"Good. Come back."
"You don't want to watch?"
"I've seen enough."
"On my way, then."
Rocza, I noticed then, was already back; she had returned while I was watching through Loiosh's eyes.
It's a useful thing to be able to do—actually see through the eyes of your familiar— and something very few witches have ever mastered; but it can be dangerous as well, because you have no idea what's going on around you.
It was about a quarter of an hour before he got back, during which time Meehayi expressed concern about Father Noij and what was happening. I suggested he go find
him and he went off to do so. While he was gone, Loiosh returned.
"We're waiting for Father Noij," I told Loiosh.
"I saw him with the mob, Boss. I think he's trying to stop them."
"Hmm. Determined son-of-a-bitch. Never figured such a low-life bastard to care about anything enough."
"Is this bad?"
"Probably not. Just delays us a bit. I hope."
No, I couldn't really see any danger. But I had had things timed nicely, and this introduced places where something might go wrong: I didn't want the Count, for instance, insisting on seeing me and asking embarrassing questions. Or the physicker, for that matter. It could lead to complications.
It was, in the end, a couple of hours before Father Noij came in, looking unhappy.
"They've hanged six witches," he said. "Leaders of the Coven."
My eyebrows climbed. "Indeed?"
He nodded.
Meehayi was right behind him. "You didn't know?" he asked me.
"How could I?"
That earned me another Look.
"Who was 'they'?" I asked Father Noij.
"Members of the Merchants' Guild, mostly."
I nodded. "Do you know a fellow named Orbahn?"
He nodded. "He was one."
I half regretted not having Loiosh stay around to watch that, but, as I'd told him, I'd seen enough.
At that point, someone I didn't know came into the room. I tensed, until Meehayi introduced him as his big brother. He was actually a little smaller than Meehayi, but that still left a lot of room for big.
Father Noij himself picked up the box full of my things that had been taken when— that had been taken for me. I held the amulet in one hand, Spellbreaker in the other; if anything happened to the box, I'd get by all right.
I winced as they set in to pick me up, Meehayi sliding his arms under mine, his brother taking my legs; but it didn't hurt. I must be recovering quickly. The virtues of clean living.
Speaking of clean living, damn but those two were strong! They got me down the back stairs only troubled by the narrowness of the stairway and my size; my weight, as far as I could tell, they didn't even notice.
More important, as far as Loiosh, Rocza, or I could tell, no one saw us.
Once more out into the stench, and I was lying down in the back of a wagon. Meehayi climbed up and took the reins; Father Noij got up next to him, and the brother jumped in next to me. Meehayi gave a cluck, and the horse set off. Loiosh and Rocza flew overhead, watching.
The ride was all right; I bounced a lot but it wasn't too painful.
They unloaded me like cargo and put me on a small boat of some kind; I didn't get a look at it. I was placed in a hammock that was a lot more comfortable than I'd have thought. Father Noij left without a word, or even looking at me. There were sounds of footsteps around me and over my head.
Loiosh and Rocza were jumpy and nervous, but I wasn't, because if something had gone wrong there wasn't anything to be done about it at this point. A certain amount of fatalism is necessary in this business or you'll drive yourself nuts worrying about things you can't help.
I felt the boat push away, and the current take us, and I relaxed, thinking I was safe.
Well I was, for the most part.
I had done a bit of ocean sailing before, and I didn't especially like it; but this was an entirely different sort of experience. If I had my way, I think I'd live on a boat on the river, just to be able to sleep there. I wasn't able to watch us leave Burz behind, but I could imagine it, and I did. My dreams were good that night.
The boat trip lasted three days, during which time I never saw a crewman, nor, indeed, anyone except Meehayi, who brought me my food and helped take care of me in other ways. He said little during that time, which was fine with me; I wasn't feeling especially talkative myself.
I asked him about our progress and he said we should be arriving tomorrow. I asked him if he'd ever been to Fenario before and he said no. I asked if he was excited about being there and he didn't answer. I had the feeling something was bothering him, but I didn't think I was in a position to ask him what it was if he didn't feel like saying.
That evening he came in with a tray with brown bread and a bowl of the fiery pork stew that they'd been serving every evening. As he approached with the food, Loiosh flew over and landed on the side of the bed, interposing himself between me and Meehayi, and hissed.
Meehayi stopped, looked at him, looked at me, and said, "How does he know?"
I don't know if my mouth dropped open, but it felt like it should have. "You were going to try to kill me?"
"I don't know," he said, looking me dead in the eyes without, as far as I could tell, any expression at all. "I was thinking about it." He half turned and lifted his shirt, and I could see the hilt of a very long, very big knife in a sheath around the back of his pants.
I stared at him. "Why?"
"Look at what you've done," he said. "You are an evil man."
"Okay, what have I done?"
"You had Master Chayoor killed, you had people in the Guild arrested, you, you must be behind what happened to the witches too. I don't know." He kept looking at me. "How many people did you have killed?"
It was strange. His voice was so calm. I swear, give me half a year with this kid and I'll make him an assassin. "I haven't laid a finger on anyone," I said.
"How many?"
"In Burz? Seven."
"You killed seven people. Just like that."
"You probably shouldn't kill me," I told him. "It'll make you as bad as me. Not that I think I'm that bad, really. And besides ..." I nodded at Loiosh and Rocza. "I've got defenders."
"I don't know if I would have done it," he said.
"How did you know?"
"How did you know?"
"Oh," I said. "Yeah, I always figured showing away like that would get me in trouble. Well, do you have any idea why I did it?"
He shook his head.
"Would you like me to tell you?"
He hesitated, then nodded.
"Then back away a few feet so Loiosh can relax a little."
He did, and sat down.
"I left home," I said, "for reasons that don't concern you. My home is in the West, in the Empire. But my family is from Fenario. My fath—"
"But you're human."
"Yes, but I'm more Dragaeran than human now. Never mind. My father died when I was young, my mother when I was younger. I never knew her. I wanted to know who she was. Can you understand that?"
He nodded, just barely. He wasn't giving anything,
"I learned that her name was Merss."
"You learned?"
"That's not my name. Though it could be." I shrugged. "In any case, I wanted to find her family—my family. I learned of this town, with its paper mill, and that seemed the place to start looking, as long as I was leaving home anyway. So I came here, with nothing more in mind than seeing my family and introducing myself, to them, maybe getting to know them a little."
I gave a short laugh. "Yeah, that was the plan. So I asked around, and none of the merchants would tell me anything about them; the name seemed to upset them. I met Orbahn, and he— well, it doesn't matter. I was suspicious of him. But he warned me about the Guild, and denied knowing where the Merss family was. Possible, but in a town this size I didn't believe it. A family well known enough that the merchants took the name as a threat, yet he didn't know them? No."