Morning came, eventually. In the absence of a body, Ghomarck entirely failed to place the blame for the destruction where it belonged. Sadly, he doled out coins into the waiting palm of the innkeeper.

"Goodbye and good riddance," grumbled the thickset proprietor.

They mounted their horses and steered them north.

"And don't come back," the innkeeper told their retreating backs. "Have your wild parties in somebody else's inn."

Past the cemetery, they turned north into trackless territory. Séa gazed at the steepening terrain. Bushy scrub would shortly give way to pine and fir trees. However pleasant it might be, the view did not compete with the excitement of the previous night. The paladin marveled, "Nothing of the door survived but the hinges and a pile of wood rot. It all dissolved. I don't even remember her casting an acid spell. Maybe she let it fly when I attempted that knee-level tackle."

"Good luck's the best," said Tash from behind her.

Bayrump had taken an elitist dislike to the steep terrain and fell behind the scrawny gelding. So far, Torugg be praised, the big mare's grumpy attitude had not worsened to balkiness.

Séa said, "Luck? I've never been a believer in luck."

"What? Blasphemy!" Tash wailed. "There has to be luck. It's part of the fabric of the universe."

"Really? I mean, I barely kept my head above water in theology class, but I don't remember Father Kay mentioning luck."

"Well, how do you explain hot streaks at the dice table? And sometimes the clearly inferior athlete wins. Oh, and how do you explain last night? That succubus was whisper-quiet, and you were deep asleep. But somehow you woke up just in time."

Séa hummed to herself for a minute. Past lessons in theology, discipline, and ethics replayed in her mind. Eventually, she answered. "I trust my god, Tash. I think Torugg watches over me. The thought-provoking part is that I was just in time to save you from being skewered. I assume you, uh, aren't exactly religious."

The rogue tittered.

Séa snorted. "I'll take that as a 'yes.' So presumably, you have no special consideration from Torugg. He would love you the same as he loves every common person."

"Hey! I'm uncommon, not common."

"Oh, definitely. I've never met anybody like you. But bear with me. I'm trying to figure this out. Renna was incredible." Séa fanned herself. Encased in metal as she was, the flapping hand had no hope of cooling her face. "I was spent by the end. And if she was a succubus, which she was, then she drained me even more. She laid me low, then pushed me deeper. But even from the bottom of that deep well, I heard something, or felt something. It was like an alarm bell, inside. I woke up."

"Meh. It was good luck."

"Or a touch of divine guidance."

Tash said, "I wish I could see your face. You're serious?"

"Oh, yes. And I feel like singing. My first demon banishment."

Tash squirmed in the saddle behind her. "You did sing, after you banished her."

Heat crept to Séa's cheeks. "Did I? I don't remember. I get sort of loopy after I commune with Torugg too much."

Tash snorted. "Yeah, I'll say."

The heat in her cheeks flared. "Oh, no," Séa said in a small voice. "What'd I do?"

"You sang goofy songs. And you apologized so much I almost punched you in the nose."

"I'm sorry."

Tash groaned. "No. No more apologizing."

Séa tried to twist around in the saddle, but of course failed due to her armor. "I'm ssss— Oh, bugger all."

Tash laughed. "Don't worry about it. It was mostly charming. You also squeezed my leg over and over. I didn't mind that so much. I think you really care. At least, you would have felt guilty if the succubus had killed me."

The paladin said, "Oh, for sure I care. We've only known each other for a day, but I consider you a friend, Tash. I would have felt just awful if you'd been killed! It was a close, close call." A thief and liar, sure. But a friend, nevertheless. I hope I can get to know the real her, the Tash inside. I bet I will like her.

Tash's voice went from teasing to calculating. "It was a close call. I absolutely thought Renna was a woman. I never dreamed that she might be a demon from Abyss Layer Eighty-eight or whatever."

"We got fooled bad. Especially me. You sensed something wrong about her, remember? But I smelled sex and my brain shut off." Séa found that if she twisted her head far enough, she could get Tash in her peripheral vision. "Hey! Your hood's off again."

The rogue deigned not to answer.

"What's the rule about the hood?" Séa chirped. "Do you wear it inside villages but not outside?"

Tash made a windy sound through her nose.

The paladin blinked a few times. "Um. Is it a sensitive question or something?"

"Blisters and pustules, paladin. Stop pestering me."

"Am I? I'm sorry."

Tash groaned. "And stop apologizing. Look, it would be obvious to anybody else, but you've been locked in a nunnery all your life so I'll break it down for you. I wear a hood when I think I might be recognized. If I am recognized, some duke's man or king's man would be informed. This dukely or kingly authority would then attempt to arrest me, throw me in jail, and put me on trial." Her voice sharpened. "Get it, now?"

Séa's brow furrowed. "Well, no! Why would they arrest you, unless they thought you had ... done something ... criminal ..." Her voice trailed away.

"Finally, she clues in," muttered Tash.

"What did you do?" said Séa in subdued tones.

"None of your business. I'm an outlaw in Mevia and Omnius and probably Liria, too. That's what you need to know. Sometimes I need a hood or an orc mask to avoid unwanted attention, and at no time do I need some fresh cherry of a paladin judging me."

I'm definitely a fresh cherry, but have I been judging? I guess I have. Torugg, forgive me! Lend me your single-eyed, loving vision. Help me to see that a lawbreaker may consist of much more than the law she breaks.

Her meditations almost caused a horse collision. Whoa! We're about to run our wizard over. Séa reined in Bayrump and called, "See something, Master Ghomarck?"

A scrunched expression soured the wizard's face. "No, though I think we will cross the east-west road shortly. I wish to discuss the key."

"So do I," Tash piped.

The horses nickered to each other. Clouds scudded across the sun, deepening the chill on a day that lacked warmth. They picked their way along game trails that weaved through pine trees, denser than before. Had they traveled by roads, the distance to Buzzard Keep could have been covered in a few hours.

Ghomarck's sour expression drooped to one of haggard worry. "I think we can be sure of this: A competent, relatively high-ranking demon was sent to retrieve it. I think we can also deduce that the item is traceable via magic. Wherever we go, we can be tracked."

Gears and wheels churned in Séa's head. She said, "So it opens something really important to demons. Or ... others. Anybody, really. Anybody willing to enter into pacts with demons."

Tash pulled at her lower lip. "So, was the guy with the frilly cravat a victim about to be seduced and murdered? Or is he so boss that he hired a demon to retrieve his spiffy key?"

Ghomarck huffed breath through his mustache. "We don't know. But we do know that it's dangerous. It's an unwanted complication. We should drop it."

"No," Tash said. "We're keeping it. If you can't figure out what makes it tick, I'll take it to the city and find someone who can. A hundred to one, it opens something rich." Her speech rang with conviction.

Séa rubbed a finger at the corner of one eye. I thought 'rich' meant high quality. She seems to add shades of meaning to the word. If I asked about it, she'd probably just call me a fresh cherry again.

A warble in the wizard's voice signaled early defeat. "But this is about Chantelle of Mevia, not about a demon's key."

Tash replied in flat tones. "Fine. So, let's go get her."

Séa twisted enough to glimpse Tash's resolute expression. Her surety was inspirational.

Ghomarck peered at the paladin. "What do you say, Lady Séa? We don't want to court trouble, do we?"

"Me?" she replied with bland surprise. "Don't ask me. I'd be absolutely thrilled if another demon tracked us down."

Tash barked a guffaw. "The woman is fecking crazy. Feverish and raving."

The wizard looked askance of the cloudy sky. "Why didn't I insist on Sir Fawk?"

Séa blew a raspberry. "If he saw a real demon, he'd soil his armor."

"Precisely the point." Ghomarck frowned so severely his descending eyebrows almost mingled with his jutting beard. "As it is, I'm outvoted."