Once or twice things had gotten ugly between the Merchants Guild and the Elani Streeters, and blood had been shed across more than just this part of town. This was practical history, to Kaylin, so she remembered it better than the codicils on top of codicils that kept the Merchants Guild at bay.
They hadthe Guildeven tried to set up trade sanctions against this small part of town, and while everyone in theory agreed with it, in practice, theyd come anyway, because there wasnt any actual evidence that theyd been here. You didnt exactly bear a brand saying Fortunes Have Been Read Across My Palm, Look Here when you left. The sale of love potions may have dropped a tad during that embargo, however.
No, the rents werent high here, but the take was high enough that the vendors could usually fend off the more powerful guild with effective political sleight of hand. Or so Teela said; if she admired it, it had to be underhanded.
She was, after all, Barrani.
Severns expression was so carefully neutral, Kaylin laughed. He raised a brow.
You dont like Elani Street?
Not much, no. You?
She shrugged. Its a street.
He stopped in front of a placard that was leaning haphazardly against a grimy window. Love potions? he said. The sneer was entirely in his tone. Meet your perfect mate? Find out what your future holds?
As shed said more or less the same thingwell, more and more heatedshe shrugged again. Its a living.
So is theft.
Yeah, but people come here to empty their pockets. Theres no knife at their throat.
Dreams are their own knife, Kaylin. Dreams, what-ifs, desires. We all have to have hope.
This isnt hope, she replied quietly. Its just another way of lying to yourself.
Almost everything is, in the end. He glanced at the board again, and then continued to walk down the street. He walked slowly enough that she could catch up to him; on patrol he usually did. But there was distance in his expression, some thought she couldnt readnot that hed ever been transparent.
Still, the street itself was quiet; the Festival season had passed over and around it, and the merchants who had, enterprising hucksters all, taken stalls near the Ablayne had returned home to the nest to find it, as it so often was after festival celebrationsand the cost of thoseempty.
Evanton was not above taking a stallor so he saidbut his age prevented him from doing so so close to water. It made his bones ache. Kaylin expected that it was his jaw that ached, because he had some idea of what customer service was supposed to be, and fixing a smile across lines that were worn in perpetual frown taxed his strength.
Still, she smiled when she saw his store. Touching the hilts of her daggers for both luck and memory, she walked up the three flat steps that led to his door, and frowned slightly.
Is it late?
You just had breakfast. You answer. But Severns frown echoed hers; the curtains were drawn. In the doors window and also, across the shops wider front. Gold leaf had flecked in places, and glass was scratched atop those letterssome thief attempting to remove what was on the other side had no doubt had too much to drink that night.
She knocked. Waited a minute, counting slowly, before she knocked again; Evanton never moved quickly, and his temper soured greatly if the visitor was too stupid to realize this.
But before she could be really annoying, the curtains flipped back, and she saw a wizened face peering through glass. He didnt look much older than he had the first time shed met himbut then again, she doubted that was possible. The curtains fell back into place, black drape that was almost gray with sun. No stars on it, no moons, no fancyand fakearcane symbols.
The door opened slowly; she heard keys twisting a rusty lock, followed by creaking hinges.
You really should get some help around here, she muttered.
Good help, he said coolly, is hard to find in this city.
Youve tried?
He grimaced. Dont force me to be rude, girl. Youre wearing the Hawk.
She smiled. It wasnt the forced smile of an officer of the law, either; she had walked back into his dusty parlor, with its long counter, its rows of shelvesa city, no doubt, for spidersits odd books stacked here and there like so much garbage so many times she couldnt feel uncomfortable here. If it was an odd place, it felt like someones home, and she was welcome in it.
I dont believe weve met, Evanton added pointedly, looking up at Severn. As Evanton, bent, was about Kaylins height, he had to look up.
No, sir, Severn said, in a much politerand coolervoice. But I am aware of your establishment.
Fame gets me every time, the old man replied. Who are you?
Hes Severn, Kaylin answered quickly. Corporal Handred is alsoas you can seea Hawk.
Aye, I can see that, Evanton said. I would have called him a Wolf, if youd asked me.
Severn raised a brow. It went half as high as Kaylins. He was a Wolf she began, but stopped as Severn stepped neatly, and heavily, on her foot. What do you know about the Wolves?
Meaning what dealings have I had with them?
Meaning that.
Evanton snorted. You havent spent enough time with those Barrani, girl.
What?
Thats no way to get an answer.
I could threaten to break your arms if you want.
He laughed his dry, low chuckle. Aye, but theyre more subtle than that. Im of use to them. Its important in this business to be of use to people.
Severn said, quietly, Were here on official business.
Dressed like that, youd have to be. Although the uniform suits you.
You sent a message to the Hawks.
Evanton shrugged. I? I sent no message to the Hawks. I believe a message was sent, on the other hand. I know my own business, he said at last, and I know Hawk business when I see it. I prefer to keep them entirely separate, you understand, but we cant always get what we want. Youll want to follow me, he added.
Kaylin was already behind him, because she always was in his store; he could bite your head off for going anywhere without him, and usually at length.
He led them behind his tall, sturdy counter. Its sides were made of solid wood that had the patina of time and disregard, not craft. It was impossible to see most of the wood, it was covered by so many things. Papers, bits of cloth, needles, threadshe had never asked why he wanted those because his answers could be mocking and gruesome. It looked more as if it belonged in a bar than a store, but then again, most of the things in the store looked as if they belonged somewhere else; the only things they had in common were dust and cobwebs, and the occasional glint of something that might be gold, or steel, or captive lighta hint of magic.
Wedged between two hulking shelves that looked suspiciously unstable was a very narrow door. Evanton took out a key ring that Kaylin could have put her whole arm through without trying very hard, chose one of three keys that dangled forlornly from its thin, tarnished metal, and unlocked the door. Like everything else in the store, it creaked.
He opened it slowlyhe opened everything that wayand after a moment, nodded to himself and motioned for them to follow. Kaylin started forward, and Severn, with long years of practice, managed to slide between her and Evanton so smoothly she didnt even step on the back of his feet. And not for lack of trying.
They entered a hall that was, like everything else in the building, narrow; they could walk single file, and if anyone had tried to pull a sword here, it would have lodged in the wall or the roof if they actually had to use it. Given Evanton, this was possibly deliberate. It was hard to say where the old man was concerned.
But at the end of the hall was another door, and judging by the jangle of keys, it, too, was locked. Here, he said quietly, is the heart of my store. Let me tell you again. Touch nothing. Look at nothing for too long unless I instruct you otherwise. Take nothing.
Kaylin bridled slightly, but Severn merely nodded. How difficult will that be, old man?
Maybe you are a Hawk after all, Evanton replied, eyeing Severn with barely veiled curiosity. And the answer to that question is, I dont know. I have no trouble. He paused and added, But that was not always the case. And I did not have myself as a guide, when I first came here.
Who did you have? Kaylin asked, tilting her head to one side.
He raised a white brow.
Sorry, Evanton.
Good girl. Oh, and Kaylin? I continue to allow you to visit here because of the great respect I have always felt for the Officers of the Halls of Law.
But I havent She stopped moving for a moment, and then brought her free hand up to her cheek to touch the skin across which lay a tattoo of a simple herb: Nightshade, by name. Deadly Nightshade, she thought to herself.
If it had only been a tattoo, it would never cause her trouble. It felt like skin to her, and the Hawks had become so used to it, she could almost forget it existed.
But this mark wasof coursemagical, and it had been placed on her cheek by Lord Nightshade, a Barrani Lord who was outcaste to his people, and oh, wanted by every division in the Halls of Law for criminal activities beyond the river that divided the city itself.
Lord Nightshade had marked her, and the mark meant something to the Barrani. It meant something to the Dragons. To the other mortal races, it was generally less offensive than most tattoos. But clearly, it meant something to Evanton, purveyor of junk and the odd useful magic. He understood that it linked her, in ways that not even Kaylin fully understood, to Lord Nightshade himself.
But if Evantons eyes were narrowed, they were not suspicious. Here, he told her quietly, there is some safety from the mark you bear. He will not find you, if he is looking. He pushed the door open so slowly, Kaylin could have sworn she could feel the hours pass. Is he?
Is he what?
Looking.
She shrugged, uneasy. He knows where to find me, she said at last.
Not, perhaps, a good thing, in your case. But enough. You are clearly yourself.
You can tell that how?
You could not have crossed my threshold if you were under his thrall.
She nodded. Believing him. Wanting to know why she couldnt have.
Severn spoke instead. You sent a message to the Halls?
Ah. No, actually, I didnt. If you check your Records carefully, you will not find a single
Severn lifted his hand. Where did you send the message?
Ah. That would be telling. And probably telling too much, the old man replied. But people in power have an odd sense of whats important. I imagine one of them took the time to read my elegant missive.
You expected this visit.
Of course. Forgive the lack of hospitality, but I dont drink, and I cant stand tea.
And he held the door slightly ajar, motioning them in. Watching them both more carefully than he had ever watched Kaylin before. She wasnt certain how she knew this, because he looked the sameeyes and skin crinkled in lines around his lips, the narrow width of his face. He wasnt smiling, but he almost never did.
She meant to say something, but the words escaped her because from the width of the hall and the door she had expected the room to be tiny. And it was the sizeand the heightof the Aerie in the Halls, where the winged Aerians who served the Hawklord could reach for, and almost touch, the sky.
Sunlight streamed down from above, as if through colored glass; the air moved Kaylins hair across her cheeks, suggesting breeze and open space. As a fiefling, she had had no great love of open spaces, but daylight had always suggested safety. There was a hint of that safety here, and it surprised hermagic almost always made her skin crawl.
The wooden plank flooring, often covered with carpets that made the floors look both older and more rickety, rather than less, had given way entirely to grass. Blue-green grass, thick and short, that was so perfect she was almost afraid to take a step on it without removing her boots. She couldnt see the far wallsshe imagined this was because they were painted the color of skybut she could see treestall treesand the hint of water ahead, and to her left, the large curve of boulders seen between slender trunks.
A garden.
A magical garden.
Yes, Evanton said, as the door clicked shut at her back. She turned slowly to face him and saw that he had changed. His clothing was different, for one, and he seemed to stand slightly taller; the stoop in his shoulders, the bend, the perpetual droop of his neck, had disappeared. He was not young, would never be young, but age had majesty here that it had never had before.
Yes?
It is a magic, of a type, Kaylin Neya. If you stand here for long enough, and you listen carefully, you might hear the sound of your name on the wind. He paused, and then tendered her something shocking: A perfect, formal bow. Lord Kaylin, he said quietly, of the High Court.
Dont you start, too, she began, but he waved her to silence.
In this place, names have import, and there are rumors, girl.
Never bet on a rumor.
His expression shifted and twisted, and for a moment she could see the man she had first met in this changed one. Why not? You do. He lifted an arm; blue cloth clung to it in a drape that reminded her of Barrani High Court clothing. It was not so fine in line, and it hung a little long, and perhaps a little heavily, on his scrawny framebut it suggested gravity. Experience.
Maybe even nobility, and no one sent Kaylin to talk to the nobles. Or the people whofar worsewanted to be nobles and hadnt quite made it yet, in their own minds.
I bet small change, she began. Severn snorted.
Small change, Severn told Evanton, unphased by the change in the man, is all Kaylin ever has.
So you bet everything you have, time and again? You really should choose different companions, girl. But, he added, staring at Severn again, I dont disapprove of this one.
You didnt disapprove of Teela or Tain, that I recall.
It hardly matters, where the Barrani are concerned. And Teela is a slightly unusual case. I have known her for some time, he added, almost gently. She was the first customer I had in this store, when I finally opened it.