As Grunwol sank into oblivion, Brianda woke with a pillow pressing down on her face. She did not think, couldn’t draw the breath she needed, so she struck out.

  Her fist struck nothing, but she registered a weight on her chest. It shifted, rocking forward to apply more pressure to the pillow. Brianda tried to breathe, and choked on feathers, dust and cloth. Her hands sought the pillow’s edge, and curled around it, before she tried to push it off her face.

  Her sudden upward push caught her attacker by surprise, but they recovered quickly, the weight on her chest shifting, then crashing back down. The pillow was pressed more tightly over her head. Gray dots flitted in front of her face, and her lungs screamed for air.

  Panic started to rise, and she slammed a foot against the wall beside the bed pushing herself sideways off the mattress, and taking her attacker with her. He grunted, and tried to force her back, but it was too late. Brianda’s roll took them to the floor, and the pillow came away from her face.

  She caught a glimpse of the man above her, and recognized him as one of the shadows who’d attacked her earlier. This one she’d thrown a dagger at and seen fall.

  What in all the hells? she thought. Since when does the guild attack its own? Is this another test?

  It has to be, she decided, as she kicked free of her attacker and rolled to her feet. Pivoting she watched him untangle himself from the pillow and blanket that had followed them to the floor, taking note of the room around them as she did so.

  It was little more than a sleeping cell containing three beds, one on each of three walls, with lockers on either side of the door that centered the fourth. One of the remaining beds was occupied, the figure on it awake, but not moving to interfere. A bronze medallion hung free of his shirt, identifying him as a member of the guild.

  Her opponent rolled free of the blanket and pushed the pillow away…and still the man on the bed didn’t move. He just watched, his face interested but not enough to interfere.

  So much for loyalty amongst thieves, Brianda thought, deciding to take the fight to her opponent before he could regain his feet. Her fist caught him on the side of the head and her knee slammed into his chest, knocking him onto his back.

  Brianda followed him down, landing hard on his chest and knocking the wind from his lungs. He tried to roll to the top, but she punched him again. Instead of trying to roll free a second time, he tried a different approach, jack-knifing his legs over her head and crossing his ankles under her chin to pull her back.

  Trying to keep her pinned, he slid sideways, only to have her slam a booted foot into the side of his head, and roll to the side. She’d intended to get some distance, but as she came to her feet, she came face to face with a solidly built man wearing simple leather armor over a plain gray tunic.

  He looked her up and down, glancing past her as her opponent scrambled from the floor. Brianda heard the sound and half turned, preparing to defend herself.

  “I think you’ve done enough.” The authority in the newcomer’s tone was enough for Brianda and her opponent to still. Seeing he had their attention, the newcomer turned his attention to Brianda’s attacker. “Well, Mika, I take it she meets with your approval?”

  The man on the bunk choked back a laugh, earning himself a quick disapproving stare.

  “Mika?” the newcomer asked, his tone demanding his answer.

  Her opponent gave a reluctant nod. “Yes, Druurnal.”

  His expression said otherwise, but the guildsman nodded, becoming businesslike. His gaze swept the three of them.

  “I need the three of you to…”

  There was a flurry of movement behind Brianda, and she stepped quickly to the side, dropping her hand to catch the wrist of the man who’d watched the fight. At the same time, she slammed her foot into his instep, twisted his hand and shook the dagger in it to the floor.

  Druurnal gave an impatient sigh.

  “Now that that’s out of your systems,” he declared in a tone that said it had better be. “Aral…”

  “She’ll do,” the man admitted, and Brianda let him go.

  As he moved to stand beside her, Druurnal glanced toward the door.

  “Ghost, you can come in, now.”

  Brianda didn’t know what she’d expected, but the small-framed, poorly dressed waif that entered the cell wasn’t it.

  A street urchin? Now what…

  “Ghost will guide you to the client,” Druurnal continued. “She knows the fastest route…and will take you past the Watch and Kingsmen on the way.”

  “Kingsmen?” Aral turned pale. “They’re out?”

  “They’re out,” Druurnal confirmed, “and I don’t want to lose this commission. Do as she says.”

  “But…she’s a child!”

  “And one of my best scouts,” Druurnal retorted. “You will do as she says, understood?”

  “Yes, Master Dru,” Aral acknowledged, and Mika echoed him.

  Neither looked happy about it.

  Druurnal handed Brianda a bronze disc.

  “Don’t lose it,” he instructed. “It’ll get you out of trouble when you most need it.”

  Somehow Brianda doubted it, but she slid the disc into her coin pouch just the same.

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  Druurnal cast an eye over each of them, then nodded.

  “You’ll do,” he decided, and left, moving with the grace of a dancer and the silence of a mouse.

  Brianda looked at the girl. The child met her gaze, her gray eyes curious and assessing, then she looked over the other two and nodded.

  “Come,” she ordered, pivoting to take them into the corridor after Druurnal.

  At first she seemed to be following the guildsman, but then she took a side corridor and led them back to a familiar, open space. Brianda recognized the giant of a man occupying it as soon as he turned his silvered head toward them.

  She remembered him throwing her across the room…and with good reason. He made the Northman look small in comparison.

  “Master Agar,” Ghost greeted the guildsman. “Master Druurnal sent me.”

  The giant nodded, leaning down to unbolt the trapdoor and lift it from the floor. He laid a hand on the child’s shoulder as she went to descend.

  “He says you are to return by the night hatch as soon as you are done,” he told her.

  She gave him a brisk nod by way of reply, and dropped lightly down the ladder and into the dark. Brianda, Mika and Aral followed in silence. Aral pulled a small lantern from inside the folds of his cloak, but Ghost’s small hand settled over his before he could light it.

  “I have these,” she told him, pulling three masks from her belt. “They will help you see.”

  Brianda pulled hers over her face and discovered the child was telling the truth. As soon as the mask had settled, she found she could see.

  “No speaking,” the girl instructed, and trotted down the tunnel.

  Brianda followed, aware of the two guildsmen trotting along behind her.

  Their trip through the maintenance tunnels and sewers beneath Deverath was swift and brief…and silent. None of them spoke, least of all their tiny guide.

  She used hand gestures to direct them, leading them back to the city proper via a grate hidden between two close-set buildings. Brianda wondered what the client would say to the faint stench that clung to their clothes, and watched as Ghost refused Mika’s help to replace the grate.

  Brianda guessed the girl had an independent streak a mile wide, but kept silent as Ghost led them to the end of the alley. They were about to emerge, when they caught the sound of quiet footsteps moving in unison down the street.

  Pulling back into the shadows, they saw a group of five men walk quickly down the street and up the stairs to the house opposite. Secure in their hiding place, the guildsmen watched as its leader knocked.

  A well-built young woman opened the door, her blonde plait circling her head like a crown.

  “Can I help you?” she asked, her gaze taking in the five men on her doorstep.

  “We wish to speak with the wizardess,” their leader stated.

  The girl opened her mouth to reply, only to be cut short.

  “Immediately,” he snapped. “The matter is quite urgent.”

  “I’ll see if she’s available,” the girl replied, and went to shut the door.

  The leader thrust out a hand, slamming his palm into it and shoving it back as he moved in.

  “Wait!” the girl cried, but they brushed past her, moving into the hallway and out of sight.

  When the last of them had closed the door behind them, Ghost looked back at her three charges.

  “That’s where I’m supposed to take you,” she whispered. “We’ll have to wait.”

  She settled herself against the wall, not taking her eyes off their destination. Brianda, Mika and Aral followed her example. They’d barely made themselves comfortable, when the deliberate scuff of footsteps sounded briefly in the alley behind them.

  Mika and Aral pivoted, drawing their daggers, and Brianda followed suit.

  “Well met,” the shadow replied, a match flaring briefly to light her face.

  Mika and Aral hastily sheathed their weapons.

  “Lady Dart,” Mika murmured, glancing back and closing his hand over Brianda’s.

  Pushing her blade down, he added, “She’s a…a friend.”

  Brianda blinked.

  I just bet she is, she thought, sheathing her dagger, but not taking her eyes from the dark-clad shadow behind them.

  “Ghost,” the woman drew their guide’s attention, her voice commanding despite its softness. “Change of orders. You are to stay with me.”

  She pivoted.

  “Follow.”

  Instead of returning to the front door, Dart led the four of them along the narrow passage between buildings, stopping at a door hidden by shadows. Saying nothing, she led them through, motioning for them to go past until she’d secured the portal behind them.

  A short journey through another narrow corridor and then out a rear door into a kitchen garden took them to a night-cart alley. Dart checked to see the street was clear, then took them through several more until they reached a set of stairs leading to an upper floor.

  Silently, they led them, moving through an extended attic, until they reached a trapdoor.

  “Quietly, now,” Dart ordered. “Sound travels.”

  She lowered herself through the trapdoor, then turned to assist Ghost, ignoring the girl’s scowl.

  Like we didn’t know that, Brianda thought, as she followed the child.

  She dropped onto a desk their guide had just vacated, and hopped lightly to the floor, just as Mika came through behind her. As she turned to survey the room, she saw a second reason they needed silence.

  The Northman was stretched out on a pallet at the foot of one wall.

  “Don’t wake Grunwol,” the shadow woman instructed, and they froze as the Northman stirred.

  He didn’t wake, though, and they breathed soft sighs of relief as he settled into a deeper sleep.

  Dart gestured for them to find a place along another wall.

  “We’ll wait here,” she stated, “and we’ll listen to what’s going on below.”

  Touching a panel on the wall beside her, she laid a finger to her lips and settled beside the small square hole that had appeared at her touch.

  Voices drifted through it, one of them belonging to the man who’d demanded to see the wizardess.

  “You could say it means a life to me,” he was saying.

  “If it’s so important, why not go to the guild?” a woman’s voice answered.

  Brianda didn’t recognize it, but she guessed it belonged to the wizardess they’d been meant to see.

  “The guild would compromise me,” he snapped, scowling. “Do you want the assignment or not?”

  “I’ll take it,” the woman replied. “I’ll make the retrieval and return it…”

  She paused, clearly inviting him to finish the sentence.

  “To the Foxhound Inn, tomorrow even at sunset,” he finished smoothly.”

  “Agreed,” the woman replied. “If you’d continue.”

  There was a snap, like someone had clicked their fingers, then silence followed.

  Brianda strained to hear any sound that might give her a clue as to what was happening below, but none came. Finally, her visitor spoke.

  “Show the lady what it is I want her to fetch,” he ordered.

  Cloth rustled and a soft clunk followed, and Brianda held her breath.

  “Look into the mirror,” the male voice instructed.

  More cloth rustled, and he added, “Keep watching.”

  “Very well,” the woman replied, after a brief pause, “but, for this, I will require half the payment up front.”

  “Of course,” her guest replied smoothly, and another snap of fingers followed.

  “The down-payment,” he ordered.

  Footsteps answered and coins jangled.

  “Two hundred and fifty gold,” he told her, and the coins jangled again.

  They rattled onto a wooden surface, and then were slid. Brianda recognized the sound of them being stacked as they were counted.

  “And?” the man asked a short moment later.

  The coins jangled, and it sounded like they were being pushed back into their bag.

  “I need one thing more,” the woman told him.

  “Yes?”

  “Permission to hire what help I need, and your name.”

  “That’s two things,” her guest pointed out, but it sounded like he was smiling, “but I’ll grant them. I am known as the Tillerman, a fact you are forbidden to share…and you can hire whomever you please as long as you—and they—are discreet.”

  “You know my reputation,” the woman replied shortly.

  “Indeed,” the Tillerman replied, as a chair scraped back, “and that is why I’m here and nowhere else.”

  Footsteps sounded on the floor below, and the Tillerman spoke again.

  “Until tomorrow,” he stated, “at the Foxhound Inn.”

  “Until tomorrow,” the woman agreed.

  As the sound of footsteps receded, Dart touched the panel beside her and it slid closed, cutting off all sound from below.

  “She’ll be here, shortly,” she told them, and they waited quietly, until the study door slid open.

  The Northman slept through it all.