By Darkness Hid (44 page)

Master Hadar said, “Enter,” without opening his eyes.

Jax ducked through the doorway, followed by Khai. The men were dressed in their Kingsguard uniforms.

Vrell smiled, glad to see her giant friend. “Hello, Jax.”

“How are you, young Vrell? Faring well in your apprenticeship, I hope?”

Vrell nodded.

Jax’s gaze lost focus, as did Khai’s.

Vrell looked to Master Hadar, wondering what he was voicing to them. She tried to hear, but their connection was secure. A sudden notion grew deep within her. What if Master Hadar had discovered she was a woman? She had no memory of what he had said to Achan when he had jumped though her. Maybe he had discovered the truth while he was in her head.

Then why give her the silencer?

Khai’s eyes snapped open. He sneered and stepped toward Vrell. She shuddered as if millions of ants crawled over her skin. They knew! Jax also walked toward Vrell, although his expression was somber.

Arman save her, it was all over.

“Jax?” Vrell slipped off her stool and backed into the corner, hoping to appeal to the kinder man. The liquid in her right boot squished around her foot.

“It’ll be all right, lad,” he said. “Don’t fight, and you’ll be fine.”

Khai reached her first and snagged her by the hair. Vrell gasped.

Jax lunged forward and pulled Khai away. “If you’re going to be cruel, I’ll do it. He’s just a boy.”

Vrell froze, ignoring her stinging scalp. Boy? Praise Arman—they didn’t know. But what were they doing, then?

Jax frowned and pulled a length of cord from his belt. “I need to tie your arms, Vrell. And your ankles. Would you like to sit first?”

Bind her? What was this madness? “Why?”

“No talking!” Master Hadar snapped.

Vrell’s ears tingled.

Jax mi Katt.

Vrell opened her mind.

It’s all right
, Jax said.
I’ll watch over you.

Vrell offered her hands to the giant, thankful Arman had chosen him for this insane moment. Jax bound her wrists in front, then her ankles, and helped her sit in the corner.

“Master,” Vrell said. “Why are you doing this? What have I done?”

Khai helped himself to Vrell’s bread and stood over her, looking out the window. He chewed with his mouth open, a nasty combination of slurping and smacking.

“Please, Master. I promise to do better.”

The old man ignored her. He just continued writing with his quill. Jax shot her several apologetic glances.

When Jax had finished binding her, she expected him to pick her up and carry her off somewhere. Perhaps on some new boat trip, or maybe to Achan’s former cell in the dungeon. But Jax just backed away and sat against the hearth. Khai stood at the window. And Master Hadar dipped his quill into the ink and started in on a fresh scroll. So why had they bound her?

No one spoke for a long time. Vrell’s ears tickled again and again with no declaration of who was knocking. Dozens of attempts to enter her mind failed. She glanced at Master Hadar. It had to be him. He thought she’d taken the âleh tonic and that her mind would now be easier to invade. Hopefully, all these failures would make him think she was immune to âleh.

She pressed her ear against the wall, attempting to ease the itch. The toes on her right foot felt cold and wet. A whisper and footsteps drew near. She closed her eyes. Someone nudged her side. Khai. She would recognize the point of his boot anywhere.

The weasel hissed, “He sleeps, Master.”

“Very well. Come to the fire and we’ll make our plan.”

“Why not tell the boy?” Jax’s low voice rumbled. “He’s loyal. I’m sure he’d help.”

“No,” Master Hadar said. “Should something go wrong, I’ll need to sacrifice him. And I doubt anyone is
that
loyal.”

Vrell stiffened. Sacrifice?

Khai’s steps faded with his voice. “He hides a secret, Master. Did you discover it?”

“No. Vrell’s mind is a strongbox. Nothing I do can penetrate it. I forced myself into his mind to jump yesterday, but he managed to keep his walls up the whole time. Even now, after the âleh tea, I sense nothing. It’s amazing. If only I could find such immunity for myself.”

Vrell smiled in the darkness and wiggled the pruned toes in her right boot.

“What is your plan?” Jax asked.

“I seek a stronger mind,” Master Hadar said.

Khai hummed. “The new one? I’ve sensed him.”

“His power is amazing,” Master Hadar said. “Yet he’s not immune to âleh like Vrell. And I’ll need your help to see I get to keep both prizes.”

“I’ll do all I can, Master,” Khai said.

“What exactly do you want us to do?” Jax asked.

Their conversation ceased, but Vrell figured they were bloodvoicing. She drifted to sleep.

*          *          *

They left before dawn. Vrell sat in the bow of a boat, limbs still bound. Master Hadar and Khai sat together on the center bench. Jax sat at the stern of the boat, paddling down a wide canal that led away from the northern side of the stronghold. The putrid smell of the water seemed stronger in the dark.

Vrell’s eyes drooped. The surrounding darkness gave her all the more reason to go back to sleep, though her mist-soaked tunic left her chilly and uncomfortable. She felt Master Hadar’s eyes on her as the boat moved through the canal.

She still did not understand what had transpired between Achan and Master Hadar. Had they made some sort of deal? Was Achan so angry over Vrell reading his letter that he had agreed? Fear seized her heart. She should have gone to Bran when she’d had the chance.

They rowed for what seemed hours. Dawn broke and lit their surroundings to a slate murkiness. Every so often, orange torchlight blared through the thick Evenwall fog. Jax stopped the boat along a dock skirting a two-story redstone building on the corner of intersecting canals. A sign above the door read
Mig’s Pit.
It looked like a tavern, though the place was silent. She guessed even the reveling patrons were not up at this hour.

Master Hadar pointed to the back door of the tavern. “Sit him there.”

Jax lifted Vrell out of the boat and set her on the dock. Her wrists ached from being bound for so long.

Sparrow?

Vrell jumped. It unnerved her how Achan could penetrate her mind without any warning or knock. She scanned the canal and surrounding docks but could see very little through the thick fog. The stone buildings on the four corners of the intersection loomed above, looking dark and deserted. She did not see Achan.

She focused, closing out everything else before answering.
I am here.

We’ve got a little surprise for your friends.

Please do not hurt the giant. He is kind.

For Lightness sake, Sparrow. How are we supposed to—

Achan, hush!
a deep, harsh voice said
. Anyone with a bloodvoice can hear you, lad. You need more practice, and this is not the time for it.

Vrell looked to where Khai and Master Hadar stood whispering. She hoped Achan had not spoiled the plan. Her heart thumped fast under her chubby disguise. Finally some knightly heroes. It had been two months since she’d left Walden’s Watch. She had nearly given up hope that anyone good still existed in this cursed land.

“Hello?” A wooden dory emerged from the mist. She saw Achan rowing alone down the same wide canal that led from the Mahanaim stronghold.

“Ah!” Master Hadar rubbed his wrinkled hands together. “This way, young man.” He waved Achan toward the dock, then leaned toward Khai. “When he arrives,” he whispered, “I want him bound. Be careful. I hear he knows how to use a sword.”

“But his sword is still locked up in the dungeon, Master,” Vrell said. She did not want Khai to be too prepared. Let the weasel think it was no contest.

Worry crept over her hope as she imagined how the scene might play out. Khai likely had more experience with a sword. He’d massacred all those ebens in a breath. What if he hurt Achan?

Nonsense! Achan had the Great Whitewolf on his side.

Plus, Arman would not let Vrell get this far only to perish, would He?

The boat glided nearer, parting the layer of slime like film on pea soup that had sat out too long. Achan looked well. He wore the same clothing he had been wearing when he had been taken from the dungeon: the doeskin vest and brown shirt from his girl.

The men stared, waiting. Vrell prayed fervently. Finally Achan’s boat scraped against the dock right behind Master Hadar’s boat. Jax stepped forward to help him out.

How was this a good plan? Where was Sir Gavin?

Master Hadar wrapped his cloak tightly around him and said to Achan, “As soon as you’re bound, we’ll lower the boy into the boat.”

Bound? Achan was trading himself for her? Even if Achan did have some kind of trick planned, why would he be willing to give himself up for her? Didn’t he hate her for reading his letter?

“No,” Achan said. “Sparrow gets into the boat now, then you can bind me.”

Khai drew his massive sword. “You’ll follow the master’s rules, lad.”

“Whoa.” Achan stepped back and raised his hands.

Why hadn’t he brought a sword? What was he thinking?

Vrell caught sight of a grey-skinned man on a roof across the canal. He was gathering a rope, which slowly lifted out of the water, dripping with slime. As he pulled the rope, Achan’s boat tugged away from the dock. No one else noticed. Something creaked overhead. Vrell looked up to see another rope being lowered over the side of the building, right above her head.

A ping thronged in Vrell’s temples.
Sir Gavin Lukos.

She opened to him.

Sir Gavin’s voice boomed,
Grab on
.

The knotted end of the rope fell into her lap. She carefully tucked the knot between her legs so she could sit on it like a rope swing. Achan and Khai were still arguing when Vrell’s body lifted silently off the dock. She twisted slightly and planted her feet to keep herself steady as long as possible. It was hard to hold on with her wrists bound.

Are you secure?
Sir Gavin asked.

Yes, sir.

The rope suddenly jerked up two feet, then another two. Vrell’s feet left the dock and she twisted, banging against the stone wall of the building. She tried to keep herself from spinning, but only managed to swing from side to side—over the dock, over the canal, over the dock, over the canal.

“Master!” Khai yelled, turning. “The boy!”

Vrell prayed Sir Gavin would pull quicker. She was no higher than Achan’s head. Khai’s boots thudded across the dock. Achan ran at his heels.

A flaming arrow shot out of the darkness and thunked into Master Hadar’s boat. On the roof of the building diagonally across the intersecting canals, the grey-skinned man ran down a flight of stairs, a bow looped over one arm.

Master Hadar yelled, “Put out the fire!”

Jax crouched over the side of the dock and splashed water onto the boat, but the flame only increased. Khai threaded his way around Jax and drew his sword, narrow eyes on Vrell above him.

Achan kicked him in the rear. Khai spun around, sword ready, and Achan hit the dock on his belly. The weasel turned back and swung at Vrell instead.

The sword cut the rope and Vrell fell.

Her hip scraped on the dock, and she splashed into the canal. She writhed in the tepid water, but with her wrists and ankles bound, she could not swim.
Mother!

Vrell?

Mother! Mother, I’m drowning!

A hand gripped her arm and pulled.

Averella! What’s happening?

Khai’s voice boomed in her consciousness.
Averella? That’s a woman’s name!

No!
She drew her mind closed and jerked back, but it was too late. Khai’s grip on her arm remained firm. He groped along her undergarment for confirmation. She thrashed, kicked, and tried to bang her head into his, but he was too strong. She needed air. If she could push off the bottom, perhaps she could surface for a breath.

Something crashed against her back. A hand clawed and pounded at Khai until his hold vanished. A strong arm closed around Vrell’s waist and she was hoisted up. She choked, sucking in a gulp of thick, tepid, water that tasted like mud.

Her head burst through the surface. She gasped and sputtered until her throat stung.

Everything was in shadow. She and her rescuer were under the dock. She looked at who held her. It was Achan. He held the back of her tunic in one hand, swimming silently. His hair was matted to his scalp like black syrup. A glob of green slime clung to his cheek. He put one finger to his lips.

“Khai!” she heard Master Hadar call from the planks above. “Khai!”

“He’s there,” Jax said.

Vrell turned in the water until she spotted Khai surface in the middle of the canal. Had he already bloodvoiced her gender to Jax and Master Hadar? How had he heard her words to Mother?

Achan reached up and grabbed onto a wooden beam. “Sparrow,” he whispered. “Loop your arms over my neck.”

Vrell nodded and lifted her bound wrists out of the water. A thick glob of scum dripped off her right elbow with a loud plop. She shuddered and, through an open knot in the wooden dock, met Jax’s eyes.

She tensed, a wave of fire shooting through every nerve. Her ears tingled and she let him in.