“Hey, Suric,” Delara called as Lucyan came out of their quarters dressed in plain clothes. She stood just a few feet away with several other recruits. “How about you come join us for a drink?”
“Sure,” Lucyan said, tucking his hands into his pockets. He strolled over to the waiting group and followed them through the gate and back into the city. Walking around with a group would make it easier for him to blend in rather than skulking about the city alone. He followed them to a small tavern that turned out to serve fantastic beer and meat pies, and sat with them for a little as they joked and laughed and blew off steam.
“I’m going to run a few errands,” he said after he’d finished his pie and drained his tankard. “I’ll see you all back at the barracks.”
“Already?” Delara pouted as she snagged his hand. “You aren’t even tipsy yet, Suric. Come and have a few more beers. I’ll even pay.”
“Yeah, come on,” the others protested, looking put out. Against his will, Lucyan had become somewhat popular. Last week during the swimming trials, he’d saved one of the recruits from drowning, and he’d taken to coaching those he’d sparred with who were unfamiliar with some of the more esoteric weapons. He knew it was foolish for him to get involved, especially since these men and women were the enemy, but he couldn’t quite help himself. It took more effort than he wanted to admit to refuse their friendly offer and escape before they could make him change his mind.
Perhaps falling in love had made him soft.
The Green Mermaid was well across town, so Lucyan hopped into a cab and had it drop him off a few blocks away. Even so, as he walked up the street, he felt a pair of eyes on him. Surreptitiously, he glanced back and saw a man following from a few paces away—a man he’d seen standing at the corner when he’d boarded the cab. The brim of his hat was pulled over his face, but Lucyan recognized him—he was a corporal from the unit, likely one of several sent out to monitor the recruits.
Lucyan fought the urge to quicken his steps, and instead made an abrupt right turn at the corner. Scanning the awnings, he spied a painted sign sporting a curvy lady dressed in lingerie. Casually, he stepped through the doors, and stifled a choke as a cloud of perfume and body odor hit him in the face.
Now I remember why I hate brothels, he grumbled to himself as he hurried through the building.
“Excuse me, sir,” a woman in a tight corset and little else purred. She pressed herself against him, placing her hand against his chest. “You have to pay before you can go any further.”
Lucyan stifled a growl as he dug a coin out of his pocket. “I’m just passing through,” he said, tucking it between her cleavage. The woman huffed as he pushed her away, but she didn’t protest as he brushed past the curtain and hurried toward the back door. The sound of grunts, moans, and breathy laughs muffled his footfalls as he slipped quietly into the alley. The air out here smelled of refuse, but Lucyan sucked in a lungful anyway—it was still better than the brothel.
Carefully, he made his way back to the Green Mermaid, taking a longer route and scanning his surroundings thoroughly. When he was confident he wasn’t being followed, he slipped inside, then grabbed a table in the back corner. When the server brought him his order, he placed a coin in her hand and asked her to deliver a message to Ryolas’s room. He sincerely hoped the elf was there—it was much earlier in the day than Lucyan had promised to meet him, but he didn’t want to hang around all night waiting.
Twenty minutes later, Ryolas approached his table with two bearded men Lucyan recognized from Dragon’s Keep. Shadley’s spies, then. “I am relieved to see you back in one piece,” Ryolas whispered as they took their seats next to Lucyan. “I assume the warlocks did not see through you, then?”
“Not yet, anyway,” Lucyan said. “The spymaster is a man called Lord Byrule—he interviewed those of us who’ve passed the tests, and the sergeant running the training program reports directly to him.”
The man sitting on Lucyan’s left nodded. “Lord Byrule is new to the position,” he said. “The last spymaster died under mysterious circumstances.”
Lucyan nodded. “You are…Draxton, correct?”
“Aye.” He jerked a thumb to the other man. “And this is Corlin. We hear you’ve been working on becoming a spy yourself.” He winked.
Lucyan gave him a lopsided smile. “While I do enjoy a bit of intrigue and excitement, I find I am becoming more of a family man as of late. I think once I return home I will content myself with running operations from afar.”
“Can’t blame you there,” Corlin said, a knowing look in his eye. “If I had a lady like that waiting for me at home, I wouldn’t want to leave either.”
With the pleasantries out of the way, Lucyan got right into it, debriefing the men of all he had learned. It turned out that the spy who had greeted them had been sent off on another mission, which was fine; Lucyan thought there were too many fingers in this pie as it was. Ryolas and the spies were angered and horrified to learn that the recruits were being groomed to take over their lands, but they were intrigued at the prospect of finding the device the warlocks were using to spy on their enemies.
“It could be worth it to stick around longer and see if you can confirm your suspicion,” Draxton said thoughtfully.
“Perhaps, but it is also dangerous,” Corbin said. “You have been lucky so far, my prince, that the warlocks have not detected your subterfuge. But they are crafty creatures and will figure it out sooner or later. In fact, I would not be surprised if they haven’t already, and are merely watching to see what you will do.”
“Like a cat toying with a mouse,” Lucyan said, a shiver crawling down his spine. “A man did try to follow me here,” he admitted, “but I gave him the slip. I will be more careful, but I really don’t think they suspect me of anything. If I can destroy that device, it will go a long way toward helping our people win the war.”
“If such a device even exists,” Ryolas reminded him. “And don’t forget—our primary objective is rescuing Basilla. I need your help to do that.”
“Have you discovered where she is located?” Lucyan asked. He sincerely hoped the elf had managed to make some progress while he was away. If it was this difficult to find her, he could only imagine how much harder it would be to break her out of whatever little hidey-hole Mordan had stashed her in.
Ryolas nodded. “We are almost certain she is being held in a villa on the outskirts of town. Draxton did a bit of digging and discovered that Prince Mordan owns it under a false name.”