He did hold an arm out for Wellion then, who took it and accompanied him downstairs. It was quite awkward navigating the flight of stairs side by side—Yarim might be shorter and slimmer than the average man, but he was still larger than the petite woman Wellion was pretending to be—but they managed, and followed Riann and Tariel into a well-appointed dining room with a long, mahogany table, just off the pub area. Place settings had been prepared for five people, and when they sat down, servants brought in bowls of light, savory soup tostart.
“So,” Calrain said after the servants had left the room, “how long do you plan to stay with us,Wellion?”
Wellion shrugged. “Not sure,” he admitted. “I thought that I would merely accompany you to the capital, but I’m not certain it would be safe. There is always the chance that Lord M could recognize me and turn me in. He needs someone to blame now that his criminal empire hasfallen.”
“Lord M?” Yarim asked. “Who isthat?”
“He is the nobleman my father has been in silent partnership with for years,” Wellion explained. “He helped keep the authorities away from us, and in exchange, we helped him weaken or get rid of his enemies. It was a profitable partnership on bothends.”
Yarim scowled. “Is that why you held Lord Raffis captive in your dungeons?” he asked. “Because this Lord M wanted to be rid ofhim?”
“Indeed,” Wellion confirmed. “Lord Raffis was probably a close friend and ally of his at some point, since he knew exactly where to find him and how many men we had to deal with. He was at his country estate, which made it much easier to take him than if he had been at his home in thecapital.”
“If this Lord M is still around, he will not be safe when he returns to Salanis,” Tariel mused, sounding worried. “We must warn Lord Raffis as soon as possible, before Lord M finishes what hestarted.”
“Normally I would advise against that,” Wellion said, “except that if he is killed, we will not be able to collect thatreward.”
“True,” Riann agreed. “And I don’t feel right about leaving a man to die when we could do something to preventit.”
“How do we know that this Lord Raffis deserves to be saved?” Yarim argued. “If he and Lord M were friends, he could have been involved in his nefarious dealings. We do not truly need that reward money—I still have plenty of gold, and I imagine that Wellion here managed to abscond with a good portion of his bandit gold before he left.” He raised an eyebrow at Wellion. “Am Iwrong?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Tariel said before Wellion could answer. “Lord Raffis seems like a good man, and he agreed to take in Natha when he was under no obligation to do so. I will not abandon him simply because hemighthave been involved with Lord M’s criminalactivities.”
“If he was involved,” Wellion said, “I knew nothing of it. We only ever dealt with LordM.”
“Is Lord M the only name you know him by?” Yarim demanded. “Surely if he is such an influential figure at court, he is easilyidentifiable.”
“My father knew his true identity,” Wellion admitted, “but he never shared it with us, and I know little about the players in Salanis’s court. Political intrigue has never been a part of mybusiness.”
“No,” Yarim said, curling his lip. “You merely do the dirtywork.”
“Give it a rest, Yarim,” Calrain said, to Wellion’s great surprise. Calrain actually looked annoyed. “It sounds like Wellion is going to be accompanying us to the Empire. We might as well make an effort to getalong.”
“It won’t be long until we reach the Empire,” Zolotais said, popping up behind Tariel’s shoulder. Wellion blinked—he hadn’t realized Tariel had brought the abacus, but she must have. “We will be in the capital in a matter of days, and should reach the Empire within a week. The three of you”—she pointed at Calrain, Riann, and Wellion—“need to start learning Maroyan, and Tariel, you need to brush up on your lessons. I am more than happy to teach you all thebasics.”
Calrain and Riann groaned simultaneously, but Wellion smiled. “I will take you up on that offer,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to learn anotherlanguage.”
Zolotais beamed. “Excellent,” she said, floating over to him. “Yarim, Maroyan is your native language, so you can teach Calrain andRiann.”
“And I will help,” Tarieldecided.
“Very well,” Yarim relented. “We will start tomorrow, when we are on theroad.”
The servants came in to clear their bowls away, and Zolotais quickly disappeared. As Wellion dug into his meal of roasted potatoes, he became somewhat optimistic about the future. He had no idea what lay in store for him once he got to the Empire, but it damn well had to be better than staying here and waiting around for someone to beheadhim.
