Sil slowly revealed herself to three men seated around a table, exchanging cards and coins. The room’s walls were cold stone, the paint chipped and peeling. A layer of fuzz coated the floor—dust left to settle over time. There was only one window, made of tinted glass, letting in the faint glow of a few lanterns strung along the outside walls—the only light in the room.

  “So?” asked the man, impatient. He sat with his elbows on the table, holding a hand of cards. He wore a white shirt stained with black and an unfashionable vest over it. His baggy, sleep-deprived eyes gave her a suspicious glare, irritated by the idea of losing control. He pinched a small scar on his lower lip and gritted his teeth.

  “Curiosity,” Sil answered.

  “Dangerous game, that—don’t you think?”

  “Depends who’s playing.”

  The man in the vest paused. “How long were you following my guy?”

  Sil held her breath. The longer she stared the men down, the more drastic her assumptions became. She and Yig wouldn’t be able to stay in the valley long if she’d stirred up the criminal underbelly.

  “Maybe we could trade information?”

  The man rolled his eyes. “Everyone’s so stingy these days.” He pulled a cigar from his vest pocket and signaled for the young man to his right—the one Sil had followed—to hand him a light. As the guy reached out, offering a matchbox, the man snatched it and smacked him across the head.

  “How long was she following you?”

  “I don’t know…” the young man whimpered.

  “Course you don’t.” He struck the match and lit his cigar. “So, curiosity. What are you curious about?”

  Sil took her time to answer. “The guards. I want information on them. That’s why I’m here.”

  “Right. You got anything to offer?”

  “I just told you why I followed your guy!”

  “True… but I’ll need more to chew on than that.”

  Sil picked at her nail, trying to think of something clever to say without sounding too desperate.

  “I could take down the guards. Isn’t that worth something? You’re in no way connected to me.”

  Unless… maybe this place is being watched? In which case, I’m under watch too.

  Damn. Well, they’re probably already upset with me.

  “I can see why you’d assume that,” he said, waving the match and flicking it to the floor. “But that wouldn’t be so great for us. The stability is what makes this town a good place to hide our business.”

  “What if I told them you’re here?”

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  Why did I just threaten them? Crap. She prayed they didn’t know how to manipulate mana.

  The man gave her a sideways glance. “And what would you tell ’em? That we like to play cards?”

  It was a long shot anyway.

  “What if I say I’ll take down the town guard no matter what you tell me? Then what happens to your hiding place?”

  “It’s dangerous to threaten us, young lady,” the man said coolly. “What happens if we turn on you?”

  Sil said nothing. She just stared, eyes locked with the gang’s boss. Lantern light flickered from the draft of an open door, the room closing in around them as wills collided.

  In her mind, Sil speculated:

  Their base of crime, at the edge of town. Why not further in?

  They act like they have Moonset under control, but they’re holed up with only three people.

  So… safe bet they’ve got others elsewhere.

  This guy might just be some puffed-up goon.

  Subtly, Sil activated her aura. Not much—just enough to let it flow out and ripple through the room. Still locked in the stare, she caught the moment the man's pupils widened. He picked up a coin and began tapping it against the table. Tap. Tap. Tap. Over and over. He’d encountered an aura before—she was sure of it now.

  “You work for someone?” the boss asked.

  “In a way. Let’s say I’m newly employed.”

  The tapping stopped. “What do you wanna know?”

  The man to his left—a bush of brown-ginger hair on his head—leaned in close and whispered in his ear. At least now, Sil knew they had no real understanding of aura or what it could do. She tuned her focus to her hearing, enough to catch even faint footsteps echoing from the paths aboveground. The ginger man seemed to suggest trusting her, but the boss waved it off, saying it was no trouble giving out the kind of information she wanted. They pulled back.

  “Ask away,” said the boss.

  “Have the guards been doing anything suspicious?” Sil asked.

  “Hard to say anything about the last two weeks.” He blew out a puff of smoke. “We can’t keep track of everything during the festival.”

  “How about before the celebrations?”

  “We see everyone who comes in and out of Moonset under normal circumstances—at least, most of them. It’s easy to tell a visitor from a resident, and not just because we know everyone who lives here.”

  “Why do I care about any of that?”

  He twisted his cigar against the table. “Patience, girl. I’m saying we noticed a pattern in the people coming in.”

  “Yeah…?”

  He chuckled and struck another match, cigar clenched between his teeth. “They don’t come out.”

  “Why not?”

  “Can’t say for sure. But a lot of the ones who went missing were escorted into town by the men in blue—like they were being arrested.”

  “Can you tell me the names of some of those guards?”

  The boss looked at his men, but they shook their heads.

  “Nope. Seems we weren’t keeping track of that.”

  Sil let her surge of mana fade and stepped back, thanking them for the information. The boss seemed to breathe a sigh of relief as she shut the door behind her, returning to the chill of the night air. Looking around the streets for any guards who might be watching the house, shivering in the cold, she remembered there was nowhere for her to sleep.

  After a tedious walk back to the Sad Paladin, she found no sign of Yig. The partying continued even at that hour, which could be either a hindrance or a help—depending on the person. A large crowd would make finding one man harder, but from what little she knew of the one she’d chosen to follow, it seemed fair to assume he’d be at the center of attention—if he was there at all.

  She climbed onto a rooftop, sat down, and pulled her legs to her chest—a comforting, warming huddle of limbs. She yawned, running through her thoughts to decide where to look next. Plenty of words passed through her mind: Adventure. Fool. Hero… Fighting. Practice. Training. Learning…

  He’d need a teacher. So… a dojo? No…

  It hit her. The temple. She’d seen it from the top of the valley.

  She stood. And just as she’d hoped, a faint glow of golden light shimmered from the hills.