Chapter 1
Monotony is strangely predictable. Even in a new town, Kynbessne found things painfully foreseeable. She expected the thunk of her boot heels against the tightly packed dirt of the streets. Turning to enter another wide avenue, she knew it would be the same as the last before she set eyes on it: a wide, empty path with tall, whitewashed buildings on either side. Alleys jutted off here and there, sinking into darkness as they were lost in the shadows of the buildings.
This time of the afternoon, things would remain the same until she reached the Market District. There, the buyers and sellers would be swarming between their stalls, hurrying to get the last purchases of the day before they were forced to return home for the night.
Kynbessne sighed, shifting her grip on her bags as she turned another corner and entered the main stream of people as they passed through the center of the city. The people talked and laughed with each other, heading back toward their residences. Kynbessne went on a little ways, hardly noticing the crowd even as they jostled her and then stopped at a street corner to glance up at the sky. The clouds were massed there, vaguely grey with promise of neither rain nor sunshine. They seemed just as bored with the day as Kynbessne herself.
She turned and stepped forward, unconsciously waiting for the thunk of her heel.
It never came and instead someone dressed in breeches and a white shirt with a violently red strip of cloth tied around their head slammed into her. Both fell to the ground in a jumble, Kynbessne’s bag flying off to the side.
“Sorry!” the stranger said, clambering to her feet and pulling Kynbessne up along with her. The other girl turned, glancing feverishly over the ground before snatching up a small package wrapped in brown paper.
Kynbessne looked at her in shock, her mind not quite caught up with the fact that she had been standing, then knocked over and was now on her feet once more.
“Very, very sorry, I promise,” the girl was continuing, thrusting Kynbessne’s bag back into her hands even as she looked back over her shoulder.
“It’s— It’s all right,” Kynbessne stammered.
The girl stopped to look at her for the first time, a slight smile on her face as she noticed her accent. “You’re not from around here.”
Kynbessne settled her skirts more properly. “No, I’m not. But—“
Before she could continue, shouting rose up somewhere behind them and the girl was grabbing Kynbessne’s hand to drag her around a corner and into a small alleyway. Once she’d been released, she tried to adjust to her eyes to the sudden gloom.
“The name’s Jennika,” the girl said, turning about slowly, focused on their surroundings. Stairs led up the outside of the building on their right to where clothing had been hung out to dry and several barrels were lined up on their left, half-full of rain water. The back of the alley was blocked off by stacks of large crates, filled with the skies only knew what. Finishing her circuit, she turned back to Kynbessne. “But most people just call me Jenny.”
Kynbessne was still standing exactly where she had been dropped, stunned. “It’s a pleasure meeting you?”
Jennika laughed. “You don’t happen to be a mage, do you?”
“Um… no.” Kynbessne shifted uneasily.
“Drat.” Jennika turned away again, snapping her fingers. “I always run over the wrong people.” She bit her lip and eyed her surroundings one more time. “I guess I’m just gonna have to do this the hard way. Take a seat. Oh, and take this.” She pressed the brown package into Kynbessne’s grasp. Without waiting for a response, she turned and got to work.
Whipping the red cloth from her head, she dipped one end into a barrel of water and used it to scrub some of the dust and dirt from her face. Within a few seconds, the grime had been cleared away, revealing lightly tanned skin and she was dashing up the stairs to pull clothes off the line. Kynbessne watched, awed, as she slipped a skirt and overdress over her own clothing and wrapped her red head band around her waist like a sash to cover the fact that both items of clothing were too large. She tied her dark hair back with a thin ribbon and leapt over the rail to land beside Kynbessne again.
“What?” Kynbessne began as Jennika turned her around so that her back was facing her. “What are you doing?”
“Just hang on a sec.” Jennika was twisting Kynbessne’s curly hair up on top of her head and moving the pins that were already there to hold it in place.
“Do you have any paint?” Jennika demanded, still separating off curls to let them fall around Kynbessne’s face.
“Paint?” Kynbessne hardly dared turn her head.
“Paint,” Jennika repeated, taking a step back to allow her to turn. “Rouge, kohl…”
“Oh,” Kynbessne set her bag on the stairs and snapped it open. “Of course.” Hesitantly, she pulled a dark wooden box out and Jennika snatched it away, opening it.
Kynbessne had taken a great deal of time that morning to do her make-up, but Jennika quickly redid it, darkening the lines around her eyes and the color on her lips. Kynbessne protested at first, but stopped as she realized that the other girl had finished and was starting on her own face, using the water in the barrels as a mirror. A moment later, she was finished and handed the box back to Kynbessne, smiling broadly.
Kynbessne swallowed, accepting it, though her eyes were still on the other girl’s face. A few minutes ago she’d been faced with a ragamuffin that looked like it had been dragged halfway across town, through every mud puddle that could be found. Now, she looked every inch of a noblewoman’s lady-in-waiting and had made Kynbessne herself look like the Lady she would be serving.
Jennika swept an elegant curtsey, a little hastily done, but performed perfectly. “My lady…” There was an impish glint in her eye. “Shall we take a stroll?”
Kynbessne didn’t reply, but allowed Jennika to take the bag from her hands and lead the way back out onto the street. Jennika linked arms with her as they walked and glanced over her shoulder once, then straightened up and forced a smile onto her face.
“Lovely day, isn’t it, my lady?” There was the trace of an accent threaded through her voice, made to mimic Kynbessne’s. She was good.
“I suppose it is,” Kynbessne replied. She started to turn and look behind them as well, but Jennika gripped her arm a little more tightly.
“Keep your eyes forward,” Jennika whispered. “Just make small talk. If luck’s with us, they’ll pass right by.”
“Who will?” Kynbessne returned. “What are you running from?”
Jennika pretended to laugh, dispelling the serious tone that had dropped around them for a moment. “My lady, that’s a strange sort of small talk.”
“And what would you have me talk about?” Kynbessne asked. She shot a look behind them before Jennika could stop them. There seemed to be nothing there, just the people that she would expect, laden down with packages as they returned home.
“My lady,” Jennika said. “You may speak of whatever you like. If you are searching for a topic, however, might I suggest a discussion on how long it would take a monkey to sail from Derend to Carak?”
Kynbessne blinked. “I beg your pardon?”
Jennika kept her eyes trained on the street ahead, though a smile was tugging at the ends of her mouth, begging to be a full-fledged grin. “I would suppose that it would depend on just what kind of ship they were sailing, and on what the chances were of them just happening to find their way from one port to another. Unless of course, you think that monkeys could be trained to read maps.”
“Trained to read maps?” Kynbessne demanded.
The other girl nodded. “Oh, yes, my lady. I’ve seen monkeys quite well trained; though it’s true, I’ve never seen them read. Perhaps that’s a challenge we can set for ourselves?”
Kynbessne tried to decide whether she should be laughing or running for her life. As it was, she simply walked on with her. “Whatever is wrong with you, it’s no small thing,” she said finally.
Jennika let the grin break out. “There’s nothin’ wrong with me that I don’t want to be wrong,” she told her, letting the accent drop away for a moment. Quickly, she slipped back into it. “Let’s go this way.”
They started to turn down a side street, heading away from the larger mass of people.
“Excuse me,” a man said from almost directly behind them.
Kynbessne jumped a little and Jennika grimaced.
“My lady,” the man continued. The two girls turned to meet him.
He was a big man, with dark hair cropped short around his head and a hefty sword slung across his back. Two daggers were stuck in his belt, though they were better hidden under the front of his knee-length coat. Behind him, two men stood, similarly armed, with their arms folded over their chests. Kynbessne looked to Jennika, but her head was tilted down in the attempt to hide her face.
“My lady,” the man closest to her said again. “I’m sorry to disturb you, but…” he glanced sharply at Jennika. “We’re lookin’ for someone and we were told that she might have been with you.”
“And… who are you looking for?” she asked, trying to keep her voice level and as innocent as possible.
“A girl, about your age, my lady. No older than seventeen.” He turned his attention back to Kynbessne and Jennika lifted her head, satisfied that he hadn’t recognized her. “She’s a dirty little thing,” he went on. “No better than a sewer rat.”
“And what do you want her for?” Kynbessne demanded. “Surely you don’t need three full-grown men like yourselves to bring down some,” she hesitated before using the words, “sewer rat.”
The man ducked his head. “She’s a thief, miss. We’re sent to retrieve an item she took, nothing more.”
Kynbessne thought about the small package that Jennika had given her, now tucked inside her bag. Who was this girl?
“Have you seen her?” the man prompted, watching her face. She looked up, starting to open her mouth and Jennika nudged her in the ribs with an elbow.
“Why yes, miss,” Jennika began, her voice even heavier with the accent then it had been before. “Wasn’t that the girl that ran into you?” She turned toward the men, her face a picture of helpfulness. “She just ran into us, then took off for the west end of town.” She gestured back the way the men had come. “She can’t have got far. It was only a few minutes ago.”
The man’s brow furrowed as he looked at her, but he nodded and turned to go, motioning for the others to follow him. They strode across the street quickly, disappearing in the twists and turns of the roads ahead.
Jennika chuckled to herself and started shedding the layers of clothing she had added to her own, letting her hair out of the ribbon and tying the sash around her head again.
“Well, thank you very much,” she said, going back to her usual voice. “I’m assuming you still have that package?”
“It’s in my bag,” Kynbessne told her.
Jennika opened the bag and fished it out, before handing the rest back to Kynbessne. “I hope I didn’t bother you too much.” She extended her hand in farewell and waited for the other girl to take it.
Kynbessne eyed her coldly. “You’re a thief. That’s stolen, isn’t it?”
Jennika slowly crossed her arms, leaning back. For a moment she looked down, and then looked back up, meeting Kynbessne’s gaze with laughter in her brown eyes.
Kynbessne ignored the look. “You’re a thief and you’re running from the magistrate’s men.”
She snorted. “They’re not the magistrate’s men. They’re thieves, too. Or at least they’re employed by a thief.” She paused, noting that Kynbessne’s expression hadn’t changed. “Don’t worry. I didn’t make you do anything that would get you in trouble with the authorities.”
“And what about with them?” Kynbessne demanded. “Do I have to worry about them breathing down my neck now?”
Jennika waved it away. “They won’t touch you. They just want this thing back and otherwise they want to keep things as quiet as possible.” She tossed the package in the air, letting it land back in her palm before she tucked it away inside her shirt. ”The less ruckus they make, they less chance they have of being caught. It’s a just game we’re all playing.”
“A game?” Kynbessne asked. “What—“ she stopped, trying to calm her own voice and Jennika smiled.
“Just a game, miss.” She spread her hands wide, innocently. “Just for fun.”
“Fun.” Kynbessne wasn’t convinced. “What is that thing anyway?”
“What?” Jennika stepped back to look at her.
“That thing you had me carry.” She pointed toward where the package rested under the other girl’s shirt. “What is it?”
Jennika shook her head and started to back away. “You don’t want to know that.”
“Yes, I do,” Kynbessne insisted.
“No.” Jennika shook her head more forcefully. “I didn’t ask you for your name, or where you were going, or how I could find you. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t know you. You’re not involved in this and you don’t want to get involved.” She shrugged. “Sorry to bother you.”
Turning, Jennika ran, slipping into a side alley and out of sight. Kynbessne hesitated, wondering whether she should be following to get more answers from her. Slowly, she turned back toward the main street. She had other things to do that day and it wouldn’t help anything to be late.
