Calyx and the other four wraiths did not return by the clean road.
Humphrey circled through Spendworth Hills first, bleeding half a day into misdirection, using alleys and back paths and the sort of routes that kept curious eyes from noticing a carriage that should not exist.
Humphrey trotted along with them, ugly as a bad thought and twice as useful. Radeon had used the pig as a compass for karmic threads.
Ghosts did not draw karma like living beings did. Their kind reaped strange rewards from chaos.
When they finally reached the gates of Cairnlight Barterhold, they did not ride up toward the peak like guests.
The carriage entered through a main gate normally and turned aside at once, into a shed marked off limits. Guard details were as tight that no dust could pass.
From there, Humphrey led them into a damp cave. Water dripped somewhere ahead, steady as a clock.
