'Tycho…'
The bard held his hands over his ears. 'No. I'm not going to listen-I'm not going to worry about her. We don't know she's in danger. Her father's the captain of the guard. If he can't find her, there isn't much we could do to help. And we've got serious problems of our own.' He lowered his hands. 'Brin hasn't given up looking for us.
Or at least for you. What was so special about Yu Mao that Brin would hunt you like this?'
'I don't know,' said Li smoothly. 'It's something to ask him-once we have the beljurils.'
'Be careful, Li,' Tycho sighed. 'That's starting to sound like a desperate measure. I'm not even sure Brin's going to want to see me when… '/we get the beljurils back.'
'We're desperate men, Tycho.' Li stood and stretched up to peer out of the air-gap once more. 'You said last night you couldn't think of a better plan. Have you thought of one this morning?'
'No.'
'So how do we find the Hooded?'
Tycho sighed again. 'That's not so simple. Brin is easy to find-unless you're a complete stranger to Span- deliyon, of course. But the Hooded…' He rubbed his eyes. 'Nobody goes looking for the Hooded. Usually the Hooded finds you.' He leaned back, hands behind his head, and frowned in thought. 'Jacerryl Dantakain might know something, though. We know he's done business with the Hooded once or twice. After last night, we're not likely going to be able to talk to him anytime soon, though.'
Li's eyes went wide as he watched a tall figure with carefully groomed hair and two very full packs creep out of an alley across the way and turn down the street. 'I wouldn't be so sure!' he said sharply, pushing himself away from the wall and leaping for the shed door. He wrenched it open and charged across the street.
Jacerryl Dantakain barely had time to look up and yelp. He tried to run, but Li had his hands on him before he managed to take a step. Quick as a wet cat, Li hustled him back into the alley and snapped a fist across his jaw. Jacerryl spun around. One of the packs that he carried slipped off, falling to the ground with the jingling rattle of many coins. Li kicked it aside and pinned Jacerryl against the wall. 'Going somewhere?' he asked him. He punched him sharply in the belly.
'Li!' Tycho skidded to a stop inside the alley. For a moment, his mouth dropped open at the sight of Li's captive. Only for a moment, though, then it turned up into a crooked smile. 'Olore, Jacerryl,' he said pleasantly. Jacerryl groaned. Li wrenched him upright and held him there.
'Look in his bag,' he told Tycho. The bard knelt and opened the fallen pack. His hands dug through hastily crumpled clothes and emerged with a heavy pouch. Two heavy pouches. Tycho caught his breath and stood up. He held the pouches out in front of Jacerryl.
'You walking, talking bucket of chum.' His smile didn't waver. 'You were running.'
Jacerryl spat out a mouthful of blood. He didn't do a very good job of it, though. Bloody spittle streaked his chin and the front of his coat. 'Why shouldn't I?' he gasped. 'There's a ship in the harbor. You think I'm going to wait for Brin to come and get me? You'd do the same if you could. I know it!' He flicked his head at the pouches. 'Keep one and let me go.' Li tightened his grasp on him. Jacerryl's eyes shrank in pain. 'Keep both!'
'Both? That's a generous offer. What would you use to buy passage? 'Tycho stepped in close and pulled Jacerryl's coat open. Another pouch hung at his belt. Tycho ripped it free. 'How much is in your other pack?' Jacerryl closed his mouth tight.
Li opened it for him with a slap across his face.
'Bastards!' snarled Jacerryl.
Li slapped him again before Tycho caught his arm. The bard gave Jacerryl a hard glare. 'I don't care if you run, Jacerryl. There's nothing I'd like better than to see you squirming in the muck of Brin's pigsty, but you tell me one little thing and I'll let you go.' Jacerryl blinked and Tycho's smile crooked higher. 'How do I find the Hooded?'
Jacerryl stared at him, looked to Li, and looked back again. 'That's it? That's it and you'll let me go?' He stood a little straighten 'Go to Crown Alley on the east side of middle town. There's a cellar entrance to a leatherworker's shop. Knock and say you've come about a saddle.'
'A saddle?' growled Li. Suspicion was sharp in his mind. He twisted the hand that held Jacerryl and the man gasped. Tycho elbowed him.
'Easy,' he said. 'I think he's telling the truth. Spandeli-yon is a port town. There are only a few horses anywhere. No one would normally ask for a saddle around here.' Tycho looked back at Jacerryl. 'One other thing- what about Laera?'
Jacerryl groaned but raised his head. 'Laera? She's run away. Mard's in a fury. He thinks you had something to do with it.'
'Of course he does.' Tycho stepped back. He dropped the three pouches at Jacerryl's feet and nodded to Li. 'All right,' he said, 'let him go.'
Li looked down at the man in his grasp. He was going to have the chance to get away while Tycho suffered? Li's eyes narrowed.
His fist jabbed against Jacerryl's jaw twice. When he released his grasp on him, Jacerryl fell back against the wall and slid down to sprawl in the snow. Li looked up at Tycho. 'What?' he asked innocently. 'I let him go.' He stooped down and scooped the pouches into Jacerryl's fallen pack, tugged the other pack off his body, and shoved it at Tycho. The bard turned his smile on him.
'Thanks,' he said.
'If you can't go anywhere, it didn't seem right that he should.' He straightened up. 'I'll get my dao and we can go find this Crown Alley.'
Tycho grabbed his shoulder. 'Notyet,' he said. 'There's someone I want to see first.'
Standing on top of Li's shoulders made it easy to stretch up to the window and rap a rhythm on the shutters. One-two-three, pause, one-two. Pause. Repeat. Pause. Repeat.
'Hurry up!' hissed Li.
'You're not waiting on me,' Tycho murmured back. He knocked on the shutters again, a familiar pattern that he and Veseene had arranged as a code years ago. She would come-if she could. Tycho bit his lip. What if Brin had hurt her when he came last night? What if he had come past again later, seeking retribution for what had happened at the Wench's Ease? What if Veseene wasn't alone? What if There was a slow shuffling and the sound of hands fumbling with the shutters. Tycho ducked as they swung open and Veseene looked down at him. 'You could have stopped knocking!' she rasped. 'It takes time for me to get around!'
Tycho grabbed the windowsill, hauled himself into the cold and dark second chamber of their rooms, and swept his friend up in a hug. 'I was worried, Veseene.'
In spite of her harsh words, Veseene sagged against him. 'So was I. You heard my warning?'
'Yes, but too late. Brin was already waiting for us at the Ease.' Veseene drew a sharp breath. 'Don't worry,' Tycho assured her. 'We got away.' He moved farther into the room. A quick glance down into Bakers Way had revealed the watch being kept on the door of their building. Fortunately, Brin hadn't thought to set a similar watch on the alley behind it, the alley thatTycho's bedroom window overlooked. A chest yielded a stout rope. He knotted one end of it around a bed post and flipped the other out the window to Li. 'Veseene,' he asked as the Shou tied Jacer-ryl's packs to the rope, 'how did you manage to cast that warning spell?' Li tugged on the rope and Tycho began to pull up the packs.
The old woman flushed. 'I tripled the strength of my tea.'
'You did what?' Tycho flinched and the rope slid back between his fingers. He hissed in pain and closed his hands, though not before Li let out a little curse from down below. Tycho glared at Veseene. She looked at him and raised her eyebrow.
'You're going to say it was stupid,' she said stubbornly. 'If it was, at least I'm not the only one who's been doing stupid things lately.'
Tycho winced. 'Brin,' he said. He heaved the packs over the windowsill, untied them, and dropped the rope back down. Veseene looked at the packs in astonishment. 'I'll tell you all about them,' said Tycho, 'but Brin…' He sighed and confessed. 'To make extra coin, I've been running packages between Brin and Jacerryl Dantakain.'
There was a squeak of surprise, but not from Veseene.
Tycho looked up sharply. Peering through the open door to the front room was Laera Dantakain.
'Bind and tar me!' yelped Tycho-just as Li put his weight on the rope. Tycho stumbled forward and slammed
