by Sharon Green
I was so distracted by the rampaging of my thoughts, that we reached the back entrance of Oeran's house without my being more than faintly aware of what my sandals had needed to walk through to get there. It was just about full dark by now, but the neighborhood the house stood in seemed a lot less rundown and overused than the one belonging to the tavern. A uniformed servant let us in, his face calm with that unimpressed expression usual to experienced night house personnel, a distinct change from the reactions of the people we'd passed on the way. I don't pass numberless dark but filled doorways and alleys without being aware of it even when I'm distracted, but apparently the sight of lots of black leather had kept everyone discreetly at a distance.
"Tell the kitchen I have five guests for dinner tonight instead of four,'' Oeran said to the servant/door guard as he led the way in. "We'll be in my meeting room till then, rather than in the salon."
The servant said something in acknowledgment as we all moved past him, but I had already stopped listening. There was something involved with what I had been thinking about, something to do with the enemy and the castle, and I could have sworn it felt like an answer. An answer to what I still couldn't be sure of, but it had to be an answer to something…
''Isn't that right, Softy?" Ham said to me, and I blinked back to an awareness of my surroundings to find that we were in a large room that was very expensively furnished. Oeran was closing a white door that stood in the middle of a wall covered with golden brown silks and bright golden lamps, and the floor we stood on looked to be white marble. Quite a lot of chairs and couches stood around, some of them golden brown leather, some golden brocade, and although the lamps were lit, the firewood laid in the hearth wasn't.
"Isn't what right?'' I asked, having heard nothing of what had been said before my name was mentioned.
"I was telling Oeran that we could have waited for our meal in the salon anyway," Ham said, a faint grin on his broad face. ''Just because we now have a girl with us doesn't mean we have to hide her away after sneaking her in the back door. Here in the south, they act like women need special secret entrances before they're allowed to enjoy themselves.''
''The women around here just aren't used to the idea of patronizing night houses,'' Oeran said with a grin of amusement as he headed for an elaborate sideboard filled and covered with decanters and goblets. ''As a matter of fact, my workers aren't used to the idea either. In a salon in the north your Fistmate would not even be noticed, but here… Chances are my girls would freeze up, to the point of not even being able to smile at you. And since we are in the south, it's ladies first. What would you like to drink, Softy?''
He turned to look at me with the question, the smile still on his face, but it began to fade when he saw my expression. I had to be looking thunderstruck because that's the way I felt, and all I could do was shake my head.
''Secret entrances,'' I said, staring at Oeran. "It has to be that, there's nothing else it can be.''
''I really don't think they'd help, girl," Oeran said, looking concerned and confused both at the same time. ''If women aren't used to the idea of coming to night houses, special entrances won't do anything to - ''
''No, no, not here!'' I nearly shouted, suddenly on fire with the realization. "At the castle! That's how they got in those times, and I can do the same! I can get into the castle without their knowing about it!''
Everyone started talking at once, asking questions and demanding to know what I meant, but I was too busy making plans to pay attention. Getting through the city gates after dark could be a problem, but if the Guard refused to let me through I could look for one of the unofficial ways out every city has. Sewer drain or crack in the foundation, or even over the top. I'd make it out and then I would - But I was wasting time just standing there in Oeran's house and thinking. It was time to get out and do, but when I turned and began to head toward the door a hand closed on my arm, pulling me to a halt.
"Hold it right there," Rull said, his grip tight and a look of annoyance in his eyes. ''If you think you're taking off to do whatever you're planning alone, that long ride from the north obviously scrambled your brains. You must have come looking for Oeran for a reason, and I’d say it was time you talked about that reason - and how the rest of us can be fit into what has to be done. If it was help you needed, try to remember we're a little more effective than a bunch of boar-meat sandwiches.''
I stared at him for a second, almost too impatient and anxious and worried and a dozen other things to be willing to take the time to consider what he'd said, but I'd just been reminded of something. I had come to Oeran for help but also for information, and all my plans hinged on a point I still hadn't had a clear answer to.
''I may not be able to let anyone come with me," I told Rull, wanting him and the others to know I wasn't shutting them out by choice. "There are certain … family things that I have no business discussing with anyone who isn't part of the family, but - Oeran, do they have any idea how many of those so-called rebels there are in the castle?''
I'd turned back to look at the ex-Blade, and he had no need to be told how important the question was. Instead of wasting time by mentioning drinks again, he merely shook his head.
"There are at least three dozen, but for all they know the number might be twice or four times that," he said, his eyes showing his own annoyance with such flimsy intelligence. ''They do know that every House Guard and Fighter has been put under lock and key, but they don't know if it was superior numbers or threats to the hostages that accomplished it. What did you mean, you know how they got in and you can do the same? Everyone's been assuming the first of them got in as tradesmen and delivery men, and let the others in afterward."
Rather than answer him immediately I turned away from five pairs of staring eyes to walk to a chair, then stood there brooding down into it without trying to sit. I knew well enough how good a Blade I was, but even the best Blade ever born couldn't have faced more than thirty opponents and hoped to win, not even if those opponents were entirely unskilled. There was the possibility that I might be able to catch them a few at a time and take them out that way, but what if I couldn't? What if they killed me or captured me instead? That would be the end as far as my family was concerned, and I simply couldn't take the chance.
''All right,'' I said with a sigh, turning again to face the five who hadn't made any attempt to rush me into a decision. ''Preserving a family secret at the cost of the family itself makes no sense at all. Let me tell you about what happened shortly after I got home, and then I'll tell you how I think they did it.''
We all sat down and I described the first attack in the castle, then the kidnapping that left me miles away once I'd gotten free. I said nothing about having a companion on the trip back, preferring to save that part of it for another time, going directly, instead, to the main point.
''Ham's comment about special secret entrances for women triggered the memory," I said, grateful that none of them had interrupted with the questions they all surely had. ''About a year before I was sent north, I made a discovery no one knew I made. One of the games I'd thought of to keep myself amused was the challenge of following Traixe around without his knowing I was doing it. Since Traixe was in charge of my father's Fighters as well as being his advisor, following Traixe when he checked on the Fighters almost always added at least one word to my vocabulary. It was one of the things that kept me from growing bored with the game, and made my ultimate discovery possible."
The five of them had smiled a little, but their attention to my story hadn't wavered. ''It was a day my father had taken my brothers hunting, and most of the Fighters had gone with them," I continued. "I suppose Traixe found himself with not enough to do, and the house was practically empty, and - What he did was make a special inspection, all by himself. I followed him to four places in the castle where the solid walls became a lot less solid when he pushed on them, and once he had returned to his apartment I went back to those places to find that there were tunne
ls behind them. At another time I discovered that the tunnels led out beyond the castle into the rocky countryside."
''And that's how you think your father's enemies got into the castle," Oeran said with a thoughtful nod. "Through one of those tunnels. But why didn't your father's people think of that themselves, and how is it going to help us? If the ones holding the castle know about the tunnels, won't they be watching for attack from that direction?''
''I don't think so,'' I said, praying to Evon I was right. ''My father's people didn't think of it because the doors leading out of the tunnels are heavily barred and made of rock. Anyone trying to break in that way would be heard long before he got anywhere, but there's another way it could have been done. If my father's messenger wasn't the only traitor in the household, the tunnel door could simply have been unbarred. And since that has to be the way they got in, I'm fairly sure I know which tunnel they used.''
''Tunnel, singular," Jak said, picking up on the point at once. ''That means you don't believe this Traixe is the traitor, even though he'd be the most logical suspect. If it was someone else, the someone else would have had to first find out about the tunnels, which shouldn't have been easy. Your Traixe already knew, and even if he didn't do any of the rest himself, he could have traded the information for gold."
"I'd need a lot more than guesswork before I believed something like that about Traixe,'' I said with a headshake, refusing to let myself notice how logical the line of thought was. ''You don't know him the way I do, Jak, and I can't believe he could have changed that much even after all these years. He'd have no reason, and people don’t do things without a reason."
I broke off then, too aware of how defensive I sounded. After the first attack Traixe should have thought about the tunnels, only he hadn't. And he was the one who had been working so hard trying to talk me into accepting Kylin, but supposedly only because my father would be harmed if I didn't. How did I know my father would be hurt because he intended to order me to leave rather than marry? Why, because Traixe had said so, that’s how I knew. But why would he do it, why…?
"I doubt if it makes much difference whether or not this Traixe is the traitor,'' Rull said, looking as thoughtful as the others. ''Only a stupid man would sell or share the location of more than one tunnel when the others could be made into separate, brand-new deals or disclosures bringing power, and the duke would hardly be likely to keep a stupid man as his advisor. If they do know about all the tunnels we're in trouble and probably as good as dead, so we'll just have to work on the theory that just one, or at most two, of the locations have been betrayed. What makes you think it's only one, Softy, and how does that help us?''
''About the same time as the first attack, two kitchen workers were found dead in a back corridor near the kitchens,'' I said, forcing myself to abandon a line of thought that was getting me nowhere. ''It didn't mean anything to me at the time I heard about it, but now I can see the reason they were killed. The entrance to one of the tunnels is back there, and the workers must have accidentally walked in on them when the attackers were being brought in. I'm not saying that has to be the only tunnel they know about, Rull, but it has to mean they don't know about the tunnel with my little secret. With the kitchens so busy preparing a Feasting, wouldn't they have preferred to use the tunnel in the family wing if they could have? Especially since it's closer to where they staged their ambush? If they took the longer way that had so many more people nearby, it has to be because they didn’t know about the closer way.''
"They could have had a reason we're not seeing, but basically I tend to agree,'' Rull decided with a slow nod. ''They didn't use it because they don't know about it, so its location in the family wing shouldn't be under guard. What did you mean about your little secret?"
''Maybe I should have called it my little stupidity," I said with a sigh, wondering how even a mere decade-old me could have done such a mindless thing. ''I did it and then I forgot about it, and for just an instant I thought it was my fault the enemy had managed to get in. I didn't know those kitchen workers, but Evon bless them for giving up their lives so that I might see the truth …
''Well, that's not important right now,'' I said, jerking myself back from the maudlin to the story at hand. ''Not long after I found out about the tunnels, I managed to investigate them. I had no trouble getting into them from the castle, but getting out the other end proved impossible. I might have been big for my age, but I wasn't big enough to lift a really heavy bar and push a door of stone open. What to do about the problem stumped me for a while, but then I remembered Tugy, our smith's second son. Tugy was almost into his second under-decade and was built even bigger than his father, but something had gone wrong with him even before he was born. No matter how big and strong he grew, his mind stayed the mind of a very little boy, a nice, friendly, and gentle boy, but still a very young one.
"I had played with Tugy often when I was very young, but as I got older his constant forgetfulness became too annoying to tolerate on a regular basis. I did spend some time with him occasionally, devising games that made him laugh, and it came to me then that I had a new game to amuse him. I sneaked him into the family wing, and then into the tunnel, and in that way was able to go through the far door any time I pleased."
"Don’t tell me you left it open," Oeran said, a peculiar expression on his face that I could recall seeing on other people at other times. "It couldn’t have been easy sneaking him in on a regular basis, so in order to use the door any time you pleased - "
"Really, Oeran, even then I had more sense than that," I interrupted, aware of the amusement my Fistmates felt over our host’s upset. "I didn’t know how often Traixe checked those tunnels, so how could I leave the door unbarred without giving the game away? No, what I did was more involved than that, and took advantage of the fact that Tugy had a big man’s strength. I had him put metal in the ends of the wooden bar to brace it into the stone on either side of the door, and then we loosened the bar brackets where they were seated in the door itself. Once you set Tugy to doing something he kept right on doing it until you told him to stop, so it really took very little time to get it finished. I also bathed the door hinges in oil so I could get it open alone."
"And anyone simply looking at the arrangement would believe it was still secure," Oeran said, this time shaking his head. "The door merely slid off the bracket bolts when it was opened, and the bar and brackets were held in place by the walls. If I ever get the urge to have a family, I’d better have nothing but sons. I can see I’m not made to cope with daughters."
"Luckily for the men of the world, not all daughters turn out to be like our Softy," Rull said with a chuckle that was echoed by my other Fistmates. ''So if your little secret wasn't discovered and repaired, we have a way into the castle - if we can find it from the outside. You do know what the location of the door looks like from the outside?''
''I did know,'' I said, suddenly afraid that what I'd done had been discovered and repaired. ''For a while I spent more of the night outside than in, delighting in exploring among the rocks without the constant nagging of my nurses to 'stay clean' and 'be careful' and 'don't climb up there, it's too high.' I ought to remember what the place looks like, especially in the dark, but the only way to know for certain is to try it. I'm ready to leave right now, so anyone coming with me - "
''Not so fast," Oeran said as I rose from my chair, gesturing at me to stay where I was while his mind considered possibilities. ''It may be dark out but it's still too early to launch any expeditions we don’t want the whole city to know about, and we really should give those in the castle a chance to settle down for the night. Since we'll be looking for something that needs to be kept quiet only we six will be going, which means the fewer of the enemy up and about, the better the chance that we'll have. And you, Softy, need a sword and something else to wear, not to mention the fact that you look like you can also use some sleep. First we'll have dinner, then we'll start taking care of the rest of it."
>
He got to his feet and looked straight at me, giving me the opportunity to argue if I really had to, but what he'd said made too much sense. I wanted to leave then and there but if I did I'd simply have to wait out in the dark, taking the chance of being discovered. I forced myself to nod reluctant agreement just as a knock came at the door, which was perfect timing if I ever saw it. The knocker was Oeran's servant telling us dinner was ready, and that put a temporary end to our main topic of discussion.
Oeran really did very well for himself and the dinner was excellent, but despite the fact that that was the first meal of the day for me I had very little appetite. I ate enough to be sure I could keep going through the rest of the night, then accepted my host's offer of a room where I could rest until it was time to go. I followed one of the servants upstairs to the back of the house, and then was left alone in a room I was assured hadn't been used for clients in a while. The silk hangings and bed covers and room accents were all a bright, buttercup yellow accompanied by a small amount of white, giving me the impression I was in the middle of an attack by sunshine. I grimaced as I closed the door, wondering how anyone could live in all that enthusiastic brightness for any length of time, also wondering if the clients brought in there had spent most of their time squinting. It was possible only the very desperate had used it, and was unused now because no one was quite that desperate.
The nonsense of my thoughts was interrupted by the sight of something on the flouncy, enticingly arranged bed, and walking over showed the something to be black trousers and a dark green shirt. On the smoothly buffed floor at the foot of the bed was a pair of scuffed black boots, and beyond the bed, on a table in the middle of the room, was a swordbelt and sword. The trousers looked as though they might fit fairly well but the shirt, obviously coming from a different source, would definitely be too big. I sighed, hoping the boots would be more like the trousers than the shirt, then began to get out of the dress.