Read The Hidden Fire (Book 2) for Free Online Page A

all.”
    Aiyan
tossed it onto the pot and leaned closer.  “It’s the way to the lost Spice
Islands.”
    Lyzuga
broke into a tired cackling laugh.  “I once knew a captain who collected
these.  He had over a dozen fake maps to the Spice Islands.  Of course, most of
the routes depicted suffered a telling flaw — “
    “They
didn’t cross the line,” said Aiyan.
    Captain
Lyzuga froze for a moment, then relaxed, his smile returning.  He nodded
respectfully at Aiyan, as to a player who played his game well.  “I will assign
that little fabrication the value of one kandar.  You’ll need four more to call
the bet.”
    Aiyan
produced the coins and turned the last cards.  He didn’t even look at his.  He
knew he had lost and pushed the pot and the bound papers at Captain Lyzuga. 
Kyric wondered if he had rigged the deck before the last deal.
    As
Lyzuga finished counting his winnings he picked up the booklet on a whim and
thumbed the pages.  At one point he stopped, sliding a monocle from under his
sash.  “This page is very good,” he murmured.
    Aiyan
leaned over.  “I have a full size copy of that chart in another place.”
    Captain
Lyzuga smiled again, shaking his head at Aiyan.  “I don’t know why you’re
pursuing this.  You’ve already sold me this hoax for a kan— “  Then his eye
caught something.  He adjusted the monocle and looked again, staring hard then
turning quickly to another page and then another, turning them frantically
until he closed the sheath and slammed it down on the table, his face losing a
bit of its color.
    “This
is a fake,” he said savagely.  “It has to be a fake.  What is your
game?”  He placed his hand on the pistol in his sash, the monocle falling from
his eye.
    “Easy,
captain,” Aiyan said.  “We’re simply looking for a ship to take us there.  If I’m
making you nervous I’ll just buy back my rudders and be off.”
    Lyzuga
mopped his brow with a lace handkerchief.  Even at three o’clock in the morning
it was still hot.  “Ridiculous,” he spat.  “Absurd.  If these charts were
authentic you would be speaking to the Doge of Sevdin, or some such person, and
you would have been provided with a ship.  Or someone else rather.  Because
they don’t use thieving con men who had the luck to bludgeon the right
Baskillian courier.”  He seemed to be arguing with himself.
    Aiyan
raised one eyebrow.  “It’s true that I stole the original charts.  Those are
still in Aeva.  But we are not hucksters or thieves.  I belong to an ancient
order of Aessian knights, and our expedition has been sponsored by Princess
Aerlyn of the house of Quytis.”
    “This
is not something the Senate of Aeva would trust to an unknown captain.”
    “The
Senate knows nothing of this.  This is, hmm, a private enterprise.  If the
princess were to use any ship of Aeva, or any known agent, or make arrangements
in any Western city, this little adventure wouldn’t stay secret for long.”
    Kyric
had to admire Aiyan.  He was the best liar Kyric had ever seen.  He could paint
the complete picture of a lie without ever telling an outright falsehood.
    Captain
Lyzuga rolled a coin across the backs of his knuckles.  “It’s late, gentlemen. 
I would have to examine this under a glass before accepting it as accurate, and
right now I need to sleep.  Perhaps I could take the rudders with me and you
could call upon me at my ship tomorrow.  In the afternoon.”
    “You
won them.  They belong to you,” Aiyan said with only a hint of satisfaction.
    Lyzuga
had spoken calmly, in a matter-of-fact tone.  But when he reached for the
sheath of papers he hesitated, like it was a snake that might bite him.
    They
gathered themselves and went out the door together, taking in the freshness of
the pre-dawn breeze.  The raucous piano had long quit, but the endless
cacophony of cicadas, tree frogs, night birds, and who-knew-what rattled on. 
They didn’t see any of the rickshaws