Trudi Canavan - The Rogue

“And you don’t agree?”

“No.” He grinned. “It’s very thrilling.”

She rolled her eyes and pulled out of his arms, ignoring his protests. “Come on. There’s a very thrilling scandal about to stir up the whole of Sanctuary, and people are going to want to hear your side of the story.”

“Can’t it wait?”

“No.”

He sighed. “Very well. I guess I’m afraid you’ll not want to kiss me again if we leave this room. What made you change your mind about me?”

She smiled. “I haven’t changed my mind about you. I changed my mind about what to do about you.”

“Sounds like I ought to thank Kalia for that.”

Tyvara pushed him out of the room. “Don’t you dare.”

It was very warm in Administrator Osen’s office. Too warm, Sonea decided. She wondered if Osen had made it this way, or one of the other Higher Magicians was to blame. It was easy to produce heat with magic, but much harder to cool things down.

The Higher Magicians had settled into their usual places. As always, this meant she and Kallen were standing either side of Osen’s desk. All waited quietly, expressions grim.

The door to the office opened and all turned to watch as Captain Sotin and a young guard entered the room, accompanied by the Warrior who had been on duty at the Lookout last night. All three went a little pale at the scrutiny of the Higher Magicians. The trio moved to Osen’s desk, then stopped, clearly unsure if they ought to be facing the Administrator or the rest of the magicians.

The captain chose to bow toward Osen, and the guard hastily followed suit.

“Administrator,” the captain said briskly.

“Captain Sotin,” Osen said. “Thank you for coming here. This is?” Osen looked up at the guard.

“Guard Welor, Administrator. He was in charge of seeing to the Lady Lilia’s needs. He was not on duty for all of last night, but is – was – the only guard to have regular contact with her.”

Osen nodded and gestured to the rest of the magicians. “Tell us what you know, Captain.”

The man turned to face the room. “The men on duty report that none noticed anything and all swear that none of them fell asleep, were drinking or were otherwise distracted from their duty. No sounds came from the prisoners or from outside the tower. But at some point, the door to Lady Lilia’s room was opened, as was the inner door between Lady Lilia and Lorandra’s rooms.”

“How were they opened, do you think?” High Lord Balkan asked.

“I cannot say. There was no sign they were forced. The keys are not missing. So either they were picked or magic was used.” The captain grimaced. “We had a second lock on Lorandra’s door, out of reach so it could not be picked, but we did not have one on the inner door.”

“And the main door to Lilia’s room?”

The captain shrugged. “We used to keep it double locked as well. Once she was there … well, we assumed she would not know how to pick locks.”

“Since neither can use magic, we must assume Lorandra picked both the inner door and the main door to Lilia’s room,” Lady Vinara said. “Once they got out of their rooms, how did they get out of the tower?”

“They could not have escaped via the stairway to the ground floor, as it ends at the office and that is always occupied by my men,” the captain said. “We think they went up to the roof. We did not keep guards up there, but the hatch to the roof was locked on the inside and blocked by magic—”

He looked at the Warrior who had been on duty.

“Both were intact,” the young man murmured.

“—but we found that the old observatory dome had come loose and could be levered upwards enough to allow someone of a small build to crawl out,” the captain finished.

“It is made of glass and very heavy,” Lord Peakin pointed out, shaking his head. “I doubt Lady Lilia and the old woman would have been able to lift it, even together.”

“They must have,” Vinara said.

“Then how did they get off the roof?” Lord Garrel asked. “Is there any sign of the use of ropes or ladders?”

The captain shook his head.

“You are confident that your men are telling the truth,” Lady Vinara asked of the captain.

The man straightened and nodded. “I trust them all. They are rare honest men.” He paused. “And if they weren’t, and had allowed the prisoners to escape, surely they would have made up a story about being drugged, or some other excuse. They are puzzled and ashamed, and I have had to talk some of them out of resigning.”

The guard beside him bowed his head.

“Guard Welor,” Osen said. “Did you notice anything in Lady Lilia’s behaviour to suggest she may have been planning an escape?”

The young man shook his head. “I don’t think she had time to think about it yet. She was still getting a grasp of what had happened to her. I found this note this morning.” He brought a piece of paper out of his chest pocket, unfolded it and handed it to Osen. “It was in a book I gave her, so I think she meant me to find it.”

The Administrator read the note and his eyebrows rose.

“ Must find Naki. Will return by morning ,” he read.

“She hasn’t,” Vinara said. “Either she lied or she has been prevented from returning.”

“Why lie?” Peakin asked.

“Perhaps she thought it would gain her more time,” Garrel replied. “If we’d discovered her missing last night, we might wait to see if she returned.”

“But how did they get off the roof?” Osen asked. “How far is it to the ground – or the nearest trees?”

“If they had climbed down they would have been noticed by the guards below. The trees are considerably further down the slope and therefore are lower than the tower,” the captain said. “A rope would have to be strung very tight, and it would be more of a matter of sliding than climbing down it. Then there’s the matter of getting one end up there in the first place without anyone noticing.” He shook his head. “We have always expected that if Skellin attempted to rescue his mother via the roof he would levitate up there.”

“I’d wager he did, and nobody noticed,” Vinara said. “Why would he take Lilia …?” Her expression changed to one of horrified realisation. “Oh.”

The room went very quiet. Sonea looked at Kallen, wondering if he had already considered what Vinara had just realised. His expression was one of forced patience. Yes, he’s well aware of the danger – and itching to do something about it. She resisted the temptation to smile, knowing it would be taken the wrong way.

“Why were they put next to each other?” Garrel asked suddenly. “A cunning rogue and a bl— … an easily manipulated young woman. Surely this was a disaster waiting to happen. Lilia could have told Lorandra how to use black magic, without them even leaving their rooms.”

Some of the Higher Magicians looked at the captain. Garrel, and a few others, were looking at Sonea or Kallen. Sonea looked at Rothen, who met her gaze with a knowing expression. He’d warned her that she could easily be blamed for Lilia’s escape, since she had visited Lorandra and Lilia and hadn’t noticed any flaws in their prison arrangement.

“We were told to ensure they were treated well,” the captain replied. “We thought that, since both were women, they could keep each other company. I … I see that was a mistake, now.”

Sonea’s heart went out to the man. It wasn’t entirely his fault that the pair had escaped either. She frowned. Is he trying to shift the blame all onto himself, to save his men?

“Now Lilia and Lorandra are keeping Skellin company,” Osen said. “I …”