Allies Read Online Free PDF Page B

Borrill gave up another groan.
Cory laughed, and Zhena Trelu felt herself relax. She'd missed that
laugh.
    "So," she prompted him, grumpy in the face
of that realization. "What's your last question?"
    "I go by Hakan's house earlier, but it is
locked; shutters closed."
    "Tomas Meltz is at assembly–he's our
alderman, remember?"
    He nodded. "And Hakan?"
    "Why, Kem and Hakan got married just after
Winterfair," she said. "I'm surprised Kem didn't write to Meri
about it. Very nice wedding. Hakan's aunt on his father's side
stood up for him, since his mother's been gone these twenty years,
poor thing. Kem was as proud as you can imagine, and the whole town
was invited to the feast, after. Next morning, they got on the
train to Laxaco."
    "I see," Cory murmured. "Laxaco? This would
be their . . . their . . . honey trip? That is good. So I should
look for Hakan at Kem's house?" He pushed back from the table
slightly.
    "No." Zhena Trelu shook her head, and he
stopped, eyes intent. "You should look for both of them in Laxaco
City. They enrolled in university. Athna Brigsbee set it up for
them. Got on the phone to the King's minister of something-or-other
and came away with two scholarships. Kem is studying the teaching
of dance, I think, and Hakan his music. Only thing Kem has to pay
is their living expenses, same as she would here."
    Cory frowned slightly, and she shivered,
which might've been the breeze, except the new house was tight, and
double insulated, too. The only breezes that got in nowadays were
invited.
    "Zhena Brigsbee," he said carefully. "She
told the brother of Zhena Sandoval this? That she had arranged for
Hakan and Kem–"
    "Shouldn't be surprised," Zhena Trelu said
drily. "You know Athna, Cory."
    "Yes," he breathed, staring down into his
empty cup.
    "Yes," he said again, and looked up into her
face. "Zhena Trelu, I thank you. Keep your guards close. I think
Zhena Sandoval and her brother will soon be gone." He pushed his
chair back and stood, she looked up at him. He looked serious, she
thought. Serious and concerned.
    "Going to Laxaco?" she asked.
    "Soon," he answered, and came around the
table, quick and light. "Keep safe," he murmured, and surprised her
by slipping an arm around her shoulder. He gave her a quick hug,
putting his cheek against hers briefly.
    Then he was gone, walking light and rapid
across the kitchen. He took his coat down from the peg and shrugged
into it, bent to tug on Borrill's ears – "Good Borrill. You know
me, eh?"
    Zhena Trelu cleared her throat.
    "Cory."
    His hand on Borrill's head, he sighed, then
straightened, slowly, and turned to face her.
    "Zhena Trelu?"
    "What's the sense of telling me to keep
those guards close when you got 'round 'em like they were sound
asleep? If these folks are as dangerous as you say, then they'll
get in just as easy."
    He drifted a step closer, bright green gaze
focused on her face. "You make leaps and bounds, Zhena Trelu," he
murmured. "It sits on my head, that you must learn these
things."
    Whatever that was about, she thought, and
sent him as sharp a look as she knew how.
    "That doesn't go one step toward answering
my question," she pointed out.
    Cory's eyebrow slipped up a notch. "No, it
does not," he said seriously. "The answer is that I think these
people will be gone . . . one day, two days. You will get a letter,
when they are no longer a . . . threat."
    "Is that so? And who's going to take them
away, exactly?" She frowned, an idea striking her. "Cory, there's a
whole mess of the King's Guard right out there. Why not point these
folks out, and let 'em clean house? They're bored here, poor boys.
It'll be good for them to have something more exciting to do than
watch over an old woman and her dog."
    Cory tipped his head. "I would do this," he
said slowly. "Were these people already . . . breaking things. They
are . . . polite, for now. Better that they are asked, politely, to
leave."
    The boy wasn't making sense, she thought. Or
he was and she was too