The Republic of Thieves

side of the stage. Gods, they’d done it! Only a satisfied audience expended their hoarded vegetables and debris away from the stage; it was the ultimate mark of respect from Therin groundlings.

Alondo and Sabetha took off their death-masks and moved to stand abreast with Locke. Together they bowed, then made way for Bert and Chantal to do the same. Next came Sylvanus and the bit players. Only Donker remained dressed as a ghost.

Moncraine threw back his hood and took the center of the stage. “My gracious lords and ladies of Espara,” he proclaimed, stifling the cheering, “gentlefolk and friends. We, the Moncraine-Boulidazi Company, have obtained much benefit from the generosity of our noble patron. In fact, so passionate is my lord Boulidazi’s attachment to our venture that he insisted on rendering the most direct assistance possible. It is my great honor to give you my lord and patron, the Baron Boulidazi!”

Moncraine had done his part with excellent pretense of enthusiasm. Locke licked his lips and prayed Djunkhar Kurlin had the nerve to do the same.

Donker allowed the phantasma cloak to fall back, revealing an expensive suit of Boulidazi’s clothing, requested the previous night in one of Sabetha’s forged notes. They fit Donker as though tailored to the hostler’s frame. In accordance with Locke’s strict instructions, Donker swaggered into Jasmer’s place on the stage. Jasmer and the other members of the company bent their heads to him in unison; the bit players were taken by surprise but rapidly made their obeisance as well, and then the first dozen or so ranks of the crowd. Shouts of disbelief echoed down from the balconies where Boulidazi’s friends and associates sat, followed by appreciative laughter and clapping.

Donker pointed to them and pumped his fist in the air triumphantly. Then he faced the box of Baroness Ezrintaim, extended both arms toward her, and bowed from the waist, all without removing his phantasma mask.

Then, just as Locke had directed, he turned and trotted back to the attiring room. As the rest of the company took a final bow together, most of the crowd seemed amused or at least bemused by what had just transpired, and then the noisy jostling for the exits began in earnest. Musicians started playing again. The company left the stage, hounded only by a few lingering drunks and those loudly begging kisses, particularly from Chantal, Sabetha, and Alondo.

Locke pushed past the bit players within the attiring chamber and cast off his wire crown. Jean held up a hand and nodded again, and a wave of relief made Locke’s knees nearly turn to water. Sabetha saw it too, and clutched Locke’s arm.

Donker’s instructions had been to hurry into the attiring chamber and, during the brief moments the bit players remained onstage, take a running leap into the prop wagon and be concealed under a sheet by Jean. Locke knew it was tempting fate to expect Donker to lie quietly in sweltering darkness just above a corpse, but there was nothing else for it. “Boulidazi” had to vanish like a passing breeze, as Donker couldn’t unmask or even utter a single syllable without breaking the fragile illusion. Jean had been fully prepared to bash him on the head if he balked.

“Where has the baron gone?” said one of the bit players.

“My lord’s friends were waiting to collect him,” said Jean. “You can imagine how busy the baron must be tonight.”

“Now for the envoy of ceremonies,” whispered Locke to Sabetha. “Quickly, before the wait annoys her.”

“Do you want me to come with you?”

“I think it’s our best chance.” He outlined his plan, and she smiled.

“It’s no dumber than anything else we’ve done today!”

The attiring chamber was thick with relieved and sweaty bit players, all collecting robes and masks and props under Jenora’s demanding direction. There was no time for leisure; the bit players had to be paid off for their work and sent away without the usual camaraderie and drinking. The company’s goods had to be packed and rolling toward the rendezvous with Nerissa Malloria before Malloria herself decamped from the Old Pearl. That was everyone else’s business, though. Locke and Sabetha swiftly shed their costume weapons (it was unlawful for them to display such things offstage) and dashed for the courtyard.

Out into the sunlight again, past the dregs of the escaping groundlings, through the detritus of fruit peels and spilled beer, they ran up the stairs to the balcony sections and nearly collided with a pair of guards outside the Baroness Ezrintaim’s box.

“We request an audience with the lady Ezrintaim,” said Locke, holding up the signet ring they’d taken from Boulidazi the night before. “We come urgently, on behalf of the Baron Boulidazi.”

“The lady will not receive players in her private box,” said one of the guards. “You must—”

“None of that,” came the voice of the envoy of ceremonies. “Admit them, and see that we have privacy.”

Locke and Sabetha were allowed onto the balcony, where they found Ezrintaim at the rail, looking down at the stage and the drudges (paid for by Moncraine) sweeping the courtyard. The baroness turned, and the two Camorri bowed more deeply than required.

“Well,” said Ezrintaim, “your noble patron does come and go rather as he pleases, doesn’t he? This is the second time I’ve expected him and met part of his troupe instead.”

“My lord Boulidazi sends his most earnest and abject apologies, my lady, that he cannot visit you as you required,” said Locke. “Leaving the stage just now, he stumbled and injured his ankle. Very badly. He cannot stand at the moment, let alone climb stairs. He placed his signet in our hands as his messengers, and bid us offer it if you wished to verify—”

“My, my. The Baron Boulidazi is less than careful in his habits. Do put that down, boy, I’ve no need to bite the baron’s ring. I’ve seen it before. Is your lord still here?”

“Some of his friends insisted he be taken to a physiker immediately, my lady, and without causing a scene,” said Sabetha. “My lord was in considerable pain and may not have adequately resisted their blandishments.”

“Refusing temptation isn’t Lord Boulidazi’s particular strength,” said Ezrintaim, staring at Sabetha more intently than Locke would have liked. “But if he’s done himself an injury I won’t begrudge his friends using their brains for once.”

“He, ah, that is, my lord hopes that you will consent to be his guest at any convenient time following tomorrow’s performance,” said Locke. This was a risky ploy if Lady Ezrintaim had any reason to find the offer insulting, but if it helped strengthen the impression that Boulidazi was presently alive and planning an active social calendar, it meant everything to their deception.

“I see.” Ezrintaim steepled her fingers before her chest. “Well, it would be convenient, and the sooner the better. I expect you two will also be in attendance.”

“My lady,” said Locke, “we would appear if so commanded, but we are only players in my lord Boulidazi’s company, and I don’t see—”

“Lucaza,” said the baroness, “I should perhaps disabuse you of the notion that I am unaware of Lord Boulidazi’s intentions toward your cousin Verena.”

“I, uh—” Locke felt much as he would have if Ezrintaim had adopted a chausson fighting stance and kicked him in the head.

“You know what we really are!” said Sabetha in smooth Throne Therin, saving Locke from another useless sputter.

“Countess Antonia relies on me to be something of a social arbiter as well as her envoy of ceremonies,” said Ezrintaim in the same tongue. “Gennaro is an eligible young peer of Espara who has lost the close guidance of his elders. I prevailed upon several members of his household staff to report on his behavior. Gennaro is, let us say, rather forthright with them concerning his desires.”

“Does our presence in Espara cause you difficulty, my lady?” said Locke, trying to force himself to be as collected as Sabetha was.

“You’ve been reasonably discreet, though I will say that none of you have considered the needs of the larger world around you.” She fixed her gaze on Sabetha. “I don’t necessarily believe it would do any harm to Espara to strengthen its ties with Camorr through a marriage. If, of course, that ever was your genuine intention.”