Arden got the gag worked out of his mouth after about five minutes of struggling, and with a quick series of prayers, List was saved from the snake venom, and they were free from their bonds.

On the side of the road. Miles from civilization. With no money, no horses, and no supplies.

"I'm going to kill that bastard," List spat.

"At least we're still alive," Valerie said. "He had us dead to rights."

In truth, Valerie was feeling more guilty than relieved. They'd all been caught by surprise, but she'd been the one at the front, which meant it was her job to keep a lookout for trouble exactly like this. She didn't even need to hear the lecture from Arden; she was already giving it to herself.

"He had his snake bite me," List seethed, barely paying attention to her. At least she wasn't blaming Valerie.

"Well, it's not going to do us any good standing here sulking about what happened, and we're in no state to go after them," Arden said. "We should get moving, especially seeing as we've got a walk ahead of us now."

It took them another five hours to reach Shadefall, during which they were rained on, shadowed by wolves, and ambushed by giant beetles that burst out of the ground. The whole way, List voiced several dozen ideas for how she was going to murder Xigbar. She was particularly enthusiastic about strangling him with his own pet reptile, given the amount of detail she went into with that one. Valerie filed it all under the hellborn's anger talking, even as she flashed back to the wicked grin on List's face when she'd killed Darshan.

Given how defensive and slow to trust List was, Valerie had thought the hellborn was the one taking a risk, joining up with her and Arden. For the first time, Valerie wondered whether or not she and Arden hadn't also taken a risk agreeing to take her in. But it was a little late for that. After all the fuss she made about convincing List to come along, she couldn't just turn around and say, "Actually, you're starting to scare me, can you leave?"

Well, technically she could, but it would have been rude.

Shadefell was a sprawl of stone and brick buildings spread out among gently sloping fields. By the time they arrived, the sun was already on its way down, and their trio filtered in along with the end of day crowd. And Valerie turned out to be right about List attracting far less scorn now that she was traveling openly in a group instead of skulking around in the dark. People still did a double take when they saw her, but the general impression people seemed to come away with was "well, if those people with her aren't bothered by her, I guess she's alright."

That however, was the extent of their ability to be inconspicuous.

Without any money to their names, Arden tried to look for hospitality and sympathy from the people of Shadefall to secure lodgings. He would explain what happened to them, and even offer for the group to work to earn their keep, but in every place that didn't reject them outright, there came a variation on the same question:

"Where are you folks from?"

List never answered, which left Valerie and Arden to admit they weren't from Xykesh, and then they would be turned away. Sometimes in scorn, sometimes in fear, but the emotion behind it hardly mattered. No one was willing to extend charity to a pair of outsiders and their demon girl tagalong.

When the fifth door was closed in their faces, and the sun's light was down to a stripe of orange on the horizon, List said, "You know, once it's dark we can probably find a stable or barn to sleep in."

"Have you had to do that often?" Valerie said.

List shrugged. "Beats gutters."

"Okay, wow. You can stop laying it on so thick. I was already going to invite you in," a high, vibrato voice said.

The voice belonged to a tall, slender figure, sporting loose fitting clothes, and the face of a dragon. Her scales—and it took a moment for Valerie to feel confident enough to assume the person was a her—were a brassy, burnt orange-gold color, and her eyes shone like emeralds. She gave them a wave with a four-fingered hand tipped with short talons.

Valerie's first instinct was that she had to be anima-human, like Xigbar the Snake, but anima-humans had mostly human features with some novel add-ons—animal ears and eyes, or patches of scales on their skin, maybe a tail or some odd teeth. She had to be an actual anima, but even that didn't seem right. As far as she knew, there was no such thing as a dragon-anima.

"Valerie, you're staring," Arden said.

Valerie blinked. "Oh gods, I'm so sorry."

"Honestly, Valerie," List said. "You act like you've never seen a dragonblood before."

List was wearing a teasing smirk, which Valerie answered with a glare that only made the hellborn smirk more.

"I'm sorry," Arden said to the dragonblood. "You were saying something about an invitation?"

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"The word around town is a bunch of outsiders with no money are trying to find a place to sleep tonight," she said. "Dad sent me to offer you a place at the Scaled Maiden before you get yourselves into trouble."

The dragonblood, who introduced herself as Kiva, led them to Scaled Maiden tavern and inn, explaining along the way that the owner, her father, was going to let them stay the night for free, but that tomorrow they would need to work out some way to pay for their place or be on their way. The trio was in agreement that that seemed more than fair, and they all offered their thanks.

"You can thank the old man," Kiva said. "It was his idea."

The Maiden wasn't a particularly large establishment, but its position at the head of a well-lit cul de sac with a large well made it feel bigger than it actually was. It was one of the few buildings in town built with a timber frame supporting its stone walls, with an old, wood slat roof that looked like it had been repaired so many times there couldn't be any original roof left. The sign hanging over the door was covered in partially chipped off layers of paint, and the door didn't quite line up with the frame.

Inside was surprisingly bustling. The bar was situated at the center of the tavern with four sides of seating to it, while tables lined the walls, and most of the seats were occupied. Torches were placed in sconces, producing no smoke as they blazed with bright yellow-orange flames that lit the whole of the interior. All around, tired but smiling faces were sharing laughs, down drinks, and tearing into slabs of seared steaks that were being served hot and sizzling from the kitchen, just off the side of the main hall.

Valerie's stomach growled at the sight and smell of it, and Kiva shook her head. "I'll see if the kitchen's got any scraps they can spare."

"You don't have to—" Valerie tried to say, only to be elbowed in the ribs by List.

"Much appreciated," List said.

"Dad's at the bar," Kiva said. "Let him know you're here."

Working behind the bar at a somewhat languid pace was another dragonblood, this one coming up to a full seven feet tall, and dressed in bright blue robes that contrasted against bright red scales. His eyes were the exact same as Kiva's, twin emerald orbs that shone brilliantly in the torchlight.

Arden sauntered to one of the few open spaces at the bar. "Excuse me sir, but are you the proprietor of this establishment?"

"Aye," the dragonblood said. His voice had the same vibrating quality to it as Kiva's, though his was more of a bassy rumble. "Egon Septis. You must be the outsiders I sent Kiva looking for."

"We are," Arden said. "And we are in debt for your hospitality."

"It's not charity," Egon said. "Outsiders wandering around the city at night are going to attract trouble, if you don't start it on your own."

"I assure you, we have no intentions of starting anything," Arden said.

Egon let out a grunt that came with a deep rumble in the back of his throat. "That's what they all say. At least with you here, nobody's liable to target you, and I can keep an eye on you. I know you've got nothing, and you look like shit, so if you can keep the peace for tonight, we'll call that the evening's rent."

"You have our word," Arden said.

Egon briefly took his leave to pour another drink for a customer behind him before continuing. "Mind, I've got nothing special against outsiders. But some folks might, and if that weren't enough, you all stink of desperation. That might as well be blood in the water around here."

"In our defense, we were just robbed," Valerie said.

Egon grunted again. "You and half the folks who've come within ten miles of Shadefell."

Valerie blinked. "Really?"

"Aye. Damned Pavers." Before Egon could elaborate, his attention was caught by another drink order from his right, and more customers arriving through the doors. "Since you're not buying anything, I'm going to ask you to stop taking up space at the bar. Your room's upstairs, end of the hall. I'll have Kiva bring up something we can spare when we get a chance."

As it turned out, the Scaled Maiden's kitchen was able to spare three overcooked steaks about half the size of what they'd been serving, and some cider from a barrel that was almost empty anyway. The steaks, Kiva said, were landshark, sliced off a beast the townsfolk had killed this morning after days of trying. It had a dense, meaty texture, and a hint of sweetness to it Valerie hadn't been expecting, and even overcooked it still had juice to it. It might have been the nicest meal she had eaten since leaving Corsar with Arden. But if it was nice for her, it was utter indulgence for List.

The hellborn audibly moaned with the first bite, and she wolfed the rest of it down as if it was going to be taken away from her if she didn't. Valerie almost choked just watching her, but List cleaned the plate effortlessly, and gulped down her cider just as greedily.

"Uh, are you guys okay?" Kiva asked.

"I am now," List sighed. "You're officially my new favorite person."

"Things were a little rough, even before the bandits," Valerie said.

"The Pavers," Kiva said.

"Your father called them that earlier," Arden said. "Strange name for a gang of thieves."

"They get their name from the old Pavers Guild," Kiva explained. "The people who originally built the roads in Xykesh. Now they just use them to rob people and smuggle contraband."

"Why doesn't anyone stop them?" Valerie asked. "I've seen guards and soldiers in other towns this big. Does this one just not have any?"

Kiva scoffed. "We've got a lawmaster, some volunteer peacekeepers, a few folks who know how to fight that pitch in when things get dangerous. But they know better than to mess with the Pavers. As for soldiers, Lochmire doesn't send urks to Shadefall, and even if they did, they'd never do it to deal with the Pavers when they're working with the bastards."

"And Lochmire is . . .?" Arden prompted.

"It's the city where the King's Chosen lives," List said. "Every territory has one. They handle the local governments so Digax can stay in his palace. Honestly, you've been here a month already. Try harder."

Arden's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing. "I see. So the Pavers have the backing of the government, and the fear of the populace. Sounds like they have everything a band of criminals could want."

"Not anymore, apparently," Kiva said. "Ever since a couple of new faces moved into their office in town, they've been getting greedier. The kind of robbery you three got used to happen maybe once a month. Now it's once every few days."

"Surely they're going to run out of money to steal at that rate," Arden said.

"Wait, hold on a moment," List interrupted. "The Pavers have an office? In town?"

Kiva's brow ridge arched at List's tone. "Yes. Why?"