Abi had always taken cement for granted in Valdemar. The components were generally available, separately, if not premixed. In fact, the actual formula for it hadn’t been taught in her Artificer classes. After all, why would an Artificer need to know how to make it, since every mason already did? Now she got a quick lesson in how it was made, and she marveled at Master Vance’s depth of knowledge. He even knew how to build a kiln!

But most of her time, as the components of cement were created, was spent in trying to learn about the four men who had impersonated Valdemarans, by loitering all over the city—just as Stev was. He’d immediately gotten a suit of the local clothing, and so had she—boy’s gear, and women’s. They each went where the other could not, at least not without being conspicuous.

What she mostly learned was that the imposters had not been housed in the Town Hall but had paid for rooms in an inn near the wall, staying only two nights. Naturally, she posed as a chambermaid to get a look at those two rooms, but the imposters had left absolutely nothing behind. Their stay had been very brief. They had arrived in the evening and hired the rooms, presented themselves to the mayor in the morning, inspected the cracked wall that afternoon, applied their “treatment” the next day, stayed overnight, and left sometime before dawn. By the time the town was awake, the damage was done. Riders had been sent out to look for them of course, but they had completely vanished.

She and Stev pooled what little information they had, while the Masters burned the clay to get the final components they needed.

They sat across from each other, conferring at the table they used for eating meals, in the echoingly empty Great Hall. Light poured in from second floor windows on both sides, touching the banners of all the city Guilds hanging from the rafters. “I haven’t learned much more,” he admitted. “Whoever these men were, they spent as little time as possible talking to the locals. Most of their interactions consisted of ordering meals. They were even highly secretive about their ‘wall-healing potion,’ but that’s most probably because they didn’t want anyone to know it was just water.”

Abi drummed her fingers on the table. “Did my father tell you about any would-be warlords down here, or anyone looking to increase his holdings or consolidate these people under his rule?” She paused. “Or hers. Women have as much ambition as men, after all.”