“You thought you’d help him?”  She asked, quirking an eyebrow.  “Why would you do that?”

“Hey, just cause I ain’t growed yet don’t mean I don’t see what’s going on.  Somma them are doin a lot better than others.  There ain’t no reason to beat up an old man neither.”

“They’re right to be suspicious, but they have no right to attack and imprison someone without giving them the chance to prove their innocence.”  Callindra said.  “We will rest until the sun begins to set and arrive at the gates just before they close for the night.  They do close the gates at night, don’t they?”

Reed nodded, “Yeah, but they close ‘em about an hour before dark.  Really the main gate ain’t open at all during the day either, but there’s a smaller one to one side they leave open during the day.  Don’t get there too late, they burn anything what comes close after dark.”

“You’re going back now?”  Although she was asking the question she knew the answer.

“Yeah.  They won’t notice me gone for a couple hours but if I come with you they’ll know it was me told you.”  Despite the short time and their conversation the bread and water were gone.  “I’ll try and be around if you need me.”

Callindra carefully kept her face neutral.  She didn’t want to offend the boy and she was sure he was at least capable of handling himself to some degree or else he never would have survived.  “Travel carefully Reed.  Thanks for the help.”

He turned to go but paused and looked at her.  “Ain’t you gonna ask what Holt promised me in payment?”

“You are welcome to accompany us when we leave Reed.”  She said, “Although it will not be safe.  More often than not we go to bed nursing injuries and more often than that hungry.  We’re fighting the Abyss most days and they play for keeps.  I’ve seen more piles of bodies than I can count.”

Reed’s eyes widened when she guessed his payment, but they quickly narrowed when she was describing the dangers.  “I ain’t no cherry.  I seen more death before the world went mad than most seen after it.  Of course most are dead so that don’t mean nothing, but I ain’t no damn kid.  I take care of myself.”

“The second you don’t you’ll likely die.”  She said simply, “But we’ve managed to keep one another alive this far.  Mostly.  Maybe my brother dying for us all changed something.  Maybe his sacrifice gave us an edge or some kind of favor from the Gods.”

“The gods.”  Reed said, still scornful.  “If they exist why would they let THIS happen?  For that matter why would they have let all that happen to me and me mates before the Abyss came?”

“I’ve seen at least one of them Reed.”  Callindra ran her fingers through stray locks of hair, the absence of the Brightstar flowers still fresh in her mind.  “She died to save my family.  I owe her something for that and I intend to make good on my debt to Jorda.”

“That’s on you.”  Reed shook his head, “I ain’t taking on your fool’s errands.”

“If you travel with us Reed you will be expected to fight when we fight and run when we run.  You don’t have to believe in it but you must do it.”  She shook her head, remembering.  “I didn’t believe in them either at first.  After fighting beside them though, it became a little difficult to ignore.  Gods and demons I learned to sword fight from one of them.”

“You don’t move like no god touched.”  He said, giving her a dismissive look.  “I’ll fight if I gotta and I run like the wind.  How you think I survived to be thirteen?”

“It took me much longer to learn that lesson.”  Callindra said, “You’d better get moving Reed, look for us two candlemarks before sunset.”

Callindra waved her brothers back with a gesture of impatience.  “I am the best at being quiet.”  She insisted, “I’m the obvious choice to go and investigate this town.”

They were a couple of miles from a small walled settlement that appeared to be mostly intact.  “If approaching unseen is your goal I am uniquely equipped to handle such an endeavor.”  Holt said, speaking for the first time since they had begun their argument.

They all turned and looked at him in surprise.  “I am trained in the arts of stealth and hunting.  If I can stalk and kill a deer with a dagger, I should be easily able to investigate a town of people without any trouble at all.  I’m also more expendable than our leader.”  He said, looking at Callindra significantly.

She flushed, looking down.  She didn’t feel like her skin was worth any more than any of the rest of them, but she remembered the books she’d read what seemed like a century ago.  Having been bed bound while recovering from a shattered leg she’d taken refuge in books.  Some of those books had followed famed generals and war leaders.  Holt was right, if they were to be trusted anyway.

“Fine.”  Callindra grumbled, biting back a caustic comment.  “We’ll send Holt, but if he doesn’t report back before sundown we’re all going in together.”

Holt grinned and gave her a wink, “I’ll be back before you know it.”

“Take care grandfather.”  She said, finally unable to keep a sharp retort from her lips.

The older man adopted an expression of mock injury, “Grandfather?  Why I’m barely a handful of years older than you are Callindra.”

“Father?  Uncle?”  She suggested sweetly, “Go on now, you’re running out of daylight.”

Holt bowed and slipped into the dead undergrowth, not making so much as a leaf rustle as he headed toward the town.  Callindra watched him go with a frown on her face for a few moments until she lost sight of his lean and weathered form in the underbrush.

“Set up a camp, no fire.  We should eat and sleep in shifts just in case there’s trouble.”  She said, looking at her companions.  Cronos stared at her with folded arms and a disgruntled expression on his face.  Vilhylm was looking between her and the retreating form of Holt with a raised eyebrow.

Kain merely set his pack down, settled his weapon harness so he could sit easily and began unpacking a package of rations.  His expression was mild and satisfied as he performed the simple task, from what Callindra had learned from their brief conversations he had been a slave from youth.  The hulking half orc took joy from the simple acts of everyday life that didn’t revolve around fighting for survival.

His calm was almost a palpable thing, spreading to the others and allowing them to relax.  Callindra finally realized how tightly wound her nerves had been and accepted a flask of cold tea and a hardtack biscuit from Kain with a nod of thanks.

“He will be fine mistress.”  He said, seeing the look on her face.  “I have a feeling he has survived worse.”

“I wasn’t worrying about that old fossil.”  She grumbled around a mouthful of rock hard biscuit.  She had to be careful not to break a tooth.  “I’m worried about what he’s going to find in that town, or what he’s not going to find.  We need to find a safe haven, if it hadn’t been for most of the people we’ve come across being dead the shortage of wildlife to scavenge would have starved us out a long time ago.”

“That last farmstead gave us a good supply of rations.”  Kain said calmly, “I believe we’ve gotten through the worst of it Callindra.  It can only get better from here on out.”

“I wish I believed that.”  She said, taking a drink of tea to wash down the crumbs.  “We still haven’t found anyone who can tell us anything about the rest of the world.  Kain, we watched the goddess of nature die and now the wilderness is following her.”

“All things move in circles.”  He said in that infuriatingly calm voice.

Instead of replying, Callindra unlaced her armor enough that it didn’t chafe anymore and pulled Shadowsliver from where he lay next to her skin.  She winced slightly at the small cuts his razor-sharp edge had left on her back, but lay him across her knees and leaned back against her pack.