Alfric wondered whether she really did believe that. She had said nothing about being a Chosen of Xuphin and how that was a struggle in and of itself, or how the terrible weight of expectation had pressed down on her. It was hard, hearing her talk, to know how much was left unsaid because of Hannah and how much was left unsaid because the godly imprint on her was something she refused to think about. It was hard for Alfric to know, and harder still to know how he could ever broach that subject with Verity.
“All right,” said Hannah, slapping her thighs. “Time to get a move on,
if we’ve gotten our rest in. I’d
They continued on up the hill, carrying the heavy wardrobe, while Verity followed behind them, singing. This time the songs were a bit less jovial, and Alfric, having nothing better to think about besides where his next step was going to be, thought about what she might be trying to say with it. That first song was one of a king going into battle against his enemies, which was either a very old song, from the time of kings, or something of Verity’s own invention. By the second song, it was obvious she was speaking of power and how it felt to use it. Verity sang about wizards who brought down lightning bolts and knights who slew dragons, and there was something very old but also very strong about it. It was also rousing in a way, something about the melody that brought forth the feeling of battle, and Alfric found himself moving faster because of it.
They reached the top of Traeg’s Knob, then rested for a bit more, before finally moving it into one of the public rooms, which was thankfully unlocked.
“Do you think we could get someone to lock this place up?” asked Alfric, looking around.
“Why?” asked Hannah. “No one is going to steal a wardrobe. We’ll have trouble enough getting’ it out of here on our own. Besides, this isn’t like Dondrian, where people don’t know each other. There are, as we said when we got here, probably not more than a hundred people in the whole hex.”
“I suppose,” said Alfric. “But it’s valuable.”
“I do have to say,” said Hannah, “that I don’t fancy the thought of
luggin’ this thing another twelve miles back home. It’s closer to two
hundred pounds than it is to one hundred. I don’t know that I
“Well, I’m going through, if that’s all right with you,” said Verity. “Hot meal, hot bath, warm bed. Also, I need to pee.”
“Ay, should have gone in the dungeon,” said Hannah. “That’s what I did.”
“Gross,” said Verity.
“You’re the one who mentioned it,” said Alfric, though it
“Well, through we go,” said Hannah, once Alfric made a note. She looked
over as he wrote it and saw that it both explained the entad and
welcomed people to use it while it was sitting there, which was more
than she thought she would have put in.
“Somethin’ odd about that, wasn’t there?” asked Hannah. “The way she spoke.”
“It’s Mizuki,” said Alfric. “But we’ll see her in a bit, and if it
“Hot food, hot bath, warm bed,” said Verity, repeating it like a mantra. “There are entads that get a person clean in a hurry, aren’t there? Add that to my wishlist.”
The three of them went through together, and Alfric was thankful that he’d had the foresight to do some testing on whether the wardrobe’s orientation with respect to what direction it faced mattered (it did not) and had the further foresight to etch into his mind which of the notches would take them to Pucklechurch and which would take them to Liberfell.
