They had covered the table, and some of the benches, with papers, all of which had official seals. Rory found nothing remotely important enough to have gone to the trouble of hiding them.
Rory leaned back and glared at the papers, a look not lost on his two companions. Then he stopped and picked up a piece --
"This is Alis's writing. Not Ambassador Tranthin's hand. There was no reason for Alis to do this. He had people to take dictation." Rory ran his fingers over a word or two -- and then stopped with a nod. "A code laid down beneath them. Subtle. I can read it, barely. " He stopped and closed his eyes, running his fingers over a line. "Treaties with Atria? I'm not sure who or what country made the treaty. This will take a while, and I'm not going to write it down. Keep the papers in order. I'll start with the first, and the three of you listen. We'll see if we can make some sense of it."
No one argued, even about not writing it down. Of course, they were all in the same line of work and understood the dangers of having such information where another might see it. Zorian even sent the others out of the building, which Rory appreciated, though they didn't, given the weather.
They worked as fast as they could. Rory knew the code, but it was not easy. They went over most pieces twice and finally stopped halfway through the papers when his voice started to give out, and the sound of thunder rumbled too close. Rory packed away the papers, carefully separating the ones they'd read from those they hadn't deciphered yet. Zorian let the others back in, and most went straight to work on food again.
Rory sat in self-imposed silence, the kind he had learned to call upon in the Eket temple. It worked better here because of his genuine need. Rory mentally sorted through the words he had read, but none of it had made much sense. There was, he realized, a code within the code. Maybe several layers of codes. That was going to be challenging to work out while on the run.
They ate mostly in silence. Rory's voice still sounded rough afterward, but he felt better -- right until someone rushed in and muttered words to Zorian. Their host looked grim and gave Rory a nod that showed nothing good.
"We have three government ships coming our way. We could fight it out with them, but better that they just don't find us. Grab your things. Linton will lead you back to the dry ground --"
"No," Linton said. "You take them, Admiral. You dare not stay here. And you are more important to us than they are."
"Linton --"
"Don't argue now. We've discussed this before. Take your friends and head out. We've got this part covered."
Rory noted that everyone was moving. Anything that even hinted at riches was removed. Torn, dirty blankets covered beds. The food disappeared, replaced by gruel with an overpowering scent.
Zorian was cursing, but he'd taken things others handed to him. Rory and Jamison took a few things as well. Rory had no idea what he carried, but he didn't try to look as they were all four ushered out a secret door that led almost straight into the marsh. They crossed a series of fallen trees and large rocks, leaving no sign behind. These people were ready for trouble.
Rory followed Zorian, Keltrina behind him, and Jamison last. They were soon well away from the building, which he could no longer see. He could hear distant shouts, though.
Zorian stopped, balanced precariously on a log, and looked back with worry. Then he nodded to the others. "They'll do fine. We've had this kind of visit before. I didn't want to say in case it worried you, but we are associated with Kerric in theory. He likes to believe we're giving him important information on other pirates. And we do. It's good to clear out the dangerous people. But mostly, we help people escape the city if they are in trouble. Often with Kerric. You aren't the first."
With that, he turned and led them farther away from the building. Rory soon couldn't hear anything above the usual sounds of the land around them. It was no easy hike, and they spoke little. The day drifted toward sunset, and he supposed they would have to spend the night walking because there was no place to rest here.
Dangerous creatures were starting to move around in the water. A colossal snake moved between Rory and Zorian and almost didn't survive, startling Rory. However, just as he was about to suggest they rest anyway, he saw a break in the growth and what appeared to be higher -- and dryer -- land ahead.
They came out of the murky darkness and into far brighter light than Rory had expected. He wanted to sit down and let his eyes adjust, but the ground here was still muddy and too close to the snake and anything else in there that had spotted them.
Out in the open, though -- that wasn't much better. Rory looked around with worry. If anyone suspected them of having gone that way, it would not have been hard to send a pigeon to the outpost in this area.
"We need to get out of the open and away from this path," Rory said. He drew frowns from the others. "It would be a shame to take chances now. All we have to do is get to that stand of trees. We can make it that far."
Zorian looked inclined to argue, but Rory headed off in that direction, hoping the other three would simply come along. It wasn't more than half a mile. The others did follow, although with a few muttered complaints.
As they neared, something huge dropped from the branches of the largest tree.
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