Gilded Latten Bones

91

"You won't like this but I don't care," Belinda told me. "Go back to Fire and Ice. Mike will cover you. You." She spoke to Strafa. I hoped she remembered who Strafa was. "Once Garrett shows you where to take him I would be most appreciative if you would move the others to the same place, Morley first."

I said, "Dean won't leave and Singe will want to stay to wrangle the Dead Man."

Belinda shrugged. "You can't force people. You and Morley are the souls that matter to me. Hole up there and wait. I may be a while." She told Strafa. "I'll be ever so grateful if you'll let me know when my boys are safe."

"Certainly."

Strafa felt no further need to converse, nor did Belinda. I did but everyone ignored me. Nobody disagrees that I over-think and overquestion-then, after the fuss, go hey-diddle-diddle straight up the middle.

Strafa did say, "Let's go, darling." Belinda's crowd surged into a big U-turn. My old pal Joel shot me one last poisonous look.

Strafa went up only a little above the rooftops this time. Curious bats swooshed around us. A huge, elderly owl flapped alongside for a while, hoping we would startle up something tasty.

We followed Grand all the way. We were spotted several times. There would be talk tomorrow but no popular excitement. Dozens of sorcerers, great and small, infest TunFaire.

I asked Strafa to set down in the street beneath the window of the room where Morley and I had stayed. I meant to go in the back way. But that window was wide open and no light burned behind it.

Someone had undone my masterful carpentry.

"Pop up there and see if anyone is in that room."

"All right." Up she went, then inside. She came back out and down. "There is no one there. The furnishings have been changed."

"Good enough. Pop me in, then go get Morley. Please?" In case she thought I was getting presumptuous and bossy.

"Just this once. Get on."

I straddled the broom. Up we went. Strafa hovered while I tumbled through the window. When I got up to say something she was gone.

My night vision was not acute. I felt my way through the unfamiliar layout, found the door, listened, heard nothing. I opened up a cautious crack.

Two small sconces with their wicks turned down illuminated the empty hallway. Enough light got in to show me the new layout. I spotted a lamp.

I lit that off the nearest sconce, got back inside the room, shut the door.

The furniture was all new. Paint had been applied to the woodwork, especially the windowsill. The door now had a bolt on the inside. I threw it, began a detailed inspection. I was still at that when Strafa brought Morley. He clambered through the window. She darted away.

Morley plopped into the only available chair. "What the hell are you doing? Why didn't you just walk in through the front door?"

"Being sneaky seemed like a good idea at the time. But you're right. Using the door would mean fewer misunderstandings when they find us squatting up here."

"You think? I'll go find Mike in a minute. Maybe I can talk fast enough to save you some broken bones."

"I'll be counting on you, buddy."

"Sure. Meanwhile, you want to explain why we're even here?"

"Belinda's idea. Because the house is under siege, the Dead Man is sleeping, and there was only food enough for a few days."

"Somebody panicked."

"They did?" I had been thinking exactly that since I stopped moving.

"I didn't think about it, either, till I was on my way. But, really, your house was not under attack and that crew was there illegally. How long are they likely to stay?"

"If the King stays stubborn about the law being whatever he says it is. ."

"I bet the point of the exercise was to get the reaction they got. They wanted us to run."

"You'd better see Mike. If that was the point. ." I recalled seeing a barn cat pick off mice startled into flight by another cat.

"On my way." He got up and went. "Sit tight. Whatever happens, sit tight."

"Will do."

I worried, though. He was bone pale. He wouldn't last much longer.

Strafa came back. She gave me no chance to say anything this time, either.

She dropped Penny and skedaddled.