would he be there?" said Rozinshura. "He's a doctor! I sent him to tend the wounded at the school."
"You fool!" cried Pookiterin, and he shoved Rozinshura aside, and ran out of the kitchen.
Episode 28
The Girl With The Sword
Alex stood still a moment, the sword at his throat.
It was a sabre, and the girl was holding it not with the point toward him, but with the edge angled, ready to slash. Alex's first thought was that she seemed more afraid of him than she had been of Pookiterin.
His second thought was why?
"Why did you try to poison that officer?" she repeated, perhaps answering the question.
"I was just trying to help you."
"Are you an assassin?" she said, narrowing her eyes further. "Were you trying to stop him from finding out something?
"No!" said Alex. "It was just a drug. It's anti-poison, actually. It's in my pocket. Can I show you?"
"No. Put your hands on your head and turn around."
When he obeyed, she patted his pockets and found the bottle. She stepped back to read it, and he turned around to watch. She frowned at the bottle and mouthed the words with difficulty. She was a peasant girl and probably couldn't read very well, but at least the writing was in Awarshi. After a second, she looked up.
"It's ipecac," she said, and she almost smiled. She knew what ipecac was.
"That's right. It would just make him throw up. And then I could get the drop on him, and you could get away."
She lowered the sword, although she kept it at the ready. She squinted at him as she thought for a moment.
"Why would you help me?" she said.
"I think you were arrested with a friend of mine. Professor Thornton. He is--"
"Wet and old and drunk?"
"Yes, he fell in the river. Or, actually, he jumped, but he wasn't trying to kill himself. He was just so drunk he thought it was a cool idea."
"He is foolish," she said with a knowing nod. "He talks too much."
"He's a professor," he said. "Words are his business." He paused and then added. "I'm Alex."
"My name is Lina," she said and she rested the tip of the sword casually on the ground. He remembered, though, how wildly she could wield it.
"So you've seen him, then?" said Alex. "Is he okay? Did they hurt him?"
"He'll have some bruises," she said. "Who is he?"
"He's just a professor of literature."
"Why are the captain and the colonel fighting over him?"
"No reason at all. He's just an old man."
She sank down to sit on a pile of sacks, and blew air out between her lips. She avoided looking at him, and didn't question his answer, like maybe she had an answer of her own. He remembered the questions she asked Pookiterin.
"You think my friend was mistaken for somebody else, don't you?" he said.
She nodded slowly. "I think he fits the description of a real spy who was killed in the train wreck."
"And you know something about this real spy?"
"I saw him die," she said. "I was with him. It was no accident."
Alex pulled one of the bales of blankets down and put it on the floor and sat himself.
"Maybe you'd better tell me about it."
Episode 29
Thorny Revealed
Throughout the interview, Rozinshura had been sitting lazily, as if he were indeed a fool. But as soon as Pookiterin was gone, he launched himself to his feet, and made his way across the kitchen with surprising speed to where Niko and Lady Featherdale were waiting.
"Quickly," he said. "That won't keep him long. Where are my keys?"
"Pookiterin threatened to search me, so I gave them to the boy to hold," said Niko. Rozinshura swore softly, and looked at the door. He wondered how much trouble it would be to remove the hinges.
"But I do have my own keys," said Niko, and he produced them from a shelf behind some pots and pans.
"Good man!" said Rozinshura. "Fetch some of your hangover cure too. He will need it."
Rozinshura unlocked the door and roused the old man. Thornton was hard to wake, but between the captain and Niko, they got him upright and had him drinking the cure, and moaning. When he was awake enough, they stepped aside and pointed him to the doorway, where Lady Featherdale waited.
When her ladyship saw his face, she gasped.
For a moment Rozinshura's spirits lifted. She knew him! But then he saw she was not looking at the old man. She stumbled into the larder as though pushed.
Pookiterin was standing behind her with a pistol. Behind him were his two guards -- the worse for drink but upright.
"You think I am an idiot?" snarled Pookiterin.
Rozinshura sighed.
"I hoped you thought I am an idiot," he said.
"I knew you had the spy here. I knew it! So I waited to see what you would do when I left, and here he is!"
"My orders are--" began Rozinshura.
"Your orders are worthless!" said Pookiterin. "I heard the whistle of a train when I went outside. Whoever is on that train will be no friend of yours. That emissary will come from General Bargellin, my superior."
"Are you sure?" said Rozinshura.
"Of course I'm sure! What am I telling you?"
"Are you sure it's not Vshtin himself on that train?"
"But you said..."
"I lied."
It was as though Rozinshura had dumped a bucket on Pookiterin's head. The colonel seemed to struggle for breath, but it was no time to celebrate victory. Pookiterin still had the gun and he was pointing it at Rozinshura's heart.
"And the telegraph lines?" stammered the colonel.
"They've been down for a month now. They're always down. It means nothing."
"How did you hear he was coming, then?" said Pookiterin, suspicious.
"We go down to Vinschke every day for orders and messages."
The fact was Rozinshura was lying again; the lines were fine. But he hoped Pookiterin would run to town to ask his masters for instructions.
But Pookiterin only licked his lips in desperation and waggled the gun.
"You and your cook are still under arrest," he said, his gaze darting back and forth, as if he were making up his story on the spot. "You helped the Cussar girl escape. And... and yes, you tried to shelter this spy!"
Was he just planning how to cover his tracks, or was he building up courage to shoot them all? As he dithered, Rozinshura decided to help him make up his mind. The space was small, but he and Niko were to either side.
"If you shoot me now, Niko will kill you," said Rozinshura. "If you shoot Niko, I will kill you."
Pookiterin drew himself up, looking slightly more panicked, as if that had been his plan, but he recovered well.
"You will be shot by firing squad, according to rules. For now, you are all under arrest."
"But what about me?" said Lady Featherdale.
"You will be detained!" shouted Pookiterin. "As a matter of security! Now give me my spy!"
"Why shouldn't he be detained with us?" tried Rozinshura, but Pookiterin swung his gun to Rozinshura's face and seemed ready to shoot in spite of himself.
Rozinshura surrendered Professor Thornton, along with his keys. In only a moment the three of them were locked in the larder.
Episode 30
Lina's Story
For a moment, Lina evaded Alex's gaze, as if she were afraid to tell him about it. Then she finally just took a deep breath and started talking.
"We were in the woods," she began. "We had heard there were bandits around, so we were scouting for them. Then I heard the train wreck." She looked up finally and continued earnestly. "It was so loud. And there was shooting. I sent my little brother to tell the village, and I stayed low until the shooting stopped. Then I went to see, and I found a man who was shot and dying. He had unruly gray hair like your friend."
"He was the spy?" prompted Alex.
"He said
that there would be a bomb at the council in Marvu, tomorrow. And that Vshtin would be assassinated."
"Who's he?"
She gave him a sidelong glance, and frowned. Obviously he should know who the guy was, but Alex wasn't even sure he could pronounce the name. He struggled for a reason for his ignorance, but she suddenly gave him a knowing look.
"You are Freedonian, aren't you?" she said. "You people listen to nothing but yourselves!"
"Sorry," he replied. "So this Vush-teen is--"
"Vshtin!" she said, somehow getting all the sounds into one syllable. "He is our High Commissar. He is popular, but there are some who think he has too easily made friends with Imperia. Assassination will incite all sides. And if they blame it on foreign elements, the whole continent would be at war."
"But this spy said it's not foreign elements? It's an internal plot?"
"Yes, and the spy told me who was good and who was bad in this plot. I wrote them down, but I can't remember them without the paper."
"And where is the paper?"
"I put it in a book. Pookiterin took it when he arrested us. But he didn't ask any questions about it. I wrote the names backwards, so perhaps he thought it was nonsense."
Alex sat back. "I didn't see a book when you guys came into the kitchen. Could he have left it in the parlor?"
She shook her head. "He left it in the tavern when the captain took your friend away. He wasn't interested in my things, only me."
"So it could be still in the tavern with your papers and stuff," said Alex. "Maybe I could get it. I'll pretend I was sent to get your papers...."
"I didn't have any papers," said Lina. "Just the book."
Alex paused. Awarshawa didn't seem like the sort of place people went around without papers. And it was funny how she'd evaded his eyes when she told the start of her story. Was she lying about why she was in the woods? He thought about