'Barely -- and then what do I do? She'll kill me if I try and let her go, and may the gods help us if Regyl has to contend with more than simply containing her.'
He might have purposefully called the sounds of conflict from the yard beyond the house. Shouts and cries of pain, and the sound of steel on steel penetrated the door to the courtyard; mingled in those shouts was the rally cry of the Greens. That galvanized Kavin into action; he started for the door to the rear of the house and the only other exit, drawing his sword as he ran, obviously hoping to escape before the fracas penetrated into the building.
But he stopped dead in his tracks as the door burst inward, and narrowly missed being knocked off his feet by the force that blew it off its hinges. His blade dropped from numb fingers, clattering on the slate-paved floor. His eyes grew round, and he made a tiny sound as if he were choking. Behind him, Wethes was doing the same.
There were five people standing in the doorway; whether Wethes knew all of them, he didn't know, but Kavin recognized only two.
First in line stood Kethry. Her robes were slightly torn and scorched in one place; she was disheveled, smoke-stained, and dirty. But she was very clearly in control of the situation -- and Kavin found himself completely cowed by her blazing eyes.
Behind her was the Shin'a'in Tarma; a sword in one hand, a dagger in the other, and the look of an angry wolf about her. Should Kethry leave anything of him, he had no doubt that his chances of surviving a single candlemark with her were nil.
Next to Tarma stood a young girl in midnight blue festooned with throwing daggers and with a long knife in either hand. She was the only one of the lot not dividing her attention between himself and Wethes. Kavin looked sideways over his shoulder at the banker, and concluded that he would rather not be in Wethes' shoes if that girl were given her way with him; Wethes looked as if he were as frightened of her as of the rest combined.
Behind those three stood a pair of men, one of whom looked vaguely familiar, although Kavin couldn't place him. They took one look at the situation, grinned at each other, sheathed their own weapons, and left, closing what remained of the door behind the three women.
Kavin backed up, feet scuffling on the floor, until he ran into Wethes.
'Surprise, kinsmen,' Kethry said. 'I am so glad to find you both at home.'
* * * The Broken Sword was the scene of general celebration; Hadell had proclaimed that the ale was on the house, in honor of the victory the five had just won. It was a double victory, for not only had they rescued Kethry, but Ikan had that very day gotten them a hearing and a highly favorable verdict from the Council. Wethes was, insofar as his ambitions went, a ruined man. Worse, he was now a laughingstock to the entire city.
'Cat-child, I expected you at least to want him cut up into collops.' Justin lounged back precariously in his chair on the hearth, balancing it on two legs. 'I can't fathom why you went along with this.'
'I wanted to hurt him,' the girl replied, trimming her nails with one of her knives. 'And I knew after all these years of watching him that there's only two ways to hurt that bastard; to hit his pride or his moneybags. Revenge, they say, is a dish best eaten cold, and I've had three years of cooling.'
'And here's to Kethry, who figured how to get both at the same time,' Ikan raised his mug in a toast.
Kethry reciprocated. 'And to you, who convinced the Council I was worth heeding.'
Ikan smiled. 'Just calling in a few old debts, that's all. You're the one who did the talking.'
'Oh, really? I was under the impression that you did at least half of it.'
'Some, maybe. Force of habit, I'm afraid. Too many years of listening to my father. You may know him -- Jonis Revelath -- '
'Gods, yes, I remember him!' Kethry exclaimed. 'He's the legal counsel for half the Fifty!'
'Slightly more than half.'
'That must be why you're the one who remembered it's against the law to force any female of the Fifty into any marriage without her consent,' Kethry said admiringly. 'Ikan, listening to you in there -- I was truly impressed. You're clever, you're persuasive, you're a good speaker. Why aren't you...'
'Following in my father's footsteps? Because he's unable to fathom why I am more interested in justice than seeing that every client who hires me gets off without more than a reprimand.'
'Which is why the old stick wouldn't defend Wethes for all the gold that bastard threw at him,' Justin chuckled, seeing if he could balance the chair on one leg. 'Couldn't bear to face his son with Ikan on the side of Good, Truth, and Justice. Well, shieldbrother, going to give up the sword and Fight for Right?' The irony in his voice was so strong it could have been spread on bread and eaten.
'Idiot!' Ikan grinned. 'What do you think I am, a dunderhead like you? Swords are safer and usually fairer than
