But when she came to the translations seen this day, there was little he did not know already. At her mention of the Eaters of Silence, as opposed to the Children or the Reverent ones, he kept silent, though at that mention, his grip tightened on the chair's arm.
Much of what she had read contained passages he had worked on. She had few conclusions that he had not guessed at as well. When she wound down, all her words spent, they sat in silence for a while. She glanced at him now and then, expecting him to say somethinganythingthough not about a "wraith."
Yes, he had caught that term from her very thoughts. Along with her deep fear that it would be far worse to deal with than the vampires, the ones she had thought were the only Noble Dead. Now one of them, Chane, and a wayward majay-h had come to her.
Ghassan had his own concerns about this black-robed undead mage. He was uncertain that even he could deal with it on his own. And for this alone, he could not harm Wynn just yet. Not because of growing fondness for her; that was irrelevant.
She knew much of what he had already suspected was the truthtoo much. And he knew she had to be silenced for the safety of the world.
One life for thousandstens of thousandswas a sacrifice he could live with.
Except for this thing she called a "wraith."
Wynn finally yawned, shyly covering her mouth, as if she worried about disturbing his silence. He got up, taking a heavy cloak from a hook near the door.
"Lie down," he told her. "Sleep. You are safe here."
"We can't let the wraith get more folios," she whispered, but her eyelids were already closing. "And tonight it came inside the guild."
"I know."
"Rodian tried to set a trap for it, but he failed," she murmured.
"I know."
Ghassan glanced at Shade, snapped his fingers, and pointed at the floor. The majay-h leered at him but jumped down, and Ghassan pushed Wynn sideways by the shoulder. She flopped upon the couch, and he pulled the cloak over her.
"Tomorrow night," he said, "we will set a trap of our own."
Until then, he still saw a need for her.
As she settled into sleep, Ghassan slipped into his bedchamber and closed the door.
Chapter 17
The following night, Wynn crouched in the side street near the Upright Quill, the one that led to the same alley where Elias and Jeremy had died. She was waiting for a signal from Domin il'Snke.
"We should not have agreed to this," Chane whispered.
Shade whined as if seconding that opinion.
"I don't like it either," Wynn answered, "but I can't think of anything better. Can you?"
The light of street lanterns didn't quite reach them, but Wynn still saw Chane frown. More disturbing, the burns on his hands and face had nearly faded. She didn't want to think about how. Even if the salve she'd applied had worked on him, it couldn't have worked so quickly.
"We have to follow the plan," she stated flatly, "and keep our wits."
"Can the Suman do what he claims?"
Wynn hesitated, watching the empty street. "I can't believe he would risk our lives, or the guild, by exaggerating. We may be its only hope for real protection."
This answer didn't sound convincing, even to her.
"But if the Premin Council learns what we did here, I'll certainly be dismissed. And Domin il'Snke will be sent back to his branch in disgrace, at the very least. He's risking more than his life, so we must trust each other, or we'll fail."
The day's preparations for il'Snke's trap had been exhausting. The Upright Quill was the only scriptorium to which the wraith had come more than once. After too much speculation concerning how it was tracking folios, this one scriptorium seemed the only choice.
Wynn had gone over and over the details with il'Snke and spent half the day in further tutelage with the sun crystal. She was more than thankful for the spectacles he'd made. But throughout the preparations her thoughts kept turning over those brief cryptic phrases she'd read in the scroll. More than once il'Snke had snapped at her, sensing that her attention wandered.
"I do not like him using youor the scrollas bait!" Chane rasped.
Wynn didn't care for that either. "It's the best chance for this to work."
For Chane to be effective, he had to keep his ring on. With it, he could mask Shade's presence as well, though it had taken great fuss to get Shade to let him touch her. The dog disliked contact with anyone but Wynn. Il'Snke assured Wynn that he had his own way to befuddle the wraith's awareness of himwhatever that meant.
Wynn was the only one left without protection. And she was the only one who could carry the scroll and be recognized by the wraith. She slipped a hand inside her cloak, checking on the scroll case tucked into her tunic's belt.
"I won't be hurt, or lose the scroll, if you wait long enough," she said. "Stay focused. You and Shade have to come at the right moment."
The plan was straightforward but depended on dangerously close timing.
For now, il'Snke carried the sun crystal staff. Once he was in place across the street, he would whistle softly from whatever vantage point he found. Then Wynn would head up the street past the Upright Quill. With everyone else's presence masked, she would appear to be alone and defenseless. They still didn't know if this shadow creature was after her or the scroll, but it wouldn't matter if she was carrying it. If the wraith sought both, so much the better to attract its attention.
The main catch in their plan was Shade.
For the last part of the day, Wynn had tried to teach the young majay-h the most basic words in Numanese. She passed memory after memory of Chap waiting on command during any fight when Leesil had shouted, "Hold!" Chap had known not to close on an opponent if either Leesil or Magiere was engaged with a weapon that required room to wield.
Each time Wynn passed a memory, she'd held out her palm and spoke words like hold or come or "attack." She had cautiously passed Shade a memory of Chane fighting the wraith the night before, keeping her thoughts locked only on that moment. Hopefully Shade would understand when the time came. By dusk Shade simply lay down and ignored her, either bored or annoyed with all Wynn's nonsense. But Wynn believedhopedthat Shade understood.
"Don't close too quickly," Wynn whispered to Chane, "or il'Snke won't have time to pull the wraith's"
"Yes, you said this before," he rasped. "As has the Suman."
"Sorry."
"But if you are in trouble," he said flatly, "the Suman can fend for himself."
"Stop calling him that! He has a name."
"There is something wrong about him," Chane hissed. "I can nearly smell it!"
Wynn was too anxious to argue anymore.
Whenifthe wraith took the bait, she was to run in the direction from which il'Snke had whistled. Chane and Shade would wait as long as possible, until il'Snke appeared to engage the wraith. Shade would charge out next, suddenly filling the wraith's awareness, as she slipped from the protection of Chane's ring. Then Chane, still shielded by the ring, could surprise the wraith. Hopefully this would give il'Snke time to take advantageand get the staff to Wynn as well.
But Wynn was still worried about what harm that thing might inflict on Chane or Shade in a prolonged fight. They would have to end this encounter quickly. Il'Snke claimed he could hold the wraith in place, keeping it from escaping. Chane would dive for cover, and Wynn would ignite the staff's sun crystal.