Inside the room: ‘Check the other lodgings. They’re here somewhere.’ The footsteps retreated.
‘Can you give me a boost?’ said Laurent. ‘We need to get off this balcony.’
Damen cupped his hands, and Laurent used them as a stepping stone, pushing himself up to the first handhold.
More lightly built than Damen, but possessing the upper body strength that came with extensive sword practice, Laurent climbed quickly and silently. Damen, turning carefully in the confined space in order to face the wall, soon followed.
It wasn’t a difficult climb, and it was only a minute before he was pulling himself up and onto the roof, the town of Nesson-Eloy splayed out before him, the sky above, a handful of scattered stars. He found himself laughing a little breathlessly, and saw his expression twinned on Laurent’s face. Laurent’s blue eyes were full of mischief.
‘I think we’re safe,’ said Damen. ‘Somehow, no one saw us.’
‘But I told you. It’s the game I like,’ said Laurent, and with the toe of his boot he deliberately pushed a loose roof tile until it slid off the rooftop and shattered in the street below.
‘They’re on the roof!’ came the call from below.
This time, it was a chase. They fled over the rooftops, dodging chimneys. It was half obstacle course, half steeplechase. The tiles beneath their feet appeared and disappeared, opening up into narrow alleyways that must be leaped over. The visibility was poor. The levels were all uneven. They went up one side of a roof slope, and, slipping and sliding, came down the other.
Below, their pursuers ran too, over smooth streets with no loose tiles to threaten a sprain or a fall, flanking them. Laurent sent another roof tile into the street, aimed this time. From below, a yelp of alarm. When they found themselves on another balcony on their way over a narrow street, Damen tipped over a flowerpot. Beside him, Laurent unpinned some hanging laundry and dropped it; they saw the ghostly white entangle someone below and become a writhing shape, before they sped on.
They sprang from rooftop ledge to balcony and onto a crossway across a narrow street. The careening chase across the skyline called on a lifetime of training in Damen, on reflexes, speed and stamina. Laurent, light and agile, kept up. Above them, the sky was lightening. Below them, the town was waking up.
They could not stay on the rooftops forever—they risked broken limbs, siege and dead ends—so when they had drawn a precious minute or two ahead, they used the time to make their way down a drainpipe onto the street.
There was no one in sight when they touched the cobblestones, and they had a clear run. Laurent, who knew the town, took the lead, and after two turns they were in a new quarter. Laurent led them down a narrow, arched passageway between two houses, and they paused there a moment, to catch their breath. Damen saw that the street that this passage fed into was one of the main streets of Nesson, already peopled. These grey hours of dawn were some of the busiest in any town.
He stood with his palm flat against the wall, chest rising and falling. Beside him, Laurent was breathless again, and brilliant with the run. ‘This way,’ Laurent said, moving out towards the street. Damen found that he had caught Laurent’s arm, and was holding him back.
‘Wait. It’s too exposed. You stand out, in this light. Your mousy ha
ir’s like a beacon.’
Wordlessly, Laurent pulled Volo’s woollen cap from his belt.
Damen felt it then, the first dizzy edge of new emotion, and he let go his hold of Laurent like a man fearing a precipice; and yet was helpless.
He said, ‘We can’t. Didn’t you hear it, earlier? They’ve split up.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean if the idea is to lead them on a merry chase through the town so that they don’t follow your messenger, it’s not working. They’ve split their attention.’
‘I,’ said Laurent. He was gazing at Damen. ‘You have very good ears.’
‘You should go,’ said Damen. ‘I can take care of it.’
‘No,’ said Laurent.
‘If I wanted to escape,’ said Damen, ‘I could have tonight. While you bathed. While you slept.’
‘I know that,’ said Laurent.
‘You can’t be in two places at once,’ said Damen. ‘We need to separate.’
‘It’s too important,’ said Laurent.
‘Trust me,’ said Damen.
Laurent looked at him for a long moment without speaking.