“Come upstairs,” she said. The little room was underneath a staircase, and they climbed to a floor two storeys up. Anyi knocked on a door and a voice called out, “Come in.” Smiling at Lilia, she opened the door and moved inside.
“Here she is, Donia,” she said, waving at Lilia. A middle-aged woman was standing in front of a half-circle of guest room chairs. “This is Lilia.”
The woman bowed. “Lady Lilia, I think is the correct title.”
Lilia flushed. “Not exactly. I’m not a magician any more. At least, not a Guild one.”
Anyi gestured to the woman. “This is Donia, the owner of this bolhouse and a childhood friend of Black Magician Sonea.”
Lilia glanced at Anyi in surprise. “Is that true?”
“Not exactly.” Donia shook her head and smiled sadly. “I became the wife of one of her friends, and he died some years ago. Please sit down. I’m having some food brought up. Would you like some wine?”
Lilia hesitated. The last time she’d drunk wine had been the night before Naki’s father had died. Memories of that night were interrupted as Anyi shooed her toward the seats. Lilia let herself be herded into a chair.
“I’ll have some bol,” Anyi told Donia. “If you’re offering.”
Donia smiled. “Of course. Would you prefer bol, Lilia? I’m afraid the water here isn’t as drinkable as it is in the nicer parts of the city.”
“Wine would be nice,” Lilia replied, remembering the sickly sweet drink the thugs had given to her and managing not to shudder.
Moving to a narrow table, Donia tapped a small gong. Footsteps sounded outside the door, then it opened and a younger woman peered inside, an eyebrow raised in question.
“A mug of bol, two glasses and a bottle of the good wine,” Donia said. The woman nodded and closed the door. With a sigh, Donia sat down. “She won’t be long. So … Lilia. Can you tell us how you came to be in the city, heading for a meeting with Skellin?”
The question was asked gently, and Lilia guessed that if she said she couldn’t answer, the woman would accept that. But she felt an urge to speak, to tell somebody what had happened to her, and to find out if her decisions had been right or not. Was it wise to talk to this stranger? It seemed that every time someone wanted her to do something, it brought more trouble. First it was Naki, urging her to try to learn black magic, then it was Lorandra, talking her into escaping from the Lookout.
I don’t know Donia. I don’t know Anyi either, yet for some reason I trust her. She could have taken me straight to the Guild, but she didn’t. Doing what Anyi had told her to do had actually got her out of trouble, so far. I don’t have much choice but to trust her, anyway. It’s that, or try to find Naki on my own.
“You can trust Donia,” Anyi said. “She’s looked after me for years. The more we know, the better chance we’ll have of finding your friend.”
Lilia nodded. She started at the night she and Naki had gone to the library and tried the instructions on using black magic. She started there, because she had to tell them about the murder of Naki’s father, which might be connected to Naki’s disappearance. From there she told them everything up to the point where Anyi had rescued her from the impending meeting with Skellin. The only times she paused were when the servant woman returned with the drinks, and two male servants brought in the food. The wine loosened her tongue even more, and she confessed to some darker thoughts that she had kept to herself, like the fear that she had killed Naki’s father and somehow the roet and wine had made her forget it.
“Rot,” Anyi said with unhidden disgust. “It wouldn’t surprise me if it made you kill him.”
Lilia winced. “So you think I did?” she asked in a small voice.
Anyi’s eyes widened. “No! I don’t think you could do that. It’s just … it makes people do things they wouldn’t normally do. I don’t think it makes them forget that they’ve done it, though.” Then her expression became thoughtful. “Have you had any rot since that night?”
Lilia shook her head.
“And do you … want more. Do you crave it?”
Lilia considered, then shook her head again.
Anyi’s eyebrows rose. “Interesting. It’s not supposed to be different for magicians.”
“Some people aren’t as affected by craving as others,” Donia said.
Anyi looked at the woman. “You sound sure of that.”
Donia nodded. “I’ve seen it with the customers. Some people can’t stop, others can. It’s the same as drinking, though I’d wager that rot hooks more people than drink does.” She shrugged. “It’s rotten luck if you’re one of those people, or their family.” She looked at Lilia, and her brows creased in consideration. “That’s quite an adventure you’ve had. Lots of things don’t make sense. You say you learned black magic easily, but your friend followed the same instructions and didn’t. Her father was killed by black magic, but neither you nor your friend did it – which must be true because Sonea read her mind, too. There are only two other black magicians, but the Guild doesn’t think they did it. So there must be another black magician out there.”
“If there is, Skellin isn’t controlling them or Lorandra wouldn’t have been so keen to get Lilia to him,” Anyi reasoned. “And he can’t be the black magician, for the same reason.”
“Naki’s father was killed after Lorandra was imprisoned,” Donia pointed out. “If Lorandra knew Skellin had learned black magic, Sonea would have learned that when she read her mind. If Skellin learned black magic after her capture she wouldn’t know about it.”
Anyi’s eyes widened. “I hadn’t thought of that. Who knows what he would have done with Lilia if he hadn’t needed her? Probably killed her.”
“If he could. She is a black magician, too,” Donia reminded her.
“Ah, but Lilia hasn’t been strengthening herself by taking magic from others.” Anyi turned to Lilia. “Have you?”
Lilia shook her head.
“And this other black magician has, because he killed Naki’s father.” Anyi grimaced. “Maybe it is a good thing the meeting didn’t take place. What if there had been a black magician there, and he was stronger than Sonea and the other magicians?”
Donia spread her hands. “What’s done is done.”
Lilia looked from the older to the younger woman.
“Sonea was going to be at the meeting?”
Anyi winced. “Yes. Well, not so much at the meeting as interrupting it. You see, I was working as a bodyguard for Rek so I could spy on him. My real employer – the person who is going to help you find Naki – has been helping Sonea search for Skellin.”
Lilia frowned. “You work for the Guild?”
“No. I work for someone who works for the Guild – but don’t worry. I’m not going to turn you over to them.”
“Why not?” Lilia asked.
“Because … because I promised to find Naki for you, and I don’t break promises.” Anyi smiled crookedly. “She must be very special to you, for you to risk so much for her.”
Unexpectedly, Lilia’s face began to warm. She nodded and looked away, pushing aside the memory of a kiss. “She’s my friend. She’d do the same for me.”
“You need to tell Cery,” Donia said.
Anyi sat up straight. “No. He’ll just hand her over to Sonea.”
Donia smiled. “He’ll want to, but you’ll have to convince him otherwise.”
Leaning back in her chair, Anyi brought her hands together and drummed the tips of her fingers against each other. “I’ll tell him I promised Lilia he’d find Naki. Surely he wouldn’t want me to break a promise.”