There was a foul smell in the air. Quilla couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was. It seemed to be a mixture of the horrid sludge they were cooking in the kitchen and...something else. Flatulence maybe? Somebody in the common room must be doing a lot of farting. If they were eating what she had in front of her, she wasn’t surprised.

She peered down at her bowl of what was supposed to be stew. It had the appearance and consistency thick mud, and as best she could tell, there was very little meat or vegetables in it. However, her spoon could barely penetrate it, so maybe it had more than she could tell. She hadn’t tasted it yet. She wasn’t sure she wanted to. So she let it sit there getting cold.

It was cold in the tavern too. There was a meagre fire burning, but the building was so draughty, it didn’t help much. That was fine. It fit her mood. As she’d repeatedly observed this winter, the cold was the perfect mirror for her life. She could add shitty “stew” to that now, too.

They were only in this tavern because it was dirt cheap. It wasn’t like they had been able to leave the Palace with much in the way of money, and they couldn’t advertise who most of them were, so there was no way of acquiring more money. They were stuck taking what very little they could afford.

Annai wasn’t taking it well. The princess was sitting across from Quilla in the booth in the corner of the common room. Her head lay on the table, her own bowl of stew pushed aside. As was usual for her these days, she was sobbing quietly. Quilla couldn’t really blame her—she’d had her own bouts of sobbing and crying—but it did get annoying when it was so constant. Gabby had snapped at Annai more than a few times, telling her to suck it up until they could get somewhere safe to properly mourn.

So many had died. Death was nothing new to Quilla. It hadn’t even started with Garet; that had just been when it had started to affect her. But now, it had gotten so much worse: Tianna, Thilin, the King and Queen, and who knew how many servants and soldiers at the Palace? Probably Zandrue and Rudiger, too. How many more would die before it was all over? Would it ever be over?

Annai stirred and looked up for a moment. “I hate this place. It stinks.”

The thing that made Annai’s constant sobbing so annoying was, she interlaced it with complaints about their current situation, as if Quilla—or Gabby, Pastrin, whoever—could do something about it. How dare they make her wear such “crude rags”! Why did they have to stay in a rat-infested inn?

Those “rags” were a plain woollen kirtle and a thick, but shabby, fur robe over top.

“I get that it can’t be our regular clothes,” Annai had complained to Gabby, “but surely it could be something better than this. I look like a sewer rat!”

“No,” Gabby had said. “We can’t spare the money, and even if we could, it would still be no. You are the most recognisable of all of us. You used to make regular public appearances in the city. People know you. However, people notice clothes before they notice anything else. If you look like a sewer rat, they won’t look at you twice.”

Annai had then burst into tears and wailed for some time.

They had also dyed Annai’s hair. Well, not exactly dyed. Gabby had simply rubbed charcoal and soot into Annai’s hair to darken it. All the while, Annai screamed in protest. The overall result wasn’t great. The soot was slowly falling out, which meant it was smudged all over her face, and any place where her head lay for any length of time was left darkened and dirty. Even now, there was a small pile of dirt on the table around Annai’s head.

Gabby had agreed they could get some actual dye, but that was going to take awhile. So Annai had to put up with it for now.

It was odd. Seeing Annai like this should have pleased Quilla. The princess was finally getting her comeuppance. Yet Quilla could only feel sorry for her. The circumstances that had led to this were not something Quilla would have wished on anyone.

But she was stuck in the same circumstance. As were Gabby, Pastrin, Ned, and Hang.

Annai mumbled something, her cheek still plastered against the table.

“What was that?”

Annai lifted her head. “I said, when’s Gabby getting back?”

Quilla rolled her eyes. Annai had asked that question a few times now. “I told you, I don’t know. Whenever she’s done.”

“I hate this fucking place.” Annai put her head back down and returned to sobbing.

The main door of the tavern opened, sending a blast of frigid air throughout the room. The booth Quilla was in was about as far from the door as one could get, but it still reached her. Annai groaned.

Two men stomped into the tavern, their pinkish armour clanking. The one in the lead held a helmet in one hand and a roll of parchment in the other. He was a tall, thin Folith with thick, but short dark hair and a handlebar moustache. He reminded Quilla a little of Lamaën, though the resemblance was only superficial. The man behind him wore a helmet. Both had red capes.

There hadn’t been a lot of noise in the tavern, but what little there was stopped as the men moved into the middle of the room.

Quilla had never seen a Blood in person before, but she’d heard all about them from Rudiger and Zandrue. This couldn’t be good.

The lead Blood turned up his nose and scowled. “Where is your message board?”

The barman laughed. “You think people here can read, asshole?”

“I can,” Annai mumbled, but Quilla hissed at her to be silent.

“What did you call me?” the man with the moustache said.

The barman laughed again. “You hard of hearing? Get lost or I call the Watch!”

The Blood smirked and motioned with his helmet to the other. “We are the Watch.”

The helmeted Blood moved towards the barman, drawing his sword.

The barman backed up against the wall of bottles behind him. “Hey, hey! I didn’t mean no offence! Just having a bit of a laugh. I’m sorry!”

The Blood ran his sword through the barman’s chest. The barman gurgled up blood, then went limp. As the Blood pulled his sword away, the barman slid down to the floor.

A couple of patrons in the tavern gasped. One near the door jumped to his feet and ran out. Most of the others looked ready to do the same, but held their place as the Bloods were in their way.

Annai sat up. “Did he just—?”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Quilla shushed her again.

The helmeted Blood returned to the middle of the room, wiping his sword and sheathing it.

The one with moustache surveyed the room. “There are going to be some changes in this city. By order of Prince Malef, the enforcement of law and order has been given to the Red Knights. You Eloorin will learn to respect your betters. When asked a question, you will respond with courtesy. When told to do something, you will do it without hesitation. Follow these simple rules and you will be treated with dignity. Do not and...well, let the events just witnessed be a lesson in what will happen.”

He held out the parchment roll to the other Blood, who tore a length of it off. The helmeted one then took a hammer from his belt and a nail from a pouch. Then he went over to the wall beside the door and nailed the parchment there.

“Here is a list of the rules you will now follow,” the one with the moustache said. “If you cannot read it, find someone who can. That is all.” He nodded to the other Blood. “To the next one.”

The two of them stomped out of the tavern, slamming the door behind them.

When they were gone, everyone in the room jumped to their feet. Several ran from the tavern. Others ran behind the bar and started grabbing bottles. A couple began fighting over the lockbox, while a man and a woman, each wearing a greasy apron, ran out of the kitchen and then out the main door.

Quilla and Annai stayed put.

After a few minutes, the tavern cleared out. Quilla and Annai were left alone, with only the wind blowing through the door that the last person to leave had left open. Quilla pulled herself to her feet to go close the door, but a robed figure walked in, and Quilla sat back down.

The robed figure pulled the door shut, then lowered her hood. Gabby looked around the room. “What the hell happened here?”

“Bloods,” Quilla said.

Gabby groaned. “A ship full of them arrived a few hours ago. They’re causing all sorts of problems, though I didn’t realise they’d made it this far from the docks already.” She ripped the parchment the Bloods had left from the wall, and scanned it as she walked over to Quilla and Annai. She nudged Annai. “Squeeze up.”

“Those are the rules we’re supposed to follow,” Quilla said.

Gabby squeezed into the booth. “They’re enacting a curfew, even including Foliths.”

“Sounds typical of them, from what Rudiger and Zandrue told me.”

“I can’t believe Malef let them in here,” Annai mumbled.

“He didn’t,” Gabby said.

“What do you mean?”

“She means Lidda Plavin did it in his name,” Quilla said.

“He still let her.”

“He probably didn’t have a choice.” Quilla looked back to Gabby. “How are the others?”

Gabby tossed the parchment aside. “Safely on a ship for Lockanith.”

“We should have gone with them,” Annai mumbled.

Gabby rolled her eyes. “Annai, we’ve been through this already.”

Annai sat up and wiped her eyes. “I don’t care! I want to go to Lockanith. I want to see Cerus!”

“Annai! I’ve—”

“No!” Annai slammed her hand down on the table. “We should all be going to help Cerus, not just Pastrin and Nedwin.”

Gabby leaned in towards Annai, almost hovering over her. “No, we shouldn’t. Cerus is a target. You realise that, right?”

“Of course I do. That’s why we have to help him.”

“No, that’s why we can’t. Cerus and I are the only ones ahead of Malef in line for the throne. But they don’t know that I’m alive. If I go to Cerus, I reveal myself. I can’t do that.”

Annai sat up and pushed Gabby back. “Oh, so you’re just going to let Cerus die so you can have the throne?”

“No! But Cerus is a big boy. He knows how to look after himself. But if he does die, then yes, I have to survive to stop Lidda Plavin from getting the throne.”

“She already has it!”

“Not legally, she doesn’t.”

“That’s why we have to go to Cerus, to plan how to take it back!”

Gabby slammed her hands on the table. “Gods damn it, Annai! How many times do we have to go through this?”

Annai burst into tears and banged her head down on the table.

“For crying out loud! Suck it up and stop crying for just a little while!”

Annai turned her head just a little and spat at Gabby. “They’re dead!”

“Yes, I know. They were my family, too. You think I…?” Gabby looked about to slam her fists on the table, but held back. She stood up, turned away, and began pacing the room.

“Fuck you, Gabby! Fuck you!”

Quilla leaned over and patted Annai on the shoulder, then slid out of the booth.

Gabby turned to face her as Quilla approached. She wiped a couple tears from her eyes.

Quilla had been about to tell her to go easy on Annai, but changed her mind. “You okay?”

Gabby nodded quickly and sniffled. “I’ll be fine. I just… I’m barely keeping it together, Quilla, and she acts like… It’s not even that she thinks I don’t care. She doesn’t even treat me as part of the family. He was my father, too. Her mother may not have been mine, but… Thilin, the others. I loved them!” She wiped more tears from her eyes.

Quilla put her arms around Gabby, who soon put hers around Quilla, and they hugged each other tight. Gabby sobbed for a short while, before pulling away and wiping her eyes. She gave Quilla a forced smile. “Thank you. I’ll be fine.”

Quilla glanced back at Annai, who was still sobbing on the table. “Maybe we should have let her go with them.”

“We’re better off in small groups, and I couldn’t split Pastrin and Ned right now. And Hang…”

Quilla nodded. “I know.” Hang and Gabby were the only experienced warriors. Pastrin and Ned had had basic training but, like Annai, hadn’t kept it up. Hang had to go with them to provide protection. “What about us? With the Bloods here now…”

“We have to get out of here as soon as possible. We’ll start searching for a ship to take us to Porthaven first thing tomorrow.” Gabby gave Quilla’s arm a gentle squeeze, then headed back to the booth. “We’ll get you to your son.”

“I have no intention of going to Felitïa,” Annai said.

Gabby threw her hands up. “Fine. Don’t. Go wherever you want, Annai, but go on your own. Quilla and I are going to Quorge. You can come if you want. I don’t give a fuck either way. Quilla, let’s find a room we can fortify for ourselves overnight.” She stormed through one of the inner doors.

“Be right with you!” Quilla went over to the booth and looked at Annai, who was sitting up again, tears dripping from her chin and jaw.

“I thought you hated Felitïa.”

“My son is there. I need to see him. And it’s not that I hate Felitïa…” Quilla sighed. Her thoughts about Felitïa these days were confused and jumbled. “We had a disagreement, and believe me, we’re going to have words about that, but… I don’t actually hate her.”

Annai scowled and crossed her arms. “I do.”

“You don’t even know her.”

“I spent two months on a ship with her. That was more than enough.”

“Fine, hate her. But Gabby’s right. We need her help.”

Annai groaned, but a moment later, slid out of the booth. “Fine, I’ll go to Quorge.” She looked down at herself. “Gods, I look awful.”

Quilla nodded. “Yes, you do.”

Annai stared wide-eyed at her for a moment, before snorting. She immediately wiped the slight smile from her face, covering it by wiping her nose. She stared at Quilla for a moment. “Don’t think that means I like you.” She turned and went through the door Gabby had left through.

Quilla followed. It was going to be a long trip to Quorge. She wasn’t sure she could put up with Annai the entire time. They couldn’t even be sure Felitïa would still be there by the time they arrived, but if Felitïa was gone, they would just follow to wherever she’d gone. That would be even more Annai to put up with. At least Gabby was going to be there too.

Though it would fall to her to keep the two of them from killing each other. How fun.

Getting to Corvinian would make it worth it, though. She wasn’t going to force Corvinian to come with her or even acknowledge her as his mother. She was just going to be there so he could get to know her. Then if he later changed his mind about her, all the better.

Of course, they still had to get out of Arnor City, and with the Bloods here now, Quilla had a bad feeling about that.