“So how common are… um, people like you?”

  Teela rolled her eyes. “Fae-touched. It’s not a dirty word, you can say it.” She bit into an apple matter-of-factly.

  My face grew warm. I nibbled on some cheese. The innkeeper had given me food wrapped in linen, refusing any sort of payment and simply asking me again to ‘forgive him.’ Teela and I were enjoying a very late lunch beneath the shade of some pine trees.

  I cleared my throat. “Sorry. Um, the men last night, they said some other words, too…”

  Her rust-colored eyes narrowed. “Yeah. Tainted, half-breed, mongrel. Real original, those guys. Look,” she crunched another bite, “People like to make up all kinds of slurs for us. Fae-touched is fine. If you start calling me tainted or some salt like that, we’re not gonna get along so well, okay?”

  “I would never!”

  She squinted at me, then shook her head and gave a small laugh. “I actually believe you. Which is crazy; most people are kill-on-sight with me. These days, at least. They don’t, y’know, yell at people to leave me alone and then make salted fire appear.”

  I ducked my head. “It was nothing.”

  She laughed again, giving me the impression that she very much disagreed.

  “I don’t understand why, though. You were born like this; it’s not as though you could help it. Are you… dangerous?” I felt a bit foolish, both for asking the question so blatantly and for not asking it sooner.

  “No. People are just idiots.”

  I frowned. There had to be more to it than that. I imagined how the denizens of Fellbrook would react to someone like Teela walking into town… probably similar to how I had reacted. Lots of staring and awkwardly asked questions, especially from the younger folk who had spent their lives in isolation. But I certainly couldn’t imagine anyone in town being cruel to her.

  I chewed thoughtfully. The near-silence stretched and she heaved a sigh.

  “Look, Brin, I don’t know what things are like in Fellbrook, but everywhere else people are blaming us for all the pacted.” She twisted her lips into a grimace.

  I leaned forward, eager for more insight into the odd term I’d now heard several times. “Oh?”

  “I’m from Respite, spent my whole salted life there, and it’s always been fine. But with all the pacted, people want someone to blame. It’s stupid, you know; we have nothing to do with it all, or at least most of us don’t. People are just dumb and scared and need someone to get angry at, and who better than us salted freaks.” She kicked a small rock for emphasis and glared at her apple.

  “Right… Look, I’m sorry, but I’m a bit lost. What does pacted mean?”

  She squinted at me. “You’re joking, right?”

  “I’m not. It’s not a word I… it’s not something that’s in Fellbrook.” I offered a wry half-smile. “I’ve gathered that it’s something bad, though, from the way people keep using it.”

  She grew thoughtful, then murmured, “Look, Brin, last night… you said you’re a runekeeper.” Her expressive, angled features took on a somewhat cautious look. She bit down on her lower lip.

  Not knowing how else to respond, I simply nodded.

  “Right. And I saw the rune,” she added, almost under her breath, then met my gaze very solemnly, “So… I believe you.”

  I swallowed a mouthful of cheese. “Thanks?”

  She blew a raspberry. “Ashes, you do seem kinda clueless, don’t you?”

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  I sighed, silently acknowledging that the statement was a bit too true for me to reasonably be offended by it.

  She rolled the apple between spindly fingers. “Okay, so… look you have magic, right? Good magic, from the gods. Divine, or whatever. But there’s bad magic, too, right?”

  “Sure.” I shrugged. “They say that Fae have all kinds of wicked powers.”

  “Right… except, lately, there have been people… I don’t know, borrowing the bad magic.” She wrinkled her nose as I attempted to digest this statement. “Look, I don’t know exactly how it all works. But someone normal runs off, and when they come back they’re different. And they come back with magic, except it’s the really, really bad kind of magic where people get killed.” She squinted at me again, as if gauging my reaction.

  I set my bundle of food down, shaking my head. “I don’t… understand. Monsters don’t give their powers away to people. Why would they? And what kind of person would want…”

  Teela shrugged. “Hey, beats me. All I know is everyone calls them pacted, I guess because they have to give something to a Fae in exchange, right? Don’t know what, just that they make some kind of deal.”

  My blood ran cold. What was it the Fae had said, standing over the pool of Royce’s blood? We have a deal. And that horrible feeling afterwards, like ice curling around my insides… Ashes, no, that can’t be what she’s talking about. He didn’t give me anything, I thought frantically, he just helped Royce!

  But… last night… my dream…

  Teela’s eyes were hooded. I could only imagine the expression on my face and quickly turned away.

  “Something you, uh, want to tell me?” She leaned back, the pointed tip of her tail flicking from side to side.

  “No,” I choked out. “No. I’m a runekeeper. Blessed. My magic is from the gods.”

  “Uh huh… You sure about that? ‘Cause you looked like you saw a salted ghost a second ago, so if there’s something you aren’t saying…”

  I sucked in a deep breath. “What… what happens to these people? Pacted?”

  One narrow eyebrow arched. “Well, mostly they get killed,” she answered bluntly, still wearing that guarded expression. “The paladins have been hunting them pretty fiercely. The town Watches try to find them, too, but if you ask me the Watch soldiers are morons who jump at their own shadows. They think Fae-touched and pacted are all the same. And what can they do against dark magic, anyways?” She scowled, but after a thoughtful moment her expression softened. “Hey, look… you saved me last night. But,” her tone sharpened, “You looked scared as ash a second ago, so if whatever I saw last night was some kind of trick…”

  I shook my head, relaxing a bit. Teela seemed genuine enough, and whatever had happened the other night- and last night, too, but I chased that thought away before another wave of panic could well up- had nothing to do with my magic. I was a runekeeper, and that was something to be proud of. “No. No, it wasn’t a trick. I just… look, Teela, there’s a lot that I don’t understand right now. But I swear, my magic is from the gods.”

  She gave me a sideways glance. “Huh. Alright. You know, maybe we can get you to the Thalessian temple. Then the Order can check you out and you won’t have to worry about being mistaken for… well, someone people will kill, if they can. I bet the paladins would give you an escort, put you up in the temple, all kinds of things.”

  “The truth is,” I fidgeted with the hem of my tunic, “I, um, was heading for the Order anyways.”

  She nodded, apparently unsurprised. “Gonna ask for them to send some people down to Fellbrook?”

  “Something like that.”

  We fell into companionable silence and finished our meals. Eventually Teela tossed her apple core onto the grass, licked the juice from her fingers, and stood with a lopsided smile.

  “Right. Well, if you want to reach Pinnacle before the snows start then we should probably get moving.”

  We spent the day walking. The towering blue shadows of mountains grew closer, and the autumn-hued oaks and flowering shrubs around the road gave way to dark pines and gray, rocky tors. We made easy conversation along the way, listening to cheerful songbirds and watching squirrels scavenge acorns by the roadside.

  The horizon was swirling with lavender when we rounded a sloped bend. It curved downwards through fragrant pines… and once through the treeline, we froze. Teela let out a sharp cry.

  The next inn had been nestled into a small gully dotted with fir trees. Had been. The structure was a still, silent pile of blackened wood. The surrounding foliage was charred almost beyond recognition.

  “Salt and ashes!” Teela’s angular face grew pale. “Brin, this is bad.”

  She certainly didn’t have to tell me that. I looked around, my heart sinking. The surrounding landscape was all sparse tree copses and small rocky outcrops, with no civilization- or safety- in sight.

  I worked to fight down a rising coil of dread. Finding shelter was important, but first we needed to see if anyone was still here and needed help. I forced my feet forward. “We should see if there are any survivors.”

  “Sure,” her voice was several octaves higher than normal, “But what are we gonna do?!”

  I swallowed, cold fear curling its way through me. What, indeed? It was nearly nightfall, and we would be out here alone, practically defenseless, without shelter… I shook my head and quickened my pace.

  “Hello?” I called, forcing my attention to the task at hand. There would be time to panic later. “Is there anyone here?” My voice echoed off the nearby rocks. Wind rustled through the pine boughs, but there was no other sound.

  I looked at the mound of charred wood. I shivered and said a quick prayer that anyone inside the building had managed to get out safely.

  “Brin.” Teela sounded close to tears. I turned. Her ropy tail was curled around her stomach and her spindly fingers were tugging at her hair. “What are we gonna do?”

  I bit down hard on my lower lip and looked around critically. “Maybe we can find… I don’t know, there’s got to be something close by. A shelter, or something we could use as shelter. Maybe a cabin or… or… um…”

  Her expression relayed her doubts.

  I lifted my chin and forced out, as firmly as I could, “We have to at least try and find something. There’s got to be a safe place nearby.”

  “There is,” came an all-too-familiar drawl.

  I turned to see the scruffy, callous stranger from the inn standing just inside the treeline. He wore a leather jerkin, tall boots, and long brown gloves. His cloak was so mud-spattered that it was impossible to tell what color it might have once been. His arms were crossed. He leaned against a crooked pine, watching us bemusedly. “But I’m already using it.”