watching Amafi inflict pain, but he had seen so much death and suffering since his childhood that it disturbed him only a little. He always remembered that those he opposed were at the heart of what had befallen his people – they had caused the near-obliteration of the Orosini. He also had a family in Opardum that would suffer, along with everyone else on Midkemia, should the Conclave fail.
‘What do we need to do?’
‘First, I need some of the men outside to cover the windows, so it is always dark in here. We must confuse his sense of time, so that he thinks he’s been here longer than he has. I should return to the inn and secure a change of clothing or two for us, so that we can confuse him about the passage of time that way too. Lastly, we need to bring in some food and wine – brandy would be better – so that we can soothe him when it becomes necessary.’
‘Do what you must.’
Amafi hurried out of the warehouse, and Tal walked over to where the semiconscious prisoner sat, befouled by blood and his own body-waste. Tal and he exchanged a long look, and neither man spoke.
Caleb groaned as he sat up. The boys had been trying to stay calm all day, but without any way to judge the passing of time in the small room, the minutes dragged by.
Tad and Zane had already reached the point of confrontation due to their frayed nerves, but Jommy had broken up the scuffle before it could really start.
The girl had returned with another meal and said, ‘It won’t be long before they’ll decide where to move you,’ but she would not stay with them or answer any more questions.
Now Caleb had recovered, the boys told him of what had happened at the Three Willows. He said, ‘So, we were not half as clever as we thought we were.’
‘Are you all right?’ asked Tad.
‘Not as bad as I look,’ said Caleb. ‘I took two cuts in the shoulder, but neither was deep. I got a slice across the scalp and although such wounds bleed like mad, it looks far worse than it is – and we were safely away when I slipped and don’t remember much, save some of the lads carrying—’ He glanced around. ‘Wherever are we?’
Tad told him and Caleb nodded. ‘Now, how did you lads get here?’
The boys told him about the four assassins, and Caleb said, ‘Had they meant you dead, you’d be dead. They were herding you so that you would lead them here.’ His voice showed his concern.
‘We lost them,’ said Jommy, with a grin. ‘I steered them into the Bakers’ Boys and like the bullies they are, they decided to have some fun with those assassins. I glanced back as we cleared the other side of the square and the Bakers’ Boys were doing a right job of stomping the two who chased us.’
I’m surprised the Bakers’ Boys aren’t all dead,’ said Caleb.
‘Surprise works wonders,’ said Jommy.
‘And stupidity. You could have got those boys killed, Jommy.’
Jommy lost his grin. ‘Well, I wasn’t expecting a “thank you,” for saving these two lads, but I didn’t expect criticism. Would you rather it been us instead of them?’
Caleb put his hand up, signalling his surrender. ‘You’re right. I’m sorry. I wasn’t there.’
‘What do we do now, Caleb?’ asked Tad.
‘I need to rest for a few more days, but not here. We’ve put these people in enough danger already. So, we need to find ourselves a place to hide out.’ He ran his hand through his long hair and found it matted with dried blood. ‘And I need to clean up.’
He sat, trying to catch his breath for a few minutes, then said, ‘I need to clean up.’
‘You said that already,’ said Zane.
Caleb nodded. ‘If they know where were are—’
‘They don’t,’ said Tad. ‘If they knew where we were, they’d have been here by now.’
‘Yes,’ said Caleb. ‘I … you’re right.’
Jommy said, ‘Why don’t you lie down again, mate? I’ll keep an eye on things.’
Caleb lay down, and within minutes he was asleep.
‘Well, then,’ said Jommy, ‘I think this is as good a time as any to ask why so many people want to kill us?’ He fixed Tad and Zane with a neutral expression and sat back in the single chair, waiting for an answer.
Two more meals came and went before Caleb roused again. The boys had judged the time to be mid-morning sometime when he sat up with a groan, and said, ‘My head must be broken.’
‘Not so’s we could see,’ answered Jommy. ‘Wait here.’ The older boy stood up and worked his way past Tad and Zane who were still sitting on the floor, and left the room.
‘Where’s he going?’ Caleb asked.
‘Don’t know,’ answered Zane. ‘Maybe to piss?’
‘You haven’t been outside, have you?’ asked Caleb as he stood up, using the back of the recently vacated chair as support.
‘No,’ said Tad. ‘They’ve got a chamber pot outside the door.’
The door opened. Jommy entered and set a porcelain bowl on the table. He pulled a folded towel out of it, and handed it to Caleb. He poured water into the bowl from a matching pitcher. ‘You said you needed to clean up,’ he said to Caleb.
Caleb pulled off his blood-splattered shirt and began to wash. Jommy said, ‘There’s fresh clothing for you, too. I’ll get ‘em.’
Jommy left and returned moments later with a clean shirt and a new hat. ‘You seemed to have lost your hat, Caleb, so I asked our host if he could find you a new one.’
‘Thanks,’ said Caleb. ‘It’ll help hide the mess.’
‘Now,’ said Zane. ‘We were talking about what to do next when you passed out last time, Caleb.’
‘I’m a little vague on what was said, but if I remember things correctly, you were almost taken by four men, right?’
‘That’s right,’ said Jommy. ‘And from what these two have told me, we’re hip-deep in crocs, and the swamp’s started to rise.’
‘What did you tell him?’ asked Caleb.
Tad and Zane exchanged glances, but it was Jommy who answered. ‘Enough to know that I’m either with you to the end or a dead man the second I try to leave the city, Caleb. I’m not sure I understand most of what they said, and I’ll leave it to you to fill me in on what you think I should know, but understand something about me, mate: I won’t let you down. You’ve treated me more than square, and you’ve fed me when all I did was keep these two from being treated like drums at a festival. Now, don’t blame the lads too much for telling me; I convinced them that if I was going to get myself killed, then I deserved to know why.’
Tad said, ‘It’s only fair, Caleb.’
Caleb looked at Jommy. ‘You’ve bought yourself a lot of danger.’
The boy from Novindus shrugged. ‘I’ve been in and out of danger ever since Rollie and me left home. It could easily have been me who died. So, what’s a little more danger? I figure you’re good blokes and if I’m going to throw my lot in with someone, it might as well be good blokes.
‘So, that’s settled. Now, where do we go from here?’
‘An inn not far away. I’ll need you,’ he pointed to Zane, ‘to go ahead of us. It’s not far and you shouldn’t have any trouble getting there; if they’re still out hunting, our enemies will be looking for three lads, not one. Your dark hair makes you the obvious choice to go – you look the most like a Keshian here. I’ll tell you what to say. We’ll follow along in a while.’
Zane