Red Hood's Revenge

need from random passersby on the streets.”
    Talia blushed, but she tucked the purse into the sash at her waist. “I don’t know when I’ll be able to repay you.”
    “Repay me by staying alive.” Khardija made shooing motions with her hands. “Be safe.”
    They joined the exodus leaving the temple, sisters escorting patients into the streets. Others in the black robes stood outside the gates, gently turning away those who had come for help.
    Talia shook her head. “I brought the Wild Hunt into her home, and she repays me in gold.”
    “She loves you,” said Danielle.
    “I know.” Talia looked back at the temple. “I just hope that love doesn’t get her killed.”
    As they departed the Temple of the Hedge, Danielle got her first real view of Jahrasima. In the darkness the night before, she had seen little more than shadows. This morning, with the sun already baking the air, she could make out every detail. Including the destruction left by the Wild Hunt.
    The rooftops were flat, thatched with straw that had turned brown from dust and sand. The windows were larger than those in Lorindar, covered only by shutters or heavy curtains. Stones were laid out on the borders of paths and property. Many of the homes had been in poor repair already. Mud bricks crumbled from the walls. Rats disappeared into the cracks and holes.
    The Hunt hadn’t bothered with subtlety. Stones were kicked aside, showing where riders had moved from house to house. Doors were smashed, shutters ripped from the windows, even whole walls had been knocked down.
    At one house, a little boy sat crying in a patch of dirt darkened by blood while an older girl tried to comfort him. “What happened there?” Danielle whispered.
    Snow tilted her head to listen as they passed. “The boy’s dog tried to protect him from a hunter.”
    “It will be worse tonight,” Roudette said. “This was but a fraction of the Wild Hunt’s power.”
    Danielle turned to look at Roudette. The hiqab’s hood shadowed her face, but it couldn’t hide the hatred in her voice. Roudette hadn’t hesitated to murder innocent people back in Lorindar, and she had delighted in the death of the hunter. But the aftermath of the Hunt had clearly shaken her.
    Roudette stopped to look at a larger house, one that had obviously been expanded over the years. The Hunt had trampled straight through the walls, and a group of men now worked to keep the rest of the building from collapsing.
    Their passage drew stares. Small, dirty faces watched from shadows and windows. The adults’ expressions were warier. Their glances lingered on Danielle’s sword. They spoke in low voices, if at all, as though they were afraid the sound might bring the Wild Hunt back to their city.
    “They’re all human,” Danielle said softly. “I thought fairies and humans lived together in Arathea.”
    “The fairies live in the northern part of town.” Talia slashed a hand through the air for silence as a young girl approached with a basket of dried figs. Talia took three, offering a pair of copper coins in return.
    The girl bowed and said something in Arathean. Talia grimaced, but repeated the words.
    “What did she say?” Danielle asked.
    Snow made a face. “Blessings of the peri be upon you.”
    “The peri?”
    “The first fairies,” said Snow, taking one of the figs. “They say the peri are the ancestors of all that’s good in fairykind, whereas the evil deev gave rise to the trolls and ogres, the goblins and giants. They fought for centuries—”
    “Using humans as their pawns.” Roudette’s voice was huskier than usual. “The ‘blessed’ peri hid in their mountains, sending mortals out to die against the deev. Some say their war scoured the land, turned Arathea into a desert. Be grateful they never spread beyond this land.”
    The road widened, dust and dirt changing to paving stones. The homes here were taller, their lines straighter. Grain bins topped the flat roofs like giant beehives. Heavy canopies stretched from the front of the houses, sheltering merchants on the street and inviting potential buyers to take advantage of the shade. This morning, many of the merchants sat alone, their wares untouched. They called out to passersby, but their energy was muted.
    Snow started toward one merchant who was showing off what looked like a baby dragon in a silver cage.
    Talia caught her sleeve. “No.”
    “But he’s—”
    “No.” Talia glanced at the dragon. “The scales are