The inn was called The Stone Barrel, and it smelled like mutton stew and wet wood.
Garrett had taken a table near the back wall. His two escorts sat with him, eating in the unhurried way of people who enjoyed food when it was in front of them. Garrett's sword leaned against the wall beside him.
The five of them had a table of their own. It was round and scarred and one leg was shorter than the others, so it rocked whenever someone leaned on it. The innkeeper had brought bread, stew, and a jug of water without asking what they wanted. This was not a place with choices.
Darin ate like he had not seen food in days. He tore bread and dipped it into the stew and ate with his mouth half-full. "This is good," he said. "Better than road food. Better than my mother's cooking, actually, but don't tell her I said that."
Petra raised an eyebrow. "You've been on the road for one day."
"Long enough to know the difference."
Soren ate steadily. He did not join the conversation. He did not avoid it either.
Kira broke her bread into pieces and placed them beside her bowl in a neat row before eating them one at a time.
The stew was good. Thick, salty, with chunks of turnip and mutton that fell apart on the tongue. Aldric ate and let the warmth settle into him. The inn was loud around them — other travellers, the clink of cups, the innkeeper's voice calling something to the kitchen.
Darin pushed his bowl back and leaned on the table. It rocked. "So. Valmont. Has anyone actually been to a city before?"
Nobody answered.
"Right," he said. "Farmers, the lot of us." He grinned. "Except maybe you." He looked at Petra.
"Thornwall is a town," Petra said. "Not a city."
"Bigger than Millford."
"Everything is bigger than Millford."
Kira smiled at that. Small, but real.
Darin laughed. "Fair."
The conversation drifted. Petra asked what the Tamer academy would be like — not to anyone in particular, just putting the question out. Nobody had an answer. Soren said he had heard the Earth academy in Valmont was built from the same stone as the city walls.
"What about you?" Darin asked, looking at Kira. "Sanctifier. That's the healing one, right?"
"Healing and purification," Kira said. "Two churches. You have to learn both."
"That sounds like twice the work."
"It is." A small smile crossed her face. "But I'd rather have too much to learn than not enough."
Darin waited for more. Nothing came.
"I didn't come this far to learn half of it," she added, and the smile stayed.
Darin looked at her for a moment. Then he nodded. "I like that."
He turned to Aldric. "What about you? Water Elemental. Same academy as me. What do you want to do with it?"
The table rocked.
Aldric opened his mouth. He had known this question was coming since the Aether Stone lit up in Ashford. Darin wanted to see what magic could do. Petra wanted to understand hers. Kira knew exactly what she intended.
"I don't know yet," he said.
The table was quiet for a moment.
"That's fair," Darin said. "I don't think any of us really know. I just want to see what it's like."
Aldric nodded.
Kira looked at him. "You will," she said. It wasn't pity. It sounded like she meant it.
The inn moved around them. Cups clinked. The fire crackled. Darin reached for the water jug. "Tomorrow we'll be one day closer to Valmont and none of us will know anything more than we do right now. Might as well enjoy the stew."
He refilled his cup and drank. The evening went on and the fire burned lower and eventually Garrett stood and told them it was time to sleep.
They climbed the stairs. Aldric shared with Darin and Soren. The room was small — two beds and a bedroll on the floor. Darin took the bedroll without being asked. "I've slept on worse," he said, and was asleep within minutes.
Aldric lay in the dark and listened to the inn settling beneath him. Footsteps. A door closing. The muffled voice of the innkeeper downstairs.
He thought about what Kira had said. I didn't come this far to learn half of it. And then, to him: You will.
He thought about what he had said. I don't know yet.
He hoped she was right.
* * *
Morning came grey and cool. The sky had clouded over during the night and the air smelled like rain that had not yet decided to fall.
They ate a quick breakfast in the common room — bread and butter and a pot of weak tea that tasted like it had been brewed twice. Garrett was already outside with the horses. Through the window Aldric could see him checking the wagon wheels, running his hand along the axle the way Tomas checked fence posts — by feel, without thinking.
Darin sat across from Aldric, still half-asleep. His hair stuck up worse than usual. He ate slowly for the first time since Aldric had met him.
"I dreamed about the goat," he said.
"What goat?"
"The one from Millford. The one that bites people." He yawned. "It got into the academy somehow. Nobody could get it out."
Petra snorted. It was the closest thing to a laugh Aldric had heard from her.
Kira came down the stairs with her bag on her shoulder. She looked like she had been awake for a while. "Garrett says we leave as soon as the horses are fed."
"The horses eat better than we do," Darin said.
"The horses are doing the walking," Kira said, and sat down beside Petra.
They finished eating and gathered their things. Aldric rolled his bedroll and slung his bag over his shoulder. Maren's bundle was lighter now — the bread was gone, most of the cheese too. The honey was still there. He had not opened it yet. He was saving it for something, though he did not know what.
They stepped outside. Harrenfield was awake but unhurried. A woman swept the step of the shop across the street. Two men stood near the market square talking with their hands in their pockets. A dog slept in the middle of the road and did not move when they walked past it.
Garrett had the wagon ready. "Load up. We'll be on the road in —"
He stopped.
The sound came from the north end of town. Hooves on stone. Not one horse — many. And beneath it the heavier sound of wheels, something larger than a cart, grinding along the road toward the square.
A convoy appeared around the bend.
Soldiers came first. Five of them in white, riding in formation with swords at their hips and the Emperor's crest on their sleeves. Behind them rode a sixth — a commander, marked by a dark blue armour that set him apart from the others. He rode at the head of the cage wagon, back straight, eyes moving across the town without expression.
Behind the soldiers came a wagon — not like Garrett's. This one was iron-framed, open on all sides, with bars instead of walls. A cage on wheels.
A man sat inside it.
He was not young. Lean, sharp-featured, with a face that looked like it had not slept in days but had decided not to care. His wrists were chained to the floor of the cage. He sat upright, back straight, watching the town pass him with eyes that were calm and alert and not at all afraid.
That was the part that stayed with Aldric. The soldiers were tense. Their hands rested near their weapons. Their horses moved with the tight steps of animals that had caught their riders' nerves. But the man in the cage looked like he was exactly where he expected to be.
Garrett stepped in front of the group.
"Stay by the wagon," he said. "Out of the road."
They moved to the side. The convoy rolled past them into the square. The lead rider raised a fist and the column slowed. Soldiers dismounted. Someone called for water. The cage wagon stopped near the well, iron wheels grinding against the cobblestones.
Garrett watched them. His eyes moved across the soldiers, the rooftops, the streets that fed into the square. He was not afraid. But he was paying attention in a way he had not been five minutes ago.
Through the square, Aldric watched the soldiers move around the cage. Two of them stood guard on either side. The rest led their horses to the water trough. The man inside the cage had not moved. He sat with his chained hands resting on his knees, watching the town the way Garrett was watching the soldiers — carefully, quietly, missing nothing.
The woman with the bow moved closer to Garrett. She said something low that Aldric could not hear. Garrett shook his head.
"We wait until they move on," he said. Loud enough for the group to hear. "No reason to share the road with that."
Darin leaned against the wagon beside Aldric. "Who do you think he is?"
"No idea," Aldric said.
"Must be someone important. That's a lot of soldiers for one man."
Aldric looked at the cage again. Darin was right. Six soldiers, tight formation, the Emperor's crest. Whatever the man had done, the empire wanted him under guard.
The convoy did not seem to be in a hurry. Horses drank. Soldiers stretched their legs. The man in the cage sat still.
Garrett stood by their wagon with his arms folded, watching the square. Patient. Waiting.