After Lidia and Yoshimo returned with the spoils, the Company stayed put for an hour or two longer — fixing their gear, making some food, dozing off for a bit — before finally heading back to Imnesvale.
They hadn't realized how much time the darkness had taken until they made the journey back to the village. Where the journey towards the temple had seemed to stretch time upon agonizing tenterhooks, they quickly put many paces behind them as the day waned.
Even when night came, the darkness brought no terror but fond thoughts of rest instead. Unlike the thick, unnatural, inky blackness that had borne down upon them before, the night could be quelled with but a thought. All told, seven or eight hours easily passed, and they had returned to Imnesvale.
The village was busier than expected, the light of torches and magelights streaming in the street and square. None of the villagers were out and about, nor was there any alarm raised. Instead, guards were stationed in pairs, heavy mail, and halberds upon their shoulders. They were scattered throughout Imnesvale: at both ends of the main road through town, in the village square, and around Minister Lloyd's house. There had to be at least two dozen.
But luckily, these guards had failed to notice an extra seven sets of feet about half a mile away, barely concealed by the woods. As soon as the Company spotted them, they stopped and quietly contemplated their situation for a moment.
"I…I don't like the looks of this," Aerie said.
"I agree," Valygar said. "Let's take the long way around."
They followed the ranger through a path that doubled back into the woods, concealing themselves in a road that ran around the village clearing, moving noiselessly until they found themselves again at the stout, wood-framed lodge.
Golden light streamed from the windows, seeming to invite them in. But even here, a pair of guards sat in sturdy wooden chairs upon the porch, having a smoke and an ale, so the Company approached the place from the back, managing not to disturb them.
"Here I take my leave," Valygar said.
They tried to convince him to at least spend some time at the inn, but he wouldn't be moved.
"I have plenty to be wary of without the place crawling with guards," he said. "I have a place in the woods. So if you find you've worn out your welcome in town, head back along the path I showed you, and I can give you some refuge."
He disappeared into the night as silently as he'd first arrived.
After she was sure Valygar was safely out of sight, Lidia gave a couple of tentative knocks on the inn's thin wooden back door. She could hear the innkeeper's blustering: "Umberlee's tit, if any of the Baron's lackeys have come by to raid my stores again, I'll —"
He swung open the door, clearly spoiling for a fight, but the color in his face instantly drained when he saw who had come to his threshold.
"Gods — you're alive!" He widened his thick, sweaty arms as though he were looking for an embrace. No one took him up on it.
"You're alive!" he repeated in a conspicuous whisper. "I knew those shadows lifting weren't just rumors. You've beat the Umar Witch, and the whole lot of you's come home to tell the tale! And you've brought fair Mazzy along, to boot!"
He flung open the door, gesturing wildly for them to come inside. They did so, and he shut the door behind them.
"Make yourselves at home," he said. "If it's the Baron's soldiers you're looking to avoid, my humble establishment is the right place. They're not allowed over the threshold, though they raid well enough through the front door. It's a shame that Imnesvale can't give its heroes their due, but you'll not find me lacking."
He went behind the bar into the kitchen, immediately turning into a one-man bustle and whirlwind and calling for his hired hand Willet.
While Vicenzo was preparing the board, the Company went upstairs and settled into their rooms.
Lidia cleaned herself up but soon headed out the door again, leaving the unpacking for later. All of her exhaustion had fallen away as she'd scrubbed off the dirt and dust of the road, and her mind had already been turning to the next battle to fight, the next problem to solve.
"Where are you going?" Aerie asked.
"If those soldiers are still there, they seem relaxed enough to talk," Lidia replied.
She went downstairs and out to the front porch, dimly illuminated by a lantern upon a nearby side table. The two soldiers had finished their pipes, but the heavy, earthy smells of tobacco and lamp oil still lingered invisibly in the air. Despite the contingent of guards and soldiers, everything about the place was quiet with anticipation, ready to bloom into spring after a good night's sleep.
But Lidia's very presence seemed to disrupt the peace. The two soldiers, a man and a woman, looked up in alarm. The woman got to her feet at once, bounding down the stairs two at a time and running off into the village. The man, whose face was sunburn-red and topped with a thick shock of white-blond hair, went for his sidearm, a shortsword tied to his belt.
Lidia lifted her hands to show that she carried nothing; she had no intention of reaching for her hidden dagger except as a last resort.
"I only want to talk," she said. "I've just come back, and I need answers, that's all."
Their eyes met, and the man relaxed, letting his sword slip back into his sheath.
Lidia slid into the chair opposite him, facing the sturdy wooden walls of the inn. She disliked showing her back in a fraught situation like this, but she figured that as long as she didn't start a fight, she was in the clear.
The man studied her face for a moment, some wariness replaced by curiosity. "There's something familiar about you, but for the life of me, I can't place what it is."
"I've traveled a bit," she said with a shrug. "Speaking of which, mind telling me how long you've been out here?"
"You mind telling me," he repeated back to her, "what you've got such a bee in your bonnet about, that you want to sit and chat like this?"
"Not at all. I don't know if you've heard rumors of shadow-creatures here, but my group's cut off where they're coming from. There was this creature making them; he's dead now. We just wanted to let people here know that they — and you — can sleep easier. It had a lot to do with why we're out here."
"Look, lady," the guard said, somewhat impatient, "you reckon with deep matters, and I'll own that I don't have much book-learning. All I know is that Imnesvale doesn't need more of a ruckus than there's already been."
"What happened here?" she asked.
"I'm not to speak of it, and neither are you," he said sharply. He rose out of his chair and to his feet, his eyes widened, and he backed away a pace or two, then remembered himself and snapped into a salute, his arm crossed over his chest.
"Begging your pardon, sir, but this young lady here seems to have some questions, " he said to someone behind Lidia.
"At ease, soldier. You did aright."
Without turning her head, Lidia cast a thought to the deep, resonant voice behind her. Nothing happened, and she also rose to meet whoever had arrived.
A tall knight of the Radiant Heart had come to the porch stairs, carrying his helm in one hand. His sharp-featured face was tanned, with a thin scar laid into his right cheek, and he was almost fully armored except for the heavy boots on his feet and his deep red cloak. He gave her the cool regard of someone completely in control of the situation around him.
"Pleased to meet you," she said to the knight. "My name's Lidia — at your service, if you please. My company and I were sent here by Sir Grady."
"Sir Crolus Geraint, at your service," the knight said, not unpleasantly, and taking a bow. "I am Baron Metrich's liaison to the Radiant Heart, and my duty is to restore order in this valley."
If that was the case, Lidia wondered where he'd been for the last tenday. But she kept that thought to herself and returned his bow. "I'm glad to see that you and the Baron have arrived safely," she said.
"Indeed," he said. "I have heard of your company's valiant efforts to drive back the tide of darkness. But you've returned to unrest in the village, and to keep the peace, we have imposed a curfew. Please return to your quarters posthaste." His tone was courteous but firm — though he was asking nicely this time, his request would not be denied.
"I'm afraid I can't," Lidia said. "If the situation here has come to this, I must speak with the Baron as soon as possible."
"He will not have an audience with you," he said. "You have spent far too long with the squatters here to judge this matter adequately. And regardless of what Sir Grady might have wished, peace may not be possible under the circumstances."
"Regardless of whether peace is possible," Lidia said, "it is necessary for Amn's safety. If you represent the Baron's interests, perhaps you and I can deal."
"All you need to do," he said, more coldly this time, "is to return to your lodgings."
She remained calm, keeping her voice even, ignoring the rising anger in her chest.
"If the lord of the land wishes it," she said, "then I will do that."
She started to enter the lodge, then spoke to Sir Crolus one last time: "I would only ask you to remember that the duty between the Baron and his people is a two-way street."
He didn't acknowledge her and instead turned on one heel, his boots heavy upon the graveled road as he took a left turn away from the lodge and from Imnesvale.