Chapter 28: Lines on Parchment
The road beyond Ashfall's gate widened into packed earth and pale gravel. The city's noise fell away until it became background. Wind tugged at Rei's cuff. When the unicorn's gait shifted, the cut beneath the cloth pulled, sharp enough to keep him honest.
He adjusted his hold on Becca by degrees instead of using his whole arm. His shoulder protested when he tried to be careless. He listened and chose steady.
Ember Circulation stayed low in his chest, controlled and even. No flare. Just a pace he could maintain.
Vesper's weight sat in his hood like a warm collar. Fur brushed his jaw whenever the wind changed. Jinx ran at the unicorn's flank, tail level, ears tracking every new sound.
"You good back there?" Becca asked, eyes forward.
"I'm functional," Rei said. "If you punch us into a sprint, I'm going to bleed on you."
"I can work with functional." Her voice brightened. "We're out. Now we play like it."
"Define 'play,'" Rei said.
"Content," Becca replied. "Loot. Ruins. Beasts. Somewhere that isn't a gate line."
Rei scanned the road ahead. A few wagons rolled east, spaced wide. The guards stayed behind them.
"Pick your fights carefully," Rei said. "We're still close enough to draw attention."
"That's why I brought this." Becca reached into her satchel and produced a creased map, holding it flat against her thigh. Official ink lines crossed the parchment, but the margins belonged to her—circles, arrows, crude sketches, and notes pressed hard enough to leave grooves.
Rei leaned in. "That's your map."
"Mine," Becca said with satisfaction. "I bought a normal one, then I fixed it."
She tapped the southern portion. A broad region had been shaded in charcoal. Across it, in block letters: DEMONS. Underneath: BIG LOOT. BIG TEETH. LATER.
Rei stared. "Your strategy is 'later.'"
"My strategy is 'later, when we aren't held together by bandages.'" She traced a mountain spine. Small stamped fort symbols marked the range. "Dwarves live up here. Stone roads. Real gear. Real walls."
"And real gates," Rei said.
Becca made a face. "Politics. You'll handle that part."
She slid her finger east to the coast, then to an island ringed with a thicker border line. She'd circled it twice and written: ELVES. ISLAND. CONTROLLED.
"Controlled how?" Rei asked.
"Access. Permits. Ships." Becca sounded personally offended by the concept. "You don't just show up."
Her finger moved back to the central forest mass. She'd drawn a little crown there, surrounded by warning marks.
"Fae," Rei said.
"Fae," Becca confirmed. "Bargains. Paths that change. Pretty traps." Her enthusiasm softened into caution for a beat. "Still worth knowing where the edges are."
Rei's eyes dropped to the dense cluster of circles northwest of Ashfall. Several were grouped near a smaller road line that branched toward scrub and tree line. Next to one circle she'd drawn an antlered deer with branching horns. Next to another, a squat shape with too many legs. Next to a third, a serpent line with a triangular head.
"What are these?" Rei asked.
Becca's grin returned at full strength. "Tame list."
Rei blinked once. "Of course you have a tame list."
"I have taste." She tapped the antlered deer sketch. "Thornhart. Somebody at the stables swore it eats brush and grows spikes when it charges."
"You're trusting stable gossip," Rei said.
"He had scars," Becca said. "I trust scars."
Rei let the comment pass. He traced the marks with his eyes instead. Her circles clustered near roads and water lines. Her dotted detours avoided the busiest routes. A few marks sat near blank stretches where the cartography got vague.
She had a pattern. That mattered.
"And this?" Rei asked, nodding at the squat sketch.
"Stoneback crawler," Becca said. "People hunt them for plating. If I tame one, it's a walking shield. Also it has grabby hands."
Rei's gaze moved to the serpent. "And that one."
Becca hesitated, then straightened. "Ashcoil. Heat vents, old ruins, glassy tracks. Rare."
"Rare," Rei repeated, giving the word weight.
"Starter-zone rare," Becca said quickly. "Uncommon."
Jinx flicked her ears back at the word "tame," then returned her attention to the scrub line. Her tail thumped once, a clean beat of opinion.
Vesper shifted in Rei's hood, heavier for a moment, and the extra warmth steadied his breathing.
Rei refocused on the map. "Where are we headed first?"
Becca tapped the road line east of Ashfall. "We ride the main route a few hours, then cut north." Her finger landed on a small label near the edge of cultivated land. "Brackenridge. Small village. Trade post vibes. Close enough to hear rumors, far enough that Ashfall's gate politics don't run the place."
Rei followed the ink. Brackenridge sat near a river line. Water meant camps that didn't depend on luck. It also meant traffic—enough to blend, enough to hear things, enough to buy supplies.
Several of Becca's circles sat within a day's travel from it.
"Resupply," Rei said. "Information. Quiet."
"Stables," Becca added, as if it sealed the deal.
"We have a unicorn," Rei said.
"We have a majestic creature of myth," Becca corrected. "She deserves carrots and a roof."
Rei's mouth curved. The brief amusement landed and passed, leaving him focused.
"How do you plan to do your 'taming thing,'" Rei asked, "without getting yourself killed?"
Becca looked back at him, offended by the implication. "Food. Calm posture. Space. Let it choose."
"That's closer to a method," Rei said.
"It's a great method," Becca said. Her tone softened at the edges. "And I know what you're holding in your head. The name at the gate. The group. The next set of hands reaching for you."
Rei kept his gaze on the road. His forearm throbbed. He refused to feed the ache more attention than it earned.
"I'm holding distance," Rei said. "Control. We pick fights that pay us back."
Becca nodded once. "So we pick ours."
Rei looked at the dotted line Becca had drawn to Brackenridge. It cut away from the main road and followed scrub country. It didn't plunge into deep forest. It kept exits open.
"Brackenridge first," Rei decided. He said it as a commitment. "We keep our heads down. We listen. We choose a target after we know what's real."
Becca's smile sharpened into satisfaction. "Scout first."
Rei tapped the Thornhart circle with one finger. "This is a scout, not a tame attempt. We learn how it moves, what it eats, where it runs. Then we decide."
Becca opened her mouth, then closed it. She nodded, stubborn and accepting. "Fine. Scout."
Rei's attention slid to Jinx again. The fox's head angled, catching something on the wind. She didn't tense. She didn't bolt. She stayed alert and kept pace.
Vesper settled deeper in his hood, warm and steady.
Ahead, the road split. The main route continued east, broad and busy. A narrower track branched north toward a low ridge where scrub thickened into young trees.
Becca guided the unicorn onto the smaller path. The ground changed under them—less gravel, more packed soil, scattered stone.
Rei tightened his hold for a moment, then relaxed it by choice. He kept Ember Circulation steady. He kept his breathing even.
Behind them, the main road carried on. Ahead, the cut line led toward Brackenridge and Becca's marked circles.
"Village first," Rei said, sealing the decision as it became real. "Then we start playing this month like we mean it."
Becca's laugh carried forward into the trees. "Now you're speaking my language."
Jinx surged a few strides ahead, eager and light, then eased back into position at the unicorn's side. Vesper stayed anchored in Rei's hood.
Rei let Ashfall fall behind them. He held to the route they chose.