Chapter Six
The landlord provided three nephews and a neighbor to help with the baggage. By nightfall everything had been transferred from the wagon to the house, and the driver had been paid and dismissed.
The house had five bedrooms, all upstairs, one at each corner and one at the back, overlooking a courtyard shared with half a dozen other homes. The front rooms were the largest, so one of those was designated the ambassador’s bedchamber and the other his study. The center-rear bedroom was the smallest, so Emmis claimed that for himself.
The whole place was badly in need of dusting, and although the landlord’s promise of complete furnishing had been kept, the furniture left a great deal to be desired. The upholstery on the velvet sofa was stained and split; the dining room table had only three chairs, one of which was broken. Even the pieces that were undamaged were sparse and cheap.
Emmis concluded that this explained the reasonable rent the landlord had been willing to accept, and that he should have inspected the inside, as well as the outside, before agreeing to terms. He had certainly known to demand to see his own room back in Shiphaven before committing to renting it, two years ago, but it had seemed presumptuous to insist on anything of the sort with so fine a place as this.
He would know better next time.
Lar grimaced at the sight, but then said, “Well, I will try not to entertain any guests until you’ve fixed the place up.”
Emmis started to protest that he had no intention of fixing anything up, but then he remembered his position. He had signed on to do whatever Lar needed done, and it appeared that would include refurbishing this makeshift embassy.
Besides, he should have inspected it. “Yes, sir,” he said.
“I’m ready for supper. Is there any food in the kitchen?”
Emmis had already checked. “No.”
“Is there an inn nearby?”
“Yes. We can either go north toward the Old City, or southeast toward the Arena.”
“The Wizards’ Quarter is south?”
“Yes.”
“Then south it is.”
“The Palace is north, next to the Old City.”
“South,” Lar repeated.
“Yes, sir.”
This fascination with magic wasn’t healthy, Emmis was sure, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it, especially since the ambassador’s secret orders apparently required him to investigate magic. Accordingly, he waited as Lar locked up the house, then led the way around the corner and up Arena Street.
He caught a glimpse of a robed figure at the corner, apparently watching them as they emerged. He couldn’t be entirely sure, since Through Street was unlit and the torchlight from Arena Street was behind the other man, but he thought it might be one of the Lumethans; naturally, they would have followed the wagon, or found some other way of locating the ambassador’s new residence.
The possibility that they were using magic to track Lar — not merely hiring it, but using it themselves — occurred to him. If the three of them were magicians, perhaps that was why the government of Lumeth had sent spies who didn’t speak Ethsharitic. Their magic would be more important.
They might have used magic to transport themselves to Ethshar in the first place, too. That would explain how they had arrived so soon after Lar’s ship.
When Lar left the door, the robed figure ducked around the corner, out of sight, and Emmis did not worry about him further. He didn’t mention it to Lar, for fear he might make a scene; Emmis was hungry, after all the hauling of luggage, and did not want anything to delay his supper.
Unfortunately, finding that supper proved more of a challenge than he had expected; Through Street was entirely residential, and while Arena Street had its share of shops and businesses, they weren’t selling food. The pair ambled several blocks along the torchlit avenue without finding an appropriate establishment, and he and Lar were within sight of the Arena itself by the time they finally found an inn Emmis considered suitable. The Pink Pig seemed to cater more to the neighborhood drinkers than diners or travelers, but the landlord had no objection to selling the two men pork chops and stewed carrots with their beer.
“I didn’t notice any magic shops on the way here,” Lar remarked, as they waited for their meal. “Though it’s hard to be sure at night.”
“I don’t think there were any,” Emmis said. “The Wizards’ Quarter is the other side of the Arena, past Games Street. A few magicians have their businesses in the Arena district, but mostly on the side-streets.”
Lar stared at him silently for a moment, then shook his head. “This city is so big!” he said.
Emmis’s hunger had affected his temper, and he retorted, “You know, there’s a reason we call them the Small Kingdoms, and it’s not that Ethshar is so very huge.”
“You said this was the largest city in the World,” Lar replied.
“It is,” Emmis admitted, “but not by much. Ethshar of the Sands and Ethshar of the Rocks are almost as big, and the bargemen tell me that even Sardiron of the Waters is...” He caught himself before telling an outright lie. “Well, Sardiron is bigger than anything in the Small Kingdoms, anyway. The Tintallions, Shan on the Sea — it’s not that Ethshar is immense so much as that you’re used to tiny.”
That led to an awkward silence, and Emmis looked around the room, rather than meeting Lar’s eyes. Searching for some sign of their food provided an obvious excuse, but it was when he turned his gaze away from the kitchen, toward the door to the street, that something caught his eye.
The light was better than it had been on Through Street. That was definitely one of the Lumethans sitting at the table in the front window. Emmis thought it was the one who Annis had introduced as Hagai, and he was fairly certain it was the same man who had watched them leave the rented house.
At this point saying something would no longer delay their food, so Emmis leaned forward, putting his fist on the table with the thumb pointing at the Lumethan.
“By the way, we’re being followed,” he said.
“What?”
“We’re being followed. By one of the Lumethans I met this morning. He’s sitting at the table in the window, in the brown robe.”
To Emmis’s surprise, Lar did not immediately turn and stare at the Lumethan. He cast a quick glance at the door to the street, then looked back at Emmis. “You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“He wasn’t here before us?”
“I saw him back on Through Street, when you were locking the door.”
“But you said nothing until now.”
“I was hungry. I was afraid you’d want to do something stupid.”
Lar smiled a tight little smile. “You have interesting... I don’t know the word. Interesting reasons for things.”
“I’m just an honest laborer,” Emmis protested. “If you want someone clever, you hired the wrong man.”
“Oh, I don’t think so. I think you’re clever enough. So we’re being followed.”
“Yes.”
“Did he follow the wagon from the Crooked Candle, do you think?”
Emmis turned his fist over and opened it to show an empty palm. “I don’t know,” he said. “He might have known where to go from something I told Annis.”
At that point a rather sweaty boy of twelve or so appeared with a platter; he set it down and pushed two plates of pork and carrots onto their table. Lar handed him a coin, and boy and platter vanished.
Emmis promptly started eating. Lar stared at him for a moment, then followed suit. Neither spoke until
