A candle stone lit the inn room, picking out the ridges of the scar on Mumu’s face, the one she’d gotten from the kalihchi bear. Even with the stone’s warm glow, the scar was pale from the tension in her expression and the fierceness in her eyes.

The hunters sat in a circle with her, like wolves gathered around their leader. The dolbecs stood guard outside the door, while Ikfael’s water barrier blocked the windows. The otter herself sat beside me, her warm body leaning against mine.

Miri and Dura were there too, and they exchanged glances with the rest of us. We all worried about the precautions Mumu had requested; we waited for her like only hunters knew how to wait.

Mumu finished gathering her thoughts. “I’ll start with worst news: the levy against our Hunter’s Lodge is six eistaak.”

We gasped—the amount was triple our worst expectations, the equivalent of three hundred antaak—and we reeled from the shock.

“Knight Ithia was... wrathful. That was how our grandmaster described her—incensed at the loss of a powerful magic-using family so close to the Long Dark. All the good Voorhei has done in the past has been swept away, replaced by her desire for revenge.” Mumu’s fists clenched, then she forced them open. She patted her own knee, as if telling herself to calm down. “The land knight’s pronouncement shocked even her closest advisors, and it’s our Silasenei’s conjecture that there was a hidden arrangement between Knight Ithia and the North Wind’s family, something valuable enough that its loss incited her anger.”

I asked, “The grandmaster didn’t know what it could be?”

“Silasenei seemed... not as surprised as the others were described to be. That was all I could tell—all that she allowed me to see of her thoughts.”

“And she has no guidance for us?” Dura asked.

Mumu raised her hand in the sign for stop-danger-ahead. “There’s more.”

Fear crept onto the faces around me, and my own stomach sank at the prospect of more bad news.

Haol voiced our apprehension for us: “What else?”

“Originally, Knight Ithia also demanded ten hunters—” Mumu swallowed “—a full two hands to be pressed into service.’

We hung on her words, on one in particular. I asked the question we were all thinking. “Originally?”

“The lodges objected, and not just ours and our allies. Others complained too at the land knight’s overreach.”

It took a frustrating handful of seconds to put together the meaning of the last word. It was actually a phrase in diaksh, literally translating as “reaching past the food into the fire.”

Mumu continued: “The lodges argued that since we weren’t directly guilty of the crimes, enslavement shouldn’t be required as long as compensation was provided for the value of the lost lives.”

I thought, The lodges are afraid of setting a precedent. Aloud, I said, “They’re worried the land knight will do this again in order to raid their members.”

Light bulbs switched on around the circle, and the despair that’d gathered began to ease.

“That’s probably right,” Mumu said, “but Knight Ithia fought back, arguing that those responsible for Borba turning into a murderer must be removed from the lodge, for the safety of all.”

“But Inleio’s dead,” I said, stating the obvious.

“Yet there is a lodge master, and they must take responsibility.”

Haol jumped to his feet. Somehow, he’d also managed to grab his bow. That was when I realized I was standing too and my hand gripped the hilt of a knife.

“She wants to steal you,” Haol said.

“Not just me,” Mumu said, looking my way.

The lightning qi inside me crackled. My meridians had been tempered, so usually all that meant was a mild, ongoing irritability, but my vision went white with how suddenly my anger blazed.

“The stupid... I... just... how can she even justify—”

Ikfael slapped me across the back. That shocked me into looking at her, and I saw her fur standing on end. Teila on the other side me had backed away, but her hair was lifting up from the electricity in the air.

I grappled my anger down, and took a series of long, deep breaths. Cool down, calm down, flipping out won’t do any good.

I brought the air rune to mind, aspected some mana, and ran it through my meridians. Then, I did the same thing again, but with water mana. The combination worked together to relieve the scratchy, itchy feeling running through me.

My lightning qi was a huge benefit, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything, but I really did need to find a way to increase my tolerance to its side effects. I’d thought I’d eventually acclimate, that there was more I could do to temper my meridians, but maybe it was time to pursue a different angle on the problem. I couldn’t just keep wasting mana to lessen the strain.

But first: “You and I are to be sold into slavery,” I said.

Mumu shook her head, and blew out a breath. “No, we’re saved from that too. The lodges wouldn’t hear of it.”

“Thank the gods,” Haol muttered.

“But, in turn, Knight Ithia increased the punishment to eight eistaak.”

Dura said, “You could buy our whole village and all the land around it for that much.”

“Not just ours,” Miri said, stunned. “Voorhoos and Voorsowen too.”

Thirty years—if every taak earned from the sale of the eilesheile were devoted to paying, it would take almost that long, and that wasn’t taking into account any potential interest. The lodge would be crushed by the debt. We’d be forced into selling off members.

Mumu’s voice was bitter as she said, “Then the Healer’s Lodge, in all their kindness, offered to lessen the burden. According to Silasenei, they made a case that since Eight found both the Anesthetic and Healing Water spells, he was born a healer. Although he has hunting talents, those talents are a twisting of his original path.”

“They want a valeisten,” I said.

“Oh, they do,” Mumu said, “and they offered three eistaak in exchange for you. And since you’d be a member of their lodge if we agreed, then control of your spells would fall under their care. The dispute between lodges would be resolved and life would become normal again.”

A fire ignited within Mumu eyes. Bits of silver glinted deep from within her. Previously, the hunters had been anxious, fearful even, but in that moment, their expressions turned dangerously dark. Instinctively, we leaned forward to listen more closely.

“They want a normal where we live and die based on whether we can afford to pay them,” Mumu said, her words laced with scorn. “Never, never, and never again! We are hunters—the knives and arrows, the eyes and ears of our people in the wilderness, and our path will not be bound.”

“We’re with you,” Haol said. “My bow is in your hands, but what do we do?”

“The forest is dark ahead, so we must find the path through. We have seen signs of it—the tournament, for example. There are also the bounties from the kalihchi bear and golden slumber, as well as the lodge’s funds and hopefully loans from our allies.”

“We’ll find a way,” I said, my heart beating hard, caught up in the moment.

“That’s what hunters do,” Mumu replied. “We only have to trust in our path and in each other.”

###

Over the course of the evening, we pieced together the order of events, as well as a couple of interesting tidbits: After her testimony, Aslishtei had come straight to the inn to make an offer on me, and she’d done it with a splash so as to scare off anyone else who may have been interested. In doing so, she hadn't stayed at the trial long enough to hear the land knight pronounce the punishment, which had clearly been a miscalculation on her part. More importantly, Aslishtei had also missed the lodges arguing against the land knight, including the healers making their own bid for me.

That the Healer’s Lodge three eistaak outbid Aslishtei’s two was a remarkable coincidence. Either that, or the healers had had someone at the inn that night spying on us. If that had been the case, though, why had there been no more assassination attempts? Unless they’d given up on trying to kill me in favor of buying me?

One relevant point that Aslishtei had neglected to mention: When she’d reported that almost all of the land knight’s advisors had argued for excluding us from the trial, she’d also been one of them. In other words, she’d wanted us at a disadvantage and vulnerable, so that we’d be tempted by her offer. Instead of trying to build goodwill with us, she’d sought to swoop in and steal me away.

That had been another miscalculation, because from everything I’d heard—no matter how powerful and wealthy Aslishtei’s family was—the Healer’s Lodge was more powerful and wealthier. She must’ve learned only after the fact that a bigger predator had set their sights on me.

Honestly, given how angry the land knight was at the deaths within the North Wind’s family, it was unlikely that Aslishtei siding with us would’ve changed anything. Still, it would’ve been nice to have an ally within the Knight Ithia’s inner circle. And who knew—once I was old enough, maybe I would’ve found her nieces, Krenya and Wisastu, interesting.

It was all a damn shame, and I supposed I should’ve been flattered that people were willing to pay so much for me. Instead, I was pissed off, and it wasn’t just the itching of my meridians at fault.

My lodge faced an existential crisis, and we stayed up until dawn planning our response.

###

Voorhei’s hunters grabbed a couple hours of sleep before splitting up.

Dura and Miri went to Scathta to find a printer capable of making promotional flyers. Before they left, though, I gave them the idea of including tear-off portions. A person bringing one to the tournament would have their entrance fee discounted, as well as be entered into a raffle.

My hope was that the search for flyers would turn into an informal scavenger hunt and build buzz for the event. Along those lines, once Dura and Miri arranged for a printer, they’d hit the inns and bars around town, spreading word to the hosts. Gossip about a tournament, one with an incredible prize, would surely catch their interest, and they’d pass it along to their patrons.

Mumu and Haol planned to start at the Hunter’s Lodge to report our plans to the grandmaster. Afterward, they’d head to the Soldier’s Lodge to let them know about the tournament and to hire security guards for the event. Later, they’d visit the artisan lodges, including the alchemists, and if they had time after that, they’d go to the land soldier barracks.

None of the aforementioned work was expected to be easy or simple—every step required some level of negotiation and/or persuasion—but the trickiest parts of the plan were left to the remaining hunters.

Tegen was going to be our poster boy for “Ikfael’s Boon,” so he stayed behind at the inn to work with Yuki on refining his qi. Teila was there too in order to feed him qi with her Woodwise talent.

Normally, transferring qi from person to person resulted in tremendous inefficiencies, but not when Professor Yuki acted as an intermediary. The result was a thin-but-constant stream to feed the refinement process.

They wouldn’t be able to finish in a day like I had—not unless a huge, free source of qi suddenly presented itself—but the result should be the same. And if they needed a push at any point, Ikfael was there and willing to contribute her qi. Her participation in the process was, apparently, included in the exchange to support the tournament.

Ideally, Tegen would also learn how to cast mana magic, but that was less of a sure thing, even with Yuki’s help. Our Tegen was motivated, though, and he’d make the effort. Even if he failed, the consensus among the hunters was that people would still come out in droves for the prize; it was that attractive.

As for me, I went to visit Uncle Kila to arrange for a loan. Agath and Moon were with me, as were the guards loaned by Kila’s family. I was, however, dressed in my own clothes and carrying my own gear.

There was no way in hell I’d go looking to borrow money while also wearing the lender’s clothes. I needed to present myself as accomplished, reliable, and most-of-all not poor. Ideally, Mumu would’ve joined me, but she was needed elsewhere, and by going alone, I’d be emphasizing my role as Ikfael’s liaison. The tournament would nominally be hers, after all.

The walk to Uncle Kila’s house felt painfully long, my thoughts jointly occupied by looking for assassins and going over my talking points. I must’ve tugged on my sleeves a dozen times, and my stomach felt queasy, even though I’d barely eaten that morning.

This wouldn’t be my first time looking for money—in my previous life, I’d helped write grants, pitched projects, and gone to the bank many times. I’d hated putting my future in other people’s hands, but it’d been part of the cost of doing business. The difference now was that the consequences had never been so dire.

Yuki turned their attention from Tegen to me to check on how I was doing. I felt their care, as they ran a bit of water mana through my meridians to cool me down. Just stay focused. We’re with you; just call if you need us.

I know you are, I said, sending affection their way. It was tinged with nervousness, but all my thoughts and feelings were. How’s Tegen doing?

Slow and steady wins the race.

Descending into aphorisms, are we?

They have their place, Yuki said with a chuckle.

Before I could respond, the leader of Kila’s guards, a man named Grasset, stepped closer. “We’re almost there.”

We were at the boundary between the Scathta and Taakta district, and the buildings nearby were prosperous but also focused on practicality. The guard pointed at a walled three-story building set back from the road. As we got closer, it looked like the wall extended to include two more buildings behind the first, the last of which looked like a warehouse.

A guard stood outside, and opened the gate for us. Inside the compound, the stone was painted white with gold and blue trim. A sheet of copper covered each of the double doors leading inside, with an egret spreading its wings etched into the metal, a fish in its beak. Another guard stood by the doors, and she nodded to her comrades accompanying me.

There were no windows on the first floor, but the upper ones were dotted with them—the glass tinged slightly green behind decorative-but-no-doubt-still-functional bars. There was also no store on the first floor, like I’d seen in so many other merchant buildings.

Kila’s family were middlemen—selling goods directly to the lodges and other merchant families. From what he’d told me, eighty percent of their products were shipped straight to Ganas Hakei and Sugrusu Hakei, the two closest coastal cities. The deal for eilesheile with the Alchemist’s Lodge was one of the rare exceptions.

The guard opened the door for us, and as we trooped past, she said, “Master Imsiikila is waiting for you. One moment please.”

We waited briefly in a foyer with doors on each of the walls. Figurines of animals stood on pedestals at the corners. A beautiful rug softened what would otherwise have been an overwhelmingly stony space. An egret was woven into the rug’s design; it was at rest in a pool of still water—a tasteful choice.

The door to our right opened to reveal a boy about my age. “My name is Kulakuta; you can call me Kuta. Imsiikila is my uncle.” As he spoke, I also saw him gesture to the guards, to which they presumably responded. I didn’t know for certain, because by the time I turned to look, they were already starting to disperse. “You won’t need protection while inside this house, so the guards can rest, including the dolbecs. Our people will show them to where they can refresh themselves.”

Agath sent me a questioning look, and I nodded to let her know it was okay. Uncle Kila and I were going to be talking about some sensitive topics, and as much as I liked her and Moon, it was for the best if they didn’t listen in.

So, the guards headed left, and Kuta led me to the right, through the door he’d originally come through. It led to a sitting room in blue—a rug the color of sapphires; tapestries of ships at sea, the waves frosted white; and cushions like cornflowers dotted with white and yellow beads.

Uncle Kila stood in front of a low table; his expression was as serious as I’d ever seen it. He came forward to greet me, and grabbed both my hands as he spoke, “Oh, Eight. I don’t know what to say. We heard about the land knight’s decision.”

The news must’ve thrown him off his game, because I saw more clearly into his spirit than I normally could’ve. There were the hard, clear lines that I expected but also a tumultuousness that didn’t seem like him at all.

Well, to be fair, Albei’s bigshots were moving against us.

“You can guess why I’m here,” I said.

“I can,” he said, gesturing towards the table.

As we sat, Kuta served us mugs of something hot and steaming. Then, he stepped outside, closing the door behind him.

The drink was like atole: ground corn cooked in milk, spiced with the bark of the warm friend tree, and sweetened with honey. In many ways, it was too cozy a drink for the conversation we were about to have, but it soothed my stomach and I welcomed the sugar hit.

“Then let’s get straight to it,” I said. “Ikfael, the spirit of the land, would like to borrow eight eistaak from your family.”

Kila sputtered. “What, the spirit of the land? Not you?”

I nodded, and leaned in. “It’d cause too much trouble for you if it was me or the Voorhei Hunter’s Lodge, but if it’s Ikfael, then you’re covered. Your family will need to make a deal with her directly, but you and I can work out the details first.”

“But what about collateral, and how will she be able to pay us back?”

“The collateral is my source of eilesheile. It’s yours if we... if she’s not able to pay you back. As for how—” I grinned, the hunter rising within me. “We’re going to hold a tournament, an annual event, and just wait until I tell you the prizes...”