Vhalla had been rightto head to the Crossroads. It was arguably the largest city in Solaris, sprawling in all directions. It was also one of the densest and boasted a diverse population.
If there was anywhere the Windwalker could slip away, it was here.
The days bled into each other. Day after day they split up and searched, looking high and low. The hunt for Vhalla was like running on a track. Vi was exhausting herself and getting nowhere.
She wasn’t sure how she could know every inch of the Crossroads and not be able to find one woman. But Vhalla Yarl clearly didn’t want to be found. So she remained hidden.
“What’s the plan for tomorrow?” Taavin asked, looking at the various maps Vi had purchased that were currently spread out across one of the tables in their shop. Vi had continued operating the curiosity shop in the hope that, for some reason, Vhalla would come back.
She hadn’t.
“We’re chasing a hare in a forest,” Deneya murmured, staring at the red, blue, and green ink that marked different areas they had each explored. “This is pointless.”
“We have to find the axe.” Vi cracked her knuckles, folding and unfolding her hands to try to alleviate some of the restless energy that perpetually lived within her.
“I know that.” Deneya folded her arms, leaning away from the table. “But I’m saying how we’re approaching this is pointless.”
“What do you mean?” Taavin asked.
“If you hunt a hare in the woods, you don’t chase it all about. It’ll outrun you, hide in holes you can’t reach into, run to places you didn’t know were there because it knows the woods better than you.”
“Vhalla doesn’t know the Crossroads better than I do.” No one on the continent had a firmer grasp of all the maps of the world, Vi was certain.
“Clearly, she does.”
“Fine, then how do you catch a hare in the woods?”
“Two ways.” Deneya held up her fingers. “One, you use a fox—a beast that knows the woods as well as the hare.”
“Fresh out of foxes.”
“Vi, she’s trying to be helpful,” Taavin said with a sigh, running a hand through his hair. Deneya ignored them both.
“Two, you set a snare.” Vi pursed her lips but remained silent, motioning for the woman to continue. “I think we have a snare coming our way in the form of the Imperial army. If Vhalla Yarl is here, she’ll be drawn out by them—by the presence of Aldrik.”
“Or go further underground. You heard her on the journey here, she was well and truly done with the prince.”
“But she’s not. She never is,” Taavin said. “I think Deneya is right. This could be what draws Vhalla from her hiding place.”
“I propose,” Deneya continued. She pointed to the center of the map, at the heart of the Crossroads. “We have two of us right in the thick of it all between now and when the Imperial army arrives.”
“You want to watch over the hotel where the Imperials usually stay,” Vi realized.
“Yes. If she’s going to try to see Aldrik, he’ll be there. And she might try to sneak in beforehand.”
Vi tapped her fingers on the table and then turned to Taavin. “You have any other ideas?”
“I wish I did… but all of this is new. I don’t have a single past world to leverage.” Discomfort flooded the words. He clearly hated that he didn’t know what was coming next and Vi couldn’t blame him. He was the one who’d always known what was happening.
Now, he was starting to have to play things by ear.
“All right, we’ll take turns on who stays in the center square. The other one of us will patrol the city.”
“What if she comes back here?” Deneya asked.
“One of us should keep an eye on the shop,” Taavin said. “Both of Vhalla’s visits to the shop are stones in the river. The second time is when the birth of a new Champion is cemented and the watch is given… While it doesn’t usually happen until after the Caverns are destroyed, things are changing and we can’t be too careful.”
“I agree.” Vi chose the path of least resistance. Even though Vhalla was still operating on the future Vi had told her when she was last here, there was a possibility she’d come back sooner.
