True to Arden's word, the trio set out early the next morning for the first major leg of their journey, which would take them all the way to Lochmire Keep. Everything Arden had learned during his preparation said that this would be the most critical part of their trip.

Not only was Lochmire Keep the last major settlement on the road to Trandore, and thus their last chance to properly resupply their travel provisions, but it was also the seat of power for the King's Chosen, Emir Zaman. The Chosen's forces were still technically hunting the rebels who had attacked the army camp outside of Shadefall, and Valerie and List knew they had all already caught the attention of Zaman's spies.

They narrowly avoided the suspicion of a road patrol, and only thanks to List's good instincts to act like they were subject to the King's Authority. In the city itself, the odds of running a foul of agents of Zaman would go up significantly. It would be where they would have to be at their most cautious.

Which was odd, because they were in Xykesh, and Valerie would have thought that the monster infested wilderness and roads would be the hard part of their journey. But it seemed that, at least in the stretch of road leading from Shadefall to Lochmire Keep, the Chosen's forces actually made an effort to keep away the monsters.

They were only attacked once the entire trip, and only by a swarm of dog-sized mosquitoes that popped like balloons full of blood when you hit them hard enough. List and Valerie had made a game out of seeing who could pop more.

Valerie had also half expected the Pavers to be a problem, but not only did they not get attacked, they didn't run into anyone else who had either. After List had burned their office down, and she'd killed so many of them in the streets of Shadefall, Valerie had assumed it would only be a matter of time before their retaliation. 

Even as they rode their cart through the gates of the city, she couldn't quite believe that they'd made it this far unscathed.

Unfortunately, she wasn't the only one who noticed.

"For all the warnings we received, we've made it all the way to the city without any major incidents," Arden said. "I daresay our fortunes have taken a turn for the better. Every"

Both girls immediately turned to stare at him incredulously.

"Why would you say that?" List hissed.

Kaleb and Xigbar staggered out of a Church of the Seven's Light, bandaged, bathed, and cleansed of the worst of the infection they'd gotten from getting waste water in their injuries. If it weren't for Xigbar having stolen several people's wallets over the preceding days, they might not have had the money to pay for such treatment, since apparently the churches in Lochmire Keep didn't count charity as one of their virtues.

"Okay," Xigbar muttered. "So the sewers are out."

Kaleb nodded in agreement, still wincing.

Ever since Al-Sakr had blown past his deadline to meet back up with Kaleb, things had gone from bad to worse. Xigbar had gotten antsy sitting in one place waiting, and Kaleb hadn't been able to offer much counter argument now that they were waiting for a presumed dead man. He'd already gotten all the information he could out of Xigbar, which meant it was Kaleb's turn to hold up his end of the bargain.

Lochmire Keep was the biggest city in the province, and the Pavers presence was at its strongest here. Fighting them here with just two people was out of the question, so Kaleb and Xigbar had been trying to get out of the city. 

So far, every attempt they'd made had gone badly.

The sewers had been their latest gambit, and it had actually gone worse than just trying to walk out through the gates. They hadn't even run into any Pavers down there, just several monsters, including a spider made out of smoke, a giant serpent, and what Xigbar had dubbed on the spot as a "shit elemental." Xigbar found he was always discovering new reasons to hate Xykesh.

"I think we might be trying to rush this too much," Kaleb said, in a tone that sounded half like an apology. "We're trying to move quietly while we do it, but at the end of the day we're basically just trying to brute force our way through. When . . . my partner and I were working against the Pavers, he always said it was about targeting our actions to maneuver them."

"Yeah, and you said yourself, your partner's probably dead," Xigbar said. "You know how to play tri-chest with an entire criminal organization and two pieces on your side?"

In truth, Kaleb had been trained by the Whispered Harvest in asymmetrical strategy, and he'd spent the last several weeks watching Al-Sakr put those teachings into practice.  A part of him wanted to try. He already had ideas about conducting a few strikes on Pavers operations to draw attention into the right places, opening them up for a truly crippling blow where they'd least expect it and clearing them a path to freedom.

But he also remembered how, during his training, he'd been in the bottom third of his class in basically every strategic assessment. A nagging voice told him that participating in Al-Sakr's plans was not the same thing as preparing to make his own. Doubt told him that even though Al-Sakr had outmaneuvered the Pavers with just two people, he wasn't Al-Sakr. In fact, by Whispered Harvest tradition, he wasn't anyone without earning a codename first, and he hadn't.

Kaleb sighed. "Probably not."

"Well then, it sounds like brute force is our only option," Xigbar said. "The Pavers can't be everywhere. Somewhere in the city, there's a crack in their wall. All we have to do is find it."

"Maybe if we had some help," Kaleb mused.

Xigbar scoffed. "Yeah, something tells me there's not going to be a line of people ready and waiting to work with a pair of outsiders who still kind of smell like shit."

"Come on. We can't be the Pavers' only enemies," Kaleb said. He managed to sound more confident this time, mostly because he'd seen firsthand that the Pavers had other people they were trying to kill. "There's got to be more people in the same position as us. If we found them, and they were willing to work with us—"

"Most people who cross the Pavers are either idiot incompetents, or backstabbing traitors," Xigbar said. "And I'll pass on working with either of those, thanks. I barely tolerate you."

Kaleb thought he did a good job concealing the mild hurt he took from that statement. 

He was wrong, and now Xigbar felt like he'd just kicked a puppy. How was it that Kaleb could be so annoying, and yet somehow Xigbar always came out of their exchanges feeling like somehow he was the asshole. It was probably Kaleb's face.

"Look, it's not that help wouldn't be nice," Xigbar said, trying to soften the blow from his earlier comment. "It's just that we'd have better odds finding a blonde, bisexual—"

Just before Xigbar finished his sentence, he saw something that convinced him the gods were laughing at him.

Just across the street from him and Kaleb were three people riding through town in a small cart, headed towards the part of town where stables and lodgings could easily be found. From the look of them, they'd only just pulled into town, and had been on the road for a few days now.

A man dressed in black, with a tall, wide brimmed hat. A hellborn with a blood red tail. And a blonde girl with a triangular hat and crossbow strapped to her wrist.

"Xigbar?" Kaleb asked.

"Fuck me," the animaborn muttered.

This was going to suck.

Back inside the Church of the Seven's Light, a man and a woman in priestly clothes strode out into the nave, though the man's attire was far more worn and dirty than the womans, and he wore a blindfold.

"Are you sure there's nothing else we can do for you, Brother Gidus?" the woman asked.

"Not at all Sister Ina," Gidus said, bowing to the space to her left. "Your hospitality has already been more than enough, and it is time I resumed my search."

He paused, looking around the room.

"Actually, I don't suppose you've seen any brave heroes come through here recently?" Gidus asked. "Shining exemplars of heroism and virtue, dedicated to the liberation of the people?"

Sister Ina shook her head, before remembering Gidus wouldn't see the gesture. "No, Brother. None of the sort." 

It was slightly odd, calling a man who looked several decades older than her "brother," by Gidus had never identified himself with any rank within the church beyond simply being of it, so "brother" was the appropriate title. 

Truthfully, with the next service not being for another few days, and hers being one of the smaller churches in the city, the only people Sister Ina had met were a pair of blood, filth-covered young men in need of healing, which she'd had to charge for in accordance with the Chosen's ridiculous laws.

Gidus stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Hm. Perhaps they are yet close. Ah well, I bid you good day, Sister! May the Light shine on your path!"

And then he was off, walking straight into the door before she could warn him, and then apologizing to it as if it were a person before stepping around nothing and actually opening the door this time.

Sister Ina shook her head. She had grown up hearing stories about Brother Gidus from her grandmother. Apparently, even then he'd been somewhat . . . out of touch. Ina would have felt certain that by now, he should be living in a care home, or at least have some sort of aid accompanying him, but he continued to insist that was fine one his own.

She hoped that he was. Lochmire Keep was a big city. There was no telling the sort of trouble he could get into on his own.