Little was left of the ghasts at the gate, but scores stood yet. They’d stopped their uneven swaying and gone stock-still, every empty eyehole locked on Tavin.
He raised a burning hand, and his voice carried across the commons. “Enough, Rhusana. You can drag it out as long as you want, but we all know it’s over.”
The skin-ghasts gaped at him a long moment, and Fie was sore sure she wasn’t the only one holding her breath. Then, in one swift ripple,every last ghast collapsed, leaving heaps of empty, rotting skin all about the commons.
It still took a heartbeat or two for any of the Crows to budge, eyeing those heaps with a skepticism Fie shared. “We should clear out before they change their minds,” Jade called across the square, and tilted her brow at Tavin. “Can your friend there light the town for us?”
“It all has to burn, else plague’ll spread to the fields and farther,” Fie added at Tavin’s quizzical blink. “But the firewood’s all scattered, and we used our flashburn on the ghasts, so we need more than flint now.”
Wretch muttered something to Jade. The older chief coughed. “You could walk him about town so he stays clear of the plague-dead. I’ll see to the wounded.”
Tavin nodded, eyes never leaving Fie, and said, “Yes, chief.”
The rest of the Crows hurried through the gates, Madcap spitefully kicking a skin-pile on their way out. Ruffian’s body had been claimed by his own Crows, along with the handful of Crows who had fallen; they wouldn’t leave any of their own to burn with the sinners.
“It’s… good to see you,” Tavin said, with a strain Fie would have found uncharacteristic were they not standing in a sea of corpses. Bawd made a lewd gesture as she limped past, leaning on Varlet.
“Good to see you, too,” Fie returned, as stiff as a rusted hinge, a door closed a little too long and sticking on the jamb.
He reached for her. She flinched back. “No—wait—”
Tavin stepped away hastily, tensing. “Sorry—I just—I thought—”
“Plague,” Fie blurted out. “It’s the plague, it’s not—you. I need to wash up before we…do… anything.”
He tilted his head, then unfurled a slow grin. “Anything?” he echoed.
Fie briefly contemplated revising her stance on spreading theplague. “Anything,” she repeated, stern, and waved at the remains atop the unlit pyre nearby. “I have standards. It’ll take more than a moon apart for me to roll a lad in a pile of guts. Besides, you’d be dead in a week.”
Tavin gave an exaggerated sigh. “Worth it. It’s been a long moon.”
And just like that, the rust was flaking away. Fie let her own smile creep out, let the door creak open the slightest bit. “It’ll only get longer if we don’t finish this town off. Come on.” She started down a lane to the east, where fire had already begun spreading. “How’d you even find me?”
Tavin jogged to catch up. “When we heard the king supposedly died of the plague, we knew Rhusana was targeting you. Mother agreed to let me bring you and your band to the procession for safety.”
“And you and Draga knew I’d be in Karostei how?”
Tavin pursed his lips and swiped a hand at the sky. An arc of flame leapt from one roof to the next, then swept down the rest of the lane. “I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize in advance.”
“I don’t fancy where this is going.”
“You know how skinwitches use belongings to track down the owners? Turns out they can also use people to find belongings.” Tavin passed Fie something leathery and scorched. “Like my baby tooth.”
“My tooth bag!” Fie tore it open. Her belly sank when she found only charred leather inside. “A damned rat of a chief stole it just this morning. Did you take it off him?”
A shade darted through Tavin’s face, and he strode to the next street. “We found it at the roadside. Then Viimo used the trail from the bag itself to lead to you—”
“Viimo?” Fie hissed. The last she’d seen the skinwitch was in the dungeons of Trikovoi, and Fie had been more than happy to let her rot there. “You broughther?”
“You can’t be mad, I apologized in advance,” Tavin said.
Fie scowled and crossed her arms. “That’s not how it works and you know it.”
“In my defense, I was in a hurry.” He made a face as a puddle of empty skin caught fire with a crackle. “And with good reason. Though I didn’t think Rhusana would throw this much effort into killing you just to spite Jas.”
Fie reckoned the queen would put square that much effort, if not more, into it, if she knew all Little Witness had told her. But the thought of telling Tavin that, even after all they’d given up for it, the oath still wasn’t kept, made Fie want to find a whole new town to burn to the ground.
Oh aye, and what’s your plan?a stern part of her chided.Don’t you think he’d want to know what you’re bound to now?
