The Ambassador's Mission: Book One of th - By Trudi Canavan Page 0,166
the Guildhall doors had closed behind them, Cery let out a sigh of relief.
“Did that help?” Anyi asked.
Sonea nodded. “I think it will. They now have witness accounts of the woman breaking the law. The only magic she used within sight of magicians was arguably in her defence, when I captured her and took her to the Guild.”
“So if she has broken the law it is excusable to read her mind?”
“It was already.” Sonea smiled grimly. “But now they won’t feel so bad about it.”
“Will you do it?” Cery asked.
Her smile vanished. “It’ll either be me or Kallen. I suspect they’ll choose Kallen, since he’s had much less involvement in the search and hasn’t been disobeying rules.”
Cery frowned. “Are they going to give you trouble for that?”
“I don’t think so,” she said, her brow creasing with worry. “Kallen doesn’t seem too pleased. He hasn’t had the time to raise the matter so far, but he will eventually. Nobody else has brought it up, but I’m sure someone will.” She sighed and took a step back toward the hall. “I had better return. I’ll let you know what happens.” She paused, then smiled. “Oh, and Lorkin contacted me. He’s alive and well. I’ll tell you all about it another time.”
“Great news!” Cery said. “See you then.”
She waved, then pushed one of the doors open wide enough to slip through. Cery looked from Anyi to Gol. “Let’s see if the carriage is waiting for us.”
They grinned, and followed as he set off back to the front of the University.
When Achati, Dannyl, the other Ashaki and Unh reached the road, they found that the slaves they had sent ahead had the carriage and horses ready and waiting for them. The Ashaki helpers turned to face Dannyl and bid him farewell.
“You have our sympathy,” one of them said. “It must be annoying to have your assistant seduced away from you.”
“Yes,” Dannyl replied. “But at least I know he went willingly and is in no danger – or doesn’t believe himself to be. And … I apologise for his behaviour again. He led you all into danger unnecessarily.”
Another shrugged. “It was worth it for the chance to finally attempt to do something about them, or find their base, even if it led to nothing.”
“But … surely you could not have followed the Traitors much further without them being forced to kill you,” Dannyl said.
The Ashaki exchanged glances, and suddenly Dannyl understood their apparent lack of concern. They did not want to admit that they had been hopelessly outnumbered, or had failed in their task, so they pretended otherwise. In truth they had been well aware and fearful of the risk they had been taking. It would be rude to make them say so aloud, however.
“Well, Ashaki Achati tells me we got further into their territory than anyone has managed to go before,” he said, putting pride and admiration into his tone.
The Ashaki smiled and nodded.
“If you change your mind about retrieving your assistant, let us know,” the more talkative of them told him. “The king would not have much trouble gathering together a small army for the purpose. We are always looking for an excuse to weed them out.”
“That is good to know,” he assured them. “And much appreciated.” He turned to look at Unh. “I know he has good trackers to call upon, too.”
The tribesman inclined his head slightly, but remained expressionless. The Sachakans said nothing, then the quieter of them cleared his throat. “What do you think the Guild will do about Lord Lorkin?”
Dannyl shook his head. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “But they’ll have to send me a new assistant. Hopefully they’ll be better at choosing one than I was.”
The Sachakans chuckled. Then the talkative Ashaki rubbed his hands together. “We had all best be on our way, then.”
So farewells were uttered and the Sachakans rode away. Unh nodded once at Dannyl, which was somehow more meaningful a farewell than the Sachakans’. The group’s passing stirred up dust as they left. Dannyl and Achati climbed into the carriage and Achati’s two slaves took their positions on the outside. The vehicle jolted into motion, and began swaying gently as it rolled along the other road.
“Now this is better,” Achati said. “Comfort. Privacy. The promise of regular baths.”
“I’m definitely looking forward to a bath.”
“I suspect our helpers are as keen to get home, despite the fact that they didn’t get a chance to rid Sachaka of a few Traitors.”