Stalking Darkness

plaintively, twisting the hem of his tunic in his hands. “Begging your pardon, but I was given good silver to deliver it to nobody but Rythel his self. It’d be worth me livelihood if word got around I passed on private messages to anyone as demands to know ’em.”
    The smith was less than sympathetic. “Bugger your livelihood. Rythel would have my hammer if I let you go wandering around in there.”
    This exchange appeared to be a welcome diversion for the sentries. “Aw, he looks harmless enough,” one called over, taking Alec’s side. “Let him wait out here, why don’t you? The message is for Rythel, after all.”
    “Aye, and one he’d be none too happy to miss, if you take my meaning.” Grinning, Alec made a lewd two-fingered sign.
    “All right, then, but it’s on your heads,” the smith growled, finding opinion against him. “Sit on the end of that cart, you, and don’t stir.”
    Alec’s champions lost interest in him as soon as they’d had their victory. Perched on the back of the open cart, he swung his feet idly and hunted imaginary lice among his rags.
    The cart was loaded with iron grates. These were simple, sturdy affairs of upright bars and crosspieces. Apparently they were made at the shop in the upper city, then carried down for final fittings here. At the forge, the smith and his helpers were putting the last touches on one, trimming the crosspieces to fit caliper measurements and fashioning hot iron from the forge into the final bars. When they’d finished with that, heavy metal flanges were fastened to the outermost uprights, top and bottom. The lower flanges had heavy pins protruding down from them; the upper did not.
    Presently several workmen came out of the tunnel. Their faces were covered with the vinegar cloths, but one was noticeably taller than the rest, and bushy blond hair showed beneath the rim of his leather cap.
    “Ordo, we’ll want those rivets when we go back in,” he called to the smith at the forge. “Are they hot yet?”
    “Whenever you’re ready for ’em, Master Rythel. And thisyoung fellow’s been waiting for you.” The smith hooked a thumb in Alec’s direction, adding pointedly, “Sergeant Durnin said it was all right.”
    Rythel pulled off his face cloth and scrubbed a hand over the thick, well-trimmed beard beneath it. “What do you want?”
    Alec jumped down and bobbed an anxious bow. “I’ve a message for you, master, from a woman.”
    The man’s scowl lessened appreciatively. Waving for Alec to follow him, he moved away from the others.
    “What woman and what message?” he asked.
    “A dark-haired bawd in the Street of Lights, master. She says she prays you remember her fondly, and that you’ll come back to her soon as ever you’re able.”
    “Did she give her name?” Rythel asked, looking pleased.
    “No,” Alec told him with a worried frown, then, as if suddenly remembering, added, “but she’s in the House of the Swans.”
    “I know the one,” Rythel said, recognizing the name of Eirual’s establishment. “Anything else?”
    “That’s the whole of it, just as she sent. And if I may say, master, I was lucky to find you—”
    “Yes, yes!” Reaching into a wallet at his belt, Rythel dropped a few coins into Alec’s outstretched palm. “Tell your lady I’ll see to her when I can. Now off with you.”
    “Maker’s Mercy to you,” said Alec, hurrying away. As he passed the soldiers he looked at the coins Rythel had paid. They were all coppers. Showing them to the grinning soldiers, he spat sideways and muttered, “Stingy son of a bitch. Let him carry his own messages.”
    Their laughter followed him up the gully.
    At the boulder Seregil fell into step beside him and Alec told him all he’d seen as they walked back along the track.
    Seregil rubbed his hands together with satisfaction. “Well, now we know what our noser looks like.”
    “We still don’t know much about him, though.”
    “But if that woman at the shop is anyone to go by, I think we can find those willing to gossip. You carried that off well, as usual. I think maybe we’ll use you for the jilt again tonight.”
    Alec grinned happily at the praise. “What will I be this time?”
    “A doughty, fresh-faced country lad, looking for an apprenticeship and a few friends.”
    Alec’s grin widened. “That has a familiar ring to it.”
    •  •  •
    Standing at the end of Ironmonger Row, the Hammer and Tongs was a traditional gathering place for