“Hang on.... Here it is.” Léshil drew out a folded paper and shook it open.
“It’s a list of places to stay along the way, cheap or free,” he muttered, scanning the sheet and squinting as if it was hard to read. “Here it is—Chathburh. She says there’s an ‘annex’ for the guild ... three streets inland from the northernmost pier, then one street north beyond the waterfront.” With a frown, Léshil looked up to Magiere. “What’s an annex?” She shrugged, and he turned back to Wynn’s notes. “She says to ‘tell the sages there that Premin Hawes sent you.’” Léshil paused at that. “It seems they’ll give us free rooms and meals, but ...”
He scowled as he read on. “‘ ... But whatever you do, don’t mention my name.’”
“What did she do now?” Magiere asked sharply.
“I don’t know!” he snapped back.
“So, we lie about knowing a guild authority ... who helped throw us out.” Magiere’s voice turned more heated with every word. “But not mention Wynn, who, it seems, is actually known here?”
Leanâlhâm glanced back and forth between them with worried eyes.
“Oh, stop being a pain,” Léshil grumbled at Magiere.
Brot’ân’duivé slowly shook his head. Three nights—and, he hoped, more—in some more secluded room would be a welcome respite from all of this.
Magiere leaned in on Léshil. “I’ll say it again: you are—were a bad influence on her.”
Léshil rose to his feet in indignation, but before he could counter, he flinched and spun about. There stood Chap, though no one had seen him come up. Léshil leaned down into the majay-hì’s face.
“Nobody asked you!”
Chap eyed Léshil with as much disapproval as Magiere did, but Leanâlhâm tugged on Magiere’s sleeve.
“We will stay with sages like Wynn?” she asked. “We will meet other sages like her?”
Léshil blinked at the girl’s sudden change. “I guess. If it’s a guild place, it’ll probably be crawling with them.”
Leanâlhâm drew back at his words. “Crawling ... with them?”
“No, no,” Léshil quickly corrected, “just a figure of speech ... Probably a lot fewer of them than in Calm Seatt.”
Brot’ân’duivé wanted to sigh but did not. Even in the girl’s wish to learn more of the sages, she still feared being among too many humans. But why did Leanâlhâm take an interest in sages like Wynn Hygeorht? He hoped it was not an adolescent need to attract Osha’s attention.
Before Magiere could go at Léshil again, Chap growled softly and stalked past her onto the ramp. Leanâlhâm hurried after but paused at the ramp’s top at the sight of the busy piers.
For the moment Magiere appeared to be more herself, merely irritable at any opportunity. She, as well, paused behind Leanâlhâm to look over the city awaiting them. Then she urged the girl ahead, and the two followed Chap.
Brot’ân’duivé knew better than to offer Léshil assistance with the packs. He waited until the half-blood disembarked, and then followed. Even Brot’ân’duivé could not help wondering at the prospect of spending a few days among sages.
“This can’t be it,” Magiere said.
Chap stopped, looking the place over, and agreed with a single huff. After working their way through the streets, as Wynn had instructed, this was not what he’d expected.
The building hardly appeared a fit haven for scholars. Nondescript and only two stories high, it had been hastily stained years ago without the boards being properly stripped or cleaned.
“Why not?” Leesil asked, shrugging as he looked over the paper again. “The sages back in Bela set up in an old decommissioned barracks. Wynn says the place used to be an inn for rich patrons. When the owner died, no one bought it, so it became city property, left for years. The guild purchased it for almost nothing.”
Chap felt like grumbling this time. Wynn even rambled on paper, with more information than anyone needed to know.
The walk from the harbor had been quick, but amid dodging passersby and wagons and hawkers’ carts, Leanâlhâm had kept ducking around everyone and alternately clinging to either Magiere or Brot’an. Once, when she could not reach either, she had panicked and grabbed Chap’s tail. She quickly let go, turning red faced despite her fright and averting her eyes.
Chap considered reassuring her that they were in no danger. But talking to the girl with memory-words would startle her even more, and possibly bring on another motherly retort from Magiere or even Leesil.
“Who’s doing the talking?” Leesil asked.
Not him, as far as Chap was concerned. They did not need another bit of bumbling from Leesil’s poor language skills.
“I will,” Magiere answered, stepping up to the door and knocking before anyone agreed.
A moment later the door opened. A short, middle-aged woman in a teal robe looked out with a pleasant expression on her round face. Hesitation and surprise set in as her gaze flitted from one strange visitor to the next on the porch.
Chap couldn’t blame her.
Leesil and Magiere both looked like mercenaries out of the wild, and as to Brot’an, the less said about his appearance, the better. Then there was a frightened green-eyed elven girl half hiding behind Magiere. Not to mention an oversized wolf just visible behind everyone.
The poor sage blinked twice and frowned. In her place Chap would have hesitated as well.
“Can I ...” the sage began. “How may I ... ?”
Magiere tried to smile. “We’re carrying a message south for Premin Hawes of the Calm Seatt branch. She ... We were told we might stay here, if you have room?”
Relief flooded the woman’s features.
“For Premin Hawes? Of course!” she replied, moving aside to usher them in. “I’m Domin Tamira. We have few visitors at present, but the annex is rarely even half full. You can have your pick of rooms on the top floor. Have you had supper?”
At this warm welcome, all five travelers stepped in while Domin Tamira chattered so much that Chap lost interest. They passed through a wide foyer, which must have been the reception area in past times, for there was still a worn counter off to the left. A comfortable sitting room to the right was filled with old, overpatched armchairs and small couches. Bookcases stuffed with volumes, some as old and worn as the building, filled nearly all of its narrow walls. Perhaps this collection was what passed for the library here.
“You all go up and choose some rooms,” the domin finally concluded. “Any room with an open door is available. I’ll make certain the cooks prepare enough for dinner.”
Chap did not wait for the others and took to the stairs, feeling almost guilty for his earlier thoughts about Wynn. Her penchant for giving too much information had gained them comfortable, free lodgings.
Most doors on the top floor were open, and he walked over to peer inside a large room with a window overlooking the front street. When he went to the window, he could just make out a few masts in the port between the tall warehouses.
A faded four-poster bed was draped with a soft, thick quilt, and old velvet curtains graced the windows. He was tempted to settle down and rest on a washed-out braided rug at the bed’s foot.
“Magiere, come look,” Leesil said, stepping inside.
She followed and looked about the room. Though the furnishings had lost their former glory, this was by far the nicest place in which Chap and his two charges had stayed since leaving their Sea Lion tavern on the eastern continent.
“I hope the captain gets delayed for a week,” Leesil said. Dropping the packs, he turned about and, with arms outstretched, he toppled backward onto the bed with one of his overly dramatic sighs of relief.
Magiere said nothing. She might appreciate the room for a night or two at best. But Chap knew she was obsessed with getting to the Suman coast and il’Dha’ab Najuum as soon as possible. Though it was still a long way off, there was only one thing on Magiere’s mind ... and on Chap’s.