It had been a good conversation. Nuliyaa practically wanted to skip with glee as she returned to their camp.

The company in the next space over knew Cheeyt and had been congratulatory over their new company. More importantly, they liked Cheeyt and the company’s three owners had clearly said they often received inquiries about work that they had to turn down because the jobs were too small to take on themselves. They had offered to send those inquiries to Cheeyt and Nuliyaa.

So, all in all, a successful day. They were safely in Nengmek and they had a potentially valuable connection with a company Nuliyaa genuinely liked.

She stopped. Her camp looked far emptier than it should.

“Cheeyt and Singmij haven’t returned?” she asked Tajak, who looked uncomfortable. It was nearly dark. Cheeyt and Singmij wouldn’t risk getting stuck on the other side of the bridge, would they? If she did, Nuliyaa would never let her forget it. After she made sure her sister returned safely.

“No,” Chesfi answered. She strolled over and rubbed against Nuliyaa’s knees. It was annoying that Chesfi was a tripping hazard for her. Everyone but Miyt was tall enough they barely noticed the Malk when she was in her housecat form. The annoyance took a different form when Chesfi continued, “Nuttulch and Saknuu have gone into the village.”

“They have watch,” Nuliyaa said. “Why did they need to go into the village? We bought supplies for everyone.”

Chesfi looked up, her eyes narrowed. “Oh,” Nuliyaa said. “I see.” And that annoyance flamed into pure fury.

“They said they would return for their watch,” Tajak said, pale skin flushing bright red as Nuliyaa glared at him. It wasn’t his fault—he wasn’t even an employee of the company, after all—but it would have been nice if someone had come to get her when Nuttulch and Saknuu had decided to wander off.

She turned to Kachaark, who had just come up with grease smeared across his forehead and one of his horns. “We’ll be ready to leave first thing in the morning,” he said.

“Excellent. I’m off to inform two of the guards that their presence is no longer needed or wanted.” She spun toward the village.

“You can’t go by yourself,” Miyt said, carefully lowering herself from the wagon bed.

Nuliyaa barely noticed the worry in her mother’s eyes, even as Miyt continued, “Do you even need to go? You can let them know in the morning?”

“In the morning, Cheeyt will have to see me do it,” Nuliyaa snapped back. When Miyt’s eyes widened, then narrowed, she hung her head. “I apologize, Miyt. But I’m not going to make Cheeyt watch that, and I’m not letting them lead whatever trouble they get into right back here. We don’t need to get thrown out of this village.”

Miyt pressed her lips together, but nodded. “Someone should go with you.”

She looked around. Kachaark and Sinchach needed to stay to protect the wagon, which meant Tajak wasn’t an option, either. And though Chesfi looked eager to be asked along, she was their client, so Nuliyaa wasn’t going to risk her. She wasn’t going to expose Miyt to whatever happened in the next couple of hours. Which left..

“Tseetsaa can come with me.”

Tseetsaa’s head popped up from the paper she was hunched over, carefully drawing out whatever sigil Sinchach had shown her with long strokes of a fine brush. Her sister scowled. “You’re not going to be polite and ask?”

“You wanted to come with us, which makes you part of the company. Which means I can give you orders.”

“Please go with her,” Miyt said, lowering herself beside the fire. The longer they traveled, the stiffer Miyt seemed.

Tseetsaa blew out a petulant breath and stood up, carefully tucking the sigil-drawing materials into a bag. “Fine.”

“This shouldn’t take too long,” I said to Kachaark. “Keep a watch out for Cheeyt. I’m surprised she’s not back yet.”

He nodded, concern pinching his face.

We struck out for the village. “Did they say where they were going?” Nuliyaa asked. Tseetsaa had been sitting next to the fire since they finished setting up their camp. She had to have heard everything.

“No. I can’t imagine there are many places to choose from.” She scanned from one side of the village to the other.

She was right about that. The village was a handful of buildings clustered on both sides of the road. There wasn’t even a true public house or inn.

Instead, there was an open-air stall in what seemed to be almost the exact center of town where a brewer drew mugs of beer from a keg that could have hid even Kachaark if he crouched.

People were gathered around a set of tables between two of the buildings, eating and drinking the brewer’s beer. Nuttulch and Saknuu were not among them.

“Should we go back to the camp?” Tseetsaa asked, looking around the tables again as if she thought they must have missed the men during their first look.

“No. This ends tonight. They’ve had their chances and we don’t need them as much as we did before.” Or, at least, she hoped not. The relief she’d felt at crossing the river into Nengmek was slowly being pushed back by the knowledge that Chesfi had been captured in Nengmek. Deep in Nengmek, at that. Nuliyaa had seen where her pounce’s territory was on the map.

Which also meant they didn’t need to have Nuttulch and Saknuu causing trouble and attracting attention every time they stopped in a populated area.

Nuliyaa went to the brewer. He gave her his polite serving-customers expression.

Her life had been so much simpler when it had been similar to his.

“Hello. I am looking for two of my employees. Have you seen two Keeylish men here this evening?”

The brewer’s face immediately changed to exasperation. “Yeah, think I saw ‘em. They went join the game down at the fishin’ dock.”

“Where is that?” Nuliyaa asked. Gambling. Even better than getting drunk.

“You maybe don’t wanna go down there.”

“You are correct. I don’t want to go down there. I also don’t want to fire my employees, but I have to, so where is this game?”

He shrugged. “Up to you.” He leaned out of the stall and pointed in the direction of the bridge. “Near side of the bridge is a path. Follow it down. Ends at the dock, so you can’t miss it.”

“Thank you.” Nuliyaa passed him the smallest of the Nengmekian coins she carried to thank him for the information. “Let’s go.”

“Are you sure?” Tseetsaa looked from the brewer to the river then back at Nuliyaa. “This doesn’t sound like a good idea.”

“I want to get it done.” Nuliyaa started walking. After a few steps, Tseetsaa hurried to catch up to her.

“Here.” Tseetsaa pushed something in her direction.

Startled, Nuliyaa took the object before she registered what it was. “What is this?” She lifted it up to examine it. “A personal ward?”

“A new one Sinchach made. He’s been showing me how to etch them.” She rubbed a second ward between her fingers, the gesture pure worry.

“What is between you and Sinchach?” Nuliyaa asked. Her sister had been spending a lot of time with the young mage.

“What do you mean?” Tseetsaa’s face creased with confusion. “You know what we’re doing. He’s showing me how to be a mage’s assistant. I thought you wanted me to get a job!”

At the last, her voice rose a little and the people walking along the road turned to stare at them.

“You’ve just never put this much effort into something unless you were trying to impress a man.”

Tseetsaa flushed, but Nuliyaa realized it was from anger. “I like doing the sigils,” she said. “Am I not allowed to like something?”

“Of course you are.” Arriving at the bridge saved them from the conversation.

“Do you see the footpath?” Nuliyaa asked.

Tseetsaa walked to the base of the bridge before turning back, head turned toward the river as she scanned the ground. “I think it’s here.”

Nuliyaa jogged up to join her. Even for a footpath, the muddy track seemed especially narrow and twisty to her. But what did she know? The docks in Wumaltsmaas had been brick and concrete for generations.

She started walking, but Tseetsaa grabbed her arm. “I really think we should go back to camp,” she said. “It’s dark and you’re not normally this reckless.”

“I haven’t normally been betrayed by my sister’s closest friends,” Nuliyaa snapped back. “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to.” She started walking again.

“I’m not going to send you there by yourself.” Tseetsaa hurried after her.

By the time they lost the light from the mage-lamp on top of the bridge’s gatehouse, they were seeing light from what had to be the fishing dock. Loud voices carried up from the same direction. Tseetsaa’s hand grabbed onto Nuliyaa’s forearm.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

The dock was lit by several lamps hung from the posts at the corners of the docks. Several small boats were tied to the dock, steadily thumping against the wood.

The people were crowded around a spot in the middle. Between bodies, Nuliyaa could make out some sort of dice game. A few more people stood around the edges, drinking, eating, and talking as they didn’t really watch the game.

Strangely enough, there were people on the other side of the river with lamps. “What do you think that is about?” Tseetsaa asked.

“I don’t know. They seem to be looking for something.”

“I hope no one fell in.”

Some of the players and watchers had glanced over at the lamps, but based on the way they shrugged and turned back, they didn’t know what was going on, either.

Nuttulch’s laughter rolled across the water and Nuliyaa focused on him. Saknuu stood behind him, downing a cup of whatever they were drinking.

“Nuttulch! Saknuu!” Nuliyaa called, stopping on the path just above the dock.

Both jerked and looked over to her. She crossed her arms and glared as Tseetsaa pressed against her side. “I’d like a word.”

“Gotta finish this game,” Nuttulch said, looking back down.

Before Nuliyaa could demand now, a man stepped in front of her, flanked by another man and a woman. Neither of them looked like villagers.

Something flooded her body and she almost ran before she recognized that they didn’t look like the poachers, either.

“I’m not here to interrupt the game,” Nuliyaa said, pulling on the attitude she used when dealing with difficult customers at the shop. “We’ll leave after I’ve had a word with my employees.”

“Ah, they work for you, do they?” The man was trying for a jolly expression, but his eyes were too hard to pull it off. “Good, because they owe us money.” He flicked his eyes down to her Guild mark. “And you don’t want word getting back to your Guild about your company honor, do you?”

“It doesn’t matter because they are no longer employed by my company.” Nuliyaa scowled over the man’s shoulder in Nuttulch’s and Saknuu’s direction.

Nuttulch pushed away from the game and took a few steps toward her. “Aw, Nuliyaa! It’s only been a little bit of drinking and games! We would have been back before our shift for watch.”

“Hey!” the man next to him, reaching up to snag the hem of Nuttulch’s tunic. “You leave, you need to pay up.”

When Nuttulch looked back and hesitated, Nuliyaa knew he didn’t have the money to pay whatever he owed. Apparently the others saw it, too, because the man yanked Nuttulch down and cut the bag off his belt with a knife that came from somewhere Nuliyaa couldn’t see. He upended the purse on the dock as Saknuu pulled Nuttulch out of his grasp. Only a few coins clinked on the wood.

“I just need to play a few more rounds!” Nuttulch said. “The game was going in my favor!”

The faces around him told Nuliyaa it hadn’t been.

“And you?” the man with Nuttulch’s purse asked a pale Saknuu, who reached into his own bag and pulled out another small handful of coins.

“See?” the man in front of Nuliyaa said. “They owe us money.”

“You’ll not be getting it from me.” Nuliyaa lifted her chin slightly. “Perhaps they can work off what they owe.”

“Naw.” The man leaned closer. “You look like the type that can pay off their debt. We’d rather have the money now.”

What possibly made him think that? She was a former shop girl who had been on the road for weeks. What he meant was, “You’re short, not a fighter, and I feel like hurting you.”

“Leave them alone!” Saknuu snapped. He and Nuttulch launched forward, but there were too many people between them and the sisters.

The man in front of Nuliyaa reached out, then hissed as the personal ward activated and burned his hand. She and Tseetsaa were already backing up, but a couple of the people from the dock jumped to the shore and were surrounding them.

“Wards can be worn down,” the woman said, picking up a heavy branch from the side of the road. “And there are plenty of us here.”

A heavy wind brushed past Nuliyaa and hit the woman in the chest. She reeled back, falling in the water.

Then Tseetsaa pressed harder against Nuliyaa’s side. “We don’t have money,” she said, pulling three more sigils out of her pocket, “but I have these from our mage. I think they more than cover whatever you’re owed.”

The man frowned at the sigils, then looked at Tseetsaa in a way that told Nuliyaa he was wondering how many more she was carrying.

“Take them from me and I’ll let our mage know who the thieves are,” she said.

“And if we don’t return soon, they’ll come looking,” Nuliyaa added. “He’s a mage. He will find you.” She had no clue if Sinchach would be able to find these people, but Chesfi certainly would be able to and she knew that would be even worse for them. But most people knew even less than she did of what a mage was capable of.

She was right. He drew back as if a mage was going to appear out of the dark. “What do these do?” he asked Tseetsaa.

“The wind trick you just saw,” she answered. “These three sigils in exchange for myself, my sister, and our former employees walking away and you forgetting all about tonight.”

“We accept.”

Tseetsaa thrust the sigils at him, pulling back as soon as his fingers touched the paper and shoving Nuliyaa up the path. Nuttulch and Saknuu hurried to their sides and they trotted up the path, not stopping until they stood on the road at the foot of the bridge.

Then Nuliyaa whirled on Nuttulch and Saknuu. “What were you thinking?” she demanded. “Everywhere we go, you bring trouble! First drinking and now gambling? Now I know why Cheeyt didn’t want to hire you!”

They stared at their feet. Saknuu asked quietly, “Cheeyt didn’t want to hire us?”

“No! I had to convince her to let you come this far! Back in Wumaltsmaas, she didn’t even want to discuss the possibility of hiring you. And it’s easy to see why!”

“We should do this back in camp,” Tseetsaa said, eyeing the way back to the docks.

Nuliyaa turned on her heel and stared walking. “I can walk and yell.” She scowled at the men. “In the morning, we’ll go separate ways. You can make your own way back to Wumaltsmaas.” Then she let herself rant. “Drinking before your shift at watch? It doesn’t matter how little you drank—that’s unacceptable!”

Saknuu cleared his throat. He and Nuttulch were following along meekly, heads still lowered. Nuttulch looked ashen and withdrawn, but Saknuu looked up long enough to meet Nuliyaa’s eyes. “We don’t feel comfortable leaving you on your own even here in Nengmek.”

“You should have thought of that before you left camp this evening. You waited until I was occupied and Cheeyt was gone, then you left. You’re lucky I don’t report you to the Guild for that!”

They both winced hard.

“Just because Cheeyt is your friend doesn’t mean you can lose what’s left of your professionalism around us. We were counting on you because we know this hasn’t gotten more dangerous than we anticipated!”

“I would like to talk to the mage when we get back to camp,” Saknuu interjected when she stopped for a breath.

“Why? Do you think he’ll hire another bodyguard?”

“No. You’re right. We need to stop.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “There’s a potion the mages make that help people stop drinking.”

Nuttulch’s head jerked up to stare at him.

“How does it do that?”

“It make you sick,” Nuttulch answered. “Every time you drink, it makes you sick.”

“Drinking makes you sick.”

“No, this isn’t like that. If you take even one sip, it makes you sick. Eventually the idea of drinking makes you sick and you don’t like it anymore.”

Nuliyaa saw Tseetsaa sneak a glance her way.

If she gave in now, what would happen if this potion failed? Or if they didn’t take it? Would they just keep bringing trouble back to her family?

But her instincts—or maybe they were her fears, but they were valid fears—were telling her that they had not seen the last of the poachers. They needed more fighters. She returned her sister’s glance.

Even if Tseetsaa was proving to be an adept mage’s assistant.

“If you agree to the potion, and work out with Sinchach how you’re going to pay for the potion because I am not, then you can stay.” She scowled over her shoulder. “I am going to have Sinchach report to me every day that you have taken the potion. If you skip a day, you’re gone.”

“We agree,” Saknuu said quietly after staring down Nuttulch after a long moment.

And there was their camp. Along with a dripping wet Cheeyt and Singmij.

“What happened to them?” Tseetsaa asked.

Would that day never end?