“Oh, he don’t know,” Dorna said. She had an angry look on her face. “Qown only joined up with us a few months ago because his church ordered it. I’m sure that Father Zajhera told him what he was getting into, but hearing it secondhand ain’t the same as being there.”

Ninavis scowled. “And if I ask you for her story, are you going to tell me it’s none of my business?”

“Well, it ain’t, is it?”

“You’re wrong,” Ninavis said. “It is my business. I may not have been born here in Jorat, but my husband and daughter were both Joratese. I know enough about the customs here to understand that little girl just strolled into my backyard and stole my people right out from under me. Kalazan’s loyalty is to her now. He may be this banner’s new baron, but I guarantee you she’s his new count.” She cocked her head. “Not real sure how the old count’s going to feel about that.”

Dorna rolled her eyes. “Don’t much care. Old bastard should have put a stop to Tamin’s foolishness before it ever got this far.”

Ninavis raised her hand. “That’s not my point. My little band of thieves are horse folk just like you. And if there’s one thing I know about Joratese, it’s that you’re too damn trusting. I’m not. I need to know what kind of person I’m following, especially when you tell me she’s cursed.”

Dorna sighed. “I weren’t there when they went to Lonezh, when she was a child. I’d gone to the Festival of the Turning Leaves that year and—” She shook her head. “They was just visiting her father’s cousins. Nothing special. Going to see a tournament. I don’t know what happened either…”

“But the stories say—” Ninavis started to protest.

Dorna raised her hand. “Except the legends ain’t true, what they say about Danorak. She didn’t outrun the demons to get warning out to the emperor. She was caught up in it same as everyone else, but the demons didn’t kill Janel. Instead, their leader, this demon prince, well, he decides to possess her body so he can summon more demons. Wore her like a riding dress. So there’s this demon army on a trek of death and destruction from one side of Jorat to the other, commanded by an eight-year-old girl. Even after the emperor went and stopped the march, he couldn’t get that bastard to give up his pretty new body.”

“Father Zajhera believes the demon wanted to force the emperor to kill a child,” Brother Qown offered.

“And who’s he again?”