Secrets of the Swords, Book 1

Chapter 16: Lengthening Shadows

"I don't think a brothel of all places is the best place to start learning meditation, do you?"

Ulsper sighed at Suthe's objection, and not for the first time, regretted agreeing to Seoulosu's determined meeting location.

"Promise me you won't do any sudden disappearing acts, then," he said. The druith seemed to have only gotten more nervous since they had arrived at the courtesans' establishment, and he had brought up the topic of meditation in an attempt to distract her from their surroundings.

There was a line of leering men, mostly drunk, standing in the alley behind the brothel and watching as the women paraded in and out of the building. Ulsper and Suthe had settled down on the back steps of the building next door, partially hidden by two wooden crates of dried fish and a half-filled rain barrel that shaded them from the late afternoon sun.

"I'll try not to," Suthe replied. "That's the best I can do."

That kind of answer wouldn't have passed in the Imperial Guard, but Ulsper let it slide. Once Suthe had realized that he wasn't going to push the matter, she gave a small grin and opened up her bag.

"That other spy packed all sort of random things in here," she commented, rummaging through the contents and pulling out a string of buttons on a thread. "What am I supposed to do with all of this?"

Among some of the more common items, the bag also happened to contain a wrench, an unmarked bottle, two small gears, and a spool of thin copper wire.

"Cal will be wanting that wrench back," Ulsper commented. "And the bottle." No doubt Marrene had taken a few of the inventor's belongings without asking. It was typical of his former apprentice to...borrow things like that.

"Ugh." Suthe tossed the items back into the back and tied it shut. "So, how much longer do we have to wait?"

"A while. Are you sure you don't want to practice meditation?"

"No, I...there are too many other people," she protested, casting an anxious glance first at him and then across to the men outside the brothel before hugging her knees to her chest more tightly. "I'd rather we talk about something else instead."

"Such as?" Ulsper stretched in a move meant to appear lazy and at ease, but took the opportunity to check the rooftops, and then the mouth of the alley. They were still safe, for now.

Suthe looked back up at him. "Have you heard about the Sinderflynnen?"

"The Firebird?"

"Yes, it's a flying ship. Alaera told me about it."

Ulsper checked the dagger in his boot. "I'm Esper, not Ellerian," he replied. "I don't have time for another tribe's fairytales."

"Oh." At her disappointed tone, Ulsper almost regretted being so matter-of-fact about it. But she persisted. "Well, are there any good Esper stories?"

"They tend to be a bit morbid." Next door, the group of four men roared in drunken laughter as they staggered out of the brothel, each attached to the arm of an attractive young woman with a painted smile and powdery, pale skin. Ulsper looked the men over carefully, but only one had a knife strapped to his belt, and it didn't look like it had been used in several years. "I'm more familiar with the ones that contain a lot of fighting and people killing one another."

Suthe let out a breath, short and irritated. "Well, there must be something we can talk about," she said. "How did you become a spy?"

"This is not the time or place to discuss that," Ulsper warned. It would be foolish to tell this girl he barely knew about his past, especially while the Imperial Guard was looking for them.