Kaye stretched the map with her hands, turning to shield it from the wind. They had arrived at a fork in the road, one end heading northwest and the other northeast, more east than north, but it had come much sooner than what the map suggested.

  “Will you let me see?” Uruoro asked as he approached.

  She lowered the map. Uruoro raised a hand to his chin, studied the lines for a moment, then shrugged.

  “I’m assuming the map simply isn’t that accurate,” he said.

  Kaye nodded. It had been a cheap map, after all. Not one that covered much ground either, only the north of Sarak, from Neru-Aran and upwards, past the canyon and Veren Hill, to the south of Mor. To the east, it showed the tip of a mountain range, beyond which the continent gave way to sea, while in the west there was the Rift, a triangur cut into the nd as if it had been cleaved, separating the twin cities of Eruin and Geshin, an Odane city and a Morrish one.

  Storing the map on her pack, Kaye joined the others. Though their clothes had been sun-bleached and dust-dried, everyone’s countenance seemed healthier. With frequent streams and the occasional pond, they could keep themselves clean and there was no need to ration water. Hogog, more so than the others, had lightened up with each passing day, following the ndscape’s shift into green hills. Now, they approached sparse woods.

  Kaye and Hogog were up front as they took the turn northwest. Aien, Gima and Uruoro followed a couple steps behind. They had left Veren Hill a fortnight ago, but the road was easy and even, not often shared with other travelers. No caravans to speak of, but they did come upon two small groups on different days. It seemed the Morrish had little reason to travel this far south.

  And so they continued, day after day, until one te afternoon when a settlement came into view. Kaye turned to Hogog, and he confirmed what she was seeing with a wary nod.

  Though the woods were getting denser, Kaye still struggled to call it a forest. Wooden houses were half-obstructed by trees, and the road they had been on was barely a trail now, but what caught her attention was the palisade. Makeshift, built from pnks and crude spikes, barrels and some logs. They wouldn’t keep anyone away, only slow them down.

  Beyond the palisade and above a wall that only covered the trail — the fact it didn’t wrap around the vilge hinted at its recent build — three figures were moving. One of them turned the opposite way and started running, while the other two approached.

  “Hold right’ere!”

  Kaye and Hogog halted. She gnced beyond her shoulders in time to see the others slowing down.

  “Who ar’ya?” the second man asked. Though they were speaking a nguage very simir to the trader tongue the Nagra used back in Kakinse, these men had quite the accent.

  “We are travelers,” Hogog said, “coming from Veren Hill.”

  “Why? Have ya’ any business ‘ere?”

  “No business, no, we’re going to the Rift. Is this the road to Geshin?”

  “’Tis the trail that gets you to the road to Geshin.”

  Kaye pced a hand on Hogog’s arm.

  “Has something happened?” she asked. “Perhaps we could help.”

  The man took a moment to answer. “Nothin’ I can tell’ya.”

  “That man who left, I suspect he’s calling for someone? Can we wait here and talk?”

  “Ya’ can, but it’s a waste of your time.”

  She saw Hogog staring at her with her peripheral vision, but Kaye saw little reason to worry. Something had clearly happened to put the vilgers on edge, she doubted they were this wary of outsiders living in a trail that cut directly through their settlement, but the barricade would stop both sides from rushing at each other.

  As they waited, Kaye watched the two guards. They were middle-aged men, the more talkative of the two was scrawny, while the other who had only shouted to tell them to stop was paunchy. They wore no armor and their clothing was simple dirty wool and leather, each carrying a spear. Neither were real guards, she surmised.

  The other man came back soon after, followed by four others carrying spears and a woman with light-brown hair tied in a bun and soft features. She wasn’t smiling, but her gaze told Kaye she would at least listen.

  Hogog didn’t protest when Kaye took a step forward to do the talking.

  “Greetings, travelers, but I can’t say I’m sorry for the reception. Can I have your name?”

  “I am Kaye Nanur, of the Nagra hunters. This is my—”

  “Can’t say I’ve ever heard of the Nagra hunters. Call me Goira.”

  “This is my uncle, Hogog, and my friends Aien, Uruoro and Gima.”

  “You said you’re coming from Veren? You do look like you passed through Sarak, so I can believe you there.”

  “This is our first time on this trail. You wouldn’t forget me if you had seen me before,” Kaye tilted her head, “so I understand why you’re wary and I can tell something happened to you, but we’re only looking to pass through, and if possible, sleep in a bed. We’re willing to work for it.”

  “Perhaps you should run that by your friends back there first?”

  Kaye shook her head. “They trust me.”

  Goira nodded, then seemed to study them in a different light.

  “I see you’re decently armed,” Goira said. “I believe that you are only travelers, but how can I trust it’s only the five of you?”

  “Is there anything we can do to convince you?”

  “With all honesty? No, but if you’re only looking to stay for the night, then would you have any problem handing over your weapons? We will give them back in the morning.”

  Kaye considered it for a moment. The bows wouldn’t be useful unstrung and in close spaces either way, but giving up all of their weapons was too much to ask. They could turn back, follow the road northeast and find a spot to cut straight north until they found the other road that led west, but that would cost several days, and Kaye would rather stick to the beaten paths.

  “I understand you don’t want to let armed strangers in, but we also don’t know what happened here. Leave us two weapons at least.”

  “The two swords?” Goira asked, looking from Hogog to Kaye.

  “If that’s too much… then leave one sword and one dagger.”

  “His?” Goira waved to Hogog.

  “Yes.”

  At another gesture from Goira, the men took a step back. “Then will you please leave them here?”

  Kaye was the first to do so, pcing her bow and the quiver full of arrows on top of the mock palisade. Hogog put his bow and arrows down as well, and Gima the curved sword, with an untroubled look that made Kaye wonder if she was happy to part ways with it.

  Aien nodded slowly at meeting Kaye’s gaze, understanding. It seemed he wouldn’t be willing to let go of his sword again.

  After picking the weapons they had surrendered, the guards started moving the barricade out of the way.

  “She didn’t ask for our knives,” Hogog whispered, his back to the vilgers.

  “She’s smart, but she’s not used to this. Keep them well-hidden, please.”

  Her uncle was about to nod, but turned at Goira’s voice.

  “I was lying when I said I wasn’t sorry for the reception. Please, come in.”

  Pretending as if she was more confident about the situation than she actually felt, Kaye was the first to step inside. When the others followed, the guards assembled the barricade again.

  Goira seemed suddenly tired, but stepped up to walk by Kaye’s side as they approached the houses.

  Vilgers were looking from inside their houses, which had been built in a malformed circle around a square of beaten earth. Kaye saw trails leading outside, perhaps to wells or other buildings farther away, but nothing that made her raise her guard. If anything, the people she saw were keeping their distance, despite Goira being close.

  “I know I’ve asked already, but has something happened?”

  “Bandits attacked us,” Goira said, her voice tense. “Some men came into the vilge and by the time we understood what was happening they were running away with hostages. The men chased after, but were attacked and lost them. Old Cold was killed.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “How many did they get?” Aien asked as soon as Kaye finished her sentence.

  “They kidnapped two of us, Ron and Don. They were twins… are twins, nine-year-olds. Some of the men tried to pursue them, but that only created more wounded.”

  “That is horrible,” said Kaye, “if there is anything we can do to help…”

  She let her voice trail as Goira started to speak. “Thank you, but we are handling it. We sent a messenger to ask for Lord Cordon’s help.”

  “What if he doesn’t help?” Aien asked, gncing around at vilgers who were now watching closer.

  “He will,” said Goira. “It’s his obligation,” she added, not sounding confident at all. “Until then, we have to hold out. If the bandits come back, at least we’ll be waiting for them this time.”

  “They likely won’t,” said Aien. “I’m not saying you shouldn’t stay on guard, but if you were open to outsiders before this, then bandits weren’t an issue until recently. They know you’ll have sent for someone and are likely getting as far away as possible.”

  “Even so, the lord’s men can track them down. They were too much for us, but not for armed and armored men.”

  Aien looked as if he had something else to say, and Kaye thought she vaguely understood it. Keeping the children for long would be hard, and there had to be a reason why they did it. There was little sense in asking ransom of a vilge this modest, and although Kaye had heard that Mor did not tolerate svery, that didn’t mean it didn’t happen where no one was looking.

  She hadn’t considered that possibility until then, and it left a knot in her stomach. She thought of Uruoro, who was there and free, and of Loho, who wasn’t.

  “I hope this is acceptable,” Goira said, gesturing to the house they were approaching.

  It was a modest, old but well-kept wooden house. The city seemed to have been built without any pnning, leaving pces such as this, where a single house had an open area around it despite there not being that much free space to begin with.

  They’ll be watching us from those houses over there, Kaye thought. It wasn’t dark already and they were wasting some time that could be used to cover more ground, but Kaye would have wanted to stop at around this hour if she knew there were bandits in the region.

  Goira entered the house with them. The building had only two rooms, and the bedroom two beds. Someone would be sleeping on the floor.

  “We sleep rather early around here, so I fear you’ll have your supper in two-hours’ time, at most. We will have guards around the house, so if you need something urgent call one of them but please, only if its urgent.”

  Kaye nodded. “We appreciate the hospitality, even more so at a time like this. Before you go, do you know how far we are from Geshin? I have a map, but it doesn’t seem to be very accurate.”

  “I don’t know about walking, but you can make it to Geshin in two days on horseback.”

  That was much closer than the map would leave her to believe.

  With a nod of goodbye, Goira left the house, leaving the door open. There wasn’t a tch to close it from either side.

  “What a horrible thing,” Uruoro said when it was just the five of them. “I can’t stand or understand some people’s cruelty.”