by Barb Hendee
Too thirsty to question, Wynn gulped down the chill liquid. The cat meowed, and the woman glanced down at it.
"My name is Hedi Progae," she said to Wynn. "Do not be alarmed or cry out, no matter what you see."
The cat hunched down on the stone floor, and a rippling swell passed through its shoulders.
Wynn stopped drinking, tankard poised at her lips.
An undulating ripple cascaded down the cat's body, and its torso swelled in lurches.
Wynn backed into the bed's headboard.
The cat's feet grew, then its legs. Black-brown fur receded to expose bare flesh. Its body continued to expand at a rapid pace, and fur on its head elongated to shiny hair. Its front paws became hands.
Out of the grotesquely writhing form appeared the face of a girl with dark eyes and a smooth dusky complexion. She stood up, slender and naked, and Wynn's mouth dropped open, dribbling water down her chin.
Hedi Progae retrieved a short cotton shift from the bag.
"I am sorry I could not bring anything more," she whispered to the girl. "I was afraid my skirts already looked too bulky."
"Oh, this is fine," replied the girl, and looked at Wynn with a wide grin. "Hello!"
Wynn wiped her chin, mouth still half-open.
"This is Korey," Hedi said. "Some of her family are… have certain abilities. We are here to help you."
Fatigue and pain kept Wynn's scholarly instincts from rising up. All she noted was how much the child resembled the Mondyalitko she'd encountered during the journey into Droevinka with Leesil and Magiere.
"We must hurry," Hedi said. "If we can get to the lower levels, Korey says there is a way to escape the keep and reach the forest across the lake- outside the city."
This was happening too fast. Wynn was desperate, but she hesitated to blindly trust someone she had just met in the company of this strange child.
"A way to escape?" Wynn whispered. "We cannot swim through freezing water, and a hidden boat would be spotted by soldiers walking the keep walls."
Hedi's face flattened in quiet anger. "This child's father took a great risk to show her a door he called 'a portal' and promised she could es-cape through it, if need be. That is all I know, but we have to go down and find it."
"If she knows a way to escape," Wynn asked, "why come for me? Why not just leave?"
"Because I might need assistance," Hedi answered bluntly. "And I do not care to leave anyone in Darmouth's hands, if possible. You would not last long in any further 'conversation' with the lord of this keep."
Perhaps Wynn had spent too much time in this threatening land, with Leesil seeing plots and ploys all around. Or maybe she began to see things from his perspective. In the end, she had no choice.
"How do we reach the lower levels?" she asked.
" Then you are with us?'
"Yes."
"Good. I he corridors running north and south on the main floor end at doors that must lead below. There will be guards to get past, which would be more difficult to deal with by myself."
I he thought of facing more of Darmouth's soldiers made Wynn reluctant again, but she nodded. CDF picked up the discarded muslin dress and held it out to her.
"Put this on,' she said. "At present, Darmouth and Omasta are distracted. No one else will take notice of a servant in my company."
Wynn stripped off her coat and short robe to put on the maid's dress. Hedi pulled a white cloth out of her gown's sleeve and wrapped it about Wynn's hair, then stuffed Wynn's coat and short robe into the bag.
Hedi appraised Wynn, nodded in approval, and snatched up the brass candlestick. "I will call in the guard. Stand before the door, just as you are, and let his suspicion draw him in. Korey, it is time to be a cat again."
Something about Hedi reminded Wynn of Magiere. Perhaps it was the way she took charge, as if it were her natural role. That thought vanished as Wynn stood in wonder, watching Korey revert to her previous form.
Thin fur sprouted from the girl's soft skin. Hands and feet became tiny paws. Her body shriveled and shrank until the shift dropped around her to the floor. The small brown-black cat squirmed out of the shift's neck. Hedi shoved the girl's clothing back inside her bag, then picked up Korey to tuck her in as well. She handed the bag to Wynn.
"Ready?" she asked, and stepped back beside the door.
Wynn was not remotely ready.
Hedi kicked the tray with its bowl, and Wynn jumped at the racket as pottery clattered across the floor.
A key rattled. The door swung open. The young guard looked in, one hand on the hilt of his sheathed shortsword.
"Lady?" he said.
Wynn's small hands closed tight on the bag's scrunched opening.
The guards eyes widened at the sight of her changed attire. He took one quick step through the door.
Hedi swung. The candlestick's wide base caught the young man squarely in the back of his head. He crumpled to all fours, but started to rise. Hedi swung again, and the soldier went down, eyes rolling closed.
Wynn knelt, feeling the man's throat and listening at his mouth.
"What are you doing?" Hedi asked.
"He is still breathing," Wynn answered with relief.
"He is a servant to Darmouth. Save your concern for yourself."
Hedi crouched, setting the candlestick down, and took the guard's key ring from his belt hook. She pulled his shortsword as well, tentatively lifted the weapon, shook her head slightly, and set it back down. In its place, she drew the dagger on the man's belt.
Wynn watched with growing concern as Hedi eyed the blade's sharp tip and glanced down at the defenseless young soldier's exposed back. Perhaps Hedi was not so like Magiere after all. Wynn grabbed the candlestick off the floor, holding it in one hand and the canvas bag in the other. She stepped over the guard to stand above Hedi.
Hedi glanced up at her once with a frown and then rose. Wynn followed as the woman stepped out of the room and locked the door behind them.
Welstiel rode ahead of Chane as they approached the gatehouse before the keep's bridge. They could have walked, but he had decided to pay the stable bill and retrieve their horses. This delayed them for some time, as the stable master had retired and had to be sent for. Looking down on the gatehouse soldiers from horseback would give him a more noble and imposing air. Welstiel had also taken time to dress carefully, appearing ex-actly as he had on his first visit, with a black cap covering the white parches at his temples. Chane wore a cloak with the hood up and remained silent as he rode behind,
Four soldiers were stationed before the bridge gatehouse. Welstiel halted his horse and waited for one to approach him. A middle-aged man with a heavily scarred face came up-the same one who had escorted Welstiel inside on his first visit.
"Your business?' he asked gruffly.
"I met with Lord Darmouth a few evenings past," Welstiel said. "I have come with further news of the hunter he hired. Inform your lord, as he will want to see me.
Welstiel had the appearance and manner of an outland noble, and the guard studied him for only a moment before turning around.
"Open the way!" he called out, and the gates swung wide as the scarred soldier waved Welstiel onward. "Follow me, sir. You'll wait in the inner courtyard until my lord has been informed."
They crossed the bridge behind the soldier. When they passed through the keep's main gates and tunnel into the courtyard, Welstiel dismounted. Chane followed his lead and stood behind him. They left their horses with the courtyard soldiers and trailed their guide to the keep's wide doors on the far side. The soldier had already opened one of the doors when he realized his visitors were still following.
The scarred soldier raised a hand for them to wait as instructed, but Welstiel did not wish for Darmouth to know of his presence.
"What is your name?" Welstiel asked.
Che soldier appeared taken aback. "Devid, sir. I'll announce your arrival, if you'll wait here."
Welstiel guessed most of Darmout
h's men would be out looking for Magiere. He stepped back from the door compliantly and glanced about. Aside from one man leading their horses off, there were three others in the courtyard. Welstiel was hesitant to use the mental tricks of an undead in the open, but so long as the target was calm, any onlookers would be none the wiser. Chane shifted closer toward the doors, watching him curiously.
Welstiel motioned for Devid to join him with a curt wave of his hand. Devid scowled, but stepped forward. Looking into the man's eyes, Wei-stiel spoke in a low thrum that carried his suggestions into the man's thoughts.
"Perhaps we could wait inside, out of the cold?'
Devid blinked twice. "Yes… it is cold out… but you're not to leave the entryway."
Welstiel leaned closer, glancing toward the tunnel to the bridge. "Your lord called you to the Bronze Bell Inn, did he not? He needs your service even now."
He focused an image in his mind of Darmouth ordering Devid to the inn. He did not even look at Devid, but waited.
A moment passed. Devid took two steps into the courtyard toward the tunnel. He looked back once at Welstiel. The man's blank expression clouded with confusion, then settled into a stoic urgency. He hurried off across the courtyard.
Welstiel watched him leave, holding the image of Darmouth in his mind until Devid was far into the tunnel and approaching the keep's outer gate. He waited for Chane's usual comment. Every time Welstiel used any ability as a Noble Dead, it elicited some sardonic remark from his companion. He had become accustomed to it, but this time Chane remained silent.
Welstiel looked back. The door was ajar, and Chane was gone.
He hurried inside to find the wide entryway empty. Welstiel looked up the stairs ahead.
Chane had run off to save his little sage once again.
Welstiel's anger passed quickly. He might be better off alone in watching over Magiere, especially with Chane's obsession constantly distracting him. It would certainly be easier to move about the keep. Welstiel could see that a time would come when a choice might be necessary: either to be rid of Chane, or to remove the object of his distraction once and for all.
The sounds of male chatter carried from the meal hall. He hurried along the opposite wall away from the voices, and ducked through the archway into the counsel hall. Before he looked back to be certain no one saw him, he sensed something warm and alive within the hall.
Two wolfhounds with wiry gray fur lay at the hall's back beneath the tapestries. Both stood up at the sight of him.
Welstiel felt the long-dormant predator within each of them, a trace that decades of domestication had not fully erased. He could guide that instinct with purpose. He had done so once to bring a wolf within Chane's reach for the making of a familiar. Dogs were easier to seduce, already pliant to human masters.
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.