“Really, Jack? This was your great plan? Really?” Corva fumes, pacing around the small sub-basement. It’s brighter here than the one under Jack’s bar, and it’s also much better maintained. The stone walls have been carved straight and smooth, nearly polished. A few unmarked boxes are stacked neatly along the far wall, covering a recess and the tunnel that they’d squirmed their way through. “The brothel?”

Still holding Zeke in his arms, almost cradling him, Jack hisses at Corva, “Hey! Keep it down. They don’t like me here ‘nuff as it is. Not gonna help us if we get nicked for your hollerin’.”

“Why are we even here, Jack? We need to get out of here before the raid hits in full. Zeke needs to wake up and get better. Serving to your perverse whims isn’t going to help that.”

She pauses a beat to look him up and down. The kid is beat up pretty badly. There aren’t really any marks or bruises on him that she can tell, a scratch or two, maybe. But all of the hits he took were on his chest and abdomen. He’s breathing pretty heavily, and sweat is beaded up on his forehead. Squeezing their way through that tunnel took a lot out of him.

She rubs her thumb across his brow and shows him his own sweat before she resumes her pacing. “You’re not doing so well, either. Are you even old enough to know what they do in a place like this?”

“Shut the hell up. I’m plenty old enough. ’Sides, do you even know what goes on in a place like this? When’s the last time you’ve ever been in a red light?”

Corva stops moving. “Never.”

In all her traveling since leaving Fareburne, she actually hadn’t ever stepped foot in a single one. Avó had told her to steer clear of them. Red lights tended to be for mercs and merchants. Without any serious weapons or tech to trade, a young female like her would only be welcome there for one reason. And in some burgs, Corva could even be forced into service at such an establishment.

“Well it’s more’n just perversions that they peddle here. With all your trampin’ around, you ain’t ever noticed how long it takes to recover when you visit a doc?”

“No. I—” Corva stops, her face slackening as she’s hit with a revelation that hasn’t ever occurred to her before. “I’ve never really been seriously hurt.”

“You’ve never—really?”

“Really. Never. The fight in your bar with Tretch was probably the worst I’ve ever been.”

“And you still killed damn near everyone that day.” Jack chews on that thought for a bit. “Well anyway, docs in towns like Bule are quacks. And even the ones that ain’t, their treatments take too damn long. Anyone who needs to get patched up proper goes to a red light. The ‘happy ending’ is just part of the regular service.”

Corva scowls, not just from her own apparent ignorance, but also in disgust of the enthusiasm with which Jack spoke about that last bit. Ugh. She looks away from him, wishing for brain bleach. Stay on topic. “But still, that’s for people. Zeke’s not a person. What makes you think they can help him?”

“She helped you, didn’t she? I’m startin’ to think that you’re about as much a person as Zeke is an animal.”

“She?” Corva ignores Jack’s insult, finally understanding who he’s talking about, and why he’s really here. “You mean that whore you were peeping back on the steps this morning? You’re here for her?” She goes back to pacing around the room.

“Her name is Lyia. An’ you still don’t know a thing about me.”

“If this is some kind of harebrained chivalry ploy in the middle of all the other things going on, I swear—”

“It ain’t like that. She’s a healer. I been busted up plenty of times since we got here. Between the old man and her, they kept me from dyin’ more’n once. She even showed me how to do a little. Though I could probably use more practice. It ain’t safe for me to heal myself.”

Corva is reminded of the heavy bandage on her head he’d given her when she first arrived. “Wait, she’s a healer? Like a soulmancy healer? How come she hasn’t been picked up? Can’t the Karui and Umbrati track that?”

“Sheeps an’ Goats.”

“Whatever. Point is, how’s she not conscripted?”

“They can only sense fixins when they’re near. Also, Lyia is Maddy Shard’s special prize. Maddy’s gone through a bunch of extra effort to insure her investment. Went so far as to carve out a barrier room for Lyia to work in. Charges a heap and sets up a barrel of hoops to give folks special access.”

Corva scowls. “How the world does someone like you afford that kind of special access?”

“Damn you got a lotta questions. We’re wastin’ time. Goats’re probably gettin’ their start in Upper right now. I need you to head up n’ get Lyia. Bring her down to help Zeke.” He leans against the smooth wall of the sub-basement and slides to a seated position on the ground, knees up to his chest. The position seems to help him hold Zeke. “And me.”

“I have to get her?”

“Oh come on, Corva! I ain’t doin’ so hot, like you said. An’ they know my face here. As it stands, I wouldn’t make it a few steps out that door up there ’fore someone spots me and kicks us out.”

“How do you know she’s even here? Wouldn’t she be headed to a siege cave like everyone else.”

“Like I said, Maddy spared no expense. This place has its own safe room. Lyia will be one of the last to go in it.” He smiles, looking to the ground. “She’s thoughtful. Likes to make sure everyone is okay ahead of herself.”

“Alright. So where’s this safe room so I can find her?”

“Three floors up. You’ll know you’re in the right place when the walls start lookin’ like these. The safe room is dug right into the cliff wall.”

Jack’s eyes close and his shoulders slump down as he passes out.

She turns to the steps leading up and out of the sub-basement. “Right. Third floor. Find the only mage healer in the brothel. At least I know what she looks like.”

“And Corva?” Jack’s voice is weak behind her, like he’s talking in his sleep.

“Yeah, Jack?”

“Probably best not to tell her about Wrinkles being here for you. She won’t take that news as good as me.”

“Yeah, Jack.”