Secrets of the Swords, Book 1

Chapter 11: A New Arrival

Ulsper narrowed his eyes as he surveyed the street below his rooftop perch. For all the trip wires, bells, locks, and metal casings this part of the city employed as anti-theft measures, the inhabitants were woefully ignorant to the presence of the suspicious man above them. Not a single person passing by had bothered to look up, and while that boded well, it also slightly irked him that the inhabitants were so oblivious. After all, this was Forgeborough—notorious for its intellect and inventions. Evidently, that knowledge did not carry over to street smarts.

Satisfied that no one had followed him, Ulsper withdrew from the edge of the roof and crossed to the other side. Suthe was waiting in the alleyway behind the building, looking up. When she saw Ulsper's signal, she walked around to the front of the building and opened the door with the key he had given her.

Ulsper, meanwhile, slipped through one of the windows of Calatar's apartment.

"Don't move!"

There was an ominous click of an automated something-or-other, and Ulsper tensed, senses alert. A moment passed, and then the voice gave a loud sigh.

"By all the guilds and their patrons, Ulsper!" the voice hissed. The unseen weapon clicked off, and Calatar poked his head out from behind a bookshelf. "I almost stunned you! You do realize that it takes hours for snorpvine spores to wear off?"

"I brought Suthe with me," Ulsper said, stepping further into the study and shedding his cloak. "She'll be at the door in a moment."

"The Montese girl?"

Ulsper nodded and set his cloak on the back of the desk chair. "The Imperial Guard is after her. If she's caught, she'll be deported, or they'll use her to carry out their own plans."

"Speaking of guards," Calatar began, "the ones that came earlier are gone—"

"I noticed."

"—but, um, there's someone else who wants to see you."

Ulsper, who was just about to undo the throwing knife strapped to his ankle, straightened up and turned back to Calatar.

"And just who would that be?" he asked, sudden tension lining his words with a sharp edge. He should have noticed it before. Calatar's gaze kept drifting in the direction of the living room, and his feet shifted uneasily. There was someone else in the apartment.

Without waiting for the inventor to reply, Ulsper pushed past him to the hallway. He could see the intruder's shadow in the corner of the living room, hazy at the edges from the dim light of the gas lamps. The figure itself was rigid and unmoving—both alert but at ease as Ulsper rounded the corner.

It was a woman, he noted, standing with her back to him and her gaze fixed on the front door, as if she knew that someone else was coming. Her long black hair was tied up in a ponytail, and the leather of her black corset and bracers gleamed like oil in the flickering light. A sword hung at her side, and there were undoubtedly several more blades hidden on her person. Ulsper tensed.

"What are you doing here, Marrene?" he demanded.

The young woman turned, and Ulsper's jaw twitched in irritation when he saw the smirk of satisfaction on her face.

"I've come to find you, of course," Marrene replied. She tilted her head to the side as she looked him over. "Being a fugitive has aged you."

Ulsper resisted the urge to look towards the door. Suthe could not arrive in the middle of this.

"What are you doing here?" he repeated.

Marrene leaned back against the wall. "I was ordered to find the rogue spy who has disgraced the honor and integrity of the Imperial Guard. Don't worry," she added when Ulsper shifted his stance. "I'm not going to bring you back. They didn't specify what I was supposed to do after I found you, so I'll make my own decisions about that. And I have no interest in your friend over there, so don't worry about him." She raised her chin in the direction of the hallway, where Calatar was poking his head around the corner, staring at the two spies in his living room.