Book One – Chapter 18

Yu got up from the bench. For a moment, he braced.

Pretend you know nothing.

Pretend you suspect nothing.

He needed just enough loyalty to seem useful. Just enough dullness to seem harmless.

With that, he pushed through the door.

Heat and noise slammed into him at once. After the cold of the walkway, the air felt stuffy, almost too heavy to breathe. The smells were thick; fire, wet fur, damp wool, and the rich tang of boiled meat drifting in from the kitchen.

Voices drifted towards him as well. Deltington was blocking the space between the kitchen door and the stairs, addressing the anxious krynn in his calm, unhurried tone.

“If you’re not trained in anything of use,” he said, “I’d ask you to stay here. Reception desk is there. Please come and show your papers.”

The beastkin hesitated.

So did Yu.

He lingered by the garderobe, wriggling himself out of his sodden coat. The fabric clung to him, heavy and stiff. He wrestled it onto a hook and then rubbed at his face and neck with one of the towels from the adjacent shelf. His wings felt numb and clumsy as he worked some warmth back into them.

The guild entrance was built for two kinds of visitors: the dangerous and the half-frozen. The narrow corridor leading from the outer platform into the common room was almost suffocating, but beyond it, the space widened into an oversised garderobe: rows of hooks for dripping coats, trays to catch meltwater from boots and gear, thick mats with various brushes to scrape off snow and grime, and even two weapon stands. The shelves held stacks of clean towels, with a second rack for the wet and used. For some reason, there was also what Yu believed to be a metal mailbox.

Yu had cleaned all of this earlier today.

He had also spent hours on the floor.

You would not know.

The two travellers, as thoroughly they had cared for their injured, had not taken the time to use the towels or brushes for themselves. The stone was streaked with slush and mud, and there were puddles forming around the cracks everywhere. Tracing the grime, Yu gathered that Deltington had led the borman straight to the stairs, but intercepted the krynn before he could follow.