He let her hand go and looked at her closely. "If we get through this," he said, "I'll take you as my apprentice." Her eyes went wide. Tycho held up a cautioning finger. "But," he said, "I want you to go home. Right now. Whatever we do, it's going to be dangerous. We might very well not come back. If you're in your father's house, you'll be safe."
Laera held her head high. "Uncle Jacerryl lived in my father's house."
"And if you hurry back, you can claim some of his things before anyone's the wiser. I'll send you a message when it's safe." Tycho rose and started to pull her up.
She stayed right where she was, her jaw set and her eyes defiant. "If you're going to rescue Veseene, I want to go with you." She tugged her hand out of Tycho's. "If you're not going to rescue her, I don't want to be your apprentice."
"Laera…" Tycho growled.
Li's hand clapped him on the shoulder. The Shou's expression was grim. "Do you really want an apprentice who runs at the first sign of danger, Tycho?" He looked at Laera. "Will you slow us down?" he asked. "If you're captured, will we need to fight for you?" Laera's eyes darted from the Shou's hard face to Tycho's and back again. She swallowed.
"No," she said.
"Then I say you should come with us." He looked at Tycho.
The bard sighed and pressed his knuckles against his forehead. "All right," he said through gritted teeth-and glanced up sharply. "Wait-come with us where?" he asked.
"To make a delivery to Brin." Li opened his shirt and shook his left arm out of its sleeve. With his right hand, he loosened the knot that bound the Yellow Silk around his arm and pulled it free. Light shimmered as the folds of the silk fell apart; where the light played across his face, Tycho could feel the warmth of a summer's day.
The Shou held the Yellow Silk out to him.
Tycho stared at it. "Li," he breathed, "I can't-"
"-ask me for this? " Li's lips curled ever so slightly into a smile. "When you're in a small room, even a whisper is a shout." His hand didn't waver. "You don't need to ask. Yu Mao disgraced the name of Kuang. It's my duty to return honor to it."
"But this…" Tycho hesitated. "Yesterday, you asked me for help. I feel like you're doing more to help me."
"If that bothers you, I'll say that I'm doing it for Ve-seene. Or that I'm doing it for myself-I still need to ask Brin about Yu Mao's last days."
"If he'll talk to you without trying to capture you."
Li shrugged. "A chance I have to take. With luck, his answer will be that the captain's curse came to pass and Yu Mao lies with the Sow under the sea." He met Tycho's gaze with quiet calm. "Better me than a stranger; better me than no one at all-but better still that Yu Mao has already stood before the Lords of Karma and received their judgment. Thank you for giving me the chance to realize that."
He reached out and grabbed Tycho's hand, thrusting the Silk into it and folding his fingers around it. Tycho almost gasped-the Yellow Silk was warm! Just holding it, he could feel the energy within the woven threads, at once both as gentle and as intense as the sun itself, the pride of an old and honest family. He looked down at the precious, wondrous artifact in his hand-and up, a fierce smile on his face.
"Bind me," he said, "I've had just about enough of Brin. He's not going to get his hands on this and he's not going to get away with threatening Veseene." He turned around and reached up above the fireplace with his free hand to pull down his strilling. "If he wants a song, he's got one."
CHAPTER 14
Sunset raked across the west end of Spandeliyon's waterfront, lending warmth to the light if not to the air. The snow might be melting, but it was still cold enough that every exhaled breath produced a little cloud of vapor and every inhaled breath sank a chill into Li's nose and throat.
He said nothing as they-he, Tycho, and Laera-walked. The streets were empty, as empty as they had been two nights ago when he first arrived. Then, however, they had been empty because of the hour and the beginning of a snow flurry. Now they were empty because of a storm of a different kind: the fire at the Wench's Ease had drawn everyone who might otherwise be on the street to either fight the blaze or watch it. Thick smoke still reached into the sky, though it had gotten no thicker and the biting smell of it no stronger. The fire was slowly coming under control.
If Brin had planned the fire to get everyone off the streets as well as bring Tycho running to the scene, he couldn't have done a better job. The streets were so quiet that Li could hear the waves seething against the docks a short distance away.
As they approached the Eel, Laera stared at the sinuous form on the festhall's wall and shivered. Li touched her shoulder. "That's only a painting," he reminded her. "Don't be afraid of it. Be afraid of what we'll face."
She gulped. Tycho glowered at him.
"No more reassuring talks, Li. I don't think they're helping." The bard checked the strilling on his back and the dagger at his belt and glanced from Li to Laera. "Ready?"
Laera nodded. Li nodded, too. His fingers curled and uncurled around the scabbard of his dao. Tycho shoved against the Eel's painted door.
To Li's surprise, the Eel was as quiet within as the street without. No desperate drunkards, no brass-clad women, no sorrowful gamblers. The place had been cleared out entirely. There wasn't even any sign of Brin-not that the hin's absence came as that much of a surprise. Tycho had reasoned everything out before they left Bakers Lane. Brin will wait for us in the sty behind the Eel. It's where he always does his business.
One figure moved in the dim light of the empty festhall. The big bartender was at his post. He jerked his bald head toward the back of the Eel. Li drew a deep breath. So far it seemed Tycho was right. He hoped that the bard was wrong on his next guess, though.
He'll have us outnumbered. Lander will be there for sure, and likely Serg, Bor, Nico, and Ovel, too. And Black Scratch. With Brin, that will be seven against three.
Tycho had counted Laera to be polite, but not even she believed him. It would be seven to two. A hard fight, hand-to-hand. They would need Tycho's magic-and the magic of the Yellow Silk. Tycho had protested the use of the ancient artifact-they were trying to protect it, weren't they?-but Li had argued him down. His father had entrusted him with the Silk for use in desperate situations. What was this situation if not desperate?
Better to use the Silk than surrender it without a fight, he thought as well, especially when the Silk wasn't the only thing at stake. Tycho hadn't been able to guess at Veseene's condition or circumstances in Brin's grasp.
Li's fingers curled against his dao again. He needed Brin to answer one question for him. And after that…
"Li?" Tycho nudged him. "Are you all right?"
"I'm almost done here, Tycho." He looked down at the bard. "One way or the other, I'll be done. I'll have an answer about Yu Mao. If Brin says he's dead, I can go back to Keelung. If Brin says he's alive somewhere else, I'll be leaving Spandeliyon to find him."
"And if Brin kills us before he gives you an answer?" Tycho asked in Shou.
Li glanced at Laera, but of course the young woman didn't understand the language. His mouth twitched in a grim smile. "I thought you said no more reassuring talks?" he said to Tycho.
"You're not scared?"
"Witless," said Li, quoting Tycho's own words back at him. "It's the only smart way." He held out his hand in the Western manner. "If Brin kills us, Tycho, then I'm glad to have met you."