Page 55 of A Skirl of Sorcery
‘What about your fence? Who do you sell your stolen goods to?’ Thane asked.
Tanavantia answered. ‘We have different contacts in Coldstream. I will not give you their names without good reason. We need to maintain their goodwill.’
‘Why?’ I met her eyes. ‘Why are you thieving at all?’
For a moment I thought she would refuse to answer, but my revelations about the stolen magic had unsettled all the trows. Something had shifted in our favour.
Bin sucked in a breath as Tanavantia gave him a long look. She nodded reluctantly and this time he answered. ‘We are trying to save our home,’ he said simply. ‘We are trying to save Green Humbleton.’
‘I don’t understand.’ I frowned. ‘This is protected land.’
Thane agreed. ‘Ancient law decrees that Green Humbleton must remain green.’
Tanavantia’s voice was resigned. ‘Who is to say what is green? The dryad’s groves are green, the witches’ gardens are green. The land here is powerful and there are plenty of groups in Coldstream who would seek to take control of it. We don’t own the land, we only pay rent.’ Her expression soured. ‘Generation upon generation of trows don’t count for very much when there is the possibility of making a profit.’
The wolfsbane that Thane had remarked on was starting to make sense. The owner of this space would want to keep it werewolf free if he or she were planning to sell it. Such assurances would doubtless increase the selling price.
Thane shook his head. ‘There are still laws to protect you. As long as you pay your rent, you have every right to remain.’
‘What if the rent is increased beyond our means?’ Tanavantia said quietly. ‘We’re trows. We don’t waste our time worrying about money. We make do with what we have – but what we have only goes so far.’
My sympathy only went so far, too. ‘You’re stealing to pay your rent.’
She inclined her head. ‘We are. We take from those who seek to take from us.’
That wasn’t strictly true, although part of me understood her reasoning how ever twisted it was.
‘But I can assure you that we would not steal anyone’s magic,’ she continued ‘We don’t wish to harm anyone physically – and we certainly would not kill. We are not monsters.’
I didn’t say anything.
Thane was already getting to his feet. ‘I apologise,’ he said stiffly. ‘We thought you were involved. It is clear you are not.’
I wondered how much money the trows owed. The collection of items from Bin’s drawstring bag wouldn’t sell for much: mostof it was junk. Despite his many nights of burglary, he’d snagged very little – a battered brass cup, a small wooden witchery chest, a little white box, an ugly china ornament.
I stood up and winced slightly. Sitting cross-legged for long periods of time wasn’t a good idea. I stretched my joints but I didn’t make any move to join Thane; instead I walked over to the small pile of items, crouched down and picked up the white box. It was surprisingly heavy and had an elaborate seal.
‘Bone,’ I whispered. ‘This is made of bone.’ I looked at Bin. ‘Why did you take this?’
He glanced at Tanavantia and she nodded at him to answer. ‘The man had lots of those boxes,’ he said. He shuffled his feet. ‘I didn’t think he’d miss one.’
‘Lots?’ I asked sharply.
He dropped his gaze. ‘Hundreds.’
I thought of Louise’s collection of thimbles as I turned over the box. Trilby’s words were echoing in my head; they had pointed out that whoever ripped away magic would need a receptacle to hold it in, something that could contain extraordinary powers that were usually encased within flesh andbone.
I sniffed the box but there was no trace of magic on the outside of it. I twisted the elaborate catch and opened it. It appeared to be unused. What purpose could it have? Nothing sprang to my mind.
I returned it to the pile of pilfered objects. As I straightened up, my head scuffed the ceiling of the trow hole. ‘I’ll make you a deal.’ I pointed at the box. ‘I will solve your landlord problem and in return you tell me who you stole that box from.’
Then I smiled. This hadn’t been a wasted visit after all; in fact, it might provide the solution to all our concerns – trow, werewolf and ban sith alike.
Chapter
Twenty-Three
‘It sounds like we’re replacing one wild goose chase with another,’ Thane muttered as we walked away from Green Humbleton.
