face. She followed the hand that held it back to Ryan, who was staring at her with a total lack of expression. She stuttered a thank you and took the proffered cloth, and as silently as he had stepped forward, he stepped back again, disappearing into the crowd. Smooth as a shadow, and as far as Taya was concerned, about five times as terrifying.
It took them almost an hour to reach a destination which Taya guessed was about twenty minutes from their starting point. They were ten minutes deep into warehouses by the docks when David abruptly turned down an alley (which could be called an alley only because it was a break between buildings, not because it seemed to lead anywhere), pulling Taya along by the elbow. Ryan appeared a few moments later, walking along the top of the building to their right. It was an abandoned warehouse, one of the larger two story buildings in the area. Its windows had all been boarded over, but there was a large sign on the front of the building painted with a giant red cross. It meant that though the building was not currently being used, the owners were paying someone to patrol and keep security. It wasn’t a foolproof method of ensuring your building stayed empty while you were gone, but it generally kept out the less determined street dwellers.
The trio passed down most of the length of the building, and Taya saw that there was a door set into the very back of the side wall, almost hidden by scattered debris. As Ryan deftly scrambled down the brick side, David moved toward the door and knocked in quick succession upon the wood, three short taps followed by one long and then another two short. It was, Taya realized with surprise, the opening refrain to Miranov’s Independence song. Children used the knock all the time, and even adults when they were in the right frame of mind. David must have caught her surprised look, because a wide smile split his face.
“If anyone overhears, it won’t sound like a secret knock, just a fellow with a sense of humor,” he confided.
Taya glanced nervously down the alleyway at the idea of prying eyes, but there was no one to be seen.
After a long moment a panel in the door slid back to reveal two gray eyes. They examined David and Ryan cursorily, and then moved on to Taya. Her they tracked from nose to feet, apparently memorizing every detail. David seemed unconcerned at the pause, and after an uncomfortable span the panel finally slid closed and Taya heard the sound of bolts being thrown. When the door was wrenched open it proved to be thick oak, well-made for defending the rebel fort.
The gate guard was a young man with messy hair and a suspicious look to him, the kind of person Taya would cross the road to avoid if the two were alone on a street. He held the door as all three entered, and then barred it behind them.
“My liege,” the man said, with a sarcastic twang and a deep bow directed at David.
The recipient of this behavior frowned gruffly. “I’ll have none of that,” he admonished, and the man smiled. Taya didn’t understand the joke.
“They’s all in the hall, goin’ over plans,” he said, addressing only David.
She was surprised to hear that he was Miranovo and, from his accent, possibly one of Darren’s shipmates. Though sailors hailed from all over the continent, Sanitas was the most common language and all travelers spoke it, or their own version of it, at least.
“My thanks,” David responded politely, but his manners were with met with only a rude snort. He seemed not to notice, and smiled at Taya.
“This way, m’lady.” He inclined his head down the hallway, which was the only way to go, and with a faint smile on her lips she took the lead. As she started down the path, she noticed that Ryan paid no attention to the guard, offering him not even a nod as they left his presence.
The building had been modified within, no longer the wide open space of a traditional warehouse. The interior had been divided into rooms, with plain wooden walls that were crudely mortared to the ceiling. The path they were walking down met with several intersections which David motioned for her to ignore, and as they approached what Taya suspected was the middle of the building, the pathway dead-ended into a set of