Page 68 of Lake of Sorrow

~ Ranger Founder Saruk

Kaylina waited in the dark until the door thudded shut with Spymaster Sabor’s departure. Since she assumed the search would continue, she was about to start down the stairs when the bookcase slid open. The intrusion of the lamplight wasn’t bright enough to make her squint, but Targon’s glowering face did cause her to grimace.

“I had a hunch,” he said.

“There wasn’t enough time for me to climb down—I was worried about making noise.” Kaylina looked past his shoulder to make sure he was alone in the office.

“Sure you were. You’re a practiced eavesdropper.”

“If that were true, I wouldn’t get caught all the time.”

Targon grunted, pointed at the floor, and said, “Stay there,” before sliding the bookcase closed again.

Though the order without any explanation rankled, Kaylina waited for him to return. She wanted to know when the guards left and make sure Frayvar had continued to elude them. If they found her brother, they might think to use him—to threaten him—to get her to turn herself in.

The thought chagrined her. Already, he’d been hurt numerous times, all because he was a loyal sibling who’d followed her north, believing she needed his assistance. And she did need it, at least when it came to starting a business.

Long minutes passed, and she didn’t hear any triumphant shouts to suggest the guards had found Frayvar. She didn’t hear anything else either, not until footsteps sounded in the office again.

Once more, the bookcase slid aside. This time, Frayvar stood in the light, a pack and books gathered in his arms. Targon stood behind him.

“I want both of you out of here, and don’t come back unless you’ve cleared your name.” Targon gave Frayvar a shove, but not a hard one, only enough to send him into the dark nook with Kaylina. “Maybe not even then. Apparently, the Virts are claiming you’re one of them, and with Spymaster Sabor now interested in you…” He curled his lip and closed the bookcase without finishing the thought.

Kaylina found her brother’s arm in the dark, gripped it, and patted him on the back.

“Hugging.” Frayvar said it as a warning to forestall the unpleasant activity, and she didn’t need light to know he was wincing in anticipation.

“I wasn’t going to, but that’s something you should allow from a sibling when you’ve narrowly escaped being captured by the Kingdom Guard, if not the Castle Guard. How did you avoid their notice? Targon said there weren’t secret doors in the infirmary.”

“There was a somewhat hidden cabinet large enough to hold me. Barely. I have some fresh dents in my side. Penderbrock locked me in there before I knew what was happening. I think he saved me because he was grateful that I organized his medicine cabinets.”

“As demonstrated by him locking you in? What would he have done if he hadn’t been grateful?”

“Handed me to the guards, I suppose. I have the maps and my plans for researching Bloomlong and clearing your name. Do you want to?—”

“Go to the castle to test my honey on that plant before dawn? Yes.”

“That’s… not going to clear your name.”

“I know, but there’s more going on. We may need?—”

A thump sounded on the bookcase.

“Have your meeting elsewhere,” Targon grumbled from the other side.

“Right. Thank you.” Kaylina released her brother’s arm, found the stairs with her foot, and whispered, “Follow me as we talk. And watch your step.”

“I thought I’d dance, leap, and spring my way down.”

“I’ve seen you dance. I wouldn’t recommend it even when there is good lighting.”

“Ha ha.”

Hands on dusty wooden walls, Kaylina led the way slowly down the stairs while relaying the conversation she’d overheard, as much as she could. Since she couldn’t say anything that would lead her brother to guess Vlerion’s secret, she couldn’t be as complete as she wished.

“Because the Virts are claiming we’re aligned,” she finished, “we may need to help the authorities find their press to stop the printing of their secret newspaper. Maybe that would prove we’re not involved with them.”

“Before the authorities will let us help them, we’ll need the testimony of the poisoner who sold vials to Jana Bloomlong, or that of the messenger who delivered the tainted mead.”

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