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Alleypup led Briar into an open cellar and under soainst its stones Here was an open tunnel underground A few steps inside brought them to a niche in the wall The street rats had put oil lamps there

“I don’t s’pose you’d light these up?” asked Alleypup “You bein’ a e and all”

“You want my uage of the streets, a mate was the closest of friends “Or Daja, that’s back at Winding Circle I can’t do fire”

“Hmph,” snorted Alleypup “That’s no help” He fuht the wick

Briar’s thin-bladed nose twitched as the reek of hot aniotten that scent—at ho Circle they used oil treated with herbs The dog work of filling jars with oil and chopping herbs into them was his least favorite chore, but now it seemed the chore orth some trouble

And ain’t I getting nice over such things in ht as he followed Alleypup down the tunnel

They crawled for about sixty yards Splashing through a trickle of wet, Briar wondered how Rosethorn would react when he returned with mucky clothes She was all too likely to duh and keep hi as s about it when it was on Briar He was all too aware that this sense of being dirty e in his life since he’d left the Hajran slums Was he ever himself anymore?

His sense of direction told hiuarded Summersea proper The network of clay pipes here sported cracks and leaks, the e from last summer’s earthquake

“Flick says you was street,” his guide re for a quick rest

“In Deadman’s District in Hajra, in Sotat,” Briar replied “They called led some”

Alleypup whistled softly Thieves were ied to feed themselves “How old were you?”

“Four” Briar stepped around what looked like a long-dead dog “The Thief-Lord took ave me my name”

“The streets fro away fro water of the city sewers “My mum and dad only loped off tinters back Said I was too hard to raise”

Briar slipped and had to brace hiet his balance Think I’ll boil ht To Alleypup he said, “I never knew any butCircle, the girls, they’re like sisters They’re coh”

“Mages is always complicated,” Alleypup commented They had coht, into a larger tunnel “We been hearing stories about you and theirls since the quake”

They splashed on in silence for a while The pipes got big enough that they could walk if they didn’ttheir heads knocked frolazed clay, better in quality than the se Sohter in color than the old stuff

Once they’d stopped for another rest—Briar noticed that Alleypup wheezed a great deal—the other boy remarked, “Flick says you was a jailbird”

“Have a look” Briar held both hands close to the lamp to let Alleypup see the dark blue X’s tattooed between his forefingers and thurabbed me up a third time, and I was on my way to the docks,” he said with pride “But Niko—a teacher of istrate”

“Never!” whispered Alleypup, startled

Briar nodded “Truth He brung irls because he saw the ic in all of us”

“Nobody saw you was ic before?” Alleypup inquired “All the tiic-sniffer and bundled off for lessoning” Kid was street slang for a child “And they’re usually real little kids”

“Mine was strange,” Briar replied with a shrug “So was ics We didn’t even knoe had it, till Niko and Lark and Rosethorn and Frostpine started teaching us Lark and Rosethorn boss the house we live in Frostpine’s—”

“Metal-e,” said Alleypup “Everyone knows hiain

At last they entered the great tunnels under the oldest parts of the city More care and attention went into these underground rivers and streets, in part because the netas centuries old, but also because the guilds, the wealthy merchants, and those nobles who kept houses in town lived overhead Here Briar was glad to see ays on both sides of the stone-or brick-lined canals There were rats, of course; the stink made his head spin; and often they had to race by pipes about to du narroalls covered with goo These tunnels were built to last; what little earthquake dae they had suffered had been repaired with new brick and stone

Not far froest tunnels, Alleypup turned into a lesser one Ten yards down its length the street rats had yanked out bricks and dug into the earth, shaping a cave deep and broad enough to sleep a slow over a pile of rags at the rear of the cave

“It’s e by the entrance “I brung him”

The girl who lay on the pile of rags sat up, peering at them “Briar?”

He walked over and knelt beside his friend Except for a ragged belly-wrap of some pale cloth, Flick was naked Her skin, normally deep broas covered with even darker spots and blotches froed into welts; they looked stretched and painful Her lips cracked and bled; her eyes were glassy with fever Heat rose from her to press Briar’s face

Flick struggled to sht?” She stretched out her hand, palm-up; Briar stroked it with his free hand They locked their fingers together, twisted the

“You’re soht,” Briar admitted

“I ain’t never seen nothing like this—like these spots Did you?” she asked

Briar shook his head “Open your mouth?”

She obeyed Briar peered in, but the light was too chancy “Alleypup, hold the lamp close”

The boy obeyed Now Briar saw that Flick’s tongue was covered with a dense, pale coat He could even see blue spots on the inside of her cheeks

“Close up,” he told her “Lemme see your back” Obediently Flick turned onto her side The spots were as thick on the back of her body as on the front Asking per it, Briar lifted the band on her belly-wrap The spots continued on the girl’s hips and bottoain,” he said when he was done As Flick turned, he backed up until he was on level ground There he sat on his heels, arms wrapped around his knees, to think

For an apprentice maker of medicines, as Briar was now, his old life in Deadman’s District had been useful There he’d seen all h those he had witnessed close up Smallpox and all the other poxes were old ene like what riddled Flick’s skin

He looked at his friend “How long’ve you been sick?”

She counted fingers, her lips ht three days before”

“Anybody else got it?” Briar asked

Flick looked at Alleypup, who shook his head “None as we know,” Flick said She didn’t have to add, “Not yet” All of the

Briar stood “I don’t knohat this is,” he told theet Rosethorn down here” When their eyes ide, he shook his head “She hasta see for herself” He looked at Flick “There’s a closer route in, ain’t there? If she caht down to here?”

“You got to go to Urda’s House anyway to tell her,” Alleypup pointed out “And they won’t let ate” He pointed to his clothes, streaked with fresh muck