accompany the foreigner to the stonemason’s home. If he refuses to accompany us, you will bind him and bring him to me.”
“Understood, Captain.”
Sho Tsai tugged on his reins, turning his horse about and giving the hand signal for his company to follow suit. “Find us at the barracks, and don’t be long about this.”
“Go with them,” Vaelin told Nortah and the others.
“Are you sure, Uncle?” Ellese asked. “If this man has the Dark in him . . .”
“He’s no danger to me.” Vaelin gave Tsai Lin a cordial nod and they resumed their passage along the thoroughfare. “You’re still on cooking duty,” he reminded Ellese over his shoulder. “Try to produce something edible by the time I get back.”
Tsai Lin led the way, guiding them into the narrower streets of what was evidently the artisans’ quarter. “You’ve been here before?” Vaelin asked, noting the youth’s obvious familiarity with the route.
“Many times. My . . . the Dai Shin would bring me here to spend the summer when I was younger.”
“So you know her? You know Sherin?”
“Of course, lord. It was from her that I learned your language and many lessons in the healing arts. Although my skills in that regard are far from expert.”
Did she ever talk of me? The question rose and then faded from Vaelin’s lips, for he had a sense he already knew the answer.
Upon entering the quarter the air became filled with the familiar refrain of blacksmith’s hammer and carpenter’s saw, soon punctuated by a rhythmic pounding that instantly brought forth memories of Linesh. His arm’s as strong as ever, Vaelin thought as Tsai Lin reined to a halt before a shop with wide double doors. The steady thud of hammer and chisel continued to echo from within until they both climbed down from the saddle, whereupon it abruptly ceased.
“Wait,” he told Tsai Lin as the apprentice officer looped his reins around a postern and started towards the doors.
“Lord?” The Dai Lo hesitated, glancing back at Vaelin. “I have orders . . .”
“Just wait.” Vaelin gave him a humourless smile, keeping his gaze on the shaded interior of the shop. “Please.”
The silence continued for the space of what seemed a very long minute. There must be a back door to this place, Vaelin thought. Feel free to use it, old friend.
“Forgive my tardiness, Honoured Sir.” The man who appeared in the doorway bowed his shaven and partially scarred head at Tsai Lin before raising it to regard Vaelin with a warm smile. “Had I known you brought such welcome company, I would have come quicker.”
“Ahm Lin.” Vaelin’s voice was thick as he began to bow, then stopped as the mason came forward to wrap his arms, still as corded with muscle as ever, around his shoulders, drawing him into a fierce embrace.
“I knew you’d come,” he said in a low whisper. “I’ve been waiting.”
He drew back and Vaelin was struck by how little he had aged. The burns that had been so raw that final day on the Linesh dockside were faded now, the puckered flesh tanned to a leathery sheen. Grey showed in the stubble of his scalp and wrinkles webbed his eyes, but he was as lean as the first time Vaelin had met him in Linesh. An exiled former servant of the Merchant King Lol-Than, Ahm Lin had made his home in the Alpiran port seeking rest after a lifetime of travel, only for his blood-song to summon a fellow singer to his door, an invader in fact. Their friendship had been an instant thing, forged by their songs, and sufficiently threatening to the Ally’s plans to send the Messenger to seek the mason’s death. On this occasion, he had been thwarted by means that still remained vague to Vaelin, but the burns Ahm Lin suffered in the attack left a lasting mark. Nursed back to health by Sherin, he had been the perfect choice to take her away and Vaelin was glad her inevitable anger hadn’t sundered their connection.
“Mason Lin,” Tsai Lin said, his voice heavy with reluctance. “I come with . . .”
“Orders compelling me to the Merchant King’s service,” the mason finished. “Yes, I’m aware. Give me a moment to fetch my things.”
He disappeared back into the shop, Vaelin following after a moment’s bemused hesitation. He had known it would be impossible to surprise this man, but his affable willingness to forsake his home was unexpected. He found the shop’s interior similar in many ways to Ahm Lin’s home in