Daughter of Witches: A Lyra Novel by Patricia Collins Wrede Page B

Those foreigners may not even have gotten away. And there are too many places to look. Are you sure you can’t walk?”
    “I can hardly move my leg at all,” Ranira said hazily. “Try, Shandy. You know where to look; you can find them. They got away. They’re hiding over by the old market. You have to find them.”
    “All right, Renra. I’ll go look,” Shandy said. “But I don’t like it.”
    Ranira sank back, relieved. She wanted to say more, to explain, but she had no energy left to do so. As she watched Shandy climb the wall once more, a wave of dizziness pulled her, unresisting, into darkness.

Chapter 8
    S HE WOKE ALONE AND miserably uncomfortable. Her head ached, and her injured leg throbbed painfully. The ragged black gown, still damp with river water, clung with unpleasant coldness to her back and legs. The effects of the drug lingered on; she felt slow and stupid. She found herself staring intently at a broken piece of brick and could not remember why. Irritated, she forced herself to look around.
    She lay where she had fallen, at one side of a small, rectangular courtyard, barely a few feet wide. There were no exits; the two short ends of her shelter were blocked by the blank stone walls of buildings, and two brick walls ran unbroken from side to side between them.
    For a moment Ranira was puzzled. Then she laughed weakly. Years before, the Temple of Chaldon had decreed that all of the alleys in the city must be blocked at regular intervals so that fleeing thieves, witches, and other undesirables could not lose their pursuers in the narrow maze behind the buildings. Evidently someone at the Temple had made a mistake when the walls were positioned, and no one ever dared to question it. Erecting two walls in the same alley would be a small price to pay to escape the notice of the Eyes of Chaldon. Ranira wondered how many other such places there were in Drinn. Shandy would know, she was sure.
    The shadows of the walls crept closer. She began to wonder where Shandy was, but with the drug in her system she could not stay worried long. There were other effects as well—she felt cold, and her mind began to alternate between a fuzzy semi-consciousness and nightmarish hallucinations. Only when she shifted, trying to escape her dream-pursuers, did the pain in her leg bring her back to herself for a moment or two.
    Time ceased to have meaning. Ranira woke for perhaps the third or fourth time to find herself in darkness with her leg twisted painfully. A shadow moved beside her, and she stifled a scream. “It’s me, Renra,” came Shandy’s whisper. “And I found those foreigners.”
    The note of disapproval in his voice was unmistakable, but Ranira ignored it. “Mist?” she said, straining to see into the darkness.
    “No, little sister. Jaren,” another voice whispered. “I will take you to her. Can you stand?”
    “No,” she said. “I think my leg is broken.”
    “Then I will carry you.” Ranira felt arms around her, lifting. Then agony flared up her leg, and she fainted.
    She awoke with cool water streaming down her face. She was outside the walls, and Jaren was bending over her. Silver-green moonlight poured into the alley—Elewyth had risen, and though it was five days from being full, its light was bright. In the greenish glow she could see Shandy next to Jaren, holding a dipper. She leaned against a brick wall next to a pair of stone water jars.
    “I am sorry,” she said hazily. “Did I faint?”
    “You did,” Jaren replied. “I will be gentler this time, but I am afraid it won’t be easy. We must move quickly. There are Watchmen about, and this place is too open to linger.”
    As if to emphasize Jaren’s words, a robed figure appeared at the end of the alley, silhouetted in moonlight. Almost by reflex, Shandy melted into the shadows. Ranira shrank back, seeing her recent nightmares become reality. The Temple guard strode forward, peering into doorways and shadowed places. A hand caught