“I remember there being more people here,” Sarette said as she and Katrin wandered through the market stalls.

“You’ve been to Lanport before?” the other woman asked.

“Once, years ago.” Her parents had taken her so she could see the ocean.

“Well, it’s cold and wet today. It’s not a surprise that the market’s quiet.”

Sarette hadn’t considered that. She hadn’t even noticed it was raining, and the temperature would have to drop much lower before she’d be bothered by it. Cold rain was a fact of life in Snow Crown—the price they paid for the valley keeping the worst of the snowstorms out.

She nodded to a stormborn man as they passed him in the street, his pale, slightly blue skin and the purple markings along the sides of his head standing out even here, in the one human city that her people regularly visited. He nodded in return but didn’t stop to talk, intent on his business.

Like her, he was armed, but with a quarterstaff rather than the more common staff-spear of their people. Stormborn always went armed in Lanport. The city guards were ineffective at dealing with the pirates and bandits that made their home here, far away from the laws of Tyrsall and the other southern kingdoms. Often, the guards were allied with them.

“How long does it take to reach Tyrsall from here?” Sarette asked.

“If we don’t stay over in High Cove this time, it should be about twenty days, but it depends how muddy the roads are.”

“Are there really a million people there, all in one place?” That would make Tyrsall five times the size of Snow Crown.

“That’s what they say. It’s huge—from north to south, it’s over twenty miles long.” Katrin stopped, facing a row of shops lined with a covered wooden walkway. A lone man was there playing a lively tune on the fiddle, using the walkway to stay out of the muddy street. “This is where she used to play when it was raining. If she’s not here and she’s no longer at the inn she was staying at, she’s probably left the city. I was hoping to convince her to come with us.”

“Is this the same bard that told you about Snow Crown?”

“Yes. Anise visited there before us, and knew more about your people. Without her, we would have probably gone straight through Tarvist Pass. Ellerie wanted to get a look at the mountains from both the east and the west.”

Sarette laughed. “That’s what Tarvist Pass is there for—so outsiders have an easy way through the mountains without getting stranded or stopping to visit Snow Crown. Other than traders, we try to discourage visitors.”

“I guess it worked out despite that. Her Royal Bitchiness seems excited, at least.”

It had been a week since the revelation that Ellerie was the daughter of the queen of Terevas, and of everyone in the group, Katrin had had the hardest time adjusting to the news.

Sarette didn’t know either of the women well enough to speak up about it, so she changed the subject. “How did you and Corec meet?”

Katrin frowned. “Do you really want to know?” Then she sighed. “Everyone else does, so I guess I might as well tell you. Let’s head back, though. I think we can reach our inn by heading directly west from here.” She was quiet at first as they walked, but then said, “Corec and I met when he captured me for a bounty that had been put out on me for theft.”

“Oh,” Sarette replied, not sure how to reply.

“It’s a long story. I needed the money to get my brother out of prison. I’d stopped stealing before that, but I took it up one last time to get him out, and it didn’t go well. Or maybe it did go well—Corec ended up paying Barz’s penalty fee and my own. I don’t know how I’ll ever repay him. Maybe I should forgive him for not telling me about Ellerie right away. Anyway, we’d actually run into each other before that, and he’d cast the binding spell without realizing it, so the day after he caught me, the runes showed up. We were near the Terril Forest, so we went to ask the elves about it, and that’s where we met Shavala.”

“I remember Treya saying something about the runes taking a long time to appear.”

“Yes, over a week, and they itched the whole time, so be glad it didn’t happen to you. I scratched my head so much, it almost started bleeding. Be glad you can hide it, too. It’s no fun having people stare at you all the time.”

“What do you mean?” Sarette said. “You’re hiding yours.” Katrin hadn’t bothered to conceal her rune when they were in the mountains, but she was doing so now.

“Only because it’s raining. I had to get better at hiding it because I’m not supposed to get my hat wet—it’s made out of straw. But it’s still easier to wear the hat than focus on concealing the rune all the time. I don’t know how the rest of you were able to figure it out so easily.”

“It reminds me of the concentration exercises I learned during my stormrunner training.”

“Treya said something like that, too. So you’re saying I’m bad at concentrating?”

“No, I didn’t mean…” Sarette glanced at the other woman, worried she’d offended her, but was relieved to find her grinning. “No, but how does the warden bond work for you? You’ve never mentioned being a mage.”

“Bardic abilities are magic of a sort, but I honestly don’t know if the rune’s done anything for me. Other than singing for an audience, I never tried to use those abilities much until after I had it, so I don’t know what I was able to do before that.”

They were following a quieter street away from the market when two rough-dressed men stepped out in front of them.

“Hello, ladies,” one said with a grin. “Looking for company?”

“No,” Katrin said flatly.

They tried to walk around, but the men blocked them.

Katrin drew in a deep breath, but before she could do anything, Sarette rapped the butt of her staff-spear against the ground, charging it. The clouds in the sky provided extra power, despite the lack of a lightning storm.

Strands of blue and white light flickered over the spear, and the men backed away, their eyes wide. One fell into the mud and scrambled backwards, trying to get to his feet.

“Storm witch!” the other said. “I’m sorry! We weren’t gonna do nothing!” He turned and ran, and his friend managed to stand and follow after.

“They must be locals if they know about stormrunners,” Sarette said, staring after them.

“They were afraid of you.”

“Vartus says the people around here still tell stories about the wars. It was a long time ago, but humans used to try to conquer the Heights. I hope I didn’t interfere with whatever you were going to do.”

“It was pretty much the same as what you did,” Katrin said. Then she grinned. “Except they wouldn’t have known why they were running.”

#

“Burton isn’t hurting Kerris?”

“Or, at least, he didn’t do so on the days I spent watching,” Razai replied. After she’d gotten the information she needed from Tobin Senshall’s home, she’d moved on to his brother. “Their problems aren’t much better, though. Everyone in that family hates each other. Burton, Kerris, the wife. There’s a lot of yelling at night.”

Renny chewed on her lip. “I suppose that might explain Kerris’s behavior. Do you think seven days is enough time to know for sure?”

“How would I know? But if I keep going back, I’ll get caught.” Without a job opening up in Burton’s home, or any other legitimate reason to be there, she’d been forced to sneak in, spending long stretches of time invisible while spying on the family.

“I guess I’ll only report Tobin, then,” the concubine said.

“To who?”

“Mother Ola. She’s in charge of the Three Orders chapter house here in Tyrsall. She can terminate Elba’s contract and assess Tobin with a penalty. If she convinces Elba to complain to the constabulary, he might even get arrested, though that’s not likely—the family holds too much power. But if we let people know why the contract was terminated, he’ll be publicly humiliated. That’s probably the best we can hope for.”

“If you can do all that, then why didn’t Elba complain before now?”

“And admit that her relationship is a failure? They warn us about this sort of thing in our classes, but even with the warnings, not everyone comes forward. You should listen to my old roommate sometime. She can talk for hours about the problems with the institution of concubinage.”

“You’re not going to do anything about Burton?”

“I’ll report that too, but if nobody’s at fault, it gets messy. Especially because Kerris has two children with him. She or Burton can end the contract, but they may not want to. Someone will talk to her, though, to see if she needs any help. Not me—there’s too much of an age difference. She doesn’t think much of me.”

Razai hadn’t thought much of Renny at first either, but the girl was more than she seemed.

“The job’s over, then?”

“Yes, but please don’t say anything to anyone. I’m obligated to watch out for my sisters, but Varsin may not appreciate it if he finds out I’m the one who reported his brother. I haven’t been able to bring myself to ask him about it.”

“I won’t talk,” Razai said, standing up. “That’s why you hired me, after all.”

“Wait! Don’t go. I still have work for you.”

“I thought Senshall doesn’t hire women to work the caravans.” Vash and Wotar had accepted Renny’s offer to be caravan guards, but the girl hadn’t sent Razai with them.

“We don’t, but something else might open up. The caravans aren’t our only business, and you’re good at what you do. In the meantime, how about being one of my bodyguards? It doesn’t pay as much as the last job, but it’s something.”

“What about Stavo and the others?”

“Stavo works for me; I pay him out of my earnings from the divers’ collective. The others work for Varsin. He didn’t think one guard was enough when the gangs were active. Now that the gangs are gone, I’m down to one guard at a time, but Stavo can’t work all day every day. I told Varsin I’d like him to hire you to take the other shifts. It would be handy to have a female guard—Stavo can’t go everywhere with me. And it would get you on Senshall’s payroll, which would help in finding you a better position.”

Yes, the whispers said in Razai’s mind. They’d been absent for weeks, uninterested in the gangs or spying on the Senshall brothers.

She considered the offer. There wasn’t anywhere else she needed to be, other than avoiding Corec. According to the new sense from the warden bond, he was somewhere due north of her now. He was on the move, so she’d have to check more frequently in case he headed back to Tyrsall, but she wasn’t likely to run into him working as Renny’s bodyguard, and it would provide a steady income.

“Sure. Why not?”

#

“No,” Corec said. “Keep the shield in front of your body when you attack. Turn it so it’s protecting your arm as you extend, but keep it near your chest. Don’t swing it out to the side.”

Nedley repositioned his shield as he faced off against Boktar, his brown hair plastered to his forehead with sweat. They’d picked up the shield and an arming sword for him from the stash of red-eye weapons they’d left in Jol’s Brook, but they’d soon realized the boy didn’t know how to use either.

Boktar bashed Nedley’s shield to the side with his own, then whacked his arm with the stick he held in place of his warhammer. “Do something! Don’t just wait for me to hit you.”

“Yes, sir!” the boy said, panting from the exertion. He slashed forward and down, and Boktar deflected the blow with his shield but didn’t counter. Nedley tried again and again to get around Boktar’s defenses, while his own shield gradually swung back to his side and behind him.

“It’s not a dueling sword!” Corec said. “Lead with the shield, not the weapon!” He had to keep himself from laughing—he understood the use of a shield just fine, but he’d never mastered it himself. Nedley wasn’t that much worse with it than he was.

Ellerie cleared her throat from the side of the stable yard.

“I think that’s enough for today,” Boktar said. “Nedley, go get a bath and put on some clean clothes before supper.”

With the boy gone, the two men joined Ellerie.

“What’d you find out?” Corec asked.

“I went to the constabulary building, but they said there haven’t been any more demon attacks since we dealt with the last group.” They’d reached High Cove that morning, and Ellerie had gone to make sure the demons hadn’t returned.

“Since you two and Venni dealt with them, you mean,” Corec said. “Maybe this new sword will work better than the last one if we ever run into them again.”

“Did you find any sign of that demonborn woman?”

“I went to the edge of the city, but Razai’s still farther south. I don’t think she returned here after we left.”

Ellerie nodded. “Why bother looking for her? She’s the one who ran away.”

“Well, I won’t go out of my way to find her, but I’ve still got her share of the demon bounty. If she’s nearby, it’s only fair to give it to her.”

“I suppose. I was almost hoping the demons had come back, so we could get paid again. I don’t know how we’re going to afford the trip to Tir Yadar.”

“We’ll figure something out,” Boktar said.

“For nine people? Ten, if we hire a translator? Are you sure Nedley still wants to come?”

“I’ll ask him again, but I promised him a job if he wants one.”

Ellerie raised an eyebrow. “Doing what? We can’t put him out in a fight—he’d get killed.”

“He’s…getting better,” Corec said. “A little. If we find him some armor in Tyrsall, he could probably handle an untrained bandit. He can stay in the back and keep people away from Katrin and Shavala.”

“He’s doing better with his numbers and letters, too,” Boktar said. “And he can help out around the camp—the group is getting big enough that we need the help. I just wish he could cook.”

“If you insist,” Ellerie said. “But ten people…are there any ships that even have room for that many passengers?”

Corec said, “The ship we took to Circle Bay had eight passenger bunks, but they were four to a cabin, and the cabins were small. That would be awfully tight quarters if we’re talking about being at sea for a month or two.” His stomach roiled at the thought.

“What we need is a ship that doesn’t transport cargo, just people,” Boktar said. “It’d be faster, too.”

“I don’t think there are any ships like that working privately,” Ellerie said. “Those are mostly diplomatic and naval vessels, and I doubt the King of Tyrsall would lend us a ship and crew.”

“What about your mother?”

She glared at him. “Terevas has an ambassadorial ship, but it’s on the other side of the continent. And she wouldn’t help even if I asked, which I won’t.”

It had taken some time, but everyone had mostly gotten used to the idea of Ellerie’s true identity. Boktar and Shavala had already known, so their behavior had remained the same. Most of the others had eventually adopted Corec’s method of pretending nothing had changed, except for Bobo, who’d started cornering Ellerie for long debates about Terevassian politics when she couldn’t think of an excuse to avoid him. Katrin was taking the longest to come around, but at least she’d stopped blaming Corec for the few hours where he’d known about it without telling her.

“What about Venni’s wife?” Boktar asked. “Yelena was her name, right?”

Corec hesitated. “I don’t know. I can’t keep going to Yelena with every question I have. If there’s a good time to ask about it when I’m talking to her, I guess I could, but this feels like a problem we should be able to handle on our own.”