Blue Fire. Janice Hardy

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      “Who says I haven’t?” She stuck her tongue out at me and twirled towards the door. “I’ll organise the goodies by value. We can bag them up and keep them in your room overnight.”

      “Sounds good.”

      Aylin shut the door as she left. I sighed and started going through the drawers and shelves, though there wasn’t much besides books. A few candlesticks might earn a good price, a vase that looked like water crystal, but otherwise—

      My guts quivered, same as in the study. My hand froze over the bookshelf, then dropped away. More glyph-carved pynvium? But not just locked away in a drawer. This one was hidden behind the books.

      Why lock one away and hide another?

      I took a steadying breath and yanked out one of the books. Then another, and a third, until the shelf emptied and a small chest appeared. No blue band, thank the Saints, but a simple iron box with a lock on the front.

      My stomach quivered again.

       Just open it.

      My hand wouldn’t move.

       Take it.

      I shoved the books back on to the shelf and raced from the room.

      Chapter Three

      The alley market wasn’t one of my favourite places, and not just because I’d never had anything to sell before. Everyone there was a thief – buying stolen goods, selling stolen goods, looking for stolen goods. You had to watch your pockets as well as your tongue, and if you slipped up at all, someone would rob you of something.

      We’d decided six of us would go. Me, Danello, Aylin, Tali, Soek and Jovan. More would likely draw attention, fewer wouldn’t be able to carry or sell enough to keep us afloat very long. We’d sell in pairs to watch each other’s backs.

      “Everyone remember how much to try and get?” I said a block from the alley. Aylin had done a good job estimating what our bundles were worth. Odds were we wouldn’t get all of it, but the closer we got, the better.

      “I remember.” Jovan already had on his bluffing face. He’d surprised us all last night when we tested each other to see who could lie the best. Tali wasn’t nearly as good, but she had an uncanny way of making you want to give her what she asked for anyway. She called it her hungry puppy face and said she’d gotten many an extra dessert at the League with it.

      I could believe it. And I’d have to remember that next time she tried to talk me into or out of anything.

      “We’ll go in separately. Don’t look at each other, and once you’ve sold your goods, meet back here.”

      Aylin frowned and shook her head. “Not here. Anyone following after we sell might jump us.” She looked around and pointed to the bakery. “That works. Buy something and linger inside.”

      “If you see soldiers,” I added, “get out, but walk, don’t run.”

      “Got it. Let’s go,” said Soek. He and Tali would follow Danello and me, with Aylin and Jovan last.

      Danello grabbed my hand and we walked the last block to the alley market, keeping an eye out for soldiers and thieves. The market changed locations, but you could always find it in the poorest parts of Geveg. It wasn’t that different from the regular market squares, except no one had their wares on display and everyone conducted business in whispers. Today it was just off the docks.

      Our bag was full of silverware and metalwork, so we walked up to a stall with a hammer-and-forge sign hanging off it.

      “And what can I do for you today?” the merchant asked. She smiled, but her gaze weighed the bag like she could guess its worth on sight.

      “My aunt left me her silver and it’s all ugly.” I pulled out a few pieces. “Figured I’d sell it off and buy something nice for myself.”

      The merchant picked up a candlestick and turned it this way and that, a slight frown on her face like it wasn’t the pure silver we knew it was. “It is ugly.”

      “You should see the forks.”

      “You have the whole set? I know a woman who wants to get her mother-by-marriage an ugly gift.”

      I slid the Verlattian teak box out of the bag. Her eyes widened just a bit.

      “The box isn’t bad.”

      It was better than not bad. The wood gleamed, the grain patterns rich and dark.

      Aylin and Jovan passed us and went to a jeweller. Aylin had amazed us all last night with her tale of woe, about her beloved who died in the ferry accident and left her alone, and now she had to sell off all his gifts. How her mistress had given her a few trinkets to help ease her through this tragedy. She seemed exactly like a maid who’d stolen from her mistress’s jewel case.

      The merchant ran her fingers along the wooden lid and lifted it. Silver sparkled in neat rows. “I’ll give you two hundred for the set.”

      “The candlesticks alone are worth that.”

      The corners of her mouth tightened for a heartbeat. “I’d say more like one hundred, maybe.”

      I shrugged, feigned indifference. Inside it was hard to stay calm. Two hundred oppas was more money than I’d ever seen at once.

      “Does your boy there ever talk?”

      “Only when someone’s trying to steal the fish from our net.” Danello folded his muscled arms and glared at her.

      For a moment I thought I saw a smile. “Lucky girl, you. Let’s see, I can probably do…” She inspected the pieces slowly, no doubt trying to decide how much she could cheat us.

      “But it’s goldstone!” yelled a familiar voice. “It has to be worth more than that.”

      I glanced down a few stalls and tried not to suck in a breath. The rent collector was arguing with a vendor, waving one of the statuettes in his face. I forced my gaze away and hoped she was too busy to notice any of us.

      “Three hundred,” the merchant finished.

      “It’s worth at least six.”

      She shrugged. “You can always sell to the silversmith.” She didn’t take her hands off the box though.

      “Give that Baseeri rat my aunt’s silver?” I turned and spat. “I don’t think so.”

      The rent collector glanced my way, then snapped around. She looked from me to the silver on the table, her eyes narrowing as if I were selling off her property.

      Behind her, Tali and Soek left the art vendor. Tali started grinning as soon as her back was turned, so she must have done well. Aylin and Jovan were still at the jeweller’s, but the jewels were being wrapped up so they had to be close to a deal.

      “How about five then?” I said.

      “You’d СКАЧАТЬ