Maura had tried her best to keep her focus on what was being said, but there was just so much information being bandied about that she was sure she wouldn’t remember half of it. The main points discussed were; Amelia’s plan was almost entirely accepted, changes in the structure of the Khersi gathering area for greater security, and coordination of the tribes present. The only difference was who would be allowed into their tribe.

Most of the elders thought that they would need to be more warriors and security, despite the fact that they were heading into the wilderness. Maura thought that it was silly to bring them, but knew she shouldn’t say anything to the elders and she really was afraid of making anyone upset.

The Arbiter’s hope for a two hour meeting was dashed as it continued for almost three hours. At that point most of the important topics had been discussed and it turned to political wrangling, especially between Black Peak and Deep Wood. The chieftain and elders from Black Peak were furious when Amelia spoke up against their warclan designation or plan to add Frozen River to it with brutal derision. The room got somewhat heated when she called them fake nobles who had forgotten their ancestors and the traditions of the Khersi.

Maura knew that Amelia had planned to use the status gained by Maura’s inclusion into the tribe to push back against some of the things she disagreed with and to bring the Khersi as a whole back into a more traditional society, but she was still surprised at how quickly she began the campaign and how strong and eloquent her arguments were.

One of the elders was the ‘Warchief’ of Black Peak and he became very upset when Amelia treated him as if he were a child that had been dropped too many times on the head and completely ignored his self-inflated importance. She did giggle under her breath a little at that thought.

Maura was wide eyed and nervous through most of the third hour as emotions were beginning to run high, but eventually the Arbiter pulled everyone back to order and called the Council of Sacred Silence to a close once it became clear that the sensitive topics were finalized. The rest of the details were just re-organizing people and things that needed to happen back in their own camps so they would need to open up the council chamber to let everyone back in and begin to share the cover story.

Maura put all of her clothing back on and stood with Amelia before dropping the security spell as she fiddled with the fake glowing rock to keep up the deception that it was the rock and not Maura that had secured the room. It was a good thing, too, as the moment the spell came down the room was flooded with a large number of scrying spells.

Amelia hid the stone quickly then they began to leave the chamber together. Chief Carter would be staying behind to continue the talks, but it was mostly details and window dressing at this point - the important things had already been decided. He would also need to be one of those responsible for the trial of the people being held which would happen later after the general council was concluded.

The deception that had been agreed on was that Maura had found a ruin with magical items. She was a grand hunter and had found the anti-scrying and a healing device inside. Deep Wood would be trimming many of the non-essential wagonmasters and several artisans as trade for the location of the ruin to Frozen River.

Deep Wood would leave around the same time as Frozen River to travel through the wilderness to reach the ruins after preparing beforehand. In actuality they were staying to provide increased protection and political weight. Others would flock to Frozen River for the great hunt and possible fortune that a great hunter could train the younger generation.

Maura thought it was a well done deception, but she was also aware that she really wasn’t qualified to know if it was good or not as she had very few deceptive skills herself. She did actually know where some unexplored ruins were, however. She let the chieftain of Deep Wood know of two locations that they could check. One was an old army depot and another an abandoned city that was unknown to the tribes. She had passed through the outskirts of the city on her travels and the map she had in her mind showed the location of the depot.

Black Peak had tried, unsuccessfully, to force some of their ‘warbands’ into the tribe in an official capacity for ‘protection’, but Chief Carter shut that down saying he wouldn’t have ‘hotheaded bootlicking non-Khersi’ in his tribe. That probably wouldn’t actually solve the problem, but at the very least it was on official record that warbands or anything related to it was not acknowledged as legitimate by Frozen River, and Deep Wood shared that view.

All of the organizing and such would be done by other people, not to mention the trading and maintenance Frozen River needed to complete. All Maura herself had to worry about was finding proper books and writing materials and then start coming up with a curriculum. Several of the more successful clans would transfer some money to Frozen river using Torrine’s City Bank to help them pay for everything that was needed to begin teaching people.

She would be receiving her own wagon, one designed as a huge tent with little room for storage on the back. She would have a small sleeping and eating area, but most of the interior would be set up with a writing/working area and classroom. She was simultaneously excited and anxious about everything. Amelia planned for her to go into the city to gather supplies tomorrow with a group of people including Perry.

Maura squinted a little as they left the building. The sun was low in the sky, but the crowd outside of the building had only grown. There were more guards now and right after Amelia and Maura managed to find their way towards the middle of the pack of people, they announced that the open session of the council would continue. The people began to stream inside of the building and Maura and Amelia had trouble not being pushed around as they were moving against the flow of traffic.

Maura had a death grip on Amelia’s belt and was hiding her features with her headdress and cloak hood. Her mind, which had already been fuzzy and overflowing with the information from the council, was now a mass of static and panic from the wall of bodies surrounding her.

They suddenly broke out of the crowd and Amelia exhaled a big breath before she began to move faster. It only took a few minutes to get back to the tribe and their tent.

Once they were inside the tent Amelia turned to Maura and said, “Maura, dear. You can let go of my belt now, we’re alone.”

Maura was still overwhelmed but she did manage to release her death grip. Amelia chuckled and steered her back to her little corner to get out of her hunting clothes and back into a dress.

When Maura finally exited the area just in her thin robe she was beginning to feel a little more normal. She sat down on the couch next to Amelia and took some tea with a nod of thanks.

She turned to Amelia and said, “That was a lot. Is the city going to be like that?”

Amelia looked at her with a little bit of pity and said, “Probably worse, but in a different way. There are many people in the city, yes, but there are also many more sights and sounds. It won’t just be a press of bodies that you need to work through in the city, but there are carts and animals moving around, interesting buildings and uneven streets.”

Maura felt a little worried about that. The press of bodies was one thing, but she was so small that she wouldn’t be able to see things coming in time to react.

Amelia rubbed her shoulder before continuing, “The city is a bit of a maze, really. Perry knows of two stationary shops in the outer ring, but it may end up being necessary to go into one of the inner rings or to the crafters district to buy wholesale. Not to worry! Celia and Perry will be there, along with a few warriors for protection. Celia will help keep you distracted, and you can trust Perry to know where to go so you won’t get lost. Sound alright?”

Maura was obviously worried, but she was also excited. It had been a dream of hers for her entire life to enter a city, especially to buy books! Even if the books were blank and she would be writing them, that was alright. Maybe she could buy a few already written books?

Maura nodded a little frantically and asked, “Are we going to go to the temple, also? Or no, it hasn’t even been a day. You haven’t sent Captain Logan a letter yet, right?”

Amelia looked confused for a moment before her face relaxed in understanding, “I almost completely forgot! My, today sure has been a busy day, hasn’t it? I’ll go write that letter now while I’m thinking of it and we can give it to one of the kids to run to the outgoing post for tomorrow morning. If I don’t do it now, I’ll probably get distracted with tribe politics again.”

After the letter had been written they sat and chatted for a few more hours before getting ready for dinner. Chief Carter arrived long after dark with news that there would most likely be a more informal council tomorrow and the next few days so that wagonmasters or individuals could meet in a neutral space to talk to him and Amelia about joining the tribe. There were probably going to be a lot of people looking to join, not counting those that were going to be basically assigned to them.

Maura’s mind was so full of information and conflicting emotions she was absolutely positive that she wouldn’t be able to get to sleep, but she passed out moments after her head hit the pillow.

The next morning Amelia woke Maura up early. She forced Maura to take a quick wash with buckets of warm soapy and then clean water. Amelia helped wash her hair and then began to dress her properly for the first time ever.

Maura didn’t like the strange undergarments and loose clothing as she normally could move freely and wasn’t used to all of the excess material, but she grudgingly let Amelia dress her properly. She was going into the city, so she had to look the part.

She was going into the city! Once that thought finally broke through her tired and grumpy mind she perked up instantly. Amelia braided her hair back in a classic Khersi fashion for a young lady and covered it with a colorful shawl.

Right as they were finishing up with breakfast Perry entered the tent. He had his glasses on under a wide-brimmed hat and had multiple layers with a warm coat.

He called, “Good morning! Ready to head into the city, Maura? We’ll probably be all day looking at different places until we find what we need, so the earlier we start the better!”

Maura straightened up in her chair with a big smile and chirped, “Yep! I mean, yes! I’m ready! Er… wait, almost ready!”

She quickly dashed behind her screen to grab her dagger and a pouch full of random items that she thought could come in handy and a few of her hair charms for good luck. She took a normal winter cloak and put it on before she shot out from her cubby and ran up to Perry and began to bounce in place in excitement.

Amelia chuckled and said, “Now, you be careful and stick close to Perry, alright Maura?”

She turned around and responded with a nod and a smile.

Maura and Perry walked to the edge of their camp and met the two people that would be going with them as guards. A human guard with a short sword and gambeson stood next to a large man in chainmail that Maura recognised.

Eric had a big grin on his face as he called, “Well now! There’s our Maura! You look great dressed all dressed up. I almost didn’t recognise you, to tell the truth. How are you this morning?”

Maura blushed a little at the compliment and responded, “I’m doing well. I’m excited to see the city!”

Eric laughed and introduced the other guard as Jerome. As they were chatting an excited squeal came from a bundle of winter clothes as Celia half ran, half danced up to the group.

Celia grabbed Maura’s hand and excitedly said, “I’m so happy we can go to the city! Oh, Maura, you are in for a treat! I love cities! Beats the heck out of the wilderness, that’s for sure. They have all sorts of sweets and interesting clothes and maybe we can find something pretty for mom!”

They all began to walk out of the camp towards the south as Celia continued to chatter and Maura gave monosyllabic responses. There was a bit of a gap between the campgrounds and the area known as the outer market where the Khersi sold items. Past the market there was another open area and a stone paved road leading towards the city gates.

Maura was barely listening to Celia anymore as she studied her surroundings in awe, with an occasional glance at the sky. There were all sorts of people, more than she had ever seen in one place before, along with carts, wagons, animals, and all kinds of materials either in the market or heading towards the city and back. She actually didn’t feel too crowded at the moment because almost no one was paying direct attention to her and people were pretty good at giving each other space to move around.

The level of noise everyone was making made Maura feel anxious and she kept wincing whenever something heavy was slammed around, but she had seen the tall towers and patrols of the army in the area so she just had to keep reminding herself that she was safe. Safe as she would be in the tent or one of her burrows, at any rate. Safety is an illusion.

As they approached the gatehouse Maura studied the tall walls. They were made of solid stone for the most part with complicated wooden structures built on top. The wood bulged out from the wall with a gap that would allow things to be dropped or arrows to be shot at anything along the wall with thick beams to protect anyone standing there along with a thin roof to keep any weather off. It was more complicated than Maura had assumed, and that was without the layers of ditches and such she could barely make out due to the snow.

The gatehouse itself was larger and more complex than the wall. Maura could see that there were actually two gates, both of which were wide open, with a killing field between them. The guards at the gate stopped each wagon for inspection and anyone carrying a large bag or sack, but they were waved through quickly.

Celia had her hand wrapped around Maura’s right arm as they walked and she was still chatting. Maura was thankful that she had someone to lean on a little but she couldn’t pay attention to what she was saying with all of the noise and the tightly bunched crowds distracting her.

As they walked past the second gate, Maura was stunned at the sight of a city bursting with life. Torrine - one of the great walled cities. She was almost crying with overwhelming emotions as she finally realized that her long quest to find life and civilization was now over. The smells and sounds were so numerous and confusing that Maura could barely focus on any of them long enough to truly understand and her eyes were dashing all around studying everything.

At some point, she found that she was now gripping Celia’s arm and leaning heavily on her as she was basically dragged along in Eric’s wake. Maura could barely see any of the buildings besides the roofs as there was so much traffic on this major street that her view was blocked by the crowds, but that didn’t mean there was nothing to see.

The press of bodies began to clear as they entered a plaza with a fountain and took a different road. Perry was leading them and he looked certain of the route, but Maura knew she was already hopelessly lost. Now that she could see the buildings better, she saw that glass was almost nonexistent in the windows with shutters and curtains holding back the cold.

All of the buildings had most of their first floor made of stone, with wooden second stories that extended over the entrances towards the street. She could see many sewer grates and the road itself was a mix of cobblestones and brick, though it was mostly mud and dirty snow at this time of the year. The smell was… pungent.

Before Maura knew it Perry was leading them into a building. It had a sign with a rolled up piece of parchment and a quill crossing themselves. There was a name, but the cursive and her shaky understanding of the written language made it hard to read before they were past it and inside of a well lit store. Only Perry and Celia went inside with her while the other two men waited near the door outside.

As they stepped inside and the sound of the streets suddenly cut off, Maura’s mind finally began to function properly. The store smelled significantly better than outside with a mixture of earthy and flowery scents. There were racks of paper in different sizes and colors along with shelves of other supplies. The room was lit by a series of hardy storm lanterns that were designed to snuff themselves out if they fell.

Perry gave Maura a moment before he said, “Well, Maura, this is Shellen’s Scriveners. I like to come here for writing supplies as they are of a higher quality than the other store I usually frequent. For paper we generally go to one of the other tribes and trade as they buy larger amounts in bulk. I think we’ll need to go to the distributors ourselves for that today, but for now take a look at the supplies and let me know what you might need.”

Maura didn’t trust her voice, so she simply nodded and moved to look at the racks and shelves of supplies. Celia went to look at colored paper and pretty trinkets as Perry began to make quick selections for himself. There were two other customers in the store at the moment, one talking to the sales clerk and another leafing through sheets of paper and occasionally selecting a few.

She looked at the shelves with a growing sense of disappointment. She had used a metal quill of some kind in Amelia’s tent and had hoped that there would be pens in the store, but it seemed that pens were either too expensive or people had forgotten how to make them as all she saw were quills and thin sticks of different sorts of charcoal wrapped in either leather or string.

She kept moving and searching, finding some wax pencils and even ink stones and such, until she finally came across a more elaborate display case closer to the sales desk. Inside she saw some of the finer matal quills like Amelia had but also a few crude fountain pens!

She exhaled in relief before reaching to pick up one to study it. As she was racing for it, the sales clerk loudly cleared his throat before saying, “Don’t touch those, child. They are delicate and expensive.”

Maura jumped in surprise and froze for a second before she responded, “I am aware, sir. I wish to see their quality before purchasing one. I assure you I am familiar with fountain pens.”

Perry had taken a few steps towards her, but once he heard her talking he decided to wait and see before interrupting.

The clerk sent Maura a skeptical expression with a raised eyebrow before saying, “Fine. I’ll keep an eye on you, but if you break one then you will have to purchase it.”

Maura nodded quickly before she returned her attention to the pen. She picked it up to study. It was made of either polished copper or brass for the nib and feed while the grip and barrel was either painted wood or some kind of bone. She didn’t see any feeding mechanism anywhere, so assumed it would have an interior reservoir.

A few quick twists separated the grip and barrel as she studied the internal workings. There was indeed a reservoir inside which was also threaded to be removed. She took it apart further and glanced at the display case to search for the other objects she would need in order to use the pen. There was a small funnel and other items to one side of the case, and she nodded to herself before continuing with the pen.

It was crude, certainly, but it was more than workable. If she was going to be writing books, she would need a pen like this or it would take an eternity and might be sloppy. She would probably have to purchase a few extra nibs, just in case, but everything seemed to be in working order.

She reassembled the pen and placed it back on the shelf before nodding at herself. For the classwork she would need to find some slates and chalk. She would also need a large slate board, but Amelia had said that she would take care of getting the slates - Maura just needed to find a large supply of chalk while in the city.

Maura moved to the ink supplies and pondered whether she should buy a large quantity of pre-made ink in glass bottles or if it would make more sense to buy materials to make her own. To make ink they sold a few different kinds of stones that were almost polished smooth and had a sloped area cut into the middle with a reservoir at one end. One would place some water in the reservoir and use an ink stick to drag the water up the incline as it ground off fine bits of the stick allowing someone to alter how thick the ink would end up. There was a section to one end that was cut out and tapered so you could tilt the finished product into a funnel and bottle. It was used more frequently for painting with ink and brush, but would work well for her fountain pen once she figured out a good consistency.

After studying the prices and quantities she used a little math to determine that while the initial cost of making her own was much more than the bottles, it would only take eighteen bottles before she broke even. Maura wasn’t sure exactly how much she would be writing, but she decided that she may as well purchase the ink stone and a large supply of sticks. It would probably last her years, but she foresaw much writing in her future.

The last thing that she checked were some of the cheaper quills and such that her students could use to practice writing. They would learn to write and do math if they didn’t already know how by using the slate boards and chalk, but would eventually need to learn how to use ink. There was no sense in possibly damaging the more expensive pens or implements when they could learn to use cheap quills. Maura pondered whether it would make sense to buy quills now or to make them herself and eventually decided that she would do both, but assumed that the time wasted making quills would be better spent on other things.

She placed a quill production and maintenance set, fifty cheap quills, the ink making supplies, five sturdy but cheap ink wells, two large empty glass ink bottles, and the pen on the counter with one extra nib and a series of small funnels along with some other supplies like a stone that could be used to sharpen quills. She noticed that they sold chalk here but only in individual sticks so she waited patiently to ask the clerk if they sold them in larger quantities. They also sold blank paper and book making supplies along with some blank books, but Perry had told her they would be going to buy those wholesale at a larger distributor after this.

Once the clerk finished up with a customer he came to Maura with a bit of a stunned expression.

He said, “My. Are you planning on filling a library, young lady?”

Maura wasn’t sure what to say, but Perry saved her as he placed a few more items next to her rather large pile. He said, “Hah! It almost looks like that, does it not? No, the situation is a bit darker, I’m afraid. We are of the Frozen River Tribe of the Khersi. Our school wagon burned down in a fire, and we are looking to resupply.”

Maura made a confused face, but luckily the Clerk was looking at Perry. He had a sympathetic expression on his face as he replied, “I’m sorry for your loss, though it does help the store! Was there anything else you were looking for?”

Maura cleared her throat gently before asking, “Do you sell sticks of chalk in larger quantities? I saw the individual sticks, but was looking for a small crate.”

The Clerk had a surprised expression as he looked back at Maura. She assumed he hadn’t expected her to talk now that the older man was at the counter.

He said, “We do in the storage room, yes. We generally sell smaller quantities of things, but I do have crates of either two hundred or one thousand sticks.”

Perry cleared his throat and interjected, “Ah, that won’t be necessary. We will be heading to Grunther’s Wholesaler after this for a few bulk items. I believe he also sells the crates of chalk. Now. I have an account at the Torrine City Bank and would like to have everything here wrapped securely and delivered to the Frozen River Tribe if that would be possible…”

It took another five minutes of haggling and sharing details before everything was wrapped up and they were ready to leave. Celia came up and began to chatter at Maura again as they left the store.

They stopped at a few street vendors for small snacks and Celia was delighted about some dresses and accessories she could see in a few windows while they walked.

They visited the second shop where Perry picked up a few specific sized pieces of paper and an empty ledger that Maura would be using to keep track of students and information along with a nice chest with multiple compartments she could use to organize paperwork. It would also be delivered to the tribe.

As they were heading into a new ring to get to the wholesaler and walking down a much quieter street, three men came out of an alleyway ahead of them. They had the look of street toughs, but their clothing was a little too nice to pull it off properly. Their weapons were clubs, but seemed to be closer to warhammers pretending to be clubs.

Eric placed his hand on his short sword and slowed to a stop. Jerome also placed his hand on his sword and faced back the direction they had come from.

As the largest of the men in front began to talk, two more men came out of an alley they had just passed.

Maura felt the world losing its color and vibrancy as her mind began to fall into a combat response. She pushed Celia towards Perry as she moved slightly to the side and placed her hand on her dagger sheathed low on her back while facing the two men behind them.

Eric swore under his breath as he looked around. This particular street was a poorer neighborhood and there were only a few people walking who quickly turned to make themselves scarce when they saw what was happening. It would probably take a few minutes for any of the city guards to make it to them, assuming they would even be aware of anything happening in the first place.

The first man held a club and a dagger and said, “Frozen River, eh? You got something we want. Put down your weapons and we’ll trade your tribe for it. Or we’ll be gettin a little rough. Only need a few of ya to make the trade.” He had an ugly grin on his face as he swirled the club a few times in the air and swaggered towards them.

Maura’s mind was in an analytical fighting mode at the moment. All distractions other than the immediate danger were suddenly insignificant. Maura assumed that they were talking about her as the thing they wanted, so at least her cover as a young girl in a dress seemed to be working.

She was aware enough to understand that she couldn’t use magic in the fight. She had already begun spreading her will into the manasphere instinctively and forced herself to pull back. As far as these thugs were concerned, she was just a little girl from the tribe.

She quickly pulled the string of her cloak so it would fall off when she moved as she scanned the area around her. There was a rock around the size of her fist on the less well maintained road near her feet that she could use. The road itself was more slushy and covered in ice and snow than the main roads. There weren't any alleyways or routes besides those that the thugs had come out of.

The furthest person who had come out from behind them had a more structured magical aura to him which meant he was most likely a mage and she could sense at least one active scrying spell. It seemed to be anchored on the man, however, and Maura made a snap decision about what to do.

Before anyone could say anything Maura turned away from the scrying spell and quietly said in a flat emotionless voice, “Jerome, help Eric.”

She didn’t wait for acknowledgement before quickly ducking down to grab the stone from the ground with her left hand and throwing it with extreme speed and accuracy at the supposed mage’s forehead.

As the rock tumbled through the air, she began to run towards the two men and her cloak fell off her shoulders. They had obviously not been ready for such a quick response, as the mage barely had time to open his eyes wide in surprise before the rock smashed into him.

Maura drew her knife and held it backwards along her forearm as she moved forwards. The mage collapsed like a puppet which had its strings cut and the other man, not knowing his friend was out for the count, leered as he held up his club.

Maura felt awkward and constrained by her dress, and probably looked a little ridiculous running towards him. Instead of her usual deadly grace she felt like she was fighting through mud and her balance was off. Luckily, she didn’t have to worry too much because the moment the rock crashed into the mage’s forehead the scrying spell winked out.

The three men shouted something and began to run towards Eric and Jerome as they drew their swords. Maura was peripherally aware of their fight beginning as Celia screamed in fright, but most of her focus was on the man in front of her.

He was tall, around two feet taller and significantly wider than her, but she wasn’t worried. All the man had was a nasty looking club and normal street clothes on.

He growled at her while taking a terrible fighting stance and swinging his club with all of his strength towards her chest.

She was moving fairly quickly, so she jumped a little and moved her feet so they would be in the proper stance when she landed. She raised her arm and kept the dagger flush with her skin to catch the club.

As she landed, her dress and the slushy ground fouled her balance. When the club slammed into her arm, she slipped and her feet went out from under her as she fell to the ground. He had hit much harder than Maura had been expecting.

She had to remind herself that people were very different than she was used to and he probably had a fairly reinforced magical body. If she hadn’t had her dagger there to block, the strength of the hit might have torn through her clothing and pulped her flesh as she wasn’t able to use any magical reinforcement. As it was her arm was aching.

Celia screamed in terror as she saw Maura go down, while the thug reached down to grab her.

Maura was a little stunned at the sudden shift, but her mind worked quickly. As the man reached down she swiftly brought her knife out and sheathed it in his forearm between the two bones near his wrist. She was distantly aware of the shocked and sickening feeling that she felt as she saw the bloody tip of her dagger pop out from the flesh of the man’s arm, but she was too focused to slow down.

The man screamed and instinctively pulled back. Maura used the new leverage to rise up with him while pushing off the ground with her left hand.

Once she managed to get her left foot back on the ground she quickly took her dagger out of the arm and spun and kicked the man on the side of the knee as hard as she could.

There was a loud crunch as the man’s leg bent in a direction it wasn’t designed to and he began to fall while screaming.

Maura bent her legs and punched out with the hilt of her dagger and smashed it into the side of the man’s head as he fell. His scream abruptly cut off as was rendered unconscious and finished his fall.

Maura quickly moved to pick up the rock from before and turned back to the group to see what was happening.

Jerome only had a gambeson under his clothing and his leg was bleeding where he had been stabbed by a dagger. Eric had managed to subdue or kill the first thug but there were still two swinging at them.

As Jerome blocked the club with his short sword his leg gave out and he fell to the ground. The thug was about to brain him with his club when a whistling noise heralded the arrival of the stone into his head.

He dropped like a sack of potatoes and Jerome swore as he tried to get back up.

Eric blocked the club of the last man before he slid his sword down and cut the man’s hand. He cursed and dropped the club as his hand bled freely. A quick glance showed he was now alone and he turned to run but Eric was too quick and stabbed him in the leg.

As the last thug fell onto the ground, the battle was suddenly over, though the thug yelling and Celia’s screams continued.

Eric growled and put his sword to the man’s chest and said, “Who sent you? Tell me and you might just live!”

The thug was white and sweating from pain and blood loss, but he just growled and tried to spit at Eric.

Eric kicked his wounded leg and yelled, “Tell me now, final warning!”

The thug growled, “To the hells with you, dirty savage!”

Eric grunted and quickly stabbed the man in the chest right where his heart would be. Seeing that quickly snapped Maura out of her combat mindset in surprise.

She hadn’t ever seen someone die before, and it was stunning and sudden. Well, she had hit the three men she subdued quite hard in the head, but she didn’t know if they were dead or not yet. She just stood in the street staring at the dying man in shock with wide eyes.

Celia was curled up on the ground crying while Perry tried to comfort her and Jerome was wrapping his leg with a bandage when Eric cleaned his sword on the first thug’s cloak and sheathed it back at his side.

He stood up and turned to face Maura and asked, “Maura, are you alright?”

Maura was still staring at the man and was too stunned to reply other than a shaky nod.

Eric nodded and pulled out a dagger as he began to move between the downed men and make sure they would stay that way. The casual brutality of everything suddenly caught up to Maura and she began to shake and cry a little while breathing too fast.

As Eric moved to check on the two behind her he paused and placed a hand on her shoulder.

He said, “We can talk about this later, but this is necessary. You’re safe now. We need to get out of here before the guard arrives. Go help Jerome. Go on.”

He gave her a little push which allowed her to start moving. She quickly ran to Jerome and checked his leg.

“I’m alright, it hit the bone. Just need to bandage it up a bit tighter.”

Maura nodded at him and worked to tighten the bandage and stop the bleeding. She could work on it when they got back to the tribe, but for now he would just use his cloak to cover it and Eric or Perry could help him move. She also cleaned her knife off on one of the downed men’s cloaks and put it away before she put her own cloak back on which would hide her now dirty dress.

Once she was sure he was okay, she went to Celia. She was calming down, but still shaking a little bit. She began to babble a little hysterically at Maura.

She said, “Maura! That was terrifying! Are you okay? What happened? Who were those people? What were they talking about? We don’t have anything! Our tribe is so small!”

Maura responded, “Um… I don’t know? It’s okay now, you’re safe. Eric said we need to leave.”

Perry helped her stand and she immediately latched onto Maura. He then moved to Jerome and helped the man stand. Eric came back and began to herd everyone away as quickly as they could.

When Eric came back Perry said, “The only person who knew we were from Frozen River and would be heading this way was the clerk at Shellen’s Scriveners. We need to get back to the tribe. Mother can take care of ordering what we need through someone else, but it’s too dangerous for our tribe to be here without numbers. Someone must have followed us from camp or informed someone else that we were leaving.”

The whole way back Maura and Celia stayed quiet and leaned on each other. She was barely aware of moving back through the city as she kept playing the scene of the dead men over and over in her mind though she was unconsciously keeping track of her surroundings as much as she was able.

She wasn’t sure how she felt about the whole thing, and felt like she needed to talk to Amelia. The men were also quiet, and they helped Jerome move until they arrived at the gate where he limped through while gritting his teeth against the pain.

Eric had talked to a few Khersi and sent the word ahead so by the time they arrived at the outer market area there were a few extra people helping them.

By the time that Maura saw Amelia’s wagon she had made a few conclusions. From the probable mage to the clothing that they were wearing, that was no ordinary group. That the man called them savages at the end meant he probably wasn’t of the Khersi, though it was possible that there was an informant. They had obviously wanted her, and by the fact that they hadn’t cared who they could grab as long as it was a member of the tribe, the city would be dangerous to go into outside of large groups.

Either the Arcanum or local nobility were after her. Her dream of a simple time exploring a city seemed a bit further away and the future gleamed a little less bright.