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go of his hand to silently palm her mother's sidearm.
"Your mother would be ashamed of you," the old hero said. "She wouldn't have wasted the city's time on her fantasies and vendettas."
She kept silent. She knew a nearby alley where no one ventured except for people who disappeared without a trace. Though she wanted to shout at him that her mother died for the city that the old hero had just betrayed, she kept silent.
When they passed the alley-mouth, she hastily shoved Trover into it. He gave a cry and fell over. She ducked in after him.
"He's tripped! Help me!" she called.
The old hero slowly negotiated his way into the alley and to her side. She was holding Trover down as he struggled to rise, but she hoped it looked like she was helping him up. Maybe it did, for the old hero bent at her side and she stuck the sidearm under his chin and pushed it hard into the wattle of skin there.
"My mother died for this city, you traitorous worm," she said, her jaws clenching with the effort of not shouting the words. "I would kill you right now if I didn't think you could be of use to me."
The old hero's eyes were calm. "Lots of people have tried to kill me, little girl."
"Lots of the enemy have tried. How many from the city?"
"Lots," the old hero said. "Lots of them, and yet here I stand, alive and well."
"I want to go to see the people who fight the infowar. I'll kill you if you don't take me to them."
"You want to do what? You stupid little girl." His tone still wasn't angry. "The wizard there is the city's best friend abroad. He's the only reason our enemies haven't crushed us. You want to betray him?"
"I will win this war," she said. But she faltered. She had thought that he'd just been bought off by the wizard, but maybe it was the case that he supported the wizard's work. Was it possible?
"We will win this war, by cooperating with our friends abroad. We can't afford to expose them to risk. I don't expect you to understand, l