Perron's guard and into his mask. Tal felt the thick, sickening impact as his shattered blade passed through the wicker bands and into his cousin's face.
Horrified, Tal let go of the blade. It stuck fast through the mask.
Perron fell to his knees and clawed at his mask, but it wouldn't come off. A trickle of blood ran out from under his bib, down the front of his white armor.
Tal reached out to help, but someone got in the way. He couldn't see who it was, because all the faces in the room whirled about more quickly than he could recognize them. An oceanic roaring filled his ears, and he heard distant voices shouting his name and 'get away!' Then he felt hands pulling him, and he had no more strength to resist them.
Later, they called it an accident. In the hours after the event, Tal heard Master Ferrick's opinion. He knelt as the swordmaster lectured him for nearly two hours after the others had left. Tal's knees hurt, and his legs turned numb, but he did not complain. He deserved far worse and knew it would come later.
When he was dismissed, Tal bowed one last time to the master, recovered Perivel's sword from where he'd left it in the dressing room, and walked quietly down the stairs for the last time.
It was an hour after noon. The street was hot, and the Warehouse District stank of fish and tar. Tal headed west on Larawkan, stamping his feet to force some feeling back into them. The rhythm of hitting the cobblestones soon became hypnotic as Tal imagined the punishments he had yet to face.
There was no way Thamalon would protect him from whatever just retribution the Karns demanded. Even his mother was unlikely to stand long between him and the righteous anger of her family. Even after paying the temple for healing Perron's mangled face, there was the matter of the eye. Regenerative magic was neither common nor cheap. This would mean the end of Tal's relative freedom in the tallhouse. It was just the excuse Thamalon needed to cut off his stipend and force him back to live at Storm-weather Towers, where they could keep an eye on him.
Tal noticed that people where scurrying out of his path. He looked back, expecting to see a drover trying to regain control of a panicked ox or perhaps a captive griffin breaking out of its chains on its way to the Hulorn's Palace, but there was nothing frightening back there. The people were avoiding the huge thundering dolt who was muttering to himself.
'Wonderful,' he said aloud. 'Let's frighten everyone in Selgaunt.'
He tried to relax and walk in a way that didn't suggest he was on his way to a murder. Once he even forced a smile at a pair of young women, but they took one look at him and crossed to the other side of the street.
As he turned onto Alaspar Lane, Tal heard a whistle from an ivy-laden trellis. Crouched behind it was Chaney Foxmantle.
'Over here!' hissed Chaney. 'Hurry!'
Tal hurried to join his friend, and together they peered around the foliage to look toward Tal's residence.
Standing a block away from the tallhouse were two men in Uskevren livery. Tal did not recognize them, but he was becoming increasingly unfamiliar with the house guard since he visited Stormweather so rarely. They stood a respectable distance from the tallhouse, but their frequent glances left no question about their business. They were waiting for Tal.
'I deduced from their arrival that the Old Owl wanted a word,' said Chaney, 'and I thought maybe you'd like the option to postpone it.'
'You are a gentleman and a scholar,' said Tal.
Despite his black mood, he was happy to see Chaney. Only now that they saw each other only a few times a month did he realize how inseparable they had once been.
'Don't forget devilishly handsome and irresistible to women.'
'Let's get out of here,' said Tal. 'I should check in at the Realms.'
After Ferrick's blistering lecture, Tal was not ready to hear more of the same from Thamalon. They faded from Alaspar Lane and headed for the anonymity of streets less traveled. Winding their way through lanes and alleys, they eventually came to the Wide Realms Playhouse.
From a distance, the Wide Realms looked like part of a larger structure. It was surrounded by other businesses, including a bath house, a scribner's, and several buildings shared by artisans who could not afford their own establishments. Some of them worked on commission for Quickly, making costumes or props for the players. In return, they were some of the Wide Realms's most frequent customers.
Unlike the opera audiences on the other side of town, the playhouse crowd didn't mind mingling with the common folk. Most of them were laborers and tradesmen, gaining admittance to the grounds for a mere five pennies. For a silver raven, they could sit in one of the galleries, sheltered from the sun. Those willing to part with more silver or even a golden fivestar could sit in the balconies behind the actors or on the stage itself, to be seen by all. Some of the more dissolute young nobles were becoming regular attendees, though they were apt to fall asleep when they weren't heckling the players for the amusement of their companions. Tal's brother, Tamlin, was one of these. Thankfully, he had not yet appeared at one of this season's productions, and Tal was hopeful that his brief interest was now a past fancy.
They walked past the main entrance to find the stage door open. They crossed through the backstage clutter, following the sound of voices from the stage beyond.
'Let me play the prince,' cried a muffled voice, 'or I'll cut off your other head!'
Waving Chaney back, Tal peered around the corner to see what was happening.
The idiot half of the grotesque ettin's mask rested on Sivana's shoulder, Lommy's slender green legs poking out beneath the neck. On the floor by Sivana's feet was the vicious head, growling up at the heavens. Sivana swung a ridiculously large spiked ball and chain while lurching toward their opponent.
The other actor was obviously Ennis Lurvin, a big man usually cast as a fool or a warrior. He was about Tal's size, so they were often cast as guards to stand on each side of a king's throne or given the same simple part to play alternately. He brandished a glowing sword, the favorite prop of all the actors. Upon command it would light up, burst into flame, or ring with celestial music. It was also kept quite sharp since the previous winter and not to be used recklessly. Tal was not concerned about the sword, however. What attracted his attention was the mask Ennis wore, a fresh creation of papier mache that Tal had never seen before.
It was the gigantic head of a savage wolf.
'Grulok not afeared of werewolf of Selgaunt!' yelled Sivana in a deep, silly voice. She stalked forward as Lommy pulled the handle that made the mask's eyes roll and the tongue loll.
Tal could bear no more. He rushed forward and knocked the wolfs head off Ennis. 'What in the Nine Hells are you doing?'
Lommy peeked out from the ettin's gaping mouth and peeped in surprise, his tiny voice muffled by the mask. Sivana smiled nonchalantly and lifted the ettin's head off of the tasloi, who scampered up the back wall to disappear into the balcony. 'Just goofing off, Tal. We were thinking of doing a children's play next month.'
'Who told you?' demanded Tal. 'Was it Quickly?'
'Told us what?' said Sivana. Ennis's face had turned from a shocked pale to a deep scarlet. Tal knew Sivana was lying.
'It was supposed to be a secret!' Tal shook the big wolf mask at her.
'It's still a secret,' said Sivana, abandoning the pretense. 'Nobody outside the playhouse knows.'
'Nobody inside the playhouse was meant to know, either.'
'You told Quickly, Otter, and Lommy, but not the rest of us?'
'I needed the cage, so I had to tell Quickly. Lommy and Otter live here.' Tal let out an enormous sigh. 'I can't believe she told you.'
'Don't blame her,' said Sivana. 'She let it slip one night. You know how she talks in her sleep.'
'I knew it!' said Chaney, storming onto the stage. When everyone looked blankly at him, he explained, 'You know, the stories about all you players sleeping with all the other players.' Still, everyone just stared at him. At last he shrugged. 'I felt left out.'
'I just haven't gotten to you yet, darling,' said Sivana, patting Chaney on the bottom. He brightened at
