“Name your price.”
Grant regarded him thoughtfully before smiling amiably. “Perhaps I do have a slave or two that I’d be willing to sell without all the official hassle. Why don’t we go take a look at them?”
“No,” Tyr said. “I want that one.” He pointed at Alexander again.
“Fancy that one, do you?”
Tyr glowered at him.
“I’ve just acquired him,” Grant said. “If I sell him so quickly and the Babachenko finds out about it, I could be charged with illegal slave trading. That’s a very serious crime.” He leaned closer, lowering his voice. “But I do have two men outside without proper documents on record. I’d be happy to sell you either of them.”
“I! Want! Him!” Tyr shouted at the top of his lungs.
Grant stepped back, blinking in confusion. “My Lord Tyr, I’m afraid I can’t help you.”
Several privately employed guards armed with crossbows entered the stables a moment later, all of them looking to Grant for instructions. He forestalled any action with a gesture, but they fanned out around the walls, just in case.
“I believe it’s time for you to be going, Lord Tyr,” Grant said.
Tyr started shaking, then spat at Grant’s feet before storming out, cursing with every step. Alexander kept working as if nothing had happened.
Later that morning, Rollins pulled him aside. “I told you to avoid attention.”
Alexander just shrugged.
“Lord Grant wants to see you in the riding stables. Right away.”
Alexander nodded, heading toward the much smaller but better-built barn.
“Be ready, Chloe. We might have to move fast.”
“Yes, My Love.”
Alexander stepped inside.
“Close the door,” Grant said from the shadows.
“Yes, My Lord,” Alexander said.
“Can you tell me what that was about this morning?”
“No, My Lord.”
“You’re not a very good liar,” Grant said. “After Tyr threw his tantrum, I did some looking into you. It’s really quite odd. My wife told me that your sister, her new maid, recommended you, and yet your sister denies it. Normally, I would conclude that your sister is a liar, yet I detected no guile in her when I questioned her, so I enquired further. It seems that your sister was in the kitchen at the very same moment that she was also speaking with my wife about you. Now Tyr shows up demanding to buy you. Who are you?”
“Just a cowhand that got pressed into slavery,” Alexander said.
“So you say,” Grant said, eyeing Alexander the way a cat eyes a mouse. “You’re reassigned as my personal valet. I want to keep an eye on you.” He stepped into Alexander’s space, close to his face. “I will learn the truth of you.”
“As you wish, My Lord,” Alexander said, bowing his head and averting his eyes.
“Come with me,” Grant said. Alexander followed without a word. Grant led him toward the main house, but stopped suddenly when the city shook. A loud crack reverberated through the stone beneath their feet, followed by a rumbling that slowly diminished over the span of a minute or so.
Grant spun toward Alexander with a fierce smile. “Well now, this seems like the perfect opportunity to find out who you really are.” He touched his ring to Alexander’s collar. “Follow me and stay close or you’ll choke to death.”
“Stay close, Little One.”
“Always.”
Alexander followed Grant back to the riding stable. “That one’s yours.” He looked up just long enough to point out a dappled mare. “Be quick about it.”
Alexander went to work calming the horse and preparing her to ride. She was a fine animal, spirited and strong, but still a little skittish from the ground shaking beneath her. Alexander was ready to mount before Grant, but he waited.
Grant led him onto the road that ran along the cliff bordering the row of estates. When they reached the main road that ran down the central canal, Grant rode with all the speed he could coax from his horse. Alexander stayed right behind him. Each time they passed an overseer, the man would start to protest until he saw that it was Lord Grant, at which point he would abruptly lose interest.
Grant stopped at the mine entrance, dismounting quickly and surveying the yard. A number of horses were picketed nearby. He nodded to himself as he headed inside. Rather than take a direct path, he led Alexander to an office, gesturing for him to close the door once inside. Grant surveyed the room and smiled, moving a small table away from the wall and opening a secret panel. He motioned for Alexander to get the lamp and they entered the passage, closing the secret door behind them. The passage was low and narrow, unused and filled with dry, stale, dust-laden air.
After several minutes of choking on dust, Grant opened a panel at the other end of the passage and stepped into a large room, once the top of a mineshaft but now abandoned and sealed except for the hidden passage.
Grant led the way down a set of wooden switchback stairs leading down a very old mineshaft. Several minutes into their descent, he stepped through a broken board but recovered with remarkable dexterity, catching himself and pulling himself to safety without a word.
Alexander proceeded with greater caution, but the rest of the stairs were solid. Once they reached the bottom, Grant took the lamp from Alexander, raising it high to get a better look at the tunnels leading away into the darkness.
“Stay close and stay silent,” he said.
Alexander followed through the darkness, stretching to see as far as he could with his all around sight. The tunnel was old and cut through worthless rock and dirt. After twenty minutes, Grant stopped and doused the light.
“We’re going into the chamber behind that wall you found,” Grant said. “The overseers will try to stop us if they see us so we’re going to slip by without being seen. Just follow me and stay close. If they do catch us, keep your mouth shut.”
Alexander walked carefully, trying to avoid noise with every step. All the while his mind fumbled with what was happening. He was having a hard time understanding Grant’s motives, especially since he couldn’t see the man’s colors, but regardless of his motives, he was taking Alexander exactly where he wanted to go.
They reached an opening to the main shaft that led to the tunnel Alexander had helped excavate. Two overseers stood guard at the entrance almost fifty feet across the room. Grant stopped briefly, assessing the rest of the room carefully, before heading directly toward the two overseers. He walked across the room quickly, not bothering to hide in any way.
Alexander hesitated momentarily until Grant looked back, beckoning him to follow. Alexander watched the two overseers, expecting a sudden reaction, mentally preparing for a fight, but Grant walked right between the two of them with Alexander a step behind him and they didn’t even notice. Alexander’s estimation of how much trouble he was in grew immeasurably as Grant strode down the tunnel like he owned it.
At the other end of the tunnel stood a wizard in the exact center of the magic circles. A hole had been blasted through the ancient wall by tremendous force, opening into a chamber larger than the wizard’s lantern light could illuminate. A number of overseers and wizards lay scattered around the magical circles-dead from some cataclysmic force.
Grant skirted the magical circles without hesitating, walking right past the wizard with Alexander in tow … the wizard didn’t even notice them. The room beyond the breach was a hundred feet on a side. Four stone columns supported the ceiling, each nearly a perfect replica of a fir tree.
The workmanship could only be magical. Each tree was beautiful, reaching straight and tall to the ceiling, each a work of art worthy of the greatest king’s hall. Grant walked between the trees toward the opposite end of the room. He seemed impressed by the pillars, yet not nearly as much as Alexander was.
Once across the room and into the opposite corridor, Grant lit the lamp and led on into a perfectly cut stone corridor that looked for all the world like two hedges that had grown together overhead. The branches were natural-looking, the leaves perfect in every detail.