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I’ve not been met with silence before. So perhaps silence means … yes?”
    “No, I’m not going to the mountains,” Kael said firmly.
    The blind man slapped his hands to his ears — rattling a shower of dust from the wilds of his hair and onto his shoulders. “ Lies ! Words flung halfway out, a bird caught by the feet as he struggles for the open window. Flee, little bird. Flee!”
    “I’m sorry, but I’m not going to the mountains,” Kael said again. When he tried to walk away, the blind man wailed all the louder.
    “No, oh no. He’s trapped! More beats of his wings, desperate fluttering with the blue sky just beyond —”
    “I’m not lying.”
    “— but he can’t escape. Something holds him back.” Then without warning, the blind man spread his arms out wide and howled: “Fly! Fly, little bird! Wing into the sunlight and leave the gilded prison at your back! Use your beak, use your claws!”
    By this point, people were beginning to stare. The merchants at the tail end of the caravan walked with their heads turned back and their mouths agape. Two of the guards peered curiously over the ramparts.
    Blast it all. This was the last thing Kael needed.
    He tried to walk away quickly, but the blind man latched onto his ankle. “Flee! Flee, little b —”
    “ Yes — all right? Yes, I’m going to the mountains. Now for mercy’s sake, will you please shut it?”
    “That depends …” his filthy head cocked to the side, “will you take me with you?”
    Kael didn’t want to have a blind man fumbling along behind him the whole way to the mountains. In fact, he couldn’t think of anything he wanted less — except, perhaps, to be caught by the guards and turned over to the Countess.
    Almost on cue, the blind man started to wail.
    “Stop it. Stop — fine !” Kael hissed. “You can come with me.”
    His smile returned immediately. “What wonderful news! Just let me gather my things …” His knobby hands patted the ground around him furiously, finally coming to rest atop a mossy hill. “I’ve been waiting a long while for someone to take me to the mountains,” he said as he dug his hands into the moss. “Ages and ages, it seems like.”
    Kael didn’t believe him — until he tugged hard on the hill of moss and a filthy rucksack burst out. “How long has that been sitting there?”
    “It sat down when I did, of course. What a silly question.” The blind man raised his hands. “Now help me up.”
    Kael pulled him to his feet. “Come on,” he grumbled.
    He’d taken several steps before he realized that the blind man wasn’t following. He stood back near the wall, holding his hands out before him as if he read a book.
    “Something very heavy rests upon your shoulders, traveler,” he said after a moment. “I heard it in your steps when you first approached. Ah, here’s a man who’s walked the earth , I thought to myself. Here is a man who understands the importance of the prints he leaves behind, because he’s already left so many. I’ve heard only a few such steps. Usually they belong to men with hands that are crusted hard with age. Your hands are surprisingly young.” Kael could hear the dry rasp as the blind man rubbed his fingers together. “And yet … they’re slick with blood.”
    Without another word, the blind man swooped the filthy rucksack across his shoulders and stumbled forward. He latched onto Kael’s pack with his knobby fingers and held on as they passed through the gates.
    Kael wasn’t sure how deep into the forest they walked before Kyleigh materialized from the trees. When she dropped her hood, he could read the surprise clearly on her face.
    “We’re probably going to die before we get there, anyways. So what does it matter?” Kael grumbled before she could speak.
    Kyleigh shrugged. “Fair enough. But may I at least ask why we’ve added a blind man to our party?”
    Kael sighed heavily, and swore he could almost feel the weight sink down upon his shoulders