I experimented with positioning myself behind it. Despite my fear that it was too far back in the alley to be of use, I was eventually able to place myself so that I had a partial view of the street. The dark cloak over my gold dress helped conceal me, but a flash of the material from beneath made me wonder if I should go inside again to change.
But that would take time, and I had no way of knowing when the creator of the mark might appear. If I left my post now, I might miss them. I twisted the material in my fingers. How much had it cost? Would it be easily damaged?
With a shake of my head, I smoothed it out. Protecting our household from the thieves was more important than a gown, regardless of its worth.
Settling in to wait, I wished finding a place had proved harder, after all. How many hours was I going to be stuck here? Slowly, the sharpness of the moment faded, and my eyes started to droop. Each time they did, I reminded myself about the burly thief and the careless way he had ended Kasim’s life. Just picturing his face was enough to jolt me awake each time.
The hour had already been late, so it wasn’t surprising when the sky began to lighten, moving slowly toward dawn. Slowly and carefully, I stretched out each of my limbs, not wanting to end up so stiff I couldn’t move when the time came.
If daylight arrived fully without any sign of someone looking for the mark, what would I do? What if they weren’t coming for days? But rain would wash away chalk, so surely they had expected to be back soon?
The first stirrings of the horses in their stalls reached my ears just as I heard hurried footsteps. I tensed, but it was just the local baker’s assistant, running past. If it was already getting light, he must be late. Bakers started early.
I resettled, but almost immediately I heard a larger group approaching. They stopped in front of the neighbor’s gate, just out of my sight, and I strained to hear their words.
“Look, this one has the mark as well.” The speaker sounded angry.
Every muscle jumped to alert, my body tensed for movement. I didn’t recognize the voice, but the cadence sounded familiar. If I could only see them, I was sure I would see a subset of the thieves.
They couldn’t have all come. Even if they all entered the city by coming in ones and twos, carefully spreading out their arrival over the course of a day, they would need to keep to small groups in public. Forty men couldn’t walk the streets together without drawing far too much attention.
From the sound of the footsteps, I guessed there were somewhere between five and ten in this group.
As difficult as it was, I held myself still. I couldn’t afford to creep out of my hiding place for a peek when I didn’t know their next movements. A moment later, my patience was rewarded.
One of the men strode impatiently past the mouth of the alley, stopping in front of our gate. With an exclamation of disgust, he turned and hurried back, calling softly as he got near the rest of the group.
“That one too. Does every house on the street have a mark?”
“It would appear so,” said a voice I did recognize. Esai, the gang’s shrewd captain.
“Do we pick one at random?” the first speaker asked, sounding uncertain.
I held my breath, wishing they’d had this conversation in front of some other house. What terrible luck it would be if—after all my efforts—they picked the right house, purely by chance.
“Of course not,” Esai’s voice dripped contempt. “Davis will be back in the city today. We make no plan of action without consulting him.”
Davis. That name was familiar. Davis was the thief who had been sent as a decoy the time Captain Jerome and Rek nearly caught them in the forest. And in the cave, he had seemed the most focused. He must be their master strategist.
I breathed a sigh of relief. We had time, then.
I had been carefully not thinking of Rek all night, but the thought of him leaped to the front of my mind now. He would launch into action the second he heard the gang was inside the city itself. He—I frowned. Rek could hardly knock on every door in the city. By the time he managed to track them down, it might be far too late.
We needed to know their base of operations within the city walls. And the only possible way we were going to find that out was if I followed them now.
Their footsteps were already growing fainter, so I came out from behind the decrepit wagon and tiptoed to the main street. Forcing myself to move slowly, I eased just my head out far enough to see down the road.
The men were returning the way they had come, never having passed in front of our house, and I didn’t need to worry about being seen. Most of them had already rounded the corner. An instant later, and I would have missed seeing which way they turned.
Leaving my lantern behind at the wagon, I shot off after them, relying on the faint glimmer of dawn to light my way.
At the corner, caution returned, and I slowed. Once again, I eased my head around the corner, peeping in time to see them turning yet another corner.
I expected them to head for the back streets of the city—the parts furthest from the palace and the central guard barracks, where the more disreputable citizens chose to live. But instead they moved toward the river—a solidly respectable neighborhood housing mostly tradesmen and skilled workers.
Was someone in Karema hiding them? Someone connected to the traitor, perhaps? We neared the river that ran through the city center, passing close to the secondary small mill used by Kali’s father. The sight of it made me feel like the traitor. Many of the people who lived in this part of town frequented the same market I did. Did I really think any of them were traitors?
Reaching the next corner, I stuck my head around once again. A dirty, unkempt face loomed large, almost close enough to collide with mine. Someone was coming in the other direction.