Yaldin smiled crookedly. “Lord Davin thinks we’ll have a few warm days before winter sets in.”
Dannyl scowled. “Davin has been saying that for weeks.”
“He didn’t say when it would happen.” Yaldin chuckled. “Just that it would happen.”
Rothen smiled. There was an old saying in Kyralia: “The sun seeks not to please Kings, nor even magicians.” Lord Davin, an eccentric Alchemist, had begun a study of the weather three years ago, determined to prove otherwise. He had been supplying the Guild with ‘predictions’ recently, though Rothen suspected his rate of success had more to do with chance than genius.
The main door to the room opened and Rothen’s servant, Tania, entered. She carried a tray to the table and set it down. On it was a set of small cups decorated with gold and a plate piled high with sweet, elaborately decorated cakes.
“Sumi, my lords?” she asked.
Dannyl and Yaldin nodded eagerly. As Rothen ushered them to seats, Tania measured spoonfuls of dried leaves into a gold pot and added hot water.
Yaldin sighed and shook his head. “To be honest, I don’t know why I volunteered to go today. I wouldn’t have if Ezrille hadn’t insisted. I said to her ‘With only half of us out there, what chance do we have?’ She replied, ‘Better than if none of you went.’ ”
Rothen smiled. “Your wife is a sensible lady.”
“I’d have thought more of us would be interested in helping after the King’s Advisers announced that, if she isn’t a rogue, he wants her trained,” Dannyl said.
Yaldin grimaced. “I suspect some withdrew their support in protest. They don’t want a slum girl in the Guild.”
“Well, they have no choice now. And we’ve gained one new helper,” Rothen reminded them as he accepted a cup from Tania.
“Fergun.” Dannyl made a rude noise. “The girl should have thrown harder.”
“Dannyl!” Rothen shook a finger at the younger magician. “Fergun is the only reason we still have half the Guild looking for her. He was very persuasive at last night’s Meet.”
Yaldin smiled grimly. “I doubt he’ll stay that way for long. I went straight to the baths when we finally came in yesterday, but Ezrille said she could still smell the slums on me afterward.”
“I hope our little runaway magician doesn’t smell that bad,” Dannyl sent Rothen a crooked grin, “or I think the first lesson we’ll have to teach her is how to wash.”
Remembering the girl’s starved, dirty face, eyes wide with realization, Rothen shivered. All night he had dreamed of the slums. He had roamed through thin-walled hovels, watched by sick-looking people, or old men shivering in their rags, or skinny children eating half-rotten food, twisted cripples ...
A polite knock interrupted his thoughts. He turned toward the door and gave a mental command. It swung inward and a young man in the garb of a messenger stepped into the room.
“Lord Dannyl.” The messenger bowed low to the younger magician.
“Speak,” Dannyl ordered.
“Captain Garrin sent a message for you, my lord. He said to tell you that the guards Ollin and Keran were found robbed and beaten. The man you were seeking does not wish to speak to magicians.”
Dannyl stared at the servant, then frowned as he considered the news. As the silence lengthened the young man shuffled his feet uneasily.
“Are they badly injured?” Rothen asked.
The messenger shook his head. “Bruised, my lord. Nothing broken.”
Dannyl waved a hand dismissively. “Thank the captain for his message. You may go.”
The messenger bowed again and left.
“What was that all about?” asked Yaldin when the door had closed.
Dannyl pursed his lips. “It seems the Thieves are not well disposed toward us.”
Yaldin snorted softly, and reached for a cake. “I should think not! Why would they-?” The old magician stopped and narrowed his eyes at the younger magician. “You didn’t...”
Dannyl shrugged. “It was worth trying. After all, they’re supposed to know everything that goes on in the slums.”
“You tried to contact the Thieves!”
“I didn’t break any laws that I know of.”
Yaldin groaned and shook his head.
“No, Dannyl,” Rothen said, “but the King and the Houses will hardly look kindly on the Guild conducting business with the Thieves.”
“Who said we were conducting business?” Dannyl smiled and took a sip from his cup. “Think about it. The Thieves know the slums far better than we could ever hope to. They’re in a better position to find the girl than we—and I’m sure they’d prefer to look for her themselves than have us snooping around in their domain. We have only to make it appear to the King that we have persuaded or intimidated the Thieves into turning the girl over and we’ll have all the approval we need.”
Rothen frowned. “You’ll have a long and difficult time convincing the Higher Magicians to agree.”
“They don’t have to know for now.”
Rothen crossed his arms. “Yes they do,” he said firmly.
Dannyl winced. “I suppose they do, but I’m sure they would forgive me if it worked, and I gave them a way to justify it to the King.”
Yaldin snorted. “Perhaps it’s just as well it didn’t work.”
Rising, Rothen walked to a window. He wiped a little frost away and peered through at the neatly laid out, carefully maintained gardens. He thought of the shivering, hungry people he had seen. Was that how she lived? Had their search driven her out of the dubious shelter of some hovel and into the streets? Winter was coming, and she could easily die from cold or starvation long before her powers grew unstable and dangerous. He drummed his fingers on the window sill.
“There are several groups of Thieves, aren’t there?”
“Yes,” Dannyl replied.
“Does this man you tried to contact speak for all of them?”
“I don’t know,” Dannyl admitted. “Perhaps not.”
Rothen turned to regard his friend.
“It wouldn’t hurt to find out, would it?”
Yaldin stared at Rothen, then slapped a hand to his forehead. “You two are going to get us all in trouble,” he groaned.
Dannyl patted the old man’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Yaldin. Only one of us need go.” He grinned at Rothen. “Leave it to me. In the meantime, let’s give the Thieves a reason to help us. I’d like to have a closer look at those underground passages we found yesterday. I’d wager that they’d prefer we had no reason to be snooping around down there.”
“I don’t like these underground rooms,” Donia said. “They got no windows. Makes me feel all creepy.”
Sonea frowned and scratched at the tiny bites that she had gained during the night. Her aunt regularly washed their beds and blankets with an infusion of herbs to rid them of bugs, and for once Sonea missed her aunt’s fastidious ways. She sighed and looked around the dusty room.
“I hope Cery won’t get in any rub for hiding me here.”
Donia shrugged. “He’s been doing stuff for Opia and the girls at the Dancing Slippers for years. They don’t mind you staying in their storeroom for a few days. His ma worked here, y’know.” Donia placed a large wooden bowl on the table in front of Sonea. “Put your head down.”
Sonea obeyed, and winced as icy cold water rushed over her head. After several rinses, Donia took the bowl away, now full of cloudy green water. She rubbed at Sonea’s hair with a threadbare towel before standing back and examining her work critically.
“Hasn’t done a thing,” Donia said, shaking her head.
Sonea lifted a hand to touch her hair. It was still sticky from the paste Donia had applied. “Nothing?”
Donia leaned closer and plucked at Sonea’s hair. “Well, it’s a bit lighter, but not that you’d see straight away.” She sighed. “It’s not like we can cut it much shorter. But...” she stepped back and shrugged. “If the magicians are out for a girl, like people are saying, they might not pick you, anyhow. You look like a boy with your hair like that, at least at the first look.” She put her hands on her hips and stepped back. “Why’d you cut it so short, then?”