Embers at Galdrilene (6 page)

Kellinar woke when Serena gently shook him. She smiled at him. “Eat. You need your strength”

She set a pitcher of water and a plate on the table in front of him. His eyes focused on the food. Salted fish, a meager pile of peas and a small roll of crusty bread–a decent meal for the Mallay where most of the time thin stews were the standard. The water drew him first. He poured a cupful and gulped great swallows. He drank half the pitcher of water before he realized it. His stomach reminded him it wanted more than water and he set to shoveling the food eagerly into his mouth.

While he ate, Serena made a pallet on the floor.

“Thank you for the clothes,” he said. “How were you able to get them?”

“I found Loki. He agreed to gather some of your things for you. I told him to get anything you would want if you weren’t coming back.”

He reached over and rummaged through the bundle, pleased to see a change of clothes and his extra knives. He also found the large purse he kept hidden in the stone floor of his dwelling. Leave it to Loki to know where that purse had been hidden.

He sighed and sat back in the chair. “I hope he doesn’t get into trouble.”

Serena gave him a wry smile as she spread a blanket out. “He’s been your apprentice for two years. Do you really believe anyone saw him?”

He laughed softly. “No, I don’t believe they did. I hope I’ve done enough for him, he’s going to be on his own now.”

“He’s resourceful. He’ll be fine.”

He watched her move around the room. She didn’t seem upset that he could use magic or that she herself could for that matter. “Aren’t you afraid the magic is going to consume you?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t healed a human since they took me, well except you, but I’ve healed several cats I’ve found injured. Though not much has changed since the first time I healed someone.”

He looked at her for a moment, sensing she had left something unsaid. “Not much has changed, but
something
has, hasn’t it?”

She sat down on her bed and tucked her feet under her. “I am not sure I can explain it,” she said. “Not long after I came here to the Mallay, I started feeling pulled to leave.”

Kellinar chuckled. “Every outcast that ends up in the Mallay wants to leave. Only those of us born and bred here in this dragon-blasted place can settle for our lot in life.”

Serena shook her head in denial. “It’s more than that. It’s a feeling so strong it pulls at me to follow it. Almost like a longing to go home except that doesn’t make any sense.” She pulled the pins out of the bun and shook her hair out, letting it fall about her shoulders. “Anyway, that’s the only difference other than I have more control now over the magic. It’s easier to make it do what I want it to.”

Kellinar thought about it. He felt no such longing although he’d only started using magic that afternoon. He wondered if what Serena felt was really just a desire to get out of Trilene in any direction. What would happen to her after he left? “What are you going to do if the Keepers hold you under suspicion again?”

“Oh they aren’t going to get the chance. I’m leaving with you,” she said.

“You can’t. Not with me.” He stood and looked at her. She wouldn’t have any chance at all with him. “There’s no way I can get you out. Not without both of us getting caught.” He started pacing again. “Burn it all, even once I’m out they will be searching for me. When I don’t turn up at one of the healers or dead, they will start searching the roads. If you’re found with me, they will flaming put you to death just for helping me.”

“I would rather take the chance of being caught than the certainty of their suspicions. There is less risk for me in leaving.”

He stopped, a feeling of defeat washing through him. She was in danger because of him; she would be in more danger if she left with him. Still, he couldn’t refute her reasoning. “I don’t like it.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Well, like it or not, that’s the way it is.”

He knew from her tone, no amount of argument would change her mind. He sighed and nodded. What else could he do? Either he left her to the wolves or led her to the lions.

She crossed the room and laid her hand on the side of his face, a gentle smile on her lips. “It will be better this way.”

He only nodded again. His actions had trapped her into this decision. She’d been planning on leaving when she’d saved enough coin. Now, because of him, she wouldn’t be leaving for a little cottage in some village far enough away they wouldn’t know anything about her. She would be running from certain death.

She turned away. “We’d better get some sleep; tomorrow’s going to be a long day.”

He sighed and lay down on the pallet as she blew out the lamps. Only the dim glow of coals in the hearth remained to light the room. In the near darkness, he listened to her settle into her covers, the events of the day playing through his head. “I really am sorry. I didn’t mean to mess everything up for you.”

“Just so long as you know it’s your fault,” she said, yawning.

“I’m not sure how I’ll get us both out. It’s not like they’re just going to pass us through the gate.”

Serena yawned again. “Yes they will, I’ve already got a plan for that.”

“What plan?”

“Don’t worry about it right now. Just go to sleep. I promise you, I can get us through the gate.”

“Why not tell me now?”

“Because I’m tired and so are you. What I did today when I healed you was no small feat and it drained me. You lost a lot of blood. You need to rest and regain it. Go to sleep.”

Even though he felt exhausted, sleep was slow in coming. His mind turned over and rejected one escape plan after another. And then there was Serena. What did she have planned and why wouldn’t she tell him? Whatever it was, he had the feeling he wasn’t going to like it.

Y
ou want me to do
what
?” Kellinar looked at Serena in horror as she held up a worn, pale red dress and a wide head scarf of the same color.

“Kellinar, you know it’s a sure way out of the city,” Serena said, exasperation in her voice. “They’re looking for a young man, not a woman. You’re just lucky the mornings are still cool enough most women are still wearing head scarves.”

He tried to push the dress away. “I am not wearing that flaming thing. They would never believe it anyway. I don’t look anything like a blasted woman. What about the Thieves’ Exit?” he asked in desperation.

She planted her hands on her hips, her face set in the same stubborn expression she wore the night before when she insisted she accompany him. “We would still have to walk through the city streets to reach the Thieves’ Cave. You spend so much of your time sneaking about; you forget that sometimes the best way to hide something is to pretend you have nothing to hide at all.” She held the dress up once again, her head cocked and her eyes narrowed as if she evaluated it. “This dress is going to work great. It should be loose enough that your shoulders won’t look so broad, but not so loose it hangs on you. The guards will see what we want them to. There are plenty of tall women It will never cross their minds that you aren’t one of them. And what would make them think otherwise? Most men would die before wearing a dress.”

Kellinar stared at the dress. Dying might be a better idea. “They will never take me for a flaming woman. I’m missing a couple of defining parts in case you hadn’t noticed.”

She waved away his objection. “Don’t worry; I can take care of that.”

“Take care of that how?” he croaked. What else could she do with her magic?

She laughed and began rummaging in the small trunk at the end of her bed. She pulled an undergarment and several rags from it. “Trust me. Besides, it’s your fault I have to escape from the city like this. If you’re truly sorry for dragging me into this, you’ll do what’s necessary to get us out of here. You can change back into your normal clothing later.”

His thoughts scrambled for any ideas that would get him out of her plan. His mind betrayed him by coming up with nothing. She had deliberately used his guilt against him. He grabbed the dress. “You don’t play fair.”

She smiled at him sweetly. “You will thank me when we’re out of the city. Now take off your shirt.” He glared at her, but obeyed. As soon as he had it off she slipped the undergarment around his torso and tied it tight. The thing was incredibly uncomfortable and binding.

Serena turned her back on him as he stripped off the rest of his clothes and struggled to get the yards of material over his head and situated. How in the name of the Fates did women get in and out of these things every day? At least they wouldn’t draw any attention when they left her room. Of course, on a normal day, a man seen leaving the boarding house wouldn’t cause comment. Not all the women who lived there made their money as serving girls at a tavern.

Once Kellinar settled the dress, Serena set about stuffing the top of the undergarment to give the appearance of the defining parts he’d talked about. He looked at her face as she worked and wondered if she was upset. Her lips were pressed together until they made a thin line in her face. It took him a minute to realize she was trying to keep from laughing.

“It’s not funny,” he growled.

That sent her into peals of laughter. “You should see your face. You look like a five year old made to stand in the corner. Honestly Kellinar, I had no idea you could pout so well.” When she finished, Serena wound the scarf around his head so that it partially covered his face. Still laughing, she slung her pack over her shoulder, opened the door and stepped into the hall.

Kellinar followed. He carried his own pack, a large bag designed to be worn over one shoulder. It was the style of bag women often carried out of the city in search of wild berries and tubers. They frequently packed food for the mid-day meal and other necessaries in them. Men who worked outside the walls carried a smaller version.

No one noticed them as they left the boarding house and he tried to ignore the fact he wore a dress. Stupid thing seemed to flap around his legs at every step. It would be his luck to get tangled in the dragon-blasted skirt and fall on his face right in front of a Keeper. Fates be damned. Bad enough to be caught by the Keepers, but to be caught in a dress as well… His face heated up at the thought.

The sun was just rising and the streets were still cloaked in shadows. The smell of baking pita bread filled the air. Several women baked pitas in small outdoor ovens. They would stuff them with eggs, cheese, cabbage and goat meat, and sell them to the men headed out to work in the vineyards or the fisheries. Kellinar normally bought several each morning. The smell reminded him that they hadn’t taken time to eat, though Serena had made several of the stuffed breads and packed them away in her bag.

Women moved around, watering tiny gardens where spinach and cabbages grew and feeding chickens housed in pens crammed up against the sides of buildings. The cries of waking babies and the strident challenges of roosters filled the air. They mixed with the impatient bleating of goats, waiting to be milked before being let out of their cramped holding pens and herded out to pasture for the day. Together it created a noisy yet familiar atmosphere in the narrow streets. Kellinar felt a pang of regret. This was all he’d ever known.

They passed the house of a healer and saw several horses with the red and yellow saddle-cloths of the Keepers tied outside. Soldiers and Keepers prowled through the district looking with narrowed eyes at all of the young men. Sweat broke out on Kellinar’s forehead. There was no way this was going to work. He glanced at Serena. She walked along next to him as if this was an everyday thing.