“I wouldn’t have thought he was.” Singe ground his teeth together and forced himself to look around the street. The crowds were creeping back now that the violence was over, eyes wide with fear and curiosity. A number of less than scrupulous types were looking greedily at the magical arrows that the battle had left scattered about. Singe thought the groaning mercenaries would probably recover quickly enough to take care of themselves, though it was too bad that Mithas hovered out of reach. The sorcerer’s vengeful gaze seemed fixed on him. Singe put his back to him and went to Dandra and Moon. He was developing an uneasy feeling around Moon, but the young kalashtar was right-the Watch would come to investigate.
He also likely knew the streets of the area better than any of them. Singe swallowed his pride, if not his caution. “Moon, show us a way out of here.”
Moon nodded once and, still holding Dandra’s hand, started along the street at a swift trot. Dandra twisted around to look back at Singe and he felt kesh touch his mind. This isn’t right, Dandra said inside his head. Something’s wrong. Moon shouldn’t have been able to-
I know, said Singe. But we’ll have to worry about that when we’re away from here.
The street wound like an enormous balcony along the side of the great tower, a ledge on the side of a mountain. At the end toward which Moon ran, it met the wall of another tower and became a tunnel lit by everbright lanterns. The crowds were somewhat thinner inside, though the walls of the tunnel were lined with as many shops and stalls as if there were open sky overhead instead of stone. Between a fruit vendor and a cobbler, Moon turned sharply and plunged down a broad staircase. Like the tunnel-street, the stairs were also lined with stalls, precariously balanced. A stiff breeze blew up the stairs, bearing the warm air and strong smells of an even lower thoroughfare.
Singe cursed, and called out. “Moon! Where are we going?”
Moon, already partway down the stairs, didn’t show any sign of hearing him. Dandra, however, planted her feet and dragged him to a stop. Moon blinked at her in surprise, then glared at Singe and Ashi as they caught up. “You told me to show you a way out.”
“Hanamelk said we’d find refuge from Mithas at the Gathering Light,” Singe told him. “I think we should go there, and I’m pretty sure that’s up, not down.”
Moon’s mouth twisted. “You don’t want to go to the Gathering Light. You’d just end up stuck in there. Besides, you don’t need refuge from Mithas anymore.”
“He’s not dead. He’ll come after us again.” Singe gave Moon a hard look. “Do you know somewhere better than the Gathering Light?”
“Better? Maybe not better.” The young man’s twisted lips seemed to slip and curl up into a sneer. “But it’s somewhere only I can take you.”
“Dah’mir,” Ashi said. “You said you knew where to find Dah’mir!”
Singe’s breath hissed between his teeth. “Moon, we want to get away from danger, not go running toward it. Even if we didn’t, we wouldn’t take you. This isn’t a game.”
“You do want to find him, though, don’t you?” Moon met his gaze. “Are you going to wait to see if the seers locate him? I know where he is right now. And I know this isn’t a game. Didn’t I just save Tetkashtai?”
His grip tightened on Dandra’s hand. She tore it free of his fingers. “Dandra,” she said sharply, “not Tetkashtai.”
He kept his eyes on Singe. “What will it be? I can show you where Dah’mir is-or you can run back to the Gathering Light and hide.”
Singe looked at Moon, his eyes narrow. They needed to find Dah’mir, but he wasn’t at all certain that he trusted or even believed Moon. Something was very wrong with him. Singe might have believed that the kalashtar had developed a young man’s love for Dandra, but his sudden devotion was bordering on obsession.
And yet he offered them a chance to locate Dah’mir. How could they pass that over? They didn’t need to confront the dragon-they couldn’t hope to confront him-but maybe they could get some idea of what he was doing.
The wizard glanced at Dandra. Her face was drawn taut and he could see the same questions in her eyes. He raised an eyebrow. She hesitated-then nodded. Singe looked to Ashi, and she nodded as well. He turned back to Moon. “How is it you know where he is?”
Moon’s grin showed his teeth. “Fan Adar is boring. As soon as I’m allowed, I’m leaving it for good, but I’ve already gone places in Sharn that kalashtar don’t normally go. Nevchaned would choke if he knew. I’ve seen Dah’mir’s herons in only two places. Overlook is one of them.”
“And the other?”
“Will you go if I tell you?”
Singe nodded.
Moon’s eyes glittered, and he almost shivered with excitement. “Malleon’s Gate,” he said. “There’s a place they go to roost on the edge of the old city. Now come!”
He grabbed for Dandra’s hand again, but she managed to elude his grasp, stepping to stand beside Singe. Moon’s smiled faltered, and his face hardened with jealous rage. “As you wish,” he said tightly and turned to continue on down the stairs. “Follow me. There’s a lift near here that will take us down to the lower city.”
“I don’t like this,” Dandra murmured.
“Neither do I,” said Singe. He started after the young kalashtar. “But if Moon’s thinking of turning on us, we’ll be ready for him. That power he used on Mithas-is there any way to defend against it?”
“Hit him before he can hit you.” Dandra stared at Moon. “We shouldn’t be doing this. We should get him back to Nevchaned. Something is wrong-”
“Hush!” said Ashi. “Listen!” She pointed at Moon.
The noise on the lower street came up the stairs like smoke, growing louder as they descended. It took a moment for Singe to pick out the noise that Ashi was hearing. When he did, though, a shiver crawled slowly up his spine. Beside him, Dandra tensed.
Moon was humming absently, his lips shaping soft words. It could have been the happy tune of a young man setting off on an adventure-except that it wasn’t.
“Aahyi-ksiksiksi-kladakla-yahaahyi-”
As the four figures moved off and down toward the lower street, Vennet raised his hat and brushed aside the rack of scarves that had hidden him in one of the stair-side stalls. Singe’s call to this kalashtar named Moon had been all the warning there’d been-the shock of the wizard’s familiar voice had nearly brought Vennet around with his cutlass drawn. It had taken tremendous self-control to dodge to the side of the stairs and spy on his enemies instead. Some might have said it was luck that they’d stopped within earshot of his hiding place too, but Vennet knew better. He’d called on the wind that blew along the stairs, commanding it to strengthen and stay their progress. And now he knew not only that their enemies had followed them to Sharn, but what they intended to do.
“Clever, clever,” he whispered to himself. Dah’mir had advised him to learn and learn he had.
Standing in the shadows behind the stall, Biish stirred and spoke. “Friends of yours, Storm?”
“Oh, yes. Old friends. The kinds of friends you’re always happy to see again.” His hands tightened convulsively.
“Who was this Dah’mir they talked about?” Biish grunted.
“That’s not your concern.” Vennet watched Singe, Dandra, and Ashi vanish into the crowd. He’d noticed the children of the Adaran neighborhood harassing Dah’mir’s herons and wondered at it-now it was clear that it was some clever ruse to mask their enemies’ presence in Sharn.
How much did they know? How much had they told the kalashtar? If they were still just looking for Dah’mir, they couldn’t know everything. They had managed to elude the watching herons, though, and they might actually uncover his and Dah’mir’s hiding place. They could be dangerous, although it didn’t seem like the young kalashtar could present much of a threat-he was clearly insane.