Барб Хенди - Dog in the Dark

For a moment Dänvârfij thought Én’nish might argue, even now that they were halfway to completing their purpose.

Én’nish finally dropped her gaze and looked away.

When Brot’ân’duivé could no longer hear Léshil’s and Magiere’s steps on the outer stairs, he turned to Chap.

“I am going down for a moment. Keep watch on the young ones.”

Snarling as expected, the majay-hì jumped to his feet, and Wayfarer flinched, as did Paolo. Brot’ân’duivé merely waited, knowing he would never hear Chap’s argument in his own thoughts.

“He says you ... you are not ... going anywhere,” Wayfarer related, visibly embarrassed or perhaps shocked, as she swallowed hard. Perhaps she had not repeated Chap’s exact words.

Brot’ân’duivé responded directly to the adversarial majay-hì. “Stay with the young ones, and I will return in moments. Magiere and Léshil could not be stopped, so they must be guarded without their knowledge.”

Chap fell silent, and his flattened ears rose slightly.

Brot’ân’duivé took that moment of stunned confusion to slip out. Quickly descending the stairs to the last landing above the entryway, he hovered around the stairway’s turn to watch below.

Magiere stood with her back to him, and somewhere off to her right was the front counter. Brot’ân’duivé could not hear whether their olive-skinned host was down there as well, but Magiere remained, perhaps counting under her breath.

Léshil was nowhere in sight and had likely already left, beginning the night’s plan. Magiere suddenly stepped toward the front door in her crimson cape. Her long gait did not match the look of an elite woman seeking a night’s pleasure.

As soon as she was gone, Brot’ân’duivé descended and found Mechaela on duty behind the counter. It would seem the man rarely slept, for he had been there at dawn that morning.

“I need another room, possibly for half the night, in the most secure part of the inn,” Brot’ân’duivé said. “Cost is irrelevant.”

He felt no pride or shame at theft but had put his skill to use several times in Calm Seatt. The pouch he carried held more than sufficient coins, though he had kept this information, like all else, to himself unless otherwise necessary.

Mechaela tilted his head in puzzlement. “I assure you, the rooms you were given are quite secure.”

“I need to leave the young woman and a boy behind tonight. I want no one outside of the staff to have any chance of knowing where they are. Another room, please ... now.”

Mechaela hesitated and then curled a finger, motioning Brot’ân’duivé around the counter. The host gestured toward a set of small bells below the counter.

“This way,” he said, and stepped to the door at the counter’s far end.

Brot’ân’duivé followed as Mechaela opened the door and passed through into a dim, plush hallway. Almost immediately Mechaela turned aside to open the first door to his right. Brot’ân’duivé entered a bedroom with paintings of beautiful but scantily clad women on the walls.

“These rooms are for patrons who require extra privacy,” Mechaela said as he stepped near the bed. “I seldom need to ... intervene for those who work here, but it has happened.”

He pinched a dangling end of a ribbon near the headboard that tied back one corner of the bed’s canopy curtain. The ribbon slid without untying the curtain and retracted when released.

Out of the room’s doorway, Brot’ân’duivé heard a small bell ring lightly.

“Should one of our employees require assistance,” Mechaela explained, “I can be inside the room before the bell fades. Other interior guards will follow quickly.” He paused. “I assume this is safe enough for your need?”

“You will be at the desk all night?”

“Yes.”

Brot’ân’duivé nodded and pulled out his pouch.

Chap bristled as he waited for Brot’an’s return. The old assassin had counted on his being unwilling to leave Wayfarer and Paolo alone. Brot’an had something in mind and knew Chap would wait, caught unaware and baffled.

Chap hated being played so easily.

“It is all right, majay-hì,” Wayfarer whispered as she knelt beside him. “The greimasg’äh wishes to protect Magiere and Léshil in all that he does.”

Chap did not snarl at her gullibility. He cared for and worried about her too much for some angry retort.

Brot’an was not gone long, and when he hurried back in, he left the door open. Before Chap could even snarl ...

“We will place Wayfarer and the boy in a safer room,” Brot’an said. “Then we go after Magiere and Léshil. Now.”

Chap glared at him. With no way to speak directly into Brot’an’s mind—having never dipped into the man’s memories for words to use—he was not about to use the girl again for some long attempt at getting answers.

“The team of anmaglâhk is here,” Brot’an said flatly. “I have seen them in port.”

Chap’s rage erupted, and he snarled, baring his teeth.

Wayfarer drew away in fear, and Paolo jumped up from the floor and flattened against the wall.

Chap ignored them, for everything was now clear. Brot’an was using Leesil and Magiere as bait in a trap for his enemies.

“There is no time for this!” Brot’an snapped. “Neither you nor I could dissuade Léshil. I watched you try—and fail. We have a chance to pass unnoticed, as our enemies will focus on them.”

These anmaglâhk were not Leesil and Magiere’s enemies as much as Brot’an’s. Chap lunged, snapping for Brot’an’s leg.

“Majay-hì, no!” Wayfarer blurted out.

Brot’an hopped to get out of reach and stood in the open door.

“They were coming sooner or later,” he said. “Better that they come on our terms. We have a chance to take them unaware and end this ... if we act now. ”

Chap hesitated. Brot’an was using Magiere and Leesil because he had not been able to stop them. Now he wanted to go after his enemies while they were distracted ... in going after Leesil and Magiere.

Brot’an looked to Wayfarer. “Come.”

“But ...” Wayfarer stammered in confusion, and Paolo didn’t move.

In two strides Brot’an swept in, not even glancing at Chap. He grabbed Wayfarer’s hand and snatched up Paolo in his other arm. The boy looked so frightened that he didn’t struggle.

“There is a safer place for them downstairs,” Brot’an said and, turning his back, he slipped out the door.

Chap followed with no other choice.

Leesil reached the waterfront while still wearing his fine breeches and tunic, but along the way he’d left the cape, hat, and walking stick behind. The clothes were loose enough for him to move easily, and his tool kit from his early days was stowed in the back of his tunic. Magiere was down to her breeches and shirt, with her long falchion strapped over her back and out of the way.

They headed quietly down the shoreline stairs to the walkways below the piers and the skiffs tied off below.

Though there were some people still about on the waterfront and many of the ships, Leesil and Magiere found themselves completely alone down below. It took no time to find a small, manageable boat under the third pier where the slave ship was docked. Magiere climbed in while Leesil untied it from a piling.

They ignored the oars and instead pushed the skiff along between the pilings; sometimes they had to duck all the way down to slip under a cross support. They remained hidden from sight by anyone above on the docks, and even those along the shoreline would not be looking for anything below.