“They won’t see anything more than they’d see if they stood out there in the dark themselves,” he said with confidence. “They probably won’t bother, so I told Kaw to come back to us at sunset.”

“That means we’ll actually get a good night’s sleep,” Jicks sighed.

“Unless they send the demons back instead,” he reminded her.

At sunset, Kaw came winging back in a leisurely way that suggested no alarm on his part. Jicks moved the hinnies so they could resume browsing and made sure they couldn’t wrest themselves free if overcome by fear. After some thought, Abi settled into her bedroll. After all, if the night remained quiet, she might as well get as much sleep as she could, and if the demons came back, she might as well be relatively comfortable while terrified. Jicks still had her second dagger, Stev had his sword, and hopefully Korlak had figured out some sort of protective magic he could use on himself.

As soon as the sun set, she closed her eyes.

She woke up in the middle of the night; by the stars, it was about midnight, which was when the last attack had taken place. She couldn’t help herself: She tensed up, waiting for a repeat of the previous night.

But nothing happened, and eventually she dozed off again.

They were all awake in the predawn. No one said anything, but Abi could tell from the furtive, restless movements under the blankets that no one could sleep anymore.

As soon as it was light enough, Korlak sent Kaw out again.

Finally, she spoke. “It’ll be today if they actually decide to check for themselves. So what do we do if they don’t?”

“Original plan,” Stev suggested. “With the added benefit that they might be more careless, thinking they’ve gotten rid of us.”

“But do you think they’ll still follow their own original plan?” Abi countered.

“They’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain.” Jicks seemed quite sure of this. “They’ll thoroughly destroy Valdemar’s reputation down here, and they’ll have gotten rid of four of her best Masters. They might as well. They’re following the same course they’d be taking to head home anyway.”

“It takes less time to wreck something than it does to build it.” That was Korlak, sitting up in his bedroll. “I’m going to get up and keep studying the spellbook. I’ll send Kaw back out to the wagon.”

“Dare I suggest something unorthodox?” Abi asked, “If they, and we, follow their original plan, that we make every attempt to avoid a confrontation? And, yes; I’m suggesting we don’t confront them, just go along fixing their messes.”

Jicks regarded her as if she thought Abi had gone mad. “That makes no sense.”