It was about ten minutes before Janice was coherant after they'd thrown them into the cells. Between then and now she'd been raving madly, and Kendra, try as she might, couldn't protect her. Finally, she gave up and let her bondmate go through the ravings.

When Janice came to, Kendra felt the confusion. Janice was not where she had been when the ravings began. Small wonder she was disoriented, confused, groping in the darkness.

But Marley patted her firmly on the shoulder. "This oracle thing is very inconveniant," she said decisively.

"It's not like I can stop it," Janice said quietly. "If it comes, I must listen. Usually I can hold off some of it, but..." She shook her head, raven's wing waves settling over the left half of her face. "It's harder since that snakebite."

Lina sighed. "I'm just sorry we took so many of the girls down with us."

"Speaking of," Marley said, "where are the rest of them?"

Lina gave her a significant look, and it was clear that everyone present could guess what happened.

"We're missing Sarabi, Mordra, Fallah, Miriam, Callah, Agnes, Sudresh, Peyja, and Bali," Lina reported.

"Mark them traitors," Marley said quietly. "No more the secrets of our craft shall we share with them. No more. And no more shall we welcome them to our hearts. They are dead to us."

The girls nodded to one another quietly, obediantly.

"More's the shame about Agnes, though," Lina sighed.

A few of them turned expectantly towards the door to the prison, as if expecting Agnes to come in with a sudden, sweeping rescue. But such was not the case.

"I'm opening the floor to suggestions, girls," Marley said quietly. "I won't stand for the lot of you to burn with me. I won't ask that of you. So if any of you have any ideas, now's the time to voice them."

"We can't fight them at their own game," Thedis whispered, hugging herself tightly. "We're only women."

"But we're their daughters, their nieces, their sisters," Lina countered. "We're not weak. We're not soft in the heart. We're healers, each and every one of us. They need us to spare their precious doctors for the front lines. Without Marley, without us, there's precious few healers in the area. They'll be faced with quite the difficulty."

Marley shook her head. "They'll bring in from farther provinces," she sighed. "And probably men to boot."

The girls looked away, despondant.

Kendra, meanwhile, was staring out through the bars and at the keys across the room on the hook. ~Janice,~ she chirped.

"Hmm?" her bondmate asked from where she sat just inside the cell door.

~I have an idea.~

Tem woke, not for the first time, on one of the many soft nests of lavish pillows the butcher used to furnish his apartments. He opened his eyes languidly, and a harsh brightening assaulted his blindness, interrupted his absolute blackness. He could see shadows moving to and fro out of the corner of his eye.

He stirred lazily and felt the Runners around him look up expectantly, as dogs do their masters. But while these were related to dogs, they clearly weren't. No more than he was their master. They ... spoke, for one thing. They thought for another.

He could hear Gershwin readying quietly for the day, Gleb cooking something for breakfast.

"Take what you'll need," Gershwin told him. "I don't know when we'll be back."

Tem wasn't certain what was compelling the butcher to go. For his own sake, he was convinced that something of great importance was happening, and he wanted to be in the middle of it. Whether he'd still want that in a couple weeks remained to be seen, but by that point, he'd just be somewhere he wasn't now. It would be easy enough to pick up and move on. He'd been doing just that for several years now.

But Gleb seemed quite set in his ways, quite content to murder as necessary to pay for his palate. What was luring him was far beyond Tem's ken. And just where Gershwin intended to lead them, how far into what sort of peril, well. It was going to get touchy soon, Tem could tell that much.

Beside him, Lenarvix whined out a yawn and stretched, kicking Murar and Kodavix firmly in the shoulders and ribs. Gleb had tried to argue that 'the dogs stay outside,' but none of them would have it. So, beaten, the butcher had no choice but to let them sleep inside with Tem. He could only hope that the soft, luxorious pillows were coated in fur.

""Rise and shine," Gershwin said, wandering passed Tem's nest of pillows and puppies. "I'm going out to meet our ride. Gleb'll fill you in."

"And just what kind of ride will we be--"

Gershwin cut him off with a sharp shriek of a whistle, and Tem could only imagine the big grin breaking out across his face.

He trotted down the stairs, and the door shut behind him. Meanwhile, the smell of food at once sickened and caused great, gnawing hunger in Tem's stomach. He glared at Gleb from his nest of pillows and puppies, and the butcher set several dishes both on the floor and on the table.

"Come. Eat," Gleb instructed. "All you must be eatin', lest ye get t' wastein' down towards skins and bone."

The Runners turned between Tem and the food set out. Evidently, their loyalty was sometimes only towards their stomachs. But with apologetic whimpers they nudged Tem and trotted towards the kitchen. Tem, grudgingly, found his staff and heaved himself up to grope his way towards Gleb's table. He found the food easily enough, simply following his nose, and was greatly annoyed when he realized just how good it tasted.

Dawn was breaking as the town came into view. Feivel didn't dare slow the horses any. He pushed them as hard as he dared, only to find that the town was dead, empty, and silent.

He released his mounts and stared around the cobble-stoned streets, up at the fresco'd houses, the perfectly manicured lawns and trees and benches. He stared around, trying desperately to orient himself.

When he was certain of his bearings, he took off at a run towards Marley's house, banging violently on the door. "Open up!" he roared. "For the love of my Lady, OPEN UP!"

"They're not in, boy," a man said behind him, and Feivel felt the tip of a sword press towards his back. "Perhaps you'd like to leave a message."