Raven started by stowing her carry bag in the closet of the room. She had to move fast. The extra clothes would slow her down. She emptied her messenger bag on top of the stuff in her bag. She reached in and flipped everything over so only her spare cloak was visible from the top, and the money was on the bottom.

She made sure Kobach was comfortable while he waited on a nurse with quill and paper.

The next step was to head for the shop.

She knew a dozen ways to get to the back of the shabby building. She decided to pick a spot to watch the building before she went in. The cloud might still be there, a Keswick might be there, the Guard might have someone on station to prevent looting.

She doubted the Guard would try to stop anyone from getting in the partially

destroyed shop, but you never knew. An honest constable could hold her up long enough that someone caught up with her.

Raven climbed up to a vantage point down the street from the shop. She noted the people in the street. Most of them looked like regulars that she spotted on her rounds. She saw a Guard but he was walking along another street, looking for trouble there.

Probably causing trouble was more like it.

She leaped from her perch to a roof closer to the chemistry. She jogged over to the other side and jumped off the edge there to another roof. The next building was the shop.

She jumped to a ledge on Kobach’s building. She used that to swing down to a window sill at the back of the place. She pressed on the window and lifted it. She looked around. No one seemed close enough to be watching her.

Most alchemists wouldn’t have a window like that in their shop. Kobach preferred it since he could open it and vent any fumes on the alley behind his place.

Loss of ingredients didn’t seem to matter since a thief had to be an alchemist not to do something stupid with the stuff on the shelves in the back room.

Sometimes a Guard would come by to ask questions about someone. Master Kobach would assure the man they knew nothing about the matter. He didn’t even bother to report the theft of things from his back room when talking to the badger.

Raven kicked herself for not thinking the dead people had tried to consume the raw ingredients from the shop without any working on them. That was almost instant death depending on what they took.

She looked around the workroom. It had suffered just like the front area for

customers. She shook her head at the destruction.

She listened. She didn’t hear anything, but felt she had to grab the things from the safe and head away from there before something bad happened.

She went to the shelf over the safe and pushed it out of the way. It rolled slowly but smoothly on the tracks built into the floor. She had the safe combination in her head. She opened the safe and took everything out of it and put the stuff in her messenger bag.

Had something moved in the other room?

She listened as she straightened. There could be somebody in the alley. There could be somebody in the other room. The gas might have popped something and caused a minor chain reaction.

She checked the door. A crack was at the bottom of it, but nothing seemed to be coming through. The toxic cloud could be eating through the ceiling in the other room instead of sinking to the floor and spreading out.

She decided the best thing to do was not chance the cloud of deadly chemicals. She was surprised she and Ivanoviska had not taken sick also. Maybe there was more to what happened than Master Kobach had told her.

She couldn’t deal with that right now. He had wanted her to grab everything out of the safe. She had the things. It was time to head back to the hospital and try to avoid trouble.

She didn’t want to take any letter to someone she only knew through Master Kobach, but recognized that without him vouching for her, she would have trouble if she wanted to be an alchemist too.

She didn’t know if she wanted to be an alchemist after this. Maybe a vigilante would suit her more if she knew how to find the people who wrecked her life.

She did know how to find one. Maybe the rest spent their time with her. She could watch them until she saw a weakness and do something.

She wasn’t sure what that something should be.

She went to the window and swung out. She pulled it back out so the work room was closed to the casual intruder. She climbed up a drain spout to get to the roof. She hopped over to the next building.

She retraced her steps back to the hospital and thought she had done a lot of running around. She needed to get something to eat eventually and think about the next steps if Master Kobach was right and his friend had gone north.

She knew nothing of the world outside of Bern. How did Master Kobach think she would survive on her own? She had heard about people being pushed into new areas, but she didn’t want that to happen to her.

The queasiness in her stomach went well with the thought she would die on the way to Baldwin. And Eisen had a month of a headstart on her. He might already be moving to another city while she tried to catch up to him.

She pushed that out of her mind. The letter was secondary. Master Kobach wanted her to leave the city. He expected her to die for certain. If she could catch up with Eisen, she had a chance at a new life.

Did she want to take that chance? Did she really want to leave the city? Did she want to stay and fight until she was dead too?

She landed on the street just outside the hospital plaza and walked in slowly. She climbed up to the third floor and found Master Kobach lying in his bed, face turned toward the window. The healing circle was gone. She supposed the healers had canceled it since it wasn’t going to help.

Was she too late?

She walked to stand next to the bed. Master Kobach turned his head to look at her. He smiled quietly.

“The letter is under the lamp over there,” said Kobach. “You’re going to have to travel fast if you want to catch up with Moe. There should be a map in the papers from the safe. It’s a little old, but it should keep you on the right track. Take your money and hide it in your boots. Not every place is going to accept it, so be ready for that. Keep your eyes open. Just because you leave the city doesn’t mean the Keswicks are going to leave you alone. Don’t let them have the medallion.”

“Giving it back won’t cause them to stop?,” asked Raven.

“Mrs. Keswick is out of her mind with the thought of revenge,” said Kobach. “If you tried to give it back, she will skin you alive. Don’t think she will forgive you, no matter what they say.”

“All right,” said Raven. “I think I will wait out your time with you.”

“You can’t,” said Kobach. He gestured with one hand. “If they catch you here, you will die. Go ahead and leave now. The first step is the train north. Once you get to the end, you will have to figure out a way further north.”

“What happens to you?,” asked Raven.

“The doctors and healers will let the Guard know that I died, and then they cremate me,” said Kobach. “Deliver the letter and stay out of trouble. One of us has to come out of this okay.”

“I don’t feel like it will be okay,” said Raven. She clutched her hands together. “I feel like I am just leaving you because I’m scared to defend the shop.”

“I want you to be safe,” said Kobach. “And this is the only way that I can see. Staying here will just cause you trouble. Going north will place you under the Green Lights’ protection. They are a lot better than the Guard here in Bern.”

“A badger is always bad,” said Raven.

“These guys are better than a badge,” said Kobach. “You should go. I have to get some sleep before they try to fix me again. Start at the North train station and go. Stay away from the Shae and Alvas if you can. They’ll throw more wood on the fire in my opinion.”

“A Shae saved you as much as the doctors could do anything,” said Raven. “We flew above the city like a cloud.”

“I don’t remember that part of things,” said Kobach. He waved his hand at her. “Go ahead. Do the job.”

Raven went to the single lamp on its table. She picked it up with one hand and grabbed the letter with the other. Eisen’s name was on the envelope. She tucked that in her messenger bag. She hoisted the carry bag out of the closet, and dropped it to hang on her back. She looked at her friend through foggy eyes.

He waved for her to go.

She turned and left the room.

She knew she was never going to see him again. She sniffed back the snot in her nose as she walked to the door. She didn’t let the tears fall. There would be time enough for that if she lived long enough.

She headed for the northern end of town. There was only one train station that took you out of the city. Everyone knew that. The rest of the tracks carried you around inside Bern. She walked along, wondering how she was going to cross the miles to Baldwin before her legs gave out.

Maybe she could hire on as a caravan guard to help out a wagon train heading to Baldwin. That would help her more than she knew about working with others.

She knew she couldn’t trust anyone and Master Kobach’s advice to hide her money on her person was probably the best thing she could do. If she lost her bags, she had nothing.

She spotted the station in the distance. She needed to check when the next train left, then get a ticket. Maybe someone on the train would give her some idea of what lay ahead after she got off the train.

She paused and veered from the train station when she thought she saw someone familiar standing at the door.

She walked around the blocks until she reached a point where the back end of the station came into view. All she had to do was walk down the tracks and hop on the platform.

She kept an eye out as she approached the station. The sun had decided to go down, and lamps were lit on the street. Would there be another train going north tonight?

She spotted a board with times on it. A clock of cogs and gears pushed giant arrows to point at the metal numbers that marked time. A workman had placed a glass globe around the whole thing so all you could do was watch the gears moving without touching anything.

She had hours before the next train came in. She frowned. She could have stayed at the hospital.

She decided to lock her luggage in a locker cabinet set aside for that. Once she had the key secured in her boot, she walked back on the tracks. She could stop at a local eatery if they were open and grab something. Then she could wait out the rest of the time inside the station.

That seemed the best she could do at the moment. Once the train had come in, she could get back in motion and avoid any trouble.

What were the Keswicks doing right now? She wouldn’t be surprised they were making deals with the Alvas and it was hurting them on the inside.

She found the place she was thinking of after a few minutes of searching. It was open. She walked inside and took a seat to wait for someone to take her order. Maybe she would feel better once she had something in her stomach.

Once she was done, she decided to see if there was a place she could hide in the train station until the train arrived. A good hiding place was a good place to sleep. She could get her bag out of the locker as soon as the train reached the station.

She noted men in suits congregating outside. She had no idea if that was normal, but her feelings said it wasn’t. She looked around for a place to get out of the restaurant without wrecking the whole thing.

Maybe she could slip out of the back door to avoid the people coming toward her.

How had they tracked her down? She considered as she waited.