to be and how long is it going to take to build?” Each man nodded understanding. “The rest of you divide yourselves up.”
“And you?” Tran asked her.
Siobhan linked her arm with Sylvie’s. “Let’s go for a walk, shall we?”
“Oh, marvelous idea,” Sylvie agreed easily. She already had a predatory eye on the street ahead of them.
“Not alone,” Wolf objected.
“You’re not coming with us,” Siobhan said firmly.
He gave a wordless protest.
“You intimidate people just standing there and breathing,” Sylvie added, backing Siobhan up. “You’ll just be in the way. We’ll be fine.”
Siobhan gave them a little wave as she started off. “Go find something to do. Something that doesn’t involve bloodshed or broken buildings.”
He didn’t look happy but he stayed where he was. Siobhan could hear his low voice murmuring something, and Tran’s voice responding. Hopefully the two of them wouldn’t go somewhere together, as that was a sure fire way of getting into trouble.
She and Sylvie made it all of ten steps when the brunette murmured for her ears alone, “Rune’s following us, isn’t he?”
“Fei is too.”
“Did Wolf sic them on us?”
“Probably.” Siobhan didn’t have a problem with this, as at least those two knew how to follow people discreetly. Wolf couldn’t blend in with his environment if his life depended on it.
Sylvie dismissed this with a shrug. “Are we using our usual plan?”
“Why not?”
“Excellent.” Sylvie pretended to think about this for a moment. “I want a new winter cloak. You?”
“Boots would be good. Something knee-high to block this icy wind.”
“I haven’t seen any good clothing shops yet….” Sylvie raised a hand to shade her eyes and peer further down the street. They’d finally walked far enough along to get to a nicer, more business-oriented side of town, so they actually had choices in front of them. “But I think I see one. That green sign down there, isn’t that a boot carved into it?”
“It certainly looks like one.” Siobhan had a hard time seeing it clearly with the sun glaring off of it.
They struck off for the store, for all the world appearing to be two women on a shopping expedition. Sylvie’s eyes proved right, and the store had a great quantity of leather boots, work rough and fine in every possible size. The store seemed fit to burst, in fact, with the quantity of them. Siobhan quickly discovered that quantity did not equal quality, as the first two boots she picked up were obviously second hand and ill-used. Hmm. It would take some digging to find anything decent.
As she shopped, Sylvie leaned against the counter where a middle aged woman was waiting. “I’m looking for a good cloak,” she said with a warm smile. “Is there any store here you’d recommend?”
“Oh, certainly,” the woman responded, voice slightly nasally. She leaned over the counter, which creaked under her ponderous weight. “There’s a shop two down from here on your left side, but don’t go into it. The man’s a shyster. Go further down, past the old tavern, and there’s another store on your right with bright purple trim around the door. That’s the best place to shop.”
Siobhan glanced at her over one shoulder doubtfully. Considering the state of the woman’s wares, she had to question her taste in quality.
Sylvie pretended not to notice. “My friend here is looking for knee-high boots, something that will keep her legs warm while she’s traveling. Do you have anything like that?”
“Oh, a few,” she said. “Most of my women’s shoes are only ankle high, though. Dearie, what size are you? Twenty-two, twenty-three?”
“Twenty-five, actually,” Siobhan admitted.
“Oh my! I won’t have anything that large.”
Yes, so she could see. Siobhan just sighed in resignation. “It’s fine. Do you have anything like it in men’s shoes?”
“Oh.” The woman stood from her stool to see over the counter. “Ohhh, you’ve got men’s shoes on, I see. Hard to find your size, eh? Well, you’re so tall, it’s no wonder. Here, see this back corner near me? That’s the right area to look.”
“Thank you.” Siobhan turned sideways and eased around one stack of shoes, carefully stepping to avoid creating a shoe avalanche.
Sylvie recaptured the woman’s attention. “When we came in, we saw a bridge being constructed on the shoreline. Where’s it going to? I mean, I don’t think there’s any land out in the channel until you reach Wynngaard.”
“There isn’t.” The woman leaned in a little closer. “They told everyone in the city to keep this hushed for as long as we can, although why they thought that would