been the envy of most kings. Here in Deephaven, though…’ He took a deep breath and stared up at the windows in the roof. Berren looked around as his eyes adjusted to the sudden gloom. The hall was mostly empty. The floor was laid with worn flagstones. At the far end, he could make out the shape of something in the shadows. In the centre, lit by the light from above, stood a cylinder of black stone half wrapped in strips of silver. The stone must have been ten feet across and was as tall as Berren. As he stared at it, the silver metal bands seemed to shift, never quite holding still. He started towards them, mesmerised, but came up short with the thief-taker’s hand on his shoulder.
‘You know where this is, don’t you, lad?’
Berren shook his head. He sniffed the air. It tasted old and rich and carried the hint of some scent he couldn’t quite place.
‘It’s Moon-day, lad. This is a temple to the Moon.’ Master Sy looked bemused. ‘Have you never been to one before?’
Berren shrugged. ‘Gods is for rich folk.’ Master Hatchet had never had much time for gods and had never seen why anyone else should either.
The thief-taker chuckled. ‘Gods are for rich folk, lad? Do you think that’s true? Does the sun shine only on rich people? Does the moon? When it rains, does it only rain on the rich man’s field? Laws – now they might not be for all folk. But not gods. What do you smell?’ The thief-taker spoke softly, but the bare stone walls and floor picked up his words and carried them, made them unnaturally loud. Berren flinched.
‘I don’t know,’ he whispered. The smell was a strange one. It was the smell of rich people, mingled up with something else that he didn’t recognise.
The thief-taker’s lips curled with disdain, but his eyes glittered with desire. Berren backed away. This was a new Master Sy, one that he hadn’t seen while he’d been practising his bows and cleaning the floors. ‘Money. Power. Magic. They all flow through this city. Learn how and you’ll be the master and I’ll be the apprentice. That’s your first lesson, boy. Money, magic and power. They’re always behind everything.’ Then he chuckled. ‘On a Sun-day I’ll take you to the solar temple in Deephaven Square for the dawn prayers. Then you’ll see.’
There was a shuffling noise from the back end of the temple, and then a pointed cough. Master Sy’s head snapped round to look, as a disembodied voice spoke. ‘Well, well. Syannis the thief-taker prince.’
7
DEEPHAVEN
A man emerged slowly out of the shadows. Berren couldn’t make out his face, but he moved like a grandfather. Like an ancient, Master Hatchet would have said. ‘Syannis, Syannis.’ The old man started nodding. ‘Yes, yes, well. I haven’t seen you here for a while. And then you come in the middle of the morning when we should be sleeping. But no, you didn’t wake me up. I don’t sleep all that much these days anyway.’ He seemed to notice Berren for the first time. ‘Oh. You brought a friend. Sorry, son. Path of the Moon, you see. Makes us more night people than most.’
‘Teacher Garrent.’ Master Sy, Berren realised, was now staring at his own feet. His fingers were steepled together. Almost in a gesture of prayer. A devout who’s a thief-taker? Berren grinned. Who’d have thought? ‘The rude oik I have the shame to have brought before you is my apprentice.’ Master Sy still didn’t look up. Berren quickly bowed his head and tried to look cowed. The old priest shuffled over. Despite the din of Moon Street right outside the door, the only other sound Berren could hear was his own breathing.
The priest came and stood in front of him. He could feel the man’s wheezy breath on his hair. It smelled of fruit. Sweet fruit.
‘What’s your name, son?’
Berren knew better than to answer. ‘His name’s Berren, but “boy” is more than good enough for that one, Teacher,’ said Master Sy. The priest didn’t move. Berren could feel the old man’s eyes staring at the top of his head, as if he was trying to look inside. ‘I apologise for him. I’m surprised he’s even aware that the two paths exist. It’s not his fault, so please don’t be hard on him.’
‘There are four paths, Syannis, not two. You know that perfectly well.’
‘Two that deserve the name.’
The old priest gently put his hand on Berren’s head. Berren tensed, but the hand didn’t withdraw. ‘Berren, is it? Just Berren? No titles? Don’t worry. I’m not going to put a curse on you. Your master would have taken you to one of his many other friends for that. So, have you ever been into a moon temple before?’
Berren shook his head. Never have, never want to again. But for some reason that made the old priest smile. He took his hand away.
‘Can’t say I blame you. Who’d want to, eh? Nothing for you here I’m sure. Still, if you’re never coming back then I’d better get on and show you something while you’re here. Don’t be afraid, it has nothing to do with gods. It’s just a nice view, that’s all.’
Master Sy let out a slight groan. The priest snorted.
‘Oh, don’t pretend you brought him here for the sake of his spirit, Syannis. You just wanted to take him up the tower, didn’t you?’
‘I brought him here to further his education, Teacher. In all ways.’
‘Well we’ll start with the tower. It’s probably the best part of being here. Never mind all this other nonsense, eh, Berren? We have the tallest tower in the city outside The Peak and we’re quite proud of it. Come on!’
For an ancient, he moved with sudden speed and purpose, and Berren found himself hurrying along in the wake of the priest’s silver robes. Through the gloom he saw other shapes at the side of the temple but that’s all they were; then the priest was through another tiny door and heading up stairs that spiralled up a dim circular tower. Turn after turn, until Berren’s legs started to burn with the effort of climbing. The further he went, the more windows there were and the lighter it became. They were the sort of windows he was used to. No glass, no shutters. Simple open holes in the wall, narrow slits that let in the breeze and the city-smell of dead fish. They didn’t even have a curtain to pull across them. Then another half turn and light flooded the tower. Teacher Garrent was standing in a doorway which had no door, leaning against its arch of stones. Berren could see the roofs of the city beyond. The climb up the stairs had been long enough that even Master Sy was breathing harder than usual, yet the old man didn’t seem the least bit troubled. As Berren climbed the last step, the priest moved aside.
‘Have a care, young one.’
Berren stepped through the door. He was standing on a wooden balcony that ran around all four sides of the tower. It was about three feet wide and there was no fence, no rail, nothing at the edge except a long drop to the ground. He took a bold step into the sunlight and then looked down. The Godsway was perhaps a hundred feet below, straight down to a steady stream of carts and wagons that moved back and forth along it.
‘Not much fear in that one, Master Syannis,’ Berren heard.
‘No indeed, Teacher Garrent.’
‘A worry, don’t you think, in your line of work?’
‘There’s not much fear in this one either, Teacher, yet here I am.’
‘Yes, here you are. But I don’t remember you walking straight up to the edge and standing there, steady as a rock. Even you showed the odd errant sign of caution.’
Berren felt the wooden boards under his feet shifting up and down, telling him in their own jumbled whispers that the priest was coming up behind him. He couldn’t move though. The view of the city had him transfixed. He could see everything, everywhere. Right to the river docks and the estuary beyond. To the top of The Peak and the huge palaces up there with their towers, even taller than this one. Over the dome of the moon temple and across Craftsmen’s to the Sea Docks, to Shipwrights and Master Hatchet, to all the ships out at anchor with their forest of masts. Inland, where the city seemed to stretch on forever, slowly mingling with fields and streams and even clumps of trees until it finally gave up and shrunk down into two long lines of villages, one beside the river and the other beside the sea, both vanishing into the distance.
But most of all, he was looking down on it all. This, he knew, was where he wanted to be. Looking down on the world.
