Farmers stopped to wave as the huge blue carriage rolled past their fields. The road was busy, which told Victoria that they were approaching a fairly sizable town, and the traffic they encountered politely stood aside to let the Pledge Carriage pass.

“I’ve never been round these parts before,” Vindrick said from the driver’s bench. He was sweating profusely and looked very uncomfortable in the driver’s uniform. “Lovely place, isn’t it? I think Mister Needham came by last year and only had nice things to say about it. He went to a town called Lakeside to buy yeast, I believe it was. Best yeast in the…”

Victoria tried to tune the man’s voice out as she sat next to him at the front of the carriage. She too was wearing a driver’s uniform. Her long hair was tucked under the white driver’s cap that hung loose from her body, and she kept her head low. The road wasn’t particularly wide, and the people came within inches of her as they passed. However, thankfully, they were more interested in the passenger at the back of the carriage, shouting out words of encouragement as passed.

“Shut up,” Leryn snapped irritably from the back of the carriage.

Vindrick immediately buttoned his lip. The uniforms had been far too small for Leryn’s imposing frame, so he had been forced to assume the role of Pledge. He had made it clear to their prisoner that he wouldn’t hesitate to skewer him through the carriage’s flimsy wood panels if he attempted to call for help.

“I’m beginning to see why your neighbours wanted rid of you,” Victoria muttered, silently blessing Leryn.

They quickly learned that Vindrick was the type to babble when he was nervous and he had been talking nonstop since they’d begun their journey. However, she knew they were lucky to have come across him. Every Pledge she’d known had taken great pride in being chosen and were not to leave the carriage until they reached their destination. They would have preferred death over shirking their duty. However, Vindrick was an oddity, and it hadn’t taken much coaxing at all to get him out. Rather, he seemed as happy to be out as Leryn was reluctant to take his place inside.

“How many Festivals has your village had?” Victoria ventured, keeping her voice low.

Vindrick jumped. This was the first time she had spoken to him since they’d begun their journey. He opened his mouth to reply before abruptly shutting it and holding up two fingers.

“Interesting,” she mused.

“What is?” Leryn demanded through the window slot.

“It seems that the brainwashing takes time,” Victoria mused. “Tell me, Vindrick, is everyone in your village as… pious as you?”

Leryn looked at Victoria for a moment before glancing at Leryn, whose eyes were visible through the slot.

“Speak,” he ordered.

“Well, some are more pious than others,” he began.

“I take it there are objections to the Pledge tithes,” Victoria remarked. “Which is why you were chosen.”

Vindrick’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Do you mean that people in other places happily go to parts unknown for reasons unknown, never to return happily?”

Victoria nodded.

“That explains why the drivers were treating me with such contempt,” Vindrick mused.

“That probably wasn’t the only reason,” Leryn snorted.

Victoria’s pulse quickened as the walls of Bastop came into view. She had intended for them to stop short of the town and pass through it during the day, but traffic on the road had been heavier than she had anticipated, and there hadn’t been any opportunity for them to pull off the road without arousing suspicion.

She checked the lay of the sun in the sky and bit her lip. Sunset was in four hours and from her memory of the region’s maps, the next closest village was at least eight away.

“We’ll likely have to spend the night in the town,” Victoria warned.

“Yes, you’ve mentioned that,” Leryn replied. “Do you think you can handle him for a night?”

“I’m more concerned about how we’ll get past the guards,” Victoria said. “He’s going to have to do the talking.”

“Me?” Vindrick turned pale.

“What’s the matter?” Leryn asked. “I thought you’d have welcomed the opportunity. Though I won’t hesitate to run you through I find anything about your manner suspicious.”

“So you’ve been saying,” Vindrick managed and paused to mop the sweat from his brow. “I say, is anyone else feeling lightheaded?”

“You’re sweating too much,” Victoria warned. “People are beginning to take notice.”

“Excuse me for being nervous,” Vindrick snorted. “But I went to bed last night, being a Pledge, the pride of my village, and woke up this morning forced to become a turncoat.”

A light splintering sound came from the panel Vindrick was sitting against. The young man arched his back and helped as Leryn’s sword came through and jabbed him in the back.

“You’d best watch your tongue, now,” Leryn warned.

“Stop that!” Vindrick cried. Tears of fear and frustration added to the sweat streaming down his face.

Victoria saw that his outburst had attracted a few curious stares but decided against using her power. This wasn’t the time. She could stop him from speaking, but they needed his tongue to get past the guards at the gate up ahead.

“Oh, do stop tormenting him, honoured Pledge,” Victoria said in her deepest voice. “It’s quite unbecoming.”

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“I’m sorry,” Leryn managed without withdrawing his sword. “I just thought I’d remind him what’s at stake.”

“Oh, I quite understand,” Vindrick said quickly. “However, I think you misunderstand something.”

“And what’s that?” Leryn asked coldly.

“I’m quite happy to cooperate with you so long as you take me away with you’ve done whatever nefarious deed you’re here to do.”

“Do you think we were born yesterday?” Leryn demanded. “You’re just saying that so that we’ll lower our guard.”

“Listen, you don’t trust me, I understand that,” Vindrick said, keeping his voice low. “But look at things from my point of view. I’m an outcast in my village and have never been too taken by this new religion. However, as a Pledge, I can never return. My life here is over. What else is left for me?”

“You’re right, we don’t trust you,” Victoria stated. “But this I can promise you. Cooperate with us, and we will take you back with us to the Empire.”

“Swear it, please,” Vindrick asked. “By the old Gods.”

“I swear, by the only Gods,” Victoria agreed. She and Leryn exchanged looks, both knowing that her vowing on any Gods, old or new, meant nothing. “Do you swear to give us your full cooperation?”

Vindrick swallowed and nodded. “I swear. By the Old Gods.”

“Good,” Victoria said quickly, before their new ally could think to swear Leryn to the same oath, something she knew he would never do. She cocked her head up the road where they were fast approaching a tired old gate that led into the town. It was manned by a single, sloppy looking guard who was armed with a staff. “Here’s your first opportunity to prove your loyalty. “Use that honeyed tongue of yours to get us past that guard.”

“I think the two of you are forgetting that my ‘honeyed tongue’ is what got me into this sticky situation in the first place,” Vindrick pointed out.

“You’ll do fine,” Victoria assured him.

“Your life depends on it,” Leryn added.

“No pressure then,” Vindrick muttered to himself.

The guard seemed content to wave everyone through the gate with a tired nod, but he straightened up when he saw the carriage rolling up.

“Pantheon’s Blessings upon you,” he called out. “And welcome to Potter’s Barn. Will you be spending the night?”

“Pantheon’s Blessings, friend,” Vindrick said with a nervous giggle that earned him a cold look from Victoria. “We were actually hoping to press on and find a place to shelter along the road to Silverbanks. We’re desperately behind schedule, you see. Our Pledge has an appetite like you wouldn’t believe.”

“Oh but honoured sirs,” the guard gasped, his eyes wide with concern. “I appreciate your need for haste, but that simply wouldn’t be safe. We heard a Night Stalker shrieking last night, and there will probably be more of them in the air tonight.”

The blood drained from Vindrick’s face. “There will?”

The guard’s head bobbed rapidly and leaned in to whisper, “There’s something strange afoot out there. Something dangerous. The sacred beast screeched just before dawn, so the word is whoever it was pursuing is still out there.”

“Nothing could ever escape our holy guardians,” Vindrick scoffed.

“It’s all just rumours, of course,” the guard continued. “But you can never be too careful when you’re carrying a Pledge. It’s your holy duty to get him to the end of his pilgrimage safely.”

Vindrick shot Victoria a look. She shrugged helplessly, and Vindrick gave the guard a queasy smile. “Do you know a quiet place we could spend the night? Our Pledge likes to spend his pilgrimage in quiet meditation and would hate to be disturbed.”

“Oh, I hear you,” the guard said with a wink. “The people here are faithful, Pantheon bless them, but they can get a little too curious for their own good. Just turn right at the first street and talk to Rodney Wallace at the big warehouse. Tell him Old Tom sent you, and he’ll sort you right out.”

Vindrick blinked in surprise. “Oh.”

“This isn’t the first Pledge Wagon to come this way,” the guard grinned, showing off a mouth full of crooked teeth. “You’d best run along. You’re attracting a bit of a crowd.”

Victoria looked around and saw that the old guard was correct. A crowd was beginning to gather and whisper excitedly amongst themselves. A brave child looked like he was deciding whether or not he should run up to a window and peer inside. Vindrick shot her an inquisitive look, and she whipped the reins.

“Thank you, good sir,” Vindrick called out as the carriage rattled through the ancient set of wood doors.

“You did well back there,” Victoria said as she turned the carriage right at the first street.

“Thank you,” Vindrick began.

“You could have tried a little harder to keep us on the road,” Leryn grumbled from inside the carriage.

Victoria peered through the window slot at the plush velvet cushioned seats in the back and grunted. There were worse places she could imagine having to spend the night, but she decided to hold her tongue. She wouldn’t want to be the one sleeping inside it either. Up ahead, true to the gate guard’s word, was a large warehouse. It resembled a large barn and was big enough to accommodate their carriage several times over. A lone man stood outside, preparing to lock up.

“A little early to be closing up,” Vindrick remarked.

The man paused and blinked when he saw the carriage. “Old Tom sent you, did he?”

“That he did,” Vindrick said agreeably. “Rodney Wallace, I presume?”

“I am,” the old man nodded. “I’m not expecting any wagons this afternoon. Everyone’s spooked by the screeching from early this morning.”

“It’s impossible how trusting people are around here,” Leryn sniffed quietly.

Victoria couldn’t help herself and blurted. “And yet you still managed to get yourself caught.”

Vindrick could feel the atmosphere turn frosty between the pair and diverted all his attention to the warehouse keeper. “Could we spend the night? We’re looking for somewhere discrete.”

The old man nodded and pulled the doors to the warehouse open. “Of course, be my guest. You can park inside. It’ll give you some privacy from prying eyes.”

“Much obliged, sir,” Vindrick said. He tugged his cap in thanks as Victoria guided the carriage inside, happy to be out of doors.

“Make yourselves at home and I’ll see if I can scrounge up some food,” Rodney said, closing the doors behind them quickly. “Pardon my hastiness, but I want to be indoors well before dusk.”

“Oh, I understand completely,” Vindrick said. “I know they’re meant to be our Divine Guardians, but those screeches this morning sent shivers down my spine.”

Rodney grunted in agreement and closed the doors with a resounding slam followed by a loud click as he locked them in.

“Can’t be too careful, I suppose,” Vindrick remarked as he climbed down from the carriage and stretched. “I think that went well.”

Victoria hopped down and looked around the darkened warehouse warily. It looked benign enough. Bulging sacks of grain were stacked against a wall, and four large boxes stood in a corner. However, her instincts were screaming danger. Everything had gone too smoothly since they had arrived at the gate. There was laid back, but this was something else altogether. She could tell Leryn was unsettled too. She muttered a chant and reached out with a power.

“We aren’t alone!” she gasped.

Moments later, a woman stepped out of the shadows. She was tall and wiry and seemed to exude power. She wore a simple black cassock that was bare save for a badge depicting a set of scales with a sword on one side and a dove on the other.

“Oh Gods above, it’s an Inquisitor,” Vindrick wailed.

“You are under suspicion of being responsible for the tampering of a Pledge, the destruction of a Holy Guardian, and the defacement of another,” her voice was liquid and as cool as ice. A coiled whip hung from her belt, and she held a mace in her hand. “You will surrender yourself into my keeping for investigation.”

“And if we refuse to submit?” Victoria demanded as she quietly pricked her thumb on the dagger she had tied to her wrist.

The woman’s eyes widened in surprise upon realizing that the other driver was a woman. She quickly recovered his composure and smiled sweetly. “Then I will kill you.”

“You and what army?” Leryn demanded as he burst out of the carriage with a sword in each hand.

“Ah, Pantheon be praised,” the Inquisitor exclaimed. “It looks like I can wrap this inquisition up early.”

She snapped her fingers and Vindrick yelped in alarm when the lids of the four boxes slid off and clattered to the floor in unison. Victoria tasted bile when luminescent wings slowly emerged. The Inquisitor removed the whip from her belt and began unwinding it slowly. Her voice was calm and almost seemed to sound like the hiss of a snake. “

Now then, will you come quietly, or will this be a summary execution?”