I slipped my feet back into my sandals - they had belonged to Gingitsu, but they were mine until the thieving fox returned my boots - and then grasped the bandits each by their belt and dragged them into the ditch beside the road.

The living one was roused by pebbles scraping his skull and dry reeds poking up through his dusty clothing. He kept his eyes down at first, surely expecting a swift fate, but I merely waited and watched. I watched while he realized the comrade laying beside him was dead, watched as his eyes found my feet and slowly climbed up to my face.

“What?” he gasped, “how can it be you? You’re dead!”

I frowned and shook my head. “You’re mistaken. Only you and your friend shall pass today. The swiftness of your demise depends on the information you share with me now.”

“What?” he asked again, the confusion in his eyes outweighing the fear. “You missed everything. You abandoned us when we needed you most, Breaker.”

The way he said my name gave me pause. There was some reverence in the title. I look closer at the disheveled bandit and realized that beneath the grimy beard he was one of the many men who served under me in the Faith United. I could not recall his name, for he was one of hundreds of soldiers under my command… but I had seen him in the training yard, and on parade, more than once.

But… the last time I’d seen him had been no more than a month prior. How had he fallen so far in so little time?

“So, you blame me for your decisions?” I scoffed, “that is any coward’s path.”

“I blame you,” he growled, “and I blame the the great quakes that shook the earth, the fire that came from the sky, and the storms that brought the sea above land. Where were you for all of it, Breaker? I tried to help… I was one of the last that stayed on. But when the Faithful disbanded--”

I seized him by the collar of his coat and lifted him forcefully out of the ditch, until our eyes were looking level at one another. His feet barely grazed the ground. Blood pounded in my ears as I squeezed my fist tighter, cinching the fabric of the garment like a noose around his neck.

“Do not lie to me,” I growled, “the Faithful would not disband because of some trivial disaster. And you clearly left their ranks long ago. Speak the real truth now, or die.”

His eyes glinted in defiance, but his mouth stayed shut. I gave his body a one-handed shake, like a housewife flicking dirt from a rag. His neck snapped audibly from the sudden motion, and I dropped him next to the other bandit.

I leaped out of the ditch and raced down the road, my determination to reach Kinley’s cottage renewed. I did not expect to find her there… but it was the only place I could think to begin looking. Perhaps her dire wolf, Nymeria, would be able to offer some clue or direction.