"There it is," Rose murmured. Pendrago sat on the horizon, a dark silhouette in the fading evening light, imposing even at this distance. The late summer heat seeped through her dark clothing, sweat making it stick to her in uncomfortable places.

As she watched the city, memories came unbidden to her mind. The last time she'd been in Pendrago at this time of year had been when Konan was courting her. The thought of him no longer conjured rage, only resignation. She didn't really think of him much, to be honest. The past in which she'd been betrothed to a prince seemed little more than a fever dream.

"Are you ready, Boss?" Talfryn asked quietly.

"I'm always ready." She sounded more confident than she actually was, but as Boss, it was important to be seen as a strong pillar.

Once night truly fell, they planned to climb the city wall. Even in the best of times Rose wouldn't have risked going through Pendrago's gates in broad daylight, but now with war looming, only those with passports were permitted entry to the city. Even if they had fake passports, Lunarre had probably given the knights their descriptions. It wasn't worth the risk.

And on the subject of appearances ... Rose self-consciously rifled a hand through her hair. Because the redness of her hair was so vibrant, so distinctive, earlier that day Thomas had helped her dye it black with umbroot. Her hair didn't feel any different, but she didn't even want to think about how peaky the black locks must've made her look. Umbroot didn't have the pleasantest scent—kind of like pine with a bitter twist—but with a few washes of cold water, the smell had gone away. Mostly.

Shortly after darkness totally enveloped the land, Dezel finally spoke. It surprised Rose that he could be so on the nose about the time despite his blindness. The power of the wind truly was a magnificent thing.

"Are you ready to go, Rose?"

Rose turned to the others. "Everyone ready?" They all answered in the affirmative. "Okay. We're ready."

"Then let's go." Dezel set off, Rose jogged directly behind him, and the rest followed. That was how they were going to scale the city wall: with Dezel in the lead, informing Rose of the positions of any knights atop the wall, Rose following directly behind him, and everyone else following Rose. Sure, they probably could've done it without Dezel's help, but Rose's philosophy was that if there's an easier way, take it. Pride didn't matter when lives were at stake.

With the moon a mere sliver in the sky, Rose couldn't make out more than vague shapes in the darkness. She just hoped it would be enough to get them through.

With plenty of large rocks protruding from it, Pendrago's wall was pretty easy to scale. In spite of everything, Rose thoroughly enjoyed the work—she could hardly remember the last time she'd been out in the dark of night on a mission with the Scattered Bones by her side. The first half of wall-climbing went so smoothly, she nearly slipped when Dezel projected his voice into her ear. "A pair of guards passed overhead, heading west. They probably won't pose a problem, but I thought you should know."

Rose let out a breath. She needed to get a grip, in more ways than one.

"Stop!"

This time Dezel's voice made her flinch so hard, one of her hands did slip. She had to scramble to stay on the wall.

"Sorry for startling you," Dezel said. "The guards are coming back—I guess they reached the boundary of their patrol. We should wait for them to pass."

Come on. Her current handholds were mere stubs, and her footholds weren't much better. She couldn't move up because Dezel was in the way, and in the darkness she couldn't be sure if she'd step on someone's hand in lowering herself, so her only only option was to press herself against the wall. Lucky it wasn't windy. She couldn't hold this position forever, but so long as the guards hurried their asses up, it wouldn't be a problem.

"Damn. There's another patrol, coming from the east. They should run into the other patrol directly above us."

She could've groaned.

The first pair were close enough that she could hear them talking, so loud that the Scattered Bones wouldn't have even needed Dezel's help to avoid them. Not that she should have expected better from Pendrago's knights, really. With war afoot, the best would've gone to the border while the rest stayed.

They were loud enough to be heard by the new patrollers, too, because from the other side came a woman's voice: "Gilvary, is that you?"

"Smith?"

"What do you think you're doing here? This is mine and Tollen's patrol."

"Couldn't be." Both pairs were nearly on top of Rose and the others, now; she could just make out the light from their lamps. "I distinctly remember our summons saying section 7-C. This is 7-C, right?"

Rose wanted to beat her head against the wall. Does it matter? Hurry up! Her fingers were starting to ache.

"But ours said 7-C. You must misremember, or there's been a mix-up."

"A mix-up?" The woman laughed. "You really think someone as anal as Yardley would mix us up?"

"Stranger things have happened. Maybe you'd better return to the barracks and make sure."

"What, and get in trouble for missing patrol? Not bloody likely!"

Rose gritted her teeth in her effort to hold on to the wall. Her fingers were cramping up, and any effort on her part to shift herself to better ground was in vain.

"Okay, okay, I'll go check," a knight grumbled. "You'd better be sure you're right, Smith, or Yardley will have your asses." He retreated, but as his footsteps faded, neither of the remaining three budged. They still debated the issue. Rose mentally screamed for them to leave, but unfortunately, her telepathic powers had yet to develop.

Her toes smarted from being pressed to the front of her boots in her attempts to stay on her inadequate perch. Her hands started to shake. Come on, come on, just a bit longer, they're bound to leave eventually—

Her fingers gave out, and with a strangled yelp she teetered backwards. Her heart leapt to her throat as she failed to claw her way back with her numb fingers and her feet slipped out from under her, but all it took was one moment before, inconceivably, she stopped in mid-air. Firmly held up, by absolutely nothing. Dezel?

The knight trio had gone silent. Damn, they'd heard her!

Apparently not well enough, thank Maotelus, because one stammered, "A-anyway, shall we continue the patrol until Gilvary returns? Can't leave the wall unmanned."

"Right. Let's go."

Their voices retreated until, finally, Rose could no longer hear them. She hung rigidly in mid-air, and although she'd like to think that Dezel wouldn't let her fall, she was anxious to have firm ground beneath her. She didn't even want to think about how high they were.

Dezel said, "They're gone. I'll let you up."

He brought her up the wall smoothly, and it wasn't even a minute before he gently brought her to her feet at the top. She massaged her fingers, trying to rub the feeling back into them.

"Sorry," Dezel said. He was little more than a broad black shape in the darkness. "I should have noticed you were in trouble sooner."

" 'S'okay," she murmured. "Thanks for catching me."

"I was distracted by Pendrago's domain. It's ... well, you'll see once we enter."

She pursed her lips. Something wrong with the domain? Did something happen to Morgrim?

By now, most of the Scattered Bones had made it up the wall. Kira touched Rose's arm. "You okay, Boss?"

"I'm fine. Dezel caught me."

She couldn't make out any of their faces in the darkness, but to her mind, her proclamation was followed by awed silence. In a petty way she wanted to tell them not to be so enamoured with him, but she stuffed such feelings down.

She turned to Dezel. "Shall we?"

"Yes," he said. "There's a warehouse about fifteen feet below us, five feet away from the wall. The roof should hold the impact when we jump down."

Rose would've rather had a "will" than a "should", but since she'd trusted Dezel's judgment so far, she figured she may as well trust him again. She took a running start then leapt off the wall.

Pendrago's domain enveloped her, and "distracting" didn't even begin to describe it. The first moment she thought it was malevolent, but as the moment passed, she realized it wasn't. It was like sensing malevolence somewhere in the distance, except you weren't sure if it was there at all. The closest thing she could think of was Symonne's drab domain, somewhere in the space between purity and malevolence, but that wasn't quite right either.

She landed with a loud clang, but the roof held. A moment later, Dezel landed beside her. "The fuck's up with the domain?" she whispered.

"No idea."

Gosh, what was the point of living for hundreds of years if you didn't even know everything? Well, whatever. Now that everyone had gathered on the roof, she said, "Let's get going to the warehouse. I can lead from here." Even in the dim moonlight, she knew exactly where they were, and it was only a few blocks from their destination.

The city was absolutely silent. Rose supposed that, in a way, they were fortunate that the war was about to go on—there were less knights in the city than usual, so less patrolled the streets. It was a wonder there weren't more patrolling in the warehouse district, though.

Once they reached the warehouse, she had Talfryn and Thomas remove boards from one of the back windows rather than the front door—someone could notice the missing boards and get suspicious. The place had been boarded up for at least a decade, after all. Rose had purchased it on a whim at the beginning of her career as Boss of the Sparrowfeathers, and although she'd had the foresight not to connect it with herself or the Sparrowfeathers in name, they'd never actually used it.

Lunarre had only joined the Sparrowfeathers two years ago, and since no one ever talked about it—Rose herself had completely forgotten about it until Celine reminded her—she was reasonably sure that Lunarre didn't know of it.

The first floor held nothing but a few empty crates, but the second floor had a small living quarters, sparsely furnished with a small kitchen, an old table, and a bed without a mattress. It would have to do. They maneuvered their way through the pitch darkness, finally settling down on the dusty floor for a short sleep before dawn.

But it didn't take long for someone to break the comfortable silence.

"Augh!" Across the room, Flav flailed around wildly.

"What?" Rose rolled over to face him, even though she couldn't see him. It sounded like he was searching for something on his hands and knees.

"I think a spider just crawled across my face."

Rose bolted to her feet. "Where'd it go? How big was it?"

"It was decent-sized," he said, still scrabbling around. It took all Rose's self-control not to hightail it out of there.

"Would you guys keep it down," Talfryn murmured, his voice muffled with sleep.

"I'm not going to keep it down when I know there's a spider in the room," Rose retorted. She hugged herself, trying to make herself as small as possible so spiders were less likely to climb on her. "Oh—hey, Dezel! You there?"

"Yes."

"Do you know where the spider went?"

"... Yes."

Oh, for fuck's sake. "And? Where is it?"

"Don't worry about it. I'll keep it away from you and Flavius."

She shifted uneasily. "That's not answering the question I asked."

"What would be the point? Should I tell you where all the other ones are too, just so you can kill them in their own home?"

"There's more?" The last word nearly came out in a shriek.

He grunted. "Like I said, don't worry about it."

Gods, she should've known he'd be a bleeding heart when it came to spiders. "If I see so much as one spider, you're gonna get it."

"Sure." He sounded amused.

"What did Dezel say?" Flav asked.

Rose wearily sat down. "He says he'll keep the spiders away from us."

"Really? Thanks, Dezel! You're a life saver!" He promptly lay back down. Rose was frankly jealous of his faith in the seraphim. Eventually, however, she managed to fall asleep.

The very next day, everyone got to work. Kira and Talfryn scouted some of the places they planned to raid, while the rest of them scoured the city for new information. Rose and Celine began by visiting a popular bathhouse to pick up on the latest gossip.

Celine was the master of getting people to spill their secrets. She tended to be very quiet and reserved, but that worked in her favour—she didn't feel compelled to fill in any gaps in the conversation, so the other person had to do it for her, often saying more than they meant to. Rose knew from experience.

"Go to the men's side and see what they're saying," Rose whispered to Dezel as they approached the bathhouse.

"I wasn't planning on going to the women's side," he sputtered.

She side-eyed him, unable to keep the smirk off her face. "Good."

The way the baths worked was simple: first, there was a murky, lukewarm pool for scrubbing off dirt. Next came a larger, warmer pool for soaping up and rinsing it off. Then, finally, came the largest pool—a hot, sweet-smelling bath, designated simply for soaking up and socializing. As Rose entered this final bath, she noticed Celine was already in, chatting with a pair of older women over to the side. Rose opted for the opposite side of the bath, paying no more attention to Celine than her initial glance.

Most of the talk around her was of the imminent war with Hyland, of whose husbands, brothers, fathers, sons were conscripted for the army. More fool for Rolance for not allowing women into the army, Rose thought, though she did feel bad for the woman who cried for her son who'd been conscripted. For everyone's sake, she hoped Sorey would succeed in stopping the war.

She settled into the water, a dreamy sigh escaping her lips. Sure, she was on the job, but that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy the soothing water. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had a hot bath. But she didn't sink any deeper than mid-chest, intent on keeping any moisture away from her hair. She'd bundled it in a dark towel, but she couldn't take any chances. If the wrong person saw the dye wearing off, it could spell disaster.

Her eyes met with the woman sitting closest to her, perhaps only a little older than her, with her dark hair held up in a messy bun. Rose smiled in a friendly sort of way, and the woman smiled back. Good.

"You're a new face," the woman said. "Don't think I've seen you 'round here before."

"I am," Rose said. "It's my first time in Pendrago. Since my husband's been conscripted, I've come to stay with his second cousin."

They made small talk for a bit before they got to the subject of employment. As it turned out the woman, Fran, was the personal maid of Sophia Morgan, who was the wife of Arthur Morgan II, a member of Rolance's nobility and a prime candidate for a raid. Rose could hardly believe her luck.

"That's incredible," she said, faking enthusiasm. "It must be an honour, working for one of the wealthiest men in Rolance."

"Well, I work for his wife, not him," Fran said coolly. "But I appreciate the thought."

Hmmm. "It sounds as if you don't quite approve of him."

Fran looked away. "Well ..."

Rose leaned in a little closer, giving the air of confidentiality. Apparently it did the trick, because it got Fran to talk.

"He and my lady get into heated arguments over his gambling. Ever since his father died and gave him the rights to his family's fortune, he's been very irresponsible, little better than a child alone in a sweets shop. Even just this morning, they were arguing about Lord Arthur having the last of their savings moved from their country manor to the town manor."

Rose carefully kept her face neutral, but inside, she was whooping. Maotelus bless nosy servants with loose lips. "My, that sounds complicated. Has he been conscripted for the war?"

Fran nodded. "He's due to leave any day now. I do hope the war will smarten him up."

Personally, Rose wasn't holding her breath.

After the baths she and Celine visited the market, but they didn't get any information as valuable as that given by Fran. In the evening everyone returned to the warehouse, and there, they decided to simultaneously raid two manors: Arthur Morgan's and Claudia Lawrence's. Rose, Dezel, and Kira would raid the former, while Talfryn, Flav, Thomas, and Celine would raid the latter.

So after night fell, Rose found herself perched atop the eight-foot wall protecting Arthur Morgan's town manor, along with Dezel and Kira. Illuminated by lanterns, knights were posted at every door Rose could see, not that she could see terribly much.

Kira carefully surveyed the manor. "Let's see, it was ... there!" She pointed. "See that small balcony on the east wing? It's unguarded. It was unlocked when Talfryn checked it this afternoon, and I'd bet it still is now."

Rose nodded. It could be risky, but it was their best bet. "Everyone ready?"

"Ready," Kira said.

Dezel grunted by way of answer.

Rose snorted. "Okay, let's go."