come after, Ru; you shouldn’t worry too much. When he killed Escrissar, he decided I’d make a good replacement. That’s what this is about. He wants me for a pet.”
Pavek didn’t think he’d made a stunning revelation; the look on Ruari’s face said otherwise.
“There’re always a few Hamanu favors. Some called them the Lion’s Cubs; we called them his pets in the barracks. He gives them free rein and they dull his boredom. Escrissar was one.” Telhami was another, but Pavek didn’t say that aloud; he’d given Ruari a big enough mouthful to chew on already.
“We can go back to the cavern… We can go back right now with a bucket!”
“Don’t be foolish. It’s the middle of the night.”
“That won’t make any difference in a cavern! We can do it, Pavek. That messed-up medallion of yours will get us past anyone who challenges us and the warding in the elven market. We could be back by dawn, if we hurry.”
Pavek’s heart was touched to see Ruari so eager, so blind to danger on his behalf. Friendship, he supposed. But it was too foolish to consider. “Maybe tomorrow morning—if there’s no one from the palace hammering on the door before them.”
“Wind and fire, Pavek. If we’re going to wait until tomorrow morning, we might just as well go to this Codesh-place, too, and see if we can find the other end of the passageway.”
It would be a long shot, and Pavek had never been a gambler, but Ruari was right. If they walked into the palace with the a bucket of sludge in their hands and a Codesh passageway to the cavern on the surface of their minds, they’d be in as good a bargaining position as mortals could attain in the Lion-King’s court.
“I’m right, aren’t I?” Ruari asked, cracking a grin. “I’m right!”
Ruari didn’t let that smile out too often, but when he did, it was contagious. Pavek took a deep breath and clamped his lips tight. Nothing helped. Laughter burst out anyway.
“Nobody’s perfect, Ru. It had to happen sometime.”
“We’ll go now—”
“The gates are locked until sunrise—and we may be escorted to the palace before then.”
“But, if we’re not—we’re on our way to Codesh!”
Chapter Nine
Pavek considered modifying Ruari’s plan from we to me. Codesh had a vicious reputation. There was no need to risk his unscarred companions exploring its alleys, looking for a hole that might lead to the reservoir cavern. No need to have them underfoot while he explored, either. But Lord Hamanu’s enforcers from the palace would come calling soon enough, and compared to the Lion-King, Codesh was no risk at all.
Dawn’s first light found the four of them tying their sandals by the front door.
“Leave that behind,” he told Ruari and pointed to the bandaged staff the half-elf had in his hand. “In case something goes wrong, that’s all we’ve got.”
“Anything goes wrong, I’m going to need it with me, not here.”
Pavek disagreed, but they didn’t have time for arguments. It was Farl’s day, and the best time to slip out Urik’s west gate would be the moment when it opened up to let the farmers and artisans of that western village into the city. The branch of the west road that led to Codesh would be nearly empty, but they’d be well out of Urik’s sight before they started walking along it.
The templar quarter was the busiest quarter of Urik at this early hour as bleary-eyed men and women got themselves to their assigned duties. White-skinned Mahtra stood out in any crowd, and any clothing that wasn’t dyed yellow was glaringly obvious on the streets nearest House Escrissar. Pavek recognized a fair number of the faces pointed their way. Surely he was remembered and recognized, too, but throughout the Tablelands, no creatures were more adept at not-seeing what was directly in front of them than a sorcerer-king’s templars. In their own quarter, templars were very nearly blind.
They were more attentive outside their quarter. Pavek told his companions to keep heads down and eyes aimed at the ground. He knew how information flowed through the bureaus. By sundown it would be a rare templar who didn’t know Just-Plain Pavek, the renegade regulator, had taken up residence in House Escrissar. This time tomorrow, he’d have a slew of friends and enemies lining up to see what they could gain or he could lose. Even now, hurrying toward the western gate, Pavek caught the occasional measuring gaze from a face that had recognized him. In a very real sense,