When Dela had told Celeste to find Kaskeh, she expected the other woman to tell her where to go to stay out of everyone’s way. She did not expect Kaskeh to drag her into a lesson on how to properly use a dagger. By the time Kaskeh was done with her, her right hand was sore and she thought that she felt some blisters starting to form. The skin of her knuckles was cracked from where Kaskeh whacked them with a rod to demonstrate how weak her grip on the weapon had been. At least now it would take a strong force to get it out of her grip.

“A little pain is good for you,” Kaskeh commented as she brought a bowl of water over to her and put something solid in it. It fizzled and dissolved, turning the water green. “Here, put your hand in here for a bit. It’ll feel better.”

Celeste figured that Kaskeh couldn’t hurt her hand any more than she had and complied. The pain did dull a bit after a few minutes.

“What’d you put in the water?”

“It’s something the goblins use to soothe aches from minor scrapes. It also moistens the skin. Honestly, I could take a whole bath full of this stuff. But apparently, the goblins can’t make too large of batches, so we can’t use more than that much at a time.”

“And this would be lake or river goblins?”

“Lake, though it’s the river goblins that gather up the material, or so I’ve been told. I’ll go get us some food. You can take your hand out and dump the water once the color goes away.”

Celeste nodded and Kaskeh left. She flexed her hands a couple of times, trying to work out some of the stiffness. No, she wouldn’t be joining up with this camp, even if Dela offered. The last thing she wanted to do was have intense sessions like that every day.

Kaskeh arrived with a couple of bowls, probably some kind of stew. Celeste checked her hand and saw that the water had a clear color to it. She dumped it out and dried her hand on her cloak. It did feel better and her skin wasn’t as dry either. If she was ever near Lake Goblin Town again, she would see if she could get some.

“See, I told you it would work. Just make sure to practice what I taught you every day so they become easier to do. You won’t be an expert, but at least it makes you less of a target if someone knows you can fight back.” She started gobbling down her meal. She’d worked up an appetite.

Celeste was also hungry, but the chunks of meat and vegetables were too big for her to wolf down. She didn’t know how Kaskeh did it. Kaskeh slurped the broth down and wipe her mouth with her arm before letting out a satisfied sigh.

“Good, isn’t it?”

“Better than jerky in any case. Thanks for showing me all that stuff, even if I wake up regretting it in the morning. Did Dela tell you to do that?”

Kaskeh shook her head. “No, though I’m sure she’ll be glad I did. I’ve just never liked the idea of leaving someone defenseless when I could do something about it. Besides, imagine the look on the next bully’s face when you show them that they can push you around.” Her expression suddenly grew serious. “But don’t think that you can take on anyone. It’s to be used for self-defense and that only. Got it?”

Celeste nodded. Long ago, Derrick had given her a similar lecture about the moves he taught her and Owain, though he had mostly said as a reminder to himself. He knew that neither of them, especially Owen, would pick a fight. There had been a couple of times she had to hold him back when they witnessed a Guard or Noble hassling someone. She was sure Owen had to do it more.

“Are you all right?” Kaskeh asked as she collected their bowls. “Did I say something wrong?”

“No, not at all. Just… remembering.”

Kaskeh nodded but didn’t say anything more. She probably knew not to push the subject, which Celeste was grateful for. She could only wonder how long it would be before everyone knew about her and her relationship with Davik and Orsic. She dreaded to think about everyone being able to recognize her on the spot. Maybe it would never come to that. No doubt something else would come around and grab everyone’s attention.

A clamor in the camp got hers. Kaskeh dropped the bowls.

“Stay here. I’ll go see what’s going on.”

Celeste certainly had no object as worn out as she was. Maybe she should find a place to sleep soon. A good night’s rest before heading back to Rusty’s place would do her some good. Once Kaskeh came back, she’d ask where that place was. She didn’t expect a tent, but the other would know of a nice quiet place.

When Kaskeh rushed back, she could tell that something was wrong. She threw her a bundle of cloth.

“Here, put this hood on and come with me. Keep your head down and don’t speak to anyone. We need to get you to Dela’s tent as soon as possible.”

Celeste threw the cloak and hood on. Questions ran through her head. Was it the Renewers? No, Kaskeh would probably be telling her to get out of camp in that case. But why did she need to hide her identity?

She followed Kaskeh and kept her eyes on the ground. She could hear murmurs around her, but she couldn’t make out anything. Whatever was going on, the whole camp was talking about it. Kaskeh came to a stop and so did she.

“Great, there’s a ton of people between us and Dela’s tent. We’ll never get there unseen. But… ah, that might work.”

Celeste found herself being picked up. She was surprised that Kaskeh could do it, though she could tell it wasn’t easy for Kaskeh, even as trained as she was.

“Go limp,” she whispered. “And try to keep your face hidden.”

She leaned her head forward so that her hood was completely covering her face and went as limp as she could.

“Out of the way! I have a medical emergency!” She heard Kaskeh yell.

It must’ve done the trick, for they were soon moving more quickly than they had been before. After a bit, Kaskeh put her down.

“Okay, we should be fine in here. Maybe after a bit, we can get to Dela’s tent unnoticed. The medic won’t say anything to anyone about us being here.”

Celeste removed her hood while Kaskeh peeked out the tent flap before putting it back.

“What’s going on? Is it the Inquisitors?”

She shook her head. “No, they rarely come around and we can handle them in our sleep. Have you heard of a group called the Unifiers?”

“Yes, but barely. Do they give you trouble?” She was having a hard time imaging any group giving the Order of Clarise any trouble.

“It’s the kind of trouble that we can’t just stab and be done with. It’s… well, just come listen for yourself.”

She came over and Kaskeh lifted the tent flap a tad. There was a distinctly male voice speaking.

“So, I ask you, sisters of this land, to join hands with us in an attempt to bring order to this land. You have done a good job in squashing bandits, but we know the real danger to this land are the Revivers and Renewers! I am not underestimating your talents as warriors, but you simply do not have the numbers to solve the real problems. I am not asking you to abandon the Order, but to join with me for a short while so this land can know true peace!”

“He’s not completely wrong, you know. Things would be a lot better if the Renewers and Revivers could get along, but I don’t know if I like him any better. No one knows where he came from or who he is.”

“If that’s the case, why doesn’t Dela have him thrown out?”

“The last thing she wants to do is burn bridges, especially when the said bridge has a small army of mercenaries behind him. As he said, we’re good warriors, but we’re few in numbers. While numbers don’t mean everything, they do at least mean something. Fortunately, I don’t think anyone here is going to join him. We have our duties to something else.”

“Why do I have to hide out here? I have no conflict with the Unifiers.” She’d just leave out the fact that she met that ill-fated group once around him.

“I’m doing you a favor. Unlike most of the women here, he’s going to recognize you. He has a scary amount of intelligence on the camps. I wouldn’t be surprised if he came here hoping to see you. If you want to get back to Rusty’s any time soon without being bothered, you’ll avoid him.”

The last thing that Celeste wanted was yet another delay. She was only tolerating this one because it was fruitful. She had a feeling that a conversation with the Unifier would not be.

“What’s his name?”

“I believe he calls himself Johan. We’ll have to think of how to get you out of here in the morning without raising suspicion.”

She made a mental note to avoid anyone who introduced themselves as Johan. At least it sounded like he wasn’t a physical fighter. If worse came to worse, she supposed she could punch him and run away.

“Do you know much about the Unifiers?”

“Me? No. Dela probably does. I’m surprised you didn’t hear about them from the Reviver camp.”

“I’m not sure they know much about them. No one mentioned them, not to me at least.”

The higher-ups probably knew about them, especially Glyda and Orsic, but Bea hadn’t mentioned them, so they were probably keeping it quiet from the general population. She wondered if they had even met Orsic. She lifted the tent flap a bit more.

“If any of you wish to join, you know where to find us.” Johan continued. “And please, let Lady Dela know that I appreciate her letting me speak here. It’s certainly more of a welcome than we got from either the Revivers or Renewers.”

He was probably lying about that last part. Had they any contact with the Renewers, she probably would’ve heard someone in that camp talking about it. Kaskeh didn’t look like she believed it either.

“He sure likes to hear himself talk,” Celeste remarked. “Reminds me of the nobles that would come around to the orphanage and make a grand speech about helping us and then not even giving any money.”

After a bit, Kaskeh looked out and signaled her to follow. Celeste flipped the hood up once again. They made their way through the crowd that was breaking up. Johan was on his way to the edge of the camp. He didn’t even look back as a couple of heavily armored and armed people joined him. Something about him seemed familiar. But she didn’t have much time to think about it as she had to catch up to Kaskeh.

Dela sat in her tent, drinking something. She didn’t look too surprised to see them.

“Good, you’re keeping a low profile.” She remarked as she put down the cup. “If I had known that Johan of all people was going to show up today, I would’ve sent you on your way instead of insisting that you stay the night. That man knows how to appear at the most inconvenient of times.”

“You couldn’t have known,” Celeste assured her as she pulled her hood off. “I didn’t even know that the Unifiers were still around until today when the bandits mentioned them. Last I knew, the Revivers killed them all.”

“I’m not surprised. That wouldn’t be the first group that thought they could just come in and take Fort Invar from the Revivers. There were a few bandits shortly once the conflict between the Revivers and Renewers cooled down that thought that Davik was weakened enough for them to come in and take over. They lived just long enough to regret their decision.”

“But why would Johan waste men like that? Mercenaries probably aren’t cheap. And I’d be surprised that they’d agree to ride to their deaths like that.” Something wasn’t adding up about the situation.

“The bulk of his army is made up of mercenaries. Some of the people are people loyal to him that would be stupid enough to do something like that. But enough about Johan and what he might be planning. We need to find a way to get you out of here without raising too much suspicion.”

“I’ll just leave with you in the morning and then split once we get far enough away. I assume you don’t allow him to follow you around.” Celeste couldn’t see Dela letting someone do that with her. “It’ll set me back some, but not too much.”

“No, the sooner you leave, the better. Somehow, Johan tends to find things out that you think are secret. If you stay here overnight, you can bet he’ll be waiting for you as soon as you leave in the morning.”

“Dela, I have an idea for a distraction. One that it will be hard to blame us for.” Kaskeh smiled.

“Go on, I’m listening.”

Kaskeh and Dela didn’t let Celeste in on the plan, so she didn’t know how good of a plan it was. Dela gave her approval and Kaskeh left.

“I’ll take you to where your pony is. Keep your hood up and don’t ride off until I tell you to. We have to time this right.”

Celeste had no choice. While she wasn’t looking forward to camping out for the night, she’d take that over dealing with someone who talked as much as Johan. Dela led her to where Iza was tied up and untied her.

“I wish we had a little more time, Celeste, but things are conspiring against that.” She handed the reins over to her. “Just remember that when you make your choice, you need to make it for yourself, no matter how hard it might be.”

She sounded like she spoke from experience. All Celeste could do was nod. She led her to the edge of the camp. Not too far away were the tents she assumed belonged to the Unifiers.

“Kaskeh’s plan should start about…”

There was a low rumble. Celeste turned around to see a small herd of horses run from the Order of Clarice’s camp and straight toward the Unifier’s camp. A few of the women chased after them. Kaskeh jogged behind them.

“Oh no, some of the horses accidentally got spooked and managed to get loose…” She stated.

Celeste hopped onto Iza.

“Thanks for every…”

“No time to talk. You need to go while they’re distracted!”

Dela slapped Iza’s rump and the pony took off. Or at least as much as a pony could. The camp was still in sight once Iza decided that she had enough of running, but they were probably far enough that no one could see them slip away. Still, Celeste had a feeling that she was being watched. The feeling did not decrease as she rode on.