“Jika and Kuma are coming with us,” Prevna announced.

“No.” My response burst from me before I had a chance to really think it over and the Pickers both winced. I wasn’t sure if I could really say I regretted it though.

Prevna gave me a half-amused, half-exasperated look. “They are. They don’t have anywhere else to go right now and if we take them on as temporary firestarters than the men can’t kick them out.”

“There’s no such thing as temporary firestarters.”

“They don’t know that.”

I gave her a look that clearly communicated how little I wanted more people added to our little party. That if it wasn’t for Nine Claws’ order I would have left Tike and Deamar behind as well. The lack of fire and knowledge of the inner valleys might not be the worst trade off to not have to travel with imbeciles.

“We can’t split them up.” I wanted to argue Prevna’s point but I let it go based on firm her tone was. Prevna rose her eyebrows slightly and gave me her knowing smile. “And they can use the common blessing. If we don’t have that we’ll eventually have to use the lava like the men to make the resistance mixture or succumb to the fog.”

It wasn’t difficult to imagine that scenario going poorly. Nor did I have any desire to make use of the unnatural molten rivers of stone. Surely, they should have cooled at some point or run out of molten rock.

If the men had spoken truthfully about the potent mixture they had given us we had six more days at most until we’d need to take it again. I knew how to make the less effective version after watching Malady make it but it was also true that without fire or the special seeds we’d be helpless against the fog. I had a few seeds from when we found the hidden storage den but based on the amount I’d seen Malady use they’d be maybe enough for one person. And I didn’t have grounder grass. We’d either need Malady and Nine Claws to return on the early side of a week to get the less potent mixture from them or convince the men to give us some of their supply.

Or get our hands on more seeds and grounder grass and make some of our own. My hands itched for that option but that meant having at least the Pickers or the boys with us to make fire.

I crossed my arms. “Fine.”

Prevna’s smile widened into a grin and she turned to where Kuma and Jika had been pretending not to overhear our discussion on the other side of our small camp. “Get ready. We’ll be leaving soon.”

They were already packed and ready to go, which was a good thing since I didn’t have much patience to wait for them.

Deamar showed up with Tike and Klus trailing along behind him not long after Prevna and I wrapped up our debate. The leaders’ son still looked displeased at being reduced to an errand boy and Tike trudged along as if he was waiting for a storm to drop on his head at any moment. At least they had packs and were ready to leave as well.

Deamar stood mulishly off to the side like he didn’t want to somehow admit weakness by saying the first word. Tike walked a few steps past him until he seemed to realize the other boy had stopped and Tike stood awkwardly between all of us. He froze there with Klus curled around his feet.

He cleared his throat. “So…what are we looking for?”

“A relic.” Prevna took the lead and her gestures and tone got more theatrical as she continued, “Your knowledge of the valleys will help us find a piece of history lost to time: a funeral pyre ever burning and never lit in a land hollowed out by grief.”

Kuma and Jika looked a bit surprised by the description while Deamar scoffed and Tike scratched his head.

Tike’s gaze drifted to the glow the great lake of lava pressed through the fog. “Are you sure you’re not looking for the lake? Lots of people died there in the past.”

I blinked. Prevna had a moment of shock as well before she recovered, “Well, that would certainly make our job easier, but we’ll have to search through the valley to make sure nothing else fits the description.” She glanced at me. After a moment’s hesitation I nodded back at her. She knew about my separate search and if we had to be stuck with all the hanger-ons we might as well use them to their full potential. “We’re also looking for a woman. We’re told she doesn’t leave these mountains and that she’s long-limbed. Taller than anyone you’ve ever seen.”

Tike went pale and opened his mouth to speak but Deamar cut through whatever he was about to say with a scoff, “There aren’t any women in the inner valleys. You can go look beyond the fog and stop wasting our time.”

A part of me wished I could slap him or get a good punch into his gut but I restrained myself to sharp words instead, “Then Tike must know something you don’t. How about you keep your mouth shut and don’t waste our time?”

Prevna gave me that half indulgent, half exasperated look again for she gently asked Tike, “Did you think of something?”

His eyes darted between all of us but his nervousness only helped to loosen his tongue. “There’s…a tale some of the older men tell when they’ve had too much to drink about a spirit of the mountains. A woman with wrong proportions and obsidian eyes that’ll drag you into a living grave if you get too close to her cave. You’re not—” He had to swallow to clear his throat and keep going, “—you’re not trying to find her, are you?”

“That’s a fairytale,” Deamar snapped. “She’s not real.”

I didn’t want to admit that he could be right even if he did have a point. Not all the myths and legends I knew were true as far as I knew, whether that be in part or in full. But, on the other hand, given all things I’d experienced and the fact that these people chose a winged beast as their master, I didn’t think a spooky woman was that far fetched. And such a woman could be the elusive friend Esie spoke of—it made more sense than the Lady of Calm Waters sending me after some completely ordinary person.

I skewered Tike with a look, “Do you know where to find her? What places everyone avoids?”

He flinched back and stammered out, “I-I just know the story, but there are places no one likes to go. Like the swamp two valleys over or the Nesting Grounds during mating season.” Interestingly, he seemed to gain confidence the more he spoke about the valleys. “In this valley, if we have to, we could look at the Throttled Stones or the Night Cave. There’s also the Broken Ring and The Mountain’s Tears that might have to do with the relic you want to find.”

He rattled off the names of a handful of more places as they came to mind and I committed them to memory. Deamar looked more and more sour as Tike continued on. I wasn’t sure if because he didn’t have the same knowledge of the valley as Tike did or if he simply didn’t like the amount Tike was sharing with us.

In the end, we decided to check out the Night Cave first since it matched the closest with the story Tike had shared. The Mountain’s Tears wasn’t far from it either so we could start off our investigation into both objectives right away. However, before we could finally leave the village, Tike brought us to the village’s springs to replenish our water supply. There weren’t many sources of water in the valley so we had to make use of the opportunity while we had it.

The water from the springs tasted odd, but not foul, so I reluctantly filled my waterskin from a small pool by a cave entrance. Apparently, there were larger, hotter springs in the cave but I had no desire to search them out as that was where the villagers bathed.

After that we followed along the valley’s edge after Tike. He seemed to have the most practical knowledge of the valley. I was privately surprised that Deamar wasn’t insisting on being in charge simply because of his pride, but, perhaps, his pride was also hindering his orders to act as a guide for women he didn’t like and thought of as intruders. Instead, he trailed a few steps behind Tike, but still in front of us so he didn’t have to look us if he didn’t want to. Prevna positioned herself between them and Kuma and Jika while I took up the rear. I knew it was smart for us to take up the protective positions, and I preferred Prevna in the middle of the group than at the back, but I didn’t like that it meant I couldn’t speak with her without at least two people overhearing every word.

I kept my silence while Prevna teased stories out of the others and shared a few of her own. We learned that the supposed mountain spirit was called Minhel by the villagers and that the more superstitious said that she could look at you and know your deepest desires and that was how she could lure her victims into her trap when she didn’t just snatch them.

Prevna embellished a tale from when we had been at the Rookery and what it was like to fly on the back of a giant bird. Tike seemed intrigued by the birds and nauseous at the thought of flying while Deamar clearly thought she was making the entire thing up. Jika was more interested in flying than the birds and Kuma mostly kept quiet like me.

Then Prevna got to telling about the fight we had on our way through the inner valleys and Tike and Deamar stopped in their tracks to stare at her.

“There’s no way you fought a swamp wretch with that large of an entourage and came away unharmed,” Deamar accused.

“Well, Jika got bit,” Prevna said while Jika obliging help her arm up.

Deamar continued as if Prevna hadn’t spoken, “And there’s no way two people can take down a swamp wretch on their own. Our best hunters—”

I finished slipping around the group and swept his legs out from under him before pinning his neck beneath my knee on one side and my knife on the other. I finished his sentence as it ought to have gone, “Are not whisper women. They are not trained to fight monsters and do not hold the goddess’s blessings.”

He gritted out, “We don’t need anything of hers.”

I snorted. “You’ll never be worthy enough to find out if that’s a lie or not.” Prevna brushed a hand against my shoulder and I shoved myself up and off the idiot. “If you don’t want to be kicked into the dirt, I’d suggest you clean out your ears and listen before spewing out whatever comes to mind.”

I’d had enough of his blathering. It wasn’t even about baiting him into a fight like I had with Ulo more than once. It was just annoying to repeatedly watch him try to assume authority that wasn’t his and act like his opinion was the only one to matter. It didn’t seem like he even had skill or knowledge or accomplishments to backup his assertions, just the blind belief that as the son of his tribe’s leaders he was someone to listen to. Even Juniper, for all her struggles, had put in the work to give substance to her authority over Ento and Idra as the child of a tribe leader.

Less than a day and I was already ready to beat reality in Deamar’s mind, not that I thought he’d actually comprehend it. Things might be twisted in this valley but that didn’t make common sense any less important or a whisper woman’s skill, earned through endless trials and training, any less true. He had no right to judge when he knew nothing and would have gone on being blithely oblivious if he could.

Klus hissed at me as Tike looked like he thought I was about to shove him into the dirt next. So, to add insult to injury, I smiled slightly at him and said, “You’ve been very helpful so far, Tike. Let’s keep going.”

We started walking and it took a long minute before I heard Deamar pull himself up and sullenly trudge after us. No doubt he was debating whether going back to the village and facing his fathers’ disappointment and wrath was worth it to no longer have to deal with us. Jika gave me a wider berth than normal as we walked which put her up next to Prevna. I saw her murmur something to Prevna while fearfully glancing at me and Prevna just chuckled before replying.

However, it wasn’t long before Prevna drifted back through the group to bump shoulders with me. “Let’s not break the group before we even get started, hm?”

I could see that she understood where I had been coming from, but this wasn’t one of the times she was in full support of my temper. Even if ignorant, self-important fools was one of the easiest ways for me lose control of it.

Still, I rolled my eyes back at her with a slight smile and she shared the smile before Prevna worked her way back up to her spot behind Tike and Klus.

The rest of our hike to the Night Cave was uneventful much to the group’s relief even if I half-hoped a random monster would burst through the trees and swallow Deamar before I had a chance to turn around and fight it.