"I don't see him," Kodavix complained. "It's getting dark. Is he okay?"

"If he's not, good riddance," Lenarvix muttered angrily.

"He'll be fine," Murar sighed. And she knew he would be. It was a matter of expecting the man to do his job, which he had done just fine between now and then. Though what job he and Tem could possibly have been planning, she didn't know.

Koda flopped down next to their man, which was what they'd all agreed to allowing. There was nothing else for it. Tem was their person. They needed him, and he needed them. And they'd stand by him before they'd stand by anyone else at all. Gershwin or his Lady Fate or anyone at all at all.

"Tem, it's getting late," Koda said again, looking up at their man.

Tem reached out gently and scratched Koda behind the ears. Lenarvix plopped down on Tem's other side, and Murar sighed, keeping vigil on the streets as the sun set and those who knew better than to be caught out after dark retreated to their well-lit homes. Murar sat, attentive and clear-headed, waiting, listening.

Suddenly, there was a whiff of old, curdled blood that hadn't quite washed off, despite numerous washings. She perked up, as did Koda and Lenarvix behind her. A pair of men, one of them Gershwin, the other probably his quarry for the day, came into view, walking calmly and confidently towards them.

She glanced back at Tem to see him closing his eyes, leaning heavily on his staff. "So," their man said calmly. "It comes to this."

"Best evenin's to ye, Tem Raithcliff," the stranger said with a bow. "I be seein' y've done makened yer ownself some friends."

"I thought I told you not to come find me."

The stranger laughed warmly, and Murar realized that it was he that smelled of old blood. Her hackles rose and she narrowed her eyes as Tem continued to regard the stranger with coldness. "I done ran far and fast. I come seekin' ye not a whit."

"He's who I was waiting for," Gershwin explained. "We can go now."

"Let's have a rest-day," the stranger suggested warmly. "Come, come. Ye'll find yerselfs mos' welcomed in tha' home I call mine own."

He turned away, and Tem let out an annoyed growl before he started tapping his way after them. Murar could tell, and Lenarvix only confirmed it.

"This is not going to end well," Lenarvix said. Murar trotted to keep up, walking attentively by Tem's side. Koda skipped on ahead, and Lenarvix took up the rearguard.

No one was jumping their man tonight. No one.

Oh, shit, Marley thought as Janice started towards the General with a knife. Because I need another difficulty in my life.

Lina was by her shoulder immediately. "She grabbed it out of my apron," she said appologetically. "I didn't think she was psychotic!"

"Who are you?" the General asked, staring openly.

"Oh-ho-ho!" she barked in a much more sultry voice than she'd used at any time in the last several hours since she woke up. In fact, her entire stance was completely changed. Gone was the retiring, demure woman more worried about staying within her social quarters. In her place was a woman who held herself calm and confidant, quite like a bombshell in so many ways, laughing outright and challenging the authority of a man. "Don't you play dumb with me, Liam. I'm sure you remember your dearly departed Valencia. Or maybe Petra? Or Sadie? Or Dolores? Not ringing any bells? Hmm?"

"Janice, this really isn't a good time for this," Marley muttered under her breath. She tugged lightly on Lina's apron. "Fix this. Now," she managed through gritted teeth.

"What do you want me to do?" Lina asked.

"Something. Anything!" Marley snapped.

Lina hurried around through the den again to try to head Janice off. And it was then that the damned flying creature decided to poke her nose into everything.

~Look, uh. I know I'm not supposed to be here but--~

"What is that!?" the General demanded.

Janice swiped her knife at him. "Nah nah, lover. Over yon, over yon, lest we not make it back before sunrise. She's not the one you ought to be so worried about."

The General stared openly at her and backed up towards Marley. Janice turned to look right at her, then, and smirked sadistically. "I'd get out before he feeds you to the snakes, too," she drawled.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" he huffed.

"Oh, lover, don't be that way. I'm just here to bring you down with us. I'll plug you through a little, make it hurt quite a bit, and then leave you somewhere to die."

"You're out of your mind!"

"Just like you left all of us," she breathed.

"This is absurd! Marley, what is this?" he demanded.

"She's not from around here, I promise you that much," Marley said brightly. "She's just stopping through. She and her companion dropped in yesterday with a snake bite and--"

"A Lenra bite, lover," Janice purred coquettishly, swaggering towards him, eye lids lowered.

Just then, Lina came up behind her and grabbed her wrist. Her knife faltered, and she blinked around. "I could have sworn we had more blairswort here," Janice muttered under her breath in the exact tones and cadences Lina usually held. "Thedis, did you get some while you were out? You know we need that in case the General shows up and--"

Lina's hand jumped back off her wrist as if she was burned, and the General stared at the two of them as Janice's knees went out from under her.

"Oh," she said airily, back to her own voice. "Hello, floor."

~I think you blew whatever they were warning you against, Janice,~ the little dragon muttered with an exasperated sigh.

"It talks!?" the General demanded.

"Liam, listen, please, I can explain everything and--"

"They've been saying things about you, Marley. And I didn't want to hear them. I couldn't possibly believe that any so bright and lovely as you would be one. I really couldn't. But here it was blindness that lead me to think so. Blindness, no doubt, garnered by you or your apprentices to the arts of evil and--"

"You're very loud," Janice told him, still very obviously trying to puzzle out how she got where she was, her back slumped against the wall, her legs spread wide like a lazy ragdoll. "And they're not witches."

"As though I should believe you! I ought to slay you where you stand!" He marched towards the door and shouted into the streets.

Within minutes, men had borne down on them. Not one of them resisted, but when they were all herded to the prison, Marley noticed that several of her girls were not among them.

The reason for this, she thought, was rather obvious.

Feivel pushed the horse as hard as it damn well could go, riding her until he knew she'd break and he'd be screwed if he pushed her any harder. But he felt the twisting yank in his stomach again that insisted his charge was getting herself into trouble.

And all he could think about were those snakes, their strangely-shaped mouths open wide to reveal six vicious fangs, weaving through a mass of bodies in various states of decay, all women as far as he could tell.

And all he could hear was Janice screaming for someone named Liam. All he could hear was her panic, her fright.

He pushed the horses harder, switching between them half-way through the run before shooting them out again. He didn't dare whistle the paint on. She'd been running too hard for the last several days.

He reached the town after dawn had broken.