Wet snow and mud sprayed over several people on the side of the street, some of it splattering over Quilla’s outer robe. The sleigh responsible raced down the street, spraying more people as it went, and was out of sight in moments. Quilla made only a token effort to brush the mud off. She was covered in so much of it already, there really wasn’t much point.

  This was a common occurrence these days, Bloods with no care racing about and accosting anyone who dared to question them—arresting them if they were lucky, but more likely just executing them on the spot. Anyone unable to move out of the way fast enough just got trampled. In such cases, the lucky ones died quickly; the unlucky either died a slow, lingering death, or were left with horrendous injuries that were unlikely to ever heal.

  But it was the walking patrols Quilla worried about. There was little likelihood of them identifying her, especially from a distance, but they liked to stop people at random, especially if they were Eloorin, and even more especially if they were darker-skinned Eloorin. In such cases, they didn’t need to realise who she was to decide to harm or kill her. All they needed was their personal whim.

  For that reason, whenever she was out like this, she did her best to avoid attracting attention to herself. Unfortunately, that meant not wearing a hood, which not only increased the likelihood of being recognised—though admittedly only very slightly—but was also a lot colder.

  When she had first arrived in Arnor City after Garet’s death, she had liked the presence of the cold—well, that wasn’t strictly true. She had welcomed it because it reminded her of her misery. She’d found that appropriate, but not any more. Now, she was sick of the cold. She was still miserable, but she didn’t need the cold constantly reminding her of that.

  The wind picked up as she continued on her way, whipping through her hair and freezing her ears. She was growing her hair longer than she typically kept it with the hope it might make her less recognisable and maybe help keep her head warm. It wasn’t doing very well with the latter, though to be fair, it had only been a couple of weeks.

  Two damn weeks they’d been stuck here. Two weeks since the Bloods had arrived and placed the embargo stopping any ships from leaving. Annai had been right. They should have gone with Pastrin, Ned, and Hang. Then they would have gotten away just in time.

  Oh well. It was done now and, as Gabby said repeatedly, there was no way they could keep the embargo up forever.

  She came around a corner onto the street where the tenement building they were staying at was located. It was just a short distance ahead now.

  Shit.

  A pair of Bloods were walking along the street in her direction. If she rushed, she could probably reach her door before they reached her, but that would draw attention. She couldn’t turn around as that would also draw attention. All she could do was just keep going at her current pace and hope they ignored her.

  They didn’t.

  “You there!” one of them called as they got close.

  Quilla stopped and prepared her best smile.

  “What’s in the sacks?”

  Damn. They just had to go straight for those. “Food, my Lords. I’ve just come from the market.”

  The two Bloods reached her. One stood back a couple feet, one hand on the hilt of his sword. The other came right up to her, so close she feel the heat of his breath and smell its fowl scent. “Food, eh? Show me.”

  “Of course, my Lord.” Quilla took a small step away from him, hoping it didn’t offend him, and gently lowered the two bags to the ground. She bent over and untied the one on the right.

  Food was a major concern. They had no money. No money at all. But Quilla had spent many years of her life travelling Arnor alone. She’d been in tight monetary positions before and had learned how to lift a little bit of food. The problem was, it wasn’t possible to steal food in large quantities without being noticed—especially when there were regular patrols about—so she had to be very careful about what she took. She had just enough here to feed herself, Gabby, and Annai for two to three days.

  She pulled a loaf of bread out of the bag and held it out to the Blood. “Would you like some?” Bribery sometimes helped in these encounters, but losing even a single loaf of bread was hard.

  He snatched the bread from her and broke a piece off before handing the rest to his companion. “Thank you. Very generous of you.” With a laugh, he reached down and picked up both bags. “Very generous indeed.”

  Laughing, the two Bloods walked away.

  Gods damn it! She hated this fucking city.

  She kicked at the ground, stood there a few moments, then headed inside the building.

  When she reached the door to their room, she gave three quick knocks, paused, and then another four quick knocks. A moment later, there was the sound of dragging from the other side of the door, and then Annai opened it and let her in. She stepped inside, closed the door, and then helped Annai drag the wardrobe back in front of it.

  There was no lock on the door, and they had had quite a few people—several unsavoury—just walk in, so they had started blocking the door and had come up with the knock as a way to let the people inside know it was safe to open. Annai never left the room, so there was always at least one person there.

  Annai flopped down on one of the beds while Quilla removed her outdoor clothes. “I’m glad you’re back. There have been three attempts by people to get in here. On the last one, it was a group of at least three or four people. They almost managed to break the door down before they gave up. Someone called out a warning about Bloods and they took off. Where’s the food?”

  “Bloods took it. I got stopped just outside the building.” Quilla walked over to the bed and swatted her hand several times over the spot where she intended to sit. The beds here were crawling with bugs.

  “But I’m starving!”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  “It’s not my fault. You know how the Bloods are.”

  With a groan, Annai rolled over on her side, facing the wall. “I know, but can’t you go out again?”

  “I’m tired. I need time. You could always go.”

  Annai rolled back over to look at her. “And what would Gabby say about that?”

  Quilla sighed. “I know. I’ll go in a little while, okay?”

  With another groan, Annai muttered, “Fine,” and rolled back over to face the wall.

  They had dyed Annai’s hair black and cut it short, but the fact was, she was still the most recognisable of them, having made frequent public appearances before everything went to shit. That was the reason Gabby and Quilla had decided Annai should remain inside all the time—well, one of the reasons, but the only one they had actually told her.

  Quilla sat there in silence for several minutes, then grabbed her pillow and shook it out. She had just laid her head down when three quick knocks followed by a pause and four more came from the door. When Annai didn’t move and only muttered a couple unintelligible words, Quilla sat up and went to the door.

  Once Gabby was inside and they’d replaced the wardrobe, Gabby handed a small sack to Quilla. “A small bit of food I was able to acquire. It’s not—”

  “Thank the gods!” Annai leapt to her feet and snatched the sack. “I’m starving. Quilla lost what she got.”

  Quilla rolled her eyes. “I didn’t lose it. It was taken by Bloods.”

  “Whatever.” Annai pulled out a loaf of bread, then eyed the now-deflated sack. “Is this it?”

  “I was about to say it wasn’t much,” Gabby said.

  “Whatever.” Annai broke the loaf in half and took a bite out of one half. Her face pulled back in a grimace. “Ugh, it’s mouldy.”

  With a shrug, Gabby grabbed the other half of the loaf and handed it to Quilla. “Sorry. Best I could do. I’m not actually out there looking for food, you know.”

  A slight whimper came from Annai, but she kept eating the bread and sat down on her bed.

  Quilla examined the half loaf she had. It didn’t look too terrible. It was a bit stiff and obviously stale. There were only a few bits of visible mould that she could easily break off. “I’ll go out to the market again in an hour or so.” She took a bite. It wasn’t the most pleasant flavour, but food was scarce enough and she was hungry enough that she didn’t care too much.

  “Any news?” Annai asked.

  Gabby removed her cloak, tossed it over the wardrobe, and leaned against the wall. She buried her head in her hands for a moment. “I’ve got good news and bad news.” She looked haggard. Her face was dirty, her eyes sunken. Despite the cold, sweat dripped from short, greasy hair.

  “Start with the good,” Annai said. “Everything else is always bad, so I want something different.”

  “Some of the ship captains are finally accepting passengers. I’ve got us booked on a ship to Porthaven as soon as the embargo is lifted.”

  Annai sat up straight and turned to face Gabby. “Is the embargo being lifted?”

  Gabby rubbed her eyes and shrugged. “Don’t know for sure, but talk is that it can’t last much longer. People are getting very tense. They have to lift it soon, or there will be a revolt. Even the threat of a dragon burning all the ships won’t keep that off much longer.

  “So, soon then?” Annai said.

  Gabby shrugged again. “Hopefully the next day or two, but can’t say for sure.”

  “Well, that’s something at least.” Annai took another bite of her bread.

  “Our payment is we have to work, do whatever odd jobs the captain needs of us. That includes you, Annai.”

  Annai groaned. “I know, I know. I’ll do it. At least we’re getting out of here.”

  “You better.” Gabby lowered her head and rubbed her forehead.

  Quilla approached and reached out to her. There was a hint of tears in Gabby’s eyes. “What’s the bad news?”

  Gabby gave her a weak smile and wiped her eyes. “We have to leave here in the morning.”

  “Leave?” Quilla said. “As in Arnor City?”

  Gabby shook her head. “Here as in the tenement building. We’re being evicted.”

  “What? Why?” Annai said.

  “I snuck off one too many times to find a ship, and got caught. Now I’m fired. We have to leave first thing in the morning.”

  Gabby had been working at the docks, hauling cargo for their landlord. However, as there weren’t any ships coming and going, the “pay” was only accommodation.

  “It’s not so bad,” Quilla said, trying to sound upbeat. “We’ll find some place else, even if we have to sneak in somewhere. It’ll be like our first couple of nights, and it’s hopefully for just a couple days.”

  “Yeah, this place is a shithole anyway,” Annai said. “I’ve got so many bug bites now, it’s ridiculous. I itch everywhere.”

  “I know,” Gabby said. “I just… I’m so exhausted and so… Gods, I don’t know. It’s just one little thing that’s made all the little things come crashing down upon me and…”

  Quilla put her arms around Gabby and held her tight. “It’s all right. We’re going to be all right.”

  Gabby started to sob softly. “They’re dead, Quilla. My father, Thilin, probably Rudiger. And so many others. It’s been nearly three weeks and I haven’t had a chance to grieve. I’ve had to—”

  Quilla shushed her and continued to hold her. “I know, and I understand. I’ve got you. Grieve all you want.”

  Quilla continued to hold her while Gabby sobbed softly. After a minute or so, Annai came over and joined in the hug, sobbing along with both of them.

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