Emerahl had learned long ago that the easiest method of finding the secret ways of a city was to befriend the youngest and poorest residents. The grubby, cunning children of the streets could tell you more about its underside than the adults who ruled it. They knew how to be invisible and their loyalty could be bought cheaply.

She had sought them out the day after her narrow escape in the market. Finding a small square in the poorer quarter of the city she spent a few hours watching and listening to the activities around her. The locals weren’t fools, and she only observed two successful pocket-picking attempts.

When one of the boys slouched past her, she met his eyes squarely.

“That’s a nasty cough you’ve got there,” she said. “Better lose it before the weather gets cold.”

The boy slowed and stared at her suspiciously, taking in her well-worn but mostly clean clothes.

“What you care?”

“Why shouldn’t I?”

He stopped, his eyes narrowing. “If you did, you’d give me some coin.”

She smiled. “And what would you do with it?”

“Buy food—for m’sel’ and m’ sis.” He paused. “She got the cough worse than me.”

“How about I buy the food for you?” she suggested.

He did not answer. She looked away. “Only way you’ll get anything out of me.”

“All right. But no weird stuff. I’m not going anywhere with you but the market.”

So she followed him to the local, smaller market and bought him some fruit and bread, and treated them both to thin pastry pockets full of freshly grilled meat. She noted him slipping the last few bites into a pocket, and guessed his story of a sister was true.

“For that cough,” she said, “you and your sister need a bit of this.” She purchased some decongestant from a herbalist after smelling it critically to see if it did contain the herbs it claimed to. “A spoonful of this three times a day. No more, or you’ll poison yourselves.”

He stared at her as he took the bottle. “Thanks.”

“Now, you can do me a small favor in return.” He scowled. “Don’t worry. No weird stuff. I just want some advice. I need a place to stay for a few days. Somewhere cheap. And quiet, if you know what I mean.”

That night she found herself the guest of a small gang of children living in the basement of a burned-out house on the outskirts of the poor quarter. She found that Rayo, the boy she had helped, did have a sister ill with a serious chest infection, so she brought out her own cures to treat the illness more aggressively.

It did not take long for news of the priests’ search for an old healer woman to reach the children. They confronted her with the news and their suspicions the next day.