"I'd suggest firing the one who set you up with this pair."

"Oh, he's no longer in the business of trade," Rnach said with a shrug. "I believe his convalescence will be long and unpleasant."

The Guildmistress snorted, then seemed to realize they weren't alone. She looked at Aisling, who was standing by the door, then seemed to consider things she perhaps hadn't before.

"Their daughter was one of my workers," she said thoughtfully.

Rnach merely looked at her politely. "And?"

"I thought you might find that interesting."

"I don't deal in human prizes," he said, wrinkling his nose in distaste. "They squirm too much."

The Guildmistress pursed her lips, then reached for a piece of paper. She scrawled something on it, then shoved it across the desk. Rnach looked at it.

Riochdair and Dallag of Malcte. He frowned, then looked at the Guildmistress. "This is the pair?"

"I said it was," the Guildmistress snapped. "And they owe me as well. Their brat is a runaway. If I find her, I'll do worse than simply put her back at her loom."

Rnach shook his head. "Again, too much work," he said. "Much easier to deal in inanimate objects." He considered the paper again, then pocketed it. He pushed the bag of coins across the table, then placed the wrapped package next to it. "A pleasure."

The Guildmistress spilled the coins out onto the table. Rnach rose, glancing behind him at the guard standing in front of the door. The man hadn't moved, which wasn't particularly encouraging, but perhaps he was waiting for a signal from his employer. Rnach turned back in time to see the Guildmistress pull the scarf from the packet. She froze briefly, then looked at him in surprise.

"Cothromaichian silk."

He nodded. "You have a keen eye."

"How on earth did you come by this?"

"Fairly," he said mildly.

"Traders lie."

"Which is why most of them only have substandard goods to sell," he said, "which I do not. There's a reason for that." He inclined his head. "A pleasure, madame."

He walked over to the door, nodded for the guard to move, then let himself out. He was, he had to admit, vastly relieved that Aisling had exited with him. He put her one step in front of him and loosened both his sword in its sheath and the spell surrounding his magic. First and last resort, respectively, but he could feel the hair on the back of his neck p.r.i.c.kling, so they were most certainly not out of the woods yet.

He wasted no time in walking down the hall, though he went out of his way to make it look like a saunter and not a hasty retreat. He heard nothing behind him, though he expected to have someone raise the alarm at any moment.

He nodded to the guards at the front door and was allowed out. Good, but not a complete escape. He didn't relax fully until they were outside the stone wall and the gates had clanged shut behind them. He looked up and down the street, but there wasn't a d.a.m.ned carriage in sight.

"We'll have to walk for a bit, I imagine," he said with a curse.

"I know shortcuts."

He smiled grimly. "I wouldn't expect anything less. Can you get us back to the inn-or, nay, perhaps just to a main street. We'll find a carriage there, I'll warrant."

She nodded. Rnach followed her, glancing casually over his shoulder now and then whilst doing his d.a.m.ndest not to be obvious about it.

"Are we free?"

The tone of her voice startled him. He slung his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to his left side. He could fight with either hand because his swordmasters in his youth had been without peer, but he preferred the right, which was handy given that he wasn't about to put Aisling closest to the street where she could be s.n.a.t.c.hed away before he could do anything to stop it.

"We're close to free," he lied.

"They're behind us, aren't they?"

He took a deep breath. "I'm afraid so."

She panicked. He'd never heard anyone utterly lose their ability to breathe before and honestly had no idea what to do. He looked for sanctuary but there was nothing on their side of the street save abandoned buildings crawling with spells that made him queasy. He looked across the street, spied an open door, then hurried with Aisling through mud and horse droppings to present himself at what looked to be the only inhabited building on the street.

He realized, once they had stumbled inside, that it was a house of ill repute. He would have laughed at the ridiculousness of where he currently found himself, but he was too d.a.m.ned unnerved to. He brushed aside the feathers he was a.s.saulted by as the proprietress swirled a very fine, feather-encrusted cape around her less-than-clothed self. Obviously his best company manners were going to be called for.

"Good afternoon," he said, suppressing the urge to sneeze.

"A visitor," she said, looking terribly pleased. "And his young companion."

"Who are looking for a back door," Rnach said. He held up two gold coins. "And discretion."

"Discretion's me middle name, pet," the woman said, relieving him of his money without delay. "Unless they're Guild guards hunting you, then all bets are off."

"Just the back door will do," Rnach said. "And directions to somewhere else."

The woman lifted Aisling's hood back from her face, studied her very briefly, then shook her head. "It'll take more than a request prettily spoken, me lad. We have a runner here."

"How could you possibly a.s.sume that?" Rnach asked in surprise.

She looked at him shrewdly. "I live across from the b.l.o.o.d.y place, don't I? Don't have many runners these days. Herself rules with an iron fist, don't she?"

"This is merely my servant-"

"b.o.l.l.o.c.ks," the befeathered woman said briskly. "The whole d.a.m.ned town's been looking for this one for weeks now. Guildmistress wants her bad, I'd say-oh, nay, missy, don't you dare faint."

Rnach continued to hold Aisling up. "What do you want?" he asked the madame grimly. "More gold? My sword? My firstborn?"

She laughed, a robust sound full of good humor. "Wouldn't dare take the last from the likes of you, but your packs seem a bit heavy. Let's start there."

"I don't think I have time to divide the spoils with you."

"Whatever you can pull out in haste, then. 'Tisn't often I have an elven princeling in my front parlor along with a gel the whole of Beul is looking for."

Rnach made sure Aisling was able to stand unaided before he quickly rummaged through his pack for the most valuable and least enspelled items he owned. He shoved a pair of socks and a fresh tunic back inside, then handed over the rest of his gear. He put his hand out, though, when the proprietress reached for the satchel Aisling wore slung across her chest.

"Not that."

The madame frowned. "What do you have in your pack then, dearie?"

"Just clothes and wool," Aisling whispered.

The woman sighed heavily and looked at Rnach. "I suppose I'll make do with your things."

Rnach watched her dump his offerings along with another infusion of his gold into a trunk that was promptly pulled behind a false wall. She nodded toward the back of her house.

"This way, and hurry."

Rnach put his arm around Aisling and followed the proprietress through the kitchens and into a rather less-than-tidy back garden.

"Through that gate, bolt to your left down the alleyway, then duck through the garden at the end of the street. I'll send a lad to show you. Free of charge, that last bit."

Rnach had no choice but to trust her. He thanked her for her care, then took Aisling's hand and did as instructed. Unfortunately, it was far too soon that he heard crashing and shouting going on in the house they had just left. He could only hope that that was nothing a woman with the cheek to operate a brothel down the street from the Guild wouldn't be unaccustomed to.

"Through here."

Rnach looked at a lad standing suddenly before them, panting with a sort of nonchalance that said he'd done this sort of thing before-and more than once. Rnach tipped the lad a sovereign because his mother had taught him good manners, then followed the directions and hoped he wasn't running them into a clutch of guardsmen.

They emerged onto what had to have been Beul's main street. Rnach took the first carriage he found and gave the driver the name of their lodging. The carriage had uncommonly large windows, which he didn't particularly care for, but there was nothing to be done about that. He kept his head down, kept his arm around Aisling, and turned over his mind what he'd heard.

They'd searched for Aisling?

Soilleir couldn't have known or he would have said something. Rnach supposed they were fortunate to have gotten as far as they had. Perhaps the Guildmistress had recognized Aisling from the start but had decided there was no practical purpose in holding her hostage there when there was more gold to be had from him. Either that, or the woman had simply sent guardsmen after them as a matter of course.

The driver suddenly slid open a small window. "Sir," he said politely, "I see a pair of n'ere-do-wells behind us."

"N'ere-do-wells?" Rnach asked, wincing.

"Thugs," the driver said distinctly. "They roam the streets, to be sure, but these are a bit tougher than the usual breed. Perhaps the fineness of your cloak has attracted their attention."

"No doubt. Still the inn, if you can manage it. A sovereign for your trouble."

"The strike?"

"Name the kingdom," Rnach said dryly. "I have a selection."

"Neroche."

"Done."

The driver continued on for a bit, then spoke again. "I can drop you outside the city, if you'd prefer. For two pieces of gold I can lose those lads behind us."

"Discreetly?"

"That'll cost you three."

Rnach supposed he didn't need the clothes he'd left at the inn. He looked at Aisling. "Opinions?"

She took a shaky breath. "I'm too terrified to have any."

"Well, my plan had been to duck out through the inn's kitchens and roll liberally in the compost pile before blending in with the seedier elements, which doesn't sound all that appealing the more I think about it."

"Then three coins sounds like a bargain."

He agreed, then soon found himself rather grateful he hadn't had lunch yet.

An hour and a torturous route through the most impossibly small closes that surely hadn't been meant for anything but foot traffic, he happily jumped from the carriage, following Aisling to solid ground. He looked up at the carriage driver and was faintly relieved to see he didn't recognize him.

"Thank you, friend."

The man inclined his head. "My pleasure, Your Highness."

Rnach sighed. "You have me at a disadvantage. I apologize, but I don't recognize you."

"I'm Ochadius's son," the young man said with a smile, "Peter."

"Of course you are," Rnach said, then he looked up at Peter in surprise. "You accepted my gold."

"As I said, I am my father's son," Peter said with a smile, then he sobered. "I wish I could render more aid, but I fear you're on your own from here. I'll return to Beul and see if I can't at least throw them off the scent."

"The Guild guards?" Aisling wheezed.

"Them too."

Rnach nodded, then moved out of the way with Aisling and watched Peter wheel his carriage around and head back the way they'd come. The noise faded eventually, leaving him standing with a runaway weaver in the middle of a road that seemed to be at least marginally well traveled. He looked up at the darkening sky, then at Aisling.

"Well."

She handed him a map. "We might need this."

"Where did you find this?" he asked in surprise.

"That little boy who gave us directions handed it to me before we started running."

"I didn't notice that."

"You were too busy swearing."

Rnach smiled, then tucked the map into a pocket of his cloak, then pulled off his pack and took out a finely carved wooden statue of a horse. The statue hopped a reasonable distance away, then suddenly became a full-sized horse. Iteach stretched his neck, then turned around and walked over to look at Aisling. She laughed a little as he snuffled her.

"He's making sure you're well," Rnach said.

"Nay, he's telling me there's something in my pack he wants," she said. "I think I'm happy I didn't turn this over to that woman."

"I almost hate to ask what he wants," Rnach said. "Carrots?"

"Astar said he had a gift for me," she said, looking at him and blinking innocently. "Was I wrong not to refuse it?"

Rnach pursed his lips. "As long as it isn't a betrothal ring, I suppose I don't have anything to say about it, do I?" He helped her out of her pack, then set it on the ground for her. "Rummage, woman, and let's see what he gifted you."

Aisling opened the pack, then froze. She considered for a moment or two before she reached inside and pulled out another statue of a horse. She held it up and studied it.