They sent Zaphar in to infiltrate Verheti. The two street kids, Haris and Yaseen, whom they had picked up back in Denasti went with him.

The pair had clambered around on the boat, both while it was being refurbished and during the quieter times at sea, that Anton had some hope of them qualifying for the Sailor class. They probably qualified for more than a few criminal classes. Right now, though, they were too young for a class, which was an advantage, according to Kelsey.

“No one’s looking for them,” she said when Aris objected to sending them into the city. “They’ve spent their lives living off the streets, looking for information and handouts. The difference now is that we’re feeding them.”

The boys certainly had no objection, far preferring a ‘job’ in the city to hanging around the fishing village with the girls. The rest of the team found a roadside inn a little way outside of the city and settled in to wait.

Anton, Aris and especially Kelsey kept their faces hidden, but they didn’t see any signs that the authorities were looking for them. After a full night and day at the inn without incident, Anton stopped worrying about being discovered and started worrying about other things.

“What do we do if they don’t make it back?” he asked Kelsey.

“They’ll make it back, don’t worry,” she assured him. “If they don’t… I don’t suppose you’ll want to cut our losses at that point, will you?”

“I don’t want to…” Anton said. “But if they capture Zaphar, won’t they find out where we are?”

“He would crack like an eggshell,” Kelsey acknowledged. “I suppose that means we won’t be kept wondering long. They’ll have a detachment of troops on our back before you can say Rumpelstiltskin.”

“It’s good to know that our capture and execution will be quick,” Anton muttered sarcastically.

“Relax,” Kelsey said easily. “First of all, nothing is going to go wrong. Second of all, if something does go wrong, we’ve got a pretty good view of the ground between the bridge and here, so we’ll see a detachment of guardsmen riding hell for leather toward us long before they arrive. And thirdly…”

She trailed off.

“Thirdly?” Anton prompted.

“Thirdly… I think that’s Zaphar coming now.”

Anton twisted to look around.

“Is that… Does he have a donkey, now?” he asked.

They went out to meet him on the road. It was quicker, and there were less prying eyes. Also, Kelsey got to pet the donkey. She was completely unperturbed by the way it pulled away from her and bared its teeth.

“Could you… not… do whatever it is that you’re trying to do?” Zaphar asked plaintively. He was using all his strength to hold the donkey back, and failing. Anton reached out and grabbed the leather strap. Suddenly unable to move back further, the donkey brayed and tried to take a bite out of Kelsey.

“It’s a loaner, so please don’t kill it,” Zaphar said quickly.

“I’m disappointed,” Kelsey said, reluctantly leaving the donkey alone. “I thought you’d become a man of means, a merchant with his own donkey! And yet, it seems that you’re merely living off the charity of others.”

“Yes, yes, very funny,” Zaphar said sourly. “Perhaps we could get to the inn, and I can tie this demon-beast up somewhere and have a proper conversation?”

“Too many ears,” Kelsey said casually. “Fill us in out here.”

“Fine, fine,” Zaphar said. He made sure that Anton had a good grip on the strap, and then released his death grip. He moved carefully over to the donkey, trying to access its saddle bags without getting bitten. Fortunately, the beast still had its entire attention focused on Kelsey, so he was able to accomplish this easily. Smirking in triumph, he passed a bundle of papers over to Kelsey.

“I had a remarkably easy time of it, I did,” Zaphar said. “Almost suspiciously so. At least some of the guards have an inspection Trait—they knew I was a merchant.”

“They didn’t ask for passes?” Kelsey said, flipping through the pages.

“They did, but I told them the story—that I had been robbed on the way and only had the sample bag I’d managed to run away with. Then it got weird.”

“Oh?” Kelsey said. She passed the papers to Aris. Anton would have taken them, but he was busy with the donkey, which seemed to have decided that Anton was the only thing that could save it from the demonic Kelsey. It was hiding behind him while still trying to run away.

“One of the guards has an uncle who is an alchemist. The guard thought his uncle would be very interested in the glass jars you left me with, and suggested that I contact him.”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Kelsey chuckled. “I keep forgetting how bad you guys are at glass making, she said. “So instead of disappearing into the slums…”

“It would have looked odd if I didn’t follow the guard’s advice,” Zaphar said. “So I followed the directions and… he was interested. I have an order for five hundred more of the second type.”

“The square ones?” Kelsey asked. “I guess I can fill that if we need to, but we aren’t here for trade deals.”

“He was useful,” Zaphar said. “In between setting me up with a merchant’s pass, which I didn’t need, he put me up and told me about the city. I learned about the upcoming games from him. And he lent me this donkey and gave me two weeks’ supplies for the trek back to my hometown that I was supposed to be eager to make.”

Kelsey laughed. “Feels like your little green friend is looking out for you,” she said. “Nothing like the luck of the Fae.”

“If that is so, it worked out better than last time,” Zaphar said. “Last time, it was a nightmare.”

“What are the games?” Anton said. “It sounded like they were important?”

“It’s probably something to do with this,” Aris said, holding up one of the sheets so he could see. Anton was getting better at Elitran script, but all he could make out of the writing was ‘Arena’ and ‘Death’. The eight pictures were more informative, or at least four of them were.

“That’s Thalorin!” he said. “And Seraphin!”

“They’re scheduled to fight to the death in a week,” Kelsey told him casually. “Gonna be a big event.”

“Oh,” Anton said. “That’s the trap.”

“Exactly,” Kelsey agreed. “Now all we have to do is spring it.”

“That’s not all of the trap,” Aris said. She held up another picture. It wasn’t as accurate as the ones of the captured townsfolk, but it was clearly supposed to be Kelsey. There were others for Anton and Aris.

“They’re looking for us,” Aris said. “I don’t know why they didn’t bother posting these outside the city, though.”

“They don’t want to warn us,” Kelsey said. “If we’d just walked in we would have been spotted before we even knew they had posters out of us. If we’d seen posters out here, it would be easier for us to get away.”

“Speaking of getting away, where are the boys?” Aris asked. “You didn’t lose them, did you?”

“No, no,” Zaphar said. “They will be handling our entrance into the city.”

Aris frowned. “Don’t you have a pass now? Can’t we all just walk in on that?”

“Yes… but also not at all.” Zaphar said. “The pass belongs to a fake merchant who is expected back in the city in four weeks. If I return early, the guards will mention my arrival to the uncle and suspicions will start to rise.”

“So what’s the plan?” Kelsey asked.

Zaphar shrugged. “I bought a boat.”

----------------------------------------

“This is a rowboat,” Soraya said disdainfully. “And it leaks.”

“All boats leak,” Kelsey said.

“Ours doesn’t. My father’s didn’t.”

“When it comes to my boat, give it time,” Kelsey said. “The sealant worked pretty well, but it won’t hold forever. As for your father’s ships, did you ever go down to the lowest deck? Where they kept the bad slaves?”

“My father’s slaves were well treated,” Soraya muttered. “But… no. I didn’t.”

“There you go then,” Kelsey said with amusement. “I know you don’t like getting your feet wet, but suck it up, princess.”

Soraya hesitated some more. “Maybe I could go back to the village with the other girls.”

“No. A courl would stand out like a sore thumb,” Kelsey said. “Anyone who passes through would have questions, and that might lead to attention.”

Anton waited patiently on the middle seat for Kelsey to chivvy Soraya into the boat. He was new to rowing, but it wasn’t particularly hard. This would be his second trip.

“Do you know where we’re going?” he asked Tyla. She was behind him, at the front of the boat.

“I do, I saw where Zaphar led you,” she said.

“Then we’re off!” Kelsey said. “Soraya, try to keep the grumbling down to a minimum. If someone hears us when we get near the city, they might think we’re up to no good!”

Soraya made a disgruntled snort but managed to keep quiet as she climbed in.

It should be fine, Anton thought. Zaphar’s real purchase hadn’t been the boat. Kelsey could have pulled out her Zodiac if need be, and Anton was pretty sure that it could be rowed just as quietly as this boat. What Zaphar had secured was a dock, out of the way, but still within city limits. Knowing now what Kelsey had taught Anton about criminal enterprises, Anton was sure that it had been used for smuggling many times before.

The boat cut through the dark water, Anton steering according to the occasional murmured directions from Tyla. It wasn’t long before she whispered for him to slow down. Looking over his shoulder, he could see the dock looming out of the darkness, with Zaphar standing there waiting for him.

“This way,” Zaphar said softly, once they had all disembarked. He led them down some narrow alleyways to a nondescript door. He knocked three times and Aris opened the door to let them in.

“How much money did I give you?” Kelsey asked, looking about the place. They seemed to be in a comfortably furnished house. Four doors led off to other rooms, and this room had enough backless couches to seat them all.

“Ah… There was a downpayment for the bottles,” Zaphar said.

“Nice,” Kesley said, testing the cushions. “I assume there aren’t any servants we need to worry about?”

“It is all ours for three weeks,” Zaphar said.

“Then let’s get to planning,” Kelsey said. “Zaphar, what do we know about the arena and the games?”

“The event will last a full day,” Zaphar said. “With the death matches being the final event.”

Anton swallowed. “They have to fight until one of them dies?” he asked.

“Yes, It is very unusual, I think. Rused had no arena, but from what I hear, death is expected but one can normally surrender. For these matches, no, which has increased the excitement.”

“I guess if you own a person, you don’t want them to die on you,” Kelsey commented.

“That’s… not inaccurate,” Soraya mumbled.

“So is al-Khadir on the lineup?”

“He’s not on the program, but it’s said that he will be attending. They say that he will challenge the winner of the main-line tournament and also that he has offered to buy the freedom of any slave who lasts five minutes against him in a duel.”

“That’s a long time,” Anton said.

Soraya shook her head. “It could be a minute and it would be too long,” she said. “He’ll make it interesting by drawing it out. Shallow cuts, letting them run, that sort of thing.”

She shuddered. “He’s a monster that loves pain and the roar of the crowd.”

“Noted,” Kelsey said. “Do we know the layout of the arena?”

“Not yet,” Zaphar said. “But there are lesser events most days. I can get in and surveil.”

“That’s a start,” Kelsey said. “But we’re going to need more than the public areas. She beckoned for the two kids to come closer. They had kept quiet since rowing the boat out to meet them.

“I’ve got a special job for you two,” Kelsey told them.