Aaliyah tensed. "If you're suggesting that I took the money, then you're more possessed than I thought."
"That's what I thought too," Aidan said, "But then I realized that a slave costs three gold coins apiece. There were four slaves in the cart today, and you were the only one with the money bag. You claim the amoghs took nothing else from you when you were captured, and your Rakka steel knives would be worth far more to them than money. So if you took the coins, I need to know."
Aaliyah felt flames raise up in her stomach. These sorcerers, who had uprooted her from her home and used her as nothing more than a nanny, were now accusing her of being a thief.
Typical sorcerers. I never should have trusted the boy.
"I'm not a thief," Aaliyah said. "Aidan, look into my eyes and tell me if I'm lying." The mage stared hard for a few seconds. "Remember, you made a promise."
"No Timothy, she isn't." Aidan said, bowing his head. "I don't know where the money is, but I don't believe she has it."
Timothy was silent for a few seconds. Then, without a word, he stood, grabbed his pack, and headed for the door. A moment before he reached it he stopped and turned around.
"Aidan, you've known me since before you were a mage. I was the one who took you in when you were a lost, confused, and fatherless peasant. You can choose to stay with this… sorry excuse of a girl, or you can come with me. But your choice is final. So what's it going to be?"
Aidan's fears were becoming reality. Timothy was leaving, they had no way to get to the isle, and they were being hunted by trained assassins impervious to magic. There was something wrong with Aaliyah, who definitely hated him again, and his own magic was too untrained to be of any real worth. On top of all of that, Aidan still didn't know what his master possibly needed him for.
His green eyes swept from Aaliyah to Timothy and back again. If he stayed with Aaliyah, then he would have to leave Timothy unprotected and vulnerable to the goblin and possibly amoghs, but if he left with Timothy then he would have to abandon his quest and disobey a direct order, possibly abandoning all of Gurvinite to a bloody war.
Aidan stood and was about to follow Timothy when the crystal fell out of his robe.
Wherever Bartemus is, he's giving up everything to make sure others can live. If I want to be worthy of the ring I wear, then I'm going to have to let him go.
Aidan closed his eyes. "I'm staying, Timothy. You don't have to leave, but this is too important to abandon now."
The younger mage pursed his lips and turned around, slamming the door behind him.
Timothy was gone.
The three assassins stood on the wall, watching the inn. They had been waiting for nightfall, when fewer questions would be asked if someone disappeared. But now one of the mages was leaving the city.
"I can follow him, though I doubt he is the Guardian," one of the men said.
"I doubt it as well, but we must be sure," came the reply. "Follow him."
"And what should I do if he isn't the guardian?"
"Whatever you wish. Just so long as there are no survivors."
All three smiled and slipped off the wall, mere shadows in the night.
"You're absolutely sure that we need twenty seven gold coins?" Aidan asked, running his good hand through his hair.
"I'm sure," Aaliyah said, pain raking through her body, "That was the cheapest I could find."
Aidan closed his eyes. Maybe he should have followed Timothy and abandoned this hopeless pursuit.
It was then that they heard a crash from downstairs, followed by a man's scream.
Both Aidan and Aaliyah grabbed their packs.
"The window." Aaliyah said.
Aidan threw his pack out the window and then, mustering all the willpower in his body, jumped out, careful not to land on his left wrist. The fall wasn't really that high, since the first floor was barely six feet tall, but it wasn't pleasant. Aaliyah came out a few seconds after him, landing gracefully on her feet. As soon as she touched the ground she started running, leaving Aidan to catch up again. They took the same route as before, though this time when Aaliyah came to the slave cart she skidded to a halt.
"Aaliyah, what are you doing?" Aidan whispered.
The girl didn't answer, but ran up to the cage and pulled a wire out of her sleeve. The slaves were sleeping, and didn't wake until the door swung open on rusty hinges.
"You're free, now run if you want to live," Aaliyah said.
The first three men scattered into the darkness, but the fourth had only made it a few feet when a hand appeared out of the shadows and grabbed him around the throat.
"What do we have here?" the amogh asked as his partner joined him from the shadows. "A traitor, a sorcerer, and a criminal? I think we're going to have fun tonight."