The Ambassador's Mission: Book One of th - By Trudi Canavan Page 0,101

cart. “Come help me straighten this up.”

He moved to her side. She was tugging at one of the bundles, which appeared to be perfectly positioned.

“My usual contact hasn’t appeared,” she murmured. “I didn’t see another door to the store. Let’s stay out here for now.”

“There was a woman watching us,” he told her. “Did you see her?”

She frowned and shook her head. The crunch of footsteps made her peer around the cart, and she smiled.

“Food!”

Lorkin followed her as she stepped out to meet the boy approaching them. His eyes widened, then he looked down quickly and held out two fist-sized bread buns, still steaming from the oven, and two mugs. The liquid inside the latter quivered as the boy’s hand shook.

Tyvara took the food, handing Lorkin his share. As soon as he was divested of his burden, the boy turned, ran back to a door and threw himself inside.

“He was terrified,” Lorkin murmured.

“Yes,” Tyvara agreed. “And he shouldn’t be.” She moved back toward the cart. “And he brought no blankets. Follow me.” Passing the cart, she headed for the store. Lorkin followed, taking care not to spill the contents of his mug. A single lamp now lit the room, throwing complicated shadows against the walls. Once inside, she took the mug and bun from him and set it aside, with hers, next to a bucket that smelled strongly of urine.

“We can’t eat them,” she told him as she began to examine the room. “They could be drugged.”

“Drugged?” he looked at the food. “They know who we are?”

“Possibly. Ah! Good. Come here.”

“But how could the news have travelled here that fast?” he asked, following her toward the far wall.

The look she gave him clearly showed she thought him an idiot for asking.

“Don’t Kyralians use blood rings?”

“Yes, but—”

“Even so, surely you know that travelling on horseback is faster than in a cart.”

“Well, yes …”

She rolled her eyes, then turned away and slipped behind some boxes filled with wax-stoppered pottery jars. As he followed, he saw a small doorway that had been fixed permanently closed with boards. She glanced at the lamp, then at the boxes of jars. Stepping back, she stared at the boxes. They began to move, swaying precariously as they slid forward to block the view of the doorway.

Then she turned to stare at the boards fixing the door closed, and they began to flex themselves away from the frame.

“Put out the lamp,” she ordered without taking her eyes off her work.

Lorkin looked over at the lamp, then drew magic and sent it out, shaping it into a small barrier that starved the flame of air. As the lamp went out and the room filled with darkness, he felt a fresh breeze and turned to see a rectangle of dark blue streaked with orange clouds where the door had been. He took a step toward it, but the sky vanished as Tyvara swung the door to again and he felt her hand press on his chest to stop him.

“Wait,” she murmured. “Get out of sight.”

Sounds were coming from the main store doorway. Light streaked into the room, moving and spreading as the source drew closer. Then the slave master and the boy entered, followed by a woman. They both stared at the mugs and buns left untouched, then looked around the store.

“They’re gone,” the boy said.

“They can’t have gone far,” the woman said. “Should we start searching?”

“No,” the slave master said. “Too dangerous. If they are what you say they are, only the master can deal with them, and he’s in the city.”

The woman looked as if she wanted to argue, but instead nodded stiffly and left the store. The slave master looked around the room again. For a moment he looked as if he might search it, but then he shook his head and headed for the door.

As soon as he was gone, Lorkin felt the breeze again. Tyvara grabbed his arm and pulled him through the doorway. She took hold of both of his arms in a strong grip. He felt his stomach sink as they suddenly began to rise into the air.

Levitation, he thought, looking down at where the invisible force beneath their feet must be. I haven’t had reason to do that in years.

They stepped off onto the roof of the store. Tyvara crouched and began to creep across it slowly and quietly, keeping below the peak of the roof so that people in the courtyard wouldn’t see them. Lorkin followed, wincing at every creak of