fell farther and farther behind until he feared he might lose them completely.
He asked Maurelle, “Do you know the way?” but she couldn’t hear him.
“Hmm?”
He leaned close and still he had to shout. “Do you know the way to Ephitel’s estate? Your brother has left us.”
When she caught his meaning, she laughed. She stretched on tiptoes to point to a plaza some short way ahead, then jerked her thumb to the right. Corin judged it north, by the position of the sun, and he understood her meaning. North off the plaza, and presumably close by. Corin showed her his gratitude with a smile, then pressed doggedly on.
They reached the intersection—another grand piazza half a mile on each side and lined everywhere with expensive storefronts and gaudy townhouses. Everywhere except the north edge. There the plaza was bounded by a tall, wrought-iron gate with spear points done in silver. A tended hedge grew behind the gate, and a graveled drive bisected it, extending from the plaza down a tree-lined avenue toward a distant mansion.
Corin stopped and stared. “Is this another glamour?”
Maurelle wrinkled her nose. “Not in the least. Ephitel likes his precious things. He’s very nearly as bad as a manling.”
Whether from disdain of things or out of fear of the tyrant, no one went very close to that end of the plaza. Everywhere else this city’s streets were packed cheek by jowl, but Ephitel’s front gate commanded twenty paces of respectful, empty space. Most in the crowd wouldn’t even look that way. In fact, Corin slowly realized, no one did. Even Maurelle had turned away to stare toward some merchant’s wares. Corin frowned, trying to guess whether this was some sort of elven magic, when Avery spoke in his ear. “Very subtle. You might just as well stroll right up to the gate and offer them your card.”
Corin turned to Avery, trying not to show embarrassed haste. “I did not expect you to wander off.”
“I did not suspect you could get lost. But come. Kellen has found us a handy vantage point.”
Corin caught Maurelle’s hand and followed close on Avery’s heels this time. They pressed toward the northeast corner of the plaza, then into a bustling wine merchant’s shop. Avery nodded toward a proprietor in a wine-stained apron, pointing him out to Corin. As soon as the man was engaged with a customer, Avery slipped along a side wall and out a rear exit.
Corin and Maurelle darted after, unseen, and emerged into a quiet little garden bounded on three sides by the high marbled walls of the plaza’s storefronts. The north side, though, held only a small cottage—probably the winemaker’s—and an alley that led past the cottage. Corin followed Avery down the narrow path and came out on a shady lane. On the right, trees and underbrush grew wild right down to the river’s edge. On the left, Ephitel’s wrought-iron gate stretched straight as an arrow to the north horizon.
Kellen stood waiting in the shade and silence. The other three ran up to him, then Corin spun to look back the way they’d come. He turned again. “By all the gods, Kellen, how did you find this place?”
Avery laughed. “I asked the same thing. I guess all the guardsmen know it, or somewhere like it. It pays to spy upon your master.”
“A prudent soldier is not caught unawares,” Kellen said, a little irritated. “That is not the same as spying.”
“Bless your heart, Kellen,” Avery said. “But you are naive at times.”
“Pay him no mind,” Corin said. “You have done well. We can learn much from here.”
“Indeed we can,” Kellen said. “And you are not going to like any of it.”
Corin cocked his head, confused by Kellen’s certainty, but instead of explaining, the yeoman beckoned to them and set off quickly down the fence. He went perhaps a hundred paces, then showed them to a gap in the hedge. Corin moved up first, anxious to see what so troubled the young soldier.
From this spot he had a narrow view across the lawn to the mansion’s front doors. The graveled driveway ended in a wide circle there, and parked at the front steps was a plain brown carriage.
Corin frowned. “That isn’t Ephitel’s coach.”
“No,” Kellen said. “Ephitel’s coach just dropped him off, shortly after Avery went to fetch you here. It’s probably in the stables already.”
“Then whose—” Corin started, but he cut short when the carriage door swung open. Three nervous figures climbed down, twitching to look left and right before they hurried