The Yellow Silk - Don Bassingthwaite [68]
Li looked down at the man in his grasp. He was going to have the chance to get away while Tycho suffered? Li's eyes narrowed.
His fist jabbed against Jacerryl's jaw twice. When he released his grasp on him, Jacerryl fell back against the wall and slid down to sprawl in the snow. Li looked up at Tycho. "What?" he asked innocently. "I let him go." He stooped down and scooped the pouches into Jacerryl's fallen pack, tugged the other pack off his body, and shoved it at Tycho. The bard turned his smile on him. "Thanks," he said.
"If you can't go anywhere, it didn't seem right that he should." He straightened up. "I'll get my dao and we can go find this Crown Alley."
Tycho grabbed his shoulder. "Notyet," he said. "There's someone I want to see first."
***
Standing on top of Li's shoulders made it easy to stretch up to the window and rap a rhythm on the shutters. One-two-three, pause, one-two. Pause. Repeat. Pause. Repeat.
"Hurry up!" hissed Li.
"You're not waiting on me," Tycho murmured back. He knocked on the shutters again, a familiar pattern that he and Veseene had arranged as a code years ago. She would come-if she could. Tycho bit his lip. What if Brin had hurt her when he came last night? What if he had come past again later, seeking retribution for what had happened at the Wench's Ease? What if Veseene wasn't alone? What if-
There was a slow shuffling and the sound of hands fumbling with the shutters. Tycho ducked as they swung open and Veseene looked down at him. "You could have stopped knocking!" she rasped. "It takes time for me to get around!"
Tycho grabbed the windowsill, hauled himself into the cold and dark second chamber of their rooms, and swept his friend up in a hug. "I was worried, Veseene."
In spite of her harsh words, Veseene sagged against him. "So was I. You heard my warning?"
"Yes, but too late. Brin was already waiting for us at the Ease." Veseene drew a sharp breath. "Don't worry," Tycho assured her. "We got away." He moved farther into the room. A quick glance down into Bakers Way had revealed the watch being kept on the door of their building. Fortunately, Brin hadn't thought to set a similar watch on the alley behind it, the alley that Tycho's bedroom window overlooked. A chest yielded a stout rope. He knotted one end of it around a bed post and flipped the other out the window to Li. "Veseene," he asked as the Shou tied Jacerryl's packs to the rope, "how did you manage to cast that warning spell?" Li tugged on the rope and Tycho began to pull up the packs.
The old woman flushed. "I tripled the strength of my tea."
"You did what?" Tycho flinched and the rope slid back between his fingers. He hissed in pain and closed his hands, though not before Li let out a little curse from down below. Tycho glared at Veseene. She looked at him and raised her eyebrow.›
"You're going to say it was stupid," she said stubbornly. "If it was, at least I'm not the only one who's been doing stupid things lately."
Tycho winced. "Brin," he said. He heaved the packs over the windowsill, untied them, and dropped the rope back down. Veseene looked at the packs in astonishment. "I'll tell you all about them," said Tycho, "but Brin… " He sighed and confessed. "To make extra coin, I've been running packages between Brin and Jacerryl Dantakain."
There was a squeak of surprise, but not from Veseene.
Tycho looked up sharply. Peering through the open door to the front room was Laera Dantakain.
"Bind and tar me!" yelped Tycho-just as Li put his weight on the rope. Tycho stumbled forward and slammed against the wall. This time, Li's curse from down below was louder and accompanied by angry instructions for Tycho to brace himself. The bard did, but through clenched teeth, he managed to hiss out, "What's she doing here?"
"That," Veseene said darkly, "would be one of the other stupid things you've done, wouldn't it?"
Tycho groaned and only partially at the strain of holding the rope for Li. Once the Shou had his arms over the windowsill, he let go of the rope and staggered into the warm front room. Laera backed