The sold road

The night at the Relais de Veyr was not silent. Steps went up and down the stairs, the children cried in their sleep, and Brakka's guards changed posts every two hours.

Zaelyra slept near the box of maps. She woke up when Nym put a hand on her shoulder.

She had dreamed of a gallery closing behind her, but the sound that had pulled her out of sleep came from a bell hanging at the entrance. Only one ring: someone was approaching without hiding.

In the courtyard, the inhabitants had already divided. The children joined the inner staircase. The adults took the pills, the ropes and the few weapons left in the closet.

Brakka seemed to know what was going to happen. She didn't ask who Zaelyra was; she asked which door they should keep.

"The outside door," replied Rhylor. "And the exit under the cistern."

"Do you have a map?"

"Not a complete map."

"So don't give me a fake one. Just tell me what's not on it."

Zaelyra showed him the old drain pipe and the passage under the tower. Brakka chose three positions, then sent a child to warn the families not to gather near the well.

"The lights of the canyon have changed."

She joined the tower. Three lanterns shone on the low road, then two on the upper road. A patrol code. Rhylor identified them before her.

"They're closing the exits."

"How much?" asked Brakka.

"Enough that we don't want to count," he says.

The outside door resounded with a single blow.

A voice rose on the other side. "We are looking for a fugitive from the Xil’Nrae House and a svirfneblin cartographer. Let them out. The relay will not be worried."

Brakka looked at Zaelyra. "Your decision."

"They have already decided that I was the only person here."

"This is often the beginning of a miscalculation," Brakka replied.

The door received a second blow.

Kethra then came out of the shadow of the inner passage. His copper coat was torn at the shoulder. She had a cut on her forehead.

"You were here since we arrived? Zaelyra asked.

"I entered through the old drain after you. I stayed in the conduit. I didn't want the broker to enter the yard with me."

"And you came out?"

"Before dawn, by the exit under the cistern. It opens to the east. I'm coming back; the stone opened my forehead and tore my coat."

Rhylor raised his blade. "You brought them here."

"I sold a road. Not the relay."

"To whom? Zaelyra asked.

Kethra did not answer.

"At home?"

"I had a debt. They offered to delete it against information. I gave them the wrong way."

"When did you realize that their offer didn't hold? Zaelyra asked.

"When they stopped talking about debt and started talking about you."

Kethra had tried to resume the negotiation. She had proposed another map, a foreman's name, even one of her own hiding places. The broker had refused everything. He no longer wanted an itinerary; he wanted confirmation that the young drow who carried the box had reached Veyr.

"You could not have confirmed anything to them."

"Yes."

"Then why did you do it?"

"Because I thought a limited response would remain limited. I told them that I had seen a drow with maps. I didn't give your hair color, your name or Nym's."

"But you've given enough."

"Yes."

She said that she had left the relay before the lights went up and walked alone to the first post. She could have come back to warn Brakka. Instead, she had waited for the broker to confirm the delivery of the Saira loop. He had never promised to return it; only to prove that he had it.

"And when did you realize that you had been led?" asked Rhylor.

"When I saw the lanterns of the canyon."

"You still waited."

"Yes."

Kethra supported his gaze. "I'm not going to fix the story to make it less cowardly."

Zaelyra did not answer him. She did not want her anger to become a simpler condemnation than the facts.

"What was the real road?" asked Brakka.

"I didn't know her."

"You were negotiating a passage that you didn't know?"

"I was negotiating a map that I knew was wrong. It's not the same."

"It is for those who have been prosecuted."

Kethra looked down. The movement was too small to be a shame, but enough to show that she had heard.

"The debt was not mine alone," she says. "They had taken someone from my network. I thought information would regain his freedom. They kept the debt and took the route."

"You could have given them something else," says Zaelyra.

"Yes."

"You could have warned us."

"Yes."

She did not offer an excuse. In the sound of the door, his silence had more weight than a well-arranged story.

"And they have followed us so far."

"They already had your names. I sold them the route you didn't take. Someone else gave them Veyr."

The door shook under a third blow. One of the boards split.

Brakka distributes the defenders: two to the killers, three behind the inner door, one by the tank. She did not place anyone on the exposed ramparts.

"Why not take the tower? Zaelyra asked.

"She leans. If the enemy hits her, she will fall on us."

"It could give us a better view."

"A better view is worth nothing if it buries us."

Zaelyra had already heard Rhylor say almost the same thing about an over-assured plan. She understood that these people did not need her to give them courage. They needed her to share the real risks.

"You could have told us," says Zaelyra.

"I didn't know they had a second informant."

"Or you didn't want to lose the price of your market."

Kethra accepted the sentence without protesting. "It's possible."

Brakka went down to the cistern with two guards. The families were gathered in the courtyard. Some wanted to stay; others refused to be drawn into a war that was not theirs.

Zaelyra opened the box of maps. "The exit is too narrow for everyone at the same time. We let the children, the injured and those who know the route pass. The others follow through the west door while Brakka holds the entrance."

"If we do that, the relay will fall," says Rhylor.

"If they come in, he falls too."

Rhylor looked at the map, then Zaelyra. "I'm staying with Brakka."

"No. We stay together."

"The cistern is too narrow. If I come, I slow down the others."

He didn't try to protect her. He had just told him what he chose.

Zaelyra felt his refusal rise, then let him fall back. She gave him the spool of rope.

"Then you join me through the west exit. To the next light."

"I don't promise what I can't guarantee."

"I know."

The girl pulled Zaelyra by the sleeve and showed her a small shot that she had hidden in her box. A drain pipe connected the tank to the throat. The exit was drawn there, but it ended at the edge of a ravine.

"Did you know she existed? Zaelyra asked.

The girl shook her head. Then she took the chalk and drew a small mark at the end of the line: an open circle.

Kethra approached the plan. "I'm going to open the valve under the tank. The exit will not remain free on its own."

"You're not coming? Zaelyra asked.

"Not as long as Brakka needs me."

Rhylor saw the drawing. His face emptied of all color.

"Dhal," he breathed.

He detached the split plate from under his collar and handed it to Zaelyra.

"Take it. If you find another brand of Dhal, you can compare."

"You just told me that you want to know if he is alive."

"Presely. I can't keep both doors."

The door of the relay was given way.

Brakka shouted to hold the passage. Zaelyra took the girl's hand and followed Nym to the cistern. Behind her, Rhylor was walking away towards the west door, Kethra's rope on her shoulder.

The group was separating at the very moment when it had begun to become a community.

And somewhere under the relay, Dhal's map indicated an exit that no one had yet dared to borrow.