Brooks, Terry: High Druid's Blade : The Defenders of Shannara (9780345540713)

He nodded. “Coming off his airship earlier. I keep my eyes open. Look, I can give you directions if you want, but they might be a little different from the ones Arcannen would give you. Mine might help keep you safe. I don’t like Arcannen, and I don’t like doing anything that helps him. So maybe I’ll help you, instead. But if I do, I’ll need some extra coins for making sure your Sprint is kept safe and ready to lift off the minute you’ve finished your business.”

Paxon sat on the edge of the desk. “You seem awfully eager to help someone you barely know, Grehling. Why is that?”

He shrugged. “I knew someone Arcannen took to Dark House, someone like your sister. Someone I liked.” His lips tightened. “She never came out again. Do you want my help or not?”

“I’m listening.”

When the boy was done explaining, Paxon thanked him for his help and paid him the coins he wanted. “You’ll find your sister on the top floor,” Grehling said in parting. “That’s where he keeps all the new ones, at first.”

He offered his hand, and Paxon shook it. “Better keep that sword of yours handy.”

Paxon went back out to the Sprint and Jayet. She was still in the pilot box, eyes half closed. “Time to go,” he said.

“Was that a boy you were talking to in there?” she asked. She rumpled her hair and yawned.

“A boy who is a lot older than he has a right to be,” he answered. “Watch out for that one.”

Jayet nodded sleepily. “I watch out for all of them. Can we please eat something? I’m starved.”

• • •

They walked from the airfield into the city, following the directions Grehling had provided, and quickly found a tavern that was open all night. They took a seat at a table at the back of the room, ordered ale and soup and bread, finished it off, and quickly left. No one paid any attention to them.

Back on the streets of Wayford, Paxon explained what Grehling had suggested they do.

“Arcannen lives at Dark House, which is what I thought it was—a pleasure house specializing in exotic and forbidden acts. Very exclusive. Chrys will be there, probably locked up in a room somewhere on the upper floor, according to Grehling. He says other girls who work for Arcannen are kept there, too, at first. He told me how we can get inside, but then we still have to find out which room she is in.”

“That might be difficult if there are guards.”

“There are, but not so many at this time of night because everything shuts down after two until late morning. There will only be a few, and all but one of them will be watching the doors. The other one roams the halls. He’ll be the most dangerous, the way we’re going in. We’ll have to get rid of him right away once we’re inside.”

“You’re going in tonight? Without sleep?”

“Do you think I should wait until morning, Jayet? This is my sister we’re talking about.”

She shook her head. “I suppose not. But maybe a few hours wouldn’t hurt. You haven’t slept at all. What difference would it make if you waited for first light?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t want to find out. I’m going in now.”

They walked on in silence. The streets were still busy, the taverns and pleasure houses still open, but the night was winding down and many of the patrons were hauling their drunken, sated selves home again. One made the mistake of groping for Jayet as she passed, and she hit him so hard with her fist that she knocked him unconscious.

“Hands to yourself!” she hissed at him as they moved past.

Following Grehling’s instructions, they found Dark House in a little under an hour. It was a big, brooding structure situated at the end of a block on one corner, surrounded by stone walls with iron spikes embedded at the top, its windows curtained and shuttered, its lights dimmed to almost nothing. It was black and unfriendly. Paxon and Jayet stood across the street from it and stared.

“I don’t want to find out what goes on in there,” the girl said softly.

“You won’t have to,” Paxon said. “You’re staying out here.”

She kept looking at the building across the road for several seconds. Then she said, “I think you should take me with you. You might need me to distract that guard. You might need me to get in somewhere you can’t. I can’t help you out here.”

“Out here, you’re safe.”

“Out here, I’m useless.”

He gave her a look. “What did I tell you before we set out, when I agreed to let you come along?”

“That I would do what you told me to. And I will. But that doesn’t mean I can’t argue about it. Leaving me behind is a mistake. Think about it. Chrys means something to me, too.”

He remembered the way she had flattened that drunk on their way here, and then imagined a few scenarios where being a woman might prove useful. Keeping Jayet safe was important, but getting Chrys out of Dark House was even more so.

“All right,” he said finally. “But stick close to me and do what I ask you to do.”

She flashed him a smile, her face brightening beneath the mop of white-blond hair. “I promise.”

He wasn’t sure it was a promise she could keep, but she was right about her value to his effort to free Chrys, so he could ill afford to be pessimistic about her conduct. Jayet was smart; she would know what to do once they were inside.

They waited a few minutes longer, watching as a final few customers straggled out the front door of Dark House, then they crossed the road with Jayet hanging on one arm, the two a couple out on the town, but heading home. Once across, he steered her to a wall separating Dark House from a shuttered and empty-looking building situated on the adjoining lot. Off the street now and out of sight, they followed the wall almost to its end before discovering a small wooden door set within the stone. Searching the door, Paxon found the button that released the lock, just as Grehling had told him. The door swung open, and he led Jayet inside.

Now they were standing in a cluster of sad-looking flower gardens that filled the space between the wall and Dark House. Moving straight across the gardens to the building in a crouch, they turned left to find a small window set between two larger banks. Paxon twisted the latch, and the window opened easily. Indicating that Jayet should go first, he boosted her through the opening, then pulled himself up behind her.

They were in a cluttered storage room that appeared to serve as a pantry. At least, that was what they could see by the dim glow cast from the streetlights outside the wall. Paxon moved to the doorway, stood listening for a few moments, cracked the door, and peered out. Then, beckoning for Jayet to follow him, he stepped through into the room beyond.

They were in a kitchen now, but it was empty and dark. They moved through it cautiously, not wanting to bump up against anything. After agonizing seconds of maneuvering in the near dark, they reached a door that opened into a servants’ eating area and from there into a hallway beyond.

Paxon was sweating now, adrenaline rushing through him, his fear and excitement held in precarious balance. He could feel the weight of the Sword of Leah across his back, pressing against him uncomfortably, but it gave him reassurance that, if caught out, he would have a chance to fight his way free. Because Arcannen had been so open about telling Grehling to offer directions, Paxon knew the sorcerer would be ready for him. Somehow, somewhere, he would be waiting. Maybe personally, maybe using magic—but there was little chance Arcannen would be caught off guard.

The best he could hope for was that he could avoid any traps, find his sister, set her free, and maybe get all of them out of there before Arcannen knew what was happening.