Byrd held his guard, watching Magiere and Chap, but his answer was to Leesil. "I told you before, my goals have nothing to do with you."
"Faris knows about Leesil," Magiere continued. "He may even know where Leesil is… and that means Darmouth knows. Why else would his men try to take me, except to get to Leesil?"
Leesil didn't know how Magiere had learned all she knew, but events were starting to add up. He'd halfheartedly tried to believe that Byrd wasn't using him-yet. He'd dragged Magiere, Chap, and Wynn into danger. Even when he'd wanted to get them out again, he'd given in to their risky plans on the thin hope of finally learning what had happened to his parents. And Byrd was the one who'd pushed for that plan to proceed.
Leesil ached inside as he felt his past bleeding into the present. His selfish weakness had put Wynn into Darmouth's hands. But there was also more at stake than a search for two long-missing people. Much more.
"You think killing Darmouth will help anyone here?" Leesil asked, now that Byrd was forced to listen. "You'll start a bloodbath. The other provinces and even his own officers will tear one another apart to take his place. Are you prepared for 'your people' to get caught in the middle? Warlords and petty tyrants fighting each other at the front gates of Venjetz? You're deluded if you think you can stop it. As bad as things are, Darmouth holds this province together."
Before Byrd answered, someone rattled the inn's front door as if trying to open it. Loud banging followed. Byrd started for the curtained doorway, but Chap snarled until he stopped.
"We're getting Wynn back," Magiere said. "And you're going to help."
"And if she dies," Leesil added to Byrd, "so do you."
Magiere glanced his way. Even with irises deeply black, Leesil saw her anger falter.
"I need to see who's come," Byrd replied flatly, unaffected. "It might be news of your friend."
Leesil hesitated, then motioned Chap out of the way. The dog reluctantly backed up and Byrd headed out. Leesil followed to the curtain, watching through the crack.
Byrd paused at the front door with his hand on the latch. "Who's there?"
"Baron Emel Milea," a muffled voice answered. "I have a message for someone here."
Byrd unlocked the door, and a slender man stepped inside. His open cloak exposed a green tunic and a straight saber sheathed on his hip.
Leesil knew him.
Older now, with thinning hair, this red-haired nobleman had chased him through the forest beyond the city walls. Eight years ago, Leesil had barely eluded the baron among the night trees. He also remembered Emel leading the mount of a young girl given to him by Darmouth-an orphaned fifteen-year-old girl. Hedi, the only survivor of Leesil's first service to Darmouth, had been Emel's reward for constant loyalty.
"You are the proprietor?" the baron asked.
Byrd nodded.
Tentatively, Baron Milea held out a folded parchment. Byrd took it and, upon opening the first fold, stopped to read something. He then opened the sheet completely and read further what was written on the parchment's full page. The barest hint of surprise crossed his features.
"Where did you get this?" he asked.
"Lady Progae. She is held at the keep… for her protection. Explain what this is about."
"Leesil, Magiere," Byrd called. "Get out here."
Leesil pushed the curtain aside, and Magiere and Chap followed him into the common room. Clover Roll perched on a table and only blinked as Chap passed by. At the sight of Leesil, Emel's mouth opened slightly.
"You?" he breathed.
"This is Baron Emel Milea." Byrd gestured toward his guest. "He brought us something interesting."
"I know who he is," Leesil answered with a glare. "Lady Progae- Hedi Progae-is your mistress."
Magiere glanced at him in alarm. Perhaps she remembered the name Paris had spoken before Leesil's night of madness.
Baron Milea nearly snorted in disgust. "Do not feign concern for her welfare. I can guess what you are."
Leesil jerked a stiletto from his left wrist. "You won't have to guess."
"Both of you stop it!" Byrd stepped between them, but it was Leesil he faced. "Magiere, make him see some sense… if you want to help your little sage."
Leesil remained where he was, and all Magiere did was step in next to him.
"What's this about?" she demanded of Byrd.
Byrd folded the parchment in half and handed it to Leesil. A few lines were scrawled in Belaskian on its back.
Take this to the farthest inn south of the merchant district. I will join you soon.
Leesil flicked the sheet fully open. More was written therein, obviously intended for Byrd.
Leave the inn, or you will be arrested shortly past sunset. I have learned there is a way to escape the keep from the lower level. I do not know more, except that it will take me to the woods on
the lake's far shore. Take the bearer of this note, and go there to watch for me tonight. If my guide is correct, we have our way in.
Leesil stared at the parchment. Hedi Progae, the baron's slave consort was no fool. She had purposefully kept all names out of the message, in case it was found.
"A hidden path from the keep," Leesil whispered to no one in particular. "With the city gate closed and outer wall alerted against escape."
This was why his parents had fled there on the night he'd abandoned them.
"What?" Magiere asked. "Leesil?"
She couldn't read well, so he read the note aloud to her, pondering the words again as she listened. When he finished, she grabbed his arm, and her words were hurried and anxious.
"I know how much this means, that your parents might have escaped. That's why Byrd's informants never learned more of what happened to them. But Darmouth's soldiers will be on their way. We have to go now!"
Leesil sidestepped to the bar, watching Byrd, and lifted the glass off a lantern. He lit the parchment and dropped it on the floor, watching it burn black before grinding it with his boot.
Movement in the shadows below the tables and chairs caught his eye. Chap crept within lunging distance behind Byrd, his jowls quivering short of a snarl. Leesil looked away, so as not to draw anyone's attention toward the dog. Magiere thought only of getting him out of here, but Chap understood what she'd overlooked in panic.
"You're not leaving my sight," he told Byrd.
The baron looked at the stout innkeeper. "Who are you, and why would Hedi go to such lengths to send you this information? I know she has certain… proclivities for commoners, but what have you dragged her into?"
Instead of answering, Byrd glared at Leesil.
It now seemed possible that Leesil's parents had found a way out. He should've found relief in the thought, but he didn't. Hedi Progae must have worked a long time for the scattered pieces of Byrd's unfinished drawings. How ironic that she'd finished her desperate service this night, in the same note that brought Leesil his first hint or what had happened. That note would pull this province apart.
Byrd might have found a way into the keep for his anmaglahk.
Leesil could restrain him, but what of the mans elven conspirators? They might come for the innkeeper, and he would tell them everything. Even if Leesil killed Byrd, he couldn't be certain whether his father's old friend had betrayed him to the elves, to Dannouth, or both. I he anmaglahk could be watching all of them, following everything Leesil did.
For any choice or none at all, Byrd's plot boxed Leesil in on all sides. And it had trapped Wynn in the worst place in Leesil's world.
"Do you want your lady back?" Byrd asked Emel flatly, and looked at Magiere and Leesil. "Do you want Wynn back?"