Vordius frowned and looked down. “What a stench! I never would have thought that fish could stink like that.”
“It’s probably some old stores,” Sorgius said as he tried to get a look at the roof, which was hidden in darkness. Their jailers had given them one small light, but it was not nearly enough for them to get a good look around them.
They were silent for a time.
“What about the third idea?” Vordius finally asked.
“You won’t like it,” Sorgius said slowly. “There’s a big man with his hairy paws mixed up in what happened to Uni, and he’s got rank. Probably somewhere in the palace. And he and the people under him don’t give a fig about a guardsman and his little Vuravian friend.”
“Is that even possible?” Vordius was incredulous.
“Anything’s possible. You didn’t bring your badge with you, did you?”
“You told me not to!”
“It doesn’t matter now. But if they kill you…”
“Us! They’ll kill us!”
“I’m sorry. If they kill us, it doesn’t really matter to anyone. Vordius Onato, a nicor in the Imperial Guards, disappeared while on his own time. Nobody knows what happened to him. Maybe he deserted, betrayed his beloved Emperor?”
“Oh Heavenly Deity, what have I done?”
“To them,” Sorgius pointed at the wall with his chin, “it’s all logical.”
“Only because we’re a pair of idiots! Good old Sorgius knows what to do! I wish I’d never listened to you. You’re a dead man!”
“You don’t have to believe me if you don’t want to, but I still can’t see where we went wrong. I know all about the trade. I’m from Vuravia, after all. And that creeping reptile Yahey never let slip that he suspected something.”
They sat together in silence.
“Maybe Yahey is actually Fire Asp?” Vordius’ face lit up. “And if the redhead is his girlfriend, then he knew what you were after before you even opened your mouth. He was playing with us like a cat with a mouse, and we walked right in between his paws!”
“That looks like the size of it.”
“May the Shadow take you, Sorgius! This isn’t funny!”
“I didn’t say it was.”
A sudden, harsh sound made both friends jump, but it was just a door – an old door that didn’t fit its jamb and needed to be oiled. Vordius tensed his body and prepared to meet with a bitter fate ending in death, but once again he was tricked by an unexpected turn of events. A third person – small and limp – was tossed into their cell and landed in a heap on the floor, crying out in pain.
Before they had time to think, four ruffians entered the cell. They were all heavy-built and smelt of beer and unwashed bodies. One of the four squatted in front of Vordius and drew a knife out of a narrow leather sheath.
This is the end! flitted through the guardsman’s mind. He felt no fear. Instead, he looked straight in the thug’s eyes, firm in his intuitive decision that he would not look down, even when the knife went for his throat.
“You look like a carp on a hook with your eyes bugged out like that,” grinned the thug, showing his yellow teeth. His comrades chortled at what passed among them for humor. Vordius was distracted, and in that instant, the ruffian grabbed him by the shoulder, spun him around and shoved his face against the wall. The guardsman saw stars.
Now he’ll take me by the hair, pull my head back and cut my throat like a sheep! Heavenly Deity, what did I do to deserve this death?
And once again, the Heavenly Deity made it clear that no man knows his own fate. The ruffian pulled his arms over his head roughly and did something to his wrists.
“Let’s have that other one!” someone said behind his back. He looked up at his arms (which were so numb he could barely feel them) and saw that the cords that had bound him were gone, leaving only red marks on his wrists. Feeling almost drunk, he breathed in deeply the smell of rotten fish and thought: How wonderful it is to be alive!
Without waiting for an invitation, Sorgius turned his back and raised his bound arms as high as he could.
“Look at him! He wants it!” the ruffian guffawed, gyrating his hips at Sorgius’ backside. His colleagues laughed loudly, and the little Vuravian went beet-red, but his humiliation did not last long, and soon the cords were gone from his wrists, too.
The ruffian put the knife back in its sheath and growled, “You know what to do. We won’t get in the way.” And with that, they were gone.
“Did any of that make sense to you?” Sorgius broke the silence. Vordius shook his head as he stared off into space. Then he leaped up and looked around their cell. The body that had entered the scene first suddenly showed signs of life and began crawling for the opposite corner. It was hindered by the fact that its hands were tied, so Vordius caught up with it easily.
He looked at it closely. “It’s a girl!” he announced.
“No!” Sorgius waved his hands as if warding off a curse. “Don’t tell me it’s…”
“Have a look for yourself!” The guardsman took an oil lamp from the wall and knelt down in front of the young woman who had joined them in their misfortune. She crawled as far from him as she could until her back hit the wall. Sorgius peered at her over his friend’s shoulder.
“Stop shaking like that!” Vordius burst out.
The young woman’s red hair was plastered to her filthy, tear-stained face. Her dress, once obviously very expensive, was torn from hem to waist, and she tried in vain to hide the bruises on her long legs.
“It’s her!” Sorgius said quietly in the voice of a man who knows he is doomed.
“Are you sure?” Vordius turned to him. “Really sure?”
“Absolutely,” he answered flatly.
“We’ve got you now!” Vordius grinned, turning back to the girl. “It’s good to see you again, Fenia Brazelo. Do you remember me?” he hissed through clenched teeth. “You tried to kill my brother, you vile piece of work! I’ll squeeze you so hard your heart will pop out of your mouth!” The young woman turned her face away.
“Stop it, Vordius,” Sorgius said in a voice that was still quiet, but suddenly firm. “Can’t you see she’s terrified? And she’s been beaten.”
“Let’s finish her off!” the guardsman cried, never taking his eyes off his target. “We’ve got her, Sorgius! The one who poisoned Uni!”
“We aren’t scum like those out there,” Sorgius nodded at the door.
“You’re right, of course,” Vordius agreed, “but what I see in front of me is one filthy hag. And I swear by the Emperor’s crown that she’ll tell me everything she knows and then I’ll…”
“And then what? Don’t you understand? That’s exactly what they want us to do.”
“What?” Vordius turned from the girl to his friend and back.
Sorgius’ voice got stronger. “Unlike some people, who let their anger get the best of them, I’ve given some thought to what is really going on here.”
“And?” the guardsman asked, scratching his shoulder.
“They tossed her in here for a reason. They want us to make short work of her ourselves!”
“But why? What would they gain by it?”
“Don’t you see? Imagine you’re Asp and the Imperial Guards are looking for a girl who did a dirty job for you. That makes her a problem, and you don’t need problems.