Page 59 of Inferno

Finally, Zandro stopped in front of a shop. A neat sign hanging from the awning read ‘Jeweller’.Open door please, Zandro said, sitting politely and wagging his tail in front of the door.

“Okay, if you say so,” Yorin muttered. He opened the door, hoping that the shopkeeper didn’t object to him bringing his dog inside. He followed Zandro into the shop, seeing a woman standing by one of the counters, showing a necklace to a customer. She was an aging woman with multiple bracelets all up and down both arms, along with a multi-coloured skirt and a bright yellow blouse. Clearly, she liked a bit of colour. The woman looked back over her shoulder, then shot Yorin a beaming smile and said, “I’ll be with you in just a moment. Please, have a look around while you’re waiting.” Thankfully, she didn’t bat an eyelid at seeing Zandro.

Yorin followed Zandro further into the shop, waiting for the fire-dog to either do something or tell him why they were here. But then he pulled up short as he saw another dog lying on the floor near the rear of the shop. This one was leaner than Zandro, and his fur was a shade or two lighter, but there was a certain similarity between them, at the same time. So this was the fire-dog they’d come to see? Guarding a jewellery shop? It wasn’t quite what Yorin had expected.

Zandro dropped out of his mind again, and he could only assume that he was having a conversation with this other dog. The other dog sat there quietly for a moment… then he suddenly sat up, staring at Yorin in what could only be called astonishment, though to see such an expression on a dog’s face was quite startling.

A moment later, Zandro’s connection to him was back.This is Maky,Zandro told him, wagging his tail.Maky is fire-dog.Kit owns shop,he added, turning around to look at the woman with all the bracelets.Kit is witch. Kit help Nerik.

Oh! So this was Kit’s shop? Yorin had been buying jewels from Kit for years, largely on Nerik’s recommendation, but all the purchases had been placed via Nerik, along with deliveries and payments. So somehow, in all that time, Yorin had never actually met Kit in person.

Suddenly, a thousand other little details made sense, including why Nerik had pushed Yorin to buy his jewels from Kit. Of course he would want to support another Chalandrian business. And the dog; it was no surprise that a witch would have a fire-dog guarding her shop. Nerik had mentioned Maky more than once in his deliveries from Kit.

Well, then. It was a relief to know they were in the right place – and more so to know that Kit was just the sort of person he needed to help him – but the question now was how to tell Kit what was going on without alerting anyone else to the fact that things were averylong way from normal.

“Excuse me, Kit?” Yorin said, taking a few steps closer. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I need to speak with you urgently. I’m sorry, I should introduce myself first. I’m Yorin. The tailor.”

“Yorin! We meet at long last,” Kit said, all smiles. “I’d love to help you, just as soon as I’ve finished helping-”

“It really is urgent,” Yorin said again. “And very important.”

“As I said, as soon as I’m finished with my customer, I’d be happy to-”

“Now, please,” Yorin said, the ‘please’ being all that separated the request from a demand. He was a little surprised at his own forcefulness – even as he cursed Kit for not listening.

That got Kit’s attention, but not in a good way. “Now you listen here,” she began, but she was cut off by a loud bark from Maky. Yorin glanced over at the dog, expecting to see the creature with teeth bared and hackles up, glaring back at Yorin. But instead, Maky pouted at Kit. His tail thumped on the floor in a pleading wag.

Kit’s anger evaporated as quickly as it had arrived. Instead, she looked a little shaken. “Right,” she said. “This way, then.” She headed for a curtain that separated the main shop from the rear of the building. Then, as a parting thought, she called, “I’ll send my assistant to see you,” to the waiting customer.

They headed down a hallway and through a kitchen. There was a stairway leading upstairs, and Kit poked her head around the corner and yelled, “Liet! Can you see to a customer please?” Then she swiftly led Yorin and Zandro through into a back office. The curtain over the window was drawn, and Kit locked the door behind her.

“So what’s all the fuss about?” she asked, folding her arms, a tight look on her face.

Yorin spent all of about three seconds wondering where to start, and how to explain everything… and then shoved all his doubts aside and just blurted out the news. “Nerik’s in trouble. He’s been captured. He’s in a cage in the town square, in his infernal form.” He had nothing more than Zandro’s word that Kit was, in fact, a witch. A Chalandrian. But at this stage, he had little to lose and no other avenue to try and solve anything.

“I don’t know how he was captured,” he went on, as Kit’s eyes opened wider, “or why he was in that form out in broad daylight, but the soldiers are going to execute him tomorrow morning. Unless someone comes up with a plan to save him.”

Kit covered her face with her hands and muttered, “Oh, Arix preserve us.” Yorin didn’t know who Arix was, but it was probably fair to assume that the Chalandrians had their own collection of deities, separate from any that humans worshiped. She shook her head and glared at him. “You know what Nerik is.”

It wasn’t exactly a question, but he answered it anyway. “Yes, I do.”

“This time last week, you weren’t evendatinghim. And now he’s spilling secrets and sendinghumansintomy shop-”

“Nerik didn’t tell me anything. Not at first, at least. I found out about him by accident, and then he told me what he was. He didn’t tell me you were a witch. I came here because-”

“Then how the fuck did you find out about me, if he didn’t send you here?” Kit hissed, her voice low, but fiercely angry at the same time. The change in her mood from just moments ago was startling, and yet Yorin held his ground. If he didn’t, then Nerik was as good as dead.

“Zandro brought me here,” Yorin told Kit, nodding at the fire-dog. “He said that Nerik told him about Maky, and Maky told him that you were a witch.”

Kit turned her glare on Zandro then. Yorin couldn’t hear the silent conversation that went on between the two of them – at least, he assumed a conversation was going on – but a moment later, Zandro’s hackles came up, his teeth bared in a low growl.

“No, no, you’re right,” Kit said a moment later, backpedalling quickly. “That was uncalled for. I apologise.” So apparently, Zandro had told the woman off, and quite thoroughly, too.

“You have absolutely nothing to fear from me,” Yorin said, fully aware of the risk to Kit’s life if anyone found out about her. Her anger was justified, but at the same time, it wasn’t going to help either of them right now. “I love Nerik.” He hadn’t realised it was true until he said the words, but the instant he had, he knew from the bottom of his heart that he would do anything in his power to save him. “I don’t know how things work in your part of the world, but Nerik said there were more Chalandrians living in Minia. Is there someone else who can help us? Or… I don’t know… some kind of underground network we can use to send word that we need help?”

Kit blew out a slow breath, then nodded. “There are people we can talk to. But honestly, Yorin… Look at me,” she prompted him, when he was already moving towards the door to get started. He stopped and looked at her, bracing himself for bad news. “He’s in a cage, in a public place, with guards around him. At least, that’s what Zandro said. Is that right?”

Yorin nodded.