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accept.”
     
     
    “If you change your mind,” he said, “do you know your way to Fortune?”
     
     
    “I’ve never been there,” she said. “But I’m sure I could find it.”
     
     
    Jasper gave her a small bow. “Then we shall hope you reconsider and that we see you again soon. Come, Karryn, it’s time we were getting you home. Your mother is so anxious.”
     
     
    He put an arm around Karryn’s shoulder to herd her back to her waiting horse, but Karryn broke free and flung her arms around Wen. It was wholly unexpected, and Wen froze in place, enduring the hug for the moment it lasted. “I do hope you’ll come to Fortune,” the girl said when she pulled back, her eyes brimming with tears. “You can’t think how much we need you there.”
     
     
    “Karryn,” Jasper called, and the girl dragged herself over to her uncle, turning back twice to give Wen a forlorn wave. Though it seemed to take forever, they were all finally mounted and on their way again. Jasper had paused long enough to count a few coins into Wen’s hand—the price of the mare, and the only reward she did not decline—and then finally he was on horseback as well. Wen returned Karryn’s last wave before the whole party cantered out of sight around the bend of the road.
     
     
    Well. That would teach her to go rescuing serramarra. Now she felt all ruffled and peculiar, as if she’d actually seen a friend ride away.
     
     
    And Karryn Fortunalt was nowhere near a friend.
     
     
    Wen shook her head to clear away the confusion and swung herself onto the gelding’s back. Then she just sat in the saddle a moment, not sure which direction to go.
     
     
    “Well, then,” she said softly. “Where was I going before I encountered the serramarra this morning?”
     
     
    Ah, but that was the problem, of course. She had been headed nowhere in particular. She had no destination, no goal, no driving purpose. Nowhere to be, no one to look for. Just strangers in trouble. People who might need her for a short time, and then ride on.
     

 
    Chapter 4
     

     
    WEN SPENT TWO DAYS BACK AT THE LITTLE MARKET town she and Karryn had visited, roaming the few streets and looking for work. Her funds were lower than she liked, and, as Jasper Paladar had pointed out, heroism could be expensive.
     
     
    She found a job with a small freighting company that needed extra soldiers to guard a shipment to Forten City. The pay was so good for the short stretch of work that, once she made her way from the tidy business office to the chaotic loading yard to introduce herself to the captain of the guard, she couldn’t resist asking what they’d be protecting.
     
     
    He sized her up before answering. She guessed him to be in his late thirties, maybe eight years older than she was, and well-muscled under his worn uniform. He had short blond-brown hair, brown eyes, massive hands, and a wicked smile that he unexpectedly turned on her.
     
     
    “Maybe I shouldn’t discuss our cargo until I find out if you’re good enough to keep it safe,” he drawled.
     
     
    She returned a smile that was more a smirk. She was used to proving herself to other soldiers, particularly men, and bonding over a battlefield was what she understood best about friendship. “Maybe you shouldn’t,” she replied. “You got any space here for a demonstration? You want to take me on or you want to turn me over to someone else?”
     
     
    “Oh, I think I can handle you,” he said and jerked his head to indicate the back of the yard. They made their way through a welter of carts and drivers to a relatively clear space of trampled grass and dried mud.
     
     
    The captain was buttoning up his vest and pulling on his gloves. Wen settled her own clothes and slid her sword out of its sheath. She saw him give it a quick sideways appraisal, noting its superb condition. He pulled his own weapon with one fluid motion.
     
     
    No one had suggested practice blades for this little