Shadows by E. C. Blake Page A

without permission.”
    â€œHe could lead the Watchers here, if he is captured.”
    â€œHe will not know where ‘here’ is. He will be blindfolded for the entire first day of your journey. And he will not be alone. I had thought to send Tishka with you, but now I’ve decided to come myself.”
    â€œHe knows we’re on the coast,” Mara said. “All the Watchers have to do is sail far enough north—”
    Edrik glowered at her. “Enough! The Commander and I judge the risk acceptable, and that is all you need to know.” He leaned forward. “He has asked to speak to you, and I have agreed that he may do so. But I repeat:
do not tell him that you have magic
.
That
secret we are not prepared to share.”
    And then, an hour after that, Tishka, a tall, thin woman who wore her long red hair in a braided ponytail, one of those who had accompanied Mara on the disastrous attempt to rescue her friend Katia from the mining camp, and who had been coldly formal to her ever since, found Mara in her workshop. Without speaking, Tishka led her to one of the windowless storerooms along the Broad Way, which was emptied of bags of grain and turned into a cell for Chell.
    Two other storerooms nearby, she knew, were also being used as cells: they held Turpit and Pixot, the Autarch’s geologists, captured when the unMasked Army had rescued Mara for the second time from the clutches of the Watchers, at the mouth of the magic-filled cavern that would soon be Aygrima’s second magic mine. Mara had tried to speak to Pixot once or twice—he had seemed almost friendly when they’d first met—but he had refused to see her. Both of them wore their Masks every day, though there were no Watchers to see. Mara suspected they were convinced they’d be rescued and they were afraid of doing anything that might get them labeled traitors once the Watchers finally arrived.
    As they might, if this mission goes horribly wrong
, she thought, and then pushed the uncomfortable thought firmly away.
    The only furnishings in Chell’s chamber were a wooden chair and a narrow bed. Chell pointed Mara to the chair; he sat on the bed. Tishka stationed herself at the door, silent, but watching and listening.
Making sure I don’t say anything I shouldn’t
, Mara thought.
I wonder what her orders are if I do? Kill Chell?
    She couldn’t dismiss the possibility out of hand.
Be careful
, she warned herself.
Be very careful
.
    â€œThank you for coming to see me,” Chell began. “I’ve been wanting to thank you again for saving my life. If you had not come along when you did . . .”
    â€œAnyone would have done the same,” Mara said, though in fact she was uncomfortably aware she had almost turned and run back for help . . . in which case, given the way the waves had been washing across the beach where Chell had fallen, they probably wouldn’t now be having this conversation.
    â€œPerhaps. But you
did
.” Chell gave her a crooked grin, and once again she was struck by how handsome he was, and how much more
mature
he was than Keltan or Hyram. His lean face, stubbled this late in the day, had lost the boyish softness their countenances still bore. “And in return, I want to tell you in person how I came to your shore.”
    â€œI’ve been wondering about that,” Mara said. “It seems an awfully big coincidence that your boat should capsize so close to the Secret City.”
    â€œNot really,” Chell said. “We knew the Secret City was here. Well,” he held up his hands hastily, “not the Secret City as such, but some sort of settlement. We saw what we thought was smoke, from far out at sea.” He shook his head. “Now, of course, I know that most of what we saw was really steam from the hot springs. Nonetheless, it drew our attention.”
    Mara remembered wondering just a day or two before if it were