[coronatiger]

24th of Varatga, year 412

O Ashtar, Mother of Snakes, Keeper of Death’s Door, hear my confession!

I could hear the others starting to get up, but it felt like I had just closed my eyes, so I rolled over and tried to ignore the noise. I thought it was strange that nobody woke me for a turn at the night watch. Some time later, Lunari called my name, so I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, said my morning prayer and got up.

At breakfast, we discussed the checkpoint we would reach soon. The tiny marble sculptures would fetch a better price in the Prince’s Cities anyway, so Baldrian’s partner dug a hole and buried them so they could retrieve them on their way back. They could only bring trouble if we took them along.

Baldrian wanted to open my box and pour the salt into less bulky leather pouches. I pulled rank, hissing in his ear that he didn’t want to do that. I sent a prayer to You, and felt that it would be all right if I left the box here, to be fetched later, when it would be easier to avoid the checkpoint. With the wagon, we had to follow the road. I declared that I would bury the box for now. Lunari agreed that it wasn’t important to deliver the gift immediately, but Grogg told him that he mustn’t lose his head. That made me suspect that they knew what was in the box. I fetched it from the wagon and noticed a faint odor rising from it. Odin and I had packed the head very carefully in salt so it shouldn’t rot. The box didn’t look like it had been tampered with, but when I broke it open, it was clear someone had removed the head and replaced it imperfectly on top of the salt.

I pulled out the head and held it up so everyone could see. Baldrian flinched, but I saw no other signs of surprise. On the contrary, it seemed to me that they were pleased that Klodrik Angdal was dead, even Baldrian. I explained that the killer, who I wouldn’t name, tasked me with delivering the head to Sam as proof of a completed mission.

Lunari offered to make a wooden statue and hide the head inside it with magic, in return for a kiss on the cheek, and a promise that I wouldn’t reveal him as a mage. While he worked, I told Baldrian I was a Fang, and that he should keep it a secret. As a fellow worshiper, he deserved to know the truth. He’d deduce that I had come on a holy quest to kill the man; I didn’t have to tell him the whole story. There were enough rumors flowing through the streets of Blekborg that he should be able to conclude precisely what had happened. I would have told him I was a Biter, but as a mere Bearer, he wouldn’t know the name given to those who survived metamorphosis.

I inspected the carving Lunari had made, smelling nothing through the wood. I pecked his cheek and repeated my promise to keep his secret.

Moving out, I seated myself in the front end of the wagon, resting my head on Baldrian’s shoulder while he guided the horses, trying to get some sleep. I felt safe there. Considering what I’d just told him, he would believe that touching me inappropriately would be tantamount to suicide. As I dozed off, I heard him gloating to Lunari. I didn’t care; those were just words.

I didn’t get any real sleep, but I pretended to be just waking up when we stopped at the checkpoint. I wanted to convey an impression of innocence to the soldiers there. There were about twenty of them, and they told us to take a seat on a bench in the shade while they searched the wagon. Xipil, Lunari and Grogg took their personal belongings off the wagon, but I left my backpack there. My weapons were hidden behind my back, under my cloak. Baldrian went off with the officer in charge, inside the building.

I leaned against Grogg, pretending to doze off again, but in reality, I watched carefully while the soldiers searched the wagon. They were very thorough with the weapon crates, but glanced quickly over my backpack. Then they came over and asked us to empty our packs on the ground. Mine had already been searched, so I remained on the bench while the others rose to comply. The soldiers looked over my companions’ belongings carefully before telling them to put everything back.

Baldrian returned and told us the soldiers wanted to escort us to Badahan to make sure the weapons didn’t reach the slave uprising. I told Lunari that I was worried about the attention the soldiers would give to a pretty, young woman like me. Could we possibly pretend to be a couple? I realized when I uttered those words that I might be sticking my head in the lion’s maw. When we got back up on the wagon, he put his arm around me, caressing by back and hip through my cloak. I felt him counting my knives, and he probably noticed that I wear cloth armor under my dress. One of the soldiers watched me with lust, although he tried to be inconspicuous. Seeing Lunari’s arm around me, he kept his distance.

We came to a village in the evening. The soldiers instructed us where to park the wagon, and to be back there early in the morning. We entered the inn and while Lunari rented rooms for us, he asked for information about stone circles. He was told about one near Sulla, but what little remains of it isn’t worth the trip, according to the villager.