'What happened?' Darga asked. We were walking quickly now.
'I don't know. One minute we are talking like two sisters, and the next she looks as if I murdered her best friend. And all after I mentioned the name of Katlyn's son.'
'He is well known?' Darga suggested.
'I don't know what it means, but I don't like it. Yet I promised to try delivering this message.'
The inn was only a few minutes away from Luma's house and set on a side street whose front windows faced the open sea. It was a modest place with a faintly dingy air and peeling paint. Along the front was a stone verandah where men sat in the fading dusk light talking in low voices. Wishing I had reached the inn before dark, I told Darga to wait in the street. 'If I don't call or come out within an hour, go back to the others.'
'Better not to go in,' Darga sent.
I glanced down at him, wondering what he sensed. 'I don't want to but I promised.'
The men on the porch fell silent as I approached. I asked for the manager of the inn in what I hoped was a confident voice. One of the men jerked his head towards the door.
'Thank you,' I said, and hurried through the door.
The reception room was dim and cool. For a moment I could see nothing, and blinked trying to accustom my eyes to the dimness.
'What do you want?' asked a sharp voice. I jumped and heard a snicker of laughter. A woman and two men were sitting near the window, silhouetted against the fading pink sunset.
'I ... A room,' I said, losing my nerve. There was a subtle air of menace about them and I was sorry I didn't have Darga to gauge the emotional state of the room.
'No rooms for moonies,' the woman said tensely.
I swallowed dryly. 'I... I'm also looking for a man. I have a message to deliver.'
'What is his name?' the woman asked coldly.
I made myself speak. 'Brydda Llewellyn.'
A match flared and a lamp was lit on the table illuminating the narrow, ratty face of the manageress and the hard wary faces of the men.
The woman smiled, a folding rather than a curve of thin lips. 'Brydda lives at the inn but he has been on his boat this last moon. He will be here tomorrow morning. I will let you have a room for tonight.'
Again the sour smile and, as she rose, dark satin skirts rustled around her feet like a nest of snakes. 'Come with me,' she commanded, and I dared not refuse. The inn was larger than it looked and I was filled with unease as she took me downstairs where there were a number of bedrooms. The room she gave me was halfway down a hall, and had a narrow window level with the street. It was sparsely furnished containing a trundle bed with a blanket folded at the foot, and a bedside table with two towels on it.
This is the only room we have free. I'll send water for you to wash and some supper. Best if you keep to your room. The men who stay here are not used to having women here.'
Forcing a smile, I went across and tested the springs of the bed. It's a while since I've slept in a bed,' I said casually. 'I don't mind a bit of rest.'
'I'll lock the door so you're not disturbed. Ring the bell if you want anything.' She nodded smugly and departed.
My own smile fell away the minute the door closed, for I had no doubt I was a prisoner. The moment I tried to leave, the thinly veiled pretence would end. I was almost certain one of the silent men at the table would be lurking outside. But where was Brydda Llewellyn?
I lifted the bench to the window and climbed up to peer out. There was no possibility of getting out that way. I could fiddle locks but I could not magic myself through the ground. I sent a call to Darga, telling him where to find me.
'Can you get out?' Darga asked, as soon as he appeared.
'Not through here. I think I can get out, but it might take a while. I want you to go back to the cart and get them out of the city.'
'Why have they locked you up?' Darga asked.
'I don't know, but there's no sign of Brydda Llewellyn.' I wondered what Rushton would do in such a situation.
'He would not risk you,' Darga sent.
I stared. 'What do you mean?' I shook my head. 'Look, there's no time for this. You have to be out of the city before the gates are closed for the night.'
When Darga had gone I felt calmer. I did not want Kella and the others to spend a night in the city after what Katlyn had said about people disappearing in Aborium.
The door lock was a simple device, and easily opened. I tampered with the mechanism so the lock would seem to be broken. After a moment of thought, I wrapped a towel round my hair and stuck my head out into the hall. The man outside started up in astonishment at the sight of me. 'How . ..?'
I interrupted him. 'I've rung the bell three times and no one comes. I want some water for a wash,' I demanded. Amazement gave way to confusion and then indecision. He had obviously been told to guard the door, but I was not acting like a prisoner. My querulous demand for water and the towel on my hair had confused him and I sensed him wondering if he had somehow got his instructions muddled.
'Go on then, tell her,' I snapped, and shut the door.
Shaking, I listened to his footsteps receding. Then I threw off the towel and slipped back into the hallway. But I had barely taken two steps before I heard voices. I dared not go back to the room. Turning, I hurried in the other direction, trying the doors frantically. A locked door meant they were occupied.
My heart leaped as I recognized the manageress's voice. 'What do you mean the door was unlocked? I locked it...'
The last door was also locked but I had no choice. If there were someone in the room I would have to stun them. I bent my mind to the lock but, before I could do anything, the door opened and a young, bearded man looked out. We stared at one another in astonishment, then he reached out and pulled me through the door, shutting it quickly. He made a sign for me to be quiet and we listened intently. I heard the manageress shriek in rage at finding me gone.
'Find her! She can't have gone far. She has a limp. Search the rooms on this level.'
The young man turned to look at me. He was not much older than Rushton, and his skin was the clear smooth brown of a seaman. He wore trews but his wet face and bare chest told me I had caught him in the middle of a wash. On the floor was a big trunk. Either he was about to leave or he had just arrived.
'You are the girl after Brydda Llewellyn?' he asked in a low voice.
I had thought myself beyond surprise after all that had happened, but my mouth dropped open at his words.
'Quick. Answer me. We have only a moment,' he said urgently.
I nodded dazed.
There was a loud knock on the next door and I looked at him in a panic.
In two strides he crossed the floor and flung open the trunk. 'Get in.'
There was a knock at the door. I climbed in the trunk and heard him turning the key slowly.
'Why did you take so long to answer?' It was the manageress. I held my breath in terror.
'I was washing. What's going on?' he asked crossly.
'Ah . . . well, we have had a girl staying, as a favour to her father who is a seaman. She is subject to manias and brainstorms. For her own safety she was locked in, but she has got away.'
'Is she dangerous?' asked my rescuer seriously. Despite my fear I grinned at his anxious tone.
She grunted.
'Well, I heard this was a respectable place, but with all the noise and murdering madwomen running around, I will not be back. Send someone to bring up my trunk.'
My heart thumped in fear that she would demand to see what was in the trunk. 'Carry your own bag!' snapped the manageress rudely. She flounced out, slamming the door behind her. There was silence and some movement, then I felt myself lifted. I slid to the bottom of the trunk, half-suffocated by clothes. I could tell from the movement that he was carrying the chest on his back.
'Don't make a sound,' he hissed.
In the hall, I heard enough to chill my blood.
'The Council won't like this,' said one voice.
r /> "Tis nowt th' Council troubles me but th' priests. They're th' ones he's plagued,' said another voice. The two voices faded and I realized we were climbing the stairs.
Suddenly there was another voice. 'Ho Reuvan. Where are ye goin' at this hour?'
'I'm for the sea tonight,' said my rescuer.
'Tonight?' There was an edge of surprise in the other's voice.
The Herders have given permission to my Master,' Reuvan said. 'But I don't know why he can't wait till a civil hour to set sail.'
There were no holes in the trunk and the air was beginning to foul. I felt sweat trickle down my spine.
At last the other laughed. 'Better you than me. I'll see you.'
'Not here you won't,' Reuvan said easily. 'It's a damn side too noisy and that old sharp-tongued manageress is no enticement.'
The other man laughed and we moved on. Finally I felt myself being set down, and the distinctive sound of hooves scraping over cobbles told me we were in the street. I felt sick from tension.
The chest jerked and I realized I was in a cart, moving. After an eternity, the latch was undone. 'Stay down. It's not safe yet,' the seaman whispered softly.
'Why are you helping me?' I asked in a low voice.
There was a pause. 'You wanted to talk to Brydda Llewellyn, didn't you? Well, I'm taking you to him.'
16
Brydda Llewellyn was a giant of a man, towering above the men around him by a head and shoulders. His face, illuminated fitfully in the guttering candlelight, was as stern and craggy as weathered rock.
Reuvan gave me a slight push. 'Brydda, here is the girl who asked for you at the inn. I caught her trying to escape the old crow's clutches.'
The buzz of talk from the press of men in the room ceased. My heart thumped unevenly under their hostile scrutiny.
'You have taken your time in coming,' said Brydda, for all the world as if he had known. 'What have you to tell me?'
'You are Brydda Llewellyn?' I demanded. 'If you were where you were supposed to be, I would have been quicker.'
An astounded silence followed my words then the giant roared with laughter. 'Well, well, so they have sent a kitten that snarls and spits. I could crush you with one hand, sad eyes, but I don't. Let that be a sign of my good faith. Now what is your message?'
I was less intimidated by his threats than reassured by his laughter, for I had seen Katlyn in it. But I was puzzled by his seeming to expect me. Had Grufyyd sent someone else? 'I come from Rangorn. I bring a message from your . . .'
To my surprise, the smile disappeared and Brydda held up an imperious hand. 'Speak no more of that for a moment.' He glanced around and silently the men filed out, giving me curious looks. Then, we were alone except for Reuvan, who went to stand by the door.
'Don't be afraid,' Brydda said in a softer voice. 'I thought you were a different messenger. One that I have been awaiting eagerly. I did not think . . . You come from my parents? Are they well?'
I nodded. 'They are worried because you haven't written or sent word to them in so long. I think they feared something had happened to you.'
Brydda ran a massive hand through the dark, springing curls on his forehead. 'So it has. I suppose they told you about me?'
They said you help Seditioners.'
He smiled faintly. 'Well, that is as good a way as any of putting it. How did you come to meet my parents? You are not from Rangorn.'
'We had an accident and your parents helped us. We offered to bring a message to repay their kindness.'
'You are not alone?' Brydda said sharply.
I shook my head, hoping Darga had got the others away. I felt I could trust Brydda, but I did not want us all in his hands. 'When I left them they were in an alley not far from the inn.'
Brydda started up, a look of concern on his face. 'They were in the street? At night? Quickly, Reuvan, go and take some of the others. Bring them back.' He turned to me. 'What do they look like?'
'A girl, younger than I am, a boy and a youth,' I said.
He nodded and Reuvan hurried away. 'It is dangerous at night, though less than usual because of the Moon Fair. Is there no one full grown among your companions?'
Slightly indignant, I told him we were perfectly able to look after ourselves. Changing the subject, I asked why I had been locked up at the inn. 'Your parents told us to mention your name. I didn't reckon on such an unfriendly reception,' I said resentfully. Brydda only laughed and gave me a slap on the back that winded me.
'Much has happened since I last spoke to my parents. I was betrayed by one of my men. The inn was once a place where messages for me could be safely delivered. Now the place is watched, and the manageress under instructions to hold anyone who mentions my name. Once I could go to and from the inn openly, an ordinary seaman, but now I am known to be the notorious Seditioner they call the Black Dog. You are lucky I had friends keeping an eye out at the inn for the messenger I mistook you for. Once the message comes, I will leave Aborium. I dared not send word to my parents because I was afraid of having their connection with me exposed. But I am glad to hear they are safe.'
Those soldierguards at the gate,' I said in sudden realization. 'It was you they were looking for.'
He nodded. 'The Council would like to catch me, and so would the Herder Faction. My name has been well advertised, and there is a reward. But I will slip through their fingers like snow during the Moon Fair.'
'They must want you badly to post soldierguards at the gate. What can you have done that makes you so terrible?' I said unthinkingly.
Brydda looked at me for a long moment. Tew would dare ask that question of the Black Dog, for I have a very bloodthirsty reputation, and I would give fewer an answer. But I believe I can trust you. Does it seem strange to you that a man who commands a secret army and plots the downfall of the Herder Faction trusts his instinct over an unknown girl?' He smiled when I did not answer. 'I have a kind of infallible knack at judging people.'
'Yet you say you were betrayed . . .'
He nodded grimly. 'By a man I loved like a brother. But I did not misjudge him. He was tortured and made to speak and there will be a payment for that. Come, tell me the truth. Are you not a Seditioner yourself, that my mother should tell you my secrets?'
I stared at him in fright.
'I told you. I have a knack at guessing. But don't look so unnerved. It makes us allies, not enemies,' he said.
I nodded, shaken, filled with an odd notion about this uncanny 'knack' of his. 'My parents were Burned by the Council as Seditioners, and my brother was killed by soldierguards,' I said.
Brydda nodded triumphantly. 'I thought as much, though I think there is more to your story than that. But it is enough to know we fight the same fight. It is my aim to rid this land of the Herder Faction, and its tyranny. One day, we will fight them openly, but for now I and my friends oppose them in a thousand small ways. I have many allies who think as I do, and the time is not too distant when we will challenge the Herder Faction openly.'
I was filled with excitement for his words were almost identical to Rushton's, except Brydda seemed to think the Herder Faction worse than the Council. 'But you said you had been betrayed . . .'
His face darkened. 'How you do harp on that. You think I don't know it? But useless revenge is no tribute to my friend's memory. The message I wait for is to ensure there are no Herders waiting for me in Sutrium. I have friends in many places, not just Aborium. It is too dangerous for me here now, so I will go elsewhere and harass them anew. Sutrium. They will not expect me to be so bold.'
Reuvan came in, grim faced. He bent and spoke into Brydda's ear.
'What is it?' I asked.
'Your friends are gone,' Reuvan said.
I sighed in relief. 'They will have gone outside the city when I didn't come back. That was what we planned. Besides, you couldn't possibly have got there and back so quickly.'
There was no need,' Reuvan said softly.
Brydda said, 'He means they have
been taken prisoner. I have friends who let me know who has been taken by the Herders and the soldierguards. It seems your friends were among today's intake.'
I shook my head in disbelief.
'Rumour says the boy was a runaway Herder novice,' Brydda went on.
'No!' I whispered in horror. 'Where have they been taken? Who has them?'
'The Herders,' Reuvan said. 'They'll have been taken to the Cloister cells on the other side of town for interrogation.'
'I have to help them,' I cried, blaming myself for leaving them alone. And what had happened to Darga?
Reuvan shook his head. 'No one escapes the Cloister cells. There are priests everywhere and killer dogs. And the place is built like a labyrinth with the prison cells underground.'
Brydda scratched his head. 'Only a madman would attempt such an impossible rescue.'
There was another commotion at the door and a girl dressed in rough trews entered. Weary and travel stained, she half staggered into a chair. 'You are the messenger?' Brydda asked.
The girl nodded. 'Sutrium and all the other branches are safe. It seems he died before they could make him tell any more .. .'
Brydda's shoulders slumped. 'I should be glad . . .'
I did not wait to hear any more. Taking the chance offered by the momentary confusion, I slipped into the street.
It was dark and very cold. I shivered and wished I had not left my coat on the cart. I had delivered my message, I thought bitterly, but at what cost?
When I had gone a safe distance from Brydda's hovel, I stepped into a darkened doorway and closed my eyes, sending my mind to the other side of the town. My mind played back and forwards, seeking Jik's familiar pattern. It seemed hours before I spotted a dull glimmer at the farthest edge of my reduced Lowland range. I sent the probe gratefully.
'Elspeth?' Jik's thoughts were faint.
'Jik, are you in the Herder Cloisters?' It was a strain communicating at the distance.
'Yes,' he sent.
'Are you all together?'
'I'm on my own in a cell underground. I think Kella and Pavo are together somewhere else. Avra is in the stable,' Jik sent. I was filled with loneliness and apprehension, but realized Jik was empathizing his own emotions to me.