Reltheus patted his arm again. “I’m sure you’ll prove your loyalty to Skala, Seregil. If you do hear anything compromising, it would be best if you brought it directly to me.”
“Not Prince Korathan?”
Seregil caught a fleeting look of exasperation in the other man’s eyes. Reltheus was quite the dissembler. “No, I think it will be better if you come to me.”
“Very well. I’m sure you know best,” Seregil replied.
They went back inside to find that Alec had arrived.
“And how is your distressed friend?” asked Reltheus, pouring wine for him.
“He’ll live,” Alec said with a smile, catching Seregil’s eye. “Got himself into a bit of trouble in a rough neighborhood. He’s gone home now.”
He and Seregil stayed long enough for Alec to have a few games, and it was closer to dawn than midnight when they finally took their leave. The wind had come up, swirling the thickening mist and blowing out street lanterns. Even here in the Noble Quarter, the lamplighters had turned in for the
night. It was the sort of night footpads crept into the finer streets, looking for an easy mark in the darkness.
“Atre’s all right?” asked Seregil.
“Minor knife wound from a girl cutpurse he tried to help, according to him. Brader came and fetched him.”
“How did he know where Atre was?”
“I didn’t think to ask,” Alec admitted. “Atre must have sent a messenger.”
“No matter, I suppose, so long as he isn’t mortally wounded.”
“Speaking of mortally wounded, I found a man with the sleeping death on the way back. I took him to a temple, and there were more.”
“Up here? How many?”
“Five in all. Tonight it was a god-touched young man, and-two little boys.”
A small but clear stab of heartache slipped along his bond to Seregil. He reined in close beside Alec. “Is it because they’re mostly children, tali?”
“Yes.” It was a hoarse whisper, and Seregil felt that tingle of pain again. Alec had always been good with children. Having Sebrahn for so short a time and then losing him had left a deeper wound than Alec would admit. Though he wouldn’t talk about it, every so often something would bring the sadness to the surface. It happened less often now, but the pain was still just as deep.
“It’s not just that,” Alec added softly. “I was nearly that poor once, and played in the streets when my father left me behind in towns sometimes.”
“At least he came back. You had someone who cared about you.” It had been a long time since Alec had mentioned his father, and although the man had sounded like a hard-bitten sort, Alec had clearly loved him and felt loved in return. At times he showed a bit of the man’s reticence, too, Seregil reflected.
“This disease doesn’t just strike children,” he pointed out. “There was that prostitute we found, and your fellow tonight.”
“That’s true,” Alec said grudgingly. “But the drysian said
the bawd had been to her with various maladies. She might have been ill. It makes sense for a disease to take the weakest.”
“The poor don’t get as much food, especially this summer. They’re not as healthy to begin with, and they die younger.”
Alec frowned. “If Korathan quarantines them, it will just make it worse.”
“But keep it from spreading and killing even more, as it appears it already is. These things run their course, like a fever or a wildfire. Did you get a good look at them?”
“Not a thorough one, but I asked about wounds and marks, tattoos and the like. There was nothing.”
“Well done.”
Alec was quiet for a moment. “The drysian told me there are a lot more sick ones at the temple down in Grampus Street. She said there are more falling sick in the Lower City all the time. That’s where she thought the ones she had came from. The man I found certainly looked like someone who could have been from the stews down there. I think he was a gate runner, from the smell of him.”
“We already have our hands full, Alec.”
“If it’s spreading up here, wouldn’t Valerius want to know?”
Seregil sighed. “We’ll go to him early tomorrow, and see if he knows anything about all this. Let him have a look at them. Illior knows there’s nothing we can do to help them.”
They rode on in silence for a few minutes. “The Skulpin seems a strange sort of place for anyone who loves luxury as much as our actor friend, don’t you think?” said Seregil.
“You think he was lying about why he was there?”
“I don’t know. It could just be a place he frequented when he and his friends lived there.”
“I’m surprised he had the energy to go, after a performance.”
“The Crane is dark tonight.”
“It is?” Alec frowned at something.
“What is it?”
“He had a little cosmetic on his face.”
Seregil chuckled. “He probably wanted to look as alluring as possible.”
“No, not all over, just around the hairline.”
“Not that surprising. It’s not always easy to get off, depending on what you use. It’s probably from yesterday.”
“I suppose so.” But Alec didn’t look satisfied. “Still-does Atre strike you as the sort of man who would stop to help a street urchin on a dark street?”
Seregil chuckled again. “Probably not the real story. Most of the doxies are half cutpurse, themselves. He must have propositioned the wrong one. Or ran afoul of some street toughs.”
“Maybe.” Alec paused, then asked, “By the way, did you enjoy your performance at the Three Dragons?”
“My amazing winning streak?”
“No.”
“Ah, the stripping naked in front of a hundred or so noblemen and women part of the evening. Enjoyisn’t the word I’d use, but it was satisfyingly useful.”
“Useful?”
“Absolutely! Before I met you, Lord Seregil was known for things like that. Well, not usually in such a public place, perhaps-”
“Perhaps?” Alec raised a skeptical eyebrow at that.
“At parties, mostly.”
“So you did things like that a lot?”
“Now and then, just to keep up my reputation. Mostly it was getting other young nobles into trouble stealing public statues or bluecoats’ horses while we were drunk, slumming in borrowed clothes, or daring each other to jump off Widow’s Cliff into the sea. You should try that, actually. Very invigorating-if you live.”
“And carrying on with actors, I suppose.”
“Oh, yes. And actresses.”
“Am I bad for your reputation, now that we’re spending so much time back in the city?”
Seregil grinned. “I’d say we reestablished my bad name tonight, wouldn’t you? I was lucky, though.”
“You did win a lot of money.”
“Yes, but I was thinking more of Foris’s search of my person.”
“What was so lucky about that?” Alec laughed. “He had you standing naked on a chair.”
Seregil winked at him as they passed under the glow of a street lantern. “Yes, but his search stopped short of the most obvious hiding place.”
“The most-?” Alec gave him a questioning look, then realization dawned and it was replaced by one of shock. “Bilairy’s Balls, Seregil!”
“Close.” Seregil grinned. He loved still being able to make Alec blush.
They were nearly to Wheel Street when suddenly Cynril and Windrunner both shied. As Seregil and Alec reined the horses in, two dark forms detached themselves from the deeper shadow of a side street and sprang up onto their horses behind them.
Seregil’s attacker locked an arm around his neck, choking him as they tumbled together to the street. Seregil landed hard with the man on his back. Between that and the pressure on his throat, he was already seeing stars. The pressure disappeared for an instant, quickly replaced with the cutting tension of a garrote. It caught on the collar of his coat, but he could feel the wire against his skin where the collar gaped. Fighting for his life, he reached back and clawed at the man’s hands. Panic lent him strength and he managed to roll the man off. He felt the wire cut into his neck as he wiggled around and jammed his thumbs into his attacker’s eyes. The garrote went slack as the man grabbed Seregil’s wrists and threw him over onto his back. Seregil wasn’t quick enough to roll away before the man was on him again, a knee planted in Seregil’s gut, choking him with his bare hands. The bastard was big and very strong, but Seregil was limber and fighting for his life. Twisting sideways, he brought his foot up and kicked his would-be murderer in the side of the head. The grip on his throat loosened again. This time Seregil managed to reach the poniard in his boot and stabbed the man through the neck. Scrambling to his feet, he turned to find that Alec’s