She frowned. In fact she had run into the garderobe of the hostelry where the carriages had stopped for lunch, a stinking stone chamber too close to Protocol for comfort. But she wasn't going to waste time explaining. "Listen to me, whatever your name is--"
"Keiro."
"Well, Keiro. It's vital I speak to Finn. How did you get this Key from him anyway? Did you steal it?"
He had very blue eyes, and his hair was blond and long. He was handsome and he certainly knew it. He said, "Finn and
I are oathbrothers, sworn to each other. He gave it to me for safety."
"So he trusts you?"
"Of course."
Another voice said, "Well, I don't."
A girl stepped up behind him; he glared at her hotly and muttered, "Will you shut up?" but she crouched and spoke hurriedly to Claudia.
"I'm Attia. I think he's going to leave Finn and the Sapient and try to Escape as Sapphique did, and he thinks the Key will work for him. You musn't let him! Finn will die."
Bewildered by the names, Claudia said, "Wait. Slow down! Why will he die?"
"They seem to have some sort of ritual in this Wing. He has to face the Beast. Is there anything you can do? Some magic from the stars? You have to help us!"
The girl had the filthiest clothes Claudia had ever seen; her hair was dark and hacked into a rough, jagged cut. She was clearly worried sick. Trying to think, Claudia said, "How can
I do anything? You have to get him out of it!"
"What makes you think we can?" Keiro asked calmly.
"You've got no choice." A shout out in the inn-yard made her glance around nervously.
"Because Finn is the only one I'll talk to."
"Like him, do you? And who are you anyway?"
She glared. "The Warden of Incarceron is my father."
Keiro snorted. "What Warden?"
"He ... oversees the Prison." She felt cold. His scorn chilled her. Quickly she went on.
"Maybe I can find charts of the Prison, a map of its secret ways, its doorways and corridors that will show you the way out. But I won't tell you a thing until I see Finn."
It was a lie that would have made Jared groan, but she had no choice. She didn't trust this
Keiro; he was too arrogant, and the girl seemed angry and scared.
Keiro shrugged. "What's so special about Finn?"
She hesitated. Then she said, "I think ... I think I recognize him. He's older, he looks different, but there's something about him, his voice ... If I'm right his real name is Giles, and he's the son of... a fairly important person out here." She shouldn't say too much. Just enough to get him to act.
Keiro stared, astonished. "Are you telling me all that guff about coming in from Outside is actually true? That mark on his wrist means something?"
"I've got to go. Just get him."
He folded his arms. "If I can't?"
"Then forget the magic of the stars." She looked at the girl, their eyes meeting briefly.
"And this Key will just be a useless lump of crystal. But if you're his brother, you'd want to rescue him."
Keiro nodded. "I do." He nodded toward Attia. "Forget her. She's crazy. She knows nothing." His voice was low and earnest. "Finn and I are brothers and we watch each other's backs. Always."
Attia gazed at Claudia, her face bruised. Doubt moved in her eyes. "Is he related to you?"
she asked quietly. "Your brother? Cousin?"
Claudia shrugged. "Just a friend. A friend, that's all." Hurriedly, she switched the field off.
The Key glimmered in the fetid darkness. She shoved it into the pocket in her skirt and ran out, desperate for fresh air. Alys was loitering anxiously in the passageway, servants bustling past her with trays and dishes.
"Oh, there you are, Claudia! Earl Caspar is looking for you."
But Claudia could already hear him, the thin annoying bray of his voice, and to her dismay she saw that it was Jared he was talking to, and Lord Evian, the three of them sitting on benches in the sunshine, the hostel dogs sprawled in an expectant row at their feet.
She came out and crossed the cobbles.
Evian stood immediately and made an ornate bow; Jared moved quietly to make a space for her. Caspar said crossly, "You're always avoiding me, Claudia!"
"Of course not. Why on earth would I do that?" She sat down and smiled. "How nice. All my friends together."
Caspar scowled. Jared shook his head slightly. Beside them Evian hid a smile with his lace-edged handkerchief. She wondered how he could sit there so coolly with the Earl, a boy he was plotting to have murdered. But then, he would probably protest that it wasn't personal, that this was politics, nothing more. The game, always.
She turned to Jared. "I want you to travel with me now. I'm so bored! We can discuss
Menessier's Natural History of the Realm?
"Why not me?" Caspar tossed a hunk of meat to the dogs and watched them fight over it.
"I'm not boring." His small eyes turned to her. "Am I?"
It was a challenge. "Indeed not, Your Grace." She smiled pleasantly. "And of course I'd love you to join us. Menessier has some excellent passages on the fauna in the coniferous forests."
He stared at her in disgust. "Claudia, don't try that wide-eyed innocent junk with me. I told you, I don't care what you get up to. Anyway, I know all about it. Fax told me about last night."
She felt herself go pale, couldn't look at Jared. The dogs growled and fought. One brushed her skirt and she stamped at it.