Flux

frequent this neighborhood. They were all headed in the same direction and, although Miner couldn’t see them once they had passed the low building, he reckoned they must be gathering there, near the stage he and Ennek had seen, because he could hear the rising din of their voices. And then another voice rang out, louder and clearer than the rest; although Miner couldn’t understand the words it was unmistakably the sound of an auctioneer.
    The auction lasted a long time, and from the sound of things, was an entertaining event. Sometimes a pedestrian or two would walk back by the big enclosure, dragging a human being on a leash. The auction didn’t end until nearly sundown, and Miner watched carefully, but Sawarn was never brought his way. He never saw her again.

Chapter Twelve
    h

    W hen Miner had completed his training and become a full-fledged member of the Guard, his usual task had been to patrol the streets with a more experienced partner, keeping an eye open for any signs of wrongdoing. Miner had enjoyed this job. He liked spending his days walking about the polis, seeing what was going on, chatting a bit with the citizens. He thought he looked quite dapper in his uniform, and he enjoyed the admiring looks he gathered from many women—and even a few men.
    But one morning his captain stopped him and eleven other men, and told them they had a special assignment for the day. That had made Miner feel terribly important, and he’d kept his back very straight as they marched out into the fog. They’d gone to a posh section of the polis, a neighborhood where many of the wealthier merchants lived, and the families that owned shipping companies or that had a stake in one of the few companies that controlled commerce in the port or inland. Miner had never spent much time here; it was a far nicer area than his own, and patrols weren’t often called for there. The views were magnificent and he had a difficult time concentrating on walking properly instead of gawking like a country rube.
    They had walked up to a grand house with white stone pillars and a wide front porch. This house had many windows, and the cost of the glass alone must have been astronomical. The captain had led the way up the stairs and to the big double doors and then, to Miner’s amazement, had flung the doors open and walked right in, ordering his men to follow.
    Servants had appeared at once, but they took one look at the Guards and scurried away. Moments later, as the captain took them through a large reception hall and into another room that appeared to be a library, a middle-aged woman and a young man who was obviously her son ran into the room.
    “What are you doing?” the man had cried.
    The captain ignored him and faced his men instead. “Tear the room apart. I want you to find anything that looks as if it might be a ledger.”
    Miner couldn’t read and neither could most of the others, but they’d seen ledgers before, large books with lined paper and handwritten columns of numbers. Like the others, he had begun opening drawers and pawing through the shelves. At first he tried to be neat, but he saw that the others were simply tossing discarded items to the floor and he did the same, although he’d always thought of books as precious and it gave him a pang to treat them so carelessly.
    “Stop this!” the man yelled. “Stop this at once!”
    “Hold them,” the captain said coldly, and two of the Guards obeyed at once. The woman was no trouble—actually, she appeared very close to fainting—but her son struggled a bit. The captain walked up to the woman. “Where is Randis?” he demanded.
    That question made Miner pause in his duties. He knew who Randis was. Everyone did: Randis was a member of the Council, a gray, dour man whose family had repaired ships for many generations.
    “I…I don’t know,” the woman stammered weakly.
    “Tell me at once or I’ll take you and your son to the Keep.” The captain didn’t raise his voice, but there was a coldness there that made Miner shiver.
    The woman stole a quick glance at her son, who shook his head. “Mother! Don’t tell them! They’re—” The Guard who was holding the youth silenced him with a hard cuff to the mouth. The son grunted in pain and blood trickled from his lip.
    His mother began to cry. “He’s with Alterius.”
    “Where?” asked the captain.
    “At...they’re at the Three Boots.”
    That was odd, Miner had thought, eavesdropping while he rifled