Ours isn’t a very big city – it’s barely five miles in diameter with about three thousand inhabitants – but trying to find one person among all those souls would have been almost impossible had I not been fairly sure where to look.
My people drink wine and beer along with an older, more traditional spirit made from apricots and pomegranate called djazil; for the most part, these are imbibed in the home, with family, in a quiet, dignified manner. Since that in no way described Ferius, I headed towards the city’s guest houses. There were only five specifically intended for foreigners, and of those I was fairly sure only three served strong drink.
‘She’s not here,’ the thin-lipped Sha’Tep man behind the counter said, ignoring me while he shifted a pair of small oak barrels onto the deep shelf behind him.
‘But you’re sure you saw her?’
The little belly awkwardly attached to his otherwise bony frame shook as he laughed. ‘A red-haired Daroman woman in a frontiersman hat? How many of those do you think we get around here?’
‘So when did she leave?’
He looked annoyed, or thoughtful. I couldn’t quite tell which. ‘Must have been about two hours ago. She said my beer tasted like cow’s piss and went off in search of something better.’ He pointed towards the door. ‘Try the Night’s Calling. It’s in Veda Square, about a quarter-mile down the street.’
‘Why not the Falcon’s Pride? It’s closer.’
‘She said she’d already been there. Said their beer tasted like cat’s urine, which, evidently, Her Ladyship considers even worse than cow piss.’
I left the guest house and over the next half-hour made the trip through the slums down to Veda Square. I don’t know whether Ferius had been inside the Night’s Calling, nor what particular type of urine she would have compared their house beer to, because by the time I found her, she had more pressing concerns.
The entrance to the square was blocked by the white-shirted backs of a dozen initiates, a few from my own class, making it impossible for me to see inside. It wasn’t hard to tell Ferius was there though.
‘Back off, you sap-faced little rat, before I clip your whiskers and use them to pick my teeth!’ Her shouts were slightly slurred. I don’t think I’d ever heard someone that drunk.
I recognised Panahsi’s tubby frame nearby and yanked him around. ‘What’s going on in there?’
When he recognised me he ushered me back further from the square. ‘Kellen! What are you doing here?’
‘Looking for Ferius Parfax,’ I said, shaking off his arm. ‘Now tell me what’s going on.’
‘Go home, Kellen. You shouldn’t be here.’
I was about to press him further when a couple of older initiates, maybe seventeen or eighteen years old, looked back and took notice of us. ‘Hey, fatty, you’re supposed to keep lookout.’
‘It’s all right,’ Panahsi called to them. He turned to me and spoke in hushed tones. ‘Go home, Kellen. You don’t want Tennat and his brothers seeing you right now.’
I grabbed him by the shirt, which would have been a mistake if Panahsi’s inclination for violence was even remotely in proportion to his potential to deliver it. ‘She saved my life, Panahsi.’
Panahsi’s eyes went straight to the ground. ‘It’s … Don’t worry. They’re not going to hurt her. Not really.’
‘You’re lying, Panahsi. Or you’re stupid.’ I shoved him out of the way and ran towards the entrance. The other initiates had their backs to me, their attention focused on the action inside the square. I spotted a small gap between two of them and made for it, pushing through them before anyone noticed me.
‘Hey!’ one of them shouted, making a failed grab for my arm.
I glanced back, expecting to see the initiates coming for me, but none of them, not even Panahsi, crossed the line into the square. They must have been ordered to stay outside.
‘Kellen, wait!’ Panahsi shouted to me. ‘You don’t know what you’re doing. She’s a spy!’
I ignored him and ran the hundred yards to the other end of the square where three figures were standing in front of Ferius. She caught sight of me and called out. ‘Hey, kid. You probably shouldn’t be running around like that, what with nearly dying and all.’
The three in front of her turned. I recognised Tennat first. His face shone with excitement mixed with a kind of hunger that made my stomach turn. Next to him stood Ra’fan, his brother, wearing the grey-and-blue silk shirt and loose linen trousers that are the ceremonial garb of chaincasters.
Ra’dir was on the other side of him, bigger and taller than his brothers; he wore the blood-red shirt and black trousers of a war mage.
Why are they all wearing their ceremonial garb? That was when I noticed the four braziers set around the square, each one burning with a different-colour fire. ‘You’re holding a trial?’
‘She’s a spy,’ Tennat replied, his smile as ugly as anything I’d ever seen. ‘My father says so.’
‘Your father’s an idiot,’ Ferius said. ‘No offence.’
‘Shut your mouth, Daroman!’ Ra’fan shouted.
I’d expected him to be deep in concentration, holding Ferius in a binding spell, but there was no way he could maintain focus while shouting like that. Why are you just standing there, Ferius? Why aren’t you making a break for it?
I looked down at the ground where she stood and found the answer. A rough circle had been scratched into the gravel and dirt, barely visible to the eye, but I was sure there was a thin line of copper wire buried just underneath. Ra’fan was the chaincaster of the group – he must have imbued the wire with a trapping spell while Ferius was inside the guest house and then triggered it the second she walked out the door and into the circle. From outside it would be a simple matter to break the wire, but anyone inside was bound until Ra’fan released the spell.
‘You can’t hold a trial,’ I said, trying my best to channel my father’s voice. ‘None of you has rank to attend court, never mind run one. When the masters find out—’
‘Who’s going to tell them?’ Ra’dir asked, taking a step towards me. He pointed to the initiates guarding the square. ‘Everyone here is a loyal Jan’Tep mage. Everyone here knows we have to protect our people from spies.’ To me he said, ‘Besides, Ra’fan’s found a mind-chain spell that’ll bind her from ever revealing what happened here. She’ll remember all of it, but she’ll never be able to say it or write about it or do anything that would let anyone know. Ra’meth will—’
‘Shut up,’ Ra’fan said. He came over and put a hand on my shoulder as if he’d suddenly decided to be my big brother. ‘Just wait over there with the others, Kellen. Nobody wants to hurt you. You might be Sha’Tep, but you’re still one of our people. It’s our job as Jan’Tep to protect you, don’t you understand?’