“She was joking,” said Loaf.
“Maybe,” whispered Rigg.
They filed out of the place, sidling past the glaring customers who had waited so long in line.
“I’ve got to get back,” said Rigg, once they were out on the street.
“I still don’t know what we’re waiting for,” said Loaf. “Go back, get your sister and your mother and let’s get out of Aressa Sessamo before there’s any emergency or anyone chasing us.”
Rigg looked embarrassed. “I can’t.”
“Why not?” said Loaf.
“Because they won’t come,” said Rigg. “Not until there’s actual danger instead of just my warnings.”
“They don’t trust you yet,” said Loaf.
“No, I think they trust me,” said Rigg. “In the sense that they know I’m not a traitor or anything. They just don’t think of me as somebody who can… be in charge or anything.”
“Oh,” said Loaf. “They don’t respect you yet.”
“The only reason we let you be in charge was because you were the one with the money,” said Umbo. “So I guess we don’t respect you either.”
“Thanks so much,” said Rigg.
“Umbo has a point,” said Loaf. “We got into the habit of acting as if you were in charge of everything-it was your money, and your father’s will, and all that, so it made sense.”
“Well, it’s me who has to escape from this wallfold.”
“My point exactly,” said Loaf. “What if Umbo and I stay on this side of the wallfold, and he just sort of extends his power over you from a distance as you pass through?”
“Can you do it from that far away?” asked Rigg.
“I’ve never tried a mile,” said Umbo. “Or even half that.”
“I don’t think I’m in charge of you, or that I have a right to decide for you,” said Rigg. “I hope you come because you’re my only friends in the world and I’m scared of what’s on the other side. Father Knosso died after he got through.”
“So you want us to come with you and die along with you?”
“I want to get through with the best chance of survival. If I leave you two behind, and General C. or whoever is chasing me is right behind us, do you think they’ll give you a free pass for helping the royals escape?”
“It was just a thought,” said Loaf. “Of course we’re coming with you. I just wanted to make sure you knew that you didn’t have the right to order us or command us or even expect us to take such a risk for you.”
“I know I don’t,” said Rigg. “But I’d take those risks for you.”
“Would you?” asked Loaf. “It’s never been put to the test.”
Rigg might have been angry, or he might have been sad-Umbo couldn’t tell by looking at his face. Finally he spoke. “I hope when such a test comes-if it comes-that I’ll prove to be as loyal to you as you’ve been to me.”
“I hope so too,” said Loaf. “But I’ve been in a lot of fights and battles, and you never know who’s going to stand with you and who’s going to cut and run, not till the crisis comes. We followed you here when we didn’t have to. To try and get your property back to you. To help you escape from custody and save your life, if they were planning to kill you.”
“Which they are.”
“We’ve proven we’ll walk back into the lion’s den for your sake. I’d like to think you’d do the same for us.”
Umbo really hated this conversation. “Of course he will,” he said to Loaf.
“When fear takes over, there’s no ‘of course’ about it,” said Loaf. “Nobody knows themselves what they’re going to do, until they either do it or not, in the moment. So far you’ve done a terrific job of acting your parts when the danger was social. But when it’s a blade or a shaft, when the danger is visible and physical and immediate, what will you do?”
“I don’t know,” said Rigg. “I know what I intend to do. But as you said-I can’t prove it, not even to myself.”
“Good,” said Loaf. “As long as you understand that, then I’m willing to give it a try.”
“What if I had sworn that I’d never, never fail you.”
“Then I’d still stand beside you-but I wouldn’t trust you to do the same for me. Now I think there’s a chance, because you’re not a complete idiot.”
“Well, now you’ve really hurt me,” said Rigg. “Father always taught me to complete any task I started.”
They were nearing the richer part of town, where the crowds thinned out and wore better clothes and there were occasional carriages and horses.
“We don’t like going farther than this,” said Umbo. “We don’t want the guards to get too familiar with our faces.”
“I understand,” said Rigg.
“How are you getting through?” asked Umbo. “Do you have a change of clothes?”
“These will do,” said Rigg.
Umbo looked at him again and realized that his clothing was quite nondescript. It wasn’t showy at all, so it hadn’t made Rigg stand out in the crowds of poor and working-class people, especially because he had walked and talked like a privick kid. Like Umbo.
But now, near the rich part of town, Rigg was standing differently. Taller. Still relaxed, but-more in charge of himself. Filled with authority and expectation. Fearless. Like he belonged there. And when he stood that way, his neck a little higher, his movements more calm and restricted and yet more relaxed, too, his clothing looked richer. Still quiet, still modest, but now you could see how every stitch was perfect, how the clothes looked like they’d been made for him, which they almost certainly were.
Umbo wasn’t sure which gift was more useful-Rigg’s ability as a pathfinder, or his ability to pass for whatever social class he wanted to be part of.
“If I can get them to leave early, I’ll come to you, wherever you are,” said Rigg. “But if everything goes crazy, if they try to kill us or there’s a riot or whatever happens, then come to this spot. There, in that little park, up in that ledge in the wall.”
“What ledge?” asked Umbo.
“Come here, I’ll show you.”
Umbo and Loaf followed Rigg across the street and into the copse of trees and shrubbery and flowers. The walls of two buildings formed the borders of the park, and where they met, there was a niche, as if someone had meant to put a statue there but never got around to it.
“Right up here, see?” said Rigg, and he bounded up into the niche. It was just tall enough for him.
“I won’t fit there,” said Loaf.
“Oh, you will,” said Rigg. “There’s more room than you think.”
“I can see that your head nearly reaches the top of the niche,” said Loaf.
“That’s right,” said Rigg, “but I’ve been growing. I’m not that much shorter than you.”
Umbo by now was leaping up to join Rigg, who caught him and kept him from falling backward.
“There’s no room for me and someone else, anyway,” said Loaf.
“Well, not right now there’s not,” said Rigg.
And then he did something with his foot-kicked something backward with his heel-and all of a sudden Umbo found himself whirling to the left and then he was in total darkness.
“What happened!” he said.
“It’s the end of one of the unused secret passages,” said Rigg. “It doesn’t actually connect with Flacommo’s house, it leads to the library. But from the library there are three places in the water drainage system that connect up with the house.”
“Get me back into the light.”
Another kicking sound, and then they whirled again, back the other way, and they were in the dazzling light. Loaf was glaring up at them from the ground. “That was subtle,” he said testily.
“Nobody was watching us,” said Rigg.
“Or so you think,” said Loaf.
“Loaf, please believe me-I know,” said Rigg. “I know where every current path within sight of this place is. I’ve been working, too, you know-trying to get more and more control over what I do. And there’s nobody watching
