It was still early, and the inn was quiet, cool and dark. Hina made her way to the bar where a middle-aged woman was serving drinks and chatting with a few regulars. She pulled out a stool, sat and waited for the inn-keeper's attention. The others sat down next to her.

"What can I get you, dearies?"

"Small ale. Three mugs, please." Hina set down two copper pennies on the bar.

"Coming right up." The woman swept up the coins and left a little ha-penny in their place. She collected three mugs from below the bar, and filled them from the big wooden cask on the counter behind her, one after the other. She set the full mugs down in front of Hina and Kai with a slosh of foam.

"Thanks. Can you tell us anything about the road to Modmin?"

"Of course, love. Caravan came in on that road yesterday, said they had a run in with some beasts. Kotbec, I think." She looked at Hina. "Nasty birds with enormous claws, run as fast as a person. They attack smaller groups sometimes. And we're coming on bandit season too. Wouldn't recommend you kids going out there by yourselves, that's for sure."

"Know of any caravans heading out that way? Ideally leaving within the next couple of days?"

"You know what," she raised herself up onto her toes, peering across the room behind them. "Yeah, they're still here. There's a fellow over there by the name of... Yusuf, yes, that's it. Go and see him, he's over there in the corner. His group's heading out towards Modmin at dawn, I think—they might take you if you ask nice, and if you've got the coin."

"Thank you," Hina said, nodding. "By the way, do you have rooms available?"

"We're almost booked out, you know, with the festival? Going to get mighty busy around here in another couple of hours. Already busy for this time of day. We've got one room left. Only one bed, but I can have my boy drag in some sleeping mats. Two quarters for the night."

"Two quarters?! That's a lot."

"If it's not you, love, I'll have it booked before dinner. Festival brings in folks from all around." She squinted at Hina in the dim light. "Say, you look kinda familiar. Where did you say you were from?"

Hina's heart skipped a beat. "Hertley."

"Hmm. Doesn't ring a bell." The woman shrugged. "Well, you let me know if you want that room. I'd say you've got an hour or two to decide, but I'll be giving it to whoever pays first, understand?"

"Thank you. I'll be back if we decide to take it."

She walked over to the small group of people at the table in the corner. "Hello there, the inn-keeper says you're headed to Modmin?"

A small man stood and held out his hand. "I am Yusuf." His head shone in the lamp light.

Hina shook his hand. "Lori. The inn-keeper said you were heading to Modmin?"

"I have a small caravan—six wagons, a guard of twelve. We are heading south towards Walton via Modmin, yes. We depart at dawn."

"Are you taking passengers?"

"The three of you, or are there others?"

"Just us."

"And you would be joining us to Modmin only?"

"That's right."

"It's an eight or nine day journey, depending. Three people."

"Yes."

"One crown each." He eyed the knife and the sling at her belt. "And you will assist if the caravan is attacked, yes?"

One whole crown each. Hina wouldn't have been able to pay that in a year of working at the bakery, and she didn't have nearly enough to cover that now. They only had one and a quarter and a change. She was going to have to rush back to the market and sell the bell.

There was no chance of a room for the night. And she was still short by three quarter-crowns. Almost as much as she'd planned to leave Grambe with, before Lagi's generous donation.

Maybe they should think about walking. It would add a couple of weeks to the journey, though, and that would make the timeline pretty tight. And they hadn't done so well on their own to this point. The farm—it hadn't gone well at all.

The trip to Modmin was a little under half of the rest of the way to Om Qalar, and a break from being responsible for keeping everyone safe from the dangers of the road was pretty appealing. Especially if they continued making progress.

If safety was the most important thing, they may as well just stay here in the city. But there were more important things than safety.

Yes. They'd have to sell the bell, but it was worth it.

"We'll—"

"Two and one, for the three of us." Olivia said. "One now, the rest when we join." She held up a large silver crown.

"Hmph." He paused. "Very well, I accept. Meet us outside the south gate at dawn." He held out his hand, and Olivia passed him the coin. "Don't be late. We will depart without you."

Hina pulled Kai and Olivia over to an empty table near the door, as far from Yusuf's group as she could get while remaining in the tavern.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"What are you doing?"

"I've got it. You can pay me back. Or," Olivia said. "Am I wrong? Would you not need to sell something important for a pittance to afford the journey? If I've misjudged, then I apologise."

Hina's cheeks were burning. It was probably the ale—she took another sip, shaking her head. "Why does it matter?"

"I don't think we should talk about it here. Let's camp outside the walls again, we're meeting the caravan outside the gates anyway. We're a little better equipped now."

"I didn't think you wanted to camp?"

"I don't. But," Olivia leaned in. "I'm a little worried about that silver merchant."

"You think he might do something?"

"I don't think we should risk it."

"Good girl," croaked Bean.

Hina tipped the last of her ale back.

"Listen." The inn-keeper was standing at their table. "You look like good kids, and I don't want to see you out on the streets tonight." She gave them a tight smile. "I'll give you the room for a quarter, if you're interested?"

A man by the bar was watching them. Hina looked at him, and he looked away. One quarter sounded like a great deal. "That's—" she started.

"Thank you," Olivia cut in. "But we've really got to be going. We've made other arrangements for this evening."

Hina looked at her. "We have?"

"Are you sure? I'll even throw in breakfast. My man makes a great breakfast."

"No, thank you." Olivia said firmly. "We'll be fine."

"Alright, then." The inn-keeper frowned. "Best of luck to you, then."

Hina pushed back her chair with a scrape and stood. "Let's go."

She looked back around the room. The man by the bar watched them leave.

Across the street, on the wall of another building, alongside faded advertisements and flyers was a printed poster with the words "HAVE YOU SEEN THIS WOMAN?" and a line-drawing of a Leli girl with a heavy brow and a broad face.

Groups of men and women were loitering near the entrance, leaning against the buildings, drinking from brown bottles and smoking something that smelled faintly like rot.

One of the men who was smoking caught her eye and smiled. He nudged his companion, and they both laughed.

Hina looked away. She led her group into the south square, towards the gate. It looked much like the east gate—a huge wooden door standing open. Guards worked in the space between, regulating traffic. And there were guards up on the wall, watching.

A steady stream of people were walking out the gate from inside the city. It didn't seem like there were any restrictions on leaving, only on entering the city. That suited Hina just fine. They joined the stream.

One of the guards glanced at her when she drew level with the wall, but the man glanced away just as quickly. Apparently there were more important things to worry about than three young people leaving the city.

Stepping onto the dirt of the road out of the city, Hina relaxed. They were out of the city, and they were safe.

A handful of buildings stood outside the gate, by the road. And there was a large cleared area where several wagons waited.

"This where we meet the caravan?" Kai said.

"Looks like it."

"We should stay in sight so we can see them in the morning. I don't want to miss them."

"We won't miss them," said Olivia. "They'll wait for us, for at least an hour. If not more."

"He said they'd leave without us if we were late."

Olivia shook her head. "He's trying to make sure we're on time. He won't turn down silver, not unless we seriously inconvenience him," she said. "And an hour or two won't make much difference to his schedule. They'll make it up at the end of the day if they have to."

"Have you done this before?"

"No, or I mean, not by myself. But I've made this journey once before, with my parents. And my father and my uncles tell a lot of stories."

"How old were you, last time you made this trip?"

"I was eight," said Olivia, reddening.

Hina nodded.

"In Modmin, when you sell the bell, if you decide you want to sell it. You might want to consider letting me do the bargaining."

"Wait, why?"

"Bargaining is a skill, and I'm good at it. I can get you a better price."

"I always got a great price from the merchants in Grambe."

"Did you do the household shopping often? For your family?"

"Only occasionally. My mother did most of it. She liked to do it, didn't want anyone else taking her place."

"Just think about it. I'm sure I can get you a much better price."

"How much do you think it's worth?"

"Five, six scepters." She shrugged. "Maybe more. Those things are rare, and it's a beautiful example."

Hina's eyes widened. "You think it's worth that much?"

"At least. It will depend on getting it identified, and what it does, but it's a trinket. Those are always worth something. And that looks a lot like the bell of unbinding that my father has."

"Over here," said Kai. "There's a good spot here."

Hina walked over, pushing through the waist-high grass. Kai had found a small rocky clearing in the waist-high yellow grass. The ground looked soft enough to scratch a barrier into the dirt. Hina set her bag down on the ground. Bean hopped down onto it with a chirp.

It wouldn't be comfortable to sleep on, especially all bunched up together, but the barrier would keep them safe. She needed to figure out some way to use it on a surface that she couldn't draw on with her tree-branch wand.

And she also needed to work out how to make the barriers bigger so they had more space.

"Think anyone's watching? Wondering what we're doing out here?" Kai asked. "The guards on the wall, I mean. Or the people out there on the road." Hina could make out the shapes of people moving along the top of the wall, though they were too far away to make out any details.

"Maybe. I don't think anyone is going to care. They're probably used to seeing people out here," said Olivia. "I bet people in town come out here all of the time."

"No way," said Hina. "The people who live in the city do not casually walk out into the countryside where the monsters are. I bet they wouldn't even consider it."

"There aren't any monsters in this field," Olivia said. "The city would deal with them."

"It doesn't matter. We're outside the wall. There could be monsters anywhere."

"There are a lot of travellers and merchants on the road. Farmers, too."

"That's different. The ordinary people who live in a city or a town—they don't travel. No way. There isn't anywhere in there from where you can't see the walls. They're a constant reminder of the things out here that'll get you, if they get a chance."

"But what about all the people on the road?" asked Kai.

"People who get paid to risk it. Merchants with guards, mostly. And people who don't get a choice. Like the farmers—though they don't travel any further than from their farm to the city and back," she said. "But most of those people have never been out here."

"We should ask someone," said Olivia. "I bet we can find someone who's been out here."

"Did people go outside the walls of your... home?"

"Yes. The fields outside the walls of the manor are safe enough during the day. Like this. I was forbidden to go out at night, of course. I think I would go mad, cooped up inside walls all of the time."

Hina just shook her head.

"What?" said Olivia. "Is that so strange?"

"Yes!" said Hina. "Even with the hedge around the Grambe farms, only people who had to went outside. You just casually wandered around?"

"I guess my family kept it safe," said Olivia. "I never even thought about it."

Hina shook her head again. "I don't know what to say. It's strange, that's all."

"But you're out here now? In the wildlands?"

"Yeah," Hina said. "We're out here now. Being inside the city reminded me, I think."

"Reminded you of what?"

"Feeling safe, I guess. Like nothing was going to sneak up and snatch me away in the night. Like, no matter how bad it is in there, it's better than being outside—out here."

"Did you see the flyer, outside the inn?"

"I saw it. It's not a very good likeness, at least."

"Saw what?" Kai asked.

"There was a wanted poster outside the inn. For me."

"Oh."

"What do you want to do?" Olivia asked.

"I've been thinking about it. I think we just keep doing what we're doing. Join the caravan in the morning, keep being Lori and Micah and... Fenne. Keep to ourselves."

"Avoid attracting attention," said Kai.

"Exactly."

Hina hoped it would be enough.