Page 33 of Sanctuary of the Shadow
Harrow felt her cheeks flush.
Mal cocked a brow. “What’s keeping the cage closed?”
“There’s a padlock on the latch.”
Mal made a face. “Definitely enchanted. Luckily for you, I know a guy.”
“What? What guy?”
“There’s an old Enchanter in the Underground who sells slightly criminal enchantments. For the right price, I can get us a lockpick that will open any lock, even an enchanted one.”
Harrow’s eyes widened. “You’re a genius, Mal.”
“Nah. Old Godric’s the genius. But an enchantment that powerful will last only a day or two, so we have to time this perfectly. So what comes next?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t thought much further ahead than getting Raith out of the cage.”
“You’ve never staged an epic escape before, have you?”
Harrow pursed her lips. “You know I haven’t.”
“Then it’s a good thing you’ve got me, even if I am rusty.” Malaikah clapped her hands. “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. First, you need an actual escape plan. It needs to be unexpected but not so unexpected it becomes obvious. Sometimes, the obvious plan is so obvious, it becomes unexpected.”
“What?”
“Never mind. Second, you need a fake escape plan. A diversion. You need to lay a false trail so that when Sal starts hunting you down, he has something to follow that will lead him astray. You with me?”
Harrow nodded, more than a little sad when she realized where Malaikah’s expertise in this area originated.
Mal’s parents had been leaders of the famous Kambu panther clan in the Far South before they’d been assassinated by rivals. As soon as her enemies realized the leaders’ young daughter had survived the attack, they’d been out for blood.
It was thanks only to Mal’s cleverness and adaptability that she’d escaped with her life. She planned to one day return to Kambu and take back her birthright, but for now, the circus life was all she had.
“Let’s look at it this way,” Mal said. “Pretend you’re Salizar. Your fortune teller and your wraith have escaped, and you’re ready to hunt them down. Where’s the first place you look?”
Harrow frowned, considering this. “I guess I’d assume we’d hide in Allegra. It’s a huge city with so many different people coming and going that it would be an obvious hiding spot. We could easily find somewhere to lie low for the final week the circus is in town.”
“Right. Exactly.”
“So that means we do the opposite. We take my horse, gather provisions, and then leave the city immediately.”
Malaikah shook her head. “Wrong.”
“What? But you said—”
“I said, the best choice is something so obvious it becomes unexpected. Your first conclusion of the smartest place to hide was in the city. Salizar will come to that conclusion too. So you double bluff. You purchase a horse from the market and steal provisions to make it look like you’re planning to leave Allegra. False trail: laid. But instead, you stash the horse somewhere he won’t find it, and then youdostay in the city. When Sal finds the missing supplies, he’ll send people out of Allegra to look for you, thinking you went with the unexpected option.”
“We can buy the horse from a less popular seller so it’s not obvious,” Harrow said, catching on, “but still easy enough for Salizar to find once he starts making inquiries. I’ll wear a distinctive scarf so the seller will remember me. Salizar will think he’s clever when he finds the guy we dealt with.”
“Now you’re thinking smart.” Malaikah grinned. “And we’ll steal the food from the circus stores to get Sal on the right track. That’ll be the first place he’ll check.”
Harrow nodded, starting to believe this could work. “But what do we do with the horse? If Salizar finds it, the jig is up.”
Malaikah’s eyes narrowed as she thought hard. Then they widened. “What if we don’t hide it at all? We’ll buy a plain one, and I’ll go in disguise and leave it at the main stables in the middle of the central market, where every merchant leaves their horses. Even if Salizar did check, you wouldn’t have been seen there, so how could he know it was yours?”
“Okay.” Harrow stared at her friend, heart pounding. She could scarcely believe they were planning this outlandish thing.
“Okay.” Mal was still grinning. She’d always gotten off on danger in a way Harrow never understood. “When does this all go down?”
