Dan held Sallina's hand. They walked away from the body of the old man. Sallina's heart was pounding. Her knees felt weak. Garibaldi and Baat stepped around the old man's body and followed Sallina and Dan. They said nothing. Sallina looked backward. It was too dark for her to see the old man lying on the road.
"He's dead?"
"Yes, Miss." He looked from left to right, turning his wolf head. But he shone his light only upon the road.
"No light!" Baat said.
Dan looked back at Baat. "Walk fast."
They walked fast.
"No light!" Baat said, "Killers here!"
Dan kept his light on the road. Baat talked to himself in Kubla. He took his fighting sticks off his pack and held one in each hand. Garibaldi did the same.
"Who killed him?" Sallina said.
"Thieves," Dan said, "They took his trousers and boots. That's why the smart ones go at night in big groups. Because of the thieves."
"But he was just an old man!"
"I'm just an old man too, Miss."
Sallina let go of his hand. Her mouth was dry. "I have never seen a dead person before."
"I hope you don't see another one tonight. But you might."
Garibaldi held his sticks in one hand. "The same thieves will rob that other woman too, won't they? The one who was drunk."
"As long as she stays still on the side of the road," Dan said, "They probably won't see her."
Baat went forward and walked beside the light on the road. "Why light?"
"Be quiet. You do what I say. We talk later."
Baat shook his head. Sallina looked at Baat, but she could not see his face under his mask. She imagined that he must be frowning.
"Garibaldi," Dan said, "Are you okay?"
"Yes," Garibaldi said.
"I thought so," Dan said.
They walked in silence.
Someone was crying in the darkness in front of them. Dan's light shone upon a young woman sitting in the road. Her clothes were wet and covered with mud. She sat cross-legged. She had no mask. In her lap was a small furry thing that didn't move. She looked up at the light and held her hand in front of her eyes.
"Who are you?" she said.
Dan shone the light down on the ground, out of her eyes. "Pilgrims."
The young woman looked down at her lap and the furry thing there. She shook her head slowly. "Pilgrims don't wear masks."
Dan kneeled down beside her. "Are you hurt?"
"No stop here," Baat said, "Keep moving."
Dan spoke over his shoulder to Baat in Kubla. He said a few words in a slow, calm voice. Baat did not answer. Dan faced the woman again. "Are you hurt?"
The woman lifted up the furry thing in her lap. "My doggy is dead." It seemed to Sallina that the young woman was getting her tongue stuck between her teeth, or having some other difficulty like that, because her words were not clear, and she spoke slowly. "Someone stepped on him."
Dan looked at the dog. "His neck was broken." He stroked its head. "He died quickly."
The woman hung her head and started crying.
"Stand up and come with us," Dan said, "If you stay here, you will be robbed and murdered."
The young woman shook her head, "No, I'm staying here with Pookie." She stroked Pookie's head.
Dan stood up and took a deep breath. Against the lights of the city, Sallina saw his wolf head look up at the sky, as if it was about to howl at the stars.
"Bring Pookie with you," Dan said.
The young woman did not look up. She swayed back and forth. "No, Pookie's spirit is here."
"Okay," Dan said. He started walking towards the city, shining his light upon the ground.
Baat followed him. Sallina and Garibaldi stood by the young woman. After a few seconds, Sallina ran after Dan.
"You can't just leave her there!"
"I can and will," Dan said. "You come with me, or we go straight back to the beach and you can forget about this rescue." He turned his head and spoke back to Garibaldi. "You too, Garibaldi. Stay close to me."
"Coming," Garibaldi said.
"Stop it!" the young woman said. "Stop it!"
Garibaldi caught up with them. He had the young woman over his shoulder. Dan shone his light upon them both. Garibaldi walked past them, towards the city. The young woman was pounding on his back with one hand, and holding Pookie in the other hand.
"Let me go!"
Dan laughed. He watched Garibaldi carrying the girl. He slapped his thigh and laughed again.
"Hah! Look at him go!"
Dan hurried after Garibaldi. Sallina and Baat stood next to one another staring. They hurried forward also. The young woman stopped hitting Garibaldi, and stopped shouting. She held Pookie's body next to her face with both hands, and hung over Garibaldi's shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
And so it was that, half an hour later, Garibaldi entered Prudence City with a handsome mask on his face, and a young woman over his shoulder. So far as he could tell, the young woman was asleep. Dan walked beside him, humming to himself. Sallina and Baat walked a few paces behind, saying nothing. An avenue crossed the road.
Dan stopped. "Which way?"
Garibaldi turned his body to the left so he could look along the avenue. He had to turn his body because the young woman's bottom was pressed against his left cheek. He pointed. "That way."
Garibaldi set off along the avenue. There was a water-channel running down the center. Tall, old trees grew on either side of the channel. Many of the houses along the avenue had torches burning on their roofs. The light from these torches lit the streets well enough for them to see.
Sallina expected to find the streets full of people celebrating the circus, and dancing, and running around getting into mischief. Every now and then she heard people cheering, clapping, or shouting on the other side of the high walls beside the avenue. But there was nobody in the streets.
"Where people?" Baat said.
"Where are the policemen?" Sallina said.
Dan did not answer. He kept humming his tune.
Sallina walked behind Garibaldi. It was clear to her that Dan did not think she was worth talking to. He thought she was a foolish little girl for hiding the fact that she was sick, and for coming on a long walk with new boots. It was true that Dan looked after her when she was hurt, but that was his job. Just because he looked after her did not mean that he cared about her. He did not care about her. He did not answer her question because he did not care what she thought, or what she wanted to know. She looked at the back of Garibaldi's head. There he was, still carrying that woman. Sallina was sure the woman had drunk far too much wine, and she thought it very likely that the woman had spent the entire day watching people killing one another in the mud of the circus. Now here the woman was, draped over Garibaldi's shoulder, and Garibaldi seemed to be enjoying carrying her, as if he wanted her body to be close to his.
It was kind of Garibaldi to pick up the woman and save her. And Sallina was amazed that he was able to carry her so far. They must have walked over a thousand paces since he picked her up. But Sallina wanted him to put the woman down. She did not like him carrying her. She looked around. There was nobody here, but the street was not dark. There were no policemen, but there were no thieves either.
"Why don't you put her down now, Garibaldi?"
Garibaldi stopped and looked at Dan. "Will she be safe here?"
Dan's eyes looked out of his wolf mask. Sallina could see his chin. She thought he was smiling, but she was not sure. He scratched the back of his head and stared back down the avenue. He scratched the top of his head and stared down the avenue in front of them. Sallina could see the side of his neck. Now she was sure he was smiling.
"I don't rightly know," he said, "I'll leave it to you. You rescued her. She's your responsibility."
"No!" Sallina said. "That's not right. You're in charge. You said so yourself. We have to do what you say. Now tell us what to do about the girl."
Dan turned towards Sallina. The light of a torch on a roof behind her sparkled in his eyes. The wolf head was dark and ugly in the flickering light. She heard him chuckle behind the mask. She clenched her fists. What was so funny? How dare he laugh at her? She was frightened, her feet hurt, and she had just seen a murdered old man. The man she loved had another woman over his shoulder. Of course she was upset. What was funny about that? Dan was a cruel and horrid person to laugh at her.
Dan turned his back on her. "Let's keep moving." He started walking away.
Garibaldi said, "I'll put her down when we find a safe place."
Sallina nodded. There were tears in her eyes. She was glad that no-one could see the tears beneath her mask. She wanted to run away and take Garibaldi with her. Something was wrong with this adventure. There was something wrong with Dan, and there was something happening to Garibaldi. She felt as if she was far away from him, even though he was standing in front of her. If she ran away, she was not sure Garibaldi would come with her. She could not run away on her own. There were thieves and murderers hiding in the dark. She had to stay with Garibaldi, and Garibaldi was going to follow Dan. Garibaldi was a good man, but he would do what he was told. Even when Dan pulled her hair and laughed at her, Garibaldi would do what he was told. She could not run away.
Garibaldi walked quickly to catch up with Dan. Sallina and Baat followed behind. Sallina watched the woman bouncing against Garibaldi's broad back. Even as she watched, the woman let go of Pookie. The little furry thing fell to the ground. Sallina imagined herself stepping over Pookie's body as if she did not notice it, and the woman waking up in the morning and wailing because she had lost the body of her little dog. She did not mind the thought of the woman wailing. But she did mind the thought of her feeling terrible about leaving the little dog's body alone in the street.
She bent down, and picked Pookie up in one hand. The little dog was stiff and cold. It was no bigger than a rat. She kept walking. Baat was beside her. He put his hand on her back. She looked sideways at him. His two eyes stared out at her from behind his stocking mask.
"You be okay. No cry. Come, I keep you safe."
Sallina nodded. "Thank you, Baat. You are a good friend."
Soon after that, the young woman threw up on the back of Garibaldi's oiled canvass trousers. Garibaldi put her down on a bench at the center of the avenue. Dan held the woman's head up while she threw up some more on the street. Sallina put Pookie's body next to her on the bench. Baat stood with a stick in each hand, watching the street.
Garibaldi looked at the back of his trousers. He laughed and shook his head. Sallina took off her oilskin hat and used it to scoop some water from the water channel behind the bench.
"Here," she said, "Turn around and I'll wash it off."
Sallina poured water on the back of his trousers. One hat-full of water was not enough. "Come stand by the channel," she said. They stood by the channel and she scooped water onto his trousers until all of the young woman's vomit was washed away.
"Thank you," Garibaldi said.
Dan stood up. The woman was lying on her side on the bench. He looked at Baat. "Put those sticks away."
"Why?" Baat said.
"Put them away, right now."
Baat frowned. He tied his sticks to the side of his pack.
Dan turned to Garibaldi. "All cleaned up?"
"I think so," he said.
"What are you going to do with her now?"
Garibaldi walked to the bench and knelt down beside the young woman. Her eyes were closed and she was breathing deeply. "I think she's asleep."
"You could say that," Dan said.
Garibaldi brushed the hair away from the young woman's forehead. As he did so, he noticed that her sweater came high up on her neck, almost to her chin. But there was something hard underneath the neck of the sweater. He put his finger over the top of the sweater neck and pulled it out. Beneath the sweater was an iron torque. The young woman was a slave.
Sallina watched Garibaldi kneeling beside the woman, and opening her sweater. Was he trying to look at her skin? She stepped towards him. She grabbed his hand. "What are you doing?"
Dan laughed. Garibaldi let go of the young woman's sweater. Sallina let go of Garibaldi's hand.
"What were you doing?"
Garibaldi stood up. Sallina's red rabbit mask was a bit crooked on her face. One of the ears was bent sideways. He wanted to straighten it for her, but he thought she would not want him to. He could see her mouth, and she was frowning at him. She was angry. Why was she angry?
Dan folded his arms. "Decide right now what you're going to do with her, Garibaldi. Here comes the town guard."
Garibaldi looked back down the avenue. Ten men with helmets and spears were walking in their direction. The men were only a hundred paces away. Four of them carried bright lanterns.
Garibaldi looked at Sallina. She was angry at him. He would worry about that later. She had been angry at him before. He would sort it out when they had time to talk. He looked down at the young woman. She was a slave. The police were coming. They would look after her. She was someone's property.
"I'll leave her here" He started walking. "Follow me. It's not far from here."
Dan and Baat followed him. Sallina took one last look at the young woman. She had thrown up on Garibaldi's trousers, and she did not even seem that beautiful to Sallina. What did Garibaldi like about her? Sallina stomped her foot on the ground. The ten policemen were getting closer. She followed the others.
Garibaldi turned right off the avenue and into a street. They left the policemen behind them. The light was dim in the street. There were hardly any torches on the roofs. After a few hundred paces, he stopped at a corner. An alley crossed the street. The alley was dark. Garibaldi pointed to the left.
"It's down there in that alley, the sixth door on the right. The door opens into the back of Diamara's garden."
Dan shone his light into the alley. The alley surface was flat pieces of stone, just like the street and the avenue. He scratched the back of his wolf head.
"Is that right, Baat?"
"Garibaldi remembers," Baat said.
Dan walked into the darkness of the alley. The others followed him. He shone his light upon the walls. The walls were made of stone. They were slightly higher than the top of Garibaldi's head.
They passed a door in the right wall.
Garibaldi whispered, "That's the first door."
After another thirty paces there was another door.
"Big gardens," Sallina said to Baat. "Diamara lives in a nice neighborhood."
Baat did not answer. Sallina decided that he was too excited to think about how lucky Diamara was.
"This one," Garibaldi said.
They stood in front of a wooden door. Dan turned off his light. There were torches high up on the roof of the house beyond the door. Sallina could not see the torches, but their light shone upon the top of the wall on the other side of the alley. Music and laughter came from beyond the wall. It was not loud enough to be in the garden on the other side of the door.
Dan stood still, with his ear near the door. Baat started to say something. Dan held up his hand. "Quiet."
Sallina listened. The music was a drum, a flute, and some kind of string instrument, not a guitar. There were many people talking, both men and women, and every now and then a few people would laugh.
"It's a party," Dan said, "Inside the house."
He shone his light on the door. "Are you sure this is the one?"
"Yes," Baat said.
"Yes," Garibaldi said. "That's the door Chimeg opened. We talked to her here in the street."
Dan looked up at the wall. "Can you get over that, Baat?"
"I go over," Baat said.
"Go, then," Dan said. "We'll wait here. Good luck."
Baat took off his pack and gave it to Garibaldi. He tucked one stick in his belt.
"Remember, Baat," Dan said, "No killing."
Baat did not answer. He stood at the base of the wall. Garibaldi knelt down and clasped his hands together. Baat put one foot on Garibaldi's hands and stepped up. Now he was high enough to put his hands right over the top of the wall. He dropped down to the street again.
"What is it?" Dan said. He shone his light upon Baat.
Baat held his right hand out in the light. It was bleeding. "Sharp stones on wall."
"Damn," Dan said, "I should have checked. I'm sorry. It's glass."
He said a few words to Baat in Kubla while he took off his pack and searched in it with his light. He took out a bandage. He wrapped the bandage around Baat's hand.
When the bandage was ready, Baat said, "I try again. Smash glass with stick."
"Good idea," Dan said. "Go slowly and you'll be okay."
Baat stood up on Garibaldi's hands. His face was in the light of the torches. He tapped the glass with his stick. They heard the glass cracking. Little pieces fell down and landed upon the stone of the alley. Sallina was worried that someone on the other side of the wall would see Baat's face. But Baat kept tapping the glass. Garibaldi stood with Baat's foot in his hands. He was holding all of Baat's weight.
Baat stopped tapping. "I go now. All broken now."
Dan spoke to him in Kubla.
"I make sure," Baat said.
He grabbed the top of the wall and pulled himself up. He put his leg over and dropped out of sight. Sallina heard the crunch of cracking twigs on the other side of the wall, and then nothing.
Dan held his light out to Sallina. "Hold this. Point it at the lock."
She took the light. It was a metal tube about twice as long as her index finger. It felt cool and heavy in her hand. She shone it on the lock.
Dan took some thin, black tools out of his pocket. "Garibaldi, watch the alley."
Dan knelt in front of the lock and put two of the tools into it. The tools looked like metal toothpicks. After a moment, he took off his wolf mask and gave it to Sallina. "Can't see properly with that on."
Sallina held the wolf mask. She stroked the fur on it with one finger. It felt like wolf fur. She thought she could tell by now, having bought wolf furs herself.
Dan was fiddling inside the lock with his tools. "Keep the light steady, Miss."
"Are you opening the lock?" Garibaldi said.
"I'm trying too." Dan took his tools out of the lock and reached into his pack. He took out a glass vial. The vial had a thin spout on it. He put the spout in the lock and tilted the bottle upwards.
"What's that?" Garibaldi said.
"It's oil," Dan said, "Now keep your eyes on the alley."
Dan put the vial in his pocket and began fiddling with the lock again. Something in the lock went click. He moved his tools more slowly.
Sallina listened for any sound of Baat on the other side of the wall. All she heard was the laughter and music of the party. The plan was for Baat to go to Chimeg's window, which was near the ground, and knock on it to tell her he was there. She would come out into the garden and they would climb over the wall. That should take no more than a minute. But she guessed that three minutes had gone by already. What was going on?
"What did you say to Baat before he went over the wall?"
"I told him to make sure he brought Chimeg back over the same place."
"Oh."
The lock went click again. "Rats," Dan said. He took his tools out of the lock and wiped his forehead with the back of one hand. He took a few deep breaths and pushed the tools in again.
"Is it stuck?" Garibaldi said.
"No," Dan said, "I'm out of practice, and it's amazing how a rusty old lock, no matter how simple, can be hard to open."
Sallina pointed the light at the lock and tried not to let it move away from Dan's fingers. Dan must have opened a lot of locks in the past, she thought. At the very least, he was a thief. Very likely, Jacqueline was right, and Dan was an assassin. He had opened the locks on people's houses so he could go inside and kill them.
Dan put his tools back in the lock.
A man shouted from inside the party, from inside Diamara's house. There was a crash, as if several plates and cups had fallen off a table onto the floor and shattered. A woman screamed. The music stopped. There was a bang. The sound of people shouting grew louder. A young woman's voice in the garden spoke in Kubla. She spoke loudly and quickly, as if she was frightened. Baat's voice answered in Kubla. He sounded angry, or frightened, or both.
"That's Baat," Garibaldi said.
Dan said nothing. He kept fiddling with the lock. He closed his eyes and pressed his ear to the door.
"Stop right there, young man," a woman said. It sounded like Diamara.
"Put that stick down," a man said, "Or I shall kill you."
The young woman's voice spoke again in Kubla.
"Chimeg! Don't be a fool!" Diamara said, "You will never get off the island. I will hunt you down, and you will be sorry."
"You beast!" Chimeg said.
"We are three, and you are one," the man's voice said, "We have swords, and you only a stick. This is your last chance. Drop your weapon."
There were people running in the garden. The sound of their feet on the garden paths and through the bushes came closer to the garden door. Someone was on the other side of the wall, where Baat had climbed over. It was Chimeg. She was speaking to someone in Kubla. Whoever it was answered. It sounded like a child. They were both speaking Kubla.
The lock went clunk. Dan put his tools in his pocket. He reached out to Sallina. "My mask."
Sallina handed Dan his mask. He put it on. "My light."
She gave him the light. He put it in his pocket.
A clattering and ringing sounded from the garden. A man cried out in pain.
Dan opened the door. On the other side was a large garden. There was a lawn, flower beds, a fountain, and stone paths. Beyond the garden was a two-story house with many windows. The windows on the ground floor were bright with lamp-light. Two glass doors were open. In front of the doors were ten or twenty people in masks. They wore dresses and suits. Ten paces in front of Sallina, Baat stood fighting with one stick against two men with swords. Another man was down on the grass holding his leg.
Right next to the garden door, trying to climb over the wall, were Chimeg and a boy. When Chimeg heard the door open, she pushed the boy through it and turned around. The boy stood in the street. Garibaldi looked at him and guessed that he was about eleven years old.
Sallina watched Baat fight the two men. His stick moved so fast, she could not see it in the dim light. But she could see the swords of the two men who attacked him flashing in the light from the house. The men moved out to either side of Baat. Baat stepped backwards. He jumped at the man on the left, knocked his sword aside, and smacked him on the side of the face. The man must have been tough, because he did not fall down. Instead, he thrust at Baat. The other man swung at the same time. But Baat was no longer there. He was two steps closer to the door. They followed him, their swords held out. There was blood running down the face of the man Baat had hit.
Chimeg shouted. Baat swung his stick at one man and then the other. Both men stepped back. He turned and ran for the door. Chimeg moved aside. Baat ran through the door and into the alley. Dan slammed the door shut. Sallina watched to see if Dan would lock the door again, but realized that locking the door would take too much time with his little tools. Diamara's guests would be at the door in a few seconds.
"Run," Dan said. He started running back up the alley.
Baat picked up his pack where he had left it next to the garden wall. He said something to Chimeg and the boy. They ran after Dan. Baat followed them.
Many people on the other side of the wall started shouting at the same time.
Sallina and Garibaldi stared at one another. It was dark, and she could hardly see his face.
"Wow," Garibaldi said.
Sallina started running. Garibaldi ran after her.
Sallina's heart was pounding. She ran as fast as she could. All she wanted to do was run. She passed Baat. Baat was running slowly. Chimeg and the boy were in front of her. She ran past them. Only Dan was in front of her. She did not know where Garibaldi was. She did not think about him. She ran.
Garibaldi ran with Baat. They went less quickly than he wanted, because they stayed behind Chimeg and the boy. Fifty paces behind them, the door to Diamara's garden slammed open. Excited voices echoed down the alley between the walls. Light shone from several lanterns.
"Stop!" Diamara's shouted, "Stop, thief!"
The light cast long shadows in front of Garibaldi. Between the shadows, he saw that the boy had no shoes.