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“Can you tell me where the entrances are to the cisterns?”

“Yes, of course.” She gave Ava clear, concise directions and then stepped back, as if unburdened.

“You’ll find the Rising Wave is a better ally than the Kassian. Thank you for your help.” Ava reached out and covered the mayor’s hand with her own. The mayor’s fingers had the embroidered fabric in a death grip.

“Thankyou.” The mayor’s eyes strayed back to Ava’s boot. “I’m more grateful than you can know.”

Ava tugged the fabric out of her hold, keeping it hidden in her fist. “It was a pleasure to meet you.”

The mayor blinked at her and then looked down at her empty hand. Flexed her fingers. “Nice to meet you, too. I was . . . meeting someone—”

“They couldn’t come,” Ava said.

“Oh.” The mayor laughed, the sound light. “I was dreading it, to be honest. I have so much to do.”

She walked down the alley and disappeared, and Ava carefully lifted her boot and crouched down.

“You all right? We saw Haslia.”

She looked up to find Oscar and Deni moving toward her. She nodded and took a piece of fabric out of her pocket.

“What was that?”

“That woman who just left has been spelled for the last five weeks at least and is finally free of it.” She picked the necklace up, careful not to lose any of the charms.

“That’s what kept her spelled?” Oscar went on his haunches beside her.

“Yes. One charm for every week.” She captured the charm that had rolled off in the same wrapping, and then began to roll it up.

“What do we do with it?” Oscar eyed it with alarm.

Ava didn’t know. “We can’t let anyone touch it. Maybe melt it down?”

For now, she tied it securely and placed it in a side pocket of her pack.

“So, apparently the Kassian are going to pretend to keep a small force here, but there’ll be a larger force hidden below in the cisterns.”

Deni gave a half-laugh in astonishment. “The cisterns?”

Ava lifted her hands. “How many troops would they have to have?”

The Rising Wave seemed massive to her. Did the Kassian have so many more soldiers they could afford to keep a large cohort in reserve in case the Rising Wave made it through to Bartolo?

“Not enough to keep another small army hidden, I would have thought.” Oscar turned his head to look toward the square.

They all started moving back that way until they stood together amid the bustle.

“You go do whatever you do, Avasu. Oscar and I will keep watch.” Deni patted her shoulder.

They could both sense the urgency she was feeling herself, Ava saw. Something was happening, the Kassian had some plan that she couldn’t discern, and she needed to find out what.

She nodded and made her way through the crowds, stopping at the stalls and buying a few small items with the money Luc had given her for this reconnaissance mission.

If the trader was alone, after she had handed over the money, she offered them a small square of fabric and talked a little about the Rising Wave, and how to help the columns if the battlefield came to Bartolo.

The traders interacted with the most people, so she’d decided they were the most efficient recipients of her workings.

She didn’t have much persuading to do. There was already a feeling of ill-will toward the Kassian forces, even though Bartolo was a Kassian town.