“No-oo, not exactly,” Lesley assured him, calming his alarm. “Just—I’m Landwise, as was my da, and my da’s da, and his before him. I can feel it, Kordas. It’s like a great big lump of poison sitting out there to the east and south of us. All my life, it’s been spreading, getting stronger, and that spreading and strengthening has gotten a good lot worse in the last five years. Eventually, something’s going to break, and when it does, I don’t want to be here.”

“But this has been your home for—as long as it’s been my family’s,” Kordas protested, with a touch of surprise. He had not expected this result. He’d expected he would have to argue with the Squire, apply some pressure, at least, and some persuasion. To hear that Squire Lesley was perfectly willing to load up his pigs onto a barge and flee into the unknown on two days’ notice . . . well, it took him aback.

He was not Landwise, which was a very, very old form of earth-magic; it didn’t confer any particular sort of power other than the ability to read the health of the land and do some modest predictions about crops and animals. But if Lesley was reading that much awful in the Imperial Capital from this far away? Well, things must have accelerated for the bad quite a bit in the years he’d been gone.

“Right, then. If you need hulls, come get them as soon as you have a chance. I’ll leave word you’re to have them for free.” The Empress wandered away, her needs satisfied for the moment, and lay down so her piglets could suckle.

“That’s a generous offer,” said the Squire.

“You have a lot of pigs,” he pointed out. “It’ll cost you a fair bit to convert the hulls to pig-barges.”

“True, that,” Lesley admitted. He straightened and looked up and over to his fields. “I do believe,” he continued, “that my shelters need replacing. Too small.”

“Ramps?” asked Kordas.

“Aye. It’ll get ’em used to going in and out so they’ll be ready on the day.” He turned to Kordas and winked. “Always good to think ahead.”

“Always,” Kordas agreed. “Send one of the lads to me if your Landwise sense tells you anything I need to know.”

“That’s a promise,” said the Squire. “Now, the day’s getting on, and none of this is getting our work done. Good to see you, Kordas.”

That was a clear dismissal. “Good to see you as always, Squire,” Kordas replied, touching two fingers to his hat in farewell.

And with that, Lesley went off on some other errand of his own—possibly to see about getting those extra hulls moved to his fields—and Kordas went on his way.

5