The sand drank in the man’s blood, and his ashen cloak writhed along the churned earth like a living thing. Overhead, the sky darkened, and the smell of a landbound storm rode the breeze.
“Where did Pitts go?”
“Didn’t ask. Ran off that way.” The gnome flung a hand toward the fortress walls.
Viv sighed. “Off to find the Gatewardens then, and that means Iridia. Shit.”
“Wellwedidn’t kill him, so I don’t know why that’s a problem for us. Hells, we should be relieved, right?”
Viv glanced at her. “That depends a lot on who killed him—and why—doesn’t it? And whether he was alone? After all, who broke him out of that cell?”
On a hunch, she stood, hooked her good foot under one of his armpits, and flipped him over.
His face was expressionless, pale eyes staring sightlessly. He might as well have been out for an evening stroll from the set of his mouth.
She squatted again, grunting at the thrill of fire along her thigh, and twitched his cloak aside. His magestone was belted at his waist. There was a money pouch, too, both conspicuously left behind. Viv shucked his sleeves up to the elbow on each arm.
“Whatcha doin’?” Gallina moved to get a better view. She had a dagger in hand, as though he might scramble up and lunge for them. Given what Viv was looking for, she thought it was a worthwhile precaution.
She didn’t answer, instead pulling his bloody and torn shirt up to his neck. The hiss of indrawn breath had nothing to do with her leg this time.
A few inches above the stab wound that killed him, etched into the skin below his clavicle, was a diamond with branches like horns.
Varine the Pale’s symbol.
“Oh, shit,” said Viv.
“What?” Gallina’s voice thrummed with anxiety. “You’re freakin’ me out.”
Viv rose and looked down at the gnome. “Was there anything else here? A pack? Hissatchel?”
“No, nothin’! What’s that symbol?”
Viv sighed. “It’s Varine. He’s one of hers.”
“The necromancer? But he’s notdead, though! Uh, I mean, hewasn’tdead. He—” Gallina huffed in exasperation. “Youknowwhat I mean!”
“Her followers aren’tallwights,” said Viv grimly. “Kick around in the sand. See if that satchel is buried around here.” Viv climbed awkwardly up the dune and peered over the crest toward the fortress walls. She didn’t see any Gatewardens headed their way, not yet anyway. “If it’s still around, I want to find it before Iridia gets here.”
“Because… ?”
“Because I don’t think this is over, and I don’t trust her to listen to a gods-damned thing I have to say.”
They searched the immediate area, combing the sand andclumps of beach grass, before Viv stopped to consider the outbuilding. It was leaning as though in a stiff wind, gaps yawning at the corners where the wood had pulled free.
She circled the structure, peering into the shadows and hidey holes until she drew up short. A soft gleam beckoned from the blackness.
“Find somethin’?” called Gallina, coming around the other side of the building and looking harried.
“I think so,” said Viv, getting down on one knee again and regretting the stiffness all this was going to cost her tomorrow. She reached into the darkness and withdrew the battered leather satchel, its copper fittings winking in the light. “He hid it in here fromsomebody.”
The sound of approaching voices rose above the hiss of the grass and sand.
Viv shoved the bag back into the shadows and quickly rose.
Gallina opened her mouth to say something, but Viv saw her figure it out before the words came. The gnome nodded.
“Later,” she said.
