"Now, it's time to make you disappear…"
Telent's hand moved from the iron box to a small bell, ringing it to summon a servant from one of the other rooms in his suite of chambers. When the door opened, it revealed a servant Valeri had never seen before, a stocky, nondescript man with close-cropped hair and strong hands that bore the burn scars of work in kitchens or near a forge.
In his hands, the servant carried a bundle of rough-looking fabric, a set of metal tools, and a small wooden bowl filled with water.
"This is the one who'll hide you away," Telent said. "Don't ask for his name, you haven't paid me enough to learn it. He'll hide you in the bowels of the manor's servant quarters until the gates open and the city's looking the other way. Do as he says, and you'll be beyond the walls before the week is out."
