“You’re a man with hidden depths, Gol,” Cery said. Sitting down on one of the chairs, he smiled as he thought back to their raid on the farm. His assumption that servants were living in the sheds had been proven wrong. All were empty of occupants. Though free to move about, he, Gol and Anyi had taken care not to leave signs of their passing and hadn’t taken anything that wasn’t already there in abundance. Anyi had suggested relocating some of the other chairs around the place as if someone had simply moved them for some purpose and forgotten to return them, to hide the fact that a few were missing.
Anyi was poking at the fruit. “They’re not ripe,” she said. “A bit too early in the season. It was hard to tell in the dark. How are we going to cook these vegetables?”
“I only picked ones that didn’t have to be cooked,” Gol said.
Her nose wrinkled in distaste. “Eat them raw? I’m not that hungry.”
His eyebrows rose. “Some are better raw, especially when they’re fresh. Give them a try.”
Anyi didn’t look convinced. “I’ll wait for Lilia. She can cook them with magic.”
“She might not always be able to bring us food,” Cery reminded his daughter. “The fewer times she has to come see us the less risk of the Guild discovering us here.”
“Then I need to find us a secret entrance to the Guild kitchens.” Anyi stood up. “I’m going to see if she needs any help carrying something.”
Gol shook his head as she grabbed a lamp and left. “Doesn’t know what she’s missing,” he muttered.
Cery looked at his friend. “I hoped you two would take a lot more than three days before you started getting under each other’s skin.”
“We might not have any choice about the...” Gol stopped as he looked up and saw Cery’s expression. His lips twisted into a smile. “Yeah. I’ll try not to. She doesn’t like being stuck underground, either.”
“No,” Cery agreed. Hearing a sound, he rose and moved to the room’s doorway. High voices reached him, though he could not hear what they said. “Looks like Lilia was already on her way.”
Sitting down again, he waited for the girls to arrive. Lilia carried the usual lacquered box, this time full of bread buns stuffed with spiced meat and sticky seed cakes.
“Now that’s real food,” Anyi said as she seized a bun.
Lilia grinned. “I’ve made an arrangement with Jonna. She’s going to bring something each night for Anyi to eat and give to poor people, and is going to get me lamp oil and blankets. She thinks I’m being charitable.”
Cery felt a flash of alarm. “You didn’t tell her about us?”
“No.” Lilia looked at the chairs, straw and Gol sewing sacks. “All this came from the farm?”
Anyi must have told her about their raid. “Yes.”
“They won’t miss it?”
“We were careful,” Anyi assured her.
Lilia sat down on one of the boxes. “Well, don’t go back for a few days. I’ll see if I hear anything about trespassers or thieves. Now... I have news from Kallen.”
Cery’s heart skipped a beat. “Yes?”
“He says people in the city are starting to gossip about your absence. Some believe you must be dead. Others think Skellin has you locked up or cornered somewhere.”
“That’s not far from the truth,” Gol muttered.
Lilia glanced at him, then looked again as she noticed what he was doing. Her eyebrows rose but she made no comment on Gol’s sewing skills. “Skellin’s men have been taking over your...” She waved a hand. “Whatever it is that you do.”
“Loan money, protect people, run businesses, introduce people, sell—” Cery began.
“Don’t tell me,” Lilia interrupted. “As Sonea says, it’s better I don’t know so I can’t be accused of being involved in anything.”
“I thought I was doing a good job of making it all sound legitimate.” Cery looked at Anyi, who rolled her eyes.
“Do any of Skellin’s people think Cery’s dead?” Gol asked.
Lilia shrugged. “Kallen wasn’t that specific. He did want to know if Cery was planning to take back these... businesses.”
“Tell him I will be in no position to until he gets rid of Skellin. Has he made any progress?”
The young woman shook her head. “He didn’t say so. I think he was hoping you’d be as useful to him as you were to Sonea.”
Cery sighed and looked away. “You’d better make it clear to him that I’m no use to anybody now.”
Anyi made a wordless sound of protest. “You’re useful to us.”
Cery gave her a disbelieving look. “If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t be stuck here. Down here I’m nothing but a problem for Lilia.”
Lilia frowned. “You’re not a problem. Not a big one, anyway.” Anyi put a hand on her shoulder.
He scowled. “The only mark I can make now is to be a nagging worry at the back of Skellin’s mind. People might say I’m dead, but he won’t completely believe it because he hasn’t seen a corpse. He has to consider I may be alive, and up to something.”
He’ll be moving in on my territory cautiously, and questioning everyone who might know where I am. Cery felt his heart spasm painfully with guilt. My people will want to believe I’m dead, because if I’m alive and not fighting Skellin it’ll seem as though I’ve abandoned them. If they find out I was hiding beneath the Guild, they’ll think I’ve been living in luxury with my magician friends, not this.
If only there was some gain to be had, other than mere survival, from being here under the Guild.
We’re isolated from the rest of the city. Magicians are not far away, and one in particular – Lilia – is able to help us. Few people would dare come here, knowing that. Cery frowned. Would Skellin dare?
Perhaps if he had a good reason to.
If he did come here, he’d be very wary. He’d send scouts to make sure it was safe first. Then there would have to be a good reason for him to enter the passages personally rather than send others. No matter where or how he learned about the existence of these tunnels, and how to get to them, he’d have to suspect the information was meant to fall into his hands, and was part of a trap.
After all, I would.
But if there was something here that Skellin wanted badly enough, perhaps he would take that risk. Cery just had to think of bait powerful enough to lure him into a trap. This time it would have to be something much more tempting than the books on magic.
Chapter 9
Friends and Enemies
Lorkin woke in a rush. He blinked up at the ceiling and puzzled at the unfamiliar bare stone, then a heartbeat later he remembered where he was and why.
And that he wasn’t alone in the cell.
He turned to see the young woman lying on the floor near the cell’s gate. Her skin and the rags that were all that was left of her slave garb were stained with blood. She was staring up at the Ashaki interrogator, who stood in the gate’s opening.
As Lorkin got slowly to his feet the Ashaki bent to grab her arm and yanked her upright. She gave a hoarse cry and sagged as if her limbs wouldn’t support her, but the man laughed.
“That wouldn’t fool a halfwit,” he said. He ran his free hand down her arm to her shoulders, then through her hair, then looked at Lorkin and grinned.
“Nice bit of Healing. Considering how much was broken, it must have worn you out.”
Lorkin met the man’s eyes and shrugged. “Hardly.”