Secrets of the Swords, Book 1

Chapter 17: A Curious Agreement

They headed to the safe house—or what Suthe assumed was the safe house—just as the sun was sinking behind the mountains. She still wasn't sure if she had understood Nem Koel's explanation correctly—after all, the girl did have a bit of an accent. The clockwork hour? Maybe it was just the time Suthe had spent in Sylterra, but to her it sounded more like an event one of the Forgeborough guilds would celebrate.

Yet between the steely gaze in Nem Koel's eyes, the firm set of Ulsper's jaw, and the ever-darkening sky above, there seemed enough concern about the harmless-sounding clockwork hour to give Suthe cause to worry. So she hurried after the spy and the soldier, down narrow dirt alleys that twisted between dark houses with chipped paint and grimy windows. Some residents were lighting the lanterns that hung from the eaves of the buildings, and the softly-glowing colors swayed in the wake of their passing. The evening might have been serene, if it wasn't for Suthe's niggling worry about the mysterious clockwork hour and whatever it brought with it.

Nem Koel's words had given Suthe reason to be wary of anything even slightly box-like, and so she cautiously kept an eye on a wooden crate near a shopkeeper's doorway as they passed.

Both the mining explosions and the cannons from the military base had grown quiet, and as the cool of evening crept in, it brought with it the sound of voices, weary from a hard day's work, that buzzed in the streets and echoed from open windows and doors.

Suthe scurried to catch up to Ulsper's side.

"Isn't anyone besides us worried about the clockwork soldiers?" she asked in a raised whisper.

"Not if they're not fugitives like you and me," he replied steadily.

Suthe bit her lip. "What will happen if we get caught?"

Ulsper spared her a glance from beneath his hood. "Pray we don't have to find out the answer to that question."

"It's here," Nem Koel suddenly said from in front of them. She pulled on the brass ring of a dark wooden door set in a dirty gray stone wall and ushered them through.

The door led down a short tunnel that opened into a small gravel courtyard lined with short bushes. The high stone from the outside wall ran made up the courtyard wall as well and ended at the black-tiled house at the far end of the yard. The house was small, old, and brown, with another dark-paneled door and a single window at the center of the second floor covered by a black-fabric shade.

"Inside, hurry," Nem Koel urged from behind Suthe's shoulder. The girl crunched across the gravel and slotted a key in the lock at the front door, wiggling it once before the mechanism unlocked.

The sky was almost black now. While Suthe was still standing in the courtyard, looking around, Ulsper strode past, took her wrist, and pulled her after him. Though she protested his grip, it was only once all three of them were inside and the door was locked that he finally let go.

Suthe huffed in irritation and stepped back, opening her mouth to complain, but then she looked around and the words died on her lips.

The house had looked old and worn from the courtyard, but inside it had an almost magical appearance. Though the roof had looked like worn, black tile from the outside, now that she was indoors Suthe could tell that several windows had been set into the center of the ceiling to let in daylight. Ceramic pots with crawling vines hung by twine nets from ceiling beams, the greenery tumbling down to nearly reach the balcony that ran around the upper floor of the building. Two doors were on either side of the upper floor, but the front of the house had no doors and the back of the balcony was only for the stairs.