Maiya spun on her heel, smiling at the grocer. “We have a deal.”
Vir watched in horror as his friend haggled with vendor after vendor, buying far more than what he thought possible with the amount of money they had on hand.
They took a quick break to head to the city’s post office. It was a tall wooden structure that was alive with people continuously entering and exiting. In fact, this was the busiest place they’d seen in the city so far.
“Why are we here?” Vir asked once they’d arrived. He didn’t mind exploring, but Maiya was insistent they come here.
Maiya bit her lip. “Riyan won’t let us go back to Brij, but I can at least let my parents know I’m safe, right? It’s been eating me this whole time. They must be worried sick.”
“Wait. You want to send a letter to them? I don’t think that’s a great idea. What if they trace it back to us?”
“Don’t worry, Vir. I’m not a chal. I’m planning on saying a Sawai family in Kin’jal took us in, and that we’ve sent this message via a merchant bound for Hiranya. That way, even if they do trace the letter back to Saran, they won’t have any reason to believe we’re anywhere close.”
“That… could actually work,” Vir replied, thinking it over. “If Hiranya believes we’re in Kin’jal, this could have them looking in entirely the wrong place.”
“Exactly!”
Maybe it was less risky not to send the letter at all, but the idea of thwarting Hiranya spoke to something deep within Vir. It wasn’t just the knights who were responsible for Rudvik’s death. It was the entire chain of command, going all the way up to the head priest. As he saw it, Hiranya had made him their enemy. Making them waste time searching for him in the wrong part of the world not only gave him security, it wasted their resources. It may only have been a single leaf in the forest, but it was something.
“Do it.”
Maiya splurged on some actual paper to write her note. She used her best handwriting possible, as would befit Sawai. Another trick to give the deception authenticity.
She sealed the envelope with some wax and paid the clerk five coppers for delivery. It seemed the cost of delivery varied depending on whether the delivery was domestic or international, with more estranged countries costing more to deliver to. Some, like Matali and the Pagan Order, were outright undeliverable. Brij was only a short hop away for a courier, so the fee was low.
After their visit to the post office, they returned to the merchant district to buy more supplies.
“So? What’d’ya think?” Maiya asked, smirking at Vir after bargaining another grocer down by 40%.
“I still think this is wrong of you,” Vir said honestly. “What are you going to do with all this money? Spend it on some knick knack?”
She threw him a scowl, but he wasn’t done. “These people make their living off their sales. I’m sure they’re marking up their wares, expecting to be haggled down, but I feel you’re going too far. I know what it’s like, being poor.”
His friend sighed. “It’s not like that, Vir. They’re marking up their wares because we’re Sawai. They know we have the coin. They’re all sharks, Vir. If you don’t play hardball with them, they’ll rip you to shreds.”
“How would you know? Not like you’ve been outside the village.”
“Riyan’s drilled all of this stuff into me. We’ve even had mock exchanges where he pretends to be a greedy shopkeeper and I have to haggle him down. Compared to Riyan, these guys are pushovers.”
Vir thought over her words and she had a point. After all, what did he know about city dwellers? The shopkeepers in Brij all expected to be haggled down, but they were always friendly to fellow villagers. Some even treated Vir politely, giving him discounts… Though many just ignored him as if he didn’t exist.
The hours dragged on, and their rucksacks grew heavier and heavier from the weight of their growing supplies, forcing them to return to the inn to transfer their loads onto Bumpy. Most of it was grains, rice, flour, and other nonperishables. They’d bought comparatively few fruits and fresh vegetables, since those would go bad in a matter of weeks.
“Alright, that should be good for now. We can grab the rest of the groceries when we buy the cleaning supplies, like baking soda and stuff. Let’s do that tomorrow,” Maiya said, holding up the bag of coins. “Look at how much we still have left!”
“Uh, huh,” Vir said. “And what are you going to do with all that money you swindled from your bargaining?”
She grabbed his left hand and put the money box in his palm, closing his fingers around it. “Keep it safe. We’ll need the money for when we run away from Riyan, won’t we?” she said with a wink.
Vir regretted everything he’d said about his friend’s questionable business practices.
“That’s… amazing.” He was prepared to argue at length to convince Maiya to save this money for the future, but he’d misread her intentions. She’d wanted the same all along.
“You can say that again!” Maiya said, beaming with smug satisfaction.
“Speaking of… Have you decided?” Vir said, broaching the topic. “Are we gonna make a run for it? We have some money left over, and a whole load of supplies.”
Maiya looked away, fidgeting with her arms crossed. Then she looked Vir in the eyes, her face set with a grim expression.
“I’m not going, Vir. Not yet. This is my golden opportunity to learn magic, and even with ten silvers, we can’t afford to hire a mejai to teach me. I can’t leave yet.”
Vir let out a breath. “To be honest, I’m glad you feel that way. I’m the same. Feels like I still have a lot more to learn. Actually, if you’d left… I wouldn’t have joined you.”
Maiya bonked his head. “Silly, you think I’d ever leave you alone with that man? I’d never have gone my own way without you. Besides, there’s no way you’d have just left Neel behind!”
Vir smiled. He should’ve guessed she’d say that.
“Still,” he said. “I think we oughta reevaluate our situation regularly. When we leave, it should be on our terms, not his.”
His friend nodded. “Totally agree.”
Vir felt as though a great weight lifted off his shoulders.
“Let’s go do some exploring! I want to check out those docks!” he said, squeezing Maiya’s arm and pulling her along.
“Heck yeah!”
They hadn’t even taken ten paces toward the harbor before fate tore their plan to shreds.
Guards rushed onto the street from all directions. Traffic ground to a halt, trapping Vir and Maiya in an encirclement along with a dozen others.
“What is the meaning of this?” Maiya shouted, but her cries went unanswered.
Vir instinctively reached for his hood… But came away empty. He wasn’t wearing a hood—bad habit. He ducked behind Maiya instead, but she pushed him away.
“Remember what Riyan taught us? Suspicious people act suspiciously,” she whispered. “Trust our disguise. Act casual.”
Vir nodded, doing his best to come across as a bored rich kid. At least he didn’t need to be discreet about looking at the guards—everyone was gawking at them already.
“They’re looking for someone,” Maiya said.
“I noticed. They’re headed straight for us!”
There was little either of them could do. With the cordon, there wasn’t anywhere to run, nor could they hide. The guards were searching everyone.
“We’ve done nothing wrong,” Maiya said to Vir. “I’ll handle this.”
A guard dressed in gray gambeson armor strode up to them. “Papers, please.”
Maiya pulled her rich kid card, the same as she’d done when they’d arrived at the gates. “I’m a son of the Suvir family. You dare ask for my papers?”
“Papers. Now,” the guard said, holding an outstretched hand. Maiya clearly wasn’t expecting this reaction.