They arrived at the inn just after midday. Surrounded by thick forest, the building stood tall and narrow as if attempting to grow alongside the trees. Kaddie and Jim were told to remain outside while the others went in with their bags.

  A short while later, Melaris returned with a jug of water. “See to his hands. Be sure you aren’t seen.”

  Kaddie smiled humorlessly. Having already had a stern lecture from her grandfather about secrecy regarding the events on the trail, she didn’t require another one. Beckoning Jim aboard the carriage, she told him once again to remove his jacket and quickly set about bathing his knuckles. “I can straighten this one, but it’ll hurt.”

  “Just get it over with.”

  “Hold out your arm, and don’t look.”

  Jim wheezed sharply she gripped the metacarpal of his middle finger and pulled sharply on the phalange beyond. Afterward, while binding his fingers with linen, she offered him a wink. “All done, and you didn’t scream.”

  He nodded and wiped sweat from his brow.

  “I don’t see a lot of swelling on your arm,” she continued, handing him two sticks of bark to chew on. “But there will be some bruising and you should rest it.”

  She remained alongside him until the driver returned, accompanied by passengers for the return trip. “The others are inside on your left,” he said as he grabbed a pail of water for the horses.

  Jim waved as she headed for the door. It was a nonchalant, easy gesture, as if nothing had happened and despite the fact he was about to drive past the spot where they’d been ambushed on the return journey. It made her feel cold but there was nothing to be done, so she shouldered her knapsack and entered the inn.

  The interior was gloomy and bigger than it looked on the outside. Her grandfather was talking to a tall, thin man wearing an apron, and as she approached she saw coins changing hands.

  Robles regarded her with some scrutiny. “You’re looking a little pale.”

  Kaddie shrugged, unsure of what to say.

  “Come,” he said, “We have a short time to wait before our next ride.”

  Arcantha and Melaris were sitting at a table in a high-ceilinged room with a jug of ale between them. The inn wasn’t particularly full but she felt as if a thousand eyes were watching. Arcantha nodded as she sat at their table. She looked travel-weary and slightly bored, an impression Kaddie tried to emulate while her brain spun dizzily around the morning’s events.

  Melaris pushed a cup of ale in front of her. “Who taught you to fight with a sickle?”

  “My grandmother.” She reached for the cup and took a small sip. It smelled of hops and alcohol. The taste bit hard at the back of her tongue.

  “Careful with that,” Robles said, as he joined the table.

  Kaddie nodded, knowing the effects of alcohol on someone traumatized. Was she traumatized? She certainly felt light-headed. “How much farther?” she asked, as Robles replaced her cup with another filled with water.

  “Not long.” Arcantha’s attention settled on Robles. “You’re both staying here, tonight?”

  “Under another name.” He offered Kaddie another wink. “Just being careful.”

  His attempt at light-heartedness did nothing for her mood. She picked up the cup of water. At least her hands weren’t shaking.

  Time slowed, or so it seemed. The wait seemed endless, until a messenger informed them of their carriage arrival.

  “About time,” Robles grumbled.

  Kaddie’s mind remained elsewhere, and by the time she paid attention to their continuing journey, the carriage was climbing steeply up a narrow track and the forest was spread out beneath them. In the distance to her right was a thin column of smoke. Was it the inn they’d left behind?

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  Eventually, she had to clench her jaw to pop her inner ears. This particular coach was a harder ride than the last one and she felt every bump as the horses pulled it up the incline. The interior curtains and upholstery were darker, too, throwing everyone’s faces into partial silhouette.

  A strong breeze met them as they reached the plateau and she soon lost sight of the forest. Pock-marked limestone lay on either side of the gravel road, and for a while they rode alongside a gurgling river that traveled swiftly toward the plateau’s edge before plummeting onto the plain below.

  The water carved a deep passage through the porous rock. It appeared muscular and alive. Fine drops of moisture rose into the air and the subsequent mist dampened her lips. She breathed it in, willing it to wipe away the horrors of the morning.

  They left the river and passed by a man on horseback. Kaddie saw Arcantha offer the man a hand gesture. Two fingers, followed by an upward-facing palm. It meant two strangers, no threat. Had the woman’s gesture included a clenched fist, they’d be in trouble. Rumor of the Shale’s ferocity and poor tolerance of outsiders was well known to the inhabitants of Shadow Valley.

  She’d never seen, or experienced, any difficulties during her own visits, but the warnings were there, and now here she was, in less auspicious circumstances, accompanied by a mercurial grandfather and a sliver of skin pulled from a dead man.

  The mist had dropped. A farmhouse emerged in the distance. Moments later, other buildings appeared as the carriage approached the first Shale township on the trail.

  Along the main street, Kaddie caught a glimpse of carved animal faces tucked beneath the eaves of meticulously crafted dwellings. Pedestrians were few and rarely took note of the strangers passing through town, and soon after, the carriage re-entered another flat, sparsely populated stretch of the plateau.

  Other buildings began to appear. Neat, square houses with shallow, sloping roofs and central chimneys. There was nothing of Terohas’s inconsistencies, no opulence, and no squalor. The only variety lay in exterior wood carvings standing tall and fearsome outside the house owners’ doors. She spotted a huge wooden bird, its wings folded, back-dropped by a column of black smoke from the distant foundries.

  The carriage slowed, then stopped. Melaris was the first out, while Kaddie struggled with her knapsack and tried to make it look easy while scrambling from the carriage’s high sill. A number of people had stopped and were staring, and having been the subject of local curiosity before, she tried to mind her own business and not make eye contact, a sharp contrast to Robles who was tipping his hat to just about everyone.

  Many of the women were wearing the same clothing as Arcantha. The only differences were reflected in their jewelry—burnished metal cuffs, beautiful brooches, and necklaces of leather that bore polished stone pendants. In Terohas, such jewelry would cost a fortune.

  Her grandfather sighed as they approached a building larger than the rest. “A sour lot, these Shale,” he muttered.

  Kaddie disagreed, but decided not to argue. She took a moment to breathe in air that bore a metallic taste. It lodged at the back of her throat and threatened her with a fit of coughing.

  Arcantha led them beyond the threshold and into a gloomy hallway. There, she spoke softly to an older man who promptly disappeared behind a set of tall, carved doors.

  While they waited, Robles approached the carvings and examined their design. “This is a map.” He stepped back to get a better look, then beckoned to Kaddie. “Do you see where we are?”

  “There.” She crouched and pointed at the base of the right-hand door. “But I don’t see anything else I recognize.”

  “The forbidden territories.” He regarded Arcantha. “These creatures, are they representations of mineral deposits?”

  The woman smiled. “Trying to discover our secrets, poisoner?”

  One of the doors opened and they were beckoned inside.

  Kaddie counted four people sitting in chairs at the far end of the room. Light shone behind them, throwing their faces into stark silhouette. Her breath caught in the back of her throat. Were they about to be accused of murder?

  To her right, Melaris was leaning casually against a hung tapestry. She searched his face, looking for clues, but now Arcantha was introducing them and she had to force her attention away from his indifferent gaze.

  “—the girl, I already know.” One of the figures had risen. It was a woman whom Kaddie recognized immediately.

  “Telartha.” Kaddie inclined her head. This was a familiar face and friendly on previous occasions.

  “What we’re about to discuss isn’t for your ears.” The others had risen, all women, all Shale witches. One of them stepped forward and took Kaddie’s arm. For a moment she felt panic, fearing for her grandfather whom she was about to leave in their clutches.

  “I’ll be fine,” Robles whispered. “Off you go.”

  Reluctantly, Kaddie allowed herself to be led through a narrow door, along a short corridor, until she and the older woman were outside.

  “Come,” her new companion said, “I’m Cortha.” She set off across the street, employing a surprisingly long stride.

  “Will he be okay?”

  “Did he kill the young man?”

  “No.”

  “Then he’ll be fine.”

  Kaddie felt the beginnings of her temper brewing. She’d been pulled out of that room as if she was a child and wouldn’t get to hear what was being discussed. She hated being kept in the dark.

  Others passed them by on the street. Two children with pale skins, and a man who’d drank so much mellowbell his skin was the color of charcoal. “Where are we going?”

  The woman smiled. “For supplies.”

  Why? And for what? she wanted to ask.

  Cortha led her down a narrow alley, through a thick wooden door, and into a dark, shallow hallway. “Take a deep breath. And don’t take another until we’re out the other side.”