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  “I have not seen another man, sir,” I heard the innkeeper say. He must have been talking to someone else. No one calls the Whisper Man “sir” unless he wears his noble’s gear. “I am sure he will be—you! This is not your room!”

  “You must forgive my little trick in changing,” the Whisper Man said. “I am a cautious fellow.”

  “It is well enough, innkeeper.” That was a stranger’s voice. I supposed it belonged to Rushpipe. “Leave us.” I heard the clink of coins and the sound of footsteps. The noises were confusing. I soon learned it was because while I heard the innkeeper go, Rushpipe had come into the room with two other fellows.

  The Whisper Man said, “Rushpipe, our business is private. Send those two away.”

  Rushpipe answered, “I trust my friends.”

  The Whisper Man said, “I do not. They may leave.”

  Rushpipe replied, “They are coming with us—it will do you no good to struggle!”

  The Whisper Man did not cry out, but he did not have to. I heard the bang as his chair fell over. I thrust my hands through the slits in my skirt seams and drew my daggers as I peered out from behind the tapestry. My The Whisper Man struggled with two big men while a third watched. The backs of all three strangers were to me.

  I came out of the tapestry right behind the closest man and stabbed him in the kidneys as I had been taught. When he went down, one of the big fellows released the Whisper Man and turned on me. He had a set of shackles in his hand that he plainly meant to use on the Whisper Man. As he turned, my companion kicked his feet from under him. The shackle-bearer fell straight into the fireless hearth so hard that he cracked his head on the stones. He did not move.

  The third man hurled a knife at me. I dropped to the ground and rolled under the table. I cut his hamstrings, but the Whisper Man also did something to him that I didn’t see. That was what finished him off.

  We left by climbing down the outside of the public house, keeping to the shadows. We returned to the inn where we had been staying. There we gathered our belongings and horses. Disguised as a merchant and his son, we crossed the town by way of backstreets to one of the Whisper Man’s safe houses.

  April 23,

  There, Da! Is that a good report? All it needs is proper coding. I thought you wouldn’t want me putting in how we hugged each other and all.

  Aly

  May 17, 459 H.E.

  By the hand and personal cypher of Baron Sir Myles of Olau

  To the Whisper Man

  George,

  One of my frequent correspondents from Pearlmouth wrote to me of a peculiar event that took place at his establishment on April 23: the killing of three men of Tusaine, apparently by a merchant of some kind. The merchant appears to have vanished. So too has his companion, a maidservant in her early teens.

  His descriptions of man and girl were very thorough. Truly, George, can you do nothing with your nose? It is unmistakable in combination with your eyes. The girl, of course, is equally identifiable to one who knows her well.

  What wicked god possessed you to take my only granddaughter into that situation? Even if she were not actually present when trouble broke out, what would she have done had you been captured or killed?

  I know that you say she has a talent for our work, but she has not been raised in the streets as you were. To risk her well-being in a venture such as the one my innkeeper friend described to me, with three men left dead in a pool of blood…

  I am deeply distressed, George. I tremble to think what either of our wives would do if they knew of it! Certainly I shall not be daft enough to tell them. I demand that you cease to risk Aly in fieldwork at once as the price for my silence. Truly, I am furious that you showed such an appalling lack of judgment.

  May 23, 459 H.E.

  By the hand and personal cypher of the Whisper Man

  To Baron Sir Myles of Olau

  Myles, forgive me.

  Indeed, you’ve said naught to me that I have not already said to myself. I deserved what you say and more. My only explanation—it’s no excuse, for there is none—is that I am so giddy with my girl’s skills at the Great Work that I lost my head. I shall not do so again. She does not know it yet, but I mean to keep her at coding and decoding correspondence from here on out. It is a waste, but better a waste of her talent than her precious life.

  I swear, I had no reason to think Rushpipe had turned when I brought Aly to that cursed meeting. He was a steady source of good information for over ten years for me as thief and spy. I’ve had him checked, double-checked, and approved by John Juggler’s Falcons every two years, according to agreed-upon procedure.

  Before you suggest it, I already told John Juggler to upend the Tusaine organization and inspect everyone in it from top to toe due to this. If my girl hadn’t been there, I would have said it was a stroke of luck that gave away the rot in that setup. Of course, if she hadn’t been there, like as not I would be dead. They caught me cold, Myles. She saved my life.

  Be that as it may, I have been burning frankincense to Mithros, the Goddess, and Trickster that our wives never learn of this.

  Your rueful son-in-law,

  Written in a shifting-character code developed by Numair Salmalín, from Sir Myles’s office at the Chancellory of Information in the palace at Corus, to Baron George Cooper’s residence at Pirate’s Swoop

  Day After Awakening, 466 H.E.

  To my lord Baron George of Pirate’s Swoop

  From Baron Myles of Barony Olau

  With regard to Evin Larse’s Overview to the Royal Tortallan Shadow Service Guide

  My dear George,

  I have just read Evin’s initial writing of the Overview, and I have some concerns. Do you not think Evin’s approach is rather slapdash? Surely he ought to take a more serious approach to a business in which people easily lose their lives.

  Please don’t misunderstand me. I like Evin. I trust him implicitly as our Chief Falcon. His style of operation works very well for those field Agents you’ve taken to calling Hostlers. I admit, reluctantly, that he gives them the “dash” it needs to appeal to the kind of superior—and chance-taking—talent in our ranks. A sharper Shadow Service will enable us to pull ahead of the very excellent Tyran, Marenite, and Yamani services. Until we improve the quality of our own Agents, we will continue to be the recipients of nasty surprises like the recent Carthaki invasions.

  However, must he be so casual? Ours is a serious business, something Evin knows perfectly well. He writes as though he’s unaware that we have lost more Agents to the Marenites than we have lost knights to the Scanrans!

  Eleni and I send our warmest love to you, to my (again!) pregnant daughter (how in the Mother’s Holy Name did you get Alanna with child at her age?), and to our grandchildren,

  Royal Shadow Service Guide—Draft

  Introduction

  Gods all bless, Nursemaids of the Tortallan Shadow Service. By offering to train new recruits, you fill a vital role in preserving the security of the realm against all enemies.

  Your task is difficult. You will teach your Nurselings that our work is often boring, occasionally dangerous, and always exhausting to the mind and spirit. As you may recall from your training, it cannot be stressed enough that they will not even be able to let friends and loved ones know what they do, let alone the world at large. It is doubtful that they will ever receive public recognition for their efforts. Nevertheless, what we do is vital to the defense of the realm.

  No One Is to See This Overview Other Than You, Upon Pain of Imprisonment or Death.

  Know that Their Majesties expect everyone in the Shadow Service to do their duty to the Crown.

  Tortallan Royal Shadow Service Guide—Overview

  By “John Juggler”

  The Chancellor charged me to write a Guide to train future Nursemaids. After much pleading with him and the Deputy Chancellor, I instead wrote this Overview to give the future Guide a direction, which I now share with you. Read it carefully, think
about what’s included and what’s not, and let me know by the usual channels what I’ve missed and why it’s important. I will be working closely with you all to create a complete and proper Guide—not the half-lettered version I would surely write on my own!

  In this Guide, words are to be emphasized—like eavesdrop and tracking—the first time they’re used. They will be explained later if necessary, to be certain your Nurselings learn them. You know them as part of the cant we already use so often that we may have forgotten we had to learn them somewhere. That somewhere was at our Nursemaid’s knee, which is now your knee. So remember to teach those words, among many other things in this Guide.

  Once again, if you think I’ve missed anything, let me know.

  Who’s Who in the Shadow Service

  As Nursemaids, most of you have met “Father” (Chancellor of Information), “Scarlet” (Chief Nursemaid), “Hurrock” (Chief Hostler), “Stabler” (Chief Harvester), and me (Chief Falcon) at one time or another. We’re the public faces of the Service—do I need to remind you to tell your Nurselings they’re not to approach us except under extreme circumstances, like someone is on their way to kill the Queen or steal the Dominion Jewel? (They can approach me, if they think getting a clout upside the head’s worth it.) Father’s immediate subordinate is the Deputy Chancellor of Operations, known as “the Whisper Man.” Most have not met him in this guise, nor will they ever meet him.

  The ranks of everybody else are as follows:

  Nurselings—The future Sparrows you’re training. You’re to teach them everything you were taught and everything you’ve learned over the years as a Sparrow yourself—which should be what we’re putting into this Guide. They’ll be Nurselings until you decide they’re ready to be tested, and they pass those tests to our, and your, satisfaction.

  Sparrows—Soon as your Nurselings pass their testing, they’re known as Sparrows. Sparrows do the day-to-day spywork like street-level intelligence gathering, writing reports, passing on coded reports and messages, and dealing with Magpies (informers).

  Unless they travel with a caravan or boat as part of their lawful cover, Sparrows don’t travel on spywork. If they travel for reasons other than their lawful cover, be sure they know that they must check with you first. This is for their own protection as well as ours.

  Stress it’s likely most of them will be Sparrows the whole time they’re working for us. That’s no reflection on their talents because we can’t do our job if they don’t do theirs.

  Hostlers—You might recommend some Nurselings to be trained as Hostlers, who track people, cultivate possible Magpies and Defectors, go covertly when we need to really know what’s going on somewhere, and do interrogations. They also, when necessary, do things like pickpocketing, robbery, sabotage, assault, and killing. We don’t have a lot of Hostlers because it takes a special type of person to be one.

  Many think of Hostlers as the “real spies,” which means they think spywork is naught but skulduggery and mayhem. Hostlers are the most visible but least important part of the Service—in fact, using a Hostler when one isn’t needed can do everybody more harm than good. Hostler training is covered in a separate Guide because there’s no need to plant the idea of swirling cloaks and flashing daggers into your Nurselings’ minds!

  Nursemaids—That’s you, former Sparrows and Hostlers who were selected to be Nursemaids. This job is a hard one for many because it takes a different way of thinking to be a Nursemaid than a Sparrow or Hostler. Nursemaids have three main jobs: (1) training Nurselings, including going with them on missions until you’re satisfied they can work on their own as Sparrows; (2) passing on orders and gathering reports from the Sparrows and Hostlers assigned to you; and (3) developing intelligence by compiling records and reports from Sparrows and Hostlers and from outside sources like schools, temple libraries, and the Hall of Records.

  Nursemaids and Nurselings stay at the Nursery, our training school in Corus, until you think your Nurselings are ready to be trained out in the field. The rest of the time Nursemaids live in cities and towns, always under lawful cover. That’s because you know who the Sparrows and Hostlers you’re responsible for are, along with whom you pass information to and get orders from—information others will go to a lot of trouble to get.

  Harvesters—Sometimes a senior Sparrow, Hostler, or Nursemaid is asked to be a Harvester. Harvesters gather information from Nursemaids, put it together, and make sure it gets back to the right people in Corus. When orders are issued, it’s also the Harvester’s job to pass that on to the proper Nursemaids. Because of their duties and the dangers of carrying secret information outside Tortall, Harvesters are often Diplomats. They may also be parts of ships’ crews, caravans, traveling priests—even Players.

  Harvesters do not develop intelligence—they give it a preliminary appraisal and rating and make sure that it gets safely back to Corus.

  Falcons—I’m a Falcon. In fact, I’m Chief Falcon. Falcons are in charge of the Shadow Service’s operations and intelligence for a territory, both inside and outside Tortall. Harvesters report all information they’ve gathered to send to us, and take orders to pass on from us. At will, a Falcon can arrange a meeting with any Sparrow or Hostler in his or her territory and give them orders or information deemed necessary. The Falcon’s orders supersede any others, save those given by a Chief, the Whisper Man, or Father.

  Falcons have lawful covers, often owning homes or businesses in major cities, so nobody thinks twice about people dropping in on them at all hours of the day and night.

  There may be as few as one Falcon to a small country we’re friendly with like Tyra, or more than a dozen in an empire where we’ve had and could again have trouble, like Carthak or the Copper Isles. Falcons report directly to the Deputy Chancellor. Most of the time those reports are written, or if it’s really urgent, some kind of magical device like a scrying mirror is used. However, at least once every few years a Falcon has to report in person. Because of that, Falcons need a reason for why they travel out of town on a regular basis—like buying and selling at fairs, or picking up some extra coin as a caravan guard.

  Owls—Sometimes we need help with things like magic, special knowledge, or even research that’s not in libraries or temple records. That’s when we call the Owls—those persons who aren’t agents but are kin to the Service and happy to lend a hand, or a paw, or a claw. Many times Owls are mages like Master Numair Salmalín or Master Lindhall Reed, or the Wildmage Veralidaine Salmalín, since mages often have talents like book learning or experience the rest of us don’t. But Owls can also be Traveling Merchants, Players, even immortals or animals—especially Gifted ones!

  Lawful Cover Versus Unlawful Cover in Foreign Countries

  If possible, all Falcons, Harvesters, Nursemaids, and Sparrows reside in a foreign country lawfully, living and working under their own names as normal residents or subjects. There’s a good reason for this—the fewer lies they have to remember, the easier it is not to trip up! (We call this Living Your Cover.) They’re also less likely to be mistreated if they get caught engaging in suspicious behavior as a legal resident or subject. In many cases, they may just get sent on their way with no more than a quick clout to the head, rather than being arrested and interrogated. Falcons and Harvesters always possess lawful covers and only engage in criminal acts if there’s no other choice.

  By contrast, unlawful cover means they’re pretending to be somebody they’re not, and is only used by Hostlers—usually for quick missions that are illegal anyway. If they’re in a country unlawfully, impress on them that if they’re caught they will be treated as a spy. They will be thrown in prison (probably indefinitely) and questioned (probably painfully), even in a friendly country.

  Learning and Using Codes and Cyphers

  Learning how to use codes and cyphers is something you need to teach your Nurselings. Remind them to always use code names, and show them how to let others know your message or report’s not forged. Learning to writ
e messages and reports in code and decode them must be as natural as breathing before their training’s over.

  When you teach your Nurselings codes, be sure they understand those codes are just between you and them. Not everybody in the Shadow Service is taught every code, and codes change frequently. Every code, no matter how difficult, will be broken eventually. Never Let Them Assume That Their Coded Messages Are Completely Secure.

  Cyphers substitute letters and numbers with other symbols. When people first learn to read and write, they sometimes play with switching letters around so A is Z, B is Y, and so on—or maybe they use numbers instead of letters. Other cyphers substitute something less obvious like drawings or marks, and though they seem harder to crack than a letter and number cypher, they’re just as easy to break once you know what you’re looking at. For instance, a group of rogues who used stick figures as a cypher were caught when Deputy Provost Sherringford Adler figured it out.

  Codes use references to other documents in order to be written and read. The classic type of code uses a codebook that always stays in a safe place and changes several times a year. While you can haul a codebook while traveling, it’s inconvenient and easy to steal. That’s why Hostlers and traveling Harvesters prefer either cyphers or book code. These are a series of letters and numbers that direct the reader to specific words in a specific book—for instance, “3-121” would refer to word 121 on page 3. Any book that both the sender and reader have identical copies of can be used, like printed books that come from the same printer, and it won’t rouse nearly as much suspicion if they’re found with one. (When I was a Queen’s Rider, I used the Rider’s Manual issued to all of us when performing Hostler duties.) If the two copies come from different printers, or are books copied out by hand, though, a book code is useless.

  There’s a new type of code the mages at the Royal University are working on, that they say changes characters according to some kind of number pattern that can only be decoded if you have a magical key. They claim you won’t need the Gift to use it, just a phrase that will code and decode perfectly. I won’t speak ill of any mages who can turn me into a frog or a tree—but I’m thinking most of us won’t be using any fancy uncrackable magic code any time soon!