Emily gritted her teeth, but said nothing. There was nothing to say. Randor had learnt from experience, she supposed. There had been riots–and even revolutions–when women had been harassed and molested by tax collectors and inspectors. The peasants put up with a lot, but…they’d gone to war for their women. Besides, Randor simply didn’t take young women seriously. She was sure that would come back to bite him on the behind, sooner or later. She would make sure of it, personally.
He should have noticed that his daughter is very intelligent, she thought, as they started to walk through the gloomy backstreets. The smell of rotting fish grew stronger. But he may not have realized that every other young woman has intelligence too.
She considered a number of possible ideas. If young women were allowed to walk the streets unmolested, they could carry messages from place to place. But…there were few women of any age on the streets. Were the soldiers harassing them anyway? Or…were their menfolk simply keeping the women at home? She didn’t think she’d blame a father for wanting to keep his daughter somewhere out of sight. It wasn’t as if anyone would punish a soldier for rape unless the victim was related to someone important.
There were fewer guards on the streets, she noted as they approached the docks. The men on the streets looked rough, their eyes flickering from side to side as if they expected to be attacked at any moment. She was grimly aware of unseen eyes following their movements, but saw nothing when she looked around. The locals would be good at remaining out of sight.
We stand out like sore thumbs, she thought, as they reached a small inn. The sooner we change our clothes, the better.
Jade paused outside the door. “I’ve used this place before for secret meetings,” he said, very quietly. “They don’t ask questions and they value their privacy.”
“As long as the king doesn’t know you used it,” Cat said. “What did you use it for?”
“Meeting people,” Jade said, evasively. “I built up a network of contacts here.”
He pushed open the door. Emily braced herself and followed, feeling the faint wisp of a ward brushing against her defenses as she stepped through the door. There was no other sign of magic, but it put her on edge. The darkened corridor and darker stairs–so wrapped in darkness they seemed sinister–chilled her to the bone. A single lantern flickered in the tiny office, so small it was practically a cubbyhole, but it made the darkness worse. It was practically a living thing.
A man seemed to materialize out of the darkness. “Yes?”
“We want a room,” Jade said, flatly. He held up a handful of coins. “And we can pay.”
The man took the coins and bit them, one by one. “Very good,” he said, taking the lantern out of the office. “Follow me.”
Emily shivered as they walked up the stairs. She’d been in some dives before–she rather suspected they weren’t that far from the inn Imaiqah had taken Alassa and her to five years ago–but this was worse. The walls were damp and stained with…something, the air smelt of urine and the floorboards creaked ominously under her weight. Her boots splashed through liquid she didn’t want to identify. In the distance, she thought she could hear rats scurrying across the floor.
We have to be alone here, she thought, as they stopped outside a door that had clearly seen better days. No one would willingly live in a place like this.
She shook her head, dismissing the silly thought. No one would want to live in a shithole, but they might not have a choice. They might not be able to afford anything, save for the basics. Or…she shuddered, thinking of just how many crimes might be being committed behind the other doors. The innkeeper clearly didn’t give a damn. And, as long as he kept up the payments, it was unlikely the City Guard or the soldiers would give a damn either.
The door opened with an ear-splitting creak. A stench of unwashed bedding rolled out, mingled with something worse. Emily tried, hard, not to gag. The smell was so strong that she half-expected to see a dead body on the bed. But the room was empty…
“We’ll expect new bedding, of course,” Jade said, passing the innkeeper another coin. “Have it sent up here at once.”
“Of course, My Lord.” The innkeeper bowed, then stepped back as Jade walked into the room. “It is already on its way.”
Hah, Emily thought.
She walked past the innkeeper and strode into the room. The stench was almost overpowering, the light so dim that everything was cloaked in shadow. Cat took the lantern and held it high as he walked over to the shuttered windows and opened one, just a little. It wasn’t designed to open very far. The smell of rotting fish was almost a relief.
No glass, Emily thought, grimly. We either have to keep the windows open or stay in darkness.
“It could be worse.” Jade closed the door. “We’ve been in worse places.”
“I’ve been in cesspits that didn’t smell so badly,” Cat said. He placed his bag against the wall, then started to poke at the beds. “You want to bet the washroom is filthy?”
“No,” Emily said. She opened the door, then recoiled. It didn’t look that bad, but the air was foul and the window firmly bolted shut. It was so high up that she suspected even Cat wouldn’t be able to reach it. “It’s not a pleasant sight.”
“It never is,” Jade said. “We’ll have to clean it ourselves if we want to stay here.”
Cat snorted. “Do we?”
“This place is quite secretive,” Jade assured him. “They won’t breathe a word about us.”
“Good,” Cat said. He jabbed a finger at the wall. “Because, in case you haven’t noticed, we’ll have to blow a hole in the wall to get out.”
There was a sharp knock at the door. Emily tensed as Jade opened it, half-expecting to see a small army of soldiers with drawn weapons. Instead, a middle-aged woman in a black mourning dress held out a set of blankets, then retreated as silently as she’d arrived. Emily snorted, then started to strip the smaller bed. The boys could have the bigger one. Their blankets looked so badly stained that she rather suspected burning them was the only real option.
“We should be able to ward the room,” Jade said, once the beds had been changed and the old bedding put outside the door. “Cat, Emily, can you deal with that? I’ll have to see if I can meet up with some of my contacts.”
“You should bring us along,” Cat said, warningly. “You really don’t want to be caught alone.”
“They’ll get skittish if they see too many people at once,” Jade said. “And we really need a place we can do magic.”
“There was a ward downstairs,” Emily reminded him. “Someone here is a magic-user.”
“The ward didn’t feel as though it was connected to a living mind,” Jade said. “But yeah, you’re right. The sooner we ward this room, the better.”
“Fine,” Cat said. “We’ll deal with it. And you watch your back.”
Jade nodded. “I’ll knock four times before I come in,” he told them. “And I won’t be that long.”
He slipped out of the door, closing it behind him. Emily scowled as she turned her attention to her bag of tools. She understood his logic, but she didn’t feel comfortable letting him go out on his own. Jade was the one who was most likely to be recognized, whatever he did to conceal his face. A glamour would keep his face hidden, but it would also draw unwanted attention from the king’s sorcerers. God alone knew how many people Randor had managed to lure into his web.
She paced over to the window and peered outside. There were a handful of boats in the waters and a couple of bigger ships making their way through the stone walls that sheltered the docks from the sea, but the harbor didn’t seem to be as busy as she recalled. A number of soldiers were clearly visible on the stone, marching up and down as though they owned the place. Emily had a feeling the locals weren’t happy about that. They’d built their walls on top of stones and rocks, prime hunting grounds for anything from small fish to crabs. The soldiers were making it harder for the locals to feed their families.
“Give me a hand here,” Cat said, as he drew a line on the floor with chalk. “I want to isolate this room completely.”
“And the washroom,” Emily said. She considered for a moment. “If we use Maryann’s Mirror…”
“They may notice,” Cat said. “I was going to use Lugar’s Reflection instead.”