“Eh, there’s a council going up at the big tent, neh? My captain’s all right, though. Some of the other sergeants, they have to put up with real turds, if I may say so.”

Bai laughed. “You won’t hear me arguing. Whew! What I had to put up with at the temple, I tell you! Heya! Look there. Is that your captain?”

The man was coming back at a trot, looking tense. He hailed his sergeants, and the man talking to Bai made his excuses and hurried over. Bai beckoned to Shai, and they moved off into camp.

“Something’s up,” she said in a low voice. “A council of war this late in the afternoon. The way he came running back to rope in his sergeants. He’s got orders.”

She led Shai back to the perimeter of camp where the camp followers and merchants had set up. When they arrived at the ragged tent she’d purchased for shelter, the children pressed forward to touch both her and Shai, as if making sure they were still alive and not ghosts.

“Where’s Ladon?” she asked Veras and Eridit.

“A fellow came by wearing a badge marked with silk slippers, Edard’s clan, the ones with river transport.”

“Why in the hells would river transporters badge their clan with silk slippers?” Shai asked.

Veras rolled his eyes. Bai smiled.

Eridit just shook her head. “You don’t know the tale, do you? Anyway, Ladon went off with him.”

Bai frowned. “Did he say where they were going?”

“In fact he did. The abandoned Green Suns tanning yard. Not far from here.”

Bai nodded. “I know where it is. That’s where I meet Tohon to exchange news. The hells! I’m going after him, make sure it’s not a trap.”

“Heya,” said Shai, “I forgot. Edard told me that the password is ‘splendid silk slippers.’ ”

“Edard told you?” Bai looked at him with a narrowed gaze, then shrugged. “It’s worth trying. Veras, you’ll come with me. You two stay here with the children. Be alert. Keep them ready to move at short notice.”

Eridit’s eyes widened, and her look of alarm was real, not feigned. “What is it, Bai?”

“May be nothing. A feeling that’s prickling my skin.” She grabbed a pair of slender assassin’s knives, concealed them under her kilt, and strode off with Veras hurrying after.

“Now what?” Eridit asked.

Shai stuck his head into the tent, where the children sat and lay crammed together, watchful as they stared at him. “Form into banners. Pack up everything.”

“What’s happening, Shai?” Yudit asked.

“Maybe nothing. Stay quiet, but be ready to move if I give you the signal. And for that matter, eat up now. Finish off the rice and nai. We can buy more tomorrow.”

The children began gathering up scraps of clothing, eating utensils, leather bottles, and sacks of rice. He came outside and sat on the bench he’d built from scraps of lumber. Eridit twitched her ass down beside him and leaned flirtatiously against his shoulder.