No one said anything for a moment. Evin let that sink in—he was right. They weren’t expected to survive. The wizards wanted them dead. They’d taken him from within the stifling walls of an orphanage and trapped him inside another wall, all because they thought no one would miss him. He felt like he might be sick.

“Why you?” Jorick finally asked. “If you were new and didn’t know much about this, why did they choose you to guide us?”

“Easy,” Bet said. “Though I am many years old I look the same age as a fourteen-year-old human, and so they thought with me along, things might go smoother. First the gnolls would attack the village, then one of the wizards would pose as an old hermit and guide you to the Practical Guide and me, and then—”

“Wait,” Jorick said, spinning around to face her. “You’re telling me that they’ve been in control of everything we’ve seen? Including the gnoll attack? But I thought the chimera …” Eyes widening, Jorick rounded and looked at the chimera. “Are you working for the order, too?”

The chimera’s lion head opened in a yawn and the goat head bleated. Resting its heads against its paws, its dragon head said, “Pothoc munthrek. Of course not. I’m a prisoner here too. I heard of the gnolls’ orders to attack the village, and I interceded for my own ends. I convinced them to form an army under my command. After they had brought me the villagers, I planned to interrogate them and find where the wizards are hiding. Of course that was before I discovered the clockwork constructs have no minds of their own. I became aware of that wrinkle only recently. I work for no one, especially not those who hold me captive.”

Bet cleared her throat. “I can safely say that no one ever told me there would be a chimera involved. I thought maybe it was just a late addition, and I did ask about it, but they wouldn’t tell me much.”

“So you didn’t know at first what they had planned for us,” Evin said. He pulled his knees to his chest and held them, looking past Jorick at the pile of bones in the shadows. “You must have figured it out after awhile.”

“Maybe,” Bet said. “But if it’s any consolation, the order is now furious with me. I … I grew to like you two—”

“You didn’t act like it,” Evin muttered.