I ended up waking first, before the sun dared to poke its head over the towering walls. Thank the gods for the silence, else I’d have been unable to hear my own thoughts. A stray mote of dust drifted through the air, landing unceremoniously on my shoulder. Weightless, compared to the heft yesterday.

  I let it sit there for a moment, a quiet observer on my life, before shooing it off. My sword reclined a few feet away, leaning against the desk by the foot of the bed.

  It deserves a steady hand for its first swing, I’ll wait.

  We’re leaving Arnier today, and I hope we never have to look back. Since winter is already biting at the windows, we’re gonna need more than just our scavenged supplies. Hooded lantern, thick quilt, rations that don’t freeze solid in the weather. After Kaleh’s stunt we had just 15 gildes left, enough to cover that much.

  My eyes found the scabbard once more.

  It was reckless, stupid, but also entirely him. For sure, I’m not letting Kaleh near our coffers for quite a while, but he helped to show how much I mean to them all. Even in this room, my breath threatened to turn white.

  I found myself ready, well equipped for the shopping trip ahead. I dare not leave alone, that’d send them into a panic. I raised my knuckles, pale from the early morning chill as they clacked against the door.

  “Hunghhhhh, one second...” groaned Marie from the other side, followed by a thud and a shuffle.

  She poked her head out, hair sticking out like she’d fought a whirlwind and lost.

  “Morning Ley. You’re up early?”

  I rested my hand on the pommel at my side, “Going to go shop around. Nothing crazy, just supplies.”

  She let out an amused huff,

  “yeah, you better not go around buying desserts after yesterday.”

  She paused, glancing back into her room,

  “can I come with?”

  It sounded like a question, yet she already was reaching for her cloak.

  The morning streets were less chaotic than usual — early bird and all — but there were still quite a few out and about. Marie walked ever so slightly ahead of me, I suppose it was just her scouting instincts at work. She kept giving me this look, like she had something to say.

  “What is it?” I finally prodded.

  “What’s what?”

  “I can hear you thinking from here.”

  Her head snapped forward, holding the silence for a bit longer than she should’ve.

  “I was just thinking... you’re walking taller today.”

  My eyebrows jumped up, “...taller? Maybe it’s the sword?”

  She shook her head, hand reaching up to tug on her hood.

  “No. If it were the sword you’d walk like you used to. All stiff, like your spine fused.”

  A brisk sigh clawed its way through my nose, “there’s no chance I used to walk like that.”

  “Pfft... you were trying so hard back then.”

  “I dont remember this at all.” I commented, still utterly perplexed.

  “Used to walk like you were being graded. All that noble flourish...”

  How could I have not noticed that?

  Maybe I was just so used to it that it stuck.

  “That was so long ago, huh?” I replied.

  Those truly were the days.

  Marie suddenly bumped her shoulder up against mine. Not enough to hurt, but enough to shift my weight.

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “Eyes forward, Leonn. Market square dead ahead.”

  I rubbed at the impact, barely noticing the smile on my face.

  Her lips parted again, “no desserts either.”

  I let out the loudest, heaviest, most performative sigh I’d ever mustered.

  “You wound me.”

  The square was bustling as usual. The smell of bread permeated from competing bakeries, the scents mingling with eachother. Merchants called for all sorts of reasons. Salted meat, dried fruits and hardtack. We ended up getting ourselves quite the stock of all of it, and I had to tug the drawstring as hard as I could to close the sack.

  A stall was set up with a bunch of travelling gear, but we only ended up picking out a reasonably sized lantern, oil included after Marie’s sharp tongue cut through the “what-ifs.”

  A pair of nice gloves caught my eye, but now isn’t the time for desserts. Our last few gildes went toward simple rough-spun cloaks for everyone. Thick enough to stave off the wind, but nothing dyed.

  Soon enough we managed to lug everything back to the Giant’s Anklet. Both doors at the end of the hall sat wide open, revealing that Kaleh and Agnes were both awake and sorting through their packs.

  “Hey, where’d you two run off to?” Agnes prodded.

  “We spend the last of the money on supplies. With a little patience, we should be alright to travel all winter.”

  I handed Agnes her charcoal-grey cloak, who then flashed a smile as she put it on. Kaleh looked down at my side, beaming under the surface with pride.

  “You wear that well.”

  I returned the smile, “you better wear this well, Kaleh. It was hard to find something big enough to fit you.”

  I handed him his cloak. Without hesitation he draped it around his neck.

  “I’ll cherish it forever, leader.”

  I’ll admit, Marie was smart to like cloaks before they were cool. She knew how to wear it in just the right way to completely disappear into a crowd.

  “We leave today,” I started,

  “any ideas on where we should go?”

  Agnes’ hand shot up, speaking before I could call on her.

  “I ended up doing a lot of reading ahead yesterday!”

  The wrath project... maybe it’d do me good to learn the full extent of it some day.

  “If we want to keep chasing wrath, the head researcher noted he’s returning to the Vuudweyen manor. Something about a secondary archive.”

  Marie’s shoulders tensed, hand drifting toward her sleeve.

  “So... back up north? Leonn, would that be a good idea? The closer we get, the heavier the patrols will be.”

  Kaleh stood up, pounding his chest, “whoever shows up, let me at em. I’ve not been in combat for far too long. Getting rusty.”

  I shook my head.

  “We should stick to areas we know. We don’t want to get caught out in a blizzard.”

  Marie turned, clearing her throat.

  “We have enough food to last us the winter with the right shelter. What about the library? It’s not too far off.”

  “If it’s not been burnt down by now” Agnes commented.

  There was about a coin’s flip chance of it being there when we arrive, but it’s our safest bet.

  “Let’s move with a plan to head that way. There’s other abandoned structures out that way, too. What’s the chance we don’t find something?”

  My eyes trailed from Agnes, to Kaleh, and back to Marie. No objections from any of them.

  The city gates were alive and well. Merchants, citizens, and farmers toting carts of stockpiled flour all funneled through. The guardsmen outside lazily eyed the transports passing through, as if that passed for “Inspection”.

  “Cold out today” Kaleh commented.

  “Please shut up. If I think about it any more I’ll freeze over” responded Agnes.

  Arnier shrank behind us. It was jarring to think how different it was up close. Every morning we’d been overwhelmed by the crowds, tall buildings, and countless streets. Now it may as well have been a dot.

  Marie held up a fist. We stopped instantly — something was wrong.

  “There’s a checkpoint up ahead. Vuudweyen colors. They’ve got lists and are checking papers.”

  They must have royal permission if they’ve set that up here.

  “Stay here, you two” I whispered, gesturing to Kaleh and Agnes.

  True to her word, a hastily placed military tent stood in the middle of the road, a bustling checkpoint with maybe a dozen guards.

  “What in the gods’ names do you mean you don’t have your papers? Anyone travelling should have some identification!”

  A soldier, draped in the Vuudweyen colors, shot his voice at a travelling family.

  I turned to her, “those lists are descriptions. Anyone without papers — you guys — will just get sent back. One look at my hair and they’re drawing steel.”

  Marie’s eyes flickered between all the visible guards, counting on instinct.

  “Then we’ll break through.”

  I shook my head, “too many guards. Let’s see if anyone has another idea.”

  We returned to explain the situation. Kaleh grabbed his chin, mulling over whatever information he had.

  “There’s a road the captains used to tell us to avoid. Runs up the western side of the country.”

  He paused, “...patrols dont touch it. It’s by the Ervyan border, so patrolling there could’ve sparked a conflict.”

  Kaleh, you’re a genius sometimes.

  “Where is it?” I asked, ready to hear what this route had in store.

  “All I know is it’s to the west. Never seen it myself.”

  Marie turned in the direction of the road, Agnes pulled out a map she’d copied off the wall in the Giant’s Anklet.

  “Yeah... we could reach the road if we just cut through the plains right here. Maybe it’d take the evening.”

  “To the west, then.” I announced.

  The evening sun pulled us over the gilded rolling hills, leaving the main road behind.