Chapter 9
Kiiren was a fascinating city. There were only really two ways to get there, and by sea through one of the many ports was probably the easiest. That being said, if you weren’t on a friendly boat it was nigh impossible to even get close to the city. Over the hundreds of years Kiiren had stood as an independent, sovereign nation, they had built up the fiercest and deadliest navy of any nation in the world. Piracy was all but unheard of in the Calmia Bay, and Curian knew better than to try to fight a naval battle with Kiiren’s fleet.
The other way to get to Kiiren was from the north, by land, which was far more difficult than by sea. Or it had been, anyway, before the invention of the train. North of Kiiren was the Arpasso mountain range filled with notoriously tall and treacherous mountains. Until quite recently the only safe way to go from Astor to Kiiren was to go around the mountains, which took months. Going up and over the mountains was possible but it was extremely dangerous. High altitudes and year around snow made it a treacherous journey for people already but of course the mountains were just teeming full of dangerous animals and creatures from the Abyss. Dragons infamously lived in the peaks of most of the mountains that made up the range.
Twenty years ago, however, there had been a breakthrough. A literal one. The Astorian government, the Kiirenese government and the Curadon had struck up a deal to punch a hole literally through the mountains so that trade and transportation between the two nations would be faster and easier. Part of the agreement had been, of course, a promise that Astor would not use the tunnel to invade Kiiren and vice-versa. The tunnel had taken nearly a decade to complete, but eventually it had been carved out, tracks had been laid, and now there was a convenient tunnel joining the two nations.
Of course, you could still go around the mountain. There were still towns dotting the two routes that went around the mountains, though they weren’t nearly as populated as the towns that had sprung up on both the Kiiren and Astor sides of the tunnel.
We disembarked around dawn, and I wasn’t in any way surprised to find that the town of Spiti had grown quite a lot even in the three years since I’d been there. It wasn’t nearly as big as Kiiren of course, but it was steadily growing bigger and bigger as more and more people and products made their way through the tunnel in both directions. Arpasso was such a big mountain that it took nearly half a day just to get through the tunnel in one direction, so many people naturally stopped in Spiti to rest before finishing their journey down to Kiiren or up into Astor. I was sure that the town on the Astor side of the tunnel, Niril, was much the same. I’d only stopped there once, over a decade ago, and hadn’t stayed long.
I discovered that the next train heading west along the mountain wouldn’t be arriving until closer to lunch time. The trains running east and west ran twice a day as opposed to the trains running to Kiiren and Niril, which ran at least four or five times per day most days. Not as many people used the east and west trains nowadays, it seemed.
I was exhausted and I could tell Rasha was too. We’d stayed up all night on the train, after all. I looked around for suspicious people and actually did spot a few. Cario and Byars were probably concentrating their efforts on looking for us back in Kiiren, but at least someone had been smart and sent lookouts here. I was willing to bet it hadn’t been either of them, but there was still the Astorian government to consider. There were probably people looking for us in Niril, too, as well as all the major ports in Kiiren.
To my great relief, though, none of the suspicious looking people seemed to recognize either of us. One looked directly at us and just kept looking, oblivious. The disguises were working perfectly.
Spiti was a town famous for two things, really: the train station and the inns. Spiti was the town of Hospitality, or at least that was what they were trying to brand themselves as at least. The main road that the train station was on in particular was packed full of inns, from the seediest looking cheap motels to the highest class, extremely extravagant hotels and everything in between. I had been to Spiti a handful of times but never stayed at one of the inns before. I’d never really needed to.
I didn’t want to stay at one of the cheap ones, even only for a few hours. Staying at one of the crazy expensive hotels was tempting, but that would only draw attention to us. No, we needed somewhere right in the middle, not sketchy but also not lavish. And, preferably, somewhere we could get some breakfast. And maybe some gossip.
It didn’t take long before we found someone all too willing to tell us all about the many various inns of the town. We maybe made it five feet out of the exit of the train station before we ran into a newspeddler.
“Fancy a newspaper, travelers? Only two silver bullion!” she asked. She was tall and wiry, probably a teenager, and had an unknowable amount of blonde hair tucked under her traditional newspeddler cap. Ah, perfect. The newspeddlers always had opinions about the local shops and restaurants, and she was bound to have opinions about the inns and taverns in a town like this.
“I’ll give you a gold bullion for some expert advice,” I offered, holding up the bullion. For a second she looked eager, but very quickly schooled her face back into her professionally chipper newspeddler face. She was good for someone so young.
“And what advice are ya needin’, travelers?” she asked. I handed over the bullion and took the newspaper from her. I tucked it into the infinity bag for later, but couldn’t help skimming the headline on the front of the paper: “Baron of Kmeer assassinated, war in the North to follow”. Interesting.
“We’re looking for some good breakfast, some good conversation, and some comfortable beds. Preferably in that order. Got any recommendations?” I asked. The newspeddler’s eyes lit up.
“You’ve come to the right gal for advice on that, my lady! Now, I can see for myself that you’re a generous spender, but let me tell you this: don’t go to the Rose Chateau or the Bellberry Castle, they overcharge like crazy and the food’s not as good as you’d expect. Now, if you’re wanting good breakfast there are a few options, but good conversation?” The newspeddler stopped and gave me an appraising look. “What sort of conversation are you wanting, exactly? Looking to do some adventuring or treasure hunting on Arpasso, perhaps?”
“Just wanting to stay abreast of the news of the day. Make sure there aren’t any dangers or monsters in the direction we’re going,” I answered, smoothly. The newspeddler nodded.
“Okay. If that’s the case, I would suggest you go to the Spring Rabbit. It’s the best damn bakery on the peninsula if you ask me, but at minimum it’s the best in Spiti. Fresh eggs and milk every morning and the pastries are divine. There are a few rooms upstairs, too. It’s busy this time of the morning, people from all over town and tourists stopping in. You’re bound to hear all the news there.”
“Sounds good. Mind pointing us in the direction?” I asked. The newspeddler gave us excellent directions which led us down the main road a few blocks to a large building at the end of the road. Literally, the end of the road: the building was nearly up against the mountain. Entering, we found the place was indeed packed. Almost every table was full of people of every race, color and creed it seemed. A waitress guided us to sit down at the long wooden bar that dominated the space. We sat down at a corner that was right beside a window. The window overlooked the field behind the building where a herd of cows were grazing. A chicken coop and part of a huge garden were just visible from my seat. We ordered breakfast and I went ahead and paid for a room for a few hours. We hadn’t been followed, and nobody was looking at us suspiciously. I had a feeling we’d be safe to have at least a nap here before catching the train.
As we ate I tried to listen for interesting conversations. The only thing out of the ordinary that people seemed to be talking about was the apparently brewing war in the north. Astor had two countries that sat at their northern borders. There was the Republic of Sanan that was sort of north-west of Astor, and there was Parnese, which was north of Xian. I was able to glean that this Baron of Kmeer was from somewhere in the Republic of Sanan, probably near the Astorian border. I was almost tempted to get out the newspaper and read up about it, but I wanted to save that for the train ride later in the day.
Eventually the bartender refilled my coffee, which was quite good and was certainly giving the coffee from the jar a run for its money.
“If you’re not busy, mind answering a few questions?” I asked.
“Well miss, I’m always busy but I don’t mind a few questions. I need a break anyway,” the bartender answered.
“What’s the news around town lately? Other than this business with the Baron of Kmeer and the war in the north, anyway.”
“That’s all anyone’s been talking about today,” the bartender said, with a sigh. “The news came in late last night.”
“Ah, we were on the train from Kiiren. That’s why we didn’t hear,” I replied.
“Other than that…well, some Astorian folks have been making the rounds in town. They’re looking for two people, not criminals apparently just quote unquote “persons of interest”, whatever that means. I’ve gotta wonder if these people they’re looking for are connected to the assassination?” She sighed. “What a mess.”
“Did they give a description?” I asked. The bartender blinked at me. I took a sip of my coffee. “Sorry, I’m just nosy.”
“They asked about a pale man with black hair and blue eyes and a tall woman with purple hair,” the bartender answered. “Black haired men are a dime a dozen, but purple hair? I for one would have noticed someone with purple hair. It’s kind of noticeable. Like your green hair, if I’m being frank, miss.”
“This is from a spell,” I said, with a little laugh. “I like my hair to match my outfits when I can.”
“Ah, so you’re one of those, eh?” the bartender asked. I had the grace to look embarrassed. It was only about 75% faked. “Well, nothing wrong with that, but it does make you stand out quite a bit. Then again, if you’ve done nothing wrong I suppose it doesn’t really hurt to have strange colored hair. People might give you some looks, but nobody in their right mind is gonna mistake you for one of those folks that has green hair naturally.”
“Right,” I replied, as I finished off my eggs. They were pretty good. Definitely fresh.
“But purple hair, though,” the bartender continued. “Must be from Kiiren. Kiirenese kids today… I guess they just don’t know about why it’s taboo to have purple hair. Or they don’t care, maybe. Either way, I doubt this woman the Astorians are looking for is naturally purple haired.”
“Right,” I answered. Rasha was giving me a look, but I pointedly ignored him. “How could you tell they were Astorians, though? There are a lot of different people that live in Astor.”
The Bartender rolled her eyes and gave a little chuckle. “Oh, it was easy. They came in all loudly announcing that they were from the Astorian government on a very important mission, flashing badges and everything. They even all had matching gray coats. Made a huge ruckus, is what they did.”
“I wonder if they’re still around,” I mused.
“Who knows, really? They came in yesterday, and then the news about the Baron of Kmeer came in right after. Uncanny timing, especially if it was a coincidence,” the bartender replied. One of the other patrons sitting at the bar started to wave at her for her attention.
“Thanks for the gossip, it was nice chatting with you,” I said. I slid a gold bullion across the bar toward her, and she blinked at it and then at me, startled. “The meal was delicious, too. Who do I speak to about my room?”
The bartender flagged down one of the waitresses for us, and the waitress escorted us upstairs to the second story and to our room, putting a key in my hands and bowing politely to us before scampering off to take care of more customers. I did manage to let her know that we would need a wake-up call shortly before midday. The second floor was much, much quieter than the first floor. I got the sense that there were only people in the two or so other rooms out of the dozen available. Ours was at the end of the hallway, and the window overlooked the same barn and chicken coop and garden, only we could see them better from the elevated point of view. A lot of bars and taverns in Kiiren had their own little garden and some even had chickens, but very few had the space for cows. Fresh, non magical milk was a luxury there, but not so much here.
“We’re definitely having lunch here before we catch the next train,” I informed Rasha. He’d moved over to the window to inspect the scenery. He nodded, turning to face me. He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms.
“This business with the Baron of Kmeer has me worried,” he said. I put the Infinity bag in a chair and when it creaked concerningly I moved it to the floor instead. I made my way over to the bed, shedding my shawl and stretching my arms above my head. I heard quite a few pops and crackles, but it felt great. For the first time since I won the auction, I finally felt like I could relax.
“I don’t know anything about Astorian politics, I’m afraid. At least outside of how they interact with Kiiren anyway,” I replied. Off came the hat and boots, too. I turned to Rasha. “Hey, can you look out the window again? I want to change into something comfortable. Even if it’s only for a few hours, a nap’s a nap, right?”
“Oh, sure,” Rasha said. There was a brief flash of what might have been a blush, but he turned away too quickly for me to confirm. I quickly stripped out of the outfit Gilliam had sold me and took off the necklace, finally letting my hair return to its natural color for the first time in a while.
“So I think Kmeer is near the Astorian border to the west, right?” I asked. I had a nice, comfy set of pajamas stowed away in the Infinity bag, which I quickly put on.
“Right. Sanan is a big country, so if someone from Astor really did assassinate the Baron of Kmeer this could get very bad very quickly,” Rasha replied. “They have a huge military and a lot of allies. This could lead to a much bigger conflict than just a skirmish between Sanan and Astor.”
“I see,” I replied. I was finished putting on my pajamas. “You can turn around now if you want.”
Rasha did turn away from the window, opening his mouth to probably continue to talk about the brewing war only to stop short and stare at me.
“What?” I asked.
“Your hair,” he said. I could see gears turning into his head, facts sliding into place. “So the people that the bartender mentioned the Astorians are looking for were supposed to be us, right?”
“I thought you knew they were looking for us? And I thought you knew I have purple hair,” I said. Surely he’d seen it when I’d changed hair colors with the necklaces?
“I… didn’t really notice your hair before, I’m afraid,” he said. He bit his lip. “It’s...naturally like that?”
“Yes,” I answered, with a sigh. “And I don’t really know why. Both of my parents are human, as far as I know at least, so there’s no reason it should be purple, and there’s especially no reason it should be like this.” ‘This’ that I was referring to was the very odd way my hair was a dark purple color at the top of my head and gradually faded to a lighter purple at the ends. I’d met people who had bleached their hair with chemicals and then let the roots grow back in their natural color, and their hair had looked like this. Most people assumed I had for some reason dyed my naturally lilac hair the darker purple to be a rebel or something. My hair wasn’t like that at all, as far as I could remember it had just always been like this.
It wasn’t uncommon for those with a touch of fae blood to have lilac colored hair, and of course it was easy enough to make your hair that color with magic or dye. The darker purple was always what got me in trouble. If I wasn’t magically altering it, I always wore a hat and stuffed the darker purple parts under the hat. It wasn’t so much that I cared about being mistaken as someone with very specific Abyssal ancestry or anything…it was really stupid, anyway. Even if someone in my family tree had banged some abomination from the Abyss, it’s not like that was my fault. No matter how many times I explained it, though, it didn’t help. So I hid my hair as much as possible, because that was way easier than dealing with racists.
I could see in Rasha’s eyes that he was reassessing me. I decided to speak up before he did.
“If it bothers you, I’ll put on a necklace or put it up under a hat.”
“It doesn’t bother me,” Rasha answered. “I just… it’s a little hard to believe you aren’t at least part Abyssal. Are you sure you aren’t? Because the hair and the way you just lifted that guy’s huge ax and how you can dive into the Abyss, I mean…”
“I’ve never met my dad, so it’s probably his fault,” I said, with a nonchalant wave. “But even that wouldn’t explain why it does this.” I gestured to the lighter colored ends of my hair. “My hair’s been like this since I was born,” I said. “No matter how long or short I wear it or if I dye it.”
“Fascinating,” he said. I blinked.
“Fascinating?” I asked. Of the very few people that had seen my actual hair color, only one other person had ever said anything nice about my hair, and I wasn’t thinking about him, now or ever again. Most people were neutral at best or uncomfortable about it. And at worst, well...
“Yes, fascinating,” he said. “So, it’s always half lilac and half purple? Even when you cut it?”
“Yep,” I said. I grabbed a tie out of the Infinity bag and started braiding it. “Honestly, I’d keep it short all the time but I like having options for hairstyles and it’s much easier to just hide the darker parts.” I finished the braid and curled it into a bun on the back of my head. “And it’s a nice color, it’s just a shame that everyone gets so worked up about it. I either get accused of not caring about the taboo or flat out being a Witch or Witchborn or a Demon.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Rasha said. “I would have expected a city like Kiiren to be more tolerant.”
“You’d think so,” I sighed. “Now, I’m gonna lie down and get a little nap. I suggest you do the same, you look exhausted.”
“I suppose. Um, where should I sleep? If I must I’ll sleep on the floor, but—” Rasha said, and I rolled my eyes.
“There’s plenty of room in the bed, Rasha. We’re both adults, and you know I could kick your ass if you tried anything,” I answered. He nodded and carefully approached the bed.
“I don’t suppose you have anything I can change into in that bag of yours?” he asked.
“Fresh out of pajamas for guys your size,” I said. “Can’t say I’ve ever needed them, sorry.”
“Would you mind if I at least removed my shirt to sleep?” he asked.
“Sure,” I said. “Just stop talking and get a little rest, okay?” I pulled back the covers and slipped under them, laying down on my side facing away from Rasha. I started to drift off almost immediately, barely even registering it when Rasha climbed into the other side of the bed.
Those few hours of sleep were absolute and total bliss. Sadly, though, all good things must come to an end. A knock on the door and a chipper voice announcing our wake-up call did indeed wake me up. It had been a good few hours of sleep but I certainly didn’t feel up to my usual 100%. Neither did Rasha, judging by the darkness of the bags under his eyes as he woke up. In my groggy state I forgot not to openly stare at his bare chest. He was thin, probably because of how poorly he’d been fed while he was captive… but not so thin that he was unappealing. He needed some meat on his bones, sure, but he’d clearly been in good shape before he had been kidnapped.
“Um, Spikora?” Rasha asked, and I blinked, looking up at his face. He didn’t look uncomfortable, per se, but he was definitely blushing.
“Sorry,” I replied, with a yawn. “Need coffee. I get a little bit stare-ey after I wake up.” Well, that wasn’t exactly a lie…
“Oh,” he replied, and did he sound a little disappointed?
He went to watch the cows again while I got dressed. I put on the green and brown outfit from before and donned the necklace to change my hair back to green, but decided to leave it in the braided bun. At Rasha’s request I dug his green and brown outfit out of the Infinity bag, and just to change things up again I handed him the necklace that would make his hair slate gray.
Our seats at the bar were open, so we headed over and sat down. The bartender recognized us right away and came over with a bright grin.
“Afternoon,” she said. “You look like you need a coffee.”
“Yes, please,” I replied, barely stifling a yawn. “And whatever your lunch special is, I’ll take it.”
“One coffee and a soup and montagon combo coming right up,” she said. She turned to Rasha. “And for you?”
“I’ll take the special too, and some more of that delicious green tea you served me at breakfast,” he requested. “Oh, and some milk.”
“Yes, some milk!” I said, excitedly. “Your milk here is so delicious.”
“You’re from Kiiren, then?” the bartender asked as she jotted down our orders, flashing a disarming smile. I nodded. “Fresh milk is apparently a pretty rare commodity there.”
“It is. Oh, and we’d like some pastries to go. We’ve got a train ride ahead of us,” I said. She nodded.
“Any pastries in particular?” she asked. I grinned a wide grin.
“Surprise us,” I said. “A dozen or so should be enough.” A thought occurred to me: Koreo would love these. Sweets were a major weakness for her. “Actually, make that two dozen.” The bartender nodded, leaving quickly and coming back just as quickly with two mugs, one filled with a nice, sweet smelling green tea and one filled with their amazing coffee.
While not nearly as busy as it had been earlier in the morning, Spring Rabbit was still quite busy with people eating lunch. I’d made a quick sweep of the patrons when we’d first gotten downstairs and hadn’t noticed anybody looking suspicious, but I glanced around again just to be safe. There was a table full of housewives eagerly exchanging gossip about the love lives of their children. There was a table full of a group of what could only be Astorian tourists. Judging by their accents they had come from Cormick, or at least somewhere near there. Three guys in armor that could only be members of the local Watch were busily eating montagones and discussing their early morning patrols.
Our montagones were your standard fare, crisp lettuce, a juicy slice of a vibrant purple tomato, a fried egg and a thick chunk of cheese between two slices of obviously fresh milin style bread. The soup, however, was anything but standard. It was a tuber soup, but with a creamy broth instead of the usual meat-based broth. It was amazing. Fresh milk was truly amazing. I found myself idly daydreaming about moving out of Kiiren and buying some cows just to have fresh milk on hand more often. It was a nice daydream, but a quickly passing one. Tending to cows would be a lot of work, and I didn’t want to be responsible for more than my few houseplants, to be honest.
“Nothing new to report,” the bartender said, leaning on the bar as we ate. I nodded. “No news from the north has come in, and those Astorian folks didn’t come back, either. The biggest scandal that’s broken in the last few hours was someone’s kid eloping with her boyfriend. Well, I guess he’s her husband now.”
“Thanks for the update,” I said between bites of the montagon. It may have been your standard montagon but it was still really good. The freshness of everything really elevated it.
We finished our meals, paid, and I was presented with a two-tiered wooden box that indeed contained two dozen of an assortment of pastries. They almost looked too good to eat, lined up in neat little rows in the box. It was actually too big for the bag, so I had Rasha carry it as we made our way back to the train station.
“Do you really think we’ll eat two dozen of these?” Rasha asked, looking into the box at the pastries. I laughed.
“Of course not. Some of them are for Koreo,” I said. He nodded.
“And this Koreo, she is the other person that you have, um, purchased, correct?” he asked.
“Bingo, and she’s the reason we’re going west and not east,” I said. We were talking quietly, of course, but I still looked around to make sure nobody was listening.
“I had wondered about that. I thought you were just trying to do the opposite of whatever our, um, pursuers are expecting,” he said.
“Well, it’s been a while since I’ve been to see Koreo, and she’ll be able to help us. And also, yeah, nobody’s expecting us to go west. They probably aren’t even expecting us to go east, to be honest,” I explained.
When we entered the train station I almost immediately noticed a group of three people, all wearing gray coats, standing in a triangle and carefully watching the crowds. They glanced at us but we didn’t appear to catch their attention at all. It was likely that they were those Astorian agents that the bartender had mentioned. I paid for our tickets on the soon to be arriving westbound train. We had a few minutes still, and there was a conveniently empty bench near the three of them. I went to sit down and Rasha followed my lead. They glanced at us again but yet again seemed to just ignore us. From where we were sitting, I could hear their conversation loud and clear.
“This is getting us nowhere,” said the voice of a woman with a thick west Astorian accent. She sighed. “How important can the Krauze man possibly be that we’re here people-watching while our country prepares for war?!”
“You really think we’ll go to war over someone as unimportant as the Baron of Kmeer?” a second voice, also with a thick west Astorian accent, answered.
“It’s clear to me that the government of Kmeer wanted that fat, incompetent oaf out of office, and they’re blaming us,” said a third voice. His accent was a little harder to pin down. “But I agree, Dima. This is such a waste of time. Far too many of us are in Kiiren searching every damned inch of the city from what I’ve heard. The only clue we’ve found is that she contacted her landlord and asked him to water her houseplants while she goes on a vacation.” He scoffed, and I felt a distinct chill, knowing he was talking about me when I was sitting mere feet away from him.
“It would help if the damn Curadon would cooperate with us,” the woman complained. “Those wretched criminals!”
“Easy now, Dima,” warned the man with the unidentifiable accent. “No need to get worked up over those wretched criminals.” The woman, Dima, let out a sigh of frustration.
“Wait, is that— oh, no. That’s two men and a woman. Can’t be them,” the man with the west Astorian accent said. Rasha elbowed me and I turned my attention away from their conversion to see him pointing toward the entrance to the station. He was using the box of pastries to shield his point. Smart.
Three people had indeed just walked into the station. Three familiar people. One woman, one wiry man and one mountain of a man. It felt like it had been a lifetime ago, but there was no mistaking it: this was the trio I’d fought outside the auction house. What had they called themselves? The Deadly Trio of… Hmm. I guess I hadn’t bothered to remember.
The woman, who was at least dressed for the weather now, scanned around the station. I carefully didn’t make eye contact with her but I did observe as her vision passed right over both Rasha and I and… she didn’t recognize us at all. I looked at Rasha and nodded to let him know that I knew they were there. I watched as the woman marched right up to one of the attendants working at the ticket booth and began to interrogate the poor woman. One of the Astorian guys scoffed.
“They are very suspicious,” said the man with the unidentifiable accent. “But not who we are looking for.”
“I think they are looking for who we’re looking for,” said the other man. I agreed. The woman was — loudly and with absolutely no sense of shame at all — demanding to know if a woman with purple hair had come through the station.
“Perhaps we should find out what they know, and give that poor attendant a break,” the Astorian woman, Dima, suggested. The three of them then turned and started to approach the three henchmen. There was the distant sound of a train whistle. Good, our train would be arriving soon.
Seated as we were, I couldn't quite hear what the Astorians were saying to the henchmen, but I didn’t want to risk moving closer and looking suspicious. Besides, I could at least hear what the woman was saying in response to the Astorians’ questions. It was hard not to, as she was basically shrieking at them.
“And just who the heck are you to ask us about what we’re doing?!” she demanded. All three of the Astorians reached into their coats and showed her something, their badges if I had to guess. “You think I care? You’re not in Astor right now! I don’t have to tell you anything!” Members of the Guard were now approaching to investigate the argument. I just sat back and watched the scene unfold. I couldn’t quite hear what the Guard was saying either, but I almost didn’t need to.
“We are law-abiding Kiirenese citizens!” the woman was protesting. “Are we not allowed to ask questions?” One of the Guard said something, and the woman glared and stomped her foot. She was wearing different boots, I noticed. Fur-lined and more suitable for travel. “We were not harassing the ticket booth attendant!” The Guard said something else and one of the Astorians butted in, and the woman threw up her hands, annoyed. “Ugh, fine! But if you want us out of this building, you’d better be prepared to hear from my lawyer. We are law-abiding Kiirenese citizens, employees of Ixan Byars, the Deadly Trio of—”
What she said after that was lost to me, because the loud sound of the train whistle cut her off. I stood up, Rasha followed, and we made our way into the crowd that was forming on the platform. Nobody, not the Astorians or the Deadly Trio of whoever, none of them noticed us at all. Rasha looked nervous but I just grinned as we waited, facing away from the spectacle but occasionally glancing at them over my shoulder. The crowd were all either ignoring them or glaring at them, likely because they were disturbing the peace with their argument.
We got on the train with no issues and made our way to our private booth near the front. I didn’t start to get worried until the Deadly Trio of whatever crammed themselves on board at the last minute. Interesting. They glanced around the train as they were being shown to their seats, and once again they looked right past us. I fished out the orb of silence and pushed the door of our booth closed before activating it.
“They’ve got to be following us, right?” Rasha said as soon as the orb was activated. I frowned and shook my head.
“I don’t think so. They’ve looked right at us a few times and didn’t seem to notice us at all,” I said. “If they’re going west… maybe Byars knows where Koreo lives and sent them to check for us there.”
“That makes sense,” Rasha said. I nodded.
“The auction records aren’t public, but it’s not like it was kept a secret that I bought Koreo ten years ago,” I mused. “I guess somebody tracked her down, and they’re thinking we might go there. Smart. The one thing I can’t figure out is why they sent those three.”
“Maybe they’re thinking it’s unlikely that we’re actually going there, and that’s why? They… don’t seem competent. I’ll bet they’re thinking it’s a wild goose chase,” Rasha said.
“I think you’re right,” I replied. “Well, we’ll know for sure if they get out at the same station we do.”
The routes east and west of Spiti were basically lined with farmland, much like the route north from Kiiren was. There were towns and villages dotting the routes as well, most of them barely big enough to justify having a train station. Our next destination was one of the larger towns along the route. See, unlike the route to the east there was actually a fork in the route to the west. There was a small valley between two mountains that served as a pass through the mountain range, but there was also a route that continued further west and went around the range as well. A town had sprung up around the station where the routes split, the aptly named Valley Pass. This wasn’t our final destination, but we still had to disembark as the train we were currently on continued on west.
As I suspected, the Deadly Trio of whatever also disembarked, along with a good number of people. We made our way out of the train and inquired about when a train heading north would be arriving. It wouldn’t be long, fortunately. Maybe about an hour. I watched as the woman from the Trio approached the same teller I’d asked and asked the same question. She went back to the other two, scowling. They had a hushed conversation I couldn’t quite make out. Then the three of them left the train station. I watched as a suspicious-looking person followed behind them.
“He’s Astorian,” Rasha pointed out to me, voice low. “The guy following them.”
“Interesting,” I said. I motioned for Rasha to follow me and we trailed behind the Astorian guy. If we played our cards right we could get information out of the Astorian, or maybe even the three quote unquote assassins. Maybe we’d even find out what they were the Deadly Trio of.
Valley Pass was a sizable town. A couple of inns, a couple of taverns, a rather big outdoor market, a few shops...nothing like Kiiren or even Spiti, but still nothing to scoff at. We followed the Astorian who followed the Trio into one of the taverns, a charming little place called Spirits of the Valley. Fortunately we were far from the only people leaving the train station to get a drink, so we weren’t in any way conspicuous. I still kept an eye out to make sure that we weren’t being followed.
The tavern was quite lively, though I suspected that it always was when the main train from Spiti arrived. We made our way over to a small table in one of the corners where we could easily keep an eye on both the Astorian and the Trio. The Trio had sat down at one of the other tables, while the Astorian had gone to the bar. Interesting. Not too long after we sat down, a waitress approached our table.
“Good afternoon, folks! Are you waiting to catch the train north through the valley?” she asked.
“That’s right,” I confirmed. “We thought we’d indulge in a little of the local delicacy while we waited. It’s still the right season for Calbur Cider, isn’t it?”
“Oh, yes! Have you had any before?” she asked. I nodded, but Rasha shook his head. “Oh, I do hope you like it! I’ll bring some right away for you two. Did you want any food as well?”
“No thanks, just the cider if you don’t mind,” I replied. She nodded and skipped away.
“Calbur? Those are a variety of apple, right?” Rasha asked.
“Yeah. They’ve got a pretty unique flavor, even among apples. It’s hard to describe,” I replied.
The Trio, or at least the woman, was loudly ordering the strongest ale the tavern had to serve. All three looked morose. The Astorian, meanwhile, was being a total cheapskate and had only ordered water.
“Looks like those three are definitely heading for Koreo’s place, and they don’t look happy about it,” I said to Rasha, voice quiet. He nodded. “The Astorian tailing them though… that’s interesting. I wonder what that’s about.”
“They made a big fuss back at Spiti. He’s probably just tailing them in case they know something about us,” Rasha muttered in response. “Is Koreo going to be in danger? Do we need to do something to stop them before they get there?”
“Koreo will be fine,” I replied. “She’s got a lot of friends that are very...defensive of her, let’s say. And she’s no pushover either. Plus, we can totally ambush the trio. It’s the Astorian I’m worried about...if he doesn’t return or report anything his people will know something is wrong, so we can’t just knock him out.” I watched as the Astorian scanned the room. He looked right at us and while there wasn’t any sort of recognition in his eyes of who we were, I knew he had at least made note of us. “Also, we’re going to have to change our disguises before we get off the next train.”
“Oh? Why?” Rasha asked, looking nervous.
“The Trio probably hasn’t paid any attention to us since we don’t look like who they’re looking for, but the Astorian has definitely seen us. If we get off the train and follow him or the Trio he’ll start to get suspicious of us,” I said.
“Well, good thing you’ve got that bag,” Rasha said, and I nodded. The waitress arrived with our ciders and I paid for them along with giving her a generous tip.
“I’ve got plenty of disguises for myself but…” I trailed off. Rasha sighed.
“Let me guess. We need to buy me new clothes,” he said. I laughed.
“Bingo!” I said, with a wink. “And you know, a whole lot of crimsonroot and mirim get grown around here, so a lot of the cloth gets dyed red and orange.”
“Won’t that draw too much attention to me, though?” Rasha asked.
“No, see, that’s the thing,” I explained, gesturing in the vague direction of the trio and the Astorian. “It’s hard to know exactly which outfits of ours they’re looking for. We don’t even know for sure if they’re still only looking for black and purple hair. But they are for sure not looking for people wearing red or orange, so even though it’ll be eye-catching they are much more likely to ignore us. And besides, they’ve both looked right at us a few times and haven’t recognized us at all. They aren’t even a little suspicious of us. Yet.”
“If you say so,” Rasha said. He took a sip of the cider and looked surprised. “Whoa, this is really good!”
“I told you,” I said. “You can’t beat a good Calbur Cider. Bitter and sweet and crisp… the apples themselves taste awful, but when you boil ‘em down into a Cider they’re divine.” I took a long drink of mine. Then I pulled out the Jar and poured some into it. The wheat symbol changed into an apple when I tapped a battery against the surface.
I kept watching the Astorian watch the Trio while we finished up our ciders. None of them so much as glanced at us when we left the tavern. Amazing. There were quite a few shops at our disposal, but I was looking for one in particular I’d visited ages ago when I’d come up this way to visit Koreo. The town had gotten a little bigger and there were a few landmarks that weren’t there any longer, so I ended up having to stop a local and ask for directions. It was well worth it, though. The shop I sought was named Bitterote, owned and operated by a father and daughter. I was pleased to find that was still the case when I stepped inside and was greeted by two voices in unison, one gruff and the other enthusiastic.
Clothing of all colors and kinds lined the walls and racks inside the little shop. I had been impressed by the craftsmanship when I’d visited before, years ago, and now I was even more impressed. Both the father and the daughter were experts in their field, and it was immediately apparent from the level of quality and fine detail I could see in every single piece of clothing I laid my eyes on.
“Travelers, eh? Anything I can help you with?” the gruff voice asked, and I turned to find the owner of the shop, looking just as he had the last time I’d shopped here but with a few more gray hairs.
“We’re passing through on our way to the valley, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to buy some fine clothing while crimsonroot is in season,” I said. The man looked impressed.
“Ah, I see. Well, you’ve certainly come to the right place. We may be the only clothier in town but that doesn’t stop us from being the best clothier in town,” he said with a laugh. The other person who had greeted us, a woman probably around my age with incredibly long blonde hair, approached us.
“Did you need some guidance, or were you wanting to shop on your own?” she asked.
“I can shop on my own, but this guy,” I said, jabbing a thumb in the direction of Rasha standing beside me, “Could use a little guidance.”
“Of course,” she said with a big smile at Rasha. “Will you be wanting mundane clothing or something more magical?”
That was exactly the reason why I’d gone out of my way to find this place, the major appeal: these two master craftsmen had a way of weaving magic into their clothing. Naturally the enchanted clothing was far, far more expensive than their mundane clothing was, but it was well worth it. I didn’t wear it often, but somewhere in the Infinity Bag (I think) there was a very nice lace shawl I’d gotten from this very shop. It granted a bit of resistance to heat. I had yet to find an outfit that it went with, unfortunately. It was just a little bit too feminine for me.
“A bit of both,” I answered. She nodded and motioned for Rasha to follow her. He looked at me, and I made a shooing motion with my hands.
We had a time limit, so unfortunately I didn’t dawdle for nearly as long as I wished I could have. I ended up picking out a sleeveless dress made out of a rather nice fabric that had been dyed a bright, vibrant red with crimsonroot. I paired it with some nice orange leggings and an orange sweater to wear underneath the dress. I also picked up some nice red gloves and a scarf. The real cost of the outfit came down to a pair of very nice, sturdy red boots and an orange leather belt. Both were enchanted. The boots were waterproof and had a lining that would keep my feet nice and warm in the cold. The belt granted a little bit of heat resistance, which wasn’t going to be doing me any good at the start of winter... but it really pulled the outfit together.
The Infinity Bag now severely clashed with my outfit. Fortunately the owner immediately understood my plight and was able to easily fix that with a quick magical infusion of crimsonroot dye. If I ever got my magic back that was absolutely the first new spell I wanted to learn.
Rasha returned, also decked out in reds and oranges. He was wearing an orange sweater similar to mine, some darker red pants, boots a few shades darker red than the pants, and a warm-looking red cloak. A knitted white hat and gloves completed the look.
“It’s a cloak of warming,” the daughter explained to me as she approached me. “If it gets cold it’ll activate automatically. It’ll be nice for you two to cuddle under on a cold day.”
Ah, so she had assumed (incorrectly) that Rasha and I were a couple, and it seemed that Rasha just hadn’t corrected her. I nodded.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said. There really wasn’t a reason to correct her, after all.
I paid for everything, and even with the enchanted items and the dye job on the Infinity Bag it wasn’t terribly expensive. We left and made our way to the train station with plenty of time left to wait.
“So, how exactly are we going to change clothes on the train anyway?” Rasha suddenly asked.
“I’m buying us a room this time,” I answered. “I’m pretty sure we haven’t been followed, and if the Astorian or those three morons were going to make a move to try to attack us or capture us they would’ve done it by now. I say we get a little bit more rest while we can.”
“If you’re sure,” Rasha replied.
“I’m confident. Nobody knows where we are,” I said.
The train arrived and I paid for one of the private rooms. As predicted both the Astorian and the Trio got on board, and once again they looked right at us but there was absolutely no recognition. We made our way to our private room in the back of the train and I immediately got out and activated my orb of silence. I withdrew another orb of similar size and set it right beside the orb of silence.
“Put your hand on this orb,” I instructed.
“What is it?” Rasha asked, but to his credit he did in fact put his hand on it. I put one of my hands on the orb beside his and used the other to tap a battery on it. It flashed red for a second and then turned to a nice neutral gray.
“It’s an orb of alarm, sorta. If anybody enters the area that isn’t one of us it’ll sound an alarm immediately. Nobody outside the area will be able to hear it thanks to the orb of silence,” I explained.
“Did you get that from your spy friends too?” Rasha asked, and I nodded.
“What say we get a little shut-eye? It’ll be a few hours before we get to where we’re going,” I said. Rasha looked to the bed nestled in the corner of the room.
“Isn’t it a little small?” he asked. I shrugged.
“I’m not going to stop you if you want to sleep on the floor,” I said. I crossed the small amount of space between the door and the bed and flopped down on the surface, pulling the provided blanket over me. I scooted as far over as I comfortably could and gestured to the surprising amount of space left in the bed. Rasha just shook his head with a laugh.
“You’re a very interesting person,” he said.
“You’ve told me that already,” I said. I yawned. The glorified nap earlier hadn’t been nearly enough rest. I was already feeling a little drowsy. He hesitantly crossed the room and sat down on the bed. I closed my eyes and let myself drift off, feeling him shuffling around and pulling the other half of the blanket over himself.