Book 1: Chapter Sixteen

The stop at Dalewood was uneventful. Corec had asked at The Smiling Jester, but there hadn’t been any packages needing delivery. He was starting to believe that working as a courier wouldn’t pay any better than being a caravan guard, unless he could get hired on full time by one of the houses, and that would mean he’d have to live in Tyrsall.

They got back on the road the next morning. At the edge of town, the West Road split into the Trade Road, which led to Four Roads and then through the hills into Larso, and the Old Road, which led into farming country. The Old Road had been a major trade route once, but wasn’t used much anymore.

The first evening west of Dalewood, they stopped to make camp at a spot where a long stand of willow trees showed there was water nearby.

“The caravan usually camps here, too,” Corec said, pointing to a flat area between the road and the trees, with several fire rings surrounded by stones that were black from soot.

They dismounted and led the animals off the road, choosing a spot farther back in the trees for their campsite rather than staying out in the open like the caravan did. While Katrin and Bobo gathered wood for a fire, Shavala helped Corec take the animals to the stream. Her ability to talk to them didn’t allow her to control them, but Socks and the mules usually listened to her. Corec kept a lead rope on Dot and Rose, and they walked with the other animals.

Nearing the stream, he stopped in surprise. A young blonde woman was bathing naked upstream from where he stood. She was facing to the side and hadn’t seen them yet, and the sound of the water must have covered up any noise they’d made. The stream wasn’t deep, and he could see the curve of her hips and the swell of her breasts as she bent over to splash more water on herself.

“Oh,” Shavala said, as she stopped next to him. “Is she alone?”

“I don’t see anyone else,” Corec said, managing to tear his eyes away from the girl. He decided to take the animals far enough downstream that he and Shavala weren’t spying on the girl. Then, after she’d finished bathing, they could find her and talk. “We’ll have to let her know we’re camping here.”

“Hello!” Shavala yelled, and the girl looked at them in shock, covering her breasts.

“That wasn’t what I meant!” Corec said.

The girl waved at them, still covering herself with her other arm. There was a flustered grimace on her face but she didn’t seem as startled or embarrassed as Corec would have expected. She made her way to the bank of the stream, to the spot closest to where she’d been bathing, and grabbed a thin linen towel that was hanging from a branch there. Her clothes were folded neatly, resting on top of a pack that leaned up against the same tree. Corec again forced himself to look away as she dried herself off and got dressed.

The girl cleared her throat once she was clothed, and he turned back around to see her walking toward them. She stepped with a cat-like grace over the uneven ground, despite not wearing any shoes. She was slender, with unusually blue eyes and the lightest blonde hair Corec had ever seen, other than on a seaborn who’d just come out of the water. She wore a plain gray tunic belted over plain gray pants, both of which hung loose around her body, though the top laid enticingly over her chest.

“I didn’t realize anyone was around,” the girl said, taking them both in. Her eyes widened when she saw Shavala’s ears and her rune. “You’re an elf! I mean…I’m sorry. I haven’t seen many elves before. Are you dorvasta?”

Shavala appeared startled at the girl’s use of the elven word. “Yes. My name is Shavala. We just arrived ourselves—we didn’t see your camp.”

“I’ve just got my pack,” she said, pointing to it. “I’m Treya.”

“You’re traveling alone?” Corec asked, concerned.

“I can take care of myself.” She glanced at the family crest on his cuirass. “House Tarwen?”

“You’re from Larso? Oh, sorry—my name’s Corec.”

“No, I’m from Tyrsall, but we had to study all the northern kingdoms. Located in the Black Crow Mountains, major exports are maple syrup, apples, potatoes, wool, and silver. I’m afraid the only name I know is the baron, Ansel.”

He laughed in surprise. “Not much silver left these days, but yes, that sounds right. Ansel is my father, by way of his concubine.” That last sentence just slipped out. If he was going to start telling complete strangers—Varsin Senshall and now this girl—about his family, he realized he should tell Katrin, too. There wasn’t much point in keeping it secret anyway, it was just a habit.

“A concubine? I was trained by the Three Orders.”

Corec stared at her for a moment, wondering at the coincidence. “My mother grew up in the Highfell chapter house. You’re a concubine, too?”

“No. Concubines are just one of the Three Orders. I chose another.” She didn’t elaborate.

“Where are you headed?” he asked.

“To Four Roads first. After that, I’m not sure. I’m supposed to go wherever the road takes me—like a journeyman, though we don’t call ourselves that.”

“We’re headed to Four Roads, too,” Corec said. “Us and two others. You’re welcome to travel with us if you’d like.” He was still concerned about her being on the road by herself.

Treya gave him a long, serious look. “Perhaps. We’ll see. I’ve had bad luck with traveling companions.” She reached up and scratched at a spot on her forehead.

This time, when Corec’s arm started itching, he noticed.

“Oh, shit.”

#

Treya wasn’t sure what to believe.

“You’re really serious about this?” she asked, looking at the others. Corec and Shavala had introduced her to a young, red-haired woman named Katrin and a portly fellow with a scraggly beard who called himself Bobo. The four of them had been trying to explain what she’d gotten herself into.

“Yes,” Corec said. “I’m sorry. That wizard back in Tyrsall that we mentioned—his name was Deshin—says there’s no way I could be the one doing it, not without training, but I’m not sure I believe him. How else would it keep happening?”

“Maybe we need to put a blindfold on you anytime you’re around a woman,” Katrin said, her voice betraying a sense of disappointment.

“I…do you think that would work?” He sounded genuinely curious.

“How would I know?” she replied.

“Wait, what do you mean, when I’m around a woman?”

Katrin pointed to Treya, Shavala, and herself. “Notice a pattern?” Then she pointed to Bobo. “He doesn’t have one.”

“Just wait a minute,” Treya said. “I’ll admit my head itches a bit, but that doesn’t mean someone’s cast some sort of spell on me.”

“That’s what I thought,” Shavala said, then shrugged, her rune glowing brightly on her brow.

“You could get a hat like this,” Katrin said, taking it from her lap and putting it back on. It came down low on her forehead, hiding the rune she’d showed Treya.

“What do the runes actually do?” Treya asked. “What does this binding spell do?”

“Nothing, as far as we can tell,” Bobo said.

“I can always tell where Corec is,” Shavala said.

Corec shot her a glance. “What?”

“Well, not where you are, but what direction you’re in.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

“I didn’t realize it until today, and we hadn’t had a chance to talk yet.”

Treya stood up abruptly. “I’m not sure what to say about all this. I need to think.”

She walked away from the group, wanting to be alone.

#

Katrin glanced around at the others after Treya stalked off. “I’ll go talk to her.”

She followed the other woman and caught up to her, but they just walked silently for a few minutes. The sun was starting to set, but there was still plenty of light to see where they were going.

Finally, Treya said, “Do you think he did it?” It was obvious she meant Corec.

“Yes, but I believe him when he says he didn’t mean to.”

“Why?” Treya asked, stopping.

Katrin stopped as well, facing her. “Because I’ve been traveling with him for over a month now and he seems to be trying to do the right thing. We just don’t know what that is, exactly.”

“Why do you think he’s only doing it to women?”

“With Shavala, it was just one other person, so I could ignore it. But now with you…I don’t know.”

The blonde girl was almost uncomfortably beautiful. Was that it? Shavala was attractive, too, and it would certainly explain why Bobo didn’t have a rune.

“You haven’t figured out a way to get rid of it?” Treya asked.

Katrin sighed. “No. That wizard who tried the banishment spell, he suggested we try another wizard who knows more about them, but the new wizard charges more money than we have. We were going to look down in Circle Bay, instead.”

“Why Circle Bay?”

“Corec says there aren’t any wizards in Four Roads, and Circle Bay is where we’re headed next, to help my brother.”

“Your brother?”

“He’s in prison. It’s a long story.”

They started walking again, doing a wide circle around the camp.

“That seems like a long way to go to get help,” Treya said. “You’re going back to Tyrsall first, right? I know some priests there who might be able to do something.”

“I’m willing to try anything,” Katrin said. “I’m getting used to it, and I’m getting better at making it disappear, but I just want things to go back to normal. I want to go home and help my brother, and get back to playing music.” Even as she spoke, she wasn’t sure she was being honest. If everything returned to normal and she went back to Circle Bay on her own, she’d miss her new friends. Even Bobo. Even Corec. “How would a priest help, though?”

“You know that some priests can heal, right?”

Katrin nodded. Everyone knew that.

“Some can do other things, too. The Bishop of Allosur can break demonic curses. This might be something like that.”

“You know the Bishop of Allosur?”

“No, but I’ve spoken to one of his priests a few times. He might be able to help us.”

“We should ask,” Katrin agreed. “Does that mean you’re going to come with us?”

“Well, I was going to Four Roads anyway. It’ll be weird to return to Tyrsall so soon, but if that’s where I need to be, then that’s where I’ll go.”

Just then, Katrin realized the other woman had been walking shoeless over the stones and the weeds. “Your feet! Don’t they hurt?”

Treya laughed. “Mystics go barefoot. We need to feel the world around us, and if we have to fight, it’s better if there’s nothing covering our hands or feet.”

“Fight? What’s a mystic?”

“I guess you weren’t there when I told the other two I grew up in the Three Orders. We’re not all concubines. I joined the Order of Mystics instead. We’re…difficult to explain. It began as a way to seek enlightenment through knowledge of oneself, but the first mystics learned some things they weren’t expecting.”

“But how do you—”

There was a snarl. Katrin looked to the side expecting to see a wild animal, but instead she found two men wearing black brigandine armor running at them, one carrying a sword and the other with an axe.

“Corec!” she shouted, then stumbled back and fell on her ass.

The one with the axe drew close, his eyes glowing red. Katrin was too frightened by the sight to move, but then Treya was suddenly there. She punched him in the face, her hands and feet glowing with a pale white light. He turned his attention to her and she grabbed both his arms, too close for him to hit her with the axe. She turned him to the side, putting him between her and the other man, whose eyes were also glowing. The swordsman had been charging forward, thrusting at Treya, and wasn’t able to change direction in time. He stabbed the axeman in the back.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

With the wounded man falling to his knees, Treya turned her attention to the one with the sword. He didn’t react to stabbing his partner, merely pulling the sword back out and slashing toward her with a growl. She twisted away and kicked her leg up higher than Katrin had thought was possible, striking the man in the face. He stepped back and shook his head, his nose bleeding, then tried to attack again.

A look of concern grew on Treya’s face as she hit and kicked the man repeatedly, seemingly with no effect, while having to constantly dodge his thrusts and slashes.

The first man struggled back to his feet, so Katrin scrambled up, too. She fumbled with the dagger tied to her waist, managing to pull it from its sheath on her third try. The man was ignoring his stab wound, but he moved slowly and awkwardly. When he bent down to reach for his axe, Katrin rushed forward and stabbed him in the neck, then let go of the dagger in horror when she realized what she’d done. He fell, and ended up on his side staring at her. As he died, the red light faded from his eyes.

Katrin dropped to her knees and threw up.

Once her stomach was under control, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and stood up. Treya was staring at her in concern.

“I’ve never killed anyone before,” Katrin said, trying not to look at the man she’d stabbed.

“Neither have I,” Treya admitted, looking green herself. Katrin followed her gaze to the see the second man on the ground, his neck twisted sideways.

Then, Katrin’s eyes caught Treya’s as they both realized no one had come to their aid. The clanging of metal could be heard from the camp. The two women ran toward the fight.

#

Shavala waited with Corec and Bobo at the spot they’d chosen for their camp. There was still plenty of light out, so she could see Katrin and Treya walking in the distance, at least when there weren’t any trees in the way.

Since they weren’t planning on traveling any farther for the day, Corec was taking the opportunity to remove his armor. As he did so, he stared after the two women, a concerned look on his face.

Bobo tried to distract him. “I finished that book on binding spells, and I was right the first time. There’s not much useful in it, other than the description of the different types of bonds.”

“Like what?” Corec asked.

“Well, if we limit it to binding spells between people, rather than objects, there’s one that lets you control what the other person does.”

Corec laughed. “It’s not that one, trust me. Just ask Katrin.”

“There’s also one that lets you know when the other person has been injured, and a very nasty one that causes any injuries done to one person to also be done to the other.”

“Why would anyone do something like that?”

“The book didn’t say, and I really don’t want to speculate. And, since Shavala mentioned it, there’s one that lets you know where someone is at all times. Or perhaps just the direction, like she said. The description is unclear.”

“So, that’s the one we have, then?” Corec asked. “I didn’t even notice it until she said it, but if I close my eyes, I can still tell what direction they’re in, even while they’re moving around. It doesn’t make any sense. Why would anyone go to all this trouble just so we can locate someone we’d never met before up until that point?”

“It does seem somewhat pointless,” Bobo said. “Though, if you’re doing it yourself, perhaps it’s simply because it’s the only binding spell you know.”

“I can tell when I’m casting the other spells though. I’ve never felt anything for this one, other than the itching on my arms.”

“Why worry about it?” Shavala asked them. “It doesn’t sound like it’s going to hurt anyone.”

Corec looked at her seriously. “You’ve never found it disturbing to have that thing on your head?”

She shrugged. “What’s done is done. If it’s harmless, we can ignore it.”

“What if I can’t stop?”

Before she could answer, five men in identical black armor rushed toward them from behind the trees.

Corec jumped to his feet and shouted, “Hey! Who—”

They didn’t look like they were going to stop to talk. Shavala glanced over to the tree trunk where her bow stood propped up, unstrung. Her quiver was next to it, but she didn’t think she could get there in time, and Corec had removed all of his armor except for the greave on his left leg. Luckily, his sword was still nearby, and he pulled it from its sheath as the men ran at them without speaking.

The first man swung at him and their swords met with a crash. Another man came after Shavala. His eyes glowed red, but she didn’t have time to think about that as he drew his spear back to thrust at her. Not giving him a chance, she thrust her hand forward, summoning a cone of hot flame. It caught him in the face, and he screamed as his flesh burned.

With her opponent distracted, she ran to the tree, pulling the string from her quiver and stringing the bow as quickly as she’d ever done it before. Drawing back an arrow, she loosed it at the man she’d burned, but her pull wasn’t strong enough to penetrate his armor. Cursing, she reached for another arrow. She’d never shot at a person before, but her teachers had always said to aim for the torso if possible, since it provided the biggest target. But that wasn’t an option if she couldn’t get through his armor.

She’d expected the man to be distracted longer by his burns, but he stopped screaming and looked around for her. Just as he saw her, she shot again, this time at his legs. The armor only extended partway down, and he took a glancing hit a few inches above his knee. He stumbled to the ground, and as he started to get up, she shot again, this time at his face. She knew it wasn’t likely to get through his skull, but she hoped that between it and the burns, she could frighten him off. It didn’t matter, though—she got a lucky hit, the arrow passing into his cheek and then the back of his throat. He fell to the ground.

Checking on her friends, she found that Corec had taken out his first opponent and was barely managing to hold off two more. Bobo was worse off, backing away from a man with a sword. Even as she watched, the swordsman swung at him and Bobo caught the blade on the handle of his walking cudgel, which splintered and broke. He dropped both pieces, looking frightened, and scrambled backward.

Shavala set another arrow to her bowstring and drew it, taking the time to embrace her elder senses. She could feel the bow in her mind. She could feel the arrow, and knew how the slight breeze would send it a few inches to the right. She could feel the man who was trying to kill Bobo—sensing every move he made as he made it. She took a deep breath and let it out, then held still, hoping Bobo didn’t move across her line of fire.

Suddenly, the time was right. Shavala shot, and her arrow hit the man in the back of the neck. He fell to the ground and didn’t rise. Bobo gave her a look of surprise and gratitude.

She turned to the remaining men. Corec was too close to his opponents for her to risk shooting at them, so she started circling around for a better angle. As she moved, she realized why the rangers always worked in groups. She’d used four arrows already and only had eight left. What would she do when she ran out?

#

Three men with glowing red eyes came at Corec while he stood with most of his armor piled on the ground. He only had on his left greave and the padded doublet that he wore beneath the armor, but the doublet wouldn’t provide much protection. He grabbed his sword from where it lay on the pile, pulling the sheath off and tossing it aside.

He got his guard up just in time to block an overhead slash from the first man’s longsword. When their blades crossed, Corec pushed forward as hard as he could. His opponent staggered back, and Corec quickly thrust at his stomach, piercing the black brigandine armor, the blade slipping between the small metal plates sandwiched within the layers of the jacket.

Yanking the sword back, he prepared to meet the next two men, worried about how he was going to fight without his armor. For years, he’d practiced fighting with his armor, using the plate to deflect blows. Knowing he’d need the extra protection, he summoned his barrier shield, feeling his mind shift the way it always did when the shield was active. Then it shifted again, in a way he’d never felt before. It made him dizzy, and he wasn’t able to block as the next man tried to bash his head in with a mace. The barrier shield flared, but stayed up just long enough to stop a thrust from the third man’s arming sword.

The two men didn’t react to the sight of the barrier. They just growled like beasts and stared at him with red eyes. Both carried shields, so rather than waste time trying to hit them, Corec focused on getting his sword back into position to defend against their assault. With the barrier gone and no armor, he wasn’t sure how long he’d last against two men.

Luckily, they weren’t as good with their weapons as the knights Corec had trained against, so he was able to keep them at bay for a while. Then, the one with the sword got past his defense and struck his upper arm.

Instead of feeling the sword stab cleanly into the doublet as he’d expected, Corec felt a dull thump, as if it had encountered an extra layer of armor. It pierced through, but it didn’t hurt as much as he thought it would, and he didn’t lose his grip on his own weapon.

The swordsman was the more skilled of his two opponents, so Corec concentrated his defense more in that direction, and was able to achieve a stable balance, with neither he nor they able to gain ground. While he fought, he realized that although the men carried shields, they paid very little attention to them. It was almost like they didn’t know how to use them.

Corec hadn’t been able to spare any of his attention to check on how his friends were doing. Worried about them, he decided to risk taking advantage of what he’d noticed. The man with the mace was to his right. Corec lightly knocked the mace to the side, then slashed hard against the other man’s arming sword, pushing it out of the way before dancing back around to the mace carrier’s shield side and thrusting into his ribs. As he’d hoped, the man wasn’t paying enough attention to his shield and wasn’t able to block in time.

With one opponent out of the way and the other encumbered by a shield he wasn’t using, it didn’t take long for Corec to finish the fight. The red glowing light in the men’s eyes faded as they died.

Corec spun around to check on his companions, only to find two more of the enemy dead with Shavala’s arrows piercing them. Both Shavala and Bobo were trying to position themselves to help him, Shavala with her bow and Bobo with what was left of his cudgel.

“You two are all right?” Corec asked, breathing heavily.

“I am,” Shavala said.

“I think I sprained my ankle,” Bobo said, limping over.

Corec was suddenly reminded of his stab wound. Looking down at his arm, he found he’d bled through his padding, so it must have been worse than it had felt. He set his sword back down on his pile of armor and was unbuttoning the doublet when Katrin and Treya ran up. Treya’s hands and feet glowed with a pale white light.

“More of them?” she asked, looking around. “Were their eyes red?”

“Yes,” Corec said. “You found some, too?”

“Two of them,” Katrin said. “Treya took care of them.”

The slender blonde girl had taken out two armed men by herself? No wonder she wasn’t concerned about traveling alone. Corec winced as he got the doublet off. The wound was bloody, but it wasn’t as bad as it should have been. He thought again about the odd thump he’d felt as the sword struck him.

“You’re hurt,” Treya said. She rushed over to him, the white light on her hands and feet fading. Then it returned as she reached for his arm, but this time only on her hands. As she touched him, the glow grew brighter and the pain faded. She wiped away the blood, revealing the pink of newly healed skin.

“How did you do that?” he asked.

“I’m a priestess. Sort of.”

How could someone sort of be a priestess? He decided it would be rude to ask right after she’d healed him.

“I thought you were a mystic?” Katrin asked.

“That, too.”

“What’s a mystic?” Corec asked.

“It’s…I’ll explain later. Is everyone else all right?”

“Well,” Bobo said, “if you’re a healer, do you mind taking a look at my ankle?”

While Treya attended to Bobo, Corec tried to get a handle on everything that had happened. There were five dead men surrounding him, and apparently two more nearby.

“Does anyone recognize them?” he said, as he picked up his right greave to strap it back on. He’d need his armor if there were any more of the men around.

“Are they raiders?” Treya asked in a carefully controlled tone. “Hillfolk bandits sometimes form up into groups and attack east.”

Corec shook his head. “Not this far east.”

“It looks like soldiers’ brigandine to me,” Bobo said. “I don’t recognize the colors, though. Larso’s the only kingdom nearby with much of an army, but they use brown. The hillfolk don’t go in much for uniforms—and I never met one whose eyes glowed red.”

“Check the bodies,” Corec said. “See if they’ve got anything to identify them.”

Bobo appeared squeamish, and Katrin and Treya were trying to look anywhere other than at the dead men. Shavala went to one of the men she’d shot and carefully pulled her arrow out, grimacing as she saw the tip. Setting the arrow aside, she searched the body.

“There’s just a coin pouch and this,” she said, holding up a badge with an eight-pointed black star.

“I don’t recognize it,” Corec said.

“Neither do I,” Bobo added.

“If they aren’t bandits,” Treya said, “could they have been after us, specifically?”

“I can’t think of why,” Corec said. “We haven’t done anything that would call for us to be attacked. Certainly not by a group like this. What about you?”

“I had some trouble with a couple of mercenaries on the road, but they weren’t dressed like this, and I tried not to hurt them any more than I had to.”

Corec shared a glance with Katrin, but the men hadn’t seemed like bounty hunters, so he didn’t mention it. “Bobo?” he asked.

“I’ll admit there’s a wizard in Matagor who may be a trifle annoyed with me, but I don’t think she’d send seven men to kill me. Maybe one, at the most.”

So that was why Bobo never talked about his life before the hills.

“What about the man in Tyrsall?” Katrin suggested. “His rune was red. Could it be related?”

“I don’t know,” Corec said. “These men didn’t have runes, and I haven’t seen anyone with glowing blue eyes that match our runes. Can demonborn have glowing eyes?”

Bobo shook his head. “Even if they can, seven demonborn working together, all with identical stigma? I can’t imagine that ever happening.”

Once Corec had his armor and sword back on, he helped Shavala search the rest of the bodies in the camp. They all carried the black badges, but nothing else that might suggest where they’d come from.

When Treya led them to the other two, Corec glanced at Katrin. Her dagger was sticking out of one man’s neck.

She shrugged. “He was getting back up again, and Treya was facing the other direction.” She looked away and started retching.

Corec retrieved her dagger and cleaned it off, handing it to her once she’d composed herself.

These two men had the same badges, and one bore a pin on his collar with some sort of rank insignia.

“A squad leader and six soldiers,” Corec said with a sigh. “Standard squadron size, so there are more of them. They don’t have a standard weapon, though, which is unusual for an army. Let’s take the swords and sell them when we reach Four Roads. Leave the other weapons—they’re not worth carrying around. The armor’s worth some money, but I don’t want to be caught with it if we run into any more of these fellows.”

He wasn’t sure whether his companions were listening to him. The night was growing dark, and everyone had worried and haunted looks on their faces.

Hoping that giving them something to do would help, Corec said, “I don’t think we can bury seven men. Not with just a camp shovel. Bobo, will you help me drag them away? Shavala, could you get a fire started, so Katrin can put together something for us to eat?” He didn’t ask Treya to do anything, figuring she could come up with a task on her own if she wanted to.

#

It was late, but nobody seemed interested in going to sleep. Katrin stepped away from the light of the campfire to peer into the darkness surrounding them. She’d normally have been practicing with her flute or harp, but she wasn’t in the mood. And anyway, it seemed wrong to think about playing music after killing a man.

Corec appeared next to her and stood silently, joining her in watching the darkness. He’d eventually removed his armor again, but this time he’d kept his chain shirt on. He carried his sword sheath in his hand.

“Who were they?” she murmured, but he didn’t reply. Their conversation during the evening meal hadn’t gotten them any closer to discovering the men’s identities.

Instead, he said, “Are you all right?”

“I didn’t mean to…” She paused, not finishing the sentence. “He was going to hurt Treya.”

“He was going to kill you both. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. Katrin stayed there, feeling the cool metal of his chain shirt pressing against her cheek.

“What do we do now?” she asked.

“We’ll need to start keeping watch,” he said.

“What does that mean?”

“Shavala, Treya, and I will take turns staying awake. And when I sleep, I’ll keep my mail on.”

“What about me?”

“You and Bobo can help watch if you want, but if more of them sneak up on us in the middle of the night, I’d like at least one of the three of us to be awake.” He was obviously referring to the three that could fight back in some way.

Katrin considered being offended, but she couldn’t argue with the logic. “So you do think they’re after us?”

“We should at least be cautious.” He handed her a coin pouch. “Here, this is for you.”

“What is it?” she asked, hefting it and peering inside.

“I gave Treya the two belt pouches from the men that came after the two of you. I don’t think it occurred to her to take them. I split the others up between the rest of us. It’s all silver and copper, but it comes out to over two gold each. My share covers everything I’ve spent since we met, other than the animals, and Bobo gave me back enough to pay for Rose.”

“Do you want me to pay you back for Flower?”

“No. Keep it in case you need it for something.” He changed the subject. “If Treya’s idea works out, and she finds a priest that can help us, or if we find a wizard in Circle Bay, what are you going to do after the runes are gone? After we get your brother out, I mean?”

“I don’t know. I always thought I’d stay in Circle Bay, but I’m not sure anymore. I want to find a bard who’s willing to teach me. Or find a bardic school—I’ve heard there’s one down south that accepts women.”

“If you find a teacher instead, how would you feel about staying here?”

“Here?”

“The free lands, or Tyrsall. You could come back with us after we’re done in Circle Bay. Or back with me, anyway. I’m not sure what Shavala plans to do.”

Katrin’s heart pounded in her chest. “I hadn’t thought about that. Maybe.”

She’d come to enjoy Corec’s company, despite the circumstances. While she had friends in Circle Bay, there were none that she was particularly close to. Did she really want to stay there simply because Barz and Felix were there? She wasn’t happy with either of them at the moment, and it might be good to spend some time away.

They stopped talking then and stood silently, Corec’s arm still around her. Katrin spent the time wondering what it would mean to come back north with him. And wondering whether he knew Shavala was interested in him.