All eyes were on her.

  Crow, Kerrik, Bright.

  Every member of the group.

  The poison spread, settling, but not crossing the boundary into other territories. She couldn’t scavenge there, but neither could Kerrik.

  Her palms were sweaty, but something built in her, something that felt like pride, but darker.

  Then it was gone, pushed away. What if there was someone who’d survived? What if she killed them?

  Mia bit her tongue.

  No. That wasn’t possible.

  She was worrying about nothing.

  Mia had become a liar, a thief, but she wasn’t a murderer.

  “Crow’ll mark you down as absent.” Kerrik had straightened, hands balled at his side.

  Mia met his gaze. “You see that small space, right at the edge of the battlefield, that’s Nessa’s territory. Do you think she’ll let me scavenge a body there? Hmm?”

  “I think you’ve learned everything you need to know.”

  “Have I?” Mia felt her throat tighten. No. Keep going. If you back down here, you’ll weaken your position. You’ll become the person they can take advantage of. “Then I’ll ask Crow to assign someone else to mentor me. They’ll get to scavenge my territory for the last hour. That’s the deal, right? Teach me, get more territory?”

  Crow approached. “What will it be, Kerrik?”

  “I’ll teach her,” Bright shouted, jumping and waving his arms.

  Molly or Amy, one of the women from yesterday, threw a boot at Bright. “Take my boot attack. Someone needs to teach you.”

  Bright side stepped

  They started tossing things back and forth, but Mia focused on Kerrik and Crow.

  “Ben and I just hit a rough patch. We understand each other better now.” Kerrik was smiling.

  Mia smiled. “Growing pains. We’re getting accustomed to each other.” Mia didn’t know if staying with Kerrik was the right move, but she knew that if she switched teachers, she’d make an enemy. She thought about her next move. Kerrik had more allies. While her position as scribe gave her a slight advantage, if he wanted to harm her, they would look the other way. “Crow, after my lessons end, what happens to my territory during the second hour?”

  Crow was smiling, his gray eyes almost disappearing in a squint.

  Her body jolted.

  Scenes. Words. Actions.

  Everything raced through her mind as she tried to put the pieces together.

  Test.

  This whole thing was a test.

  Crow didn’t know her, and he had no reason to test her.

  That left one person.

  Mox.

  Mia, no last name. Girl. Sixteen. No magic. No martial arts training. Little value.

  Those fourteen words had seared themselves into her mind.

  They were always there, hanging around, waiting to poison her.

  Disregard.

  Rage swept through her.

  Did the test start then?

  What did he want from her?

  The ledger in her bag grew heavy.

  She clenched her hand to keep from reaching for it.

  What would it say when she touched it?

  “It’s your territory. You decide what happens with it.” Crow walked over, hands in his pockets. “He’ll train you for the next five days, next week you're off, and the week after that it’s your choice.”

  “Great. Fourteen scavengers in the group, seven days a week. We’ll rotate for the first two weeks as a nice-to-meet-you gift from me to everyone. They’ll keep whatever they find. After that, on a first-come, first-served basis…I’ll rent my territory by the week. I’ll get twenty percent of the total value whether you turn it in for points or sell it elsewhere.”

  “That’s too expensive,” Bright shouted.

  The rest jeered, calling him stingy.

  “Just for you, I’ll put it up to thirty percent,” Mia said.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “No, Ben.” His voice was distressed, eyes pleading. “We’re friends. You can’t do that to me!” Bright clutched his chest, staggering closer, until his hands pressed against the barrier. “Didn’t we swear to be brothers for life?”

  Everyone laughed.

  Mia joined in.

  She wanted to sit down. She needed to sleep. She wanted to be in the duchy where life was simple.

  Instead, she walked to Kerrik’s side. “Did you sign a contract to teach me without withholding information?” Her fingers twitched.

  The braids on his chin shook as he spoke. “Yes, about scavenging at least.”

  She breathed a sigh of relief. “Alright.”

  “That was a nice touch, at the end.” His voice was conversational, but the smile she’d gotten used to was absent.

  “I’m young, not stupid.” Mia stood to the side while he scavenged. Dan was her silent shadow.

  “Spiteful little thing.” He didn’t sound upset, but Mia kept her distance.

  She rarely sounded panicked, even though she went through each day wondering what dreadful thing would happen next.

  She shouldn’t forget what type of people thrived in Cinderwild.

  “What happens if you’re marked as absent for a day?” Mia asked.

  “First day, you’re fined. Second, you get a warning and a whipping. Third, you get marked as a slave.”

  A weight pressed against her chest. Slaves. Of course, they’d be slaves here. Why wouldn’t there be?

  “What happens if you miss one day a month?” Mia spotted a body lying on its side, a wooden box under it.

  Kerrik was putting it away before she blinked. “You can request time off, but you need a solid reason since we work every other week. Absences reset every year, so you can skip twice without facing drastic consequences.”

  Whipping sounded drastic to her, but what did she know?

  “What happens to the slaves?” She remembered the bodies sliding off the deck, their screams.

  “Most end up in mines.”

  Mines.

  That was the first time she’d heard of them.

  “Why does everyone start as scavengers instead of going straight to the mines?” When they captured her, she’d thought they’d taken her as a slave, but she was more of an indentured laborer paying off a loan from the bank, an exploitative loan with terrible interest rates, but manageable.

  There wasn’t a group earmarked as slaves. Instead, the scavenger group was large.

  Kerrik paused, weighing his words. “There are laws we all follow. Everyone gets assigned a job; only if you fail at that job or refuse to do it are you marked as a slave.”

  “Who makes the rules and who enforces them?”

  Something had changed between them; getting answers was like pulling teeth. Yesterday, he was chatty, providing information without her having to ask.

  “Not something you need to know,” He answered, putting away another swollen corpse.

  Mia let that sit for a while, saddened by the loss of the easy camaraderie, but not regretting her choice. “What does Crow do exactly?”

  “He’s a scavenger,” Kerrik said.

  “Yeah, but he’s not scavenging.” Crow stood with the crest-wearing warriors, talking. He was like the head maid, delegating tasks and supervising. “Not something I need to know?” Mia asked when the silence stretched.

  “Nothing here is worth getting his hands dirty.” Kerrik’s shoulders dropped. He cleared his throat. “He’s a scavenger with the First Division. On his off week, he’s our group leader.” His eyes darted to Crow; a war was happening on his face: respect, fear, and greed battled for dominance.

  Mia heard the crack in his voice. “What do you have to do to become a scavenger for the First Division?”

  “Do you think I’d be here if I knew?” Kerrik asked, turning his back to Crow.

  ***

  Mia was dying to check the ledger.

  For the last hour, she couldn’t count how many times her hands had twitched towards the bag at her side.

  Still, she forced her mind away from it. She moved to the tent where Nessa lay sleeping.

  Hand on Nessa’s forehead, she checked her fever. It was still there, but her temperature was lower.

  Mia smoothed Nessa’s hair off her forehead. “I’m sorry.” The poor girl needed to sleep, but she’d gotten more information, and Nessa couldn’t afford to be absent.

  Mia reassured herself that even if Nessa left her side, joining a different scavenger group changed nothing. The job wouldn’t change. At least with Mia, Dan would kill the survivors. She could spare Nessa that horror. Plus, Nessa’s loot was protected.

  With a firm shake, she woke the sleeping girl.

  “Ben,” she said, her voice small.

  She looked like a child.

  Mia sat back on her heels, the injustice of it all unbearable.

  Nessa didn’t look like a child; she was a child. She was bright, cunning, and confident, but that was bravado born from necessity. The world had never been kind to her.

  “You need to scavenge at least one body.”

  Nessa paled, hand flying to her stomach. Her head rattled from side to side.

  “First absence is a fine. Second, a fine. Third, you become a slave. You need to save that absence for a day you really need it.” Mia’s voice was firm, but her hands were gentle as she helped Nessa stand.

  Nessa’s hand grabbed Mia’s arm, nails digging in. “Slave?” Her eyes were wide.

  Mia nodded. “Slave, working in mines.” What would the ledger say about Nessa?

  Nessa didn’t make a sound, but tears streamed down her face. She gulped air, pushing Mia away. Her body doubled over, shoulders shaking, but she didn’t fall or lie down.

  Nessa rocked on her feet, Mia’s arms reaching up, but she stood steady. “One body. I can do one body.”

  They walked out of the tent. Mia kept her arms at her side. “I’ll need to scavenge a body from your territory. I’ll explain why when we get back to camp.”

  Nessa nodded, her face determined.

  ***

  Mia sat at the table.

  Her hand reached for the ledger.

  Slow.

  No eagerness.

  Dan was watching, possibly Crow.

  She pulled the book out and opened it to the first page.

  Name: Mia

  Race: Human

  Occupation: Scavenger

  [Information Restricted.]

  To access restricted information, please contact the primary holder.

  Her breath caught.

  “Bastard,” she said.

  Mia closed her eyes.

  Mox expected something of her, but what?