Epilogue

Pushing through the mists, Sioned sidled past the black and brown workers and stepped onto Bradsbridge. Before Granite hired her, she hadn’t really noticed how many denizens of the Plague District populated The Exchange’s night shift, but now it was to notice how there seemed to be more and more of them every night,  their strange spices tickling her nose while their languages tickled her ears. When she’d made her way halfway down the bridge, she made sure that no one was looking and then slipped over the railing.

Landing on a catwalk that had been affixed to the bridge with iron and stone, the last remnants of some long ago construction work that had never been cleaned up, Sioned tread lightly on the rusty metal and slipped under the bridge where a wooden box, supposedly built to watch the boats and barges on the water below, was tucked into the bridge’s arches. After a quick pause to slip on a simple brown mask, Sioned unlocked the door and stepped inside.

When her eyes adjusted to the gloom, they found only a chair, a second entrance, a cupboard and the three covered jars of blazebugs sitting upon it. In the cupboard, Sioned found three empty jars, dropped slices of ghalinana into each of them, and then transferred the blazebugs into the new jars by opening the old jar lids and flipping them onto the new ones really fast. She lost a couple of bugs, but the food in the jars would spawn new ones within the day. When she was done, she leaned against the wall and waited for the others and Granite.

This wasn’t like the Engelhaus hideout, where sounds of laughter and song and the smells of beer and sausage drifted up from below. There were sounds, the tromping of boots on the bridge, the calls of the boatmen on the river, the constant lapping of water, and there were smells, ones Sioned did her best to ignore, but this place wasn’t somewhere to linger, which must be why it had been forgotten until Granite.

Usually Sioned was the third one to arrive. Ash probably arrived first, the stick in his bum probably demanded it, and then Sky arrived early enough to help see if the stick could be removed, which was why Sioned always timed her arrival to give them time to finish. Once Sioned arrived, Gold would float in. The last one to arrive was always Granite.

Tonight however Sioned was first as Ash, Gold, and Sky had all been tasked with some secret job Granite hadn’t let Sioned learn a single detail about. She’d hoped that her task would have taken long enough so that she could listen at the door and find out something, but even after tramping through the woods, using the key Sky had copied to break into the Tower, searching the entire building, and then tramping right back here empty handed hadn’t been enough time for the others to complete their task. Granite wouldn’t be happy about the failure. The ring they’d… taken was supposed to open some vault in the Tower, but there was nothing it fit into.

Sioned was considering going back out to grab something to eat when the door slammed open, and Sky and Gold stumbled in, Ash’s heavy arms draped across their shoulders, his foot leaking blood onto the floor.

Sioned jerked the chair out of the way. “What happened?”

Ash glared at Sky. “He thought that she wouldn’t get in the way.”

Sioned scowled. Only one ‘she’ needed no introduction.

Sky put Ash down on the floor. “It was her first ball! She-”

“Stop,” commanded Gold. “Don’t make this worse.” She gestured to Ash settle. “Clay, fix him up.”

Sioned rolled her eyes. When Granite wasn’t around, Gold thought she was boss. “Do it yourself. I’m not his nurse.”

As blood poured out of his boot, Ash groaned. “Please.”

“Argh, fine.” Sioned pulled a knife and a roll of bandages out of her hip pack. “But you owe me.”

“Of course. On my honor.”

Sky brought over a blazebug jar to watch her work. “Is it bad?”

When Sioned pulled Ash’s boot off his foot, it made a sucking sound. She glanced at the two holes, one in the top and one in the bottom. “She got you good, huh?” Using the knife, Sioned cut off Ash’s bloody sock and tossed it away. Now she could answer Sky’s question. “The bones look fine. He’ll be fine I reckon.”

“You reckon?” asked Gold.

“Not my purview.” Sioned bandaged up Ash’s foot. “But it look just like that one time I stepped on a nail.”

“Good.” Gold probably wasn’t thinking the right kind of nail because she looked too relieved when she rounded on Sky. “Why didn’t you just kill her?”

“De- Gold, she’s his-“

“No, don’t defend him.” Gold stomped over to Sky, who was barely taller than her. “Every time you’ve given us assurances that that she’ll be out of our way, bam, there she is in our way. Poor Clay has been nearly run out of the city she’s so in our way. We have to deal with her.”

“If you’d searched during your rehearsal like I suggested, then she wouldn’t been in the way,” growled Sky.

“Have you ever been to the Gray Tower during the day? It’s packed with mages hoping to get provisional licenses. Besides, as I’ve said before, one can’t just waltz up to the counters and demand to be let into the Royal Secretary’s Office.”

“I could.”

Gold’s lips curled. “I doubt it.”

Sky bared his teeth. “Just watch-”

The other entrance slammed open, and dark smoke billowed in, filling the room until Sioned’s own hands were lost in them. The chair was shifted, the door shut, and then the smoke was gone and Granite was among them, sitting in the chair.

“Sky, Gold, Ash.” Granite’s featureless gray mask, their black hooded robes, and their strange rasp hid everything but how tall they were. “Report.”

“My master.” Gold curtsied. “There was no evidence of the Vesicant in the Gray Tower, and we were seen by a senior scrytive,” she glared at Sky, “and Mei.”

Granite’s hood turned to Sky. “All of you?”

Sky bowed his head. “Yes, master.”

Granite leaned forward in the chair, the better to see Ash’s foot. “She did this?”

“A flesh wound, master.” Ash managed to sit up. “I’ll be at your command in no time.”

“I know.” Granite patted Ash’s foot. “Just as I know that you will not let this happen again.”

“Yes, master.”

“Clay,” Granite’s hood turned to Sioned, who had to hold in a squeak, “were you able to complete your task?”

Sioned gulped. “No, master.” Even hooded, she knew there was a glare under that hood. “I used the key to get in, but there wasn’t anything valuable anywhere. I swear!”

“I don’t know why you bothered sending her,” said Sky.

“Oh?” Sioned put her hands on her hips. “So you think you and your weird magic could have done better?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Then why don’t you take a shot?”

“Maybe I will!”

“No, you won’t.” Granite got to her feet. “The next Royal Sorcerer has been chosen.”

“Who is it?” asked Gold.

“Lady Luisa Pol.”

“What? What happened to Baron Thadden?”

“Not relevant. However, we need to move faster. Gold, you’re to enact our backup plan. Ash, you’re to rest up. Clay, you’re to wait for further instructions. Sky, will stay here. We have much to discuss.”

Sky paled under his mask. “I assure you that-”

“Later.”

As Sioned closed the door after helping Gold get Ash onto the catwalk, she saw Sky quiver under Granite’s gaze.

Serves him right.