again unsurprised that he hadn't noticed even in full daylight. ”When I was healed the scabs and calluses I'd built up were sent away with the rest, so I had no protection against the collar. Anyone who sees me will know why my neck is bleeding, and that's why the presence or absence of the collar will make very little difference.”

”And you didn't say anything back at camp, when we could have thought of a way around the problem?” he demanded, the sole mode of speech he seemed to have left. ”What in the widest h.e.l.l do you expect me to do to keep people from seeing you?”

”That part of it I get to take care of,” I replied, breathing deeply to get a more accurate sense of the city. ”Give me the rest of my things and then you can leave. You know how to get where you're going from here?”

”Yes. I know how to get where I'm going from here.” The words sounded as though they were being forced through tightly clenched teeth, and it probably wouldn't have made any difference if I'd told him I hadn't realized what the collar would do to me until it was too late to say anything. I also could have pointed out that I'd spent a lot of time in front of him, and if he'd bothered to look he would have seen what was happening, but that comment would have done even less good than the explanation.

Without adding any further words he stuffed my former collar in his pack, pulled out the tunic wrapped around a knife and thrust the bundle into my hands, and then he was edging out of the crack to be on his way. I turned far enough to see that he wasn't silly enough to back out, and then stayed only long enough to watch his shadow-form slip away to the right, back in the direction we'd come from. Once he was gone I went to my knees, then crawled three-legged to the left and the hole in the wall that was there.

The hole let me through into the abandoned building, behind a stack of bales containing something that had gone badly spoiled a long time before. I listened carefully for a while to make sure I was alone, then quickly stripped off the slave rag, dabbed at my neck with it before tossing it away, then got into my tunic. The tunic was a solid dark green, silver trim being less than desirable for night work, and the knife was a dagger that I very well might need. I was more tired than I'd expected to be, and when your own strength isn't full and sure the wise Life Seeker falls back on weapons-skill.

I left the abandoned building by a different hole hidden in another wall, heading for the place I intended to spend my rest time. That Guest Pavilion Garam had mentioned... It was more of a small palace than a pavilion, and I would have to get into it, find the two women Diin-tha wantedprotected, put the women together, then guard them until the city was won.

”As soon as it looks like the city is lost, they'll kill the two girls,” Fearin had told me the day before, the idea of that no more than annoying him. ”If you let anyone get past you, anyone at all, our victory will be incomplete even if the city officials turn around and declare for us.”

”Why will they consider it so necessary to kill two women?” I'd asked, feeling a good deal more than annoyed. ”How can the two be so important?”

”You'll find that out if you keep them alive,” Fearin had countered, his dark blue eyes amused.

”In the gathering everything is shared, including most information. Do you think you can do it?”

I made a soft sound of ridicule as I checked the street before easing out into it, the same sound I'd made when Fearin had first put the question. It didn't matter whether or not I thought I could do it, it was more than clear Diin-tha thought I could. And what the G.o.ds believe had d.a.m.ned well better happen, or the mortals involved were in for it up to their necks and beyond.

I blew out a breath of vexation through my teeth, cursing myself for a fool. Most people were bright enough to involve themselves with no more than a single G.o.d; I, a former Kenoss Life Seeker, had to be idiot enough to become involved with two. I shook my head as I made sure the street around me was empty for the moment, then took myself into the place where I would wait for the time to strike.

Chapter 6.

I stood in the shadows beside the inner wall surrounding the Guest Pavilion, listening to the night sounds that told me what I needed to know. It was only a short time past the first bell of the night watch, but things were already settled back to the careless ease that the guardsmen on duty there might live to regret. When you're set to guarding a place that's what you're supposed to be doing, not using your post as a place to waste time until you're relieved.

It had taken almost no effort to get over the wall, and neither the guardsmen outside the three gates nor the ones inside them had had any idea I was there. I'd paused very briefly before scaling the wall, wondering why there were guardsmen on the inside as well as outside, then had shrugged and gone ahead with what I was there for. Since both sets of guardsmen were equally sloppy, it really made no difference why they were there.

The gra.s.s under my feet was part of the wide lawn leading up to and surrounding the Guest Pavilion, and I could smell the sweetness of that gra.s.s as I stood there tasting the air and listening. The front of the miniature palace had guardsmen of its own, five shapes that s.h.i.+fted more than they should in the soft pink glow of colored lanterns, and I'd already seen the five matching shapes around the Pavilion's back. It was difficult to know if they were there to keep people out or hold them in, but for my purposes it didn't matter. I had to get past them going in, but coming out they would be someone else's concern.

To the right of the three-storied Pavilion was a pretty stand of trees, black and graceful shadows in the darkness of the night. Not a single leaf moved on any of the trees, not with the stifling weight of the night's heat sitting on everything, and that was unfortunate in more ways than one. When I climbed one of those trees to reach the second floor of the Pavilion, I'd have to do it slowly and carefully enough to keep the leaves unmoving. I'd also have to do it in that heat, which made me feel more like lying down than indulging in exercise.

I straightened up where I stood and took in a deep, silent breath of air, banis.h.i.+ng all awareness of weariness from my mind. Whether I was in peak condition or not I had a job to do, and if that job didn't get done right Diin-tha would see to it that I never reached peak condition again.

Excuses were unacceptable, an outlook the Inadni shared with the G.o.ds, which made it an outlook I was well familiar with. It doesn't matter whether you want to; just go and do it.

I circled around the wall until I was opposite the stand of trees, then went and did it. Keepinglow and blending with the night took me unseen across the dark expanse of that lawn, and then it was just a matter of getting high enough in my chosen tree. Bark sc.r.a.ped my hands and the bottoms of my feet, gently at times, not so gently at others, but it was all accepted the same. I used a higher branch that wasn't too concerned about my weight to swing down to the second floor windows level, then s.h.i.+fted to the narrow stone ledge and decorative carvings provided by the building.

A pretty little balcony stood out from the side of the Pavilion, and since that was almost certainly the balcony I'd been told to look for I made my way over to it. During the day the balcony would be partially shaded by one of the trees, but none of the branches providing the shade could be used for climbing even if they could be reached. The balcony should have been considered secure, so there was every chance the doors leading onto it would be unlocked.

And the doors were unlocked. I opened one of them a crack and listened, then slipped inside and closed the door behind me. In front of my nose was a pretty silk hanging which covered the balcony doors, muting the light coming from the room beyond the hanging. Why the doors were closed and the hanging drawn on a night like this I couldn't imagine, but it certainly did make that part of my job easier. The room on the other side of the silk was not only lit it was inhabited, and as I moved silently to my left away from the doors I began to listen to what was being said.

”... find this situation intolerable,” a young female voice was announcing stiffly, as though to a large audience. ”Go back and tell him that we will not accept having slaves to serve us only while the sun rides the sky, and that we will begin to have parties as often as we wish them. If he finds that unacceptable, we intend to make immediate arrangements to return to our father.”

”I can understand, Your Highness, how you and your lady sister must be suffering from this heat,” a sleek male voice answered, all oil and no substance. ”I, myself, have been behaving most unreasonably, as has nearly everyone in the city. Once the G.o.ds see fit to allow us a change in the weather I'm sure you'll both be a good deal happier. Until that time comes, though, you really should draw your drapes and open your windows.”

”Drawing drapes and opening windows are ch.o.r.es for slaves, not us,” another female voice said very haughtily, a voice very much like the first one. ”There's no reason for us to lower ourselves, not when this city boasts the number of slaves that it does. We want our slaves back and we want them now, or we're returning to our father and telling him how you've been treating us.”

”Your Highness, this has certainly all been explained to you and your lady sister,” the man answered, the faintest edge of impatience coloring his tone. ”The time of darkness is when we must be most alert, and having slaves running all about will interfere with our security precautions. You two are most precious to us, after all, and we mean to see that nothing happens to you. Once the time of the prophecy has pa.s.sed - ”

”You stupid people and your stupid prophecy!” the first female flared, accompanied by a small sound like a foot stamping. ”It's not us you're worrying about it's your vile city, and what are we supposed to care about that? You're keeping us locked up here for your sake, not ours, and we demand to be allowed to return home at once!”

”Your Highness, you'd best realize that it was your father who sent you to us to begin with,”

the man returned, only just able to keep his voice even. ”Since your fate is bound up with ours in some way, until the time of the prophecy is pa.s.sed you will remain our ... guests. If it disturbs you so greatly to have no slaves attend you after dark, I'm sure the Chief Administrator will be pleased to give you his permission to retire early. As for parties, they are completely out of the question. I bid you both a pleasant evening.”

By now I was in a position to see through a fold in the hanging, so I was able to see the man's bow to the two girls before he turned and left. I recognized him vaguely as one of the city's silk-ax men, one of those who took care of trouble without running a squad of guardsmen overthe troublemakers, and it was fairly clear that he was in the Pavilion doing his job. The two girls he'd worked on, though, were furious rather than soothed, and I wondered if he usually handled his job in just that way.

”Don't you dare walk out of here before being dismissed!” the second girl shrilled with fists closed tight. ”You miserable city-peasant, you commoner! Don't you dare!”

”He's gone!” the first girl cleverly observed, as furious as the other. ”Pia, he left without asking our permission! This city is filled with barbarians, stinking, filthy barbarians!”

”Well, come tomorrow this city won't be filled by us,” the second girl announced in a coldly refined way, tossing her head. ”While we breakfast the slaves will pack our things, and then we'll take our guardsmen and leave. We'll teach them to treat us like commoners.”

”Didn't our guardsmen return to Father?” the first girl asked, turning to look at her sister. ”I thought I heard someone say they went back the morning after they brought us here.”

”If they did, then we'll just make these barbarians replace them with city guardsmen,” the second girl answered, waving one graceful hand in dismissal. ”Really, Lia, you worry about the most unimportant things. Much more to the point is where are we going to find room for our new gowns? We may have to send a slave to buy another trunk or two, and that's certain to delay us.”

”Not if we see the slave well-beaten before we send him,” the first replied, tapping her lips with one finger. ”Yes, that will guarantee he doesn't waste any time, so we won't be delayed.

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