The Thief Queen's Daughter

  “I don’t think there are any traps in here,” Ida said after looking around. “She doesn’t expect anyone to make it all the way through the dressin’ room unless they’re supposed to be in here.”

  Ven looked around. “Did you see any sign of a hidden passageway?”

  Ida shook her head. “I’m gonna check her closet,” she said, closing the bedroom door and crossing to another one in the bedchamber. “This is gonna take a while—she has more clothes than are available in the rest of the Market.”

  “I’ll help you,” Clemency offered, as Saeli nodded. They followed Ida into the closet.

  Ven and Char began looking gingerly around the base of the dresser and night tables. “Can I just say, in the very real possibility that we don’t make it out of here, that life as your friend is never borin’ at least?” Char said as he crawled beneath the chest of drawers, looking for something to open a passageway.

  Ven sighed. “I’d settle for boring at this point. I haven’t gotten the curiosity itch since we came through the keyhole gate.”

  His eyes wandered to the huge bed and the beautifully carved headboard. The bedposts were pointed like spear tips, making for an unfriendly appearance.

  There was something familiar about them, however.

  Ven walked over to examine them more closely. He touched the right bedpost, and as he did, his last odd job at the inn came rushing back to him.

  The inn’s safe is down below here. It’s triggered by a mechanism here in the bedpost.

  His hands shaking with excitement, Ven took hold of the spearlike spindle at the top of the bedpost on the right of the headboard and twisted it three times clockwise, two times counterclockwise, and once more clockwise.

  A clicking sound was heard in the floor.

  Smoothly, the bed turned in a circular arc. The bedcurtains were raised out of the way.

  And a hole in the floor was revealed.

  Char’s eyes almost popped out of his head.

  “Gah!” he choked. “How in blazes did you do that?”

  “Lucky guess,” Ven said, still somewhat in shock. “Go get the girls.”

  Clem, Saeli, and Ida had just returned from the closet, wearing expressions of relief, when they heard the door in the outer chamber open.

  And the Thief Queen’s voice.

  18

  Down the First of Many Dark Holes

  YOU REALLY ARE TAKING A QUITE A RISK COMING HERE AGAIN,” Felonia said over the creak of the door. “In broad daylight, no less. Why is that, I wonder?”

  A man’s voice in the distance retorted angrily. “What alternative do you suggest?” he said nastily. “If I don’t come in person, I only get the information you choose to send me.”

  They could hear the outer chamber door close.

  “Quick, get in the hole!” Ven whispered urgently.

  Like lightning, Ida scrambled to the hidden passageway in the floor and dropped down inside it. Clem went after her, followed by Saeli, then Char, who turned around as he was descending.

  “Er—Ven?”

  “What?”

  “Who’s gonna close the bed?”

  Ven looked back at the bedpost, then down at the hole.

  “Oh man,” he muttered in dismay.

  Saeli’s head appeared next to Char’s legs, halfway down the hole.

  “Keekee!” she said in her strange, gravelly voice.

  “What?” Ven asked, trying not to panic.

  The Gwadd girl reached into her hair, and pulled out the puffy monkey-creature.

  “Keekee,” she said again. She pointed at the bedpost. The small creature leapt from her hand, almost as if it were flying, then scrambled across the black sheets, up the headboard, and seized the spindle of the bedpost between its arms.

  A clicking sound could be heard, as the voices in the outer chamber grew closer.

  “Ven, get down!” Clemency urged. Ven complied, just as the bed began to rotate on its turntable in the floor.

  The keekee turned and scampered across the bedcurtains, then dived in a lunge into the hole. Ven caught it just as the turntable closed, sliding the bed completely back in place.

  Plunging them into blackness.

  In the hollow silence of the dark passageway, they could hear the muffled sound of the door to Felonia’s inner chamber opening. Ven passed the little creature back to Saeli and moved as close as he could to the passageway’s cover to hear what was being said.

  “That noise you are hearing is the birds on the roof,” Felonia was saying as she came within earshot. “There’s an unkindness of ravens that roosts on top of the guild. Their numbers are growing by the day. Aren’t they spectacular?”

  “An unkindness of ravens?” the man’s voice asked.

  “That’s what a group of ravens is called,” Felonia replied. Her voice was louder now, but still muffled. “Ravens are ever so much more interesting birds than crows—a group of those is called a murder. But a murder of crows is no match for an unkindness of ravens. Ravens are much smarter, much more cunning. Much more dangerous.”

  “Much more distracted by pretty, shiny things,” said the man. His voice was full of disdain. “Is that the problem with the Raven’s Guild, Felonia? Have you been distracted from your assignments? I’ve had no reports for weeks.”

  “Everything is coming into place just as we had hoped,” the Queen of Thieves could be heard saying. A soft creaking of wood and metal above them seemed to indicate she had sat down on her bed. “But these things take time. You have to be patient.”

  “I do not know that we have time,” came the reply.

  There was something vaguely familiar about the man’s voice, Ven noted. He looked over at Char, but all he could see in the dark were Char’s eyes, which were round as the moon. He had no idea if Char recognized the voice or if he was just terrified.

  Even through the floor he could hear the Queen of Thieves chuckle.

  “Perhaps you should move within the walls of the Gated City, then.” Her voice sounded like it was wrapped in wool. “We have nothing but time here.”

  “I have been unpleasantly surprised each of the few times I have come,” the man’s voice said. “To find you so behind on your promises now being just the most recent disappointment.”

  “Perhaps you should come around more than every ten years or so,” Felonia replied. “You could have met your daughter.”

  * * *

  There was not much air in the stuffy passageway below the Thief Queen’s bedroom. Whatever had been there a moment before was suddenly sucked away by Ida’s gasp. I could hear her, farther away in the dark, moving forward, as if to hear better. I wasn’t sure she was going to like what she was about to hear, but I couldn’t very well stop her.

  I was in shock myself.

  * * *

  “You really need to stop trying to use that against me,” the man’s voice answered. “You said she ran away from the Market years ago.”

  Ven could almost hear Felonia smile by the sound of her answer.

  “She did—she does, from time to time. But she returned recently, so I’m about to send word to Northland that it’s time for our alliance to be sealed. The wedding will be in six weeks, as long as everyone there agrees.”

  The man’s voice grew harsh.

  “I want to see her. Now.”

  Clemency looked at Ida, then at Ven. He could tell by the outline of her shadow moving in the dark.

  “In good time,” the Thief Queen replied. “She’s really quite disappointing-looking when she’s clean. In her current state, she’s utterly embarrassing. Do yourself the favor of waiting until I’ve had her properly scrubbed down.”

  “I want to see her anyway,” the man insisted. “She’s my daughter, and it’s my right to meet her. I have never even seen a painting of her—”

  Felonia burst into laugher. “A painting? As if Ida would sit still for a painting. That’s rich. And even if she would, I would never waste the time or the paint on
such an undertaking. Ida is ugly. It’s almost impossible to believe that child is related in any way to me.”

  “We agree on something, at least,” Ida muttered under her breath.

  “I had to give her an ugly nickname to match her ugly face. She must get her looks from you—she doesn’t live up to the beautiful name she was given at birth. She’s also stupid—her favorite phrase is ‘I dunno,’ so that’s where she gets the name she carries. Again, must be from your side.”

  “You shouldn’t press your luck with me, Felonia.” The man’s voice had an edge as sharp as the Thief Queen’s knife.

  The bed squeaked again, possibly indicating that she had stood up.

  “It is you who do not wish to press your luck,” Felonia answered, her voice even more deadly. “You may be an influential man outside the gates, but within this city you are less than nothing without my protection. And one on one, you certainly don’t want to make me angry. If you cross me, you will not live to see your next breath.”

  “If you dislike her so intensely, give her to me,” the man said. “Let that fat old fool in Northland find another bride.”

  Felonia chuckled loud enough to be heard through the floor.

  “No, no,” she said. “You do not understand the ways of the Raven’s Guild. There never is much of a bond between the queen and her daughter-heir, because of what needs to be done to her to make her into a worthy successor. If I had feelings for her—I have feelings for no one, so that’s not an issue—but if I did, I could never put her through the training that will make her a successful queen when I am gone. Consider this a kind of grooming—especially funny, since she has so little of it right now. One day, when she returns to the Market after her husband’s untimely passing, she will be worthy to head the guild.”

  “You are going to kill her husband early, then?”

  Felonia laughed again. “No, no. She will. It’s all part of the training program.” Her voice became deadly again. “The only part of mine that I ever failed was letting you live.”

  Far away the children heard a pounding on the outer chamber door.

  “Enter,” Felonia called harshly.

  A moment later they heard a muffled voice, unmistakably terrified.

  “Your Majesty, the, er, Miss Ida, and the others—”

  “You had best not be telling me they are gone,” said Felonia. Even below the ground, the five companions shivered at the tone in her voice.

  There was no reply except for the sounds of footsteps walking rapidly away and the slamming of the bedchamber door.

  Ven reached into his pocket and pulled out the king’s stone.

  Cold light flooded the little passageway, making everyone blink. They looked around.

  The tunnel was dug in nothing more than earth, with no bricks or supports holding up the walls. It led off into darkness that even the light from the stone could not pierce.

  “Let’s go,” Ven said. “We can’t very well go back up, and, depending on where this leads, it’s going to be a race.”

  “You go first,” Clemency said. “You’ve got the light.”

  “All right.” Ven slid past Clem, Char, and Ida to the front of the line, then started down the tunnel.

  The wet odor of earth mixed with the sharp sting of mold was at first unpleasant to Ven’s nose. The deeper he went in, however, the more the ground around him seemed welcoming, or at least familiar. He found that he could move very fast through the earthen tunnel along the dirt floor.

  “For goodness’ sake, Ven, wait up,” Clemency called crossly when he got too far out of sight. “Not all of us are Nain like you. Slow down.”

  “Sorry,” Ven called, coming to a stop at a place where the tunnel branched off. He held the light above his head as he waited for his friends to catch up.

  The tunnel itself continued forward, but a second, smaller branch led off on an angle. Ven looked around. To his right was a wall that appeared newer and more unsettled than the rest, as if it had been sealed off some time back. The wall there was less solid, like a pile of old dirt that had hardened over time.

  “I think we should go through here,” he said when the others arrived. “Felonia must know this exit is blocked.”

  “Uh, it is blocked, Ven,” Char said.

  “For the moment,” Ven replied. He thought back to what the king had said about the building of the secret vault.

  I asked the lead stonemason to build this place in secret for me. He sent the bricklayers away and set the walls himself. He let me help so that I would be able to find it again. We did it in a single night—mostly because the stone almost seemed to move into place by itself when he touched it. Your race has an almost magical knack with stone and earth.

  Ven handed the king’s stone to Char, then put his hand against the wall. It was solid beneath his touch. He pushed on it, but nothing happened.

  Then he closed his eyes and concentrated.

  Please, he thought. Please move.

  In his head he thought he saw, or maybe felt, a fissure in the dirt mound, a place near the base of the floor where air had been trapped when the dirt was packed in. He moved his hands closer to it. Then he scraped at the wall with his fingers.

  The dirt, long solid, came away in his hands like sand from a giant dune.

  Excited, Ven kept digging. More and more dirt fell away.

  “Back away an’ let him go,” Char said to the others, moving Saeli away from the wall and holding up the light. “He did this once before, when he was buryin’ the Rover’s box at the crossroads, remember?”

  “Careful, Ven,” Clemency cautioned. “That time you were taking dirt out of the ground. This time you might collapse the roof over our heads.”

  “I’ll be careful,” Ven promised, digging away. “This is really not a solid wall—it’s just a pile of hard dirt that was filled in here. You could do this, too, Clem—there’s nothing magical. I just can tell where the best places to dig are.”

  He dug until he had made a small tunnel near the floor. He shoved the dirt he had dug away out of the tunnel, then crawled inside and continued to dig, passing the loose dirt back to the others. He kept digging, humming the chants his family had sung when working in the factory, his mind racing, until a blast of cool air hit him in the face.

  Ven blinked. He poked his head out of the tunnel and looked around. Then he crawled back inside.

  “Good news—the tunnel opens to an alleyway of a sort,” he said to his eager friends. “Bad news—it also opens into a garbage dump. Felonia probably had it sealed because the smell was seeping up into her bedroom.”

  “Who cares?” said Char. “We gotta get out of here. Let’s go.”

  “Right,” Ven said. He got back on his belly and crawled out the newly dug tunnel until he had emerged into a sea of fish heads, chicken bones, shredded cloth, smelly eggshells, and a host of other disgusting things all rotting in a huge pile in the alley outside the Raven’s Guild wall. He scrambled out of the pile, holding his breath as long as he could to keep from breathing the putrid smell.

  A moment later Clemency came crawling out, followed by Saeli and Ida. Char brought up the rear, still holding the light.

  “Don’ think the king’s gonna want this thing back, mate,” he said, tossing the stone to Ven and brushing the filth from his shoulders. Clemency took a potato peel from Ida’s hair, while Saeli checked the keekee to make sure it hadn’t been lost in the garbage pile.

  The street was utterly dark. They had lost all track of time inside the windowless building, and so Ven was surprised to find that it was nighttime again. He had no idea what day it was, but he was glad they had come out of the tunnel in the dark, at a time when the ravens on the roost above were sleeping.

  As if to scoff at the thought, a hideous shrieking filled the air, and a flutter of wings could be heard from the rooftops above them. Felonia was obviously angry that they hadn’t been caught yet, and had sent up another alarm with the Screaming Ravens.

>   All over town they heard doors and windows banging shut.

  Ven stuck the king’s stone in his pocket. “Cover your ears and follow me,” he said to the others.

  19

  Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire

  THEY HURRIED UP THE SPARSELY COBBLED STREET, PAST SEEDY buildings and houses that were falling down.

  From around the corner they could hear the sounds of running footsteps, of shouts and curses. Some of Felonia’s thugs had abandoned searching the Raven’s Nest and had taken to the streets to find them. Ven could hear them growing closer all the time as they ran through the deserted alleyways.

  There seemed to be a million of them.

  “Hurry!” he urged. He could see that Ida was falling behind. They came around another corner and found themselves in the street they had walked down on the way to the Raven’s Guild in the first place.

  In the middle of the street was an enormous public well that took up a good deal of the roadway, deserted in the dark. It had a circular wall of about knee height around it, with buckets attached to ropes all around its edge.

  “Clem, can you swim?” Ven asked as they ran.

  “Yes,” Clem puffed. “Why?”

  “And you, Saeli—can you swim? Or at least float?”

  The little girl shook her head, terrified, and kept running.

  “I don’t like where—this is goin’,” Char said, struggling to catch up.

  “I don’t see that we have a choice,” Ven said, his voice all but drowned out in the screams of the ravens and the shouts of the nearing thieves. “It can’t be that deep—and they won’t think to look in there. We can’t outrun them for long.”

  As if to prove his words true, in the distance voices could be heard approaching the turn in the street.

  Ven grabbed a bucket as he reached the well. He held it out to Saeli.