Evelie glanced down at the poor fare on the table and lifted her lip in a sneer of contempt. “Oh, I very much agree with you, Herald,” she said, bestowing a glance on the mayor that made him shrink visibly. “I’ll see to this myself.”

•   •   •

To Abi’s relief the cement was curing nicely when they returned to the site. “Seven days,” Master Vance breathed. “Seven days, and we can start rebuilding the wall. These may be the longest seven days of my life. I swear, I will be looking over my shoulder every night for Karsite demons.”

“Well, that’s easily fixed,” Jicks said cheerfully. “Go round up every priest you can find in this city and have them bless your sleeping quarters. They’re demons, right? Should be some god out there that can keep ’em away.”

Master Vance cheered up immediately. “By Jadus, you’re right! And while I’m at it, I’ll talk to that formidable smith. Maybe she has some blessed iron we can hammer into the beams to keep things at bay.”

He, Beyrn, and Padrick went to find a city map showing where all the temples were. Jicks heaved a sigh of relief. “Let’s get to the wagons and get supplies sorted out,” she told Abi. “The sooner we’re out of here, the better the chance we have of catching up to the imposters before they realize they’re being tracked. And track is what I’d like to do. I’d like to get caught up enough to them that we can actually track them and then take them on ground of our choosing.”

“Seems solid,” Abi agreed, and they retired to the dusty carriage house to sort through the contents of both wagons, deciding what they needed and what they could leave for the others.

“There’s no point in leaving any food that requires cooking, It’s not that the boys can’t cook, it’s that they don’t care what they eat. So they’re as likely to serve burned or raw food as anything decent.” Jicks just shook her head. “I don’t know how they do it. I swear they’re half goat.”

“I think it’s funny that Vance, Beyrn, and Padrick all said they didn’t care what they ate, and I think they didn’t, until they got here,” Abi replied, shifting a bag of oats from the wagon they were leaving to the one they were taking.

“There’s a difference between monotonous but decent, plain food and shitty food,” Jicks replied bluntly. “The little talk I had with the innkeeper? I learned a few things. That mayor ordered us to get the stuff that not even the lowest of the inn staff was eating. Our rations were literally leftovers no one else would eat, made into soup, and I’m surprised none of us got sick.”