Alyss let out a soft gasp. Her eyes opened and swung to Eira. “Are you…”
Eira nodded with a slight smile. “Now, where are they?”
With a confident grin, Alyss closed her eyes once more. The tiny pebbles in the dirt around her rattled as her power swept outward with palpable force. Alyss’s magic sank into the earth,running underneath root and plain until it was beyond the realm of Eira’s sensing. But she continued to wear a look of intense focus on her face.
“That way.” Alyss pointed to the west, southwest. “There’s a small town there. I can feel the foundations of the homes. There are riders approaching it, coming from the north. It was hard to tell how many.”
“At least six. Imperial knights never travel in fewer numbers than that,” Varren said.
“I think we should go to the town,” Eira decided.
“Why do you want to go into the town?” Varren balked. “Did you not hear me? There areimperial knights.”
“I heard you. And agree that we need to be careful—not all of us should go in. But we don’t have a lot of supplies.” They were intentionally traveling light.
“I can go a night or two where hunger is my dinner,” he said dryly.
“And,” Eira continued, stressing that she hadn’t finished in tone alone, “we should also ensure that this man is actually at the mines and not traveling elsewhere for some kind of business.” She took Varren’s pause to mean that it was possible for him not to be there.
“We can also make sure we’re headed in the right direction,” Noelle reasoned.
“I think we should scope it out,” Cullen agreed. “Ifwe can do so safely.”
“I can always go in,” Ducot offered. “No one will suspect a mole.” The air rippled around him and the man vanished, contorting and folding in on himself in a blink until a mole was in his place.
“Just when I think you couldn’t get any cuter, you remind me you can do this.” Noelle scratched his tiny head with thetip of her finger. Ducot squeaked. “Don’t fight with me, you areadorable.”
Varren sighed. “I suppose the town is in the direction of the mines, more or less. As long as we swing wide…maybe we’ll be all right.” Another sigh, even heavier than the last. “This way.”
They all stood but didn’t get more than three steps before squeaking alerted them they were leaving behind a member of their party. Noelle paused, looking back at Ducot incredulously.
“You can’t seriously expect me?—”
More squeaking.
“Mother above.” Noelle sighed dramatically.
Ducot darted over and circled around her feet.
“All right, fine.” Noelle picked Ducot up and put him on her shoulder. “I swear you are so lazy.”
“Can you really understand what he’s saying?” Alyss asked with wonder.
“Not at all. He’s just that easy to read.” Noelle shrugged and they all carried on in the direction of town.
It was dusk by the time they arrived. Fortunately the town was nestled in what Eira suspected was a man-made clearing in the woods, given that the houses were made of the same timber as the pines. They were simple, log constructions. Wattle and daub, or clay, packed between to keep out the chill. Rather than having shingles or thatching, the roofs were covered in sod, the same grasses as the land around them.
They looked similar to Ofok, and yet had unique differences—like the stilts they sat atop, or how some of their second stories extended over their first. It reminded her of a child’s drawing ofa home, slightly askew. Out of perspective. But it clearly worked since they weren’t toppling over.
“There, that’s the main hall.” Varren pointed at an oblong building at the center of town. “That’s where all commerce will happen…and where the knights should be.”
“So you should stay away from there,” Noelle whispered to Ducot, still on her shoulder.
“He is right in that no one here would expect shift magic,” Varren begrudgingly admitted. “He should be safe in that form.”
“Ducot, go in and see if—” Eira didn’t get a chance to finish. A commotion rose up from the heart of the town.
Two knights dressed in chain mail and leathers stained a deep crimson dragged out a man by the hair. Varren let out a cross between a whimper and a worried noise. He sank back slightly, flattening himself more into the grasses along the tree line they hid within.
