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There was never a day since that she would leave without the knife, and then she took the main thoroughfare and always returned before the sun had set. Noi insisted she take Whitebill, but Isla would not hear of it. The erne was the only thing that could keep Noi and Haana safe.
So the days passed, and slowly the man in the alley became a distant threat. She never saw him again. The man in the coffeehouse was another matter, though he never showed up for long nor caused any suspicion.
Even so, Isla made sure her daily commute coincided with the city guards' patrol of the Eastern Markets. She would wait until they passed below her window before running down to follow a short distance behind. Haana would take her to the door and wave from the window, and every afternoon, Isla would return with something new to make up for her neglect.
Now they were into their second week. Haana had grown tired of mancala, and there were only so many card games one could play. She even started cooking during the day; small cakes made especially for Isla. They were awful – not that Isla had the heart to say – that she would take a bite on her way to the coffee house before feeding the rest to one stray cat or another.
'This one is called knucklebones.' Isla had barelyshrugged out of her coat before presenting her latest gift.
Haana dropped the iron she had been using to poke the fire. Isla joined her by the hearth, pouring out the contents of the small, wooden box onto the hard floor. Their salamander scurried out of the fireplace, dragging soot by its tail, and investigated the seven tiny pieces of lamb shanks that lay in a heap.
'You're supposed to bounce the ball and pick a bone before you catch it.'
The salamander leapt after the small ball as Isla demonstrated, sending Haana into a fit of laughter. 'You're good!'
'I've had practice. I used to play with my –' Isla caught herself. They never spoke of Tam Mai. It always reduced Noi into a depression. 'I often played with my sister. She would eat the bones if you left her alone with it.'
Haana laughed some more, and Isla with her, though it was only amusing in hindsight. Tam Mai had choked on the bones once, and their father had to jolt it out of her. At least she learnt her lesson. Tam Mai had never heeded warnings without first testing things herself.
'Can I try?' Haana held out her hand. Isla passed her the rubber ball.
She was a quick learner, soon enwrapped in the game. Hopefully it'll occupy her for days. Save me the trouble of more cakes. Isla left her on the floor, settling on a chair and continuing the book she had left the night before. That was how Noi found them when she entered, bearing a basket of warm bread.
'Something for dinner,' she said. 'Aldir will arrive any minute.'
'I didn't know you had gone out.'
'Only a quick run to the inn.' Noi dragged their coffee table closer to the seats by the fire; two rickety old things only made comfortable by a plethora of cushions. Isla rose from the comfort of her seat. She took another armful of patched cushions from a nearby cabinet and was arranging them around the chairs when a rap came from the door. Noi fixed her hair and dashed to welcome their guest.
Whitebill immediately launched off his perch to greet Aldir, leaving the rack free for Noi to hang his coat. 'Terrible weather,' he said apologetically, as though he were to blame.
'You're as pink as a piglet.' And his hand was freezing when Isla took it.
He smiled. 'It is good to see you again, too.'
'At least it didn't take two turns of the month, this time.'
'Be kind to our guest!' Noi warned as she hobbled to the kitchen cabinets.
'Yes, Isla. Be kind to your guest. Haven't you something warm to serve me?'
Isla led him to the seats by the hearth, where Haana waited as stiff as the fire iron hanging off its rack. 'I've some hot coal that would fit right in that mouth of yours.'
Aldir laughed, drawing closer to Haana. 'You won't give me grief, will you? You look well. Stronger. Healthier.'
So she does. Now that Aldir mentioned it, Haana did have more colour in her cheeks. And you can't see her bones anymore.
'She eats well, drinks her medicines,' said Noi. She came bearing wine cups and set them on the coffee table while Isla served their bread. 'Please, have a seat.'
'It's very early for dinner.' Aldir peered out the window. 'Or extremely late for lunch?'
Isla did not answer. What was there to say? That her handmaid did not like men in their home after sunset? 'What will the neighbours think, Isla?' she would ask; as though Syaifa downstairs would be imagining them engaged in a night of debauchery.
'We know you must be tired,' said Noi. 'We want you as soon fed and resting.'
As soon gone, you mean. There was no ill will on Noi's part, yet Isla could not help but resent her specious rules.
But Aldir did not protest, and soon they were all congregating around the table; Isla and Haana on the cushions, Aldir and Noi in their seats. Conversation drifted from one subject to another as they ate and drank, though Haana remained uncharacteristically quiet.
'I was hoping,' Aldir started once they had all finished, 'that now I've brought Haana's papers, I could show her the city.'
Noi dusted crumbs off her lap. 'I think it is not the time for excursions.'
'Not this evening. I will come again in the morning.'
'She's been locked inside for weeks, Noi,' reminded Isla. She could smell the start of a refusal all too well. Isla would often revert to stolen ventures into the city herself, when Noi was in one of her stricter moods.
'I am not certain it is good an idea, considering ...'
'We can't keep her in here forever.'
'I would like very much to see the place.' Haana's voice was quiet when she spoke.
Noi sighed. 'Fine. Only if you can borrow butter from our landlady downstairs without collapsing.'
With a shrug, Haana took to her feet and made her exit. Not a second had passed since the door shut behind her that Noi turned towards Isla, her eyes as sharp as ever despite the crow's feet that now scratched its corners. 'So quickly you forget the man in the alley?'
'What man in the alley?' Aldir, too, watched Isla, and she was forced to recount the entire event.
'But nothing has happened since,' she finished.
'And the man in the woods?' Noi dug into her pockets, fishing out a long, delicate object. She tossed it onto the table between them and there it lay, glistening in the firelight. Something about it seemed familiar to Isla. 'It is then a coincidence one man followed after the other? The moment we were alone and away of Cannersly, already someone attacks.'
Aldir rose a hand placatingly. 'We still don't know who or why, or even if it had anything to do with my sister.'
'It is coincidence he came, too, from Surikhand?'
'We don't know that.'
'Yes. Yes, we do.' Noi pointed at the pendant on the table, and Aldir picked it up to study. 'That is an emblem of a servant to the Kingdom of Surikhand. That pendant I took from the dead man's body.'
'A greater wonder, then, that you managed to defend yourself,' said Aldir.
On the floor by Noi's feet, Isla squirmed. Noi had already scolded her over her ill-advised use of theurgy. Not that it could have been stopped. She had cast it out of her the same way their salamander casts off its tail when caught by a predator. Swift, instinctive, and in the end, it had saved them.
Aldir continued, 'We should've sent guards with you, Prince Dariel's visit be damned!'
Noi took the pendant and held it by its chain, its flat, silver coin spinning in midair. 'These silver pendants are given to personal agents, of a sort, who swear complete ... er ... how do you say ... fealty ... to one member of the royal household. In Surikhand, silver-servants we call them. It is clear one was after Haana. Why else would he be so far across the sea?'
Especially now, of all times. 'Wait.' Isla held the silver coin still, finally recognising the red bird etched in its centre; wings open, claws outspread. She had seen it before, and not in the woods. 'An Eastern Isle man's visited the coffee house a couple of times. He wore one just like this.' Isla's spine went cold, though not for the dying hearth. Two silver-servants in Elingar? And one of them has been at the coffee house. 'He never did anything. He must've been looking for Haana.'
Aldir stood. 'I'll set some runes by your door and windows before I leave. Sir Edric is already arranging for some plainclothes men. Until then, Whitebill will stay with you. I know he wasn't around during the attack, but –'
'You mustn't blame him.' Isla reached up to stroke the erne's breast. 'He has been vigilant. He stays with us all night, though I keep my window open.'
'Don't. Keep it shut from now. Until we discover the root of all this.'
How do you plan on doing that? Short of strapping Haana to a chair and forcing the answers out of her, Isla had no ideas.
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