“We’ve got our confirmation that one of the four fake Valdemarans was a Mage,” she replied. “Can you think of anything else we can do? The fact that the quarry has fled and wasn’t native to this city limits our options.”

“Let’s go to the third Mage, just in case he can tell us more,” Stev decided, after a moment of thought. “Unfortunately, he’s all the way on the northern side of town. It’s a long walk.”

Abi leveled a look at him. “I’m not a Herald. I don’t have a Companion. I walked the entire Fair about thirty times every day it was open,” she said scornfully. “You’re the softie used to riding everywhere.”

“Ouch.” He stepped back a pace. “Point to you. Let’s go.”

The northern side of town had not been one of the places where Abi had needed to go until now. And the closer they got to the area marked on Stev’s rough map, the more oddly at home she felt.

Because this was the mirror image of the part of Haven where her father had his pawn shop. She was absolutely sure that if the other three Masters had known where Stev was taking her, they’d have had hysterics.

Jicks, on the other hand, was likely to say, “Why didn’t you take me along? I miss all the fun.”

Stev’s white uniform would have drawn a lot of attention, so it was just as well that he wasn’t wearing it. As it was, he was getting second and third looks, given that his clothing hadn’t been worn to rags, then patched up to wear again. For that matter, so was she, and she had the distinct feeling that this would not have been a good place to wear a skirt.

She adjusted her tunic so both knives showed, at the same time that Steve put a hand on his sword hilt.

The bystanders quickly became uninterested. And those who might have been following them somehow found a reason to peel off in other directions.

“Not the part of town for an evening stroll,” Abi observed, trying not to inhale through her nose, because this part of town was a lot more odorous than its counterpart in Haven.

“Or any other time, actually. But at least in daylight we can get them to back off with a show of strength.”