Page 10 of Lake of Sorrow
Frayvar held the paper up to the light and read the front-page article aloud. “Mystery Beast Slays Another Innocent Commoner. Rangers Believed to Be Responsible or Colluding with It.”
“Beast?” Kaylina whispered, fear for Vlerion rearing up.
Had something happened to cause him to shift forms again? And to kill someone? Even if that had happened, why would the newspaper journalist have believed the rangers were involved?
Worry for Vlerion made Kaylina struggle to focus as her brother continued to read aloud, the words detailing how a factory worker had been killed near a canal, his throat torn open by claws. Two rangers had been spotted in the area by witnesses claiming they’d done nothing while the man had screamed. People speculated the rangers might even have brought the beast to do their killing, releasing it into an area where only commoners lived.
“The Court Cryer. I don’t recognize this newspaper.” Frayvar turned the page and skimmed through some other articles. “I’ve read the ones printed in the city since we’ve been here. This isn’t as thick or professional. There was a typo in the first paragraph.”
“An even worse crime than the one reported.”
“It might have been put together by some small organization,” Frayvar said. “Some small quasi-illiterate organization.”
“I’d call you a snob, but whoever wrote that is making the rangers look bad.”
“And you like them now?”
“Well, I like Vlerion. And Doctor Penderbrock.”
“So, two of them.”
“Yeah,” Kaylina said. “I also like the taybarri.”
“Me too.”
“I wonder where the newspaper originated.” Frayvar gazed back toward the gate.
“I don’t know, but we need to show it to Vlerion. And we need to tell him about the Kar’ruk in the preserve.” That might cause the rangers more concern, especially if they didn’t already know that the mortal enemies of humanity were lurking so close to the capital.
“I thought we were on a mission to clear your name.”
“We are, but these things are more important.” Kaylina waved toward the paper, but the Kar’ruk were foremost in her mind. “They could be a threat to the entire city.”
“Have you noticed how complicated our lives have become since we came north to open our meadery?”
“Grandma has always said that starting a business is hard.”
4
Lust grows less restrained after dark.
~ Sandsteader proverb
Thanks to the catacombs map Vlerion had given them, Kaylina and Frayvar were able to travel underground and come up near ranger headquarters. They pushed open a hidden door that led them through an oddly warm and steamy basement lined with benches around fountains. Only when they climbed stairs to an alley exit and saw a sign for the Gentlemen’s Steam and Strigil did Kaylina realize they’d been in a bathhouse.
She looked wistfully back at it, wishing they could have lingered, whether it was for gentlemen or not. During their trek into the city, their clothes had dried, but Kaylina still felt travel-begrimed.
“Good thing it’s the middle of the night,” Frayvar said, “or you might have been traumatized by a lot of sweaty male nudity.”
“After being chased by Kar’ruk with bows and axes, that would be a tame trauma.”
“I suppose that’s true.” Frayvar looked at the map. “I wonder if any catacomb exits come out in a Gentle Ladies’ Steam and Strigil.”
“Probably not. Women aren’t keen on strangers wandering in from burial grounds while they’re bathing.”
Frayvar’s grunt suggested he found that statement likely.
With their cloaks wrapped around them and their hoods up, they crept to the headquarters entrance. As they approached and Kaylina noted a ranger on duty in the gatehouse, she realized it might not be as easy to reach Vlerion as she’d anticipated. Just because Jankarr had left her a letter instead of helping the guards catch her didn’t mean all the rangers were in on that plan. She didn’t recognize the young face that peered toward them, eyebrows raised.