“We have two choices.” Cheeyt spread her map over the ground as this route—” she pointed at a road “—which is more direct. Or this one—” she moved her finger to another line “—is less direct, but more populated.”
Tseetsaa groaned. “Is that another river?”
Singmij forgot to stop glaring at Cheeyt’s head long enough to grin and say, “This one is firmly is Nengmek’s control. It shouldn’t be as much of an adventure.”
“We should take the river route,” Kachaark said, apparently agreeing with Singmij. “Poachers shouldn’t be as bold with more people around. Especially non-human people.”
Nuliyaa didn’t add that a more populated route meant more opportunities for trading. Though they didn’t have much to trade since Miyt’s most impressive work was now in a dragon hoard.
Hmm. Having a work prized by a dragon should be a selling point, shouldn’t it?
She forced herself back to the conversation as Cheeyt said to Chesfi, “It’s up to you. I know you are anxious to return home.”
Chesfi leaned over the map, her eyes following both possible routes carefully. Then she settled back on her haunches. “We should travel the river route. I would like to speak to the pounces in the area.”
Cheeyt looked relieved. Maybe that everyone had come to a decision so easily. Or perhaps they had chosen what she had wanted them to choose. She stood and rolled up the map. “We’ll follow the river, then.”
Nuliyaa had wondered if the dragon would make their leaving his territory complicated, but all they saw was his dark outline against the horizon as they made their way onto a wide road.
This road was much more maintained than the road they’d been on before having to cross into the dragon territory. In addition to being twice the width, it was paved with stone instead of being just a track cut into the dirt.
Somehow it was almost as dusty, though.
They had not been on the road long before they were overtaken by a group of riders. Nuliyaa found herself holding a breath as the riders approached, but they just nodded a greeting as they passed.
And soon they were no longer the only vehicle on the road. They found themselves in a flow of people drawing along hand-carts, some magically-powered but most not, or driving horses or oxen. There were more than a few groups of Puca traveling in a tight formation around a wagon. Those groups moved fast. “They rotate,” Singmij had explained after the second such group had passed. “Two will haul the wagon while the others rest, then they change out after a certain amount of time.”
The first time they were overtaken by a pair of Malks trotting along with what looked like saddle bags strapped over their backs, Chesfi had informed Nuliyaa that she would return shortly and darted off to join them.
Nuliyaa stared after her for a moment. “I don’t believe we should ever take on a Malk client again,” she said to Cheeyt.
Singmij laughed. “Generally, Malks are too independent to hire a guarding company to begin with. You’ll find, though, that those of lower ranks are very different from the Daughters of the pounces.”
Chesfi seemed to be very much a cat. Nuliyaa couldn’t imagine other Malks would be less like cats.
But Chesfi returned unharmed before the sun had moved much in the sky and they continued on their way. Though she ran off again every time they came across traveling Malks.
“How many?” Nuliyaa heard Singmij ask Chesfi one night.
“At least three,” Chesfi answered grimly. “There are another two who may have been taken, but their pounces say there is also a chance they abandoned their patrols.”
“It is odd to be hoping for that,” Singmij said.
“Indeed,” Chesfi said.
They had been on the road for almost two weeks when Nuliyaa looked up to see city walls rising ahead of them. “What is this place?” She asked Sinchach and Tajak.
Sinchach shrugged. Tajak leaned around the edge of the wagon to get a better view. “Nuwachtewmuch,” he answered. “We’re only a few days from the capital after this.”
Which meant that not only would Chesfi and Singmij be leaving them soon, but so would Sinchach and Tajak. And then Tseetsaa would be making a decision about her future.
“Are you excited to be going home?” She asked.
Surprisingly, Sinchach took a long moment to respond. She would have thought he wasn’t paying attention to the conversation, but for once he didn’t have a book in hand and his eyes didn’t have that vagueness that she’d come to realize meant he was thinking about something.
“I will be happy to see my family,” he finally said.
Which he could be both happy to see his family and yet not excited about being home.
“Do you know of a good inn here?” Cheeyt was asking Kachaark, Nuttulch, and Saknuu. “I’m not sure I’ve spent a night here before.”
“I know a place we can stay,” Singmij said suddenly.
Cheeyt ground her teeth for a moment, but then said, “All right. Lead the way.”
Getting into the city was remarkably uncomplicated after the trials of the past few months. Singmij simply showed her amulet and the guard waved them through.
“Anyone else now expecting arrows to start raining down or the wagon wheel to come off or some other terrible thing?” Nuttulch muttered just loud enough for Nuliyaa to hear him. Chesfi whacked him on the side of his head with her tail.
Most of the buildings in the settlements they had passed so far had been built of wood or mud brick. Here there was far more kiln-fired brick and stone among the wood. The houses, even the finer ones, seemed strange to Nuliyaa’s Keeylish eyes. She finally realized it was because, based on the windows, that the floors of each building were much shorter than she was used to.
She mentioned her observation to Sinchach and Tajak. Tajak looked at Sinchach as though waiting for him to explain, but the mage seemed to be thinking about something again. He answered, “We are much colder here. The shorter ceilings help our homes stay warm.”
“Ah.” This was why she had wanted to travel! How would she have known that without seeing it for herself?
She continued to examine the buildings as Singmij guided Kachaark off the main road onto smaller, older streets where buildings crowded the streets much as they did in Wumaltsmaas. They continued until they reached an area where there were houses, not apartments. Those houses stood wall-to-wall, some looking so slim from the street that Nuliyaa wondered if she would be able to touch both side walls at the same time.
She glanced at Cheeyt, Nuttulch, Saknuu, and Kachaark, who all looked confused. This must not have been an area of the city they had ever visited.
“Here we are,” Singmij said, stopping in front of one house that was stained a red-brown color.
“Is this a boarding house?” Cheeyt asked.
“No.” Singmij strode up the steps. The door flew open before she reached it and two children flew out, an older woman a few strides behind. They swarmed Singmij, chattering in what Nuliyaa assumed was Nengmekian.
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“What are they saying?” Nuliyaa asked.
“Mama,” Cheeyt said tightly.
***
She should be enjoying the relatively warm floor of Singmij’s family’s home instead of sitting on the wagon in the cart-house bay they’d rented for the night. But seeing Singmij with her children had affected Cheeyt in a way she hadn’t expected.
Despite what her mother and sisters might think, Cheeyt had nothing against having children. She even enjoyed being around children. She just had no interest in being pregnant. She had a physically demanding job and no interest in taking a break long enough to give birth and care for her child until that child wasn’t nursing.
It wasn’t that she was jealous of Singmij for having children. It was more… Her thoughts were running around in a way that was too disorganized for her to know what she wanted.
She sipped absently from her cup, then winced at the taste again. Nengmekian beer always seemed tasteless to her, not that she was going to admit that to any of her Nengmekian traveling companions.
Something shifted in the cart-house’s dark corner. She tensed, preparing to throw her cup and draw a weapon. Then the shadows shifted and she relaxed as the light glimmered off of Chesfi’s now-visible silver fur.
“You should be in the house,” Cheeyt admonished, frowning at the Malk as she padded closer.
“Yes. Well.” The Malk leaped up into the wagon and draped herself across several sacks. It couldn’t possibly be a comfortable position, and yet Chesfi had chosen to ride that way several times throughout their journey. “I am with you. That should count as protection, yes?”
Cheeyt drew up her brow. “Yes, but only if everyone knows you are out here.” Considering Chesfi had shown up without an escort, Cheeyt doubted anyone had been informed of her intentions.
“I told them I wanted to rest in peace,” Chesfi said. “I did not feel it was necessary to tell them where. Though it seems you have felt the same.” Her tail flopped over Cheeyt’s shoulder.
“I’m just checking to make sure everything is settled down out here,” Cheeyt objected.
Chesfi’s eyes wandered over the other items in the cart-house, including some open crates of tools on one cart and several bolts of fabric on another. “Yes,” she said. “Obviously thieves are a great concern here.” Her tail flopped a bit more firmly this time. “It is not at all that you are avoiding your emotions.”
Cheeyt turned around and glared at her. “I am not avoiding anything. I’m here for the peace, just as you are.”
“Yes, of course.” Chesfi nodded. “The little ones are darling. I’ll admit I missed the cubs of my pounce quite a bit over the past months. I don’t have any of my own, but it’s nice to play with the cubs of others occasionally.”
“Hm.” Cheeyt sipped, and winced, again. She had to get rid of this beer. Or maybe she would keep drinking it so she wouldn’t have to pay attention to Chesfi.
“I’ll admit I don’t quite understand how your human cubs grow in comparison to Malks, but I imagine those two are close enough to the age where they would start training in my pounce.” Her tone turned musing. “They do become my problem at that point.”
Cheeyt sighed and lowered the cup back down to her lap. “You heard my conversation with Singmij,” she said.
Her tail flopped again. “That was not a conversation,” Chesfi said. “That was a fight. And I believe almost everyone heard it. The dragon chose those grasslands because the open spaces tend to draw in large prey and carry sound over distances.”
Well, that certainly explained why her sisters and mother had been more quiet over the past days. Cheeyt was surprised none of them had confronted her about it.
“You’re here to say you agree with Singmij.”
“I’m here to say Malks are being taken when they are going about their days,” Cheeyt said, her voice suddenly deadly serious. “They did not have to leave their homes for danger to come to them.”
“This isn’t the same.”
“No?” Chesfi jumped down from the wagon and turned to sit in front of Cheeyt. She didn’t need to shift into her big cat form to fill the cart-house with her presence. “We Malks tend to be insular, especially those of us who have no reason to work with peoples outside of our pounces. I see now that may have helped our attackers come after us. We do not understand them. We thought the best way to protect our pounces was to surround them with protection instead of teaching them how to protect themselves.”
“And you think I’ve done the same with my family.” Cheeyt was shaking her head—in disagreement, denial, she wasn’t sure. “This isn’t the same. They were safe at home. Getting rid of that home and coming with me just for an adventure isn’t safe.”
“Ah.” Chesfi nodded, an odd gesture on such a cat-like creature. “You still believe they think your job is easy.”
“Obviously they do. They think this is an adventure.”
“Except your sister didn’t stop you from finding protection for them.” Chesfi’s head tilted. “They seem to be aware there are dangers, even if they do not know what shape those dangers take.” She leaned closer. “But were they safe in Wumaltsmaas, guard? Your sister lost her means of providing for your family’s well-being—”
“She could have gotten another job!”
“And what if she lost it again? What if the job she found did not pay as well as the one she lost so that your family had less money while you worked to build your company?” She pressed forward again, almost bumping her nose into Cheeyt. “What if you were unable to find good jobs?” She sat back on her haunches so suddenly Cheeyt almost tumbled off the wagon. Then she shrugged. “So many what ifs. What if this job had been the easy meander up to Nengmek you had originally planned? A bandit or two for you to show off your skills in front of your family. The additional money at the end, with the references you will earn. Perhaps you have not fully considered all of the possible what ifs.”
Cheeyt pinched her nose. “Are you trying to give me a headache with your talking in circles?”
Chesfi shrugged. “Ignore my words if you like. However, I suggest you consider it is possible to lose your family just as easily from the wrong type of protection as it is when your protection fails.”
Then the door wrenched open and Nuliyaa pushed inside, Saknuu hovering over her shoulder. “Chesfi is—” She stopped when the Malk in question turned to look at her. She sagged against the door, somehow managing to glare at Cheeyt while leveling a disappointed look at their client. “If you are going out for air, please let someone know.” She wrestled the dragging door back closed and they heard her stomping back to the house.
“Honestly,” Chesfi said when her footsteps faded, “wouldn’t you rather have her deal with the troublesome clients than yourself?”
Cheeyt rubbed her head. That she had no trouble agreeing with.