Shadowguard

Second of Frostfall, Year 1413 AGC

"I still can't believe there's so many buildin's in one place," Adela said, staring at the row houses with wide-eyed wonder.

Everna chuckled. "Pendel's one of the larger towns, for sure, but it's still nothing compared to the capital."

Windmore's arrest brought with it a return to normalcy. Pala and her mother's efforts, coupled with Corden's ongoing purge of the Guard, ensured most of Shroud's infiltrators and double agents found a place within the town's jail. The executions had gone on for nearly nine days now; every hour or two, a cart carrying the next victims of the noose trundled out the west gate. Despite the dozens of headstones added to the graveyard, much of the tension that had gripped the town gave way to renewed excitement as the preparations for the Harvest Festival resumed.

Shroud was still very much a concern, but with the loss of one of their key agents, they had little choice but to retreat into the shadows.

The improvements ended there. Her situation with the Courts, to no one's surprise, remained unchanged. Windmore's arrest and the Guard's infiltration weren't enough to convince them of her innocence; they insisted her involvement remained an undeniable possibility. Frustrating as it was, she expected as much. They still had no viable explanation for why someone would name her the culprit before the assassination took place.

Wil suspected it was a distraction, though Everna believed that Shroud meant to incriminate her further. For all the Courts knew, it could've been a legitimate accusation or a warning. They would not consider any other circumstance without tangible evidence to the contrary. Until they uncovered the source, she'd remain a suspect.

And no one had a clue where to begin with that matter.

"What's a capital?" Adela asked, pointing to the shopping list clutched in her hands. "You mean the big letters like the ones you told me about the other day?"

As expected, her parents didn't hesitate to take Dain and Adela in after they learned of what Shroud had done in Windhollow. They'd put them in one of the guest rooms downstairs, though Everna suspected once Corden moved his belongings into his own home, as both he and Leah were staying at the tavern for the moment, they'd take his room. Or Adela would, at the very least.

Windhollow still weighed heavily on Dain's mind, and almost immediately after arriving in town, he begged Corden to allow him to join the Guard. Adela was all he had left, and though it was Shroud that destroyed his home, he blamed himself for what happened to her. He couldn't get her out of the way fast enough, and he'd be damned if he'd let it happen again.

Adela wanted to enlist as well, but she was still much too young. It would be another eight years before she could, as sixteen was the minimum age of enlistment. Everna suspected, by that time, she'd lose interest; she only wanted to enlist because her brother had.

Instead, Adela took up the role Everna had when she was her age, albeit with more difficulty. Neither she nor Dain knew how to read, a common plight in the Wildlands, as her parents said. They had little use for it in those parts, as most settlements focused on survival, not education. Knowing how to grow crops and hunt game was more important than reading trashy novels.

"Uh, no. That's a capital letter. I'm talking about a capital city," Everna said, peering down at the list. Even if Adela couldn't read it, she insisted upon carrying it, as it was her job. "Inverness has several towns and cities, but there's one that's much larger than the rest. That's where the royal family lives and where the government is. It makes Pendel look like a tiny village."

Beside her, Wil snorted. "Inversa's a village compared to some cities in the region. Alund has one city that takes up most of the kingdom, and even it's small compared to some of the western ports. Port Salryn's three times the size of Alund."

While Shroud had retreated for the moment, neither her parents nor Shadowguard relented in their insistence that someone accompany her whenever she left the tavern. Their absence didn't negate the need to track down their leader, whom Osain firmly believed hadn't left town. That necessity demanded Lisette and the others return to their duties, and Leah had her hands full assisting Corden with the interrogations and setting up a small clergy in Pendel. Wil was the only option and one her father disapproved of — even if he was far more tolerant of Wil than he would be otherwise.

Not that he had a choice; it was her mother's decision and there was no arguing with her.

Everna didn't mind. She'd grown accustomed to him hovering about, though with his hood pulled low over his face, he stood out a bit too much. Still, it was better than the alternative. As soon as people realized what they were looking at — and who, as word of a prince in town had spread quickly — it drew even more attention.

Mostly from women. Not that she cared. Because she didn't. Not at all.

Adela turned to look at him, her head tilted and her eyes squinted as she leaned forward, peering under the hood. "Can you even see with that thing over your face?"

"Yes," Wil said, as if it were the most obvious answer.

Adela hummed, unconvinced. "You know what you look like? Them shady folk Ma used to tell us about. One of them people who sell stuff in the back of the barn on the sly, you know? You got hackweed under that cloak?"

Everna barely stifled her laughter. "He looks a bit like a scoundrel, doesn't it? The night he showed up in the tavern, I thought he was going to snatch my coin purse."

Wil turned to her, a single green eye peaking out from beneath the shadow of his hood. "With the look you gave me, I have a feeling that's not at all what you thought."

"You're right. I was debating whether to have the Guard remove you for leering at me.”

He rolled his eyes and turned back to the street, muttering under his breath.

The markets were decidedly barren for the time of year. The unprecedented winter brought with it more than numbing cold; Pendel lost much of the fall harvest beneath the feet of snow that had fallen, and many of the connecting roads were impassible. The mid-autumn caravans had yet to arrive and Everna suspected the town would have little left when they finally reached the gates. This year's Harvest Festival would be scarce, if the townsfolk hadn't prepared ahead.

Everna glanced at the list, then at the few open stalls. Much of what her parents wanted wasn't available. Most berries, save for the now out of season sun berries, had to be imported from the northern portions of the kingdom, where the weather was cooler year round. Flour was a lost cause; most of the wheat withered during the first snowfall. The dwarves had yet to deliver the salts from their mines in the mountains. Milk, eggs, and oddly enough, sugar seemed to be the only things in plentiful stock.

"It's going to be a long and hard winter this year," Everna sighed.

"It'll be worse up north," Wil agreed. "Last I heard, Everna's buried — literally."

"I'm perfectly unburied, thank you," she said.

Wil rolled his eyes. "I meant the city. The snow's piled halfway up the walls, the reports say. It's not a normal winter."

"Anything to do with what's going on in the kingdom lately?"

"Would not surprise me," he said. "Sh— You know who has ways. Blocking the roads disrupts communications and only Shadowguard has the means of immediate contact here. There was another incident in Rosemere a week ago that we just received word of."

"Same circumstances?" Everna asked.

"Similar, but it failed. They targeted Sir Wolfsbane, but he was prepared for it. After what happened here, the knights are on high alert."

"Then why is Pendel so important?"

"I don't think it's Pendel that's important. It's you. We still don't know why, but from the information we've been getting lately, it looks like the mayor wasn't the target, but the excuse."

"That can't be. If they wanted me gone that badly, why didn't they just—"

A tug at her skirt stopped her short. Adela had one hand clutched onto her apron, the other pointing at a stall near the edge of the market square. Trays of gleaming apples with wooden sticks embedded into the tops lined the stand. She immediately recognized the treat; they were a rarity that only appeared in the days leading up to the Harvest Festival.

"Miss Everna, why are there sticks in those apples?"

"They're candied apples," she said.

"Candied?"

"See that shiny coating on the outside? They're coated in melted sugar and then cooled," she explained. "It gives the apple a really sweet and crunchy shell."

Adela looked up at her, her eyes pleading. "Can I try one? We ain't had nothin' like that in Windhollow."

Everna pulled her coin purse from the pocket of her apron and handed her a couple of copper pieces. "Go on."

With a gleeful smile, she hurried off across the square. Everna couldn't help but smile. Children were truly resilient creatures, more so than most gave them credit for. They took most things in stride, unbothered by the burdens of the world, even when faced with the worst of circumstances. While her brother was apprehensive and overwhelmed by the town’s size, Adela was full of wide-eyed wonder. Where it was obvious Dain had suffered a great emotional upheaval, no one would expect the same of Adela.

As soon as Adela was out of earshot, Everna turned to Wil, prepared to finish her question, when another voice cut her off.

"It's nice to see you in town, for once."