Evie turns back to the Elder Company. “I did not come here by accident. I’m a retainer serving Gen Ultimo in the Capitol. This man’s name is Brio Alania. He’s the head of Gen Stalbraid and pleader for the Bottoms. He spoke out openly against the Legion. Then he found evidence of the crimes they’ve committed. He was illegally detained and sent here among you. I wasn’t sentenced to the Savage Legion, I came here to find him and bring him back to the Capitol to put an end to this, for all of us.”

They’re silent at first, then, as Evie might’ve expected, both Lariat and Mother Manai begin laughing uproariously.

“What was your crime, Mother?” Evie asks Manai, speaking over their reverie.

More than anything else, it’s the weight in her voice that silences Mother Manai’s laughter. She stares oddly at the younger woman.

“My eldest took ill. I stole a pork shoulder to feed the grandkids.”

“Only the condemned are supposed to serve in the Legion. The councils and the Gens don’t know what’s happening here. The Protectorate Ministry is conspiring with our taskers to conscript not just petty criminals, but all those without homes in the Bottoms and every place like it in every city in Crache. They’re doing the same to anyone who speaks out or looks into what’s really going on here, including Gen members. Brio has proof back in the Capitol. If he presents it in open session in front of the Arbitration Council he can put an end to this. You can all go home to your families.”

She can feel Brio’s eyes on her in that moment, concerned she’s overpromising, but there’s nothing to be done as she sees it. If the Elders and other Savages aren’t with them, they will never make it.

More silence, yet this time it isn’t followed by laughter.

“We don’t know where any of the Skrain or Savage encampments are,” Mother Manai points out. “They don’t exactly share strategy and troop movements with us. Whatever we do we’re like to end up stumbling on one.”

“We’ll stay away from the main roads and hike over country,” Evie says. “I can’t believe this camp was the only one hit in the night. That wouldn’t be a strong enough move for the Sicclunans. I’d lay odds their night soldiers struck every Crachian post, all the ground they gained in these last battles. They’ll all be scrambling to recover. We can use that.”

“Little Sparrow, I promise ya, we’ve all ’eard these notions before,” Lariat says, sounding like a gruff father placating a child. “I tell ya they’re just daydreams. Only they’re daydreams that’ll see your head on a spike if you take up chasin’ ’em.”

“What about the blood coin hunters?” Mother Manai asks Evie, ignoring Lariat.