“Good,” Anyi said, more to herself than to Lilia. “I was hoping for snow. It’ll keep people off the street.” She flipped the hood of her coat up over her head.
“So what’s the second reason?” Lilia asked.
Anyi frowned. “Second reason for what?”
“For avoiding this meeting.”
“Oh. Yes.” Anyi grimaced. “Even though he said he wouldn’t, I wasn’t completely sure he wouldn’t hand you over.”
To the Guild, Lilia finished. “So you’re loyal, but you don’t trust him.”
“Oh, I do,” Anyi assured her. “I’d trust him with my life. Trouble is, I wouldn’t trust him with most other people’s.”
“That’s not very reassuring.”
“I realise that. But you should know. He is what he is.”
A possibility flashed into Lilia’s mind.
“A Thief?”
Anyi glanced at Lilia and frowned. “Was I that obvious?”
Lilia smiled. “Either that, or I’m getting better at this.”
“Do you mind?”
“No. I figured I’d have to work with some shady types in order to find Naki.”
“I thought you might, since you were willing to trust that murderous woman even though you knew who she was.”
“I didn’t trust L— … that woman,” Lilia corrected. “I took a chance, because I couldn’t think of any other way to find Naki.” She looked at Anyi. “So how do you know Cery won’t hand me over to the Guild today?”
Anyi chuckled. “I gave him a good reason to keep you.”
“What’s that?”
“We’re going to use you as bait to trap Skellin.”
Lilia stumbled to a halt. “You’re going to—”
“Anyi!”
A woman had stepped into the alley ahead, where it met another street. They both turned to stare at her. She was tall and very thin, and other than a cursory glance at Lilia, her attention was fixed on Anyi.
Anyi cursed quietly, then trudged forward.
“Heyla. Are you following me?”
The woman’s stare was unwavering. “Yes. I want to talk to you.”
Anyi crossed her arms. “Talk then.”
Heyla glanced at Lilia. “Privately.”
Sighing, Anyi walked to the corner and stopped. “This is private enough.”
The woman looked like she might protest, then shook her head and hurried over to join Anyi.
The pair began to talk quietly. Lilia was only able to make out a few words. Heyla said “I’m sorry” several times. Watching the woman’s face, Lilia read guilt, regret and, oddly, hunger. The woman’s shoulders slumped. Her hands moved quickly, and at one point she reached out toward Anyi, only to snatch her hand back.
Anyi, on the other hand, looked calm and attentive, but something about the tension in her jaw and the narrowing of her eyes suggested she was holding back anger. The longer Lilia watched Anyi, the more she grew convinced she was seeing something else in her rescuer’s face. She couldn’t decide if it was hope or pain. Then the woman said something, and Anyi winced and shook her head.
The woman suddenly pointed at Anyi aggressively and said something in a low voice.
Anyi laughed bitterly. “If you can find him, tell him he’s a bastard. He’ll know why.”
The woman turned to look at Lilia again. “What about her? Is she a client? Should I warn her to keep her bedroom locked? Or is she my replacement?”
“Well, she hasn’t turned into a traitorous, thieving rot-addict yet,” Anyi snarled in reply.
Heyla whirled around to face Anyi, one hand curling into a fist, but Anyi, with the slightest shift of her stance, was suddenly poised and ready for a fight. Heyla paused, and stepped back.
“Whore!” she spat, then stalked off down the street.
Anyi watched the woman until she had disappeared far down the thoroughfare, then she beckoned to Lilia. “We’d better keep an eye out,” she said. “She might try to follow us – or have someone else watching.”
She headed back down the alley, then took a narrow, covered route between two buildings into another alley.
“Who is she?”
“An old friend, believe it or not.” Anyi sighed. “We were close once, until she tried to sell me off to our enemies for money to buy rot.”
“What did she want?”
“Money. Again.”
“She threatened you?”
“Yes.”
“If you’ll forgive me saying this,” Lilia said. “But you’re having about as much luck in choosing who you associate with as I am.”
Anyi didn’t smile. Instead she looked sad, and Lilia regretted her words.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. I’m over her,” Anyi said. She quickened her pace. Lilia lagged behind, then forced her legs to move faster so she could catch up.
“I’m over her”, she thought. That sounds like what people say when … Wait. What was it Heyla had said? “Should I warn her to keep her bedroom locked? Or is she my replacement?” That could mean something else but …
As another possible meaning behind the woman’s words dawned on her, she could not help looking ahead, at her guide, and speculating. Perhaps I’m wrong about her and Cery. Anyi was no great beauty, but she was … impressive. Poised, strong and smart. In fact, if it weren’t for Naki … no, don’t think that.
Because not only was it disloyal to Naki, but it would make working with Anyi much too distracting.
Looking pale and ill, Tayend moved to the railing to join Dannyl and Achati. He’d decided that morning that he would only take a half-dose of the seasickness cure, so that he wouldn’t be groggy when they arrived at their destination. Dannyl knew with fatalistic certainty that Tayend would be wide awake by the evening, and keeping him and Achati from having any private time together. Not that any private time would come to much, since Achati warned us that our next host is a … how did he put it? … a “disapproving prude”.
“Welcome to Duna,” Achati declared, gesturing toward the port ahead.
The Inava was sailing toward a wide valley. On either side, cliffs rose in staggered, weathered layers. In the centre, a wide, muddy river poured out into the sea, the grey-brown water cutting a swathe through the salt water for some distance before it mixed with the ocean.
Achati had been not entirely accurate in his declaration. The valley was not the beginning of the Duna lands. The ship had been sailing past them for the last few days, though there was no agreed boundary point. The valley ahead was where most visitors disembarked when they arrived by sea, and it was the closest thing the Duna had to a capital city.
Unlike the dry land and rough cliffs they had seen to their left for most of the journey, the valley was green with vegetation. Houses had been built on high stilts, the level of floodwaters suggested by stains on the wood high above the height of a man. Ladders provided access to some, while rough staircases made of bundled and bound-together logs had been added to others. The gathering of huts was called Haniva, and the valley was known as Naguh Valley.
The captain called out to the slaves, who began to scamper around the ship. The anchor went down and sails were furled.
“We can’t come any closer,” Achati explained. “The silt from the yearly floods makes the water too shallow. Occasionally storms pass through and wash the build-up away, but since they’d probably destroy any dock we might build it’s not worth trying to keep the bay clear with magic.”