Drez and Jallina chuckled the rest of the trip quietly. I wasn’t sure where they were taking me, but I was happy to seethe in amused silence for a little while.
I took a quick look to my left at Jallina. “How did you know I was going to be in the garden tonight?”
She smiled. “Luck. I’ve been hanging out there for three nights, hoping that you would come out at some point. I know you like the moonlight in the garden.”
“Good guess.” My friends really did know me well.
The carriage eventually pulled to a stop in front of a small, squat building that simply had the word “Ale” painted on the front. It wasn’t exactly seedy looking, but it was closer to that than afairorniceestablishment.
Jallina motioned me off the carriage and hopped down after me. She pulled me into the shadows next to the door.
Drez moved the cart to the holding area next to the building with several other carriages and saddle horses, then hurried back.
Walking in, I could tell it was important no one got a good look at me. I carefully adjusted the hood and hid my face in the shadows a little more.
Jallina spoke with the bartender, low and quiet, and he nodded sharply at one of the curtains toward the back. Jallina walked ahead of us, and Drez took my elbow to guide me back.
The dark was also permeated by a horrible stench behind the curtain. A set of stairs led down into a dimly lit cellar.
The stairs themselves were terrible. They were cracked and chipped, and parts of them were missing. There was no railing once we were below the wall, and I was honestly afraid they were going collapse beneath me.
The single lamp sat on a bench on the right side of the cellar, and Jallina turned us left. It was so dark I couldn’t see much of anything, and resisting the urge to call up a light was getting harder and harder.
Drez stepped ahead of us and pulled a bookcase away from the wall.
The light finally spilled into the cellar and revealed a room beyond the bookshelf. Drez led us into the room, and Jallina pulled it closed once she was in.
The room was below the horses’ rest area next to the bar. It was really quite clever. There were just a few people sitting on benches around the space, and they were all engaged in small conversations.
Drez cleared his throat. “Ladies, gentlemen.”
Their heads all swiveled to the door where we waited, and the conversations died off.
“Thank you all for trusting me about this. I know we’ve been talking about this for weeks now, but there was a complication.”
“Complication?” one of the women.
I pushed my hood back, taking advantage of the dramatic moment. “Someone has been stealing my mail.”
“Oh, you’re really here.” The woman swept off the bench and rushed toward me.
I stepped back and went to reach for the sword I didn’t have.
Crap.
Drez grabbed the woman by the shoulders. “Come on. How many times did I tell you not to do that, Mela? Kimber is a temple master. You have to be careful, or she’ll attack.”
I wanted to laugh. I was as fierce as a kitten. I didn’t let it out though. Let them think what they wanted.
Jallina stepped up next to me. “This is Mistress Kimber Raven of the temple of the Lost God, the youngest of the current temple masters. She is who I’ve been talking about. She is why I didn’t want a lot of people here except those we really trusted.”
A man walked out of the shadows at the back. “And you’re the one who wants us to spy for you.”
“I don’t know that the wordspyis right,” I said. “I don’t wish to be as removed from the everyday life of S’Kir as some of the others are. I would like to know what’s going on out there. The walls can be very high, and after the death of Mistress Danai, I’m afraid they are going to build them even higher.”
He studied me a moment longer and nodded. “I can understand that. It’s a wise move to have people you can trust outside of your circle, Mistress.”
Jallina motioned me to sit on a bench. “So, Ki—I mean, Mistress Kimber asked me to help her set up a network that can funnel her information. I didn’t want to make the network too big. I felt it was important she meet all of you, so she knows who you are if you have to approach her.”
