Alena went down to the town, passing through the main gates without a question. The streets seemed a little busier than Landow, but otherwise, there was a familiarity to everything that she found disheartening.
In her imagination, every town was an adventure, a new place to explore. And there were differences. The market specialized in different kinds of food, and of course the shops themselves were unfamiliar.
But everything else was much the same. Merchants hawked their wares, the city watch patrolled the streets with vigilant eyes, and people went about their days much the same as they had in Landow.
While she might be disappointed by the lack of difference between the towns, it made her more confident in her chances of sudden riches appearing in the near future. She wandered until she came upon a more commercial area of town, where well-kept shops stretched for several blocks.
Alena stopped by one shop to purchase some bread and butter. Then she sat, ate, and watched.
It didn’t take long to spot a group of wage earners coming through. Just like in Landow, the group numbered four with one supervisor. They swept the street and picked up whatever garbage they saw.
In theory, they should have walked down the street, picking up as they went. When they didn’t, instead following their master’s orders and going from shop to shop, she knew she had found what she was looking for.
Wage earners were supposed to help everyone in the community equally, but that was rarely the reality.
If Tonno was like Landow, the supervisor would have private deals with the shop owners. Their properties would be cleaned by the wage earners first, and more thoroughly, giving them an advantage over the competition. Alena watched the supervisor accept money from one of the shop owners, confirming her suspicion. Wage earners were paid out of taxes, not collections from the supervisor.
The supervisor’s actions weren’t illegal, technically, but Alena doubted he shared the extra earnings with the men he supervised. Making it worse, the supervisor role was already a higher-paid position.
She watched as the supervisor slipped the extra coin in his pocket.
Alena smiled.
It would be easy enough to take that off him.
As they moved on, Alena followed.
Her moment came not long later. The group was moving from shop to shop when they encountered a small crowd of people moving through the market. Alena seized the opportunity. She slipped into the crowd, her knife flashing along the bottom edge of the supervisor’s pocket.
The coinbag fell into her waiting hand and she melted into the crowd. She suspected the supervisor hadn’t even felt a thing.
With a smile, she decided to go searching for an inn.
27
Brandt looked at the tea in his hands as though it might somehow be used against him.
Ever since having the compulsion removed, he struggled to trust that the world was as it appeared. Everything he thought he knew had been tumbled about, and for the moment, he held onto the abbot’s presence as his only anchor. She sipped her tea silently, waiting for the barrage of questions she no doubt expected.
“What is compulsion?”
She set her tea down. “There are more affinities than just the elemental ones you are familiar with. About two years ago a monk in another monastery discovered a fifth affinity by chance. That affinity is best described as mental, and can involve the manipulation of memories and thoughts. It can, to some degree, be used to convince people to act in ways they normally wouldn’t. We call it compulsion, although that’s simplifying a complex concept. It’s one of the most closely guarded monastic secrets.”
“So someone forced me to come here?”
The abbot grimaced. “Not exactly. It’s true you wouldn’t have come here of your own choice, but at the same time, we’ve never seen a compulsion that can force someone to act completely against their will. I have little doubt that someone seized on some deeper desire of yours, whether that be to get stronger, or to save lives, or to simply stay alive yourself.”
Brandt’s hand tightened on his teacup. “Are you implying that I’m a coward?”
The question was unfair, and he knew it as soon as the words left his mouth. He was a warrior. He lived under the constant threat of death, and was ready for it.
But the abbot couldn’t know any of that. She had just been listing possibilities.
Even so, a small whisper of doubt creeped into his mind. What if he hadn’t been as ready to die as he thought?
He shook the thoughts away. He knew his own mind, no matter what the abbot implied.
Through his internal debate, the abbot sat silently, watching him closely.
Brandt didn’t believe his answers were here. “How long does it take to get to Landow?”
“A couple of weeks.”
Brandt let out a frustrated sigh. Whatever had happened was done. He couldn’t reach Landow in time to change the course of anything.
The abbot had sent out birds to learn news from Landow. They would return soon, but every day that passed here would be a nightmare. He wanted to ask about his wolfblades, but knew the abbot knew no more than him. Waiting had never been half so challenging.
He forced himself to return to the matter at hand. “So why would someone compel me?”
The abbot steepled her fingers. “I wish to know that myself. Until you arrived, it was believed that only three people in the world were capable of compulsion, and all of them are monks. The fact that someone else is aware of the affinity, and can use it, albeit clumsily, worries me.”
“And my memories?”
The abbot grimaced. “I do not know. I am skilled enough to recognize the compulsion, and given how poorly it was implemented, it was easy to remove. But your memories are beyond me. It’s possible they are gone for good.”
Brandt swore. The answers to so many of his questions were locked in his head. He was sure of it. He just couldn’t access them.
“What should I do?” He hated the question, and
