heard Smhee behind her saying, ‘When you get close, within ten feet of her, move
quickly to one side.’ She did so just as the Raggah, a woman, noticed the blood
on the front of her robe. The woman opened her mouth, and Smhee’s thrown knife
plunged into her belly. She fell forwards with a thump. The fat man withdrew his
knife, wiped it on the robe, and they dragged her through a doorway. The room
was unlit. They dropped her near the door and went out, closing it behind them.
They went down to the end of the hall from which the woman had come and looked
around the corner. There was a very wide and high-ceilinged corridor there, and
from a great doorway halfway down it came much light, many voices, and the odour
of cooking. Masha hadn’t realized until then how hungry she was; saliva ran in
her mouth.
‘The other way,’ Smhee said, and he trotted towards the staircase. At its top,
Masha looked around the corner. Halfway down the length of this hall a man
holding a spear stood before a door. By his side crouched a huge black wolfish
dog on a leash.
She told Smhee what she’d seen.
As excited as she’d ever seen him, he said, ‘He must be guarding the mage’s
rooms!’
Then, in a calmer tone, ‘He isn’t aware of what we’ve done. He must be with a
woman or a man. Sexual intercourse, you know, drains more out of a person than
just physical energy. Kemren won’t be sensitive to the wheels just now.’
Masha didn’t see any reason to comment on that. She said, ‘The dog didn’t notice
me, but we can’t get close before he alerts the guard.’