asked Erik.
‘To say good-bye for a while.’
Erik saw that Sho Pi, his onetime comrade-in-arms and now Nakor’s student, was standing silently by the doorway of the barn. ‘Where are you going?’ asked Erik.
‘Down to Stardock again. The King has asked me to return there while Lord Arutha returns to work for his father.’ Then his expression turned serious. ‘Something’s going on. Prince Erland sailed into port tonight aboard a Keshian cutter.’
Erik said, ‘Nothing we can talk about.’
Nakor nodded. ‘I think I know what you mean.’
Erik said, ‘Well, have a safe journey and let me know when you return to the city.’
Nakor nodded. ‘We’ll be back.’ He motioned for Sho Pi to follow as he left the barn, and Erik watched them vanish into the night.
‘That is the strangest little man,’ said Kitty.
‘You are far from the first to observe that,’ said Erik. ‘Still, he’s a good man and worth six when you’re out on the trail. The things he knows are astonishing. He claims there’s no magic, but if there’s anyone who’s a better magician out there, I’ve not met him.’
Kitty came and leaned in to Erik and he slipped his arm around her waist. ‘What did he mean, “Something’s going on”?’
Erik turned and kissed her. ‘You catch spies, and you want me to talk about secrets?’
She nodded, resting her cheek against his chest. ‘I sometimes think I know what is going on, Erik, as I piece together bits of things heard here and there. Other times I’m not sure even what I’m doing here. Since Bobby died I often think I’m in one of those places the priests talk about, one of the lesser hells. I can’t leave the inn unless I’ve a pair of guards with me. The Mockers have put the death mark on me, but they’re the only family I’ve known.’
Erik couldn’t think of anything to say. He hugged her. ‘If I get some time off soon, I’ll take you somewhere, someplace different, away from the city.’
She clung to him a minute, then said, ‘I have to get back.’
He walked toward the rear door of the inn and removed his arm from around her waist when they got there. Saying nothing, he followed her inside. She silently moved through the kitchen and took her usual station behind the bar.
Jadow Shati and Owen Greylock still sat at the table, but Roo had departed.
‘Where’s Roo?’ Erik asked as he sat.
‘When you didn’t come back, he, Jimmy, and Dash left. Something about an important appointment,’ answered Greylock.
‘Did Nakor find you?’ asked Jadow innocently.
‘Yes,’ answered Erik as he sat.
‘Not at too awkward a moment, I hope,’ said Jadow, his face splitting into a wide grin.
Erik blushed and said, ‘No.’
‘That’s good,’ said Jadow. Then he exploded into a laugh so infectious Greylock and Erik were forced to join in.
Kitty approached with a fresh pitcher of ale. ‘What’s so funny?’ she asked.
Her tone was one of potential injury, and her expression spoke volumes: if she was the butt of some joke told by Erik, some brag of conquest, no repair would ever be possible to the damage done.
Adroitly Greylock said, ‘Nakor,’ and started to laugh again.
‘Oh,’ said Kitty, as if that explained everything. She smiled at Erik and he returned the smile.
After she left, Jadow said, ‘So there is something going on with you two?’
Erik nodded. ‘And it scares the hell out of me.’
Greylock held up his fresh ale, as if in a toast. ‘That’s serious.’
Jadow nodded sagely. ‘Very serious, man. It can only be one thing.’
‘What?’ said Erik, a tone of worry in his voice.
‘Oh, man, he does have it bad,’ said Jadow.
‘That’s the truth,’ answered Greylock.
‘What?’ demanded Erik.
Greylock said, ‘Never been in love before?’
Jadow retorted, ‘He’s too stupid to know if he has.’
Erik sat back and said, ‘I guess not.’ His brow furrowed and he stared into his ale as if he’d find an answer in it. Then suddenly he grinned and looked at the faces of his two friends. ‘I guess not.’
He turned to gaze at Kitty, who was busy cleaning behind the bar, talking quietly with another of the working girls, then turned back to his friends. ‘I’m in love,’ he said as if it were a revelation.
Suddenly Greylock and Jadow couldn’t contain themselves and started laughing again. After the mirth died, Jadow said, ‘Come on, boy. You need another drink.’
Greylock shook his head and sighed. ‘Ah, to be young again.’
Erik just sat silently, wondering at all the odd feelings of delight and uncertainty within. He stole a glance at Kitty and saw her watching him. He smiled at her and she returned it, and he felt joyous inside.
Then while Jadow and Greylock exchanged witty remarks, a dark cloud descended over Erik, as he considered the coming battle. How could he afford the time for anything other than that, he wondered to himself.
Sylvia bit Roo playfully on the neck.
‘Ow,’ he said, half in jest, half in real pain. ‘That was too hard.’
She pouted. ‘I need to punish you. You’ve been gone too long.’
She snuggled down into the crook of his arm as he said, ‘I know. The closer we get –’ He caught himself. He was about to say ‘to the invasion.’
‘Closer to what?’ she asked, very attentively.
He studied her face in the candlelight. He had come to her house late and they had gone straight to bed. Her father was away on business, she said, so he planned on spending the entire night, rather than returning to his town house before dawn, as was his habit when Jacob Esterbrook was at home. Thinking about what he had found about her father’s advantage over Roo’s companies in trade with Great Kesh, he again wondered if he was saying anything that she was repeating to her father. He pushed aside the concern. ‘I mean, as I get closer to this goal I have, controlling all shipping on the Bitter Sea, I seem to have less time for anything else.’
She bit him on the shoulder again, this time hard enough to make him genuinely cry out. ‘Explain that to your wife,’ she said, indicating the teeth marks she’d left. She got out of bed,
