go straight up the stairs at the back of the bar and wait for me in room four. It will be unlocked.”
“Why don’t I wait for you here?” I asked, suspiciously.
“Because we should not be seen going in together,” said she, with that provocative little smile, which seemed to promise so much more than I was going to get. “That just isn’t done.”
She wagged her finger at me. As she fumbled for her purse and replaced her mask, she added, “Go on in and I’ll join you presently.”
I wanted to believe her, but as I got down and walked across the cobbled yard to where the small hubbub of the tavern emanated, I knew she wouldn’t be coming up. I considered having a few beers-if they were any good- and then getting the first ride I could back to the city, but I was too frustrated to be so passive. I sensed no malice from her and I wasn’t about to threaten the girl, partly because I doubted that she knew entirely what it was that was about to happen. The assassins had got to me in Phasdreille. There was no reason for them to arrange so elaborate a ruse to get me out here in the middle of nowhere. No; this was something different, and I felt a rising sense of caution touched with anticipation. I wanted to see who had gone to so much trouble to get me out here and why.
So I started to go in. But first I took one last look at the masked beauty in the carriage, who was making a show of sorting through some coins. I didn’t expect I’d see her again and had almost decided to go back to say something romantic and significant when the carriage suddenly launched forward and, with a clatter of hooves, vanished into the darkness. Well, that was my ride gone.
So much for romance.
For a minute or two I just stood there, not surprised, but feeling sort of confused and pathetic anyway. Then someone came out of the pub pushing a dolly with a barrel on it and the decision was made. He gave me a curious look. Suddenly conscious of how strange it must seem to be standing around in the courtyard in the dark, I took a few purposeful strides, gave him a “good evening” kind of nod, and stepped into the inn.
The barroom was curious. It had more of the Cresdon bustle than the other inns I had seen since we were transported to wherever we now were. It was smoky and loud-not like the Eagle, you understand, but it certainly had more character than the Refuge or anything in Phasdreille. The atmosphere cheered me. Maybe the beer would even be decent.
I made my way to the bar and ordered. At first I didn’t notice, but the patrons were a surprisingly mixed bag. In place of the tall, pale, and blond aristocratic types I had grown used to, these were tall, short, fat, thin, pale, dark, brunette, redheaded-in short, just what you’d expect in the taverns of Thrusia. My heart skipped at the idea and a thought struck me: Perhaps I had crossed back, taken another mystical carriage ride back across the edge of reality, back to Stavis. Then I tasted the beer: the same straw-colored ditchwater as before. I was still here.
As if to emphasize the point, I turned and found myself gazing across the room to the foot of a narrow staircase made of plain wooden boards. I took a sip of my “beer,” left the rest of it on the bar, and walked to and up the stairs quite calmly, almost as if I knew what I was doing. Room four was the second from the head of the stairs on the right. I knocked, and, when no one answered, pushed the door open.
A candle was burning inside. There was a rough-looking bed with an uneven mattress stuffed with straw, a deal table and chair, and a large water pitcher and bowl. On the table was a bottle of beer and two earthenware goblets. Nothing else. I walked in, closed the door behind me, and sat on the bed. Drawing a knife from my boot, I stared at the door to a large closet and spoke aloud. “All right, let’s get on with it. I’m in no mood for games.”
The door swung open. “Nor am I, Will.”
It was Lisha.
She stood there, small and still, smiling slightly. I stared at her, my mouth open. Then, without thinking, I threw my arms around her and squeezed her hard. This was the last thing I had expected and suddenly it seemed that I had never been happier to see anyone.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I exclaimed.
“Waiting for you, obviously.”
“You sent the letter?”
“Of course.”
“Why?”
“First,” she said, “tell me how you got to Phasdreille and which of the party you have seen.”
I still had my hands fixed to her shoulders, and now-perhaps at the mention of the others-it was like I remembered who she was, and I felt awkward and overfamiliar. I let her go and took a step back, gesturing vaguely and looking shamefaced.
“It’s good to see you,” she said.
I nodded and looked at the floor.
She poured me a glass of the beer (better than that in the city, but not by much) and I told my tale-all of it: Sorrail, the fight in the cave, the loss of Orgos and Mithos, our failed rescue attempt, meeting Garnet in the city, and everything that had happened since. After I had finished, she sat in silence for a long time, her narrow eyes almost closed with thought. She was, as ever, small and girlish. Her skin was dark, brown as leather, and her hair was black and glossy as the feathers of a raven. Sitting there so small in the candlelight of this unfamiliar room I was reminded of when I had first met the much-touted party leader and how bewildered and disappointed I had been. That seemed like a very long time ago.
“But you have had no news of Mithos and Orgos since your encounter in the forest?”
I shook my head.
“You think they are?. .”
“I don’t know,” I answered, quickly.
“And there has been no other attempt to rescue them since you reached Phasdreille?”
“Not that I know of,” I answered, “though I wouldn’t be surprised to learn they weren’t telling me everything. I’m not the most popular person in the city.”
There was another long silence between us, then she sipped her beer and I shifted in my seat.
“So you also met the ambassador,” she said. “Strange. I came here in similar circumstances and around the same time, but I arrived alone. I made my way toward the White City, though I did not get that far. Passing through a village near the forest on the east bank of the river, I found that I was being followed. Soon there was a growing crowd behind me, whispering and pointing. I made for an inn but they overtook me as I went in and let me know that I was not welcome.”
“What?” I exclaimed. “Why not?”
“It seems they thought I was some kind of goblin half-breed.”
Jaws often drop on the stage, but rarely have I been so gobsmacked in reality. This was one of those rare occasions. I just sat there and Lisha said nothing. It didn’t take long for the pieces to fall into place. I looked at her, so small and dark, with her black hair and her narrow, eastern eyes, and I was suddenly embarrassed.
“How could they think that you were like that filth just because you don’t, you know, look the same as them?”
She shrugged fractionally and smiled her tiny, knowing smile.
“You haven’t come across the goblins, though, Lisha,” I said, trying to sound conciliatory. “I mean, I’m not saying that it’s understandable that they took you for one, but the people round here have pretty good reason to hate them.”
“Perhaps,” she said, regarding me thoughtfully.
“I mean it’s terrible that they misjudged you, but if you knew these things, you’d see why they are so paranoid. It’s more misreading than malice, you know?”
She sat quite still and said nothing for a long time. Then she sighed and said, “I don’t know, Will. This place just doesn’t feel right to me. I’ve had to skulk around the countryside wrapped up like a leper so that no one would challenge me on the assumption that I’m some kind of demon. Out here, where the people are a little more mixed, I can just about get by, but even here I have to stay in my room and pay double the usual rate to keep the innkeeper happy. I can’t get anywhere near the city. That’s why I had to bring you to me, without making myself visible.
“I heard of your presence in the city but I did not want to risk drawing attention to myself,” she said. “Apart from the danger such exposure might put me in, it could also jeopardize the kind of reception you have been getting. I chose a way that would reach you but wouldn’t attract attention if the letter should. . go astray. You were the obvious target because I doubted Garnet and Renthrette would roll with something so underhanded. I assume
