“Well?” Claire asked, the smug grin on her features showing she already knew the answer to her question before she even asked it. “How is everything?”

“Delicious,” Noah replied through a mouthful of – well, he wasn’t sure what the meat was from, but it was fantastic, nonetheless. “What is this?”

“Mountain elk, soaked in honey and seasoned with my special blend. It’s my specialty.”

“Do you have more?” Lee asked, staring despondently at the scraps left on the table. They’d mowed through everything Claire had set down in just a few minutes. Noah was actually on Lee’s side – he could have eaten another two servings if given the chance.

Claire let out a bark of laughter. “I’ve got to save some for everyone else, lass. Food isn’t the easiest resource to get a hold of out here. It’s time for you lot to pay up, though. Tell me about what’s been happening.”

“Anything in particular?” Moxie asked. “We’ve been… a little caught up as of late.”

“I’ll quite literally take anything. Just make it exciting.”

Noah and Moxie exchanged a glance. They didn’t have any shortage of interesting stories, but if they left out the stories that could get them into trouble, that number dropped considerably.

After a moment, Noah launched into a retelling of the Hellreaver’s death – leaving out all the parts that he’d actually been involved in. Claire pried them with dozens of questions about Arbitage itself, delighted to find out that they were actually professors.

They had no trouble answering those, and none of them were deep enough to put them at risk, so it was a small price to pay for the meal they’d just had. About thirty minutes later, Claire was finally satisfied.

“Fascinating. I’ve never had professors come through here,” Claire said with a shake of her head. “It sounds quite fun to live in a busy city like that. You reckon my cooking would hold up over there?”

“Easily,” Noah said. “This was some of the greatest food I’ve had in a long time.”

Moxie nodded in agreement. “You’d have no trouble at all. Why? Thinking about expanding?”

“The thought has crossed my mind. It would be great to have a larger audience,” Claire mused as she drummed her fingers on the table. “But enough about me. You were looking for someone here, and I’ve got to start getting ready to serve the lunch crowd.”

Noah knew a polite dismissal when he heard one. He pushed his chair back and stood. “We’ll be on our way, then. It was a pleasure speaking with you. Are you sure you don’t want any pay for the meal?”

Claire shook her head. “No need. The stories were pay enough. Swing back by at some point if you’re still in the area. I’d love to talk more, especially about what kind of restaurants are in the area.”

They all bid her farewell and Claire returned to her kitchen as they headed back out. The wind greeted them as they stepped out, but its sting felt far weaker now that they’d filled their stomachs.

“I wonder what Karina’s been up to. You think she’s gotten any news while she’s been here?” Noah asked as they headed in the direction of the mountain to find the guest houses.

“Probably not,” Moxie said. “Ranged communication is pretty difficult, and I don’t think she was high up enough in your family to get something like that. I’d imagine she’s in the dark. Let’s just keep our eyes open. No matter what she says, I’m not so sure we can trust her.”

“Oh trust me,” Noah said, his eyes darkening. “I don’t. For her sake, I hope she’s playing by the rules we’ve set.”

“Don’t you have to get her out of the contract for this to go through?” Lee asked. “How are you going to convince Father?”

“Haven’t figured that bit out yet, but I’d imagine we can leverage knowing something he doesn’t. He’s got to be at least a little worried about how Evergreen got killed, so we might be able to leverage that.”

“You’re going to tell him what happened?” Moxie pursed her lips. “That might not be a wise idea.”

“I never said that. We can definitely poke around the issue and figure out how much he wants. If we can misdirect him, then all the better. If not, then we’ll figure something else out. I’m sure he wants something from me. If it’s worth less than the artifact is, then it’ll be worth it.”

“If you’re sure. Just be careful. Father isn’t someone we should be playing games with. We don’t need to be butting heads with yet another powerful mage this soon.”

Noah nodded in agreement. Their conversation fell away as they continued through the village, soon arriving at as cluster of buildings at its edge. They were just far away from the other ones to make it clear that they weren’t part of the village proper. And, unlike the village, these buildings weren’t stacked on each other. Instead, they were in a short line.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Lee sniffed at the air. “I smell Karina. She’s in there.”

“Lucky us,” Noah said. “Do you know which one?”

After a moment, Lee pointed to the boulder third in line. They walked up to it, and Noah knocked on the stone door before taking a step back to wait. A few seconds passed.

“I’m a little busy at the moment.” Karina’s voice came from the other side of the door. She sounded stiffer than usual.

“It’s me,” Noah said. “I believe we’ve got some business to discuss.”

There was a moment of silence. Noah heard a thump behind the door and, a moment later, it swung open to reveal Karina. She’d bundled herself in heavy furs, and her face was a little paler than Noah recalled.

“You’re late,” Karina said through clenched teeth. “You were supposed to arrive yesterday.”

“We were preoccupied,” Noah replied. “Are you going to let us in? We’re here to complete the deal.”

Karina grunted. She shifted back, stepping out from behind the door. Something about her stance looked off. It took Noah a moment, but he finally realized what was off about her.

One of her feet was missing, cut off just above the ankle.

“What happened to your foot?” Lee asked.

“I lost it.” Karina glared at them. “And I don’t exactly have access to a healing potion that’s strong enough to fix the damage right now.”

“How do you lose a foot? It’s attached to your body.”

Karina’s eye twitched. She didn’t grace Lee with a response and limped back into her room, flopping down on a bed made of more furs. They all stepped into the room after her, and Moxie closed the door behind them to keep the wind from coming in.

“Don’t give me that look,” Karina growled. “I’ll be fine. I don’t want your pity.”

“How’d it happen? Try to go into the catacombs on your own?” Noah asked.

“How in the Damned Plains did you know?”

“I just kind of assumed that the place would be stuffed to the brim with monsters or traps. Probably both.”

I’ll refrain from saying this was pretty obvious. There’s no way that the Linwicks would leave a trove of artifacts – no matter how unimportant they are – unguarded. She’s clearly already paid the price. I’m more concerned with how strong the defenses are.

Karina stared at Noah. Then she sighed. “Well, you’re right. I expected some degree of defenses as well, but I thought taking a quick look around would be fairly safe. I was hoping there might be something I could use as leverage.”

“Against Father?” Moxie guessed.

“I didn’t say that,” Karina said, but her eyes told Noah that Moxie had hit the nail right on the head. “It hardly matters. The catacombs are far more guarded than I was led to believe. There’s a Frost Wight lurking in them. Damn thing nearly killed me. I barely managed to escape.”

“What Rank is that?” Noah asked.

“Three, but high up. Almost Rank 4, I’d guess.” Karina heaved a sigh. “And that was just the entryway guard. If we’re trying to get any deeper, I’d imagine things just get worse, not to mention any traps that might be on the artifacts. We might have to give up on this.”

High Rank 3 is definitely within our capabilities, especially if I can test out what we’re up against first.

“I think we’ll take a look around first. It’s a little too early to give in after spending all this time traveling here.”

“Did you not hear what I said? The Frost Wight is going to be the weakest line of defense. There’s no way–”

“Your job was to guide us to the artifact,” Noah said. “Not fight. We’ll handle that.”

Karina pressed her lips together. “I’m not getting myself killed for this.”

“It was your idea in the first place.”

“That was before I saw what they had in there. I’d rather be stuck in a bad contract than dead. You do realize I’m a Rank 3, right? I barely escaped with my life, and I’ve been Rank 3 for much longer than you.”

“Have you forgotten that I’ve beaten you in every fight we had?”

Karina’s lips pressed together. “Not by that much. I’m not killing myself for this.”

“This is going in circles,” Moxie said, stepping between them. “If we deal with the monster, you guide us. If we can’t, then we’re dead and it’s hardly a problem. How’s that?”

“Fine.” Karina shrugged. “That’s one way to get me out of my contract, so I won’t object. And, if you get yourselves killed, I’m free nonetheless.”

Honestly, fair enough. Can’t fault her for that. I’d imagine she’s not too pleased about losing a foot. She’s trapped between a rock and a hard place. If she hadn’t tried killing Isabel and Todd, I might be feeling bad right about now.

“How much would a potion to cure your foot be?” Noah asked.

Karina studied him with squinted eyes. “Something that can regenerate a limb without having said limb to reattach? Probably eight or nine thousand gold. More if you can’t find a good vendor. That’s in the range of a full-heal potion.”

Probably the potion that could heal Todd, then. Yikes.

“Can you afford it?”

Karina’s lips pressed thin. “No. I don’t have the resources I used to have. I can pull money from my family’s treasury in small amounts, but I won’t be able to get away taking out that much. It’s none of your concern, though. I’ll be fine. I can earn money as soon as I get out from under Father’s thumb.”

“Fair enough.” Noah shrugged. “As long as you show us where that book is, we’ll count the deal as valid. I’ll look into finding out how to get Father to break things off. In the meantime, we’ll deal with the Frost Wight. Assuming we do, you’ll guide us through the catacombs. If we can’t – well, your problems are solved, aren’t they?”

“Works for me.” Karina rubbed the bridge of her nose and let out a weary sigh. “Is there anything else, then?”

“Not right now. I take it you’ll be here?”

She sent him a glare. “Where do you think I’m going? I’ve got one working leg.”

Hey, you’ve got a whole other one. And you aren’t missing the whole leg, just a foot.

Noah wisely opted not to mention that. Karina was far from his favorite person, but she didn’t deserve that. She was already suffering enough.

“We’ll be around, then. Do you know if this village has a market of any value? We need to buy some potions.”

Karina gave him a one-shouldered shrug. “There’s an alchemist. I’d imagine she has the basics. I only talked briefly with her about a potion, though. She didn’t have what I needed. Her shop is the one near the middle of the village with the carving of the bottle on the outside.”

That wasn’t particularly awe-inspiring, but it was the best with what they had to go off. Bidding a slightly awkward farewell to Karina, the trio set back out into the cold to find the alchemist and, hopefully, some Mind Meld potions.