They settled down to a much more comfortable rest, thanks to the quilts and blankets that Ferdie, Bryn, and Isabina had brought with them.
As he had the night before, Anders stared at the embers as he drifted off to sleep. This time, he felt a little more hopeful. He didn’t know what tomorrow would bring, but he was ready to find out.
Chapter Four
THE NEXT DAY, THE SIX OF THEM—ANDERS,Rayna, Ferdie, Viktoria, Ellukka, and Sam—made the long walk from their safe landing place into the camp outside Holbard.
It felt a little like the slow horror of coming into Holbard proper and beginning to understand how much damage had been done. But if anything, the town camp shocked Anders more. It was strung out along the banks of the Sudrain River, perhaps an hour’s walk from the ruins of Holbard. Seeing the state of it now, he understood why nobody had made it as far as the village of Upper Vadobrun. He could hardly believe they’d made it this far.
The camp was chaos. Nothing was laid out in a way that made sense, salvaged belongings strewn around like debris from a shipwreck. The grass had already been trampled into mud, and everything was dirty. People had madeshelters from whatever they could, stringing up cloaks or sheets of canvas, leaning salvaged doors and planks against each other, or simply sleeping out in the mud and in the open, piling their belongings together and guarding them carefully.
The faces around Anders were mean, worried, and pinched. They were the faces of people who didn’t have much, and knew what they had wouldn’t last very long. Everyone was looking out for themselves, and everyone was keeping an eye on their neighbors.
What he didn’t see was any sign of the wolves, anywhere.
“They must be camping somewhere else,” Viktoria murmured. “But the wolves knowhowto camp. We go out on excursions as part of our training. They could help here.”
“Only if they’re wanted,” Ellukka said, “and I don’t think they are.”
“What’s that up ahead?” Rayna asked, pointing as the top of what looked like a big tent came into view.
They made their way toward it through the crowd, moving slowly to avoid attracting attention. After all, Anders, Lisabet, and Rayna had been on wanted posters all around the city not so long ago. Nobody was paying attention now, though—the hoods of their cloaks weredisguise enough. They stayed together, trying not to look too hard at anyone, just in case it was taken as a sign that they wanted to steal their belongings.
The place Rayna had seen did indeed turn out to be a huge tent. It was the only proper one in the camp, as far as Anders could tell, and out in front of it the mayor of Holbard himself sat on a real chair at a real table—both of those were also in short supply—speaking to a dirty man who was the first in a very, very long line.
The mayor was not dirty. The mayor was wearing his gold chain of office and clean clothes. Anders recognized him from all the times he had seen him stand beside Sigrid, the Fyrstulf, on the dais during the monthly Trial of the Staff. But even if he had not known the mayor by sight, it would have been clear to him that this man was in charge. He was surrounded by several members of Vallen’s parliament and seemed to be taking requests or complaints. It didn’t seem like he was doing anything about them, apart from occasionally gesturing for one of his companions to write something down, and everyone who left the front of the line walked away crestfallen, occasionally glancing back, as if they weren’t quite sure what had just happened.
“Okay,” said Rayna, “I think we should split up. Ferdie and Viktoria—and maybe you, Ellukka—you should go see who you can help. Maybe there’s some kind ofhospital here, somewhere people are going to get treatment.”
“What about you?” Ellukka asked.
“Anders, Sam, and I need to take a look around here,” Rayna said.
Anders knew exactly what she was thinking. “This is the only place anyone has anything to take,” he said. “Nobody from the street would ever take something from those other people, the ones camping under their coats. We all know what it’s like not to have anything. But here...”
“The mayor and his clean clothes are fair game,” Sam finished for him.
“Right,” Anders agreed. “And that means Jerro might be somewhere around here.”
“He’d look for prime pickpocketing territory,” Sam agreed. “And so might other people we know.”
In his heart, Anders wasn’t so sure they’d find Jerro—it was hard to imagine him pickpocketing when he could be looking for Sam and Pellarin—but he didn’t want to say so out loud.
“This is also where we’ll get the best gossip,” Rayna said, clapping Sam a little too hard on the shoulder. Anders suspected she shared his worry about what might have happened to Jerro, but they had to try their best.
“All right,” Viktoria agreed. “We’ll come back this way in an hour, or at least one of us will, to see what’s going on.”
Viktoria and Ferdie took off, with Ellukka to keep lookout for them. Anders, Rayna, and Sam cast their eye over the scene before them, taking their time, slow and thoughtful, making sure they had the lay of the land before they committed themselves to anything.
This is just like being back in the city, Anders told himself.You’ve done this a million times.
And, of course, he had. Countless times, he and Rayna had sat on the edge of a roof, looking at the square below, scouting out every corner of it, making sure they knew who was there and what was where before they committed to any course of action. He had no doubt Sam had done the same thing with Jerro and Pellarin just as many times.
“I’d like to get inside that tent,” Rayna murmured beside him with her usual audacity. “That’s where the good stuff will be. And there are a lot of people out here who need it.”
“We’d need better clothes,” Sam pointed out, “or, at least, a much better cloak.”
The two of them fell into quiet discussion about whose cloak might possibly be stolen, and Anders let them talk ashe kept looking over the scene.
