“What if his familiar doesn’t connect him just to his magic?” I twirl my spoon through the thick meat stew we’ve been given for dinner. I’m hungry, but my stomach is still in knots. “What if his Spinner is connected to the spirits in the Dead Wood as well, and that’s what keeps them tied here? And since the Spinner is his conduit, Ronin also gets access to the combined power of all those souls?”

“Is that even possible?” Saengo is still much too pale, and her hand trembles as she reaches for her cup. She insisted on getting out of bed to eat, though. She’s doing what she needs to feel normal.

“The Soulless did it. He made himself more powerful by taking human souls. Maybe Ronin decided to do the same after defeating him.”

“But the Soulless was a … what was it again?”

“Soulrender.”

“Right. That. Ronin is a sower. He’s not even a lightwender.”

“But if he’s using his familiar, then maybe it doesn’t matter. Familiars channel magic, and they’re spirits themselves.” I immediately wince at my poor choice of words, but Saengo doesn’t react. “I don’t know how it’d work, but he must have figured out a way. That Spinner is the key. If I can break Ronin’s bond with his familiar, it might free the spirits that it’s anchoring here.”

“We’re leaving in the morning,” she points out. I’d expressed concern over her traveling, but there will be many skilled healers among the various camps in the north. None will have ever seen a human familiar, but with so many medically gifted minds, surely someone will have a suggestion for how to help her.

“Yeah, but so is Ronin. Once we’re settled up north, I’ll sneak away and come back here.”

Clearly torn, she chews the corner of her lip. “Should we ask Hlau Theyen for help?”

Theyen is going north as well, although he and his retinue plan to travel by a different means.

“I don’t think he’d approve.” Not after we were caught by Ronin today. “Besides, I’m still not sure how much we can trust him. We don’t know who sent that shadowblessed after me.” Whether Theyen wants war or not between the shamans and the shadowblessed, it can’t be ignored that he would benefit from one.

“But how are you going to make it through the Dead Wood without Ronin’s protection?”

“I’ve done it once already.”

“That was only a few hours. It’s a much longer journey to get from the north to here.”

“We don’t have any other choice. I’ll have to do it.”