The Yellow Silk - Don Bassingthwaite [84]
Lander nodded and trundled the wheelbarrow off through the alley. He was halfway to Bakers Way when people began shouting and pointing. He looked up.
A thin column of smoke, growing thicker and darker as he watched, stained the sky. It was roughly in the area of the Wench's Ease.
Things are moving. Wheelbarrow rattling, Lander picked up his pace.
Xhe Hooded's men chuckled. The one standing beside Tycho hauled him to his feet, bent down, and heaved him over his shoulder like a sack of grain. Blood went rushing to his head. The bard protested, but it did no good. Li was yelling, too, and he could hear the Shou struggling. It sounded like it was taking both the third guard and tall Cado to restrain him. Tycho tried to squirm out of his captor's grasp. The man just gave a sharp bounce that slapped Tycho's gut hard against his shoulder. Tycho groaned. The sound of a punch was followed by a similar groan from Li. "Let's go," said Cado.
They began to move. Tycho could tell from the echoes of their footsteps when they stepped out of the cell. He could also tell from the way the other two men grunted that they must be carrying Li between them. The man carrying him laughed.
"Guess I got lucky with the small fish!" He gave a few more bounces-apparently just because he could. Tycho groaned with each one. "I don't know, though. I guess he's so small the only thing we can do is throw him back!"
That got a strained laugh out of the other men. The sound of water that had filled the vaults was getting louder. Tycho's stomach twisted. He had only managed to tell Li half of the tale about the Hooded's victims. They were found wearing hoods, yes, but they were also found floating offshore, drowned. How they got there was a mystery. Tycho could guess now, though. The Hooded's deep cellar held some kind of underground stream or borehole to the ocean. He offered a desperate prayer to Tymora, the goddess of luck-because they were going to need a lot of it-and shuddered. His captor must have mistaken it for more struggles, because he gave an especially hard bounce.
Tycho's hood slid around on his head. The ends of the drawstring that pulled it tight dropped right beneath his chin.
Chance or actual divine favor, Tycho didn't care. Thank you, blessed Tymora! He dug his chin down against his chest, wiggling until he got it between the ends of the string and under the fabric of the hood then thrust out sharply.
The hood loosened around his neck. Tycho shook his head frantically back and forth.
"Bind me!" his captor spat. "I think the little fish is trying to bite my butt!" He gave him a jostle, but Tycho just kept shaking his head, trying to get the hood to loosen more. It fell over his chin and into his mouth-he spit it out and shook hard. His captor growled in annoyance. "Hey! Cado! Give this fish a swat!"
He spun around just as Tycho gave one last hard shake.
The hood fell off. Tycho twisted his head and found himself staring-upside down-at Cado. "Hey, you!" the bard snarled desperately. He fixed his eyes on the tall man's. "While you were gone, we made a deal with your friends. They're going to let us go and dump you in the water!" He focused his will and poured magic into a burst of song. "Believe me-they're going to betray you!"
For less than a heartbeat, Cado's expression went slack then-
"Shar damn you both!" He dropped Li, leaving the other guard staggering under the Shou's weight, and took a sharp step away.
Tycho's captor spun back around to face him and Cado whirled out of his field of vision. Tycho craned his neck, trying to get a look around. They were in another low, vaulted chamber. The sound of water was very close. He twisted the other way and caught a glimpse of a pool of dark water, roiling with unseen