Raven

Hayate and Izel were back first.

They unpacked the weapons onto the table and Hayate went to find the innkeeper and order food for six before anyone else had arrived to ask for it.

Lyra and Freyja came next, dropping supplies upstairs before coming back down to sit. The four of them settled at the table and talked about nothing in particular --- the town, the weather, the size of Kibou's market compared to Akebono's.

Haruki and Rask came through the door at the same time, from different directions. They sat down. The food arrived.

Haruki looked around the table.

"Anyone run into issues?"

Rask shook his head. He reached into his coat and spread the map across the table --- marked now, a network of small notations in tight careful script. Potential ambush positions, viable camp sites, terrain features called out along the route. He had not made it all the way to the village, but close enough.

Freyja reached into her bag and produced the vials of holy water. She explained what the shopkeeper had told them and why she thought it was worth the purchase given what they knew about demons and light.

Lyra added what she'd overheard at the market. Robed figures at the north gate, large sacks, guards waving them through without checking.

"Likely weapons" she said. "Illegal ones."

Hayate reported no issues, then paused. "Gerd refused payment. Said he still owed us for the escort job --- called it even."

Izel grunted. Nothing to add.

Haruki had been listening to all of it without speaking. Now he looked at the map properly.

"Kibou is the largest weapons market for the seven races" he said. "Positioned at the centre of the frontline --- armies come through here to restock. Every party fighting on the front comes here to buy." He paused. "At the tavern, a party came in. One of them was arguing that the only reason their leader was worth anything was the sword he bought from Dagan."

The table was quiet for a moment.

Hayate leaned forward. "Could the weapons being smuggled through the north gate be the same ones Dagan is selling?"

"Most likely" Haruki said. "What seems to be happening --- he's creating them and enchanting them somewhere else, then bringing them in through the gate without checks."

Lyra looked at the table, working through it. "What kind of enchantment permanently increases a wielder's strength? I know magic that temporarily sharpens a blade, boosts piercing capability for a short window. But permanent enhancement --- I've never heard of that." She looked at Izel. "Have you?"

Izel shook his head slowly. "No. I've seen casters sustain enhancement effects on weapons for over a day --- that alone is extremely rare. Something permanent, something that increases the user's actual power?" He paused. "No. Nothing like that."

Freyja held up the bangle on her wrist. "My trident is enchanted, but it doesn't make me stronger. It simply returns to me when I call it. And this is a tribal heirloom --- it can only be recalled by whoever wears this bangle. The idea that Dagan is producing something like that at volume---" she set the trident down "---I find very hard to believe."

Rask looked at the map. "Even granting all of that --- how does any of it involve Kira? Or us? We knew none of this before we arrived here."

Haruki was quiet for a moment. "The tomb" he said finally. "What if it used to be where he made the weapons? Something went wrong --- everyone in there turned to skeletons. He needed it cleared. Needed someone to go in and clean it out without knowing what they were cleaning." He looked at the table. "Then we came back out alive and with the crown. He hadn't planned for that. He assumed that if we survived, we might have found evidence of what the tomb was used for. So he took Kira --- to find out what we knew, and to silence us if needed. When he realised we knew nothing, he pivoted. Use us for a job, keep our attention on that, get Kira back, leave town. We'd have no reason to stay."

"Which makes this a suicide mission" Hayate said. "He can't kill us directly --- too visible, too many questions. So he sends us somewhere he knows we won't come back from."

"Not entirely" Haruki said. "If it were purely a suicide mission, he gains nothing from it. He's too careful for that. I think the heirloom is real --- and I think it's something he needs. Something connected to the enchantment, something he hasn't been able to retrieve himself. He's using us because we're convenient and expendable, but he'd still rather we succeeded." He paused. "The mission serves him either way. We die, problem solved. We come back with the heirloom, he gets what he needs."

The table sat with that for a while. Eating continued, slower now. Someone refilled a cup. Nobody spoke.

Rask set down what he was holding and looked at the map.

"Whatever the reason" he said, "it doesn't change what we need to do. We retrieve the heirloom. We get Kira back. And we get closer to the truth." He looked around the table. "That's enough."

One by one they nodded.

"Well said" Haruki said. "Finish eating. Rest until sunset. We leave when the light goes."

They ate in silence after that --- the quiet of people who had said what needed saying and were now preparing themselves for what came next.

They were pushing back chairs and heading for the stairs when Hayate said her name.

Lyra turned.

He was standing a few feet away, right arm extended, something resting in his open hand. She walked over and held out her palm and he placed it there.

A necklace. Fine chain, small pendant --- a raven, dark metal, wings folded, the detail in it precise enough that it had clearly been made by someone who cared about the difference between a raven and any other bird.

"It's beautiful" Lyra said. She looked up. "Where did you get it?"

"Found it at the market. On the way back." He shrugged. "I saw it and thought you might like it."

"Is there a reason you got it for me?"

"Nope." He was already taking a step back toward the stairs, hands finding his pockets. "Just thought you might like it."

"I do like it" she said. "It's beautiful. Thank you."

He raised a hand without turning around and kept walking.

They gathered at the gate as the sun touched the horizon. Six of them, armed and packed. The gate guards looked at them and said nothing.

The sun went down.

They walked out into enemy territory.