Windglow had been waiting nearly an hour in Smiling Jack’s Trough, a tavern that commanded a view of the river. As it was the largest and busiest public eating establishment in lower Orduna (a fact that, in Windglow’s view, owed nothing to the quality of the food) he had hoped to overhear some useful information there while he waited for Hummer to return from his investigations.
But try as he might, Windglow could not insinuate himself with the surly, ripe-smelling customers who frequented the place. He could not even get close to a table or an occupied bar stool without being driven off by a glare. So he had spent what seemed an eternity sitting alone in a corner, nursing a bitter, cloud beer, choking on the foul, smoke-filled air, and feeling conspicuously out of place. As for insights or commentary, he gathered nothing beyond a limitless supply of obscene complaints about the slow service and the taste of the drink.
That made for a clean sweep as far as Windglow's sleuthing that day. He had uncovered nothing that could further the Tishaarans’ mission or shed any light upon Ehiloru's’ disappearance. He was both relieved and ashamed when Hummer finally appeared in the doorway. Hummer wanted to stay for a brew himself, but Windglow hurried into the street.
“The tavern is worse than a prison,” he said, cutting off Hummer’s complaint. “Why anyone would go in there of his own free will is beyond me. What a horrid, wasted day this has been!”
“Ah, this is the day that the Lord has made,” said Hummer, with a hint of smugness. “Let us not judge it too harshly.”
“What do you mean? Have you discovered something?”
“Wait until we find the women. Heh heh.”
He said no more as they made their way down the streets of Orduna’s north side. Windglow had never seen him so tight-lipped or gimlet-eyed.
With the ghost of the Fourth Realm wolf always crouching at hand to remind him of the price of sloth and inattentiveness, Windglow walked warily, keeping to the shadows. His sharp senses were able to anticipate noises, such as a door slamming. Hummer, however, could have been skipping down the streets of Tishaara for all the caution he showed. Whatever secret he harbored had filled him with immeasurable confidence, perhaps even pride.
Except for the isolated glow in the tavern windows and a diluted light filtering down from the Citadel, the city was shrouded in darkness. This no doubt discouraged many from venturing outdoors despite the early evening hour. Orduna was scarcely safe by daylight any longer, let alone at night. Occasionally, Windglow and Hummer passed a laborer hauling a squeaking wheelbarrow or a small, well-dressed party carrying lanterns as they hurried furtively through the streets. But for the most part, the Tishaarans had the city virtually to themselves.
Orduna had decayed shamefully since Windglow's visit last summer. It was as if no one were in charge anymore. More than that, as if no adult presence even existed in the city. Most of the people they had encountered were rude, ignorant, and quarrelsome. More shingles lay in the streets and gutters than clung to the tattered housing. The pitiful shagbark dwellings and littered avenues showed no trace of enlightened management or the thirst for knowledge that had once been the lifeblood of a great city. There was no decorum, no pride, no sense of community or purpose.
As they approached the main avenue to Dhayelle’s house, they passed through a deeply shadowed block of urban blight. Windglow sensed the attack a fraction of a second before the assailant hit Hummer, knocking him to the street.
Almost immediately Windglow felt slender, cold fingers gripping his throat. He doubled over and swung an elbow that missed the mark. His attacker spun him by the neck and tried to drag him into one of the innumerable alleys carved out of the debris of lower Orduna. Despite having his endurance sapped by the Second Realm conditions, he thrashed furiously until he regained his balance and grabbed the arm that clutched his neck.
But as he pried loose the fingers, he heard a barely audible whisper.
“Windglow.”
Immediately he ceased his struggle. “Delaney! Well met, as they used to say in the old days. I wondered if it might be you. Shaska, is that you, too?”
“Go on! How could you know it was us?” asked Delaney. Even though Windglow was her friend, she had felt a wild exhilaration in waylaying him. After weeks on end of having things happen to her, how satisfying to be the aggressor for once!
“It felt familiar. You may have forgotten, Delaney, but you attacked me once before.”
“Oh, yes. Back on the August plain,” remembered Delaney, sheepishly.
“May I ask why you jumped me?” said Windglow.
“Well, I had been under a lot of stress, and-”
“No, I mean, just now,” said Windglow.
“It wasn’t my idea. I’ve never mugged anyone in my life. Up on the plain doesn’t count. That was just you getting what you deserved for being such a tool.”
“May I suggest you two make 'mugging' your life’s work,” declared Hummer. “My shin feels like it is broken in five places. And my neck!” He sat up and rubbed his throat with a respectful glance at Shaska’s hands
Shaska stopped pulling straw out of Hummer’s hair and gently kneaded his neck muscles. “I am sorry, Hummer. Please forgive me, but I could not risk going easier for fear you might get away.”
“Just a thought, but did you consider saying, ‘please come here, Hummer’?’” he growled. “I think that would have been sufficient. Personally, I think sexual repression is at work here, and perhaps--”
“Oh shut up!” said Delaney.
Shaska told the men of Dhayelle’s treachery and their escape, with a sanitized version of their quick change in the Ordunese store. Windglow listened wide-eyed, like a child being told a ghost story. Hummer, however, maintained his cat-that-swallowed-the-canary look. Although he expressed interest in their tales and asked appropriate questions, the way he held back and nodded and pursed his lips hinted that their tales of unmitigated futility were but of scant consequence compared to the bombshell he was about to drop.
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“Do you mean to say there are soldiers within a couple blocks of here ready to ambush us?” he asked, as he massaged his sore neck.
Shaska nodded. “We did not know the exact route you would be taking so we could not afford to stray too far from Dhayelle’s.”
“You two did very well to avoid capture,” said Windglow. “It sounds as though we owe you our lives.”
“A debt that I shall repay presently,” said Hummer, cryptically.
Delaney gasped suddenly as she saw a tiny foot wriggle out from beneath Windglow. “What about poor little Puddles?”
“Ah, he rides so quietly these days that I forget he is around,” said Windglow. He leapt to his feet, brushing the straw from his seat. “I keep him tucked in my cloak so that he does not give me away as a Tishaaran. He has not been a happy passenger. Anyway, you women waylaid him along with me.”
“You are most fortunate you did so in the Second Realm,” said Hummer, “else we would all be getting an earful of invective from him this very moment.” He suddenly sprang into a little hop of pleasure, grabbed Shaska's waist and swung her around in an arc. “Ah, it is a beautiful night if ever I saw one.”
“You seem to be adapting to this realm better than I,” said Shaska. “But I must say you are reacting strangely to the news of our betrayal.”
“That is because I have just returned from a night of solving the world’s problems which, not coincidentally, happen to be our own. Or perhaps I should say, were our own.”
“If we are indeed fugitives from the law, our problems will but worsen if we keep dancing in the streets,” broke in Windglow. “Come, there is a park by the river where we can hide for a time.”
Like the rest of the city, the park was poorly maintained, but its trees provided refuge from the few flickering lamps that jabbed tentatively into the darkness.
“Please, tell us what you know, Hummer,” urged Shaska.
Hummer savored the moment before he cleared his throat and began. “While you worthy travel hounds have been playing hide-and-seek with Madame Dhayelle and sampling the local brews, I have discovered the whereabouts of a singularly valuable person.” He paused to let that sink in.
Delaney rewarded him by rising quickly to the bait. “Who? Ehiloru? Really, is he alive? Where is he? What do you know?”
“Shhh. Not so loud, please. The very mention of that venerable name is death if picked up by the wrong ears. However, it is true. Not only do I know where he is, I can lead us directly to him, and then get him and all of us out of Orduna by midnight tomorrow. And who knows, in the bargain, we may well solve the secret of the Cold Flame conspiracy.”
“Ehiloru is alive?!” cried Delaney, scarcely daring to hope it was true. That was of far more concern than this Cold Flame business.
“He is a prisoner in the Citadel. Clapped in irons by the Ordunese authorities. Yet though they hold him in irons, they cannot extinguish the esteem in which Ehiloru is held by the pious. There is a captain of the guard at the Courthouse, a man high in the chain of command, who counts himself as one of the prophet’s admirers. And I happened to sniff out this new ally of ours.”
“What makes you sure this man is an admirer of Ehiloru?” asked Windglow. Delaney thought the remark showed the weathering effect that the Second Realm was having on the Tishaarans. Or perhaps it was the burden of responsibility that shaped him. Windglow normally would have greeted word that the sky was falling down with goggle eyes and a “That is simply awful! I wonder what this could mean!” Now he was asking questions and his suspicion was as transparent as every other thought that entered his head.
“I sounded him out carefully,” said Hummer, with exaggerated patience, as if talking to a small child. “With caution and subtlety, tact and discretion. Gained his confidence. He told me exactly where Ehiloru is being held.”
“Why are the authorities holding him?” asked Shaska.
“First of all, we need to be clear as to what we mean by authorities. It appears that the Ordunese government as been usurped by persons unknown, who hide behind the walls of secrecy they have fashioned within that giant labyrinth. People so clever and diabolical that they have covered all trails and evidence of their villainy in the quagmire of bureaucracy. I imagine Ehiloru was one of the rare men with the gumption to get to the bottom of this takeover. To keep him quiet, they have ensconced him deep within those moldy bricks.”
Windglow's skepticism vanished instantly. “Conspiracy!" he whistled softly. "Everywhere a conspiracy! Your report puts an end to our mission, then, Hummer. It confirms that Orduna has already been lost to our mysterious enemy; we cannot appeal to it for aid. Whatever is happening in the realms, Tishaara has no allies in the Second Realm.”
Delaney wheeled on him. “Ehiloru is an ally. You aren’t thinking of running off for home and leaving him, are you?”
“No, of course not,” said Windglow, retreating in astonishment from her attack. “By allies, I meant sovereign nations. We could count Ehiloru as an ally, of course. But, wise and influential as he may be, he is only one person. Now his welfare is another matter. I agree that if he is indeed alive and in trouble, we must do what we can to get him out. The question is how to go about it.”
“That has all been taken care of,” said Hummer, grinning broadly. “My informant showed me how to enter the Citadel unawares. I know where the guards are posted and how to avoid them.”
”What did you say the fellow’s name was?” asked Windglow.
“Did I mention a fellow’s name, Windy, old boy? Or is this a private conversation you are holding with yourself?”
“The man who told you where to find Ehiloru. What is his name?”
“If you must know, it was Flatman or Flayman, or something like that. Started with an “F” anyway. I shall find out in time for you to put it in your diary. Begging your pardon, but let us try to concentrate on the important things. Now we worked out a plan . . .”
“We are trusting everything on the word of one man whom we do not know. This seems a fearful risk,” said Windglow, knotting his eyebrows. “I wish I could feel comfortable staking all our hopes on the chance advice of some stranger.”
“He is a stranger to you,” said Hummer. “He is not to me. I got to know him well before I divulged anything about us. I shall vouch for him personally.”
Windglow bit his lip. “It seems rather too easy. Prior to today, I would have bet all of our lives on Dhayelle’s character. You see how that turned out.”
“Why would he sell me a wholesale pack of lies?” asked Hummer, in exasperation. “What would he possibly have to gain from it? He does not need to lay a trap; he could have killed me right there on the spot.”
“I do not know,” said Windglow. “Shaska, what do you think?"
“I think you are right to be suspicious,” she said. “But I am willing to trust Hummer on this. What his informant says about there being some kind of government coup--that rings true to me, based on what I have seen of this city. There truly is no one in charge. I suspect the captain took a risk in saying what he did to Hummer. If there has been a secret coup, he risks his life even speaking about it.
“And why would he make up such a story?” added Hummer. “He did not need to say what he did to entice us to go after Ehiloru. Such would be our aim regardless of who has taken him.”
Windglow hesitated “Yet I would feel better if we took some time to check this out.”
“By that time, Ehiloru could be dead,” said Hummer.
“He could be dead now,” suggested Windglow.
“We have no time,” said Shaska. “We are wanted in the city; we have no where to hide. No friends. We cannot stay here. We have to leave and quickly. Our only decision is whether we try to bring Ehiloru with us, and as far as I can see there is no debate on that subject at all.”
Windglow continued to bite fingernails.
“Oh, honestly, Windglow,” said Delaney, feeling desperate to get out of Orduna. The man was a hopeless leader. Anytime bold action was called for, he responded with dithering and waffling. “Stop being such an indecisive wuss.”
“A perceptive, thoughtful, and pithy analysis,” said Hummer. “Shall we exploit this advantage, or shall we sit here in idle chatter while the opportunity of a lifetime to actually accomplish a goal of our mission, and incidentally impact the world, flits away?
“Then it is settled,” he continued, dismissing Windglow's anxieties as if their author were not present. Once again, Windglow had lost command of his expedition.
Hummer went on to explain the particulars of his plan, which would be best accomplished in the daytime. Shaska and Delaney confirmed from their surveillance that it was common for people to enter the outer yard of the Citadel during normal business hours.
“Fine,” said Windglow, at last. “I will agree to the plan on one condition. That Delaney stays outside the Citadel as a contact in case something goes wrong inside.”
“No way!” said Delaney. "I’m not staying out here by myself!”
“Contact to whom?” protested Hummer. “We do not know anybody else.”
“Windglow makes a good point,” Shaska broke in, gently taking Delaney’s arm. “We do not want to burn all our bridges in rushing after Ehiloru. One of us should stay outside, and you are the best choice for that. Why, you even look rather Ordunese, more so than we Tishaarans. You can blend in better.”
This turn of events was not at all to Delaney’s liking. The dread of being separated from the only people she trusted in this city frightened her far more than the prospect of stealing into the dungeons of a Courtyard controlled by a mysterious enemy. “What’s the point? If none of you get out, what am I going to do? You think I can come up with a plan to rescue you all by myself?”
But Windglow was insistent that they might have need of someone on the outside. In the end, to avoid any more prolonged argument, the other Tishaarans urged her to give in. “All right,” she said at last. “But you have to promise me you’ll come out of there.”
“Do not worry about us,” said Hummer, with a wink. “By tomorrow evening, we shall all be safely clear of this rancid city, with the good prophet in toe.”