As it turned out, Trandore was the capital city of the Blackthorne province in Xykesh located far to the north of Lochmire. The journey to it from Shadefall was a long one, following roads choked by forests, said to be even more infested with monsters than the wilderness of Lochmire. And that was after they made their way through the rest of the Lochmire province itself.

They would need time to prepare for such a trip, both in terms of provisions and making sure they knew as much about the threats they were likely to face in Blackthorne as possible. And more than that, the three outsiders considered it prudent to stay off the roads for a while while the 5th Regiment of the Royal Army scoured the countryside for whoever had set their camp outside Shadefall on fire.

So, for the time being, they were staying in Shadefall, trying to keep their heads down as best they could.

Arden was in town, talking with anyone he could who'd traveled the roads in the Blackthorne province, leaving Valerie and List back at the Scaled Maiden, to study.

Valerie sat on the floor of the double bedroom she shared with List, several books, scrolls, and field journals stacked neatly around her, and her copy of The Hunter's Guide to Inmates of the Hells opened in front of her, while List was lying in bed, idly tossing her knife into the air and catching it, undeterred by the fact that if she failed to catch the knife, she was liable to stab herself.

"Okay, next one," Valerie prompted. "The witches of the Night Coven have altered physiology which makes them immune to . . ."

List blew a raspberry, thinking. "Uh . . . lightning? Poison?"

"Fire."

"I was close."

Valerie sighed. That was the twelfth one in a row the hellborn had gotten wrong. "List, have you read any of the entries Dr. Siren instructed you to?"

"I've looked at the pictures."

"List!"

"What? It's not like we actually need this. The book's called the Inmates of the Hells. Inmates. As in locked up in another world about as far from this one as it gets."

"Demons can and do break out of the hells all the time," Valerie said. "Which is also talked about in the reading. We could end up fighting some one day. But that's besides the point, because I don't think you've done any of the reading you're supposed to."

"Valerie, darling, not to put too fine a point on it, but I don't really think I need to know which monsters' hides turn unsilvered weapons when I can make mine cut through anything." She demonstrated her point by running her magic through her knife and tossing it straight into the ceiling with a casual flick of her wrist. The blade sank in to the hilt like the wood wasn't even there.

"That's not always going to be enough," Valerie said. "Or are you forgetting the Gorpmorp incident?"

List glared at nothing in particular. "That fucking thing sucker-punched me. I'd take it in a real fight."

"Bugbears are ambush predators. Sucker punching is their favorite tactic. Which you would have known—"

"If I did the reading, you can spare me the rest," List huffed. "Sometimes you're worse than Arden."

"Skill and power are only part of what we do. Knowing what we're up against and preparing to deal with it are just as important. More important for someone like me, without any magic."

Valerie once again chose not to bring up the black flames that had formed on her crossbolt during her last run in with the Pavers. That had been magic, but she had no idea where it had come from or how she'd done it, and unlike with List, the insight for it wasn't just springing unbidden into her head when it was convenient. Not to mention those flames just outright unnerved her in a way she couldn't place.

"It takes all the training, studying, and preparing I can do just to keep up with what we go up against," Valerie said. "If you actually tried, studied and fought smarter instead of just harder . . . you could be as good as Dr. Siren."

List was quiet for a long moment, aware that Valerie had just let an insecurity show. Privately, the hellborn thought that insecurity was ridiculous. But it felt wrong, having the huntress open up like that and not at least try to reciprocate.

Taking a deep breath, List gave her own crack at honest vulnerability. "I . . . can't."

"Since when are you humble?"

"No, Valerie, I mean . . . I can't read."

Valerie blinked. "What? How?"

"How should I know? No one taught me in the last two years, and if anyone ever did before, I can't remember. It wasn't one of the things that just came back to me."

"How have you gotten by for the last two years?"

List shrugged. "It's not hard, mostly. Lots of signs have pictures. Ask for directions with landmarks instead of street names. A bakery smells like a bakery whether or not you can read whatever's written over the door. It's only ever a problem for . . . well, for shit like this."

Valerie found herself once again reconsidering and recontextualizing everything she knew about List. The way she would chafe about not knowing certain things Valerie and Arden considered basic knowledge, like which way west was. How she blew off studying whenever she could. Unconsciously, Valerie had always more or less assumed that List had simply just received a poor education, if she'd gotten one at all.

Now she realized, to List, all of those gaps in what she knew were constant reminders of the massive chasm in her memories. How much was down to poor education, and how much had once been there and been somehow scrubbed from her mind? The hellborn didn't know. Had no way of knowing. What she'd known. Who she'd been. And though List hid it well, it clearly troubled her.

"Do you want me to teach you?" Valerie asked.

"That sounds like a hassle."

"It won't be, I promise." List still didn't look convinced, so Valerie pressed on. "Look, I don't expect you to learn to read and suddenly actually start caring about doing what Dr. Siren tells you to. I know you better than that. But you at least deserve the choice, and right now you don't have it."

The tip of List's tail flicked back in forth as she turned the idea over in her head, though her expression remained disinterested.

"I'LL GUT YOU, YOU LITTLE LIZARD RAT!"

Both girls turned their attention to their bedroom door, and more specifically to the rising shouts and crashes coming from downstairs in the Scaled Maiden.

"Alternatively," List said, gesturing to the door. Valerie nodded.

List gave a quick hop off her bed to retrieve her knife from the ceiling, and the two of them raced downstairs to see what was going on.

What they found was the dozen or so patrons of the Scaled Maiden in a mad scramble, some of them standing in their chairs, others darting around the tavern, all of them shouting, and one tiny, nimble figure zipping around the room.

It was, generously, three feet tall, covered in dark green scales, with a draconic face, clawed hands and feet, and somebody's leg of roast lamb clamped in its jaws.

One man dove for the creature, and it leapt clean over him, bounding off the man's head before scurrying away. It scampered up onto a table, scooped someone else's lunch off their plate, ducked the fist that came its way, and kept running.

"GET THAT LITTLE FUCKER!"

Sprinting in from another room, Kiva took a swipe at the little creature with a broom, actually thwaking it across the back of the head, but not slowing it down as it bounded for the door just as it was opening. Arden, completely oblivious to the situation, was strolling back in, and was taken by surprise as the diminutive thing darted between his legs.

The priest of Saint Hedwig kept his balance, right up until the moment another bar patron lunging for the kobold collided with his legs, and both men ended up in a crumpled heap on the floor. Meanwhile, the intrepid food thief scrambled into the streets, and dove down the first storm drain it came across.

Behind the bar, Egon let out a dissatisfied grumble. "Kobolds. Kiva!"

"I know, I know," she said, shoulders sagging. "Put out the traps. . ."

Arden sat up, dusted himself off, and placed his hat back on his head where it belonged. "Is this a common occurrence?"

"Not in my bar," Egon said with conviction. "But in general, somewhat. Little things like nesting underground, so cities and towns sometimes get them in their sewers. Always go on thieving sprees before someone clears the nest out. Steal scales, food, odds and ends. They're like gnomes. But they shit. Everywhere. Not to mention spread around whatever ends up on them from the sewers."

"Fascinating," Arden said. "I'd heard about kobold activity in connection to dragons back in Corsar, but I'd never actually encountered any. I wonder why they're so common in Xykesh."

At that, Egon and Kiva both gave Arden a strange look, and he nodded. "Oh, I see. Is this related to dragonbloods then? Are kobolds connect to you somehow, like gnomes and humans?"

"Uh, Arden," Kiva said. "You do know Digax is a dragon, right?"

Valerie and List's eyes nearly bulged out of their heads. Valerie shot the hellborn a questioning look along the lines of "How did you not know that? You've lived here for two years!" List threw her arms in the air and shrugged, as if to say, "And? People only ever call him the King or talk about how mad and powerful and violent he is. No one ever mentions he's a mother fucking dragon."

Arden did better job of containing his surprise, though he still took a few blinks to speak. "I see. Digax is . . . oh my. He's the Digax?"

"The Digax who ruled over Antem for five hundred years before his horde was driven from the continent by the First Kingdom of Corsar," Egon supplied with a nod. "You're not the first outsiders I've met. And aye. From everything I know, he's the very same."

"And kobolds are connected to dragon activity," Arden said, fitting the puzzle pieces together in his mind. "Oh, this is fascinating. Are they as intelligent as I've been led to believe?"

"They're right clever little bastards, aye," Egon said. "Good with making a lot with only a little. Know how to stay alive. Some speak languages besides their own. And as far as I can tell, they understand toilets. They just don't care."

"Valerie, List, grab your equipment," Arden said. "We're going on an excursion."