I wonder how unsafe...
He shrank from the thought, but it sprang straight back into his mind. If the water was poisoned and she drank it, she might gain the death she wanted without anyone but him knowing it was his fault. Well, except for the Traitors who left the warning. He felt a shiver go up his spine.
If the slave woman was a Traitor, she might know about the warnings. She might know the water would kill her. He turned to look at her. She gazed back at him, her eyes seeming to say, Yes. Free me.
If she was a Traitor, they must know she was here. Had they provided her with a means to kill herself?
But would the water kill her? He dropped his arm. The Ashaki must be the one adulterating Lorkin’s food. Surely they weren’t trying to kill him? He was of no use to them dead. Most likely the poison in the water was meant to make him sick, or force him to use up more strength by Healing himself. Still, they might reason that the stronger the toxin, the more magic he would be forced to use. It could be a lethal dose.
The woman made a low noise and stretched her unbroken arm toward the bottle. Outside the cell, the watcher eyed them both.
Kill me. Free me.
Lorkin looked from her to the water. He had to make a choice. And there was no right one. No matter what he decided, the consequences would be shocking. No matter what he decided, afterwards he would never be the same person again.
By the way Lilia had admitted to telling Sonea’s aunt that Cery, Gol and Anyi were living under the Guild, it was clear she thought they would be angry. Which is amusing and endearing, considering that she is a magician and we are mere commoners, Cery thought. She had paced a little as she explained how the servant had followed her and the discussion it had led to. Now she looked surprised that nobody was concerned by the news.
“Better that Jonna knows, than anybody else up there,” Anyi said. “In fact, she could be useful.”
“Jonna never liked me,” Cery told them. “But that was back when I was a youngster and she thought I was leading Sonea astray. She knew I was slipping into Sonea’s room now and then these last twenty years, but she never told anybody about it. Good odds she can be trusted.”
“If Sonea trusts her, I reckon she’s all right,” Gol agreed.
Lilia’s eyes had lit up with a peculiar light. “You’ve been seeing Sonea for the last twenty years?” she asked Cery.
He shrugged. “Of course. You didn’t think some rule about associating with criminals would stop her talking to her old friends, did you?”
“No, I can’t see that stopping either of you. I wonder what people would say if they knew. It would be a scandal, I’m sure.” Lilia smiled and sat down next to Anyi. “They’d also finally know why Sonea never got married.”
Cery frowned as he realised she had assumed his visits had been romantic. “Wait. I didn’t... that’s not what I was visiting her for.”
Gol began to laugh. “You certainly made it sound like it was. For a moment there I thought you’d managed to hide something from me all this time.”
Anyi shook her finger at Lilia. “My father was happily married for most of the last twenty years,” she said indignantly. Then she grimaced. “Well, during the second marriage, anyway – but he was married to my mother before that, even if it wasn’t exactly what you’d call ‘happily’ married.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to suggest he was unfaithful,” Lilia apologised.
Gol chuckled in a knowing way.
It was time to change the subject, Cery decided. “I’ve been thinking about what we should do next,” he said. Immediately all eyes turned to him. Anyi looked eager, Lilia relieved and Gol narrowed his eyes, no doubt ready to find the holes in whatever schemes Cery thought up. “What we should do is obvious, once I started thinking less about how we are stuck here and more about how we can turn being here to our advantage.”
Now Lilia was looking a little worried.
“We’re safe here – not because Skellin won’t have guessed we sought the Guild’s protection but because he won’t risk coming here,” he continued. “He’ll assume if we’re here we’re in one of the Guild buildings, under magical protection. If he learned that we were under the Guild, and that the magicians don’t know we’re here, he’d would slip in and kill us all – and feel smug that he did it without the Guild noticing.”
“But the Guild would notice,” Anyi pointed out. “Lilia knows we’re here and will stop him, or if she can’t then she’d get help.”
“Yes, but Skellin doesn’t know that,” Cery pointed out.
Gol gave a low growl. “No,” he said.
Cery turned to his friend, amused by the one-word disapproval. “Why not?”
“This is our last and only safe place,” Gol said. “We can’t risk losing it.”
“We do have one more safe place.” Cery pointed upwards. “The protection Skellin thinks we’re enjoying.” He gestured around them. “This, here, is our last and only chance to lure him into a trap.”
“A trap that, if it goes wrong, will see you dead,” Gol said.
“Lilia will protect him,” Anyi said, her eyes bright with the prospect of finally doing something.
Lilia nodded. “And Kallen. You are planning to tell Kallen, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” Cery replied. “It’s a bit much to ask Lilia to shoulder all the burden of magical protection or to confront two rogue magicians, if Skellin brings his mother along.”
Anyi rubbed her hands together eagerly. “So what will we use as bait?”
Gol snorted. “It’s obvious. Your father intends to lure Skellin here with something he wants more than anything else.”
Lilia’s face went a little pale. “Black magic?”
“No,” Gol said. “Skellin wants to know he has full control of the entire underworld. If he finds out Cery is alive, he’ll know there’s always the danger Cery will try to get it back – with Guild help. He’ll risk a lot to kill him.”
Anyi’s eager grin vanished. She stared at Cery, searching his face as if hoping for a sign he was joking. When he nodded she scowled and crossed her arms. “Gol’s right. That is too much of a risk.”
“What else do you suggest? What else would tempt him to risk coming this close to the Guild?”
Anyi looked at Lilia. “Black magic—”
“He won’t risk trying to capture her. She could be many times stronger than him. In fact, for this to work it has to be obvious that Lilia isn’t here. He might believe the Guild doesn’t know I’m here, but he won’t as easily believe she doesn’t. Lilia will have to be seen somewhere else before he’ll come looking for me.”
“But you’ll need a magician here,” Lilia pointed out. “Or you won’t be able to stop him killing you all.”
He nodded. “Yes. Kallen. Tell him that we have a plan to trap Skellin and ask how we should contact him when we’re ready. Don’t tell him where the trap will be sprung of course. I have a feeling he’d decide keeping people out of these passages is more important than catching Skellin.”
Lilia nodded. Anyi was shaking her head. “I don’t like it,” she said.
Cery crossed his arms. “Why?”
“I...” She looked away and scowled. Abruptly she got up, grabbed a lamp and stalked out of the room.
The room was silent for several heartbeats. Lilia glanced at Cery and Gol, then hurried after her.