“Remain outside this building until you’re relieved. Obler, is there a back door?”
“Aye, but it’s thrice-bolted.”
“Meaning?”
The scriber tapped below his left eye and grinned. “All very loud to draw back. Wakes me up, sir, every time.”
“Used lately?”
“No, sir. Not in weeks, sir. Not since before they arrived.”
“So this Korbal Broach left by the front door?”
Obler paused at the landing. “Which one be him, sir?”
“The eunuch-the one who’s out right now.”
“One’s out right now? You’re certain, sir? I ain’t seen but the one of them out of that room since they arrived, sir, and that be the one you just seen, sir. That other one, he’s in there, sir, ’cause he ain’t never left.”
Guld’s frown deepened. “You’re mistaken, Obler.”
But the scriber just shook his head.
“Well, does the man eat?”
“Uh, no sir, he don’t.”
The frown became a scowl.
Obler’s eyes darted, and he licked his lips. “Come to think on it, sir, that’s kind of odd. Unless they share the meals, sir. Fasting, like.”
Guld moved on down the steps, the corporal on his heels. “The eunuch,” he said over his shoulder to Obler, who crowded behind the corporal, “what did he look like?”
“Big, sir. Huge. Didn’t say anything I don’t think. Just smiled a lot, sir. Clammy as a dead whale, sir, that’s how he looked. Never knowed he was a eunuch, but now that you’ve said it, it’s plain. Aye, a eunuch.”
“Have some wine,”Bauchelain said, pouring two goblets full and handing one to Reese, who took it gratefully.
“I’m sorry, Master-”
“Not at all. As the guard implied, it would have been unfortunate-and undesired-if you had come to any harm.” He turned an inquisitive gaze on the old man. “Why so stubborn? You seem a wise man, Mister Reese-to assault and defy a sergeant of the Watch…”
“Well, I didn’t want to fail you, Master. I, uh, I like this job.”
“You feared losing it? Do not be concerned on that account, Mister Reese. We find you ideal.”
Emancipor looked around. We?
“And besides,” the sorceror continued, sipping his wine, “I have foreseen a long acquaintance between us, Mister Reese.”
“Oh? Oh.”
“Although your mind still holds its mysteries.”
“It does, Master?”
“Mmhmm. For example, your wife of thirty years…”
“Subly? Well, I gripe a lot, Master, ’tis true, but she’s stayed by me all this time, and sometimes she’s been all I had to hold onto, sir, if you understand me. I love her dearly-”
“I know. It’s not that, Mister Reese. In your mind I can hear her voice, yet I cannot find an image-I cannot see her within you, and that is what I find so peculiar…”
They stared at each other over their gold cups, neither blinking, for a long moment, then Bauchelain downed the last of his wine, cleared his throat and turned away.
“I have work for you tomorrow, Mister Reese.”
“Master?”
“And…” Bauchelain refilled his goblet. “Book us passage. Eastward, as far as a ship will take us.”
Emancipor’s eyes narrowed. “Yes, Master. Should I get a refund from Obler?”
“No, leave that be. But I want us out of Moll in two days hence. Is this likely?”
“ ’Tis the turning of the season, Master. I can guarantee it.”
“Excellent. Oh, and Mister Reese?”
“Yes, Master?”
“Be circumspect.”
“Of course, Master.”
“You’ve met this sergeant before, Mister Reese?”
Emancipor nodded. “Twice. Once, a year back, when my employer was assassinated, and then when Merchant Baltro was murdered.”
Bauchelain nodded thoughtfully. “He seems a sharp man.”
“In every way, Master. He’s famous. The King himself commands that Sergeant Guld conduct investigations. Certain ones, that is. Murder, mostly. Guld’s never failed.”
“I take it he is the man investigating this night-killer haunting your city.”
“Yes, sir, he is.”
Bauchelain smiled. “Well, then, I suppose it was a matter of course that we, as foreigners, be sought out and questioned.”