My ears picked up shouting before we’d entered the now-crowded tavern below the inn. I felt the image of a big warm breakfast slipping away.

Please don’t involve us…

“Ya wanna try that again!?” I heard Taava shout from outside.

Dammit.

Seyari and I picked up the pace, jogging inside and pushing through the forming crowd. Taava, with a feral smile and wide eyes held a knife against one man’s throat, while her tail waved another blade around. Nelys had climbed up on a larger man and was holding their own blade against his throat. Both men were armored, but armor wouldn’t matter much to them right now.

Phol stood next to Myrna, sword out and guarded. Myrna stared daggers at a large man in armor who stood at the edge of the crowd nearer to me.

“You kill my men and none of you leave here alive,” he threatened, voice deep and gravelly. “I know you did it, Myrna. Never thought you’d stoop to murder though.”

Murder? This was bad. Obviously, we didn’t do it, but if he thought we did that needed to be cleared up. I could feel anger radiating off him. Maybe as a breakfast substitute… no! Bad demon! I should stay looking human to settle this.

The crowd was a problem. If I showed I was a demon, then there’d be no chance he’d listen to me, so I had to get him to back down on my own. I met Myrna’s cold gaze as I walked forward through the crowd, and the large guy who had just spoken followed her eyes back to me. Surprise flashed across his features when he saw my height. He was thickly built, well-muscled, shining bald, and two hands shorter than me.

“Zarenna Miller.” I stuck my hand out. “I’m with the Gelles Company and we’ve been contracted to guard Miss Myrna. What’s going on?”

“The Gelles Company?” the man asked, clearly skeptical. He didn’t take my hand.

Frowning, I pulled my hand back and pointed to the emblem on my cloak. I was wearing a company uniform—modified of course. The somewhat imposing black and pale blue leather outfit included a cloak with the emblem not only on the front, but the rear. The others didn’t quite have the same iconography, but Fira wanted to use me as advertising. “Yes, the Gelles Company. You’ve heard of them I presume?”

“I thought that company would be better than that,” he accused. “Taking out the competition?”

“What proof do you have?” Seyari stomped over, no longer content to sit back. “Zarenna and I were guarding Myrna’s wagon since before dawn, and the others should have been asleep.”

The man’s two underlings looked pleadingly at me. Taava kept her blade still, but Nelys twitched.

“Proof? Myrna’s always tried to take our clients! And now she ditches the caravan and shows up in town just in time to steal my goods and kill one of my men!” He stepped forward and jabbed a finger into my abdomen.

“Your clients go to me because I get better results Hector,” Myrna taunted. “Besides, murder is bad for business. You should know I know this.”

I didn’t flinch at being poked and looked down at Hector. “My contract with Myrna doesn’t preclude me from helping others. So long as she’s willing to stay in town, I and my group would be willing to investigate.” I looked away from Hector and at Taava and Nelys. “You can let them go. If they start something, I’ll stop it.”

Taava and Nelys lowered their knives and the two men stumbled away from the pair back toward Hector. With uncanny synchronicity, my two friends stuck their tongues out at the retreating men, saw each other, and smiled. Glad to see they’re getting along. I’m not looking forward to the trouble that’ll cause later, though.

I saw Hector’s fist coming for me out of the corner of my eye. Moving more calmly than I felt, I caught it with a hand. “What an odd handshake, Hector.”

The other two, who’d started toward me, stopped. Hector tried to pull his fist away, but I held him firm. “Myrna?” I asked, not looking away from the large man. “Would it be permissible for us to take a day to investigate this crime? The company should cover any additional costs incurred.”

I could feel her smirk. “Sure, why not? I have sales I need to make here today anyway—it wouldn’t hurt to spend a second night.”

“What do you say?” Still holding his fist, I extended a hand to Hector.

This time, he shook it begrudgingly, and I let his other fist go. He pulled back and rubbed at it, anger still glowing like a forbidden snack. So much for breakfast.

***

“I know you did it, and I’ll be watching you,” Hector grudgingly said as he walked my company group to the scene.

When he turned to the stables, I almost stumbled. “The stables?”

“Yeah. The stables. You should know,” Hector replied through gritted teeth. I could still feel his raw anger.

The building had two rows of bays back-to-back. Ours was a couple stalls toward the end, facing opposite the bay we were led to. We almost shared a wall! How did I not hear something? If it was on Taava and Nelys’s watch, how did Taava not hear something?

“Do you want our help or not?” Seyari shot back.

“I don’t want it.” Hector waved to a pair of militiamen standing outside the bay in question. “Got the murderers right here! They confessed and everything!”

Really? I bristled, and the others did the same. I felt fury spike from Seyari. The others stayed relatively calm—probably since we didn’t do it.

The militiamen startled. One of them asked, “is that true?”

Seyari spoke first. “Of course not!”

“They’re lying!” Hector insisted. “This one!” He pointed at me “Uses fire magic, and I know she has enough control to be the one who killed him! One of my men saw her using her magic to warm herself and that other woman when they went into the stables just after midnight. He was coming back from a shift change and she must have killed his replacement not long after.”

“We’re with the Gelles Company on contract to the merchant Myrna. Zarenna would never kill someone in cold blood like that,” Seyari fumed. “We were on watch in a stall across the dividing wall—whoever did it was quiet, because we didn’t notice.”

“That’s because you’re—”

“That’s enough,” an unfamiliar voice drawled. “You’ll get nowhere bickering.”

My head snapped over to look at the new participant. Slouched, and with his hands the pockets of his red-and-white vestments, the newcomer frowned under a half-lidded gaze. He was thin as a beanpole with loose, long pale brown hair half-tied near the tips.

Taava hissed. “You’re the one who’s been tailing us!”

What? Why didn’t she tell me?

The man shrugged and opened one ice-blue eye all the way. “It’s a living.”

“You knew we had a tail, Taava?” I asked.

“Pfft! No! Just a hunch though—ya told me ta be lookin’ out for a tail.”

I narrowed my eyes at the church man. If he’d followed us without Taava or myself hearing, he was either really good, or he’s only meeting us at specific points.

The slouching man frowned and turned out a pair of empty hands from his pockets. “You got me. Might as well get acquainted. I’m Yevon.”

Taava stuck her tongue out at him. Nelys did too.

I could feel Hector’s anger boiling. I really didn’t want to explain the whole “demon” thing right now though, so I let it boil over.

“You! Arrest them or something!” Hector yelled at the guards. “And you! Why are you here—this has nothing to do with the church!”

Yevon stuck his hands back in his pockets and casually strolled right into the middle of the group. He leaned forward, uncomfortably close to the red-faced Hector. “It does though.”

Thanks for not elaborating.

Seyari exhaled loudly. “Can we see the body already?”

“Yeah, we should figure out who really did it,” Nelys assented. “All we’re doing is getting angry at each other right now.”

The militiamen looked at me, back at Hector, and at me again—clearly at a loss. I didn’t get much anger from them, thankfully.

“Well, boss?” Taava looked at me.

Seyari resumed quietly fuming and watching carefully.

“Can we go in?” I asked the militia. “Myrna and her other guard have work in town anyway, and I think we’d all like to help if we can.”

“O-oh, sure,” one guard said.

“Don’t let us stop you.” Another gestured to the stable doors.

“Don’t touch the body!” Hector growled and jabbed a finger at me again. “I’m warning you. I don’t care what kind of ogre fucked your mom to make you: any funny business and you aren’t leaving the room.”

I had to hand it to him—even with his two goons absent, he still wanted a fight. Not that I intended to give him one. If he wanted a reaction to his insult, I didn’t give him that, either.

Yevon slid to the back of the pack and I led the way inside, Hector hot on my heels. The stall wasn’t quite across the wall from ours, but close. I smelled burnt meat more than I smelled blood when I walked in, and the smell only got stronger as I drew closer.

Inside the stall, the body was lying face-up on the ground. The poor guy’s torso had been cooked to the point where his brigandine had fallen to pieces around him and ribs could be seen under cracked flesh. His face was a pained rictus, eyes still wide open. The large cart next to the body was lightly scorched near where the heat had been, and it was empty save for one mostly-empty sack, lying open near the closer end of the wagon.

My mind reeled at the gruesome sight, but the only reaction my body gave was “that meat’s overcooked.” Sometimes I still scare myself.

Seyari and Nelys bent down to check the body, while Taava and I canvassed the small bay for any clues. Hector watched us with suspicious eyes and Yevon’s relaxed posture made him seem like he was just bored and not paying attention. I doubt that.

Taava reached the sack first. “How much other stuff did ya have? The wagon’s empty ‘cept for this.”

To my surprise, Hector answered, though he looked at Yevon while he spoke. “Just some stuff we picked up in Lockmoth—trinkets mostly. The rest was what we hadn’t sold in Lockmoth.”

Taava crawled up in the back of the wagon and looked around, including in the sack and whatever herbs it was full of. I checked the walls and ceiling for any marks. Some scorching near the body, but no smoke damage. Definitely magical fire—as if that wasn’t obvious enough already.

I made the mistake of looking over Seyari and Nelys who were checking the body, and got a good look at the wound. The dreadful, fatal injury was something I could do easily. For a moment I stared down at the dead man—once again reminded of how fragile humans were. Seyari’s hands twitched near the man’s pockets, but she didn’t touch anything. Hector was watching her intently. She was trying to respect my desire to avoid a fight. I’d be furious and looking for culprits, too, if this happened to one of my friends. Though I’d hope with more tact.

“Have you checked his pockets?” Seyari asked.

“No.” Hector replied simply.

Seyari frowned, but didn’t do anything about it. Nelys, however, quickly darted in and out with quick hands, frowning. Nothing there, probably. Focused on Seyari and myself, the quick pickpocket went unnoticed.

“Hey, isn’t this that nightsbane stuff?” Taava jumped down from the wagon holding up a dried sprig with a golden flower at the end.

I looked into the cart again. A few sprigs of nightsbane, all still nice and golden, were spread around near the one remaining sack. Aside from the burn marks and the empty cart, I found nothing else. No signs of a struggle, but twin ruts in the dirt suggested a laden cart was rolled out of here recently. A quick glance with aura sight didn’t turn up anything extra; the magic from the spell that murdered the guard had long since dissipated.

“Any evidence you didn’t do it?” Hector jeered. “Because I’m not seeing any!”

Yevon pulled up off the wall he was leaning against and slowly walked over to Taava. “I am.” He tried to pluck the sprig from her fingers, but she twitched out of the way. With a shrug, Yevon reached into the cart and pulled out another sprig.

Hector frowned. “Yeah, that’s the only thing they didn’t take—probably because if we couldn’t sell it in Lockmoth, Myrna knows she can’t sell it anywhere. Even with all the rumors, people still don’t want to buy that stupid stuff. It probably doesn’t even work.”

“Myrna has a large amount of it in her cart, actually. We just bought it two days ago.” I offered. “She’s definitely thinking of selling it.”

“Yeah, and stealing ours would be too much to sell off! I know you did it!”

“Shut it.” Seyari stood up and dusted herself off.

Hector looked like he was about to pop a vein in his forehead and I could feel his anger surging.

“I’ll kindly ask you two not to fight.” Yevon smiled politely, his threat amplified by the casual nature of his words.

Hector backed down—just barely. Seyari huffed.

“This,” Yevon held up the sprig, “actually proves Zarenna didn’t commit this murder.”

I didn’t miss the subtle emphasis he placed on this.

“How?” Hector demanded.

“Catch.” Yevon tossed me the sprig and I caught it.

Way to be obvious and dramatic about it.

I held up the darkening flower for everyone to see and walked over to the cart for another. Hector’s eyes followed me, face unsure and confused. Taava held up hers with a smug look. I formed a flame on my palm and from almost a meter away, the gold flower slowly turned black.

“Interesting…” Yevon muttered.

“What?” Seyari asked coldly.

“Oh, nothing important!” The strange priest gave another disarming smile.

“She—she just burned it!” Hector scrambled to make sense of what he’d seen.

Yevon shook his head. “No, that’s demonic-aspected mana at work. If she’d killed this person, all the nightsbane flowers would have turned black.”

“T-then she’s corrupted by a demon or something! Why are you so calm?” Hector frantically looked between me and Yevon.

The priest just smiled. “Because I’m here to watch her, not kill her. Besides, I wouldn’t win. And now that we have this settled, I think I’m going to go get a bite to eat. I’m famished and this whole business has made me skip breakfast.” Hands still in his pockets, Yevon slouched toward the door, yawning loudly.

Just who is this guy?

Hector put up an arm to block him.

“Oh?” Yevon raised a single eyebrow. “Blocking a priest, are we?”

For a tense moment, I thought Hector would try something.

I spoke up and, once again, tried the diplomatic approach. “We should follow the cart trail out and see if anyone saw anyone leaving town this morning in a hurry and with a cart or wagon that could carry what was stolen.”

Hector put his arm down, but he shouted after the retreating priest. “You’re just going to let this corrupted bitch and her cronies go? Coward!”

“Coward and hungry,” Yevon’s distant voice clarified. I could almost imagine him waving over a shoulder back at the fuming Hector.

The big, bald man wheeled on us, spittle flying. “I won’t let you get away with this!”

“No one but me in our group can use fire magic. And if I did, I’d turn all those golden flowers black. We can’t possibly—”

Hector lunged at me.

I didn’t even have to defend myself. Nelys slipped under him and tripped the big man. He slammed down onto the dirt floor, and before he could scramble up, Taava and Seyari were on him, restraining him. Taava got his feet, and Seyari’s three-quarters-angelic strength was enough to keep him restrained.

Hector shouted bloody murder and called me a demon fucker. In a less serious situation, his comments would have had me biting back a “that’s Seyari, actually.” Holding my tongue also saved me from being exiled to the floor tonight until Seyari got cold and lonely in bed.

The militiamen rushed in. Hector screamed at them, said I was guilty, that I’d taunted him about how I wouldn’t be caught, and more besides. To their credit, they took him (barely) from Seyari and pulled him upright without taking his side. I had a sneaking suspicion Yevon had told them something with how they were looking at him.

“She killed him! She’s a demon or something!” Hector shouted.

I’m beyond tired of this. With a sigh, I pulled out all of Hector’s anger. He went limp in the militiamen’s arms, screaming turning to whimpering and muttering in confusion at his excised fury. Another look at the corpse and his eyes teared up.

His anger gone, Hector cried in the arms of the militiamen, mourning his dead friend. Damn. Why is nothing ever simple?

“Uh, miss?” one of the guards stared at me wide-eyed.

“It’s Zarenna. What?”

Frustration must have crept into my voice, because he flinched. “Your eyes—they—”

“Sorry,” I waved a hand and returned my eyes to looking human. “Human disguise is slipping, that’s all.” Without waiting for them to reply, I marched past the dumbfounded trio and out of the stall. “I’m going to try to go solve this.”

The others followed me out, but I caught Seyari asking the two guards what Yevon had said.

One guard replied, “all he said was that the big lady wasn’t guilty.”

From the stables, I followed the ruts to the other stables—the one for only horses. I lost the tracks there in amongst all the other ones. Salvador could have sorted this mess out, I thought glumly. I hope he’s doing well, and I hope his journey home is safe.

We asked around and found out that there was indeed a group that left town early this morning with a wagon. Just one and headed in the direction we were going. Through the guards, we told Hector what else we’d learned. And from him in return, we’d learned the group who’d ditched town early this morning had been with the caravan we’d seen at Lockmoth—they were heavily guarded one we’d seen at the start, in fact.

Something was up, but with Myrna working in town today and our contract in place, we wouldn’t be racing to catch them. Hector didn’t have the same obligation though, and he and his group lighted out of town the moment they got the news. Ready for bed, we all returned to the tavern under the inn for a very late breakfast. On the short walk, I saw a few snowflakes start to fall; in a valley like this, that meant winter would truly be upon us soon.

When we sat down, the waitress came over to our table with a big smile. “Your priest friend is really nice!” she said. “And you folks are good friends to treat him like that!”

Huh?

She quoted Yevon’s bill to Seyari. My girlfriend grimaced and slammed her head down on the table when the waitress got to the total price.

Nelys looked between the surprised waitress and the groaning Seyari and said, “I’ll have what he had!”