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In fact, the home was very easy to find once they were heading in the correct direction. There were many homes set into the hillside, but most of the them followed the pattern of the city, sprawling one-story stone mansions. Ellerby’s home was large, but it went straight up four stories with wide-set windows and enormous gardens. How he ever accomplished true gardens here in this rocky land, she would never know.
Kerrigan debated on going around to the back. He had seemed afraid in his letter, but it hadn’t been tampered with. No one would suspect they would borrow a dragon and fly south in the middle of the night.
She opened the gate leading up to his mansion, surprised to find it wasn’t locked, and then Fordham followed her to the front door. No lights were on inside. It was the middle of the night. She was not looking forward to breaking in to his home.
With a sigh, she knocked on the front door anyway.
“Everyone is asleep,” Fordham whispered.
“I know, but common courtesy.”
They waited a moment to see if anyone would answer, and then she reached for the doorknob. Just as she turned it, the thing was twisted sharply and wrenched open. She fell forward with it, and she looked up at the man standing in his dressing robe.
“Ellerby,” she said in shock.
“Kerrigan, you made it,” he said with a trembling fear in his voice. His eyes darted around the outside of his home. “Someone could be watching. Come in quickly. Quickly.”
She gestured to Fordham, and they both stepped into Ellerby’s mansion.
38
The Threat
“Watching?” Kerrigan asked as Ellerby slammed the door behind them.
“Yes, yes, they’ve been watching.” His hands trembled as he gestured outside with paranoia. “Come. Let’s have a spot of tea to calm the nerves.”
Fordham glanced at Kerrigan in confusion. She shrugged and followed Ellerby tottering down the hall on his wooden cane. He was nearly as short as Kerrigan especially since he hunched forward due to his curved spine. She could see that he was balding in the faint light. It hit her just then how much she’d missed him—eccentricities and all.
Ellerby’s mansion was dark until he reached a formal living room. The heavy curtains had all been drawn over the massive windows, and a dozen candles barely lit the towering interior. A pot of tea was already on a low table at the center of the room with just one cup.
“Have a seat. I’ll get more cups.”
“I can get them,” she said at once.
“No, no, I can still walk,” he said, tapping his cane against his leg twice and then disappearing back the way they’d come.
Fordham stepped up to the window and peered through the curtains. “I don’t see anyone.”
“We saw no one when we came to the house.”
“But it doesn’t mean that no one is there.”
She nodded. “Agreed.”
Just then, Ellerby bustled back in with two additional cups and poured them tea. Kerrigan took the proffered cup and sat on a blush settee. Fordham took his own tea, adding both cream and sugar, but remained standing.
“I didn’t expect you for weeks,” Ellerby confided, sitting down in a brown leather armchair. He took a tentative sip of the tea. “How did you get here so fast?”
“We borrowed a dragon,” Fordham said.
Ellerby nearly spat out his drink. “You’re… you’re House of Shadows, young man, aren’t you?”
“Yes, sir.” Fordham straightened to his considerable height.
“I didn’t have the chance to meet you before I left the city. I assume since you are working with my girl, Kerrigan, that you are not as prejudiced as history makes it seem.”
Fordham eyed Ellerby sharply before glancing back to Kerrigan. “I believe I am no longer representative of my people in that regard.”
“Ah,” Ellerby said with a bobbing head of acknowledgment.
“But that’s not why we’re here,” Kerrigan butted in before things could get worse. “You left the city so abruptly, in the middle of the ceremony. And then we got your letter. I just don’t understand. Why did you leave in the first place?”
Ellerby set his teacup down on the table. “I truly am sorry about that. I had every intention of selecting you at the ceremony and staying through the tournament. But a man approached me the day before the ceremony. He… he said that he had my nephew, Ever, and that if I didn’t do exactly what he said, he would kill him.”
Kerrigan shuddered. “What did he tell you to do?”
Ellerby shifted uncomfortably. “He told me to go to the ceremony, and right before you were to be selected, I had to leave. As soon as I was gone, I had to pack up my entire household and return here. Only then would he give my nephew back to me.”
“Did he return your nephew?” Fordham asked.
Ellerby shivered. “No,” he croaked. “No, he still has him… as collateral for my silence. It was risky, even getting a letter out to you. I assumed it was read by them before it reached you. I had to make it deliberately banal or else they might have suspected and hurt Ever.”
