Excerpt

Chapter One: The Singing Sisters

As soon as Castor pushed open the great slab of wood that was the left-hand door to the tavern, a wall of sound hit me. My ears twitched, and I considered diving deeper into the pocket of the mastermind's burgundy longcoat.

There are advantages to being a mouse, and hiding from crowded, noisy spaces is one of them. But I braced myself, patted the sword at my hip, and rode bravely on, claws dug into the wool of Castor's coat.

"Busy," Bella muttered behind us as we all paused to pay our respects to the altar set a few steps inside the door.

Jessamine, the proprietor of the Singing Sisters Tavern, took her religious observances seriously. The altar was neat as a pin, lit by tallow candles that reflected on a large brass handbell, the glossy green leaves of a plant, a quill, and other objects that represented each of the Singers of the World.

"If I take care of the Sisters, they take care of me," Jessamine always said. "Every witch worth her salt knows that."

Made sense, I guess, though we never had much truck with any religion back in the Warrens. Oh, there was a priest who tended a temple in the Smaller Warrens—or there had been. I hadn't been back in more than a year—and a mage or two, but most magic workers and religious types left as soon as they could.

Just like me. There were thieves aplenty in the Warrens, but that was part of the problem. There weren't quite enough other types of gainful employment for too many people in Warrens. Getting caught in a foolish misstep by Castor when I tried to filch a gold coin from his purse ended up being the best thing that ever happened to me.

It got me away from Mum, got me good food on the regular, and a cozy place to sleep.

I had a new family now with Castor, Bella, Mags, Ena, and Phi. We were a crew, sure, but more than that, as well.

For the first time in my life, I had friends who had my back.

As Castor rang the bell at the center of the altar, from my perch on his shoulder, I bowed to the little green plant on the left of the altar, the representation of the Sister of Prosperity, Health, and Growth.

"Thank you," I whispered. My friends couldn't hear me over the din, but the Sisters would, and that was all that mattered.

Guess living here had made me a bit of a believer, after all.

"I'll get a table," Bella grunted. I turned to watch the strapping blond warrior shouldered her way through the crowd, slapping a back or two—including the green ogre from Mags' favorite chocolate house—but not stopping, heading for the back of the room, away from the musician caterwauling near the front fireplace.

Our crew liked the back of the place, against the wall. It was quieter there, and closer to the kitchen, to boot.

"You okay, Mouse? Want a ride?" Mags asked as Castor attempted to follow Bella toward the back. Trouble was, everyone wanted to talk to Castor, so we were stopping at every other table.

I sighed in relief and hopped from Castor's shoulder to the blue wool coat of the red-haired mage. Our whole crew dressed like dandy highwaymen. I'd even finally gotten the tricorn hat I'd wanted since I was a wee pup of a mouse.

Riding was better than walking, sometimes, especially after Bella had put me through my paces with my saber earlier that afternoon.

"You need toughening up, Mouse. And your foot and hand coordination needs some more finesse," the warrior had said.

Then she finessed me into the ground, drilling me with a slender bit of wood held between two of her fingers. It was rather embarrassing. I mean, couldn't she have found someone my size to train against?

We soon joined the warrior at the table, Mags letting me scamper down onto the slab of dark, scarred wood before heading off to find Jessamine and put in an order for food and drink.

She could have waited for Toby the serving boy to come along, but that would mean forgoing the kiss she was sure to steal from Jessamine the minute she set eyes on the witch.

Witches and mages… you'd think their magic would clash or something, but Jessamine and Mags got along just fine.

"Sore, Mouse?" Bella remarked with a grin.

I did not deign to answer, just sniffed and slumped onto the scarred wood surface, my saber clanking at my side.

"Hey!" A reedy voice shouted practically in my ear.

I jumped and Bella smacked a broad fist on the scarred table, making me jump a second time.

"Dang it, Ena!" Bella sputtered. "Don't sneak up on people like that!"

The small, golden skinned fae just grinned, their lovely, tilted eyes squinting with mirth. Ena tugged at one of their pointed ears. "It is my job, you know. Sneaking up on people."

Bella just glowered at Ena as the fae spy climbed onto one of the long benches set on either side of the table.

I felt a cozy glow in my belly. I loved being surrounded by friends, even if they were pains in the butt sometimes.

Castor's dark, handsome face bobbed our way, a smile spreading his cheeks beneath the short curls of his close-cropped beard.

"What's he grinning about?" Ena mused.

"Maybe we've got a job," I replied, craning my neck to look for Mags. Or Jessamine. Or the serving lad. I could really use some barley water and a hunk of cheese. Jessamine's cows and goats made the best cheese ever.

I was sticking with hard cheese from now on, though. After my recent poisoning by a bad batch of soft new cheese, my stomach said never again.

"Is Phi coming?" Ena asked, just as there was a commotion at the front doors.

The buzz of singing and conversation fell for a moment, as a cry of "Phi, you gorgeous creature! Come to spend some gold on us?"

A group of men near the door roared in laughter at their friend's joke. As if the dragon hadn't heard it a hundred times. And as if taunting a creature as large as a big bull wasn't foolish.

Phi just wrinkled her purple snout and spat a small burst of fire from her mouth.

The roaring laughter turned to an actual roar as the man's beard caught fire. He batted at it, yelping as his fingers touched the burning hair. Finally, Jessamine swung over and threw a flagon of beer in the man's face, dousing the fire.

Phi grinned at that, curved lower teeth emerging from her mighty jaws. She shook the triangular wedge of a head on top of her long neck, smoothed down a shimmering scale or two, tucked her wings firmly to her sides, and began to waddle through the crowd.

I had no idea how she was going to make it from the front doors to our table near the back, but people, tables, and chairs parted before her like a sea of tall grass.

"Nice trick," Ena murmured.

As if the fae creature ever needed to part a room that way. Slippery as a river eel, that one. And me? I prefer to scurry along the baseboards, unnoticed, or ride on one of my larger friends. Phi had trouble going anywhere. Too big.

Our calculations dragon spent most of her time in her aerie, or out flying around the mountain. She hunted sometimes, too, though mostly got sheep and other treats from the various farming and dairy Collectives in exchange for keeping track of growth yields on grains, water levels, flock losses and the like.

I don't pretend to understand it all, but if it had to do with counting, Phi was your dragon.

Castor arrived just as Mags and Jessamine showed up with drink and food.

Hooray!

Castor quickly moved a chair from the head of the table to make room for Phi. The dragon fit in the spacious room beneath the timbered, vaulted ceilings, but had learned the hard way that even Jessamine's sturdiest bench or chair would not fit her purple bulk. So she sat on the floor now, which still put her head high above everyone else.

"Here's your barley water, Mouse," Jessamine said, placing a thimble near my paws. "And a hunk of my latest cheese. I flavored this one with rosemary. Let me know if you like it."

"I shall! Thank you!"

I tended to be a cheese purist, but the humans and fae beings swore by Jessamine's use of herbs and spices, so I guess it was my turn to try.

Once everyone had a beverage and some chicken stew or bread and cheese, Castor cleared his throat.

"Okay, team, we need to talk."

"Got a job, boss?" Bella asked from around a mouthful of ham and cheese.

"Yes," Castor replied, looking right at me. "We do."

I froze. Whyever were our leader's eyes on me?

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