The Traitor Queen (The Traitor Spy Trilogy #3)(57)

Dannyl stared at Achati in amusement and suspicion. What is he up to? Why warn us when it’s already happened? Does he mean to trick us into trusting him? Has the king sent him to check if his abductor has acted yet? Hmm. I guess I’ll have to play along and see where this leads.

“When we thwart this abduction, what should we do then?” he asked. “Kill the spy?”

Achati shook his head. “No, you would be destroying the king’s property.”

“Only if the spy is a slave, and the king admits he owns the man.”

“Oh, he won’t admit to anything. He’ll claim to have no knowledge of the plot, and say the man was bribed by the Traitors. When the man is revealed to be a magician, not a slave, you’ll be charged with murder.”

“Despite the fact that I didn’t know this?” Dannyl shook his head. “So he’s setting me up, then?”

Achati shook his head. “Not specifically, but if you were foolish enough to kill the man, it would give him the perfect excuse to send you back to Kyralia.”

“Then what is the king’s aim? Ah. It’s to manufacture a good reason to claim Lorkin isn’t safe here and take him away.”

Achati’s mouth twisted into a grim but approving smile. “I knew you’d see the danger.”

“So what do we do? We won’t be able to pretend nothing happened. The spy will inform the king of his failure. He’ll try again, or the king will send another spy to abduct Lorkin. There may already be others here already, in case the first attempt fails.”

Achati grimaced. “If Lorkin can be smuggled back to Kyralia, you should arrange it.”

Disobey the king? That’s not what I expected. “How?”

Pinching his lower lip between two fingers, Achati frowned. “If there are any Traitors among the slaves, they might be able to arrange it.”

“With the House being watched so closely? I doubt it. Is this all a ploy to capture some Traitors?”

Achati opened his mouth to reply, but another voice cut him off.

“Well, well. Ashaki Achati. What brings you to the Guild House at this late hour?”

Dannyl and Achati turned to see Tayend stroll into the room. The Elyne’s lips thinned in apology as he approached Achati. He glanced at Dannyl. “Merria is helping out,” he added quietly, reassuring Dannyl that Lorkin wasn’t dealing with the slaves alone.

Achati nodded. “I was sent to make another attempt to persuade Lorkin to talk tomorrow, but …” He repeated his warning about the abductor. “That is my true reason for visiting.”

“You think Dannyl should interrogate the slaves?”

“Yes, to find out which is the spy.”

“Wouldn’t that be dangerous? You said this spy is a magician? How strong is he? Is he a higher magician?”

“I don’t know,” Achati admitted. “Probably. He has been ordered not to kill anybody. He …” His gaze shifted to the doorway Tayend had entered through. Dannyl followed his gaze and felt a shock of surprise as Lorkin walked into the room.

The young man’s gaze met Dannyl’s, then slid away. His eyes were very dark and his face pale. Straightening his back, he gave Achati a forced smile.

“Ashaki Achati. What brings you here so late at night?” Lorkin asked, his tone jovial but strained. “Come to take me back to the palace prison?”

A strange, pained look crossed Achati’s face, then the man’s expression smoothed. “No, no. I am trying to prevent that.”

What was that expression? Dannyl asked himself. Then he felt a jolt as he recognised what he had glimpsed: sympathy and sorrow. He felt his recent doubts about Achati weaken a little.

“Achati has warned us that a spy among the slaves is going to attempt to abduct you soon,” Tayend said.

Lorkin’s eyes widened and he looked from Tayend to Dannyl. “Really?”

“Yes,” Dannyl replied. “Tomorrow night, or a following night.”

Dannyl was relieved to see Lorkin’s eyes narrow as he considered the implications. He looked at Achati again.

“Why are you helping us?” he asked bluntly.

“I …” Achati sighed and looked down, then lifted his head to regard Tayend, Lorkin and Dannyl in turn. “I don’t like how the king is treating you. Sachaka may not need Kyralia as an ally, but it also doesn’t need another enemy. We received news a few months ago that has divided our opinion. The …” Achati paused and frowned, then shook his head. “I see no way to explain this without telling you: our spy among the Duna revealed that the Traitors proposed they join forces and attempt to take over Sachaka.”

Dannyl felt a chill run down his spine. I wonder …

“Unh?” he asked.

Achati smiled. “I’m hardly going to tell you who our spies are, Dannyl.”

“No,” Dannyl agreed. “But Unh’s name did spark some interesting reactions from his people when I mentioned it. If it is him, then I suspect they know he is a spy.”

“The Duna turned down the Traitors. Many of the Ashaki have concluded that the Traitors would not approach the Duna unless they needed them, and they feel confident the Traitors would not win a confrontation with us.”

Was this why the Traitors had destroyed the Duna’s stone caves? Was it punishment for refusing to help? Dannyl wondered.