into the sky, and she bit her tongue. Each was an accusation: as a chief, she was bound to answer. Each was a reminder: Rhusana had good as lit each beacon herself, waiting for Fie to take the bait.
She told herself another band might answer and pressed on.
By noon of the second day, they could see the crest of the royal palace over the trees, and it didn’t take long for the rest of the city’s hill to swell above them. They ducked into the brush before they hit the gates proper, and Khoda and Fie went to work pulling the saddle and bridle off Viimo’s horse, while Viimo herself shed her Pigeon cloak for one of dusty black crowsilk.
“Remember,” Khoda told the Vulture, cinching a pack to her former mount, “nothing until we’re at most two carts from the gate. We don’t speak, you don’t know us, and you don’t make your move until—”
“The guards see. Aye, I know.” Viimo cackled at him. “You’re workin’ with professionals, can’t you tell?”
As if to drive the point home, Barf leapt up onto the packs, stuck a hind leg in the air, and began to groom a very undignified place. Khoda made a little disgusted cough but heckled Viimo no more.
They waited for nigh another quarter hour, peering from the brush while Khoda sized up the passing travelers. Finally he spotted a cart laden with squash and maize and signaled Fie.
She called on two Sparrow teeth, and they slipped onto the flatway behind the maize cart, keeping a good number of paces behind it. The farmer didn’t notice them, even after she let one tooth go and focused the other on Viimo.
They followed the farmer all the way up to one of the Lesser Gates into Dumosa, reserved for Common Castes and Crows, and sat in line on the bridge over the Hem. Viimo lingered a pace or two behind them, but with Fie’s Sparrow tooth turning notice from her, the farmers and laborers waiting to enter the city paid her no heed.
It wasn’t until the maize cart drew within easy eyesight of the Hawk guards that Khoda nudged Fie. She let her remaining Sparrow tooth go cold, then reached up to grab Barf from the horse’s back, a signal for Viimo.
Right on cue, the skinwitch ducked around the horses, hovering at the edge of the maize cart. When the farmer scooted off her wagon seat to speak to the Hawks, Viimo made a show of swiping one, two ears of maize, then a squash, practically flapping her crowsilk cloak for attention.
“HEY!” The farmer bolted for Viimo. “Damned dirty bone thief! You trying to steal from me?”
Viimo swore, stumbled back like a drunkard, and all but heaved the produce into the air. Somehow, in righting herself, she managed to send another squash flying.
“Subtle,” Khoda muttered. “Ready?”
“Guard!” the farmer shouted. “Thief! Get her!”
Viimo took off running. There was a flurry of leather stamping on stone, and then four Hawks streaked past in hot pursuit. Fie rekindled both of her Sparrow teeth and readied a spare for if a tooth burned out.
“Ready,” Fie said.
She’d borrowed this idea from when Jasimir had saved Barf before. Khoda made sure the horses’ reins were clear of their feet, then smacked one on the rump. It reared, startling the other two and only adding to the chaos. Shouts and curses spilled over the bridge as Fie and Khoda backed toward the gate. Every eye was either on Viimo or on the horses now shying down the cobblestones.
Fie and Khoda slipped by the stormy-faced farmer and past the vexed Gull merchants waiting at the now-clear gate. The two Vulture witches on guard were watching the chase with glee. Then Fie saw them narrow their eyes.
“That’s not a Crow,” one said. “Look—that hair’s like one of us.”
The other swore under his breath. “Reckon that’s the tracker who turned on Tatterhelm? The queen might want a word with her…”
The skinwitches didn’t so much as blink as Khoda and Fie strolled through the gate, then ducked into a nearby alcove. Barf wriggled until Fie set her down.
Two Hawks shoved Viimo through the gate a few minutes later. She moped and twisted about, the picture of sullen defeat, and Fie couldn’t help huffing a laugh. Viimo had been right about that much: starting the plan with her arrest was something Fie enjoyed quite a bit.
Once they were out of sight, Khoda stepped out, trying to get his bearings as he pulled two painted