The Magicians' Guild

Remembering the tome lying on the table back at the hide, Cery cursed.

'Wasn't real useful, anyhow.'

There was no regret in her voice. Cery frowned. There had to be another way for her to learn magic. He bit his lip gently as the idea she had given him returned.

'I'd like to get you out of the slums,' he said. 'The magicians are going to be everywhere tonight.'

She frowned. 'Out of the slums?'

'Yes,' he replied. 'You'll be safer in the city.'

'The city! You sure?'

'Why not?' He smiled. 'It's the last place they'd look.'

She considered that and shrugged. 'But how will we get there?'

'The High Road.'

'But it won't get us past the gates.'

Cery grinned. 'We don't have to use 'em. Come on.'

* * *

The Outer Wall loomed high over the slums. Ten strides deep, it was well maintained by the city guard, though it had been many centuries since Imardin had faced the threat of invasion. A road ran around the outside, keeping the buildings of the slum at bay.

Not far from this road, Sonea and Cery descended from the rooftops into an alley. Taking her arm, Cery led her to stacks of boxes and slipped between them. The air smelled tangy inside, a mix of young wood and old fruit.

Cery squatted and tapped on the ground. To Sonea's surprise the sound was metallic and hollow. The ground shifted and a large disc hinged upward. A wide face appeared, framed by a circle of darkness. From around the head drifted a nauseating stench.

'Hello, Tul,' Cery said.

The man's face wobbled into a grin.

'How ya' doin', Cery?'

Cery grinned. 'Fine. Wanta work off a debt?'

'Sure.' The man's eyes gleamed. 'Passage?'

'For two,' Cery said.

The man nodded and descended into the rank air. Cery smiled at Sonea and gestured to the hole.

'After you.'

She extended a foot into the hole and found the top rung of a ladder. Taking one last breath of clean air, she slowly descended into the murk. The sound of running water echoed in the darkness and the air was heavy with damp. As her eyes adjusted to the gloom, she saw that she was standing on a narrow ledge on the side of an underground sewage tunnel. The roof was so low she had to stoop.

The fat face of the man they had spoken to belonged to an equally wide body. Cery offered his thanks and handed the man something that brought a wide smile to his face.

Leaving Tul at his post, Cery led her down the passage in the direction of the city. After several hundred paces, another figure and a ladder came in sight. The man might once have been tall, but his back was hunched over as if it had grown to fit the curve of the tunnel. He looked up and watched them approach with large, heavy- lidded eyes.

The man turned abruptly to stare behind him. From farther down the tunnel came a faint ringing noise.

'Quickly,' he rasped at them. Cery grabbed Sonea's arm and dragged her into a run.

Taking something from beneath his coat, the man began to strike it with an old spoon. The sound was deafening in the tunnel.

As they reached the ladder, he stopped and they heard more ringing sounds behind them. He grunted, then began flapping his arms.

'Up! Up!' he cried.

Cery clambered up. There was a metallic clunk, then a hole of light appeared. Cery scrambled through it and disappeared. As Sonea followed she heard a distant, low noise in the tunnel. The hunchback climbed out behind her and pulled the ladder up.

Sonea looked around. They stood in a narrow alleyway, hidden by the gathering darkness. Hearing the low noise again, she turned back to the tunnel. The sound grew rapidly louder, becoming a deep roar that was muffled suddenly as the hunchback carefully closed the lid of the tunnel. A moment later she felt a faint vibration under her feet. Cery leaned close so that his mouth brushed her ear.

'The Thieves have been using these tunnels for years to get past the Outer Wall,' he murmured. 'When the city guard found out, they started flushing the pipes. Not a bad idea, really - it keeps them clean. Of course, the Thieves figured out when they did it and business continued as usual. That's when the guard started flushing them randomly.'

He beckoned for her to crouch down beside the lid, then carefully lifted it. Water rushed by a few inches from her face and the roar spilled loudly into the street. Cery quickly closed the lid again.

'That's why they ring the bells,' she breathed.

Cery nodded. 'A warning.' He turned away and handed the hunchback something, then led her down the alley to a dark corner where raised bricks in a wall allowed them to climb to the roof of a house. The air was growing colder, so Sonea drew out her cloak and wrapped it about her shoulders.

'I hoped to get us a little closer than this,' Cery murmured, 'but...' He shrugged. 'Good view from up here, eh?'

She nodded. Though the sun had dropped below the horizon, the sky was still glowing. The last of the storm clouds hovered over the Southern Quarter, but were slowly retreating toward the East. The city spread before her, bathed in orange light.

'You can even see a bit of the King's Palace,' Cery pointed out.

Over the tall Inner Wall, the high towers of the Palace and the top of a glittering dome were visible.

'Never been there,' Cery breathed. 'But I will one day.'

Sonea laughed. 'You? In the King's Palace?'

'It's something I've promised myself,' he told her, 'that I'll get inside all the big places in the city at least once.'

'So where have you gone so far?'

He pointed to the gates of the Inner Circle. Through the entrance she could see walls and roofs of the mansions within, lit by the yellow glow of street lamps.

'Couple of the big houses.'

She snorted in disbelief. When running errands for Jonna and Ranel, she had occasionally needed to enter the Inner Circle. The streets were patrolled by guards who questioned anyone who was not richly dressed or clad in the servant's uniform of a House. Customers had given her a small token that indicated she had legitimate business in the area.

Each visit had revealed wonders. She remembered seeing extraordinary houses of fantastic colors and shapes, some with terraces and towers so thin and fine that they looked as if they should collapse under their own weight. Even the servants' quarters had been luxurious.

The plainer houses that surrounded her were more familiar. Merchants and lesser families lived in the North Quarter. They had few servants, and used the services of crafters for all else. Jonna and Ranel had gathered a small group of regular customers in the two years they had worked there.

Sonea looked down at the painted screens covering the windows around her. Through some she could see the shadows of people. She sighed as she thought of the customers her aunt and uncle had lost when the guards evicted them from the stayhouse. 'Where now?'

He smiled. 'Follow me.'

They continued on across the rooftops. Unlike the residents of the slums, those of the city did not always oblige the Thieves by leaving bridges or handholds in place. Cery and Sonea were often forced to descend to the ground when they reached an alley or street. The larger roads were patrolled by guards, so they had to wait for the men to march by before hurrying across.

After an hour they stopped for a rest, then continued on when a thin sliver of moonlight rose above the