The Ambassador's Mission

She rolled her eyes again. “Lie down and go to sleep, Lorkin.”

He looked down at the mud, then up at her in disbelief.

“I was only joking, when I said it made a soft bed.”

She sighed and waved a hand at him.

“Stand back.”

He obeyed, sitting back on his former perch and, guessing what she planned to do, lifting his feet and soggy shoes out of the mud. Soon the air above the sludge began to mist. For a while they were bathed in hot steam, then the air cleared and he saw that only cracked, dried earth remained. Tyvara stepped off the disc of magic under her feet onto the hardened ground. She tapped her foot.

“Get some sleep while you can,” she said. “I’ll wake you in a few hours, then you can watch. I don’t think our host will return any time soon, but he clearly likes taking rides around his estate. We had better keep an eye out for him.”

Sighing, Lorkin lay down on the hard ground, and tried to do as she suggested.

A gentle autumn rain began to patter down on the garden at Sunny House, but the small stone shelter Cery and Skellin were sitting within kept them dry. Gol stood nearby, blinking rain out of his eyes as he watched Skellin’s bodyguard standing on the opposite side of the shelter. They were alone, the locals keeping indoors in the drab weather and the owner of the land mumbling to himself in another corner of the garden.

As Cery finished his brief description of what he and Gol had seen from the roof of the pawnshop, Skellin looked thoughtful.

“A woman, eh? Did you get a good look at her?”

Cery shrugged. “It was dark and we were watching from above, but I reckon I could pick her again. She’s got dark skin and hair. About this tall …” Cery held out a hand to indicate.

“Now that you know she has magic, how do you plan to catch her?”

“Oh, I only have to find her.” Cery shrugged. “It’s up to the Guild to capture rogue magicians. Which is just as well, because if she is the Thief Hunter neither you nor I have a hope of stopping her.”

Skellin’s eyes flashed with interest. “You’re working for the Guild!”

“Helping the Guild. If I was working for them I’d expect to be paid.”

“You’re not being paid?” Skellin shook his head and his expression became serious. “I suppose there are other benefits. When I heard about your family I figured you’d be looking for revenge. Your search for the murderer turned into a search for the Thief Hunter and now your search for the Thief Hunter has turned into a search for a rogue magician.”

“It’s been a wild few weeks,” Cery replied.

“I hope you’ll forgive me pointing out you’ve got a little off track.”

Cery nodded. “It still may turn out that the three are the same person. I guess we’ll find out once we’ve caught her.”

“If you can get the truth out of her.”

Cery opened his mouth to remind Skellin that black magicians were able to read the minds of unwilling subjects, then thought better of it. No point giving away that nugget of information until he had to. “Are you interested in helping us find her?”

The other Thief pursed his lips as he considered, then he nodded. “Of course I am. If she turns out to be a rogue magician at least I’ll have had the chance to make a few friends in the Guild. If she turns out to be the Thief Hunter it will be a boon to us all.” He rubbed his hands together. “So tell me: where did you last see her?”

“We saw a woman coming out of the pawn-dealer’s shop that looked like her, so I sent Gol after her.” As Cery described the basement the woman had used, and the underground tunnel leading away from it, Skellin frowned.

“I didn’t know there were passages there,” he said. “The rebuilding was supposed to have destroyed them. But I guess if you have magic it would be easy and fast to build yourself a new one.”

“I’m a little behind on the borders. Whose territory is it currently part of?”

Skellin grimaced. “Mine, actually.” He met Cery’s surprised gaze, then smiled crookedly. “Do you know what’s going on in every corner of yours at all times?”

Cery shook his head. “Probably not. I don’t have many areas where so much rebuilding has gone on, either. One of the other shopkeepers said she’d been seen in the nearby market, buying herbs.”

“I’ll check it out,” Skellin told him. “And see if any of my contacts have heard of a woman like you describe lurking around. Sounds like she’d be the sort to stick to herself. Which, of course, always makes a person stand out. If I hear anything I’ll let you know. We can set a trap for her and send for your Guild friends.”

Cery nodded. “And I’ll let you know if I track her down.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” Skellin said, smiling. “I don’t want to miss out on my chance to meet a few Guild magicians.” His eyebrows rose. “One of them wouldn’t happen to be your famous childhood friend, would it?”

“It might be. But if you want to meet Sonea, you only have to visit one of the hospices.”

“Then I’d have to pretend to be sick.” Skellin shrugged. “And I don’t think she’d like me taking the place of someone who needed her help.”