“Five score,” the first chief said.
The other chief added, “Nigh a quarter of the town.”
“It’s on his head!” someone shouted from the crowd. “All hundred on his head!”
“He told us we were safe!”
“He said he’d take care of it!”
“And youbelievedhim?” Khoda asked, incredulous. No one in the crowd had an answer for that. Or at least not one they’d shout to a Hawk standing with Crows.
“It’ll pass,” the Crane arbiter repeated, sweat glistening on his brow.
Now it was clear enough for all on the road to see: a dark curl of the Sinner’s Brand had begun blooming just below his eye.
“Oh, cousin.” Fie tapped her cheek in the same spot. This was the Peacock girl all over again. “Not for you.”
He lifted a hand to his face, only to find the rash stippling his fingers. Some believed the Covenant sent the plague to hustle sinners into the next life. Fie suspected that, if they were right, the Covenant certainly wasn’t dragging its feet with a man who’d doomed nigh a hundred of his townsfolk with his own spite. Not with how swift the Sinner’s Brand was now etching purple-gray vines up his wrists.
“This is a mistake, it can’t—”
“You’ve not long,” the first chief said, not unkindly. “We need to get you inside the walls.”
“But—why?”
The second chief motioned for his Crows. He had considerably less patience with the arbiter. “Because you’ll spread it if you die out here. Shrew, Gall, make sure he gets to the gates.” Two of his Crows steered the arbiter down the road as their chief turned to Fie and tapped his knuckles to his teeth. “I’m Ruffian. Don’t know how you wound up with Hawks for friends, but you have my thanks for them.”
“Aye, and mine, too. I’m Jade.” The first chief nodded to Fie. “New band, or new chief?”
“Took over for my pa,” Fie answered. “I’m Fie. Either of you cross roads with Cur?”
Ruffian bowed his head. “He was a good one. Sorry to hear he’s gone.”
“No, just lost a finger and couldn’t deal mercy. Little Witness sent him to Gen-Mara’s shrine.”
“That’s a blessing, then. We’ll be better for having the groves under a chief’s watch.” Jade tipped her brow at the Hawks. “Looks like he taught you well, if you’ve already made high friends. Is this your first ash harvest?”
Fie did her best not to fidget. An ash harvest was the Crow name for a hard day like this, dealing with a town beyond saving. “Aye. Saw one from a distance when I was a whelp, but that’s it.”
“Not much to it, so fear not. With three bands, this ought to be sorted before noon. We’ll need firewood, flashburn, and chalk.” At Jade’s signal, her own Crows began carrying loads of firewood to the gate, and Fie signaled for her Crows to follow suit. “We’ll split all our Crows into pairs to check every house,” Jade continued. “They mark a cross on the door for any still living, a ring if everyone’s dead or the house is empty. We’ll be following them to deal mercy, then leave the door open to show we’ve passed. Once we’re sure there’re none alive, the town burns, but we start with mercy. How’s your stock of teeth?”
Fie’s face ran hotter under the climbing sun. She tried not to let her shame show as she pinched at her string. “This is all. My bag was stolen this morning.”
Ruffian let out a laugh of disbelief. “Dena’s wrath, and you still answered the beacon? Aye, you’re Cur’s kin to be sure.”
“No doubt,” Jade said. “Do you know who took them?”
Fie gave an awkward shrug. “We found a band catching trouble last night for leaving Karostei. Their chief saw me run off Oleanders with Phoenix teeth and asked for some. I gave him six and told him I left more at Gen-Mara’s groves, but…”
I wasn’t enough.
Jade and Ruffian traded looks, and Jade’s lip curled. “Drudge.”
Ruffian shook his head. “He’d cut our throats to look after his band. Can’t fault him for it, but two-second clever doesn’t last. Here.” He started digging in his own bag. “We can spare enough to get you to a shrine.”
Jade slung a leather knapsack round to her front to rummage through as well, but she peered up at Fie through a curtain of gray-shot hair. “I have to ask. You’ve Hawks, and you had enough Phoenix teeth to be loose with them. Are you the one who’s got the queen so riled up?”
Fie’s mouth twisted. She stared at the dirt. “Aye—but—the queen’s got the Oleanders at her back. If she reaches the throne, they ride as they please. My band got the prince away from her, and I got him to his aunt, in trade for his Covenant oath that whenhetakes the throne… we all get Hawks.”
