Siege (The Warrior Chronicles, #5) - K.F. Breene Page 0,69
toward Maggie. “You girls know what you about. So what is point of these secrets, eh? Are you with violet-eyed woman, or no?” She slammed hands down on the table and leaned forward. “I am waiting for her all this time. Oshawn arranged meeting, then sent me here. I open shop, make living, and clean house where I can.” She gestured toward the barrels. “I have network, even in city. In all cities. Beer come in, dead man go out, friend dispose, no one sees.” She shrugged. “All while I wait. I be ready. But time slipping away.”
“What’s happening?” Maggie whispered again, more urgently.
Ruisa shook her head, trying to make sense of all she’d heard. The woman spoke so fast and with a strange accent, so some of the words became garbled and lost. Ruisa had to piece the sentences together.
“She cannot come into the city yet because Inkna would feel her mind power. She has others. People from the Shadow Lands, and from her homeland. We were sent before her as we can get around the city without being discovered, and because we don’t have any mind power.” Ruisa touched her head. “Soon we need to get her inside, though.”
The woman’s eyes lost their twinkle. A small crease formed in her brow. “This city is protected.” She blew out a breath. “I thought Oshawn wrong to send me here. I should have known Wanderer make big statement. Maybe too big.”
“The Captain chose this place. He’s her…fiancé.”
The woman shook her head. “Inkna do mental…” She mimed holding a broom handle and sweeping. “They check. Dangerous to bring her inside.” She tapped her chin and glanced over at the table strewn with papers. “What was plan?”
“Did she say plan? Does she want to know what we’re doing?” Maggie asked with alarm in her voice.
Ruisa flashed Maggie a scowl to keep her quiet. “How do you know S’am? The Wanderer, I mean?” Ruisa asked.
The woman pushed out a laugh. “She ask me for clothes, just like you. You no look like her, but you muscled. You can fight—I see that. I know right away when you say that Oshawn sent you.”
“Oh yeah? Is that why you tried to sell me to that filthy guy?”
She laughed harder. “I no try to sell you. I tell him that he might have to trade life to get you upstairs. He no believe me. Now he dead.”
“Time’s wasting,” Maggie said.
“Look, I want to believe you. We need all the help we can get, but I can’t tell you our plans. If you aren’t who you say you are, everything will be foiled.” Ruisa shook her head. “Can we buy some revealing clothes off of you? Like…real clothes, just nicer than what we’re wearing. Not as revealing as the girls in your parlor.”
The humor dropped away from the woman. “I am Tauneya. I was in Hunter’s camp. I give her clothes to get the Seer and the Ghost out. I am one who gave her map to escape. I have spread word of her coming. My girls ready. All across land, they ready. The Wanderer Network be waiting. We all wait. For her. Now, tell me the plan, and I will help. Without me, you all die.”
19
“Through here.” Leilius motioned Xavier into an alleyway. Shadows clawed at the ground, eradicating any remaining sunshine. “We need to check out the front gate before the sun goes down.”
“We still have a couple hours,” Xavier whispered as he snuck in behind. They’d been all around the city, discovering that the map wasn’t the most accurate thing they’d ever used. Alleyways often proved to be a dead end, making them turn back to try another way. They tried to keep to smaller streets, but occasionally someone pointed at Leilius, their expression turning to one of shock or delight. If people could point him out on the street, that meant that the city was talking about what he’d done. But that meant the Graygual would have their eyes open. He did not want to fall into their hands under any circumstances.
“Are you sure it goes all the way through?” Xavier asked as they neared the middle. A large canister was piled high with refuse and overflowing, its stink permeating the alley, and almost blocked their way. Leilius held his breath as he squeezed by it. He stepped over the body of a dead rat and made sure to stay away from the grimy wall at his back.