Daughter of Witches: A Lyra Novel by Patricia Collins Wrede Read Free Book Online Page B

Lykken had left, he sent Ranira to draw water while he began preparing the first meal of the day.
    The water carters had not yet made their delivery so Ranira ignored the first two jars and went directly to the third to fill the two buckets she was carrying. When she lifted the lid, she found the jar barely a quarter full—the kitchen had used a great deal of water cleaning up after the crowd at last night’s meal. She unhooked the dipper from its place inside the rim of the jar and lowered it carefully into the water.
    As she finished filling the second bucket, she heard a soft scraping noise from the side of the alley. She hung the dipper back on its hook and replaced the lid of the jar, then went down the alley to look for the source of the noise.
    The alley appeared deserted. She turned back toward the buckets and stopped. A thin, bare leg protruded slightly from behind the last of the empty water jars, invisible from any position closer to the mouth of the alley. Ranira smiled and moved closer.
    Peering around the jar confirmed her suspicions. Shandy lay sprawled loosely behind it, fast asleep and snoring. Ranira’s smile grew as she reached down and poked him. “Shandy! Wake up!”
    “Huh? Renra! Where’d you come from? I thought you had to work,” the boy said hazily.
    “That was last night,” she replied. “It’s after dawn now. You’d better move. The water carts will be here soon, and you don’t want them to find you.”
    “Wouldn’t matter if they did,” Shandy said as he got to his feet. “They can’t catch me.”
    “Maybe not, but they can report you to the Temple as a stray or a runaway, and you know what would happen then. The Watchmen would be after you, and once they know to hunt for you, you’d have a hard time keeping away from them. And once they caught you, they’d sell you as a bond servant—which is no fun, believe me.”
    “Ah, don’t worry, Renra. I got lots of good hiding places!”
    “Where? Halfway behind a water jar? The Watchmen won’t miss you there, not during Festival. You know they’re always more careful then.”
    “I’m not dumb!” Shandy said indignantly. “There’s lots of places the Templemen don’t look, and I know all of ’em. I didn’t get caught last Festival, did I?”
    “No, but I can’t think why not,” she retorted.
    Shandy grinned engagingly. “ ’Cause I’m smart, and I’m fast, and the Templemen are old and fat.”
    Ranira gave up. True, the boy seemed to have an uncanny ability to avoid discovery. Unfortunately, Ranira thought, it was also true that the Temple would catch him eventually, especially if he continued to take chances. But try to convince Shandy of that!
    “Think Lykken’ll give you any time off for Firstday?” Shandy asked, breaking into her train of thought.
    “Yes,” she said, smiling maliciously behind her veil. “Only he doesn’t know it yet.”
    “What do you mean?” Shandy asked suspiciously.
    “Oh, I think I can persuade him to give me back some of my half-holiday time,” Ranira said with belated caution.
    “You meant more than that,” Shandy insisted. He sucked on his lower lip for a moment. “Renra, it doesn’t have anything to do with those foreigners, does it?”
    “Of course not,” she replied automatically. She went on with forced casualness, “Except that they gave Lykken a fat purse before they left last night, which means he’ll be in a good mood this morning.”
    “I didn’t see ’em leave,” Shandy said. “And I was watching ’most all night.”
    “The way you were watching for me to come out this morning?” she scoffed. “Just don’t go telling the Temple we had foreigners at the Inn of Nine Doors,” Ranira added sternly.
    “Ah, Renra, I wouldn’t do that!” Shandy said, so indignantly that Ranira laughed. “What are you going to do with your holiday?”
    “I don’t know,” she said, relieved by the change of subject, “but I intend to enjoy every minute!”
    “Too