This town was not like the one they had left. There was no market here, and very few people, whose fantastical lights did not match their sickly appearance.

A woman with a moving halo of floating gems looked so thin she might pass out in front of them. A man with a golden, glowing collar was coughing up something that looked like blood. The army had left their banners and made ruins of a few more houses.

The whole town was covered in the same graffiti that Miriam and Davis had seen inside the house in the last town. Miriam spotted a few people trying to clean something red from the wall, but they were being careful not to wipe away any of the words.

"They know they are close to the palace now," said Caleb, narrowly his cat eyes at the graffiti. "They are getting excited, can not wait to do damage."

Davis had his disguise back on, so Miriam couldn't read his face. Echo was the only one of them that seemed oblivious to the stares they were attracting.

"We're getting food and then we are getting out of here," said Davis, hand holding his side.

On the street ahead of them was a single vendor, his skin sagging like he had recently lost too much weight, too fast. He eyed them as they approached.

"Got food?" Davis asked.

"Some. Not much. Army's taken most of it. We're even nice enough to give me about a fifth of what it was worth. So food I got, but cheap it's not."

"How much?"

Miriam watched Davis pull out a bag of curling brown coins. They weren't exactly circular, and the drawings on them didn't match up very well except for an ornate letter, which was exact on each one.

As Davis and the vendor started to haggle, Miriam looked around. The street was empty, so she didn't have to cling to Davis as she had in the last town.

She strolled a little bit, not getting too far from the others and looked toward the edge of the town. They were no signs of the wire wolf the way they had come.

There was a wall in the middle of the street. It wasn't broken or damaged and was clearly not supposed to be attached to anything. Miriam approached it and saw that it was some kind of notice board with posters hanging from it.

The posters weren't made from paper but from something that reminded Miriam of leather. Davis's picture was on it. Miriam wasn't surprised by this, given that he insisted on wearing a disguise in both towns and given what he had told her about his brother. He looked younger in the picture, just a little boy, but still Davis.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

The writing was almost English. If English had decided to swap vowels around and was overly fond of the letter e. "Wented fer theft, treasen and assisten in mardur".

Miriam looked at his back as he argued with the vendor. He had attacked her when they first met, had tried to threaten and manipulate her since. Then he had asked for her help, told her she had done well when she let the bird out of the cage and in the forest, he had been willing to let the tree woman take his light so she could get out. He had been willing to die for her.

Or was that for his brother? Miriam didn't know. She was almost to the palace, almost home. She would be out of here soon enough and he...he wouldn't.

She shivered as the thought formed. She needed to sit down. She sat in front of the notice board and looked at the other posters to do something else, think about something else.

There was a picture of Jace there. Davis's little brother looked small and slight. His innocent face smiled out of the picture, a stark contrast to the crimes he was wanted for. One of those crimes was something Davis did. Miriam smiled and shook her head.

There was many pictures on the board, but only one more than she recognised. Ichabod smiled out at her. The man who had stolen her from her life looked carefree even in a poster that called for his death. His crimes weren't listed. Maybe there were too many.

The picture wasn't accurate. His hair was too short.

She wanted to take the pictures and rip them up and then burn the pieces. She didn't want even a picture of him to be smiling at her like that. But no, she had a better idea.

Miriam got up and walked back to where Davis was still arguing with the vendor. It seemed the price had dropped, but not far enough for Davis.

He watched her as she scanned the table. He was watching as she swiped up a what looked like a pen. He tried to watch her and haggle at the same time, his head going to her and back as she walked back to the board.

"Fine," he snapped at the man, shoving some coins at him. "take it. Give me my food."

Miriam took the pen and began to add length to the picture's hair. She wanted this poster to be as accurate as possible.

"What do you think you are doing?" said Davis, approaching the board and then freezing. She knew that he didn't want her to answer. There were too many people around.

She ignored him, focused on what she was doing. To the end, where the crimes should go, she added 'kidnapping' and dropped the pen on the ground. Davis stared at her, then at what she had done to the poster.

"You know Ichabod?" he asked.

Miriam nodded, then spat on the ground to show her opinion of him. Davis had gone pale. Miriam remembered what the tree woman had said to her in the forest. She might be able to ask him what was wrong, after all.

Before she got the chance, however, Caleb gave a startled meow and bolted up her side, leaving claw marks all over her. He wriggled his way into her pack.

"We're leaving," came a muffled hissing voice from her back. "Now. Get the other."

The other was Echo, who had been playing with a little boy the entire time.

"What's wrong?" asked Davis, but then he saw.

So did Miriam. Caleb had a poster as well, taking up a wall behind the stalls. The picture slightly thinner than the fat lump in her pack, but the poster was huge. The reward on it was roughly twice what they wanted for Davis. There were no crimes listed, and there was a condition that he had to be alive for the reward to be collected.

"He must have reached the castle. He knows we can lead him and his army through the maze."

"Let's go," said Davis, shoving the food into his pack and calling for Echo.