Raven decided to leave her carry bag for the moment as she looked around. She didn’t want to get caught with her money if she had a chance of getting away and coming back to catch the train.

She headed toward the tracks and looked down the rails. Could she board without being in the station? How much longer could she avoid the guys in suits?

Where was the Guard when you needed one?

She dropped down on the rails. She had time. If she missed this train, she could catch the next one. Two trains on a loop to the end of the rail and then coming back to the city. She didn’t have to wait in the station if she didn’t want.

She wished she had something other than her knife to use as a weapon. She didn’t think it would be okay to try to get close and go for the stab. If they were armed better than her, or had some kind of magic, she would be courting suicide.

Bern constantly had trouble with the Shae and Alvas to the south of the city.

Sometimes you could see the Alvas’s tree towers in the distance if you were high enough. The citizens didn’t try to push on the monsters there, and they didn’t try to push up into the city except as exiles and problems for the local Guard.

Local adventurers and magical hunters took up bounties on anything that caused trouble in the city. They supplemented what the Guard could do against the natural magic of the other species.

There was a story of a man and a wooden dog saving people, but Raven didn’t believe anything like that. And what would he do against the suits trying to find her.

Raven climbed up the tallest building in the street, using an outside ladder. She swung over on the roof and looked down on the train station. She considered if she was being paranoid and thought not really.

She wished she had grabbed something to eat. Her stomach told her it wasn’t that happy with her. She sat down and tried to ignore the feeling. If the suits cleared out of the station, she could drop down and grab something from the food counter.

She sat down and closed her eyes. She could walk around to a local place and try to get something. She had time before the train came in.

She wasn’t going to try to stab five, or six, guys with her belt knife. Getting

something to eat was a better way to spend her time.

She nodded. She could drop down to the street. They didn’t know where she was. She could get to a place without being spotted.

Then she could come back up to the roof. No one would know she was there.

Raven went to the edge of the roof. She spotted a small bean place on the corner of the next block. She could see the station from the front of the diner. She nodded as she dropped down to the street.

She kept an eye out as she went to the diner. She looked at the small wooden menu with the beans they sold in soups and other dishes. She picked out a bowl of black beans and some rice from the west. She took a seat so she could see the street from the counter as the proprietor started cooking her food over an open fire.

The suits milled around as she waited. Maybe they knew she was in the area

somehow. Had they got that from Master Kobach? Was Master Kobach even alive?

She had to worry about herself. If they got to Master Kobach in the hospital, there was nothing she could do about it. If he told them the plan, there was nothing she could do about it.

She wondered what Master Kobach’s family thought about all this. Did they know? She should have told one of his sons what had happened.

She should send them a letter if she could get out of town.

Raven ate her bowl and paid with some money from the messenger bag. She nodded as the majority of suits left the station. She wondered if they would come back. How badly did they want the medallion she had taken for collateral? She decided that she could find a place to hide in the station now that the majority was going about their business.

She waited for her chance. When she thought most of the mob had cleared out, she skulked to the station. She took her time, using her dark clothes to blend in to the walls. She didn’t see any enemies standing around.

She searched the station with her eyes. One man stood watching the platform. He smoked a cigarette and seemed ready to wait for her to show up.

She decided that she could stand out of the way. If he looked her way, she wanted to be able to move where she wanted without having to stab him.

She found a place where she could stand next to a column. She looked around. It looked like it was just her and him. The main problem was he was standing within sight of the lockers so she couldn’t just grab her bag out of the storage space.

Raven kept an eye on the move as she waited for the train to come in. She needed to get her big bag, board the train, avoid the goon.

She didn’t know if she could do all three of her goals.

She wondered if she could get close enough to stab the man. That would take care of one problem.

She decided to stay in her hiding place until he did something to show what he wanted. If he was just there, then she didn’t have to engage. She could stay out of sight and wait for the train.

She remembered she needed a ticket to get on the train. Could she just pay a

conductor for a ticket? She didn’t know. She looked at the teller.

She looked at the goon. He seemed to be watching the front door. He did not seem to have an eye on the booth.

She might be able to buy a ticket if she hurried.

Raven kept an eye on her watcher as she walked over to the ticket seller. She checked her bag as she went. She pulled out the last of the money and asked for one ticket for the train. The ticket seller gave her a cheery smile and have a good trip.

She nodded before walking back to her column. The Keswick was alert now.

Someone had come in that he hadn’t seen. How had that happened? Then they had vanished from view before he could get a bead on them. Were they hiding from him?

He approached the column. She squinted as she judged his speed and line of sight. She could duck him if she kept moving around the column. She had no doubt now that he was looking for her.

She moved to the left as he approached. He stopped on the other side of the column to look across the front of the station. The ticket seller waved at him. He waved back with a suspicious look on his face. When he started toward the booth, she went around the other side of the beam. She could get to the lockers now if she hurried.

Did she want to get her stuff when she still had time for the train to arrive?

She decided to wait until the train was pulling into the station. She needed to be able to move without hindrance. A heavy bag on her bag was the opposite of that.

She needed something to lure the watcher out of the station where she could hit him in the head with a brick. That usually worked wonders for dealing with people she didn’t like.

Raven watched as the goon said something to the guy in the ticket booth. She was too far away to hear but he was obviously asking if someone had come in. And the answer was yes.

The guy turned around and took in the station again. She hopped around the column, hoping that he hadn’t seen her. She was glad that he was on his own. If the whole crowd had been in, this would have been impossible.

She also knew she couldn’t dodge him much longer. Eventually he would work out what she was doing, and then they would be fighting. Did she want to chance stabbing him and having to give up the train ride north?

It was up to him to make the first move. Anything after that was chance.

He came forward, scanning the station slowly. She kept still, listening. She drew her knife in case she had to stab him for some reason. She didn’t want to stab him because the Guard would be called, but she didn’t want him to take her captive.

And she wasn’t waiting for the Guard if she did have to stab this goon. That would put her in a position where she was trapped for anybody who would take the Keswick’s money to kill her.

She would rather head south and try her luck with the Alvas.

“Come out,” called the goon. “I don’t want to chase you around all night.”

Raven just listened to where his voice had sounded from. As long as he couldn’t see her, she was okay. Her main problem would be someone getting in the way for whatever reason.

“We can do this the easy way, or the hard way,” said the goon. “You can come out with the medallion in hand, or we can both wait until my relief gets here. After that, we’ll seal the station and just take what we want.”

She didn’t like that. Kobach had warned her they were hideous. Maybe she should think about stabbing this guy and leaving him for his friends.

“The Northern Express is five minutes from station,” said a voice in the air. “All

passengers get ready to board.”

Raven sensed the rumbling in the floor. The goon had to do something to change their status quo. All she had to do was wait for the train to arrive and get on while evading him.

A beam of light cut through the column. She ducked down. Another beam cut through a few inches below the first.

“You should have just come out,” said the goon. “Now the Guard is going to find a wrecked station and train, and a lot of dead people.”

Raven peeked around the column. She ducked back as a beam of light reached for her face. She noted that he was using a medallion like hers to shoot the beam. Maybe hers did the same thing, and that was why the Keswicks were desperate to get it back.

How did she use this to her advantage?

The rumbling of the train attracted her attention. Maybe she could use the medallion to board the train. She ran for the tracks. She could use the train for cover.

He shot at her with his medallion.