“Recent arrivals from Kamori talk of nothing except her,” said the bodyguard. “She felled four or five Powered soldiers by herself. That’s how the prince managed to secure the generator before even the Liberators arrived. As long as I have served in the legions, it is unheard of in my time.”
“She has even destroyed a few chariots on her own, since we left.”
“The Scorpios class of the Twenty-Fifth?”
Her voice was almost a shout. Cain thought of Arienne; it had been wise to tell her to go back to Arland. Nobody was going to worry about a single runaway sorcerer while Loran was going on a rampage.
“Does it seem like anyone has caught word of our plans?” asked Gladdis.
“Not at all, my lady.”
“Septima and her minions?”
“Not that we can tell.”
“I see. And that… that…” Gladdis hesitated. “… Fienna, she… well…”
“I made sure the whole matter has been taken care of. No one suspects.”
Cain forgot to breathe. He was so quiet he could hear them gulping their wine.
“Were there many mourners at the funeral?”
“I heard fifty Arlanders at least, my lady.”
“I see. She would have been an excellent addition to our efforts. It is truly regrettable. But all of our lives are but brief flecks of snow before the fire of the cause. Do not berate yourself too much.”
Cain wanted to bash the door down. He gripped the dagger tighter in his hand. The copper wires wrapped around the hilt bit into his palm.
“There is a man going around asking questions about her. But we caught up with him and shook him up a little—”
“Who is this?”
“A young man from Arland… I believe his name was Quine or some such? A friend of the late Fienna.”
“Will he prove to be a problem, do you think?”
“If he hasn’t by now, I do not think he will. The great deed is close at hand, anyway.”
They paused once more. Taking his ear off the door, Cain lookedaround. There was still no one in the hallway. Just the occasional sound of the wind rattling the windows.
The ex-legionary would leave the room soon, and there was no place for him to hide. The only way was to ambush her with the dagger when she left the room, jump through the door, and get ahold of Gladdis. Or what if the bodyguard did not come out? Then he had to enter when at least one of them was asleep. He had to get Gladdis before the sun rose. It was too late to turn back now.
The sound of a chair being pushed back. At the same time, the sound of a metallic goblet upending on a table before rolling off to the floor.
Something was off. Until now, he hadn’t heard the cups touching the table. Which meant they were both holding them in their hands. Then whose was it that had just rolled off?
Slipping his spectacles into his pocket, he peered through the keyhole. His naked sight was blurry, but Cain made out the two women holding their goblets, and an empty one rolling around on the floor. There were only two of them in the room, but there had originally been a third.
“Oh! I didn’t see that there.”
“I shall pick it up, my lady. It’s a good thing his cup was empty.”
“What is taking that man so long?”
“Perhaps he is checking the whole building.”
It was then that Cain realized someone had been watching him from behind this whole time. He rolled forward, wasting no time to look at the silent watcher in the dark, deftly transferring his dagger from his left hand to his right, but in that moment, as if predicting his movement, something sharp stabbed his left thigh. The fiery pain was the only thing that registered in the pitch-blackness.
