LITMIR.BIZ

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than you, but no one who lives here.’

      ‘They’re a fair-skinned lot around here, aren’t they?’ Hava sat in the chair opposite Hatu. ‘There is some talk that the number of travellers has gone up recently. Just a sense there’s something going on out there that is causing more travellers than usual to pass through town.’

      ‘Business?’ asked Hatu.

      ‘The merchants are happy: they’re selling more. Declan’s busy repairing gear and horseshoes and the like.’ She fell silent for a moment, considering. ‘It’s the … type of people who are passing I … I think we need mention to …’ Reflexively, she glanced around to make sure no one could overhear, but of course the only two people in the building were Hatu and herself. ‘When we send that message, we should make it clear that bands of armed men seem to be moving towards Port Colos. And some of the trade goods … Barons Dumarch and Bavangine aren’t the only ones having weapons made. Armour, swords, who knows what else in those tarp-covered wagons.’

      Hatu nodded. ‘If you care to make notes, I’ll memorize them and pass them along.’

      ‘When are you going to Marquenet?’

      ‘Next week or the week after, I’m thinking.’ He stood up. ‘If we don’t have a customer soon, I think I’ll …’ He shrugged. ‘I don’t know what I’ll do.’

      ‘You have never known how to simply sit and … just be!’

      He was forced to return her laugh. ‘I suppose so. Donte always knew how to find something fun to do, didn’t he?’

      She lost her smile at the mention of their friend’s name. When last he had been seen he had been hanging from chains in a cave beneath the waves, a prisoner of a coven of witches called the Sisters of the Deep. ‘He did, didn’t he?’ Looking at Hatu, she said, ‘I know one thing you can do.’

      ‘What?’

      ‘Run upstairs and open those little windows at each end of the landing. Now that the roof is done, it’s getting hot up there. Get a breeze going through and we’ll shut them at sunset.’

      He laughed. ‘That will certainly keep me busy for a few minutes.’

      He went upstairs and moved to the window at the far end of the landing. He had made some improvements at the suggestion of the carpenter Declan had hired to start the repairs – Hatu had enough carpentry experience to see the man knew his trade. He’d added two new rooms overlooking the rear of the inn, which would increase profits once the inn filled up, and these windows, which created a breeze through the upper floor to help keep the rooms from getting too hot in summer, which was now quickly approaching. He swung the hinged window inwards, four panes cleverly separated by wooden grilles that could be removed should the glass break, allowing him to slip unbroken glass into the grooves set into the larger frame. The configuration would keep costs down as only a broken piece of glass would need to be replaced, rather than the entire window.

      He also judged that should the weather turn cold, he might need to put heavy shutters on the outside. He’d wait until he saw what winters were like, assuming he was still here then. Every plan was plagued by unknowns, something that had bothered him since childhood.

      He opened the window at the opposite end of the landing and was heading back down the stairs when he heard a voice. A man said, ‘… heard you’d reopened, so we hurried over. Sleeping in a barn is …’ The man stopped speaking as Hatu came into view and nodded a greeting. Returning his gaze to Hava, he said, ‘So if you have a room and a bath, it would be welcome.’

      Hava seemed slightly wooden in her posture to Hatu, but the two men seemed unaware of it. Hatu required all his self-control to maintain his easy manner. The first man was the one who had been seen around town for the last few days, the one Hava was seeking information about, which meant the other man had to be the one who arrived with the armed escort the day before.

      What caused Hatu’s chest to tighten was that he recognized the second man. He was the man Hatu had spied while investigating the cathedral in Sandura, the one who had been speaking to the assassins known as Azhante, dangerous men somehow related to the sicari of Coaltachin.

      Hava said, ‘This is my husband, Hatu.’

      Both men nodded, and Hatu said, ‘We have a bathing room out back. I’ll heat up some water while my wife shows you to your room.’

      ‘Two rooms,’ said the second man.

      Hatu nodded.

      After a few minutes of hauling water from the well to an iron kettle, and starting a small fire beneath it, Hatu heard Hava enter the bathhouse. She held some folded cotton towels and hung them over a wooden bar next to the tub. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘I guess we’ll find out what those two are up to.’

      ‘I have to travel shortly,’ he replied.

      Her eyebrows shot up. ‘Why?’

      Master Bodai had given firm instructions after Hatu had seen those assassins speaking with this man, who had worn the clothing of a soldier of the One Church. Slowly he said, ‘I cannot tell you.’

      Hava’s face remained impassive, but her eyes searched Hatu’s face, seeking a clue about what was happening. Her training took over and she nodded slightly. ‘I’ll tell them the bathwater will be hot in a few minutes.’ She left him alone in the bathhouse.

      Hatu watched her vanish through the door and wondered if he should have said more. Again he considered how the line between truth and lies could be blurred and the fact that she was his wife – or would be once their marriage took place at the summer festival – only because she was ordered to play the role. That made him painfully aware that he had been told his obligation to Coaltachin was over with his return to Baron Daylon Dumarch, yet at the same time being told to continue as an agent for the Kingdom of Night. If his duty to Coaltachin was over, why did Master Bodai order him to continue as if it was not?

      Hatu had no ready answer to this conflict he knew would only grow inside him. He knew a time might come when he would have to elect one side or the other. Whichever choice he made might end his relationship with the woman he loved.

      • CHAPTER TWO •

       An Unplanned Event and A Surprise Reunion

      Gwen entered the forge and Declan asked, ‘How is it?’

      She didn’t need to ask what ‘it’ was. She nodded and smiled. ‘Fine. To be truthful, Hatu’s fixed up the place far better than Da ever did.’ She fell silent, looking puzzled.

      ‘What?’

      ‘There’s something about that man.’

      ‘Hatu?’

      ‘Yes. Hatushaly. It is a bit of a foreign name, isn’t it?’

      Declan crossed to the forge and began putting his tools away. ‘Well, I expect there are places where Declan sounds foreign.’

      She nodded. ‘I like him, in a way. I also like Hava; she’s been kind.’ She let out a slow breath. ‘And as I said, the inn has never looked this good. They even cleaned out the cold cellar and completely organized the bathhouse. I’d bathe there myself.’

      Declan had never used the bathhouse, having the luxury of a tub of his own in the house that came with the smithy. But he’d heard stories, and judged Leon, Gwen’s father, to be a less than fastidious innkeeper. Given how run-down the place that passed for an inn in his own home village of Oncon was, Declan hadn’t been put off by the condition of the Three Stars. He rather enjoyed it there, but the truth was that what he had enjoyed was Gwen’s company, and it didn’t matter much where that was.

      ‘Speaking of bathing,’ he said, ‘I could do with a wash. Would you mind heating

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