Tab and Philmon ran. Red-head was out of sight, but they were well practised at spotting particular people in a crowd, and before too long they saw him, limping, but limping quickly.
‘I bet he’s going to the palace,’ Philmon said.
‘Of course he is. The only thing is, I didn’t see him there when I was mind-melding with that pigeon.’
‘That doesn’t mean anything. He might have been in another room.’
They followed Red-head at a safe distance, and eventually they saw that Philmon had been right. The man strode confidently – if slightly lop-sidedly – to the guards who stood at the front gate of the palace. He nodded to them in a very familiar manner, before simply strolling in.
‘I knew it!’ said Philmon.
‘Congratulations,’ Tab replied. ‘Come on, follow my lead.’ And without giving Philmon a chance to respond or refuse, she wandered over to one of the guards at the gate.
The soldier regarded them with a wary look. ‘What does you want?’ he asked in a strange, clipped accent.
‘Oh no, we’re perfectly all right,’ said Tab. She looked up at the front gate of the palace and whistled in awe.
The guard shook his head. ‘No, you no all right. You leaving, is what you are.’
‘But we’re tourists,’ Tab replied.
‘You no tourists,’ the guard argued. ‘They no have tourists in Quentaris since before the Spell of the Undoing.’
‘If we weren’t tourists, we’d know that already, wouldn’t we?’ Tab replied.
The guard frowned as he thought this over. It seemed like quite a lot for his brain to process. Then, suddenly, he lowered the tip of his halberd. ‘You must think I a complete eediot,’ he said.
‘Oh no, not at all. We don’t, do we?’ Tab asked Philmon, who simply shook his head. ‘So, you work here, do you?’ she went on.
The guard said nothing. Instead, he patted his halberd.
‘Of course,’ Tab giggled. ‘Silly me! So, you’re a real palace guard! I suppose you’d know everyone here, probably?’
The guard shrugged. ‘Pretty much.’
‘You see, we’re from out of town, like we said…’
‘Tourists,’ Philmon interjected.
‘Yes, and we thought we saw someone we knew.’
‘Really?’ The guard seemed rather disinterested. ‘Who you think you know?’
‘The man with the red hair who came through a couple of minutes ago. Short.’
‘Fat,’ said Philmon.
‘And with a limp.’
‘Hmm,’ the guard replied.
‘What was his name?’ Tab enquired.
‘I can no tell you that.’
‘Was it Asro Mendeley?’ she asked, plucking a random name out of her head.
The guard shook his head. ‘That’s no his name.’
‘But I’m close, right? Asro Melando?’
‘No.’
‘No, no. Astrin Nando?’ Tab clicked her fingers, then thumped her forehead with her fist. ‘Oh, it’s on the tip of my… Argo Nadro -’
‘Kalip Rendana.’
‘Ah!’ said Tab, slapping Philmon on the arm. ‘Of course! Kalip Rendana!’
‘I told you,’ Philmon said. ‘I told you it was Kalip Redondo!’
‘Rendana,’ Tab corrected him. ‘And he’s in charge of the kitchen in the palace, right?’
The guard sniggered. ‘Hey,’ he called to the other guard, who was standing on the opposite side of the wide stairs leading up to the huge main doors of the palace. ‘This lot reckon Rendana work in the kitchen!’
The second guard spluttered with laughter. ‘If he hear you say that he run you through with his leetle knife!’
‘His little knife?’ Tab asked.
‘That’s right. He a friend of Janus.’
Tab snapped her fingers. ‘Of course! Yes, I remember now! Kalip Rendana! Yes, I saw him nod to you, though. Both of you! You know him. You actually know Kalip Rendana?’
‘Sure I do,’ said the first guard. ‘We both do – him and me. Know him for years. We used to work for him, before we come aboard back when Quentaris was over Unja Ballis. He got us this job. Us and plenty our friends working in palace now. This job good job.’
‘Aha!’ Tab nodded. ‘So you came aboard from Unja Ballis! I knew I’d never seen him before.’
The guard frowned. ‘I thought you say you tourists. You not tourists at all! You both from Quentaris.’
Tab bit her bottom lip. ‘Oops. Well thanks, it’s been… Bye!’
And she and Philmon turned and ran.
‘Who is it?’ Fontagu called, his voice sounding strained, and muffled through the heavy door.
‘It’s me, Tab.’
‘Can’t you children leave me alone?’
‘It’s just me,’ Tab replied. ‘I need to talk to you.’
‘So you can insult me again?’
‘It’s not like that, Fontagu. Can’t you just let me in?’
She heard him sigh. ‘Hold on.’ A moment later the door rattled and swung open. By the time the gap was wide enough to let Tab see inside, Fontagu had already crossed the room and was sitting at his crowded desk once more, and his quill was scratching away at a sheet of parchment. ‘Close the door behind you,’ she heard him mutter.
Tab did as he said, then stood inside the doorway. Ordinarily she’d have sat herself down without a second thought, but this time she could feel the tension thick in the air between them. ‘Fontagu, I don’t want to fight,’ she said at last.
‘What makes you think that I do?’ he replied, without even glancing up. ‘Look, Tab, unless you’ve got something new to say to me, you should just save your breath and go.’
‘I do have something new to say. I know who the red-headed man is.’
Fontagu still hadn’t looked in her direction, but she saw his pen stop moving. ‘Even after we talked about this, you’re still spying on me?’
‘Fontagu, I told you, it was only because we care about you. We worry about you. Especially when we discover that the man who held you up in the street is actually working for Florian.’
Fontagu’s eyebrows flickered in a tiny frown. ‘What do you know about it?’
‘I know that his name is Kalip Rendana, and he came aboard Quentaris back when we were over Unja Ballis, a couple of months back. And he works for Florian’s man Janus.’
‘Does he indeed?’ said Fontagu, but his gulp gave him away.
‘He does. And he took your play, didn’t he?’
Fontagu finally broke down, dropping his forehead onto his desk and beginning to sob. ‘Yes, he took my play – my only copy. He said there had to be changes made.’
‘What kind of changes?’
‘He wouldn’t say. All he would tell me was that Janus was very keen to see one or two changes made to the original version of The Gimlet Eye.’
‘Which he’s going to make himself?’
‘I think so. But no one was to know that Janus had made the changes. That’s why he sent Rendana after me. The new parts are going to be a birthday surprise or something. It’s all very hush-hush.’
‘I don’t understand,’ Tab said. ‘Why would Janus care so much about some play that he would take the time to make changes himself?’
Fontagu shrugged. He seemed so dejected. ‘I don’t suppose it matters now anyway. It won’t be the same classic story any more.’
‘No, I suppose not,’ replied Tab, who was now deep in thought. ‘But it does seem weird, doesn’t it?’
Amelia yawned. ‘I don’t understand why it’s so important,’ she said.
Tab frowned. Perhaps a crowded tavern wasn’t the best place to be discussing the big secrets of Quentaris. She gestured for Amelia to come closer. Then she lowered her voice. ‘What’s important is that Fontagu agreeing to do the play was already dangerous enough. But now this… this person is threatening him. Fontagu thinks it’s all about a birthday surprise, but I don’t believe him. I mean, a knife? No, this Rendana’s definitely threatening him.’
Amelia flipped her table-wiping cloth over her left shoulder and slipped into the seat opposite Tab. Then she leaned forward and took Tab’s hands in hers. ‘You’ve got a very short memory, Tab. Someone is threatening Fontagu – so what? Don’t you remember all the things he’s done?’
‘I know.’
‘He’s got no conscience at all. None! He does whatever he likes, as long as it suits one person – him.’
‘I know, but I think he’s changed, Amelia.’
Amelia didn’t seem convinced. ‘Do you really? I don’t know…’
‘Look, all I know is that Fontagu has been asked to put on a play for Florian -’
‘A mistake,’ said Amelia.
‘True, but even so, he’s going to do it. And now his play’s been stolen.’
‘Don’t you mean borrowed?’
‘I guess so.’
‘Like I said, what does it matter? He’ll get it back. Janus probably just wants to make sure that it’s full of praise for the great and wondrous Florian. He’s being a good subject.’
‘Do you think?’
‘I do. I also think you’ve been spending so much time with your actor friend that you’re becoming as dramatic as he is.’
Tab bit her lip and thought about what Amelia had said. Maybe she was right. Maybe Fontagu was over-reacting, and maybe she was as well. It was quite possible that Rendana was simply the runner for Janus, who was just making sure that the play was perfectly suited to the big occasion of Florian’s birthday. But even thinking this, she still came back to the knife…
‘You’re probably right, Amelia,’ Tab said at last, standing up. ‘I’d better get back to the farm before Bendo notices I’m gone. Again.’
‘Hunker down those shickins properly,’ Amelia warned her. ‘There’s talk of another vortex tonight.’
Tab frowned. ‘Another one? It’s been less than a week since the last one!’
‘I know. Something’s going on.’
‘You can say that again. Where do you hear this stuff, anyway?’
‘Just chat in the tavern, mostly.’
‘You haven’t been heading down into Skulum Gate to get the inside information, have you?’
‘As if I would! But you’d best go. It’ll be getting dark soon, and you’ve got to walk right past Skulum Gate as it is. Then Bendo will be the least of your problems.’
Tab got the very strong impression that Bendo would have been a lot angrier with her if he hadn’t been thinking about the approaching vortex. ‘Look over there,’ he said, pointing towards the beetling purple-grey clouds building up to the west. ‘We’ll be there in an hour, maybe less.’ He sighed. ‘I’m so tired of this.’
‘We’ll get the goats in,’ Tab said. ‘It’ll be all right.’ Then she called to Freya, who was sweeping the pavement on the other side of the main courtyard. ‘There’s a vortex coming, Freya. We need to get the goats inside.’
‘And don’t forget to latch the lid of the straw-box,’ Bendo said. ‘I’ll go and make sure that the shickins haven’t laid any eggs yet. I’d hate for the first eggs they give us to be smashed all over the place in a vortex.’
Freya frowned. ‘Eggs?’ she asked Bendo.
‘Yes, eggs.’
‘From the shickins?’
‘Yes, from the shickins!’ he replied impatiently. ‘So many questions, so little work!’
‘But aren’t they roosters, those ones?’ said Freya.
Slowly Bendo turned his eyes towards Tab, who was trying to keep her growing grin under control. ‘Roosters?’
Tab nodded.
‘All of them?’
She nodded again.
‘You knew this?’
‘I suspected,’ she said.
‘And you didn’t think to tell me?’
‘You seemed so… happy together, with the singing, and the patting …’
‘Goats!’ Bendo shouted, his hands shaking, his face flushed. ‘See to the goats, you revolting child! Both of you, before I lose my temper! And tie them up properly this time!’
As they scuttled away to see to the animals, Freya glanced up from under her eyebrows at Tab. ‘ Singing to them? That’s what you told him?’
Tab chuckled. ‘Everyone needs a hobby. Mine is Bendo.’
Tucked up safely in her little sleeping-stall, Tab squeezed her eyes tightly closed and entered the mind of Rat.›››Thank you
A moment later she saw the triangle of brightness, and then stronger light as Rat poked its nose out. Stelka was standing at the far side of her cell, holding the bars and looking out into the corridor.
As she usually did, Tab made the rat squeal, and at the shrill sound, Stelka turned around. ‘Tab?’ she asked, wiping her eyes.
With a gentle mental prod, Tab caused the rat to squeal again.
Over her shoulder, Stelka glanced further into the dark of the dungeon, before squatting down. Through Rat’s eyes, Tab saw her bring her face closer. For a moment it felt as if the rat was flinching away and peparing to run.›››Steady
Stelka closed her eyes then, and a moment later Tab felt her consciousness edging in alongside hers in the mind of Rat.›››Is Tab?
›››Yes it is››I have to tell you something, Stelka. I followed Fontagu, like you suggested
›››What did happen?
›››He agreed to do a play. He’s doing The Gimlet Eye
›››Very good story that one good choice
›››They took it away from him. They took his script
›››Who?
›››Do you know someone called Kalip Rendana?
She felt Stelka hesitate, but it wasn’t a hesitation that came of fear or uncertainty. It seemed to come of nothing more than Stelka thinking, turning the name over and over in her mind. Finally she had an answer.›››I not know Kalip Rendana
›››He works for Janus, who works for Florian
A shudder brushed past Tab’s awareness.›››He is bad man
›››Well yes, of course he is. We all hate Florian
Somehow, through her next thought, Tab could feel Stelka’s sudden flare of indignation.›››Not Florian. Janus is bad man
›››He only works for Florian
›››Janus only works for Janus
›››What should I do now?››They took Fontagu’s play
›››Do nothing››Wait and watch. You are magician
›››What’s that got to do with it?
›››Magician knows when to act. Go now. Not mind-talk too much for now
›››Are you all right?
›››Go now. Talk later. And be careful, friend Tab
Tab felt Stelka’s mind tear away like a piece of damp paper, and then she was alone in the mind of Rat.›››Thank you again, little friend
Tab pulled away, and opened her eyes to see the inside of her little bed-stall. She lay back and listened to Freya humming quietly to herself in the next stall. Do nothing, Stelka had said. The former Chief Magician had never tried to hide her dislike of Fontagu, and had often tried to warn Tab that getting too close to him could lead to trouble. So was she now encouraging Tab to sit back and let Fontagu’s nature lead him into the trouble that never seemed that far away?
Tab pursed her lips. How could she double-guess Stelka, who had nothing to gain from standing by and watching Fontagu destroy himself ? She couldn’t. She wouldn’t. Tab had very few options anyway, so she would do exactly what Stelka had suggested. Nothing could be achieved by marching into the palace and demanding answers. So she would do nothing, apart from waiting, and watching.
With these thoughts in her mind, and with the vortex-bells ringing high in the rigging, Tab pulled her blanket over herself and picked up her book.
A short time later, without too much fuss, the journey through the vortex had come and gone. It all happened fairly quickly, and was barely even violent enough to make her stop reading. Sometimes going through a vortex led to buildings and walls falling down, and occasionally animals and even people being injured, sometimes even bits of the rigging came down in the streets. A few weeks before an entire spar, as thick as a market lane was wide, had crashed down in the Thieves’ Quarter. Even though many joked that a piece of timber that size was the only thing that could have landed in that part of the city without fear of being stolen, the truth was that a couple of dozen people had been crushed to death. It was almost as if it was a reminder that vortexes weren’t a trivial matter. What was certain was that they were now a regular part of life in Quentaris.
But this one had been relatively gentle, little more than a rumble coming through Tab’s mattress, a couple of minutes of darkness, one or two bricks falling from a wall somewhere nearby, and a sudden pallid brightness which made Tab think of watered-down lightning. It was a relief. A gentler vortex meant less of a clean-up around the farm.
In the street that ran along the other side of the stable wall, Tab could hear excited voices and hurried footsteps. This was as much a part of travelling through a vortex as mixing up mortar for repairing walls. Nor’city Farm was quite close to the edge of the city, and every time Quentaris was taken through into another world, most Quentarans rushed to the edge to look down and see what kind of place they’d been taken to this time.
Quite frankly, Tab couldn’t be bothered. She was tired. Besides, she’d find out the next day, when everyone was talking about the colour of the land, whether it was mountainous or flat, dry or lush, populated or deserted. She’d find out, she’d be interested for a moment, and then she’d go back to not caring that much either way.
So for now, unless Bendo barged into her stall and insisted that she clean up some mess or another, she was going to stay right where she was, and she was going to sleep.