GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS

As Sonea entered the treatment room, Dorrien looked closely at her and frowned.

“You look pale,” he said.

“I’m fine,” she told him as she sat down.

“How long has it been since you saw sunlight?”

Sonea considered. She’d been working the night shift for some weeks now, only taking time off to meet with Cery. The morning after the failed attempt to catch Skellin had been the last time she’d seen sunlight, though surely—

“If it’s been so long you have to think about it this much, it’s been too long,” Dorrien told her sternly.

Sonea shrugged. “The short winter days mean it’s dark when I leave the Guild.”

“If you wait until the days get longer, you might not see the sun for weeks.” He crossed his arms. “You’re like some sort of creepy nocturnal creature, and the impression isn’t helped by the black robes and black magic.”

She smiled. “You’re not scared of me, are you?”

He chuckled. “Not one bit. But I’d hesitate to invite you over to dinner. You might scare the girls.”

“Hmm … it’s probably my turn to host a dinner.”

“You don’t have to take a turn,” he told her. “You’ve got too many other things on your mind. Have you heard from Cery lately?”

She shook her head. “Just a few cryptic messages. He believes Lorandra will have joined Skellin by now.”

“How is Kallen’s search for Lilia and Naki going?”

“He and his assistants have printed out flyers with drawings and descriptions of the girls, and hired people to hand them out around the city. A few have reported seeing one or both of the girls, but none of the sightings has led him to either of them.”

“People have seen Naki? At least that means she’s alive.”

“If the girl they saw was Naki. Still, the Guard hasn’t found any bodies of young women that look like her.”

Dorrien looked thoughtful. “We should put some of those flyers up in the hospices.”

Sonea nodded. “That’s a good idea.”

“I’ll send a messenger to Kallen before I leave. Pity we didn’t get a picture drawn of Lorandra before she escaped.”

“Her appearance is much more distinctive than the girls’, and so is Skellin’s, but the descriptions we put out of those two haven’t attracted any reports of sightings.”

“No, I suppose—”

A knock at the door interrupted him. Sonea turned in time to see it swing open. Healer Gejen nodded to her politely.

“Black Magician Sonea,” he said politely, before turning to Dorrien. “Your wife is here to see you, Lord Dorrien.”

“Tell her I’ll be out as soon as I’ve finished briefing Sonea,” Dorrien replied.

As the door closed, Dorrien sighed. “I was wondering how long it would take before she gathered the courage to check on me here.”

“Check on you?”

“Yes. To make sure we’re not up to anything she wouldn’t approve of.”

Sonea shook her head. “I don’t understand. What does she think we do here? Is she afraid I’ll corrupt you?”

“In a way.”

“She thinks I might teach you black magic?” Sonea threw up her hands in exasperation. “How can I convince her to trust me?”

“It’s not that she distrusts you. She’s in awe of you. And she’s jealous.”

She looked at Dorrien. He wore an expression she had seen before. Before she could put a name to it, he spoke again.

“It’s me she doesn’t trust.”

“You? Why ever not?” “Because …” He paused, then looked at her as if meeting her gaze was difficult.

“Because she knows that if there was ever a chance you and I could be together, I’d take it.”

She stared at him, surprised and shocked. Suddenly she understood the look on his face. Guilt. And a cautious longing. An answering guilt rose up within her and she had to look away. All these years, and he has never stopped wanting me. I thought he had, when he met and married Alina. I was relieved to be free of the burden of not returning his feelings.

She had been caught up in grief then, still in love with a man she had lost. There had been no room in her heart to consider another.

Was there now?

No, she thought, but a traitorous feeling rose to contradict that thought. Panic rose but she pushed it aside. I can’t desire Dorrien, she told herself. He is married. It will only make things awkward and painful for all of us. She needed to say something that would end the possibility before it had a chance to take root in her mind. Something tactful, but clear. Something … But she couldn’t think of the right words.

Dorrien stood up. “There. I’ve said it. I …” He broke off as she looked up and met his eyes, then smiled crookedly. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he finished. He moved to the door, opened it and left the room.

It doesn’t matter what I say, she realised. This is already awkward and painful, and has been for months. I’m just a latecomer to the situation.

Cery’s home was a hole in the ground. However, it was a surprisingly luxurious hole, with all the comforts of an Inner City mansion. It was so luxurious that it was easy for Lilia to forget that she was underground. The only reminder was the small size of the place – it contained only a few rooms – and lack of servants.

Hiring servants would have meant people coming and going, and that would defeat the purpose of having a secret location. Cery’s bodyguard, Gol, had assured her that there were food supplies like dried beans and grains, salted meat and preserved fruit and vegetables stored here in case it became too dangerous to leave. She had never seen anyone cook them. Instead, Gol brought fresh food to the hideout every few days.

Now that Lilia and Anyi were staying there, he had to bring more food more often, which must have made it harder to keep the hideout location secret, or perhaps just have increased the risk that someone would recognise and follow him. Cery had been very insistent that they stay, however. Anyi had argued with him, and lost.

It had amazed Lilia to see how uncowed Anyi was around her employer, considering that he was a Thief. The young woman expressed a mix of loyalty, protectiveness and defiance, and he tolerated the latter with surprising patience. Instead of exerting his will with orders and discipline, he deftly skirted around her demands or objections.

To get Anyi to agree to stay, he didn’t bother trying. He simply turned to Lilia and suggested a deal: he would help her find Naki and keep her hidden from both the Guild and Skellin in exchange for her protecting him and Anyi. She had agreed.

The best way to protect Anyi, it turned out, was to make her stay in the hideout. The easiest way Lilia found to ensure that was to stay in the hideout herself. However, it wasn’t that easy. The more Anyi felt cooped up, the more she spent her excess energy on arguing. Gol’s return with the evening meal had her circling him eagerly.

“Have you seen any sign that Lorandra or Jemmi or Rek are looking for me or Lilia?” she asked.

“No,” he replied, stepping around her and placing a sack on the low table between the guest room chairs.

Anyi turned to Cery. “See? Surely if they’d made the connection they’d be looking for us.”

“Skellin’s not stupid,” Cery replied. “He knows that either you’re with me or out in the city on your own. If you’re on your own the chances are greater that someone will see you and report it to him. If you’re with me … well, he’s already got plenty of people looking for me.”

“But what if Rek didn’t tell Lorandra that I used to work for you?”

“What else is he likely to tell her, and Jemmi, to convince them that you taking Lilia away wasn’t his idea in the first place?”

“He might only have told Jemmi.”

Cery pointed at a chair. “Sit, Anyi,” he ordered.

She obeyed, but continued to stare at him while Gol began removing well-wrapped packets out of the sack and tearing them open. The extra wrapping was to reduce the smell of food escaping and acting as a trail through the tunnels to the hideout. Delicious smells filled the room.

“Jemmi will have told Lorandra you must have been my spy, in the hopes of convincing her there was no plot,” Cery continued. “Like it or not, Anyi, they know your betrayal was faked. You’re stuck here with me.”

Lilia felt a pang of sympathy as Anyi’s shoulders slumped. Not the first time, she wondered if Anyi had told Cery of her encounter with Heyla.

“I didn’t hear that anyone is looking for you,” Gol told Anyi. “But I heard that people are looking for someone who, from your description, sounds like Naki. They’re not our people, or the Guild, I think. They’re people she really wouldn’t want finding her, I reckon.”

Lilia sat up straight. “Someone else is looking for her?”

Gol nodded, then looked at Cery. The Thief’s eyes narrowed.

“So the race begins,” he said.

“Who is looking for her?” Lilia asked. “And why?”

“Skellin,” Cery answered. “It’s no secret that Naki is missing, and that she and Lilia tried to learn black magic. The fact that Naki didn’t succeed only makes her a slightly less appealing captive than Lilia. She can still tell Skellin everything she read and did. After all, if Lilia succeeded with the same information, there’s a chance he would too. If he doesn’t,” Cery looked at Lilia and grimaced, “he knows Lilia cares about Naki. He’ll try to blackmail her into teaching him, in exchange for Naki.”

“We have to find Naki first,” Anyi said.

“Yes.” Cery smiled thinly. “Skellin’s search for her might help us. I have people watching his people. If his look like they’ve found answers, mine will ask the same questions. If his look like they’re about to search somewhere, mine will be watching, ready to help Naki escape.”

A bell chimed somewhere behind the walls. Cery looked at Gol, who gave the opened packets of food a look of regret.

“We’ll save you some,” Cery promised.

The big man sighed and hurried to the hidden door built into the panelling in the room. Anyi rose and grabbed some plates and cutlery from a side cabinet, handed them out, then joined in as Lilia and Cery began to serve themselves and eat. Gol had brought several river fish baked in a salty-sweet sauce, plus roasted winter vegetables and freshly baked bread.

Soon afterwards, Gol returned. This time it was Cery who looked disappointed, as he and Gol left. Once they were alone together, Lilia looked at Anyi.

“Do you think Heyla is out there, telling people she saw us?”

Anyi’s expression darkened. “Probably. She’s done it before. She’ll get herself into more trouble than she realises if she does.”

“Does Cery know about her?”

“Kind of.” Anyi looked pained. “I started working for Cery after Heyla and me weren’t friends any more. I told him a friend had tried to sell me out, but I didn’t tell him who she was.”

“If you weren’t working for Cery, how did she know about him?”

Anyi paused, then shook her head. “Oh, I knew of him. Distantly. Anyway … I’d rather not talk about her.”

Lilia nodded. “Your secrets are safe with me.”

Anyi looked up at Lilia but didn’t smile. Instead she regarded her with a thoughtful expression that contained a hint of speculation.

“What?” Lilia asked.

“Nothing.” Anyi looked away, then back. “How close are you and Naki?”

Lilia looked down at her plate. “Very close. Well, not so close after she thought I’d killed her father.”

Anyi grimaced in sympathy. “Yes, that would test a friendship. Not just for her, thinking that you had done it. It must equally have hurt you that she could even suspect you of having done it.”

Lilia glanced at Anyi reproachfully. The pain of knowing that a friend could believe you’d killed someone was surely nothing like the pain of thinking a friend had killed a loved one. But she does have a point, Lilia found herself thinking. How could Naki have thought I’d done it? Especially after Black Magician Sonea read my mind and said I hadn’t.

The usual pattern of chimes and knocks warned them that someone was approaching the hideout. Anyi leapt up, knocked and tapped in reply, and worked the mechanisms to let Cery and Gol back into the room.

“That was a messenger,” Cery told them. “From the Thief, Enka, who is one of the few not completely owned by Skellin yet. He wants me to help him deal with a problem he has with his neighbour, who he says has a magician working for him. He thinks I can arrange for the Guild to find her.”

“Her?” Lilia asked, her heart skipping. “Is it Naki?”

“He says it’s a woman,” Gol replied. “His description of her sounds nothing like Lorandra.”

“Lorandra hasn’t got any magic,” Anyi pointed out.

“She probably has now,” Lilia told her. “Skellin could have removed the block. But Naki’s powers are blocked.”

Cery frowned. “Perhaps she has removed the block herself as you did.”

“I was only able to do that because I’d learned black magic. Naki hasn’t.”

“Then she must be relying on her reputation to intimidate people, and perhaps using tricks to convince people that she has her powers back. Enka did say he hadn’t seen her use magic yet. We should make sure it’s her before we show ourselves, of course, and be prepared in case it’s a trap set by Skellin. At least we know that he and Lorandra won’t turn up because he’ll expect Guild magicians to arrive. We have Lilia to protect us from non-magical attacks,” he added, bowing to her.

“Why don’t you tell the Guild?” Gol asked, frowning. “Save us the trouble and risk.”

Cery smiled and looked at Lilia. “Because if Lilia rescues Naki, the Guild will look more kindly on her escaping from the Lookout.”

Lilia smiled in reply. I can’t believe I’m thinking this about a Thief, but I’m really starting to like Cery.

The Thief rubbed his hands together and moved back to the chairs. “Come on you lot. Let’s finish eating. We have cunning plans to hatch.”

“So,” a familiar voice said. “I hear you finished your first stone.”

Lorkin turned to see Evar walking along the corridor behind him. He grinned and slowed down to join his friend.

“News travels fast in the stone-makers’ caves,” he observed.

Evar nodded. “We were curious to see how you fared. Stone-making isn’t suited to everyone.”

“I can see why. It takes so much concentration.” Lorkin looked at Evar critically. The young man appeared to be healthy and relaxed. “I haven’t seen you in a while. I thought we’d run into each other in the caves.”

Evar smiled. “You won’t find me in the students’ caves. I’m working on much more sophisticated stones.”

“Too busy to drop by on a friend?”

“Perhaps.”

Lorkin checked his stride. “Wait a moment. You’re a man, so you don’t know bl– … higher magic. How can you be making stones?”

The smile fled from Evar’s face. He bit his lower lip, then looked apologetic. “Uh … I might have exaggerated my role here.”

Lorkin stared at his friend, then burst out laughing. “What do you …? No, actually, I’ll save you having to answer that by not asking.”

“I’m an assistant,” Evar said, lifting his chin in mocking haughtiness. “Sometimes I provide extra magic.”

“And at other times?”

“The caves don’t heat themselves, and stone-makers have an annoying habit of forgetting to eat.”

Lorkin slapped him gently on the shoulder. “All essential to the process.”

“Yes.” Evar straightened. “It is.”

They walked along in companionable silence, turning from the smaller passage into a wider, busier thoroughfare. Lorkin had taken only a few steps when he heard his name called. He looked around and saw the magician he’d seen guarding the queen’s room weeks ago beckoning to him.

“Got to go,” he told Evar. “Perhaps I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Evar shrugged. “I doubt it. Early start. We’re quite busy right now.”

Lorkin nodded, then hurried to meet the magician.

“You’re to see the queen,” she informed him. She turned and set a pace that had them weaving through the people walking along the corridor. At one point she led him through a door that opened onto an empty narrow passage.

“I didn’t know that existed,” he murmured as they emerged into more familiar parts of the city.

“Short cut,” she said, smiling briefly.

A few turns later they arrived at the door of the queen’s rooms. The magician knocked, then stepped back as the door opened. To Lorkin’s surprise and pleasure, Tyvara stood there. His mood instantly lifted, despite the fact that he’d already been in a good one.

“Tyvara,” he said, smiling.

Only the corners of her mouth twitched upwards, as they did when she was trying to maintain a serious demeanour.

“Lorkin. Come inside.”

As before, the queen was sitting on one of a circle of plain chairs. He placed a hand on his heart and, unlike in the previous visit, she nodded in the formal response.

“Please sit down, Lorkin,” she said, gesturing to the chair beside her.

He obeyed. Tyvara sat at the other side of the old woman. A movement in the doorway to the inner room caught his eye. He looked up to see the queen’s assistant, Pelaya, peering in. She smiled at him, then moved out of sight again.

“I hear you completed a stone,” the queen said.

News does travel fast. “I did.”

“Show me.”

He reached into the pocket of his tunic and drew out the tiny crystal. The queen extended a withered hand, so he dropped it into her palm.

She stared at the stone for a moment, and it began to glow. A satisfied smile spread over her face and she looked up at him, eyes bright.

“Well done. Not many students accomplish a flawless stone on their first attempt. Some here would say you have stone in your blood.” She shrugged. “Obviously not literally.” She handed the stone back. It was already fading. “I am pleased, and not only that you were able to receive what we offered in compensation for the knowledge that was taken from you. I have a task for you.”

He blinked in surprise, then felt his heart sink a little.

“You hesitate,” she noted, her eyes narrowing. “What is it?”

“Nothing,” he said, then because it was clearly not so: “I was looking forward to making another stone. Learning more. But that can wait.”

Zarala chuckled. “Were you? Well, what Kalia took from you was a basic understanding of Healing. We have given you a basic understanding of stone-making. I’m afraid you, as she, will have to learn more through experimentation, without the aid of generations of knowledge.”

Lorkin nodded, though he was not happy. Not only would he not be taught any more, but Kalia would be allowed to use what she had taken from him.

“Besides, there is no time for you to learn all we know about stone-making,” she told him. “There are more pressing matters to attend to. That is why I am ordering you to leave Sanctuary and return to Kyralia.”

He looked up at her in surprise and, unexpectedly, dismay. He did not want to leave. No, that’s not entirely true. I do want to leave. I want to be able to see my mother and friends again. But I want to be able to return to Sanctuary, too. He looked at Tyvara. Will I see her again? She smiled. It was a reassuring smile. It seemed to say “wait and see”.

The queen’s expression was knowing, and perhaps a little mischievous. She looked at Tyvara, then back at him. Her expression became serious again. “When you arrive, and if you are received well, you are to begin negotiations between us and the Allied Lands for an alliance.”

Lorkin could not help letting out a small gasp of amazement. This is what I hoped for! Well, I hoped the Traitors and Guild would trade magical knowledge after an alliance, not before it, but …

“Tyvara will guide you out of the mountains, then you will journey to Arvice to rejoin the Kyralian Ambassador. To keep what you know of us secret, we will give you a blocking stone. Though it would be politically harmful for the king and Ashaki if anybody read your mind against your will, they may decide it’s worth it for the chance to find us. We would take you straight to the pass into Kyralia, but the mountains are too dangerous for travel at this time of year, with the Ichani growing bolder out of hunger.” She fixed him with her bright eyes. “Will you do this?” she asked.

He nodded. “Gladly.”

“Good. Now, there is something I must give you.”

She picked up a small bag that he hadn’t noticed lying on her lap. Loosening the ties, she upended it and a rough, chunky ring fell into one palm. Holding it up, she regarded it, her expression thoughtful and sad, then extended her hand to him.

He took the ring. The band was gold, but very roughly fashioned, as if made of clay by a child. Set within it was a dark red gemstone.

“Your father gave this to me a long time ago. In fact, I instructed him on how to make it. Of course, it no longer works.”

A chill ran up Lorkin’s spine, and his heart missed a beat. Father made this! He turned it over and over, the stone catching the light. Did Father know stone-making? Surely not. The answer was suddenly clear to him. It must be a blood gem. The implications of that hit him like a slap. “You were in communication with him all along!”

Zarala nodded. Her eyes were misty. “Yes. For a time.”

“So you know why he didn’t return here!”

“If he ever made a decision about that, he never told me.” She sighed. “I know he returned home out of fear the Ichani would invade, and I disagreed with him. I didn’t believe the danger was immediate. Afterwards … there was always something that prevented him leaving Kyralia. And there was more to our deal than an exchange of higher magic and freedom for Healing.” She shook her head. “I was never able to uphold one thing I agreed to. Like him, the situation at home was more difficult to overcome than I’d hoped. After my daughter died, I … I stopped contacting him. I knew I was partly to blame for her death, for asking too much from him, and agreeing to give too much in return.”

The old queen drew in a deep breath, then let it out again. Her thin shoulders rose and fell.

“We were both young and idealistic, thinking we could do more than we could. I believe he intended to return. My people didn’t agree and I couldn’t convince them otherwise without revealing what it was that I’d failed to do.” She reached out, cupped her hands around Lorkin’s and bent his fingers in around the stone.

Over their hands, she looked at him and her gaze was steady.

“Sending you to Kyralia will go some way toward me doing what I agreed to do. I only hope that, unlike your father, I live long enough to keep my promise. Now go.” She released his hands and straightened. “Tyvara has made the preparations and it’s a clear night outside. Be careful and be safe.”

Rising, he bowed in respect. Then, with Tyvara leading, he left the room and the city he had expected to make his home for a lot longer than a few short months.