Dkehpmz took over the rest of the conversation, clearly outlining the terms of what he wanted done, what would happen if we failed to do so, and what he intended to pay us. In advance, Koyl and I were paid twenty ngoywngeyt, and the caravan was to leave in two days. Koyl stayed quiet in his seat the rest of the time, only speaking up to acknowledge his assent and mumble a quick thanks for the money. Before we left Dkehpmz insisted that I wash myself off, and had the guards bring some water into the room in which the right took place. While I was removing the blood from my clothing he held up one of the dismembered forearms on the ground and complimented me on my swordplay. I didn’t reply.

Back at the inn, Koyl and I made our way to the double room quietly to not raise any suspicions. Once we were inside, Koyl flopped onto his bed, completely limp, and began breathing deeply. I laid down on mine and closed my eyes, the lantern light providing no barrier to restful sleep. As long as he gets us past the walls, it doesn’t matter, I thought to myself, I can ditch the caravan if it becomes an issue, it’s not as though I care about this man trying to come after me. I heard Koyl mumbling something, but his face was in his pillow and I couldn’t make out the words.

The strange jerking feeling of waking up alerted me to the fact that I had been asleep, and I opened my eyes. To my surprise, Koyl was already up and sitting on his bed, looking at the wall across from him. Having spent time with him on the ship, I knew what his body language and expression meant. Honestly, I sighed, maybe he’s just overly sensitive. There’s no way a human should be as anxious and neurotic as he is.

“I was really going to do it, you know?” Koyl said, knowing I was awake. He probably heard my breathing change, I figured.

“Do what?” I asked, masking my boredom. At least he isn’t going on about that torture room again, I thought.

“Kill Dkehpmz,” Koyl replied.

“Of course,” I said, sitting up. “I assumed you were going to as well, which made it confusing that you decided not to.” Koyl gritted his teeth and shook his head.

“Do you know why I decided not to?” Koyl asked. I didn’t reply, because I knew my reply didn’t matter. “I saw the arms of that one guy you… anyway, I saw them on the ground, and it reminded me of Vehrehr. Reminded me of seeing my arms after I woke up in the inn. Then it was like I could see myself standing there with a sword over someone, ready to kill, and I don’t know. I just stopped, and I knew I wasn't going to do it. Then the znahdeyvtih started to wear off and I put those things together: the memory and not killing him.” There we go, it always comes back to that, I thought, his obsession with a few days of torture is baffling.

“Next time, you should try to keep your nerve,” I advised. “I recall telling you about following through on threats. If Dkehpmz had known you were weak, he may not have called the guards off and instead could have taken you hostage.” Koyl was absentmindedly listening, holding up his hand in front of him and flexing its fingers.

“I knew you wouldn’t understand,” he mumbled, “but I guess I needed to say it anyway.” Reaching into his tunic, he pulled out some medication and inhaled it. His demeanor changed instantly, and the strange emotion on his face vanished. “We need to go meet with the caravan master, so let’s get going,” he said in a much more even tone of voice.

“Food first,” I said, “fighting last night gave me an appetite.”

After eating, Koyl and I went out to the north end of town once more. At some point during the night it had rained, leaving the stone roads slick and creating an earthy smell in the air that covered up the normal city stink. There are far more children here than in Vehrehr, I realized as I watched the street traffic. Small humans darted between the legs of passersby, tossing balls of leather and cackling in high voices. Their parents must be foolish to let them out like this, I thought, ignoring the noise of their screeches.

The north gate was even more of a mess than the last time we had seen it, with hundreds of humans milling about in a traffic jam between covered wagons, animals for transport, and scatterings of cargo. Koyl deftly navigated between the crowd and I followed behind him, struggling more than he did because of my larger size. At least he knows where he’s going, I thought, I can’t even see the signs on the buildings through all this chaos. My left arm bumped one of the rhino-croc animals as I walked by, and it chuffed angrily in my direction. Its breath stank horribly, and my face scrunched up in an effort to block my surprised nostrils.

Finally, Koyl stopped and I saw we were in some sort of line. The only way I could even read the line was that all the humans were facing in the same direction, whereas facing directions appeared randomized around us. Up ahead, the door on the front of an unlabeled building opened and let two people out, then two more people inside, and the line moved forward a meter or so.

“This is the place?” I asked.

“Looks like it,” Koyl replied, “it’s between Zherlb and Ihngeyv, just like he told us.” Koyl pointed to the signs on the adjacent buildings, which read Zherlb Transportation and Ihngeyv Livestock Equipment on the left and right respectively. I frowned at the fact that I hadn’t seen the signs before they were pointed out. Around two meters to my left, a wet slapping sound alerted me to the fact that one of the rhino-crocs had just defecated in the street, and humans began to move away due to the smell.

“Disgusting,” I muttered as the line shifted.

“Get used to it,” Koyl replied, “Vehrehr has little in the way of ngaozm because it’s a port on an island. Around here, they’re pretty common.” The human who evidently owned the animal used a shovel to pick up the feces and put it into a barrel nearby. Probably for use as fertilizer, I noted.

“Are they really just called ngaozm?” I asked. I knew the word, and had mentally translated it to “beast” or “creature” based on the context it was used in, but it seemed strange. Koyl let out a short hissing laugh.

“It’s short for naatngaozm,” Koyl explained. “I guess technically they’re named yahweytpawt, but they’re the only kind of naatngaozm in this part of the world, so everyone just calls them that.” So it’s “cargo beast/creature” or “pack beast/creature”, I translated, and the species name is something like… very-big-horned-lizard. It was becoming easier with time to figure out the etymology of most Uwrish words, but the ones which were clearly based on an older version of the language and not simply a combination of smaller words could be difficult.

“I see,” I replied. The line moved again, and we stepped further toward our goal.

After what felt like several hours but was probably closer to just one, the door to the building opened again and Koyl and I were allowed to enter. The interior of the lobby was dank, barely lit by a single sputtering lantern, and looked decrepit. In the back left corner, the roof was dripping water into a bucket. A displeased-looking man with piercing green eyes and long, blonde hair scanned us from across a counter, assessing us and our equipment silently.

“No, not you two, let the next ones in,” he said in a deep voice. Without waiting for a reply, he turned back to the papers on his desk and began writing.

“Jhae’aaley weeps tears of gold upon those who know not their value,” Koyl said, reciting the password Dkehpmz told us. There was silence for a moment, and Koyl and I glanced at each other. The man at the desk paused, then let out a long groan before looking back up at us.

“You two?” he asked. “Seriously? I get told I'm getting replacement guards, and he sends me... what even are you two?”

“Freelance mercenaries,” I answered. “We were instructed to meet you here to discuss our responsibilities.”

“I’m Zoyvrao’er,” the man said. “You’ll be working for my caravan during our next trip. We’re heading out to Owsahlk in two days, so be here before sunrise. Since you two are supposed to be... specialists, you’re also going to be helping me select the best candidates from a bunch of last-minute applications today.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Koyl scoffed. “We’re not spe-”

“Of course you’re not,” Zoyvrao’er snapped, “do you think I’m an idiot? The fact that I have to act as though you aren’t two vaoth being forced up my ass by Dkehpmz to make sure I don't stab him in the back is an insult to my intelligence. You can tell that ngaazmayjh that I am not impressed, and if his men pull anything like this crap again his precious little contract will be void. However, since it is not void at the moment, you have the obligation of selecting the final candidates from the pool I will provide to you.”

“Understood,” I replied, not really caring much about the outburst. “Do you want us to start the work now, or should we come back later?” As a reply, Zoyvrao’er reached under the counter and pulled out a stack of papers, smacking them down onto the desk deliberately for effect. Looks like around two hundred sheets, I estimated. “Do you have a room where we could work?” I asked, “Preferably something with less ambient moisture.”

“Through the door behind me, second on the left,” Zoyvrao’er grunted. “I don't give a damn who you choose. Just remember that, if they screw up, you are going to be the ones held responsible for it. Therefore, choose wisely.” I picked up the papers and Koyl followed behind me as we walked deeper into the building. The hallway was less damp than the lobby, but the floor was still wet in places. I opened the door to the room Zoyvrao’er had specified and saw a small office with curtains draped along the walls and four desks crammed inside. I split the papers roughly in half, put one pile down on a random desk for Koyl, then sat at the one beside it and put the rest in front of me.

“Do you know what we’re supposed to be doing here?” I asked Koyl once the door was closed.

“Not a clue,” he replied, sitting down and pulling the top paper from his pile.

“Zhehpzh Zehperz, River Snakes, specialist in tracking and-” I began.

“Useless,” Koyl muttered without even looking up from his desk. We had figured out the job fairly quickly. Each sheet of paper was some kind of application, in one of at least a dozen formats, for a guard position on the caravan from a member of a mercenary crew. Some were also from freelancers, but oddly they were the least well-written and gave poor impressions of the people they related to. Koyl and I were supposed to filter out the good from the bad, and so far there was mostly bad.

“We might have to just take some from Steelheart,” I suggested. Steelheart Company had the best candidates overall, with most of them having relevant experience in guarding listed along with higher internal ranks. It makes sense considering their level of entanglement with government, I thought, though I'm not sure if it's the same in this province as it was on the island.

“No, we can’t risk it,” Koyl replied. “What if they recognize you? What if they recognize me?”

“You don’t have to be so paranoid,” I replied, “I doubt the low-level individuals are kept apprised of what happens in other offices.” My assumption was purely made based on what I had seen on Vehrehr, which was to say that most workers just took contracts and weren’t involved in the actual structure of the company.

“And you didn’t have to bash Dawp’s teeth out of her skull and then lock her in a box!” Koyl snapped, staring daggers at me. “What were you thinking!? Did you honestly believe they’d let you get away with that? I wouldn't be surprised if they sent a hit squad after you!”

“She insinuated that leaving her alive would make that less likely,” I explained.

“Marginally less likely,” Koyl muttered in apparent agreement, still looking frustrated.

“She was going to report me to the guards,” I explained, “she didn’t leave me much of a choice. She also attacked me, so the beating was largely self-defense.” I don't believe she expected me to be as skilled in combat as I am, I thought, besides the incident with Thaajh, I don't believe she ever saw me fight.

“What was she going to report you over?” Koyl demanded. “Just the fire? I doubt the guard would have even cared.” They seemed to care when they showed up, I thought.

“There were… Steelheart assets in the building at the time of the fire,” I replied, choosing my words carefully. Koyl tapped the table nervously, furrowing his brow, then he exhaled.

“How many?” he asked with deliberate calm.

“I believe she said three,” I replied. “There were also several people inside who were under the age of fifteen, which further upset her.” Koyl looked back at the table and said nothing. I watched as he kept going through the papers silently, sorting them into two piles. “She thought you were dead,” I finally added, “Dawpvaol, I mean.”

“Then it’s your ass on the line, so it's your decision,” Koyl replied. “If you want to go with Steelheart, you go for it. Just know that as far as they're concerned, I don't know anything about you and we met in Pehrihnk, Got it?”