Lights shone across the road, reflecting snow and white stone houses in the southwestern residential quarter, though those were mostly hidden by trees. People filled the street, shivering in the cold weather. Above everything, the temple rose in the center of the city, blazing like a moon crashed to earth.
“This way,” Sarit murmured. She took my hand and pulled me toward the pottery mill, a multistory building made of stone and wood. We entered through one of the small side doors, and she took us up a narrow staircase. “This leads to the roof, where we can watch. I try not to get lost in the crowd if I can help it.”
The stairs creaked under the four of us, and the heat from the sylph made the closed space unbearable, but then she pushed open a hatch and brought down a ladder. Cold, fresh air blew in, and we all climbed onto the roof.
“Stay low,” Sarit cautioned. “The templelight will give you away if you’re not careful.”
The dull roar of voices rose up as we crawled to the western edge of the roof. From here, I could see the four main avenues of the city, glowing under the light of the temple. The city wall stood bright white in a perfect circle, and from the Southern Arch, a brilliant lamp shone in on a large cluster of men and women wearing red from head to toe.
The group bore a litter on their shoulders, though whatever they carried on it was covered by a heavy black cloth, with ropes securing it. More supplies for the cage?
The cage itself stood right where Sarit had said: in the industrial quarter, where warehouses used to be. It was close to the market field—therefore close to the temple—and rose at least three stories into the air. Indeed, it looked big enough to hold a small troll, though the electric lines running into its base seemed unusual. Perhaps they wanted to shock whatever they were going to put inside it.
Whatever was being carried on that litter?
The procession made its way up South Avenue slowly. Their burden must have been heavy. Citizens of Heart followed behind them, their chatter loud and frenzied as they gathered in the market field. Focused lights blared down on the field as the red-clothed group called out a count, knelt, and then lowered the litter to the cobblestones.
The bundle trembled, but that might have been from the impact, not because it was alive. Or aware.
I sort of hoped it was dead, whatever it was.
“Can you hear what they’re saying?” Stef murmured, leaning closer as though a hand-width would make a difference. “I think that’s Merton in the front.”
Sure enough, the man in front was enormous, with wide shoulders and arms as big as both of my legs. Even from this distance, he was huge. As the crowd began to quiet down, I caught snatches of Merton’s speech.
“. . . months of travel . . . five dead . . . Janan’s glorious return.”
I shook my head. Sam seemed to be straining, too. Though we both had excellent hearing, Merton was just too far away.
“He’s talking about their journey,” Sam muttered. “But I can’t tell where they went. Or what they brought back.”
We all seemed to hold our breaths.
“Someone’s saying they want to see it.” Sam tilted his head, as though to hear better. “Merton is saying Deborl will reveal it only when Janan allows. I wonder how Deborl has been communicating with Janan while we have the key.”
“He’s probably just making things up,” Stef said. “Though that cage is really specific.”
“He could have Meuric’s old diaries and plans,” I said. Wind danced over our roof, making me shiver. “Meuric and Janan had lots of time to plan things, after all.”
Stef made a noncommittal noise, and we all peered into the distance as a smaller figure emerged from around the side of the market field.
“Is that Deborl?” I whispered.
“I think so.” Sarit scooted closer to me. “He’s been hiding in the Councilhouse until he’s ready to address everyone. He says he’s in deep discussion with Janan, but he’s been doing a lot of delegating. Like someone in charge of building the cage, though they’re only given enough instructions for the next step, not the whole thing. Someone in charge of all the guards. And someone in charge of rationing food.”
“It gives him the air of importance,” Sam said. “Deborl likes to seem important.”
Sarit snorted a little.
In the distance, Deborl walked around to the front of the litter and climbed onto the edge. It only brought him up a little higher; he was short, barely taller than me.
“Now what are they saying?” Sarit asked.
Sam shook his head. “I can’t tell. Deborl’s voice doesn’t carry like Merton’s.”
We watched until the crowd began to disperse before we climbed off the roof and headed back to the mill. After assigning sylph to guard the building, we sent a few more to spy from shadows, and others to melt snow all over the city to help us avoid leaving tracks. Deborl already knew we were back in Heart, but that didn’t mean we had to advertise our location.