He smelled them first. West was downwind, and it made Basque regret his choice of direction. Since he was planning on staying and living with them, it didn’t really matter in the end, but it wasn’t going to make the trip easy.

  By the time the rudimentary and dilapidated tents came into view, the stench was so pungent that Alestra vomited. They all stopped and waited for her.

  Using a cloth from her inventory, she wiped her mouth. Basque gave her a water canteen, and she rinsed her mouth out, then drank some.

  “Are you seriously going to stay with them for a month?!”

  “That’s the plan,” Basque answered. “You don’t have to stay with us if you don’t want to.”

  “And become an easy single target for Yani?”

  He shrugged.

  She didn’t make a move to restart their journey.

  “Are you coming or not?”

  “I’m thinking about it!”

  In the end, she joined them as there was still safety in numbers. She also wasn’t the only one to vomit from the stench; both Elaina and Banca had their turns as well.

  “How are you so impervious to it?” Banca asked Yesenia as she rinsed her mouth out. The other four stood, waiting for her to finish.

  “I grew up smelling this. It just smells like home to me.”

  “Then what about you, Master Basque?” Alestra asked. “Is this what Hianbru smells like?”

  He reached up and pulled a little device out of his nostrils. “Filter.” He showed it to the others. “I put it in a while ago.”

  “Do you have another?!” Elaina asked as he put it back in.

  “Sorry, just the one.”

  “I’ll give you 2,000 kruh for it,” Alestra said.

  “I…have no idea if that’s a lot of money.”

  “All those clothes we got were only 1,000,” Banca said. “Didn’t you pay attention?”

  “Not really, no,” he answered her.

  “If you made cores, why not more of those?” Banca asked.

  “I didn’t know they would be needed, and I’ve already gotten in enough trouble making cores.”

  “What the Yani is a core?” Alestra asked.

  “Those ball machines that we use to practice with,” Banca answered her.

  “Oh…still don’t know what that is.”

  Reaching into his inventory, Basque pulled out four scented cloths. “Here,” he said and passed them out. “These should help.”

  Alestra tied hers on. “Oh, Yani. It still reeks, but I don’t feel like I’m going to die anymore.”

  “Just how big is your inventory?” Banca asked.

  “Big.”

  “Why did you wait until we all vomited before giving them out?” Alestra groaned.

  “I got it out for Banca. She’s my responsibility. You aren’t.”

  “How friendly,” Alestra said.

  “Well, you have it now,” Yesenia said and bumped her shoulder into Alestra as she resumed their trek.

  “Control your maid, Master Basque!” Alestra complained as she trotted to catch up with the rest of them.

  “Ales, can you calm down a bit?” Elaina asked.

  “I am calm!”

  That started the two women arguing back and forth over whether or not Alestra was whining or “stating the obvious”. Basque picked up his pace a bit as he was getting tired of listening to it, and with the camp in sight, he knew how much further they had to go.

  It was close to sunset by the time they got close to the tents. A crowd gathered near the edge of their encampment and watched as Basque and the four women approached.

  A man with a bad limp and missing a hand hobbled his way out. “Tree owl!” he yelled. Even at their distance, Basque could see that the man was missing most of his teeth.

  “He wants to know who we are,” Yesenia translated.

  “We come bearing aid!” Basque answered. He didn’t stop to talk, but kept approaching.

  “Gobbler speak?” The man spat on the ground between them.

  That got Basque to pause, but he soon continued towards the camps. “Yes,” Basque answered. “But we’re here to help.”

  The man turned around and walked back towards the camp.

  “Chaser flogs?” a woman asked the toothless man.

  He shook his head. “Candy strangers.”

  The woman looked back at Basque and his group. Half of her face was destroyed. The good half sneered at them, and she followed after the man.

  “Seems like a warm welcome,” Basque said. “What did they say?” he asked Yesenia.

  “We—they call city guard ‘chasers’, because they chase them away from their spots every morning. They probably just finished setting up here. At first light, they’ll be on the move again, before the guard gets out here and starts the beating. The woman was worried that we’re city guard.”

  “What about ‘candy strangers’?”

  “That’s what the people who come to take children away for academies are called. They promise a new, good life, and the children go, never to be seen again.”

  Basque stopped on the outskirts of the campsite. He stared into the camp and watched. Children returned from the forest, carrying woven baskets full of various plants. They would wander over to the adults, who would inspect what was inside. Occasionally, an adult would nod, take the basket from the child, and then let the child into their tent.

  “What are they doing?”

  “Adults carry the tents and heavy things on the move. Children shadow along from the forest and collect nuts, fruits, and other edible plants. In the evening, they barter for a tent to sleep in with their food.”

  Alestra gasped. “How could the adults do that? What about their parents?”

  Yesenia glared at the dance instructor. “Probably dead. Once a child is old enough to collect, they’re sent to the forest.”

  “How can people live like this?” Elaina asked.

  Yesenia looked at her. “Live? This isn’t living, noblewoman. This is surviving. What do you expect when quote criminals and invalids are thrown out of the Wall? Gerenet-Shr, I suggest we make our camp here. There are five of us, so two-hour shifts each.”

  “Shifts?” Alestra asked.

  Yesenia pointed towards the camp. “Look at their tents. They’d happily kill us for our tents.”

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  “Well, why don’t they build houses or something?” Alestra asked.

  “Did you not hear me explain about the city guard and the beatings? If they choose a bad spot on the Wall and someone with power is on the other side, mounted guardsmen will come and destroy everything.”

  “Why?”

  “Why? Why are you wearing that mask? The Wall may stop Yani, but it sure doesn’t stop this smell. That’s why they live in camps. They must remain mobile.” Yesenia pulled her single-person tent out of her storage and began setting it up. “It’s getting late. Unless you want to pitch your tent in the dark, I suggest getting to work on it.”

  “Master Basque, I must really protest about your maid’s attitude.”

  He gave her a hard look in the eyes, then pulled out his tent and began setting it up as well. “Let me know if any of you need help with your tent.”

  As he set up his tent, he thought about what Yesenia told him about the camps. It was much worse than he’d imagined. While there did seem to be a sense of community, it was very loose. Children bartering for a bed. Constantly on the move. He gained more respect for Yesenia and Xav for surviving in that environment.

  If she wanted to be flippant with nobility, he wouldn’t stop her. Honestly, he was surprised she was stopping with being flippant. Throughout their conversation, Banca hadn’t said or asked anything. She just listened. He wondered what she was thinking.

  “Umm, maid?” Alestra said.

  “Yesenia,” Basque said.

  “What?” Alestra looked at him.

  “Her name is Yesenia.”

  “Yes, I know.”

  “Then call her that, not ‘maid’.”

  Alestra sighed. “Yesenia?”

  Yesenia stuck her head out of her tent. “Yes?”

  “Where uhh…where do I powder my nose?”

  Yesenia blinked. “On your face?”

  “What?”

  “Do you have another nose somewhere?”

  Alestra blushed. “No, I need to use the bathroom.”

  Yesenia got out of her tent and handed Alestra a shovel.

  “What…?”

  “Don’t cover it. City guard will deal with it tomorrow when we leave.”

  Alestra’s blush turned full on red. “You can’t expect me to!”

  Yesenia shrugged. “I don’t expect anything from you. Oh, and I recommend everyone eat in your tent. While they’d wait for us to sleep before attacking us for the tents, if they see the food we brought, we’ll have all of them bearing down on us.”

  With that, Yesenia went back inside her tent. Alestra still stood there, red-faced and shovel in hand.

  “This…this is absurd! How did I ever let you talk me into this, Baronetess Elaina?”

  “Baronetess Alestra, you were the one who asked me to come.” She took the shovel from her. “Miss Yeseina, how far should I go?”

  “Just stay out of the forest. City guard won’t clean it from there,” Yesenia answered from inside her tent.

  “So out in the open?”

  “Dig the hole and go back once it’s dark if you’re shy.”

  Elaina walked halfway to the forest, then pulled out three tridents from her storage. Sticking two into the ground and the third across them, she tossed a blanket over it to make a make-shift curtain.

  Alestra looked at Basque, then back towards Elaina. “I think I might just go home tomorrow.”

  Basque nodded. “That’s fine. You don’t have to be here if you don’t want to be.”

  She nodded and went into her tent.

  Basque waited for Elaina to come back, and then asked her, “Would you prefer to take an early or a late shift?”

  “Late. I normally stay up pretty late.”

  “Alright, Baronetess Alestra said she will probably go home tomorrow, so I won’t ask her to help with watch duty.”

  “She said she wants to go home?”

  “Yeah.”

  Elaina looked at Alestra’s tent. “Thanks for letting me know.”

  Basque nodded. “Anyway, if I’m not up by 1:00 AM, wake me up. I’ll finish out the night. Yesenia may be worried about them stealing our tents, but with the stench of human, I really think our biggest fear would be Yani. ”

  “Understood,” Elaina said.

  Basque slipped into his tent and pulled out a pre-prepared meal. He was glad that Yesenia told them all to bring a month’s worth. It made him wonder how rampant malnutrition was in the camps if all they ate were things that children scavenged.

  Like Alestra, he was surprised by the lack of care for blood relations, but Yesenia’s explanation made sense. This camp was a huge beacon for Yani. They wouldn’t gorge themselves by devouring the camp at once. They would pick and chip away at it.

  He almost wanted to stay up the entire night, but he was tired from the trip. Finishing his meal, he cleaned it up and lay down. After setting an alarm for midnight, he went to sleep.

  A pulsing in his mind woke him at midnight. He stepped out of his tent, and a small fire crackled in the little area between their tents. Alestra sat next to it and stared out into the darkness, as if she could see something despite blinding herself with the fire. Alestra? Where’s Elaina?

  “What are you doing?!” Basque asked. He grabbed a bucket of sand from his inventory and dumped it on the fire.

  “What are you doing?” Alestra asked. “Now we can’t see anything.”

  “It’s a waxing gibbous moon!”

  “A what moon?”

  “It’s almost full! We don’t need a fire to see! But the Yani sure see us, thanks to you.” Basque scanned the dark horizon.

  Lights shining outward were the best way to find Yani, but he didn’t have enough to cover the whole area.

  “I’m sorry, Master Basque.” Alestra actually sounded contrite.

  He sighed. “It’s fine. Why are you out here? Where’s Madam Elaina?”

  “I asked her to let me stand guard tonight. I’m here, so I figured I might as well help out at least once.”

  Basque sighed. At least her heart was in the right place. “Is this what they teach here?” He gestured at the extinguished fire.

  “Umm…I don’t know?”

  He looked at her. “You don’t know?! How are you a teach—?” He cut himself off. Insulting her or getting into an argument wouldn’t help.

  “I’m a dance instructor. I don’t teach combat.” Her voice was defensive. “I’ve only ever hunted during the day.”

  “Okay, well, here’s your first lesson: don’t make a fire at night. Yani hate light. They’ll come to extinguish it and its starters first. Though I guess you kind of did us a favor.”

  “I did?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. At least when the attack comes, they’ll attack us, not the campers.”

  “At-tack us?” Her voice rose an octave.

  “With the smell and that light, the only surprising thing is that one hasn’t attacked yet.”

  With the light of the moon, it was bright enough that he could make her out, but it wasn’t light enough for him to see her expression. He didn’t need to see it to feel the fear emanating from her. He needed her to be a bit more confident.

  “What weapon do you use?”

  “A dagger.”

  Not bad for hunting during the day when the nocturnal Yani were more sluggish, but at night, that would let them get too close to her. “Have you used anything else?”

  “No, not really.”

  Basque pulled a short sword out of his inventory. “Do you think you can use this?”

  She took it from him and swung it around a bit. Her skills as a dancer showed through, as even with the unfamiliar weapon, her motions were controlled and graceful. “Probably? I’m more comfortable with something a bit lighter.”

  He swapped the short sword for a rapier. “We’re going to get you using that. I think your movements work—” Basque spun his head and looked out towards the forest. He didn’t see any motion, but the hairs on the back of his neck were standing up. Something was out there.

  At least the Kruamians kept the forest cropped back. Then again, it was probably the campers who did that. They would want to keep Yani’s habitat as far away from them as possible.

  “What is it?”

  “Yani.”

  She stiffened and clutched the rapier with two hands.

  “Relax,” he said. “Use one hand and keep yourself loose, like you’re dancing.”

  She nodded and let go with one hand, but she was still stiff.

  A shadow passed over the grass to his left. “Movement,” he said. Basque pulled a spear out of storage.

  In a ready stance, he moved past Elaina’s tent, stepping further into the clearing where the Yani was. Alestra followed him.

  “I’ll pin it. You finish it off, ok? Pierce its head.”

  “O-okay.”

  Basque went further out into the open, and Alestra kept pace. He needed to make themselves the target. Weapons or no, food out in the open was more attractive than people in the tents.

  A cloud passed over the moon. Basque’s grip on his spear tightened, and he stopped moving. He had every sense on high alert. For her part, Alestra was completely still.

  Grass swished, but there was no wind. Basque didn’t move. Alestra gripped the rapier with two hands again.

  Silence.

  Two clawed hands appeared behind Alestra.

  “Down!” Basque yelled.

  She fell. Basque shot his spear out, and it pierced the Yani in its shoulder. Alestra screamed.

  Basque twisted his spear, preventing the Yani from shifting into its smoke form. It roared at them. Alestra screamed again.

  It was a medium Yani. Something way too large to be so close to civilization. Basque’s muscles burned as he tried to hold it at bay and keep his weapon pierced into it.

  “Alestra! Now!”

  The dance instructor jumped to her feet. Her arm shot out, and the blade pierced the monster’s skull. It went limp on Basque’s spear, and he finally relaxed his muscles.

  Letting go of his spear, he grabbed Alestra’s hand, pulling her towards him. He spun her around just as a second Yani’s claw swiped through the air where she had been.

  As she passed by him, Basque grabbed the rapier from her hand and slashed down, cutting off the Yani’s head before it could dematerialize.

  Alestra collapsed to the ground. Her eyes were wide, and her skin was pallid.

  Basque looked around the area. He couldn’t detect any more Yani, and the sense of being stalked was gone. After giving one more look around, he turned to Alestra.

  “Are you okay?”

  She sobbed in response.

  “You did well. I have a shower unit with me. I’ll let you use it in the morning, but you should sleep for now.”

  She nodded. She tried to stand once, but her legs gave out on her. After Basque gave her a hand up, she wobbled back to her tent. Elaina and Banca’s heads were sticking out of their tents. Yesenia’s was still closed.

  “It’s okay,” Basque told them. “You can go back to sleep. I’ll be on guard the rest of the night.”