Kelford saw them off at dawn, with Dredge filling the Shingle’s doorway and a wrapped bundle under one arm. Ray’s ribs sat bound under his coat, his pack lighter than his purse for the first time since arriving.
Ray slapped a stack of silver on the porch rail, "That covers the mug, the brick and the glue, plus a tip for the mop that saved my life, which deserves something nice."
"The mop doesn’t take tips, boy, but I do," the old man rasped, sweeping the coins into his apron with one paw.
He shoved the bundle into his arms without ceremony, "Bread, cheese and the last of my smoked ham."
"You’re going to miss me, admit it, since nobody else in this town complains about your tea with real passion."
"I’ll miss the quiet, boy," he grunted, staring past him at the street.
He clapped Ray on the shoulder once, gently, though the porch boards still creaked like something enormous leaned on them.
’Every instinct I own swears that old man could fold me in half without spilling a drop of his tea.’
"Keep the attic free for me, old man, for the minute somebody in this town needs another basement cleaned out."
"Wipe your feet when you come back... then I’ll think about it."
Behind them the town was waking slowly, chimney smoke rising straight into a sky the color of fresh milk. Somebody near the market was singing off-key at the well, a sound Ray suspected he would remember for years.
At the south gate Tenon waited beside Sergeant Bram, both men pretending they just happened to be passing by.
"Officially, the guild is sending word ahead to every southern hall, where I would very much prefer you didn’t embarrass us," the guildmaster said, rubbing his temples.
"Heh, embarrassing you is basically an F-Rank’s whole job description, though I promise I’m very good at my job."
"Your rank is a lie that everyone in my hall knows about, though on paper the guild ledger is perfectly happy with it."
He slid a letter of introduction from his sleeve, pressing it into Ray’s palm like a bribe he never offered.
"Keep that letter close, since officially you were never hired... and officially I never thanked you, though I would like to add—"
"He means thank you, lad, but it takes him an hour to get there," Bram cut in with a long sigh.
Tenon closed his mouth, rubbing his temples harder as if the sergeant just added another page to his headache.
"Kelford owes you one, lad, so whenever you need a gate opened at midnight, mine opens on your word," Bram said, offering a calloused hand.
Ray shook it carefully, keeping his body square, "If I ever need a midnight gate, you’ll be the first sergeant I bribe."
Pim and Etta’s mother stood apart near the gatepost, holding a bundle of wildflowers against her chest with both hands. Yuzu went to her first, the two women speaking too quietly to hear before she brought the mother to him.
"My children would have liked you, I think, which is why I wanted you to see these before I take them to the yard."
’Nothing I could say to a mother at a gate is worth more than standing here and letting her talk.’
"The water runs clean for good now, ma’am, if you want something to tell them when you get there," he said quietly.
She pressed one flower into his coat pocket, smoothing the cloth flat over it with her thumb.
"Then you carry one of these for them, wherever the road takes you."
"I’ll carry it the whole way, for a receipt like this one never gets lost."
She nodded once, unable to answer, then turned toward the burial yard with the rest of the bundle held close.
The boy from the well chased them halfway down the road, shouting goodbye to the man with noisy sticks.
"Drink your water and stay out of basements, kid, since basements are a total scam!" Ray yelled back without turning around.
’A kid yelling goodbye down a clean road pays better than anything the System ever dropped into my account.’
The flower sat against his chest the rest of the morning, light as paper and somehow heavier than both pistols.
The southern road cut through open fields, the river beside it clear enough to show every pebble on the bottom. Yuzu walked on his left without being asked, staying close enough to catch him if his cracked ribs gave out.
"You never asked why I’m coming with you."
"I figured you’d tell me when you were ready, considering I’m terrible at asking questions people can’t afford to answer."
"I swore an oath in that guild hall to stand against the rot wherever it grows," she said, tucking her bandaged arm into her sleeve.
"That’s a big oath for one healer with a rapier and a bad sense of humor," he said, eyeing the blade on her hip.
"You keep finding the rot, which makes following you the sensible choice."
"So I’m a rot-sniffing dog now, is that what you’re telling me?"
"You’re a very loud dog who eats too many skewers, snores through thunder and whines about salve," she said, perfectly deadpan.
She kicked a pebble down the road, watching it skip into the ditch before she spoke again.
"You’re also my friend, though I never expected that from the man who charged me for my own rescue."
"Cash before miracles, Doc... the friendship comes free," he said, bumping her shoulder with his good arm.
"Then I stop counting what I owe you, if friends really don’t send each other invoices."
’Back home a friend was just somebody who didn’t sell me out yet, while this one stitches me up for free.’
The road climbed a low ridge where Kelford dropped out of sight, its roofs shrinking into a smudge of smoke. Yuzu looked back once, longer than she meant to, then squared her shoulders to face south again without another word.
Ray tore the ham in half, handing her the bigger piece, "Friends get the big half, though if Dredge ever hears I’m capable of generosity, I’ll deny it to his face."
"Your secret dies with me," she said, biting into it, "unless you finally tell me where those noisy sticks came from."
"They came from a very strange shop with an even stranger shopkeeper, though that’s all you get for now."
"One day I’ll get a straight answer out of you, then frame it above my clinic door."
"Hang it right beside my bill, then you’ll have the whole matching set," he said, grinning around a mouthful of ham.
They walked the next hour in easy silence, the kind that needed no filling, while larks argued in the hedges. Every few minutes Yuzu glanced at his ribs, then away again, pretending she was only admiring the scenery behind him.
"They hurt a little, as promised, though you can stop staring at my coat like it owes you money now."
"Thank you, that is how a promise is supposed to work," she said, a small smile tugging at her mouth.
[ KELFORD CONTRACT CLOSED ]
[Tap #01 Severed]
[Relic: The Drowned Key]
[Balance: 530 HC]
’One root is down with a whole kingdom of them left to dig up, while the client still owes me an explanation about that countersign.’
Near noon they reached a mile marker with a square of grey hide nailed to it by a black spike. Demon runes were burned into the hide, the same crawling script from the pins, still warm when Ray touched them.
The road was empty in both directions, the hedges standing too still for a morning full of larks.
[ SCRIPT ]
[Language: Demonic]
[Translation: Tap One Is Noted]
[Signed: Unknown]
Ray’s eyes stopped blinking, moving along the hedges in a slow, patient count.
The left hedge ran forty paces, the right one sixty, with a ditch deep enough to hide a man.
Yuzu’s hand found her rapier before she knew why, the birds in the hedges falling silent around them.
"Your face just changed, so tell me what it says," she whispered.
"It says somebody up north is watching, so stand behind the marker while I check the—"
A crow burst out of the hedge behind the marker, wings slapping the leaves as it climbed into the sky.
"Gah, you feathered little bastard, that was nearly the most expensive bird in Verfall!" Ray snapped, both pistols half out of their holsters.
Yuzu lowered her rapier an inch at a time, a thin gold shimmer of Veil fading from her free hand.
"You drew faster than I did, with cracked ribs," she said, eyeing his hands, "which tells me how worried you really are."
He let the pistols settle back into leather, flexing his shooting hand while the crow cawed somewhere far off.
[ AMMUNITION ]
[Rounds Remaining: 40]
’Forty rounds is plenty for crows, though it won’t last long against whoever is signing their work with a damn spike.’
Yuzu crouched by the marker, pressing two fingers to the hide like she was checking a fever.
"The hide is warm, but the spike is cold, which means somebody nailed this up less than an hour ago."
"Then whoever left it was close enough to watch us walk up the road... and smart enough not to stay for the reaction."
"You can read demon script now, since when did that happen?"
He tapped the burned runes with one knuckle, "I can read a threat in any language, Doc, especially one written in letters this big."
He worked the spike loose with a grunt, folding the warm hide into his coat beside the key.
"Should we be worried about whoever left it here for us?"
"We should be careful as hell, while worried is for amateurs and people who don’t get paid."
"Then my Veil stays ready the whole way south, as long as you keep your promise about the ribs."
"That’s a deal, and if anything jumps out of a hedge, you get the first stab at it," he said, flexing his shooting hand.
’Somebody is hunting for the hand that cut their root, so I’d better make sure it’s holding a gun when they find it.’
They walked on south together, the hide folded in his coat beside the dripping key.