Micum pulled his hand free and downed a gulp of brandy. “One too many secrets, after all these years. Something finally followed me home.”
They sat in glum silence for a time, then Seregil raised his cup and took a sip. “Go back to Kari. Stay with her.”
“She doesn’t want me there.”
“Maybe not, but she needs you. Alec, take him down.”
Alec took Micum by the arm and drew him from the room. Seregil set his cup aside and went to the window overlooking the front yard. The full moon was rising. Nearly two precious days had passed since Illia had been stricken. Seregil sent up a silent plea to Illior for her life.
Alec returned and closed the door.
“How are they?” asked Seregil.
“Kari let Micum hold her, thank the Light. Do you think she meant it when she said she’d never forgive us?”
“I wouldn’t blame her.”
“We failed Myrhichia-” Alec paused and swallowed hard. “We can’t lose Illia!”
A painful shiver crept up the back of Seregil’s neck at the thought, and a sick feeling cramped in his belly. “We’re missing something critical again, Alec. I feel like I’ve been blind in one eye all this time. Something is right there, staring us in the face, and we’re not seeing it. There’s more to them than mere beggars, especially that tall one. There’s something about him…”
“You think you might know him?”
“There’s just something about the way he moves. I don’t
know. I doubt that old woman is an old woman at all, though, the way she evaded us-and the old man that day in the Ring. And the way that one-eyed man went out the window and over the roof? I couldn’t have done it better myself.”
They heard Tomin return with Elsbet within the hour and Alec hurried down to meet her. The young woman was still dressed in her initiate’s white robe and smelled of the dreaming herbs used in temple practice, but her dark eyes were clear.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Your mother and Illia are here.” He took a deep breath and forced the words out. “Illia has the sleeping death.”
“No!” Elsbet’s knees gave out and Alec caught her. “But how?”
“We’re not completely sure, but we’re going to find out, I swear by the Lightbringer.” He took her hand. “They’re upstairs.”
Holding her hand, Alec led Elsbet to the sickroom. Seregil was leaning against the wall outside the door, looking unhappy. He hugged Elsbet, then let her go inside.
Kari was asleep in the armchair drawn up to Illia’s bed. Micum had spread a blanket over her, and her dark hair was combed and braided. He sat on the edge of the bed, stroking his daughter’s brow. Illia looked so much like her mother it made Alec’s heart ache. Elsbet hurried in and kissed her sleeping sister on the forehead. Micum stood and embraced Elsbet, stroking her dark hair and murmuring something in her ear that Alec couldn’t catch. She nodded, wiping at her eyes, then knelt by her mother. Kari woke and embraced her as they wept together.
“Thank you,” said Micum, coming out to join Alec and Seregil in the corridor. “That was kind of you to think of.”
Seregil nodded. “I thought Kari could use the support while we’re out hunting.”
Micum’s eyes darkened dangerously and his knuckles went white as he gripped the hilt of his sword. “We were so damn close with the old woman!”
Seregil clasped his friend’s shoulder. “We’ll find them, Micum. We will.”
Elsbet suddenly appeared in the doorway, eyes wide with fear. “There are riders with torches in the courtyard. Bluecoats.”
“Bilairy’s Balls! They’re coming to take Illia to the Ring. Everyone upstairs!”
“You go. I’ll deal with them,” said Micum.
Seregil swept Illia up in his arms and headed down the corridor to the secret staircase in the storage room around the corner, with Alec and the women close behind. Just as they reached the secret panel they heard the sound of the front doors being violently thrown open and men shouting.
“I’m staying down to keep watch on Micum,” said Alec.
“Try not to be seen, tali.”
Alec peered around the corner of the corridor. The bluecoats came thundering up the stairs to confront Micum.
“Stand aside, you,” the officer in charge barked, taking in Micum’s disreputable-looking clothing.
“What’s this about?” Micum demanded, not moving.
“Vicegerent’s orders. All those struck down with the sleeping death must be quarantined.”
“Dumped in the Ring to die, more like it. That woman heard you were coming. She took the girl and scarpered.”
“We’ll see about that,” the bluecoat muttered, shouldering past him. “Spread out, men, search the place from attic to cellar.” Then, to Micum, “Who are you and what are you doing here?”
“I work for the innkeeper. He left me here to guard the place after everyone else cleared out. See that you don’t break anything or I’ll report you.”
Alec retreated hastily to the secret staircase and closed the panel. An instant later he heard someone enter the room outside. There was the sound of the boxes and trunks stored there being shoved about, then a man’s voice: “No one here. Let’s move on.”
He crept upstairs and found Seregil on guard beside the outer door, sword drawn. “Get your bow, Alec.”
Alec tiptoed across the empty room and into their rooms beyond. Glancing through the bedroom doorway, he saw Illia lying on their big, velvet-hung bed with Kari and her sister beside her. Both Elsbet and Kari had knives.
Alec grabbed his bow and took up his position at the top of the stairs, arrow nocked on the string, ready to shoot the first man who came into view. He strained his ears for any sound of approach, but all he could hear were the muffled thumps and shouts from the floors below.
“Sounds like they’re making a thorough job of it. How’s Micum?”
“Fine, last I saw.”
The sounds of the search went on for quite some time, but at last things went quiet again. Presently a sliver of light appeared at the base of the stairs as someone opened the secret panel. Alec raised his bow.
A hoarse whisper floated up to him. “Luck in the shadows!”
Seregil brought Micum up, then went to the window overlooking the courtyard. “They’re gone.”
Micum stood in the middle of the room, fists clenched. “I can’t just stay here, doing nothing!”
“There’s nothing to do, until morning,” Seregil told him gently. “The ravens don’t come out at night. No little children to cozen. All we can do is get some rest and start fresh in the morning. You take the couch. Alec and I can make do with the armchairs.”
Micum grudgingly lay down, but none of them rested well that night.
CHAPTER 39. News from the North
THEY left Kari and the girls asleep as soon as the first rays of dawn appeared between the curtains and entered the twisting streets of the tenement district with the early street vendors. Alec and Seregil were dressed again as women, with Micum as their protector. Alec and the others each hunted alone for the morning, so as to cover the most ground, and met up at noon at the ward’s large central well.
A line of people were waiting to fill their pots and jugs at the well. Alec and the others chatted with them about
