"No thing," Bean said. "No bad. No no."

"Good bird," Hina said, tossing him a treat from her pocket.

It was early, and Hina's shadow was long before her as she walked down the road towards where she had left the bandits the day before. She hoped that Bean was right—that he understood her at all—and that whatever had been hanging around the bodies yesterday was gone for good. Even if there weren't any valuables left behind, she needed those stones.

She didn't have any way to get more.

Last night while she was practising her workings in camp, she had tried to use what she was thinking of as the throwing patterns on an ordinary orange stone she'd picked up from the roadside.

It hadn't worked.

The stone had moved like she had gently nudged it out of her hand. Not a throw at all. Nothing like the force she got from the working when she used the shiny black stones. It seemed that the patterns that the sigil had taught her were specific to the kind of stone being thrown.

Maybe she could learn new, more appropriate patterns for the orange stones from the sigil. But she didn't want to try. The sigil was fighting her now, every time she summoned it, and every time she summoned it, it was a little harder to dismiss. Something had changed since she used it to kill the bandits, and she wasn't sure what.

To be fair, it had already started being difficult before the bandits had shown up. It was like the more she used it, the less she could control it. Though she suspected that maybe another round of ambit compression would make it safe again. For a while. And Hina had been working on that, but it was slow going. She had pages of notes on the patterns that she had learned from the sigil over the last few days, but all of them only worked with the black stones.

So she couldn't afford to lose any more of them. And so she had come here, to the side of the road where she'd fought the bandits.

There was no sign of the bodies, just a reddish smear on the ground about where they had been, a few tattered scraps of cloth, some long red feathers and a rank smell. The ground was scuffed and clawed in all directions.

One of the shiny black stones lay against the cliff face. Hina hurried over to pick it up and put it into her pouch.

She searched high and low, behind rocks and in the bushes by the roadside, but she couldn't find any others. Swallowed by one of the birds, she supposed. Some birds, she'd read, would eat stones to help with digestion. Or maybe it was accidental.

But there were no more stones here.

She took a feather. It had alternating bands of rich red and orange, and was as long as her arm and wide at the end. And only a little bit bloody. Hina slipped it into her bag, not quite knowing what it would be useful for, only knowing that she wanted it.

And then Hina walked back down the road. There was nothing else she could do here, unless she wanted to scale the cliffs and look for the stones she had thrown up there.

And she didn't want to do that. It wasn't worth the risk of a fall and a broken arm or a broken leg.

Hina would just have to make do with what she had.

* * *

Almewich was a small town, as small as Grambe. Hina caught sight of the walls as she rounded a bend in the road on her third day of walking since fighting the bandits. And that in itself was surprising. There was no sign of a hedge or any other natural barrier around the town. Perhaps they compensated in other ways—more guards, maybe. But so far as Hina knew, Almewich was a small mining town.

The gate was manned by two guards, and they let her inside without question.

It was mid-morning, and the courtyard inside the gate was quiet. A few people were moving about the square on errands, but nothing like the bustle of Blandmanch. The buildings were all of orange stone and in a different style to Grambe, all of a single level, with clay tiles on the roof.

But it was near enough that Hina almost felt at home. Like this was an ordinary day and she was walking to work. Almost.

She had a few goals in Almewich: news, and some hint about the location of the Grove, rumours if nothing else. The note had said that it was nearby, but she didn't want to stumble around in the hills looking for it, not without exhausting her other options first. Second, she wanted supplies for the rest of the journey, and fresh clothes for the city, if she could manage it. And third, a night in a good inn—and a bath—would be luxurious.

Olivia's coins would surely stretch that far.

Hina had a stab of guilt at the thought of spending Olivia's coin frivolously before she remembered that she was angry with Olivia for leaving her alone. The two thoughts balanced out.

And anyway, arriving presentable in the city was important. She didn't want to be turned away from the gates for looking like a beggar. A warm bath and a soft bed would be a good start.

Inside a friendly little bakery, Hina bought a flaky pastry from the chubby Ortinian girl behind the counter, who reminded Hina of herself—if things had gone differently—but for the pale colour of the girl's skin. Most of the people in Almewich were like that, pale with dark hair, so much so that Hina felt that she must stand out. But there was nothing to be done about it.

The girl at the bakery recommended a tailor's shop two streets over, and Hina shared her pastry with Bean on the walk.

The prices were higher than in Grambe, but more reasonable than what she had found—for fabrics at least—in the Blandmanch market. Hina picked out fabric for two new work-dresses and one of finer stuff—all in a basic design.

She paid in advance plus a fee for a quick turn-around—five quarter-crowns in total—and was told that she could come back to collect the dresses the following morning. They worked fast in Almewich.

At the inn that the girl in the bakery recommended, Hina was given a room with a bath and a bed. She soaked herself clean and washed her filthy clothes, which were tattered and worn from the long journey. She slept until evening, fresh and clean for the first time in a long time.

* * *

Downstairs in the common room Hina paid two pennies for a bowl of stew with bread and two mugs of strong ale. She looked around the room for a likely place to sit and chat to the locals.

It was a wide square room with a high ceiling, and a large unlit fireplace off to the side. Too warm for a fire at this time of year.

There were a handful of tables and chairs scattered about, without any particular order. She was early, and it was still quiet. Only a few groups of people sat at the tables, and another couple sat on stools by the bar.

An older man sat alone in the corner, and Hina walked over to him, holding her mugs of ale.

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"Mind if I join you?" she asked.

The man looked up, eyes catching on the beer in her hands before rising to her face. "Welcome be," he said.

Hina slid her second mug across the rough wooden table across to him, and raised her own. "To your health."

"And yours," the man replied, taking a sip.

"Ah. Good ale," said Hina.

"Aye, they do a good job here," said the man.

"What is that flavour? Berries? But somehow salty?"

"There's a spikey little berry that grows in the hills out there. Odd taste, but it goes down well."

"It grows in the wild?"

"Aye. Banate, they're called. Children go out to pick 'em in the summer. Dyes their little hands and faces blue."

"I'm... Lori," she said.

"Pavol," the man said, taking a long draw from his mug. He gave a vague circular gesture with his other arm. "What brings you to an out o' the way place like this one, Miss?"

"Just passing through. Headed south. Though I'd love to hear more about the town while I'm here."

"Ah. Well, we're like anywhere else, I'd say. Mines in the hills to the north and under much o' the town, farm or two to the east. Good folk, mostly, though a few you'd best steer clear of." He took another deep draw from his mug.

"Like anywhere."

Hina's bread and stew arrived. She broke up the bread and she dug in with her spoon. Bean hopped on to the table and ate the crusts.

"Fine bird you got there," said Pavol.

"Thank you," said Hina. "He's a good companion."

"So where are you headed, Miss Lori?"

"To the city."

"Ah. Most don't come this way, what with the bandits and the hills. And... it's not the safest way to travel."

"I'm not worried," said Hina. "I can take care of myself."

"Ah, I'm sure."

"I ran into a few bandits on the road yesterday."

"Oh? And you've still got your purse. Good for you." Pavol drained his mug and set it down. "Not many folks as can say that."

"Any other dangers nearby that I should be aware of?"

"Oh, I don't get out o' town much these days. But you hear stories, you know. Beasts in the hills, on the roads. Not always the kind wi' claws and fangs, neither. Children gone missing from the farms. And, well, you don't want ghost stories, I'm sure."

"Let me get you another drink, and then I want to hear all about it."

Hina paid a half penny for another mug of ale, and brought it back to the table.

"Here you go," she said, setting it down in front of Pavol.

"My thanks," he said. "Where to start? There's an old building out in the hills, not too far from the road, stands all by itself. No beast ever touched it.

"Travellers go missing sometimes, nearby. And the occasional townsfolk. They're never found. And they say that the bandits never go near it."

"You've seen it yourself?"

"Aye. I've seen it. Never went inside, though. I've heard that it's haunted. Even from the outside, there's an evil feel to it."

"What does it look like?"

"Like an inn, I suppose. Great big stone building with a low fence around a stand o' trees. Been there as long as I can remember, it's off the south road, west from the third bend."

"Anyone ever go inside?"

"Oh, aye. The young ones sometimes boast that they've been inside. Dare one another to go in. Some of 'em disappear, never seen again."

"Hmm. Anything else?"

"Been hearing howls at night, out in the hills. Oh, and one o' the boys in the mines went missing, few months back. Them that was with him said a shriveled up old woman dragged him away in the night. Probably drunk and fell down a hole, but you never know."

"Thank you," said Hina. "I'll be sure to avoid that place to the south, if I come across it."

"Oh, and there's a standing stone to the southwest. Some say they seen ghosts there, in the dark of night. Just stories, I'm sure."

Hina finished her meal and went up to her room to practice and rest. If the Grove was nearby, she would have to be ready for anything.

In the middle of the night, she woke and thought she heard howling in the distance. She lay awake for a while, listening, but the sound didn't come again.

* * *

As she came down the stairs in the morning, Hina heard raised voices from the common room. Her bag was slung over one shoulder, and Bean was perched on the other.

"You can't be serious," said the innkeeper with some heat. "I can't have you barging in here and searching my rooms. I have customers," he said. "I have a reputation to uphold."

Hina stopped, half-concealed behind the stairwell.

"We've got word that there's a fugitive in town," said a man's deep voice. "We'll be searching Isidoro's too, don't you worry."

Hina peered around the corner. A guard in a blue uniform leaned against the bar, and another stood by the door. Two more were moving around the room—Hina stepped back out of sight.

"A fugitive?"

"Aye. Murdered some folk up north, they say. Young woman and man together. Leli-folk—you know, with dark hair and brown skin?"

"Well, we ain't got anyone like that staying here."

"All the same, we've gotta have a look. You know how it is."

Moving as quietly as she could, Hina backed up the staircase and went back to her room.

The window was small, but it looked like she could just about squeeze herself through.

The hinges creaked as she opened it wide as wide as it would go, leaning out. A narrow alley ran down the side of the building. Empty of people, as far as she could see. But the ground was a long way down.

Muttering a prayer to the Preserver, Hina threw her bag down. It landed with a thud and a faint clatter that she hoped no-one would have heard from inside the inn. A normal, everyday sound, she told herself.

Bean fluttered out the window, flapping up and circling wide into the sky.

The side of the building had a few handholds, a window-ledge here, a drain-pipe there. Hina climbed down, and when she ran out of handholds, dropped down the rest of the way. She landed on her feet, and sharp pains shot up her legs. She shouldered her bag and stumbled down the alley, away from the front of the inn, picking up speed as her legs warmed up.

The tailor was a risk, but Hina had paid in advance. Her money might stretch to buying more clothes in the city, but only just. And if she did that, she might be in trouble if there were any other significant expenses.

Better to collect the clothes she'd already paid for, so long as they weren't waiting for her at the tailor's shop. But they hadn't known she was staying at this specific inn, so there was a good chance they wouldn't know about the tailor.

She wondered how they'd caught up with her, but Hina shook her head. That was a question for later.

When she arrived at the right street, Hina paused, watching.

The shop looked quiet enough, no-one was moving around outside.

She went inside. The tailor sat at his work table, sewing under a bare electric bulb that hung overhead. He looked up at the sound of the bell over the door.

"Ah, yes, Lori, isn't it? I've got your clothes ready. I hope the fit is to your liking, but we'll make any adjustments you need, of course."

"Thank you," said Hina. "I'm in a bit of a hurry, I'm afraid."

"No time for a fitting, then?"

"Sorry, I'm afraid not. I'll have to take them now, and make any necessary adjustments myself—or I'll take them to a tailor in the next town."

"Hmm. Well, I suppose that's fine. It's your money. One moment." He got up and went to a cupboard, and pulled out a bundle of clothes. "Here you are."

Hina took the bundle. "Thank you very much. I'm sure these will do nicely."

Bean joined her outside the shop, flapping down to land at her shoulder. "Bad man," he croaked. "Run, run."

"Which way?"

Bean squawked.

"Am I heading towards them?"

He flapped up and into the air overhead.

Hina didn't have time to wait. She took off down the street, walking as quickly as she dared. She felt like any minute now, she was going to run into a guardsman and then she didn't know what was going to happen.

Would they even let her through the gate? It didn't seem likely. But at the same time, she didn't know of any of the other ways out of this town. She could climb the wall and hope for the best, but knowing where it was safe made that much more likely to succeed. Hina didn't know anything about this town. Not really.

If the gate was closed when she got nearby, she'd have to try the wall, she decided. If it was open and she was stopped, she'd try to talk her way through. Or she'd run if she had to. They wouldn't follow her too far into the wild, surely. Especially if she ran off into the countryside rather than following the road.

It wouldn't come to violence, she hoped. She didn't want to hurt anyone. Not without a good reason.

But if they cornered her, she didn't know what she would do.

Her hands patted the pouch of stones at her belt, found the handle of her knife. The sigil popped into her head at the barest suggestion. She flexed her will to dismiss it. It wouldn't come to that.

But she was still thinking about it when she reached the gate that she'd come through the day before.

The gate stood open, and there were no guardsmen in sight.

Relief flooded through her. No-one was going to stop her. She could just walk out.

Hina didn't question it.

When she stepped around the corner of the gatehouse, she saw the bodies.

They were strewn across the ground in a ragged line near the wall. Three of them, all in blue uniforms. The blood looked fresh, seeping in the hard packed red dirt.

Not good.

Hina glanced around, both along the road to the south and up into the hills, but she didn't see anyone moving. Bean fluttered down to land on her shoulder with a croak.

There was no sense in waiting around. People would assume—they would assume what they would assume, and that had nothing to do with her.

She walked on. Out of the town, along the road and into the wild.

Kai was close, she was sure of it. And Hina was going to find him.