Silverdun was starting to understand. Wenathn was in a complicated position. If he turned them over to the proconsul, he'd be rewarded for capturing a pair of Seelie spies. He would also, however, be upbraided by his peers for having created the situation that got so many of his own people killed. He was looking for a way out. But surely the reward outweighed whatever calumny he might receive. What was he after?
Then it hit him. Elections. The elections for magyster were being held later in the year. The landowners of the kollws would be voting soon, and Wenathn wanted to ensure that he was reelected.
'If the circumstances of our capture were made public,' said Silverdun, 'a potential opponent might seize upon such a situation in order to cast you in an unfavorable light.'
'Such things do happen,' said Wenathn.
'Let me propose a scenario to you, Magyster Wenathn,' said Silverdun.
'Propose away.'
'Suppose you determined that we were, as you have suspected, notorious spies of Regina Titania. Having captured us, you would no doubt be warmly regarded by your Unseelie protectors.'
'No doubt,' said Wenathn.
'Suppose then that having thus determined, you remanded us to the custody of the Unseelie. I presume a small detachment of Unseelie Army officers would retrieve us from your jail and convey us back to the City of Mab, where we would be tried. And in the course of that trial, all sorts of things could come to light that no one in this room would be especially pleased to have repeated far and wide. Correct?'
Wenathn frowned. 'Correct.'
'Let us suppose even further,' said Silverdun, 'and this is in the wildest realm of speculation imaginable, of course. Let us suppose that some in Annwn would not be terrifically opposed to having friends in the Seelie Kingdom. Friends with pockets.'
Now Wenathn looked definitely interested. 'Elections can become very expensive affairs,' he said.
'Then I believe there's a very simple solution that can accommodate us all,' said Silverdun.
Before dawn the next morning, Silverdun and Ironfoot were roused in their cell by a different pair of guards. They were brought out of the jail in a different direction, out to an enclosed courtyard, where Wenathn stood with a pair of Unseelie Army officers in front of a covered wagon. Wenathn ordered Silverdun and Ironfoot to be shackled hand and foot.
'I'm glad we agreed to do this quietly,' Wenathn said to the officers. 'There are some elements here in Blood of Arawn that still take offense at your gracious assistance in our local affairs.'
'Yes, well. Some people will never accept the way of things,' said one of the officers. 'The proconsul is grateful to you for your assistance in this matter. It will not be forgotten.'
'I hope not,' said Wenathn. 'It's not every day that one gets the opportunity to foil a foreign plot, is it?'
Wenathn's clerk handed the officers a sheaf of papers, and the officers placed Ironfoot and Silverdun into the back of the wagon, chaining their shackles to a bolt in the carriage's floor.
There were no windows in the back of the wagon, and very little light. Silverdun's right hand hung free, since there was no way to shackle it, and he held it gingerly aloft. Ironfoot was a dark shape in front of him.
'This is never going to work,' said Ironfoot.
'We'll see,' said Silverdun.
The wagon started and turned out of the courtyard. It proceeded through the winding streets of Blood of Arawn, jouncing on the cobbles and potholes as it went. The Unseelie officers were talking in the front of the wagon, but Silverdun couldn't hear what they were saying.
The wagon pulled up short and stopped, nearly throwing Silverdun against the back of its cab.
'Out of the way!' he heard one of the officers shout.
There was another shout, this one wordless, and then steps on either side of the wagon. Two blades clashed, and then there was silence.
The back of the wagon opened, and a man dressed entirely in black, with a black hood covering his face, stepped in and unlocked Silverdun's and Ironfoot's shackles. 'Out,' he said.
Silverdun and Ironfoot climbed out of the wagon. They were in a narrow alley. An oxcart was blocking the path in front of the wagon, and standing on the cart were two more men in black, also hooded, holding crossbows. Another held a sword at the throat of the driver of the wagon. The other Unseelie lay either unconscious or dead next to him; in the predawn light of
