Alaric sighs.“I think most of the honest ones left to join us, or just quit because they couldn’t stand what they were told to do.Maybe there are ones who are loyal to the senate and don’t take bribes, but they’ll still do whatever they’re commanded to, including hurting my people.And you, now.”
That’s a sobering thought.
“Come on,” Alaric says.“Let me show you the inn.”
He leads the way from the back room, heading out into the main bar of the tavern.There are several people there, eating and drinking, sitting at small mosaic tables and enjoying the morning sun.The walls have vines growing up them, perhaps encouraged by some small piece of magic, while a serving woman moves between the tables, making sure everyone has what they need.
I freeze at the sight of so many people there.I worry about being seen.Certainly, Alaric wouldn’t normally let himself be seen by anyone without an illusion in place to disguise himself.It takes me a moment to realize the truth.
“They’re all members of the resistance?”I guess.
Alaric nods, looking pleased that I guessed it so quickly.“We fill the tavern up with our own ‘customers’ and quietly move on anyone who doesn’t belong.People can come and go from a tavern without it attracting suspicion, and there are plenty of rooms upstairs for people who need them.I guess we’ll need to find you one, for now.”
“Yes,” I agree, but there’s a note of pain that comes as I say it, because I’m starting to realize how much I’ve given up by leaving the senate to come join Alaric’s resistance movement.It isn’t that I miss my fine rooms in the palace, or the elegant dresses Marcus bought for me, exactly.I’ve lived most of my life without such things, so that the time since I came back to Aetheria to become a senator is very much the exception to my normal life.I grew up in a poor healer’s hut, then was forced to live in a cell as I fought as a slave gladiator under the empire.The house Alaric and I built for ourselves back in Seatide was only a simple wooden affair.I don’t miss the finery.It’s just that I’m reminded of how suddenly my life has shifted once again.
“Before we do that, let me show you the basement level,” Alaric says.He leads me down a set of stairs, into a cellar beneath the inn, stocked with amphorae of wine and crates of food.At least, most of them are food.I feel certain I catch a glimpse of steel flashing in one.Alaric moves a couple of boxes out of the way and there’s a gap in the wall, not really a door, just a space we can squeeze through.
It leads through into tunnels beyond.
“The catacombs?”I say.Aetheria claims to be built on magical stones that pour power out into the world, but mostly, it’s built on earlier iterations of the city.There are lost buildings down here, and crypts, natural cave systems and abandoned mines.There are many places to access the tunnels around the city.It shouldn’t be surprising that Alaric has chosen a place with one such entrance as a safehouse.
“They let us move around the city unseen,” Alaric says.“And we can do things down here that would attract suspicion above.We have places to train, storage spaces for anything that might help the resistance, places to heal people.”
There are people down here as well as up in the inn.They move quickly and quietly, their way lit by magical stones that glow softly.Alaric nods as he sees each one, and I think I can feel a small flicker of relief coming from him when he sees them.He’s obviously worried about who might have been captured or killed in the fight last night.
“I worry with the plan of disrupting meetings and breaking up marches that it won’t stop what Selene’s planning,” I say.“Even stealing that merchant’s weapons won’t stop the grand tournament.As he said, he has more coming.”
“And as I told you,” Alaric points out.“The ship on which they’re coming is going to sink.”
“And will you lose more people doing that?”I ask.
Alaric sighs.“It’s possible.It’s the hardest part about being a leader.I must send people out to do difficult, dangerous things, not knowing if they’re going to come back.It was bad enough when we were just fighting against the normal layers of corruption in Aetheria, but Selene’s making everything ten times worse.”
“And your people are getting captured doing things that might not even stop Selene,” I point out.
Alaric gives me a questioning look.“I thought you wanted to be a part of the resistance, Lyra?”
I nod, quickly.I don’t want to give him the impression that I’m about to back out of this, or run away from the danger.
“I do,” I say.“I know what the risks are, and I’ll do anything I can to stop Selene.”
Alaric gestures back up towards the inn.“Everyone else here has made the same choice.With every mission I set them, they can say no and leave the resistance.They’re allchoosingto do this, knowing the risks.And you’re right, the things we’re doing aren’t stopping Selene, but they are slowing her down and disrupting her support.We do what we can, because it’s better than doing nothing.”
I can hear the passion in Alaric’s voice as he says it,feelthe passion coming off him, thanks to my magic.It reminds me of the passion and fire I’ve felt in him before, usually carefully disguised behind a mask of arrogance.When Alaric commits to a cause, or to a person, he throws everything he has behind that commitment.
It's also easy to confuse that kind of passion with another, more primal kind.I find myself moving closer to him without thinking about it, but catch myself as I realize what I'm doing.I've just left the Senate and Marcus.I haven't even formally ended our engagement, although I hope it's obvious to him that particular political convenience is done.
Alaric seems to be hesitating too.“Come on,” he says at last.“I’ll show you upstairs.”
He leads the way back through the tunnels, up into the inn.Thalia is there, sitting at one of the tables, eating hunks of honey dipped bread.I hear Alaric’s sigh of relief as he sees her, and it mirrors my own feelings.I would hate to think that something might have happened to her in last night’s chaos.
“There you are,” she says.“I take it you’ve been showing Lyra everything here?All the hidden nooks and crannies, the secret ways in and out?”
“I’ve been giving her the tour,” Alaric says.“And it means I missed your grand arrival.What was it?Chased over the rooftops by guards?Dueling with assassins along the streets?”
“Mostly, I just changed my disguise a couple of times and walked here,” Thalia says.“Talking of disguises, you’re going to need to start wearing one when you go out there, Lyra.”
She sets a piece of paper on the table.It’s a poster, bearing my likeness.
