I asked my parents, and Danzig and Lila:

  “Did you have any inkling what Slade was up to? That he was doing this – trading, and getting himself into trouble in Wastemoor? Of all the places to try to earn a living like that.”

  “We had heard just a few things, over the years,” my father said. “Some time after he had left, when we had gone quite a while without hearing from him, he sent the four of us each a silver denier. Big things they were, wide and thick, with the portrait of Svord The Lucky of Daemdborg. Svord had minted those to celebrate his fortieth year on the throne, right before the Mage moved down to conquer his city and then had him strapped to a cave bear.

  “Slade sent a little note with those, telling us he was doing well, and not to worry. Do you remember how it went?” he asked the other three.

  “I do,” Aunt Lila said. “I think it was:”

  A token of my good luck here, so do not be concerned:

  These coins, and many others, I have fair and squarely earned.

  Not stolen, and they’re not false, and they don’t carry a curse;

  They certainly won’t turn to lead the others in your purse.

  “So, that was a bit odd,” she said. “We all had them melted down right away.”

  “And do you remember,” my mother said, “the poor river troll who delivered them?”

  “Yes,” Danzig said. “Squat little trundling guy, waddling along. Nearly naked, but carrying that worn knapsack. Which was stuffed with the silver, it turned out. That was Slade’s clever way of sending them without arousing suspicion; no bandits along the way would have thought a river troll would carry anything of any value.”

  “I wonder it didn’t just steal them,” I said.

  “Eh, they’re very loyal creatures, it is said. Once they decide to do something.”

  “Did it just hand them to you, and then start its return trip?”

  “I think so,” Aunt Lila said. “Or it may have headed down to the river to wallow about in the mud for a bit. We gave it a few shillings for its trouble, and it seemed extremely glad of that.”

  “Well, Flicker,” my mother said. “What do you think of this – Caiside woman? Can you travel with her?”

  “Slowly,” I said. “What with her leg. But yes, I think she is, uh – ”

  I realized that I hadn’t really thought much about what it would be like spending days and nights with her for weeks on end. Her foray in my house the night before had not been very promising.

  The five of them were just staring at me, waiting.

  “Well, she may be challenging. She seems to have some assumptions about how I’ll do, questing through the wilds. And those assumptions don’t indicate a lot of confidence.”

  “Where is she from? Wastemoor itself?”

  “I’m not sure,” I admitted.

  “And you have to wonder – what did she do to get thrown in a dungeon?”

  “Again, I’m not sure of the answer to that. But, you know, the Mage there imprisons people often, so I don’t think that her status as a, uh –”

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  “Jailbird,” Danzig offered.

  “Right. I don’t think we can really necessarily hold that against her, you know.” I couldn’t believe I was covering for this odd woman who was right then sleeping off a hard night.

  “But regardless, I think I have to do this, for Slade. When he worked so hard to get that stash up there, from what she says.”

  “Why not just wait for him to get it himself, when he is released?” Lila asked.

  “It doesn’t sound like we can count on him ever being released,” Freydis said.

  “Slade will find a way,” Danzig and my father said, in unison.

  “But even if he returns in a year, or two,” I said, “that might be too late, because others – the Dwarves, especially – are exploring more and more up in those hills.”

  “True,” Lila said.

  “And I’m also confident,” I said, “because I’m hoping that Freydis will come along.” I looked at her.

  “Accompany you?” she asked.

  “Yes. Would you? That way we would always outvote Caiside.”

  She didn’t spend too long considering it:

  “Very well. I will. I want to meet this woman first, however.”

  “Of course.”

  Lila shook her head.

  “You’ll have to be careful, my love,” she said. “You’ll be going places where few here have ever been. And those hills are teeming with more and more adversaries all the time, it seems like.”

  “I will, Mother.”

  My parents had shown visible relief when Freydis said she would go along.

  “One other little teeth-grinder,” my father said. “Don’t you think that getting there, as hard as it might be, could be the easy part? How are you going to lug back all this loot once you find it? Will you be pushing a wheelbarrow of gold through those hills?”

  “I believe Slade kept his wealth portable,” I said. “I get the impression it is a cache of jewels, platinum, that sort of thing. We’ll just take what we can safely carry. And conceal.”

  “Very well.”

  *

  Neither my parents nor Uncle Danzig nor Aunt Lila objected to the journey. Freydis and I walked back to my house, to talk with Caiside.

  “Honestly,” I said. “If we manage to do this – bring back what could be a substantial haul – I wonder if Slade might help me out to build a proper house. And you too,” I said. “I mean, not a house necessarily, for you, but keep you in his consideration somehow.”

  “He might.”

  “I don’t want to say anything in front of my parents, because of course they work so hard, and they would feel bad if they knew I felt that our profession was holding me back. But it is. We get by all right, but I’ll never earn enough to – ”

  I was going to continue, but we were right in front of Miranda’s house, now, and I felt the wind go out of me.

  “I know you’re hoping to get out on your own, Flicker,” Freydis said. “I know what you mean, and why.”

  Just then Mabel, Daisy and Twyla came up behind us. I hadn’t seen them.

  They sang:

  When you speak to your love

  But your tongue’s tied in knots

  And you try to impress

  But you’re tangled in thoughts

  You will wonder how many

  More chances you’ll get

  To charm her with your warmth

  As opposed to cold sweat

  You feel time’s running out

  And she’ll leave you to travel

  To a more lively place

  While you stay and unravel.

  “We’re working on more verses for that one,” Mabel said.

  Screengrab from the video "Medical and Scientific Medals of Falk Library's Historical Collection"