kitchen and put a bowl of freshly boiled eggs down on the bar. She had poured cold water over them after boiling, so they would be cool to the touch. ‘Help yourself,’ said Hatu. ‘Free to guests.’
‘Thanks,’ said the second man. Both took four eggs, putting two in each jacket pocket.
The man who had arrived first said, ‘I’ve been asking around and so far no one has seen them.’
‘Big town,’ said Hatu. ‘I run the busiest inn in Beran’s Hill—’
‘Saw that last night,’ said the second man.
‘—and I doubt I see one person in a hundred who passes through. Who are you looking for?’
The men exchanged glances, and in that instant Hatu knew he was about to be lied to. Master Bodai’s lessons on getting information were far more subtle than Master Kugal’s harsh interrogation methods: the trick Hatu had been taught was to know which of the approaches to use at the appropriate time when questioning captives. Bodai had talked about questioning two prisoners and what to look for in comparing stories. Without being aware of it, the two men had just revealed they had concocted a story and each was checking with the other without even being aware that was what they were doing.
The first man said, ‘My cousin is married and they have two children – adults now, about your age I should think – a boy and girl, a year apart.’ He again glanced at his companion. ‘One thing about them both: they have red hair.’
Hatu shrugged.
Hava chimed in as if on cue. ‘This far north there are lots of people with red hair. Lots of the Kes’tun people from the far north come down here all the time; some have settled. Half of them have red hair. I have reddish hair,’ she said, though it was more a dark chestnut.
‘You’d notice,’ said the first man. ‘It’s unusual, bright, almost copper-coloured, and turns gold in the sun.’
‘Haven’t seen anyone like that,’ said Hatu. ‘Sunburned copper we see occasionally, but we spend most of our time inside, so if they didn’t stop in here for a meal or drink, we’d likely have missed them.’
Hava said, ‘You know, I might have … at least I think maybe …’
Both men looked at her intensely. ‘Yes?’ asked the first man.
‘Well, it was only this pair … a man, and he was bald, and dressed like an islander from the east. That’s where we come from. But he had a girl with him and when the sun hit her hair … I only saw because she was adjusting this scarf she wore. I remember it was a very unusual colour.’
The men exchanged glances. ‘Where did you see her?’ asked the second man.
‘Down at the stabling yard … no, wait, not the stabling yard, but the caravanserai. They were looking for a ride to Port Colos, looking for a ship, I think.’ Hava nodded. ‘Yes, now that you mention the hair colour, I remember. If you head down to the caravanserai, you might find out who gave them a ride.’
The two men nodded and the first said, ‘Thanks,’ and they were out of the door.
Hatu gave a wry chuckle. ‘You can be evil, anyone tell you?’
Hava gave a slight shrug. ‘You and Donte, regularly.’
Hatu felt a cold jolt in his stomach. ‘I do miss him.’
‘Me as well,’ agreed Hava. ‘Back to matters at hand. Those two are not very subtle.’
‘I don’t know. They may be playing dumb thinking we or someone else here may betray information.’
‘They were staring right at the man they seek.’
‘But either they don’t know that baby long ago was a boy, or they’re disguising …’ He waved away further speculation. ‘Here’s what I probably shouldn’t be telling you, but that second man, I saw him in Sandura when I travelled there with Bodai. He works for the Church of the One.’
Hava took a deep breath and said, ‘Should or shouldn’t tell me?’ She punched him in the arm. ‘If you knew he was with the Church, then of course he’s attempting to gull us. And his looking for a girl your age may be part of the act.’ She crossed her arms and bit her lower lip, a gesture Hatu had rarely seen, but he knew it meant she was concerned and concentrating. He knew to leave her alone.
Finally Hava uncrossed her arms and said, ‘Yes, you need to travel to Marquenet tomorrow. If Declan is reporting to the baron and Ratigan unloading his wagon, you should have time to send a message’ – she glanced around out of habit – ‘and pick up a few things to make it look as if all you did was shop.’
‘I’ll need a list.’
‘You shall have one,’ she replied.
‘I’ll first go to the Sign of the Gulls, and send that message.’ He shrugged. ‘If I am late returning to Declan and Ratigan, I can easily claim I haggled a lot, got turned around and got lost. It is my first visit; all we did was pass through, the last time.’
‘What about those two?’ She hiked her thumb over her shoulder, indicating the two men who had left shortly before.
‘We wait, and maybe in a couple of hours one of us needs to do a bit of shopping and see if they’ve made an impression on any of the local shopkeepers.’
She gave a nod and said, ‘I’ll go and make a list.’
She went back to the kitchen, where they had a small table for doing ledgers and letter writing, which apparently Leon had rarely used. Hava had replaced the dried-out ink jar and purchased a metal-nib pen to replace a completely worn-out quill.
Hatu cleaned up a bit of imaginary dirt and returned to contemplating the mystery of these men and how they related to what he encountered in Sandura. One thing was clear to Hatu. It could be nothing good. And it was also clear to him that they were looking for him, the Firemane baby.
A sudden chill spread through the pit of his stomach as he reminded himself that most of his life he had been ignorant of his true identity. The anger in his childhood, the odd feelings that night in the Narrows when he’d sensed something of his unusual nature. That led him to reflect on the past, and he remembered Donte.
His memories of Donte showed no sign of departing. There were funny memories, like trying to steal sausages with a tree branch, and reassuring ones, like the many times when they were very young that Donte had chased off the bullies. But there were also the images of Donte hanging by chains in that crimson grotto. He desperately tried not to think of those, but he could not push them away. He took a deep breath, calming himself as he accepted that Donte’s loss would always haunt him. The best he could do was accept that and keep living.
EARLY THE FOLLOWING MORNING, HATU found himself leaving Beran’s Hill, with Declan driving the team of horses. When asked about this, Declan’s answer had been, ‘I can drive a team and Ratigan is short of drivers.’
Hatu was amused. ‘So he’s not hauling your and my freight, he’s renting you a wagon?’
That realization put Declan in a darker mood, for not only was Ratigan getting paid to deliver a load of weapons to the
