The Traitor Queen

wait for Kallen or not.”

“He doesn’t think, now that Kallen’s teaching me to strengthen myself, that I’m strong enough to fight Skellin on my own, does he?”

“No, he didn’t know about that until tonight. He started the preparations before then.”

Lilia felt a pang of sympathy. If Anyi, who was frustrated by being stuck underground, was concerned that her father was being impatient, then things had to be getting bad down there.

She reached out and drew Anyi into her arms. “I’ll talk to him. I’ll talk the Guild into it. You talk Cery into it. And if either or both of them won’t be sensible, then we’ll just have to find a way to trick them into it.”

Chapter 18 Choices

The night sky was clear and the moon bright overhead. Cery breathed a sigh of relief. Though the moonlight made it more likely someone would see them, it also made it easier for them to move about in the forest. Neither he, Gol nor Anyi were used to getting around among trees and vegetation.

Though Lilia was able to supply them with most of what they needed, thanks to Jonna, a few items were beyond her. They’d been back to the farm twice already for more chairs, sacking and straw for making mattresses. Tonight they were after some other practical items.

“A bucket or tub, and more sacks. Nothing else?” Anyi asked.

“No,” Cery told her. “Don’t go looking for more things to take just ’cause you’re there.”

“Of course not.”

As she slipped away into the forest, he turned to Gol. “Be careful. Don’t try to do anything else.”

Gol nodded. Cery watched as his friend stumbled off into the trees in the other direction, then cringed as the snap of a branch echoed through the forest. If Anyi hears him... well, he can give her the story I’m going to tell her when she gets back and finds him missing: that he’s looking for the best way to lose pursuit if we ever have to escape this way.

Retreating into the hole, Cery picked up his lamp and headed back down the tunnel. Anyi had insisted that only one of them needed to risk sneaking into the farm. He’d agreed, but only because he wanted to check on the Guild’s experiments with roet.

Unless they’ve moved them after Lilia told them she knew about it.

He found the overhanging roots and pushed them aside. Entering the tunnel, he quietened his steps as he neared the secret cellar door. Everything looked exactly as they’d left it. He bent to the spy hole and saw only darkness. For a moment he could not shake off the idea that there was a dark cloth now covering the spy hole, making it look as if the room was unlit, and there were magicians waiting beyond. Pressing his ear to the door, he listened for some time. All was quiet.

He closed the shutter of the lamp until only a little edge of light spilled out. Slowly he eased the door open. Musty air greeted him, and the sound he made echoed in the room beyond. He opened the shutter of the lamp. Light spilled into an unoccupied room. The same tables stood in the same places as before. He stepped inside and moved over to them. They were covered in small containers. Less than half as many as before, he noted. A pile of broken pots and soil had been swept into a pile to one side. Some of the pots looked burnt. Looking closer, he saw that the ones on the table were seared on one side – and so was the table. He frowned and moved closer. The pots contained only dirt.

Or do they...? He leaned closer. Tiny shoots were emerging from the soil.

Cery smiled. Grow fast, little plants, he thought. Then he shook his head. Never thought I’d think that about roet.

Moving back to the secret entrance, he re-entered the passage and closed the door behind him. He headed back toward the main network of passages, but instead of returning to the room they were now living in, he checked that the passage to the Thieves’ Road was still blocked by Lilia’s shield. It was.

By the time he got back to their new room, enough time had passed for Anyi to have returned before him. But she wasn’t there. He sat down to wait for her. Soon he felt anxiety rising. It was difficult to judge the passing of time here. Too easy to imagine that hours had passed. Too easy to imagine that something had happened to his daughter.

At least, if she’s discovered, it’ll probably be by farm servants or magicians. Neither will harm her.

An old memory rose of a much younger Sonea, standing in a city square, staring down at the burned body of a young man. Magicians could make mistakes.

They did so only because they thought they were under attack. Anyi is a lone young woman and, unlike Sonea, doesn’t have magic.

Yet his heart was beating too fast, causing an ache that kept growing.

Anyi is smart, he told himself. She won’t be caught.

But if she was, she wouldn’t want to reveal that he was here. They’d throw her out of the Guild. Into the city. Where Skellin was waiting...

Stop it, he told himself, rubbing his chest. There’s no point worrying about something until...

A sound came from somewhere outside the room. His blood froze. He held his breath and listened. No sound came again. Then, just as he had decided that he’d imagined the noise, the faintest whisper of sound reached him. He stood up, certain that someone was approaching the room taking great care not to be detected. Had Gol been caught as soon as he entered the city. Had Skellin already tortured Cery’s location out of him?

He cast about. We haven’t even had a chance to set the trap yet. What should I do? He turned toward the hole into the next room. Their escape route.

Then five taps echoed in the passage. The signal! He breathed a sigh of relief and dropped back onto the chair, almost forgetting to rap on a crate in reply. Footsteps drew closer and light illuminated the corridor wall, moving in a way that suggested Anyi’s gait. She peered around the doorway at him and grinned, then came inside carrying two buckets.

“Where’s Gol?” she asked as she set them down.

“Scouting in the forest, in case we have to escape that way. What’s this?” He peered into the buckets, which were full of more than just sacking.

“Fruit. Seemed a waste not to take some, after they’d done all the picking.”

“I told you not to take anything else.”

“Yeah, well, you know how obedient I am. And hungry.”

He looked up at her and narrowed his eyes. “You said you didn’t like fruit.”

She looked away. “I said I didn’t like most fruit.” She sat down and yawned.

“Liar.”

“Should I take it back?”

He made a rude noise. “Get some sleep.”

“But Gol hasn’t returned yet.”

“He won’t for a while. It’s late, and the sooner you sleep the sooner I can as well.”

“Oh, all right then.”

Moving to the mattress, she lay down. Soon she was asleep, leaving Cery to wait, and start worrying all over again.

Be careful, Gol, my old friend. Not just for our sakes. I’ve known you too long to lose you tonight.