The Blood Debt by Sean Williams

know. Why are you sitting here twiddling your thumbs? Why aren’t you doing what you set out to do?’

    For a moment, Sal thought she had pushed Marmion too far. His eyes bugged and his face went red. He raised one finger and pointed it at her like a weapon. A whisper of the Change rustled through the campsite like a fitful breeze. Sal tensed, ready to defend her if she needed it.

    Then a switch seemed to trip inside the Warden, and the pressure eased.

    ‘All right,’ he said lowering his hand. ‘We might as well put you to use. Banner, get Tom under the hoods of the buses. I want them ready to roll before midnight. Kail, check the course Sparre is following and make sure it matches the one on our charts. You two,’ he pointed to Sal and Shilly, ‘come with me.’

    He turned and headed off into the darkness, robe flapping between his legs. Sal hesitated a second, then followed. Shilly came with him, leaning heavily on her stick when the terrain became rough underfoot.

    Marmion led them unerringly away from the parked vehicles. He had obviously walked this way many times. Sal tried to discern any details out of the darkness, but his eyes had adjusted to the mirror-light: the absence of landmarks was profound. He took Shilly’s hand to steady her, and was glad of her support when he tripped over a stony tree stump and almost went sprawling.

    ‘Where are we going?’

    The silhouette of Marmion looked over his shoulder. ‘Let’s make one thing absolutely clear, Sal. I’m under no obligation to tell you anything. You’re here without invitation and without my approval. That may be your father out there, but Alcaide Braham put me in charge of this search party, and I will not bow to your threats or manipulation.’

    The Warden’s persistent defensiveness surprised him. ‘We’re not trying to manipulate you,’ he started to say, but Shilly interrupted him.

    ‘Warden Marmion, are you afraid of us?’

    ‘Of course not,’ Marmion responded immediately. ‘Why would I be afraid of you? You’re just a couple of young idiots off on an adventure.’

    But Sal could hear the fear loudly in the man’s voice, underlying the anger it disguised. The understanding dismayed him. There had been incidents in the past, yes, but they were forgotten now — or so he had hoped. What did Marmion think they were? Monsters?

    ‘Don’t mistake us for something we’re not,’ Shilly said. ‘We’re not kids, and we’re not completely ignorant. Someone we care about is in trouble, and we’re trying to help. The past is irrelevant. If we work together, we’ll do a much better job than if we work separately or against each other.’

    Sal smiled in the darkness. Shilly was good at getting what she wanted. The fact that they had lived in Fundelry for so long without anyone giving them away was testimony to her diplomatic skills.

    Marmion, however, was no hick Alder or Mayor.

    ‘No one knows exactly what happened five years ago,’ he said, his voice less strident than it had been, ‘when you escaped from the Haunted City. You defied the Alcaide, the Syndic and the Conclave with suspicious ease; someone must have helped you do it. Although he denied the charge, Highson Sparre is commonly assumed to be that someone. So don’t give me any empty rhetoric about wanting to help your father out of the goodness of your heart. You’re two fugitives helping a third — helping him get away from me. That’s how I see it. Yes, you can stay, but be assured that at the slightest sign you’re betraying those I serve, you will suffer the consequences.’

    ‘We understand,’ said Shilly, her voice grave. ‘And now we’ve got the posturing out of the way, are you going to tell us what we’re doing out here? Or is stumbling around in the dark the way you usually go about your business?’

    Marmion drew a sharp breath.

    Without warning, all sensation of the Change fell away, as though a heavy veil had been drawn over the