Chapter 2

“See you later, kid.”

Nedley dropped the bundle he was carrying into the wagon and turned around. Cenric was standing at the door leading into the wheelwright’s shop, now clad in his old black brigandine. He’d left his silversteel cuirass and mail in the pile Nedley was loading.

“You’re really going to leave?” Nedley asked. “It’s good pay, and we need a sergeant.” Corec had offered the man three silver a day to stay on, but Cenric had refused. Nedley himself was making two and a half as corporal.

Cenric checked to make sure no one was listening. “And wait for Larso to attack? More of those ... whatever we were? More killing? No. I’m done with that.”

Nedley nodded. He couldn’t say Cenric was a friend, but he felt a kinship with the man. Prince Rusol—King Rusol, now—had turned them both into red-eyes, and they’d both participated in the slaughter at Jol’s Brook. Only Miss Treya’s intervention had saved their lives and returned their minds to normal. Normal, except for the memories and the nightmares.

“I don’t want to kill anyone either, but Corec and the others have been good to me.”

Cenric shrugged. “If you want the work, fine, but it’s not for me. I’m going to buy a load of seed and head home. I’ve been gone for too long—my wife and sister can’t handle the plowing by themselves.”

“Good luck, then,” Nedley said. He wasn’t close enough with Cenric to push the issue any harder, though it would leave them without a sergeant. As corporal, Nedley was next in line, and he’d done well enough in the battle against the dragon—Corec and Boktar had both said so—but no one would take a not-quite-eighteen-year-old sergeant seriously. He’d figured that out even before Corec had pulled him aside to tell him he’d have to remain a corporal for now.

“You too,” Cenric said. “Stay careful—don’t let the dreams take you.” He left the wagon yard, then headed up the street and out of sight.

Nedley stared after him for a moment, then finished loading the wagon before going back inside. Leena had arrived and was speaking to Boktar.

“ ... the gold from Duke Lorvis,” she was telling him. “Ellerie says it’s enough that you can hire some carpenters, plus a crew to clear the roads.”

“I thought we were using the armsmen to clear the roads?”

“Them too, but there’ll be plenty of work, both on the roads and the keep. Oh, while you’re here, the others had some additions to the shopping list.” She handed him a slip of paper.

Boktar looked it over. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Leena turned to the children, who were waiting nearby with Treya.

“Ditte, are you ready to go?” Leena said. “Do you have all your things?”

Ditte bit her lip and looked down at her two bags—one small and grungy, and the other larger and clean, stuffed with new clothing.

“Why’s she got to go that way?” Harri asked. “Why can’t she come with us?”

“It’ll take us weeks to reach the keep,” Boktar pointed out. “We’ll be camping out in tents, it’ll be raining half the time, and there’s nothing to do but take care of the horses and mules. You’re tough enough, but let’s let your sister go somewhere warm and dry to wait for you.”

“It’ll be fine, Harri,” Nedley added. “You and I can play cards and dice, but you know your sister doesn’t like those. Miss Treya and Miss Katrin will be there to watch over her.”

Harri frowned, but when Ditte looked up at him, he nodded to her. She gathered up her smaller bag. Leena grabbed the large one, then took Ditte’s free hand.

“Will you be ready to go tomorrow?” Leena asked Treya. “After tomorrow, I may be busy for a few days.”

“Yes, I’ll be ready,” Treya said.

“I’ll see you in the morning, then.” Leena turned her attention back to Ditte. “Say goodbye to your brother,” she said. “You’ll see him again soon.”

“B ... bye,” the little girl said in a small voice, tears gathering in her eyes. “No, I don’t wanna go—!”

And then they were gone.

Nedley shivered. He could understand Ditte’s reluctance to try Leena’s Traveling—he was hoping to avoid the experience himself—but Miss Katrin had said it went by so fast, she’d barely noticed it. Ditte would be happier at the keep rather than on the road.

“All right,” Boktar said, “I guess I need to do some more shopping. Harri, go ahead and feed the horses and mules, then stick around here. Ned, how about you go to the Three Orders stable and feed the horses there, then come back and help me hire some carpenters and workers.”

“Sure,” Nedley said.

He left the shop and set out for the chapter house, trying to stay on the wooden walkways when he could. His destination was a mile away, toward the northern end of town, and it had rained again overnight. The mud was sometimes up to six inches deep in the streets.

At the chapter house, he went straight into the stable. The main building always made him feel weird, with all the girls in their clean clothing going about their day, giving odd looks to any strangers who came inside.

The stable was usually quiet, though, as it was mostly meant for visitors. Few of the Sisters who lived at the chapter house owned horses of their own.

Nedley found Duchess’s stall first and scratched her neck. She gave a long sigh. She’d been Katrin’s horse at some point before Nedley met the group, but Katrin preferred her mule, Flower, so Duchess had ended up with him. He’d been visiting her each day since they’d gotten back to Four Roads, just to make sure she was well taken care of.

Dot, in the next stall over, snorted when she saw him lavishing attention on another horse.

“That one is mean,” a voice said. A girl had appeared at Nedley’s side. She was pretty, with frizzy, bright red hair—more orange in it than Katrin’s—and freckles across her cheeks and nose. Her white dress was in the style of the Three Orders students, and she had a brush in one hand. She must have been grooming a horse in one of the stalls when he’d come in.

“Oh, Dot’s all right,” he said. “She’s a warhorse, though. She won’t be friendly unless someone introduces you to her.” Then he realized he was talking to a girl and his mouth went dry. “Umm, hi.”

“Hi!” she said, then caught sight of the sword on his belt. Her eyes widened. “You’re one of them, aren’t you?” she said breathlessly. “One of the men who killed the dragon! The whole town’s talking about it! These are their horses.”

Nedley stood tall. She’d called him a man! He only wished he was wearing his armor. The silversteel plate would make a better impression than the stained clothing he was wearing. And he’d been working all morning—did he smell bad? He should have taken a bath before coming anywhere near the chapter house.

“Y ... yes,” he said, trying to make his voice deeper. “I was there.”

“What was it like?”

What could he say? He couldn’t tell her the battle had been scary and ugly, or that the dragon had cried out in fear and pain as it died, while he and his squad forced their pikes deeper into its body. But he couldn’t ignore the look of excitement in her blue eyes either.

“It was difficult work, but it had to be done,” he said.

A brief flash of disappointment crossed her face at the bland description of the battle, so Nedley slipped his dragon-tooth necklace out of his shirt to show her. It was really just a thin leather cord with the eight-inch, blade-like tooth hanging from it. One of the armsmen had helped everyone drill holes in the teeth with a small wood auger during the journey back to Four Roads. Most of the men were wearing their necklaces in town so people would know they’d fought the dragon and weren’t among the deserters. Nedley thought it looked silly hanging down in front of his chest, though, so he kept his hidden. But he still wore it.

The girl tapped the tooth with the tip of her finger, then stood back and brushed her hair behind her ear. “I’m Kimi. What’s your name?”

“Nedley,” he said. “Umm, Corporal Nedley.”

“You’re a corporal!” Judging by her excited tone, she must not have had any idea what a corporal was. Nedley wasn’t too clear himself what it meant when there wasn’t an actual army. Corec had only assigned the ranks to give Cenric and Nedley some level of authority over the other armsmen.

“Yes, and a squad leader,” he said. That sounded better. “We’re here to pick up supplies, then we’ll be heading back to the keep.”

Kimi’s face fell. “Oh, you’re leaving? That’s too bad.” The smile returned. “But it must be exciting. I can’t believe there’ll be a real lord nearby! And you work for him!”

She wasn’t the first person in town to call Corec a lord, but Nedley couldn’t figure out where they’d gotten that idea. Corec’s father was a baron, but Corec had older brothers to inherit the position. Nedley didn’t want to ruin the girl’s enthusiasm, though.

“I guess it’s exciting,” he said. “The keep was exciting—it’s more like a fortress or a castle. It was a mess when we left, but the people who stayed there are getting it cleaned up while we’re gone. You should see it sometime if you can.”

The girl’s smile changed in a way Nedley couldn’t quite describe, as if she knew something he didn’t.

“Maybe I will see it,” she said. “I worked for his Lady, you know. Lady Katrin—or she will be once they’re married. We were teaching the refugee children to read. Did you know some of them didn’t know how at all? They’re all leaving, though, now that it’s safe.”

Safe, perhaps, but some of the abandoned villages hadn’t fared well. Not all the refugees would have a home to return to.

Nedley cast about for something to say. “That’s, umm, that was good of you to help.”

Kimi beamed at him, but then a bell rang and she rolled her eyes. “I have to go do my chores now, or Mother Yewen won’t let me visit the stable anymore. When are you leaving town?”

“Tomorrow morning, I think.”

“Oh. Well, it was nice to meet you, Nedley,” she said, laying her fingertips on the back of his hand.

He felt goosebumps raise at her touch. “Umm, I’ll have to come back to get the horses tomorrow.” He could convince Boktar to let him handle that on his own. “If you’re here, I might see you then.”

She gave him a sad smile. “I have classes tomorrow. Maybe you’ll come back again sometime?”

“I will!” he said. Surely there’d be some need to visit Four Roads again soon, even if he had to beg Leena to take him.

After Kimi left, Nedley returned to his task, but his mind kept wandering back to her. Was she a concubine candidate? How did one go about doing whatever it was one did to make a contract with a concubine?

Treya would know, if he could get over his embarrassment enough to ask her. He might even be able to afford it. He’d amassed a tidy sum—more than he’d ever expected to have at one time in his life.

Of course, it would take more than just the contract. He’d been planning to live in the fortress barracks to take advantage of the free room and board, but he couldn’t do that with a concubine.

And would she even want to go with him? He couldn’t have made a good impression wearing his dirty work clothes. Perhaps he should buy himself something nicer before leaving town.

At the last stall, Nedley looked back in surprise. He’d finished feeding the horses, but he had no memory of it at all.

Nallee stared at the destruction while Patrig comforted his wife, Deni, who was sobbing in his arms.

Springwater was gone.

Nallee had known the dragon was dead before the rumor reached most people. Treya had visited Four Roads a few days after the battle, with that strange southern woman who could disappear and reappear in a different place.

The knights had passed through town two weeks later, confirming the early rumors, but Patrig had decided to wait until the official word came through. He wanted to accompany the bulk of the Springwater refugees back home, and the others had no intention of going until they were sure it was safe.

With the village’s mayor gone off to live with relatives in the east, Patrig had become the unofficial leader of the Springwater refugees, a position which he relished. He’d always wanted to become a respectable man about town, and now he was one step closer to becoming mayor himself.

A few of the refugees did head back on their own once the rumors started. No word had come from them, so everyone had thought they were settling in just fine. Then the dragon fighters returned to Four Roads, proudly showing off their dragon-tooth necklaces and bragging about their parts in the battle.