Kalen stood up straight and alert, his dagger raised ready to strike.
“No!” he snarled. “Not you. Get back!”
“Lower your blade, Kalen, before I drive it through your throat.” Kate heard the order before she could see who had given it.
Silas strode into sight, his gray eyes fixed upon the old man. Edgar tensed behind the curtain, and Kalen shuffled from foot to foot, looking back over his shoulder, planning his escape.
“You won’t be able to run from me this time.” Silas walked right up to Kalen until he was close enough for Kalen to stab him if he tried. Kate waited for the older man to make his move, but he just stood there, hands quivering, looking down at the ground.
Silas’s dark shadow swallowed Kalen as he stood over him like a predator. Kalen swiped his dagger in front of him, trying to force Silas away, but the weapon might as well have been made of wood for all the attention Silas gave it. He kept walking, making Kalen retreat instead. Then his hand shot out, clutching the old man’s throat, raising him off the ground and slamming him against the alley wall.
“Ssssilasss!” Kalen’s voice came out as a hiss.
“Where is she?”
Kalen grinned beneath a mustache of clotting blood. “Why would I tell you? It’s ’cos of you I’m stuck in this rotten place. Argh!”
“Where?”
“She’s a strong one,” said Kalen. “Oh yes. Maybe I’ll just claim ’er for myself, eh?”
Silas held Kalen firmly with one hand and drew a long sword from his belt with the other. The blade was so blue it was almost black, shining like a forged night sky. Kalen squirmed, trying to slash out again with his own blade, but he did not have the strength to land a good strike.
“What exactly is your plan?” said Silas. “Do you plan to kill me, Kalen? Many have tried, one of them even succeeded. But as you can see, it was not as permanent a predicament as some would have liked. You told me the girl would be in the bookshop. Tell me where she really is.”
Silas loosened his grip enough for Kalen to wheeze in a thin breath. “You’ll . . . kill me anyway,” he said, chuckling horribly with each word.
Silas rested his blade upon Kalen’s shoulder. “And with good reason,” he said. “Who was it who stood by while the High Council allowed one of the Skilled into their midst? Who was it who knew what that woman planned to do and yet said nothing—nothing—about it to me? If you had warned me about her, I never would have allowed her to get close. So do not dare to blame me for what has happened in your life when you had a hand in destroying mine.”
“What can I say? The gold was good.” Kalen grinned, showing off rows of loose cracked teeth. “’Course, that’s all spent and gone now. Worth it, though. Ah, yes. It’s not my fault ya walked right into ’er trap.”
Silas’s eyes flashed with anger. “You are the same traitor you have always been,” he said. “The council stopped looking for you years ago because they thought you were dead. I should have told them where to find you, but instead you went free. You owe me far more than your worthless life. So, for the last time, what have you done with the girl?”
Kalen’s face twisted into a look as smug as any man could get with a blade so close to his neck. “Losin’ yer touch, eh, friend?” he said. “Time was you’d have had that little banshee locked up and halfway to Fume by now, an’ I’d’ve been left dead and cold. Food for the rats, just for slowin’ you down. Better get a move on. The council won’t thank ya for keepin’ ’em waitin’.”
“This one’s not for the council,” said Silas, sheathing his sword, but keeping a firm grip on Kalen’s throat.
“Then I’d finish ’er off quick. Dangerous, she is. Better off dead than breathin’. Wouldn’t take much, I reckon.”
“This blood,” said Silas, noticing the stains across Kalen’s robes. “Is it hers?”
“Maybe. Maybe not. My nose took a good bashin’ along the way. She’s got company with ’er, see. Da’ru’s boy. He did this to me.”
“Da’ru’s boy?” Silas looked surprised. “Edgar Rill is here? In this town?”
“Ha! Didn’t know that, did ya?”
Kate looked back at the curtain where Edgar was wrapped up with only his shabby boots poking out into the room. If he could hear the two