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If that was so, it could be that persuading people off the road was part of the trap’s magic. And he’d been in such a rush, he’d accepted Gallain’s word without a murmur.

“Can you see if he was here? If he worked magic?” It was time he started using her expertise.

She hesitated, then gave a nod. “There isn’t any magic to see anymore, but if someone uses it, I can sense . . . something. Like the smell in the air after it rains.”

“He can’t take every traveler he finds up here. Not if the trap’s constantly putting out magic.” Theo couldn’t see how that would be feasible.

“No. But maybe he listened to them talking for a while before he struck, and heard something that made him realize they were here for the children.”

That made sense.

Their enemy was forewarned.

“Then he knows about the two of us,” he said.

“Maybe, maybe not.” Melodie shrugged. “But it’s best we assume he does.” She bent and began picking up the things the others had left behind. Caro’s bag, Ivan’s cloak, two cups and the small kettle Theo had put on the fire to boil water.

She packed them into the saddle bag of Caro’s horse.

“We need a story,” she said.

She was pale, and he remembered she’d been looking forward to resting and a meal, but they couldn’t stay here. Not in a place that Marchant checked regularly.

“A story for where?”

“The inn in Warven. We can’t go on without sleep, but we can’t stay here.” She gently took her horse’s reins from him, handed him his own, and began walking up the trail. “At least in Warven, with other people around, we can’t disappear so easily. And there will be a door we can lock at a room in the inn. If wehave a good enough story, we won’t raise suspicion, and we can maybe gather some information about him.”

“You’ve done this before,” he said.

“I made a lot of enemies in my life,” she said, glancing behind him. “Especially when I was much younger and innocently spoke about what I could see in a voice that was as clear and carrying as a bell, according to my father.”

He smiled at the thought of a tiny Melodie, piping up in a sweet voice about the spell work she could see. He realized her father had probably been in constant fear of her being taken or silenced.

No wonder she had an air of loneliness about her. An aura of isolation.

He moved up, so they were walking side by side, the horses following behind. “We could present ourselves as a couple,” he said. “So that sharing a room is a given.”

She glanced at him, gave a serious nod. “Yes. I think that’s a good idea.”

“I don’t want you out of my sight again. We’re a team. We have my sword and the truth you can see when it comes to magic. Together, we have a better chance of protecting ourselves.” He slipped an arm around her shoulder as they crested the hill, and saw Warven winking its lights at them below. Forests stretched along the hill to the left and right, but someone had cut a swathe through the trees wide enough for four horses abreast, all the way down to the bottom.

With night having fallen, the forests were an impenetrable wall of darkness, and something about it made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

He bent close to her ear. “We should also be aware he could be watching us right now.”

She stiffened for a moment beneath his arm, and gave a nod. “Good point.” She swept her gaze around, as if looking for asign of their enemy, then leaned in close to him. “And we need to remember that everyone in Warven could be either under his spell, or a paid informant.”

He gave a nod. Thatwasworth keeping front of mind.

The path that led them downward twisted and turned, but was wide and well kept. Maybe Gallain wasn’t under a spell when he’d suggested they take it.

“We should find the main road, and pretend we came in on it,” he said.

She gave a nod. “And we’ll have to pretend to be coming from Taunen, not Illoa.”

With their story more or less straight, they reached the bottom of the hill and emerged onto the main road.

Warven was just ahead, the road open but empty. There was no gatehouse, which wasn’t unusual in either Grimwalt or Kassia, where the government was stable and law and order was respected.