Trudi Canavan - The Magicians' Guild

Several of the heads around the circle nodded. A thoughtful silence followed, then the first girl made a satisfied noise.

“See,” she said, “would you help the magicians? Not me. That girl showed ’em, she did. Maybe next time she’ll get more of ’em.”

The children grinned and nodded at each other. Sonea let out a silent sigh of relief. She heard the creak of the hatch as it opened, and smiled as Cery climbed into the attic. He moved to her side and sat down, grinning.

“We’ve been betrayed,” he murmured. “The house is about to be searched. Follow me.”

Her heart skipped. Staring at him, she saw that the grin did not reach his eyes. He climbed to his feet again, and she leapt up to follow. A few children watched her pass them, but she avoided their eyes. She could feel their interest growing as Cery stopped and opened the doors of a large cabinet at the back of the room.

“There’s a secret door to the passages here,” he murmured, reaching inside. He tugged at something gently, then frowned and pulled harder. “It’s been blocked from the other side.” He cursed under his breath.

“Are we trapped?”

He glanced back at the room. Most of the children were watching them now. He closed the cabinet door, then moved across to one of the windows.

“No use in pretending now. How are your climbing skills?”

“It’s been a while ...” She looked up. The windows had been set into the roof, which sloped down almost to the floor.

“Give me a leg up.”

Linking her hands, she grimaced as he stepped onto them. She staggered as Cery climbed up onto her shoulders. Grabbing a roof beam, Cery steadied himself, pulled a knife out of his coat and began to work at the window.

From somewhere below the attic Sonea heard the sound of a door slamming, then the muffled sound of raised voices. Sonea felt a stab of fear as the trapdoor sprang open, but the face that appeared was that of Norin’s niece, Yalia.

The woman took in the children, Sonea, and Cery poised on top of her shoulders, in one glance.

“The door?” she asked.

“Blocked,” he told her.

She scowled, then looked down at the children.

“The magicians are here,” she told them, “They’re going to search the house.”

The children began asking questions. Above Sonea, Cery muttered a colorful curse. Sonea almost dropped him as he shifted his weight abruptly.

“Hai! You’re not being a very good ladder, Sonea.”

His weight suddenly lifted from her hands. Cery’s foot kicked out, hitting her in the chest. Sonea bit back a sour retort as she ducked out of the way of his swinging legs.

“They won’t harm us,” Yalia was telling the children. “They wouldn’t dare. They’ll see straight away that you’re all too young. They’re more interested in—”

“ Hai! Sonea !” Cery whispered harshly.

She looked up to see that Cery had slipped his legs through the window frame and was dangling down, reaching for her.

“Come on!”

She reached up and grasped his hands. With surprising strength, Cery lifted her up until she could grasp the sill. She hung for a moment, then edged around the frame until she held the high side. Swinging her legs up, she caught the edge of the frame with the toe of her boot, then stepped through.

Gasping from the exertion, she lay flat against the cold tiles. The air was icy and the cold immediately began to seep through her clothes. Lifting her head, she saw a sea of roofs. The sun hung low in the sky.

Cery reached out to close the window and froze. The sound of the attic trapdoor opening reached them, then the children began murmuring in awe and fear. Sonea lifted her head and peered inside.

A man in red robes stood beside the open trapdoor, staring with unblinking rage around the room. His hair was pale and combed back against his scalp. A small red scar marked his temple. She pressed herself against the roof again, heart racing. There was something familiar about him but she was not going to risk a second glance.

His voice reached their ears.

“Where is she?” he demanded.

“Who do you mean?” Yalia replied.

“The girl. I was informed that she was here. Where have you hidden her?”

“I haven’t hidden anybody,” stated an aged voice.

Norin, Sonea guessed.

“What’s this place then? Why are these beggars here?”

“I let them stay here. They have nowhere else to go during the winter.”

“Was the girl here?”

“I don’t ask their names. If this girl you seek was among them then I wouldn’t know.”

“I think you’re lying, old man,” the magician’s tone darkened.

A wailing began as a few of the children began to cry. Cery grabbed her sleeve and tugged it.

“I am telling you the truth,” the old merchant replied. “I have no idea who they are, but they are always children—”

“Do you know what the penalty is for hiding enemies of the Guild, old man?” the magician snapped. “If you do not show me where you have hidden this girl I will have your house taken down, stone by stone, and—”

“ Sonea ,” Cery whispered.

She turned to stare at him. He beckoned urgently, then began edging across the roof. Sonea forced her arms and legs to move, following.

She dared not slide too quickly, afraid the magician would hear her. The end of the roof drew slowly closer. Reaching it, Sonea looked back to find that Cery had disappeared. Catching a fleeting movement, she saw a pair of hands grasping the guttering below her.

“Sonea,” he hissed. “You’ve got to get down here with me.”

Slowly, she bent her legs and slid down until she was lying along the gutter. Looking over the edge, she saw that Cery was hanging two stories from the ground. He nodded to a single-story house built close to the merchant’s home.

“We’re going there,” he told her. “Watch me, then do what I do.”

Reaching out to the wall, Cery grasped hold of a pipe that ran from the gutter, down the wall to the ground. As he let it take his entire weight the pipe creaked alarmingly, but Cery scurried down quickly, using the clamps that attached it to the wall as a ladder. He stepped across to the other roof, then looked up and beckoned to her.

Taking a deep breath, Sonea grasped the gutter and let herself roll off the roof. She hung for a moment, her hands protesting, then reached out to grasp the pipe. Climbing down as quickly as she could, she stepped onto the roof of the other house.

Cery grinned. “Easy?”

She rubbed her fingers, which were red from the sharp edge of the clamps, and shrugged. “Yes and no.”

“Come on. Let’s get away from here.”

They carefully picked their way across the roof, bracing themselves against the bitterly cold wind. Reaching the neighboring house, they climbed up onto its roof. From there, they slid down another drainage pipe into a narrow alley between the houses.

Putting a finger to his lips, Cery started along the alley. He stopped halfway along and, after glancing behind to check that they were still alone, lifted a small grille in the side of a wall. He dropped to his belly and quickly wiggled through. Sonea followed.

They paused to rest in the darkness. Slowly her eyes adjusted until she could see the walls of a narrow brick passage. Cery was staring into the darkness, toward Norin’s house.

“Poor Norin,” Sonea whispered. “What will happen to him?”

“I don’t know, but it sounds bad.”

Sonea felt a pang of guilt. “All because of me.”

He turned to stare at her.

“No,” he growled. “Because of the magicians —and whoever betrayed us.” He scowled back down the passage. “I’d go back and find out who it was, but I’ve got to get you somewhere safe.”