Working Out a Plan

"I don't know yet. First let's think about what Maris wants to get out of this."

"To harm me, or maybe to enslave me again. He bears a grudge against me."

"I don't think that I'm his favourite person either," Zal says. "It's interesting that the note was addressed to you as well as to me. He must not have heard about your capture by the bounty hunters and your time at the mine."

"Yes, if he'd spent most of the last couple of days locked up in your cellar, then he probably didn't know about my capture."

"But now he's free, he'll most likely hear of it before the proposed midnight rendezvous. But there shouldn't be any way for him to find out that you're free once more. Because if he could find out, then so could Arif. So if I go to Market Street alone, saying that you are a slave at the mine and therefore couldn't come..."

"But how will that help?"

"It will make my being on my own not suspicious. Your not being with me will prevent him from harming or imprisoning you, if he has that in mind. Also, if we can get you to Market Street well before midnight, and install you in a good vantage point where you can see and hear what goes on without being seen yourself, it might help us."

"Is there such a spot, though? If the street is any length, then I could find myself a long way away from the action."

"I'll get there five or ten minutes before midnight, so that with any luck I'm the first there. Then I can choose where in Market Street I wait for Maris, and can do so beneath your hide-out. Hopefully Maris will be happy to come to me rather than want me to move."

"All right," I say.

"We'll go to Market Street soon after the market closes down for the evening. After that it should be fairly quiet, which will help in getting you into a position where you'll have a good view. We may need to break into one of the buildings overlooking the street for that. First, though, we need to change your disguise. There are too many bounty hunters and palace guards who know about it by now, and we don't want any of them spotting you on the way to Market Street."

1. So once again, with Zal's help, I change my appearance.

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