Chapter 368: Her Opening

Corvale had read Dole’s report before meeting them at the staging point. He asked Ren about Close Sever first.

"How far does the cut carry beyond the target?"

"It can carry through. I need a clear line behind whatever I’m cutting."

"Check with me before you use it. You’ll be behind the lead pair until I need you forward."

"Understood."

"And the roof?"

"I’d need to see what’s carrying it before I moved anything."

Corvale tapped the side door on the drawing. "Start with the fastening. We don’t know what’s above this passage."

Vesper traced the route back past the desk and through the roofed doorway, then the turn across the yard to the gate. Corvale confirmed where the transport would wait and assigned an officer to keep the yard clear.

They waited in a cart shed below the road bend, out of sight of the receiving point. Eira had her pack on, the blanket folded beneath its top flap. The carriage’s booked departure was still ahead. The incoming delivery was due first.

Corvale’s observer watched from above the yard, where the road rose high enough to show the paving over the wall. Corvale had checked the view himself. From the landing, the wall hid it.

A signal cloth rose at the bend: the cart had stopped inside and carrying had begun.

Vesper closed her notebook and slipped it away. Eira checked the pack’s fastening once, leaving the blanket within reach. Nobody needed the drawing read out again. They had gone over the turns while they waited.

Corvale checked that everyone had seen him, then led them down.

— • —

The yard gate stood open. A cart waited on the paving, with two workers lifting a crate from its tail. A third carried a load toward the roofed doorway in the inner wall.

Against the far wall stood a closed carriage. A man beside it was checking the draft animals’ harness.

When he looked up, Ren recognized the wagon leader. He had come to the landing asking for the seized sheet, with another man and four hands behind him.

"By the carriage," Ren told Corvale. "The wagon leader."

Corvale sent two officers across. The man stepped away from the harness and held his hands out where they could see them.

"Alliance officers," Corvale called to the workers. "Set the loads down. Keep the doorway clear."

The pair at the cart lowered their crate. The third stopped under the roof with his load still in his arms, looking from the officers to the cart.

"Beside you," the lead officer said. "Set it there, then come back this way."

He obeyed. She waited for him to pass before taking his place in the doorway.

An officer directed the workers to the side of the cart, away from the route between the gate and the building. Ren passed the crate left beside the doorway. There was room to get around it without turning sideways; he left it where it stood.

Ren stayed behind her partner. From there he could see the near edge of a desk, but the officer had the view down the passage.

"One at the desk," she reported. "A guard beside the side door, facing us. Three lamps. Heavy door open at the far end. Two carriers taking a load through."

Corvale moved up beside her.

"Go."

The officer crossed the threshold. Her partner followed, and Ren went in behind them. The desk clerk looked up from the papers in front of him.

— • —

The wheels had stopped farther away, as they always did now. Mei sat on the bed and counted the carrying trips.

Footsteps went past her room slowly and returned at a quicker pace. Farther along, their sound changed as they passed through the heavy doorway. She listened for it closing. Once that happened, the meal would come.

Her bowl stood beside the basin.

The third trip had not returned when new footsteps approached from the other direction. There were several people, moving faster than the carriers. A woman spoke, too far away for Mei to catch the words.

Mei stopped counting. The carrying trips varied, but the order had held: wheels stopping, footsteps passing, the heavy door closing, then the two guards with her food. Now voices were interrupting it before the door had shut.

Then a man, nearer: "Stand away from that door."

Boots scraped immediately outside her room. She knew their tread. The guard answered sharply, though the wood muffled what he said.

Mei stood.

She listened again. The heavy door had not closed. These voices were unfamiliar, and the guard was arguing with them. They were still coming closer.

She could wait for someone to open the hatch. If they passed her room, she might hear the heavy door shut before she had another chance.

She crossed to the door, leaving the bowl beside the basin, and knelt where she took her meals. A narrow line of light showed along the hatch’s edge. She brought her mouth close to it.

"Mei Lanhua."

Her voice barely reached her own ears. Boots struck the stone outside; someone spoke over her. No one answered.

She put a hand against the door and drew another breath.

"Mei Lanhua. In here."

The nearest footsteps stopped.

She stayed at the seam, listening. A voice repeated her name farther away. Then someone approached quickly.

Iron scraped on the other side of the door. She drew back from the hatch, keeping one hand against the wood. The bolt stopped moving. There was a scuffle close enough that she felt a knock through the door, followed by another order.

— • —

Ren heard the call as he passed the desk. Corvale had ordered the clerk to remain seated, and an officer stayed beside him. Ahead, the lead pair faced the guard outside the side door.

The woman turned her head toward Corvale.

"Mei Lanhua. From the room."

Ren looked at the door. He knew the name from the case papers. Until now, everything they had brought here had been records, a likeness, and other people’s accounts.

"Ren," Corvale said. "Forward."

The guard turned back to the door. He caught the bolt and dragged it partway from its socket.

"Hands off it," the lead officer ordered.

He pulled again.

Ren reached him before the bolt cleared. He caught the man’s wrist and drew his hand away from the iron. The guard drove an elbow back; Ren stepped outside it, turned the captured arm, and pressed him against the wall beside the door.

Two officers came forward from behind Corvale. One took the guard’s free arm; the other secured his wrists while Ren held him still.

"We have him."

Ren let go. They moved the guard toward the desk, leaving the space in front of the room clear.

He watched until the officers had their grips settled. The guard tried to turn his head toward the heavy door; one officer brought him around and kept him moving. No one came through the far opening. The lamps along the wall still gave Ren a clear view of it.

Corvale pointed the lead officer farther down the passage.

"Watch that opening. Ren, with her once the door’s clear."

Ren drew the bolt fully back. There was no second fastening on the outside. He stepped aside as Eira came forward, then turned so he could see both her and the heavy doorway beyond.

"Mei? My name is Eira," she said through the wood. "I’m here with the officers. We’ve moved the guard away. Are you clear of the door?"

A pause, then the scrape of clothing against the floor.

"Yes."

"May I open it?"

"Yes."

Eira opened it a hand’s width, checked inside, then eased it farther back.

Ren could see a bed, a basin with a bowl beside it, and a high window. Mei knelt against the wall beside the doorway, one hand braced on the floor. She looked past Eira toward the officers taking the guard away.

Eira crouched without touching her.

"Can you stand, or would you like a hand?"

"I’ll do it."

She rose with her palm against the wall. Eira waited beside the doorway, leaving her room to move. An officer checked the case likeness, looked at Mei again, and nodded to Corvale.

Mei’s gaze moved along the passage. It paused on the heavy doorway, then returned to the open route toward the desk.

She had not let go of the wall. Eira remained within reach while the officer put the likeness away. Ren stepped farther from the room’s entrance so Mei could see past him without having to lean out.

"We’re going out that way," Eira said, indicating the desk. "I’ll stay beside you. Tell me if you need help."

Mei looked down at the threshold. She moved her hand from the wall to the doorframe and stepped across.

Eira lifted her pack clear of the jamb and followed her into the passage.

— • —

The heavy door swung wider.

Ren turned toward it as the two carriers came back through, empty-handed. One glanced over his shoulder and broke into a run. The other followed.

"This side," the lead officer called, drawing them toward the clear stretch of wall. "Keep coming."

Ren moved aside long enough to let them pass. Behind them, a man stepped into the lamplight.

The carriers hurried toward the desk. Corvale sent them on to the yard officer, keeping them ahead of Eira’s group. Their empty hands stayed visible as they passed.

The man stopped just beyond the heavy door. His eyes moved over the officers, the open room, and Mei beside Eira.

Ren recognized him before he spoke. At the landing he had stood beside the wagon leader while the leader demanded the sheet. He had attacked when Ren refused, and withdrawn with the others after Ren caught him.

"That’s the man who attacked us at the landing," Ren told Corvale.

The name and employer were still unknown. Ren kept his eyes on the man’s hands.

Corvale gave Eira a short gesture toward the desk.

"Take her out. Two officers with you. Vesper has the route."

"Mei," Eira said. "With me."

Mei took another step, then followed her. One officer went ahead of them; the other stayed behind. At the desk, Vesper moved back toward the roofed doorway, looking along their route into the yard.

Ren heard Eira speaking quietly as they passed behind him. He shifted to give the rear officer room, keeping the man at the heavy door in view.

"Stay with me," Corvale told him. "Keep him from reaching them."

Ren set his feet in the passage.