Then the nearest bear growled. It wasn’t the casual little noise that it and the other bears had been giving earlier when they shifted position or licked their muzzles, but an on-point, attention-all-guards noise. It rose from its crouch, the chains on its hind legs creaking, and leaned towards one of the people in the queue.

Its handler stepped forward. ‘Good evening, friend citizen,’ he said briskly. ‘Are you carrying any illegal magical components, as defined under section four of the law against importation of hazardous or treasonous materials?’

‘Of course not,’ the accused man said flatly. His face was still rosy from the windburn that all the sleigh passengers had suffered from, but Irene thought that he’d lost a little colour. Other people were backing away from him – or, rather, from him and the bear. ‘There must be some mistake.’

The handler raised a silver whistle to his mouth and blew a shrill blast. The sound carried through the noise of the crowd, and Irene could see several men in long dark coats hurrying towards them. ‘I’m sure you won’t mind going with these guards to have your luggage checked, then,’ the handler said. ‘Please be aware that this is your duty under the law, and any resistance will be considered an illegal act.’

Everyone else was looking at each other and muttering nervously. That made it safe for Irene to lean over to Kai and whisper, ‘They’ve got bears sniffing for sources of magic?’

‘It looks that way.’ They shuffled a step closer to the exit. The bear had gone back down on its haunches again, looking as tame and unthreatening as one might reasonably expect from a large grizzly bear. In other words, not very.

‘Interesting.’ They were second from the front of the line now. The man ahead was being waved through.

‘Business or pleasure?’ the handler said, with the bare minimum of interest.

‘Family,’ Irene said. She decided to go for the earnest-but-confused approach. ‘I’m visiting my mother. I mean, that’s not really pleasure, but I suppose it’s not business either—’

‘Yes, very good,’ the handler said wearily. ‘Please go through the exit ahead of you.’

With an inner sigh of relief, Irene walked past him, with Kai in her wake.

And then the bear leaned forward and sniffed at Kai.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

There were gasps as the crowd pulled back from Irene and Kai. And from the bear, of course. It was difficult to ignore the bear. For a moment Irene considered feigning innocence and signalling to Kai to make a run for it, then meeting up with him later. Common sense told her that she’d probably be arrested as an accomplice. Besides, she was reluctant to leave him on his own in a strange place. He might get into trouble. Into even more trouble.

The handler frowned. ‘Are you carrying any illegal magical components, as defined under section four of the law against importation of hazardous or treasonous materials?’

‘Absolutely not,’ Kai said. He eyed the bear sidelong. ‘There must be some mistake.’

The bear gave vent to a long, rolling eructation. It lowered its head and tried to nuzzle against Kai, straining at its chains. There was nothing aggressive about it now.

Kai looked at Irene for a moment, then sighed and reached over to scratch its head, his fingers sinking into its fur. ‘Good girl,’ he said gently. ‘Good girl.’

The security men in the long black coats had reached the scene. ‘Will you step away from the bear, friend citizen,’ one of them demanded. ‘Please place your hands above your head, and don’t make any threatening moves.’

This was not the surreptitious entry to St Petersburg that Irene had been planning. She edged over to the handler. ‘What if it hurts him?’ she demanded, letting an edge of panicked concern sharpen her voice. ‘It’s a bear! What if it bites his head off, if he stops stroking it?’

‘Our bears are all very highly trained, friend citizen,’ the handler reassured her, watching the bear nervously. ‘There’s absolutely no way it would harm anyone. If your friend just steps away from it, I’m sure it won’t do anything to him.’ But the idea had been planted and had taken root. The security men looked at each other. ‘Perhaps you’d better not try to move till we can get one of the controllers over here, friend citizen,’ one of them said. ‘See if you can keep it calm.’

‘What’s going on here?’ The woman striding into the growing circle of empty space had a long black coat like the men, but there were green stripes on her shoulders and cuffs. Her long hair was braided back cruelly tight, and instead of the skirts the other women wore, she was in trousers and heavy boots, like the men. She glared around suspiciously. ‘Is there a problem?’

‘That’s the problem, mistress controller,’ the lead security guard said, pointing at the bear that was cuddling up against Kai.

The woman peered short-sightedly. Then she walked up to the bear and laid a hand on its head, murmuring so softly that Irene couldn’t hear what she was saying. Kai took a step back, but the tilt of his head suggested that he was listening.

‘Galina says that he smells of the sap in the tree as it goes thundering towards heaven,’ the woman announced, frowning. ‘She says that she salutes the lord of the powers of the earth and the sky, ruler of seas and shaker of mountains. I want her on immediate medical leave. And I want him questioned.’ She pointed at Kai.

‘On what charges, mistress controller?’ the guard asked.

‘I don’t know. Public nuisance, maybe,’ the woman said. ‘I’m sure he’s done something. Take him into custody, and anyone with him.’ She rubbed the bear’s shoulder affectionately.

The security guard did his best to look confident. ‘If you’ll just come along with me, friend citizen,’ he said to Kai. ‘And the lady who’s with you. I’m sure we’ll have this all sorted out in a few minutes.’

Damn, they remembered I exist. Irene stepped forward to Kai’s side, giving him a little nod. ‘Please let’s do as they say, cousin,’ she murmured.

Kai reluctantly let the bear be – it was fawning on the woman now, anyhow – and he and Irene followed the security guards to a side door. Irene was assessing the guards’ visible weaponry as they led the way. Heavy truncheons, like the guards in the museum. Coils of thin rope on their belts, at the opposite side – some sort of magical restraint? They wore silver whistles like the handler’s at their necks, so that was probably a quick way to give the alarm. All most inconvenient. And just because Irene didn’t see any missile weapons, that didn’t mean the guards didn’t have them.

Tags: Genevieve Cogman The Invisible Library Fantasy
Source: readsnovelonline.net