Feena returned from the stairs, breathless. "The door's too hot to touch," she reported, "but smoke's pouring down the steps."
Darrow looked dubiously at the sewage tunnel. The thought of being trapped in there was no more appealing than the prospect of suffocating under a house fire.
"Do we have any other options?" asked Tal.
Darrow felt slightly hurt that Talbot looked to Maelin before him. Nobody had an alternative.
"Right, then," Tal said. "The sewers it is. I'm most likely to get stuck, so I'll go first."
"No," said Feena. "You're most likely to get stuck, so you go last."
Talbot started to argue but thought better of it. Before any more arguments could arise, Maelin shucked off her outer clothing.
"I don't know about you people," she said, "but I'm sick of this place." She dived head-first into the nasty chute. The rest of them followed her lead.
One by one, they slid down the chute to tumble down the slope of an enormous storm drain.
Numb after their ordeal, they picked themselves up and followed the sound of the surf until they came to a rusted grate beneath the wharves of Selgaunt Bay. Talbot grasped the bars, growled briefly as his arms grew thick and hairy, and tore their way out.
They climbed up to the waterfront and turned back toward House Malveen. The orange glow of the flames lit up the clouds from below, and they could hear the clamor of the fire brigade even at this distance.
Talbot stood with one big arm around Feena, who nestled her head against his chest. When Darrow took a step toward Maelin, she recoiled from him.
"I came back for you," he said, "just like I promised."
Maelin looked at him as if a particularly noisome rat had come too close. She skirted around Feena to keep the cleric between her and Darrow. "Stay away from me."
"Wh-what?" stammered Darrow. "I thought you and j»
"You thought what?" she spat. "That I fell in love with you because you brought me food? The only thing I hated more than being locked down here for over a year was pretending to fancy you."
Darrow stared at her, disbelieving what he heard. "I didn't have to come back for you."
"Yes, you did," she said, "because I made you come back for me."
A cold realization slowly formed in Darrow's belly, heavy as the truth. Since he had left his home and come to Selgaunt, Darrow had done nothing but obey someone else: first Radu, then Rusk, and finally Maelin. Even when he turned against them, he had played the informant, the henchman… always the servant. It was all he had ever been, and he now feared it was all he would ever be.
Maelin might be free, but he was still in the cage.
Chapter 22
Mirtul, 1372 DR
What years of quibbling among its dozen creditors could not accomplish, the second fall of House Malveen resolved in a single night. Within a ten-day, salvage crews were carting away the rubble, and a new owner announced plans to build a shipyard on the site.
The inquest raged and died as quickly as the fire. Thamalon's influence combined with Dar-row's cooperation spared Tal from magical interrogation, and so the secret of his curse was kept. Darrow agreed to submit to divinations that would detect any falsehood, so the magistrates relied most heavily on his testimony. Tal added his account, omitting only a few details. He reasoned there was no harm in leaving the magistrates to infer that Rusk had done away with Alale Soargyl's body when he first came to the city. Rusk was the murderer, after all, and Tal still had no idea how or where Chaney disposed of the body.
Darrow remained imprisoned pending a judgment from the mistress of Moonshadow Hall, the nearest temple of Selune. His confessed crimes had occurred beyond the reach of Sembian law, but the magistrates deemed it politic to consult Dhauna Myritar. Justice would be hers to dispose if she so willed.
Tal couldn't decide what he thought should happen to the rogue werewolf. He had run and murdered with the People of the Black Blood, but his desire to turn away from their bloody ways seemed genuine. If asked to speak on Barrow's behalf, Tal wasn't sure what he would say. He did not want to diminish Maleva's memory by defending one of her murderers. On the other hand, what might have happened to him if Feena had not guided him away from the path of the Black Blood? He shuddered to think how close he had come to Darrow's fate.
The surviving Malveens naturally came under suspicion, but no amount of investigation, magical or otherwise, could incriminate them in their brothers' misdeeds. Tal glimpsed them at the inquest. Laskar looked stunned and confused by all the revelations, but Pietro had a peculiar smell about him, even from across the room. Tal hoped they were truly innocent of Stannis and Radu's schemes, and he wished for the thousandth time that Chaney were still around to watch his back.
Eckert's punishment was left to Lord Uskevren's discretion, but Thamalon turned the question over to Tal. Considering the circumstances, Tal couldn't bring himself to prosecute the treacherous butler. He imagined that if one of his family were held hostage, he might have done the same.
Tal found Eckert at the tallhouse and informed him of his decision.
"Oh, thank you, sir," said Eckert at the news. "I knew you would understand my dilemma. I shall redouble my efforts to serve you in the most-"
"Oh, no," said Tal. "You're definitely dismissed."
"Of course, Master Talbot," said Eckert.
"I'm still angry with you," said Tal. "While I understand why you did it, the fact is that you betrayed me to enemies of the family. But what really makes me angry is that Chaney and Quickly both died because you did not come to me sooner."
Eckert nodded soberly.
"I'm glad Maelin is safe," said Tal.
"Thank you, sir."
"Now go away," he said. "I don't want to see you again."
Quickly's funeral was held at the Wide Realms, and all the public was welcome to the feast and the play that followed. Sivana turned up Quickly's will, which included instructions that her funeral feast conclude with a free public performance of her favorite play, The Widow of Marsember. It was a broad, raunchy comedy filled with crossdressing and pratfalls. It went beautifully, even reducing the audience to tears in an otherwise funny scene when Ennis wept openly during the widow's recounting of her dead husband's hundred flaws and one virtue.
When the show was over, the audience left in high spirits, as Quickly wanted it. The players sat on the floor and drank toasts to their departed mistress as well as Chaney, whom they all liked. There was as much smiling and laughing as tears and comforting embraces. Everyone in the company made a point of telling Tal he wasn't to blame. Much as he loved them for the gesture, he could not stop feeling guilty both for Quickly and for Chaney.
The next night, Chaney's funeral feast was held at Stormweather Towers. The intractable elders among the Foxmantles still refused to acknowledge him, though his cousin Meena ignored the ban and attended as a guest of Thazienne. Even the players at the Wide Realms received invitations signed by Lady Shamur herself, much to their astonishment. Every one of them came, if only to see the inside of Tal's family home, to which none of them would ever have been invited on other occasions. Shamur was not only civil but quite warm to the common troupe, joking with them at the scandal she was causing among her opera circles. When she saw that the feast was going well, Shamur led Tal away from the crowd and into her parlor.
"I looked for you that night," she said. "You could have come to me."
"I know," said Tal, "but none of the other werewolves had to bring their mothers."