He projected a sense of calm toward them. The tallest one walked over and licked his hand. Its back nearly reached Welstiel's hipbone.
Welstiel looked around the large room. Nothing had changed from his first visit. He examined the table, chairs, and tapestries, annoyed that he had been forced to step into a place with no other exit.
The voices across the entryway quieted for a moment. He listened carefully, hoping for a chance to leave and locate Magiere. A deep male-voice said something unintelligible. Two… no, three people stepped into the entryway, footfalls growing louder as they approached the counsel hall.
Welstiel glanced about the room once more. He could handle Darmouth but did not want to be exposed just yet. And Darmouth was not alone.
Hurrying along the side wall, Welstiel ducked low behind the table and chairs as he crossed to the tapestry of a lone horseman, hoping there was room to hide behind it. When he lifted the edge, he found an opening built into the stone wall. Stairs led downward, and he stepped inside, trying to still the tapestry's swing as footsteps entered the council hall.
Welstiel took two steps down the stairs and then remained silent. He did not move. Something brushed his leg, and he looked down. Both wolfhounds had followed him. The tallest gazed up with liquid hazel eyes.
He could not risk sending them back and attracting attention and placed his hand on one dog's head to quiet it.
The tunnel beneath the lake was narrow. Leesil took the lead with a lantern. Chap came next. Magiere followed with Emel behind her, and Byrd brought up the rear. The passage wasn't a straight line as expected, and Leesil wondered about the long, gradual curve. The stone walls were cold and watertight, but even so, the lantern's light glistened off their damp surfaces.
Leesil had made certain that Magiere was recovered enough to con-tinue. Her hair was nearly dry, and she no longer shivered, but she was obviously fatigued, either from cold or her dhampir state, or both. He knew she was troubled about Wynn, about this search for his parents and about him. He glanced back.
"Are you all right?"
She held their other lantern low at her side. "Yes, but we left an un dead loose in Venjetz."
Leesil frowned. He hadn't given the undead another thought since their failed hunt. There was truth enough in what she said, but it wasn't what was really on her mind. It was just one more thing that had gone wrong in this fool's venture into his past.
"We can't save everyone," he answered, and focused on the tunnel ahead. "Sometimes we can only save ourselves."
A sentiment expressed by his parents for many years. He didn't like hearing it from his own lips, but right now he had enough to deal with, as did Magiere.
The tunnel kept on for so long that Leesil became anxious. Then the lantern's light hit upon a surface straight ahead, and he spotted the end wall.
"Leesil!" Emel called out.
He looked back, holding up his lantern, and Magiere turned as well. Emel stood alone, facing back the way they'd come.
"What?" Leesil asked. "Where's Byrd?"
"Gone," Emel said, his voice low. "i thought he was right behind me all the way, and now he's gone."
Leesil stepped around Chap, but there wasn't enough room to get by Magiere and Emel. "When did you last see him?"
Emel let out a sharp exhale. "I don't know… a while. I didn't hear anything. I looked back once I saw the tunnel's end, and he was gone."
Leesil cursed himself for letting Byrd take the rear. Watching over Magiere and hurrying to Wynn had distracted him.
"Why would he leave us?" Emel asked.
Magiere blinked several times before she looked at Leesil. "You'd better tell him. I don't know what to do, and he might be able to help."
This wasn't a good idea. The baron was well-favored in Darmouth's circle. How else had he survived all these years, in addition to being gifted the daughter of Progae for his loyalty? Still, who better to give Darmouth warning of an assassination plot than a trusted noble? However, in the end, that might also lead to mass arrests of anyone who'd ever been seen inside Byrd's establishment.
"Tell him," Magiere insisted.
"What is this about?" Emel demanded. "I have had enough secrets for one night."
Magiere answered when Leesil remained silent. "We think Byrd is planning to assassinate Darmouth."
"Magiere!" Leesil snapped.
"And he has a good chance of succeeding," Magiere continued, "with some skilled assistance."
Leesil sighed. There was nothing left for it but to tell Emel everything. "Your tyrant master has to be warned… and protected. If he dies now, your petty nobles will slaughter everyone in their paths in trying to take his place. Or the other province rulers will swarm in, trying to do the same."
Emel was silent for a moment, his gaze shifting suspiciously between Leesil and Magiere. "You should have told me this earlier, before we left the city."
"Don't tell me you could've done something," Leesil snapped back at him. "You wouldn't have lived long enough. Byrd's not some penny-grubbing informant, and he wouldn't have given you one blink to draw your sword."
Magiere leaned back against the tunnel wall in frustration. "The only reason he helped us was to find this tunnel. He's gone, and that means he's in a hurry to put his scheme into motion."
Emel fell silent, watching both of them with a bit more confusion than suspicion, but he finally glared at Leesil alone.
"You!" he said. "I can guess the things you did for Darmouth in your day-no worse than what's whispered of those Mondyalitko always in his shadow. Why would you care what happens to anyone here?"
Leesil's head felt like it would split. The pressure vented at Emel.
"All you want is your prized consort," he shot back, his voice growing more strained with each word. "How many times did you close your eyes and grovel for Darmouth, while others suffered and died? Don't you dare question my motives."
Emel's features became more pronounced in the lantern light as every muscle in his face clenched and held tight in suppressed anger.
"Is there anyone inside we can trust?" Magi ere asked abruptly, and Emel's hard gaze shifted to her. "What about that lieutenant, Omasta?"
"Omasta?" Emel blinked and pushed reddish hair back off his forehead. "Yes, he would see to his lord's safety."
"And what's Darmouth holding over his head?" Leesil asked bitterly.
"Nothing," Emel replied in kind. "He is Darmouth's bastard son."
Magiere stood up straight. "What?"
"Darmouth brought back some woman from a raid into the west, the province of Lukina Vallo," Emel said, and waved aside any more questions. "I his was long ago, and I do not recall her name. He put her up in a cottage and eventually lost interest in her. One night I went with him to her home to reclaim personal items left behind. We found only the boy, Omasta, for his mother had died of fever. I persuaded Darmouth to take the boy to the barracks, let him live there as a servant for the lower officers. Years later he distinguished himself in the ranks, and he still sees Darmouth as a savior… because of what I did. Any mention of assassination will set him to protecting his father at all costs. He will close the city down and start making arrests, including any outsider who warned him."
Magiere closed her eyes. "That's the end of it. We are on our own."
Leesil turned away. It wasn't surprising for a bastard son to crave any favor or position of note in place of a father's open recognition.
"We can't go after Byrd," Leesil said. "Once inside, we'll do what we can to leave a warning or stop him ourselves. First we find Wynn… and Hedi Progae."
Chap was quiet during this whole exchange, and Leesil found the dog sniffing about the tunnel's end.