He has heard of Verse. "Uh, what do you what to know?"

"Everything.  Who you are, who your gang is, what it was doing here, who you were working with - oh, and what is Nerat saying about how he couldn't keep his mouth shut at the diplomatic conference?"

"The Conductor said that Graven Ashe broke a blue flag truce and attacked him, which I guess could be a lie but everyone knows he fucking hates the big boss and has been waiting for an opportunity for years. I think Boss Ash Heart said Bitter Quip confirmed it. I'm Tiny Spear, this is - was - the Ash Breeze gang. Boss said you were siding with the traitors and looking for something out here."

"Mmm.  Nerat's not wrong that Ashe succeeded in attacking first, but that's only true because he was too busy trying to bolt the stable after the horse fled.  Because what drove Graven Ashe to attack was Nerat losing control of his face to one of his victims - a citizen of the Empire, over whom Nerat had absolutely no right to do what he did.  ...He was screaming.  Even when he could barely speak."

She stops staring into the middle distance, and shakes her head briskly to get herself back on track.

"I declared Nerat an outlaw upon my own recognizance, at that point - and Tunon himself concurs that my judgement was well-reasoned, in a letter dated before that judgement was issued.  Which means you can be quite sure he wasn't just backing my decision after the fact.

"...Not that I expect you to believe me.  But Bitter Quip was there, and isn't a puppet of Nerat like Fifth Eye is.  ...At least, last I saw of him he wasn't.  Who knows if Nerat did something.  ...You should ask him, once you've returned to camp.  Well.  If you choose to do so.  I'm not Nerat, after all.  I actually ask nicely."

"Wouldn't be the first one the Voices took for crossing Kyros," he says coolly, "just the first time one of Tunon's people tried to rule against him. Good luck, you'll need it."

"'Course, so will I."

"I've survived worse."

There's that stare again.  An indelible impression of the earth itself rising up against you as you fight back anyway, with impotent weapons and improvised tools, because there are people behind you you've sworn to protect, comes with it.

"Compared to Cairn...

"Nerat is devious, but somehow easily led, and hardly as hard to hurt as the erstwhile Archon of Stone.  There's a part of me that wants to see him try.

"Not enough to call him out, mind.  But I made the Archon even Kyros' Edict couldn't truly break, scream, with the work of my hands, my mind, and my people, and Nerat...

"Nerat is already broken."

She turns on her heel, not wishing to let her lecturing pace take her out of eyesight or earshot.  And speaking of lecturing, there's a fundamental misunderstanding afoot here.

"Nor, for that matter, is he authorized to pass sentence upon another Archon's forces, under any circumstance.  Justice is Tunon's, and Tunon's alone.  Might Kyros have sentenced someone to death by Nerat?  It is possible - but that would have had Tunon sending me a very different letter than the one I received.

"Nerat sought out and cannibalized a loyal servant of Kyros, simply to hurt another.  That is duly adjudicated fact, attested by the Empire's Law embodied, and by my own witness."

"I'm not even going to start talking about the ways in which his so-called laws reach beyond what Kyros affords him.  I'd be here until the stragglers caught up.

"But why do you need fate to smile upon you?  You already survived, where others fell.  You even have intelligence.  Is the Archon of Secrets truly so blind, that he would strike you down for meeting an enemy and surviving?

"...Or perhaps so terrified."  It would make sense.  "The perils of neglecting to cultivate loyalty amongst one's allies and subordinates..."

She shakes her head.  "I daresay half his forces are wondering if they can run for it, given the present news.

"Even in the distorted form it has reached them."

She sighs.

"My battle-cry was a real offer.  Can you read?"

"I need good luck because I'm going to be walking alone through woods with two hostile armies. Unless I trust you to be able to protect me, which I don't. No matter what you almost did, you're not an Archon and I'm not an idiot." Also he doesn't really know where he's going, only the boss knew where any of the other gangs were planning to fort up.

Verse makes an amused snort. Dude has some backbone.

She allows a small twitch of her own lips.  "I suppose I can hardly fault you for that.

"But I asked whether you could read because I have a copy of some documents that should be made available to the Scarlet Chorus, as they are subject to it."

"I can read a little."

Then she can show him this document, as finalized, with companion directives, and hope she doesn't have to explain too much of it for him to believe.

That is way more than he is possibly going to read. He gets through the second line before giving up as not worth bothering. (This is obvious because he's moving his finger across the page word by word.)

"What's your point?"

"I don't have a problem with the Chorus.  I have a problem with Nerat, and Nerat alone.  Perhaps some of his inner circle, if any of them aren't Eyes - but Graven Ashe, the Vendrien Guard, and myself as the Court's representative, we all agreed on giving people like you, the warm bodies Nerat throws at his enemies, a chance to switch sides or quit."

"Ah. That sounds like a nice idea which will get anyone who mentions it dead or worse." Carrying a scroll that says that into camp, naturally, would get the 'or worse'.

"Hm."

That may well pose a problem.

"That's going to be rather frustrating to work around."

"Though I doubt anyone can punish rumor."

"On the larger scale, cracking down on a rumor is the surest way to make it spread like wildfire.  Not that that fact helps any given individual."

She sighs.  "Yet another dangerous excursion to put on my to-do list, it seems."

"Well, enjoy your death wish. Can I go?"

"It's hardly a death wish if it hasn't killed me yet."

She exhales, sharply.

"Unless you've seen any unexpected tracks around here, yes, go."

He almost blurts out an answer, but stops to think. "I think there were some old tracks headed northwest crossing the road a little north from here, like a fist or more old. Dunno if it was some of ours, or Oathbreakers. Boss didn't want to follow them. Maybe it's what you're looking for." He shrugs, and starts to leave.

"Thank you.

"...Good luck."

Well.  She hopes it's the Earthshakers.

"Hey, loudmouth. You manage to get back to a decent gang alive, you can tell a Fury Verse thinks you're probably worth training."

"Your confidence and compliment are much appreciated, my lady traitor," he says with a mocking bow, then struts off... quickly.

When they're sure he's out of earshot, the Crescent Runners gather.

"So, tracks headed northwest. Either the Earthshakers came down from the hills but were forced on the run, someone else was looking for them, or it's unrelated," Colus says.

"I wouldn't lay odds on it being unrelated," says Phorbas, "But even if it is, multiple groups moving around would run into each other."

"Question is," says Antenor, "are they moving around, or holed up somewhere? Forting up isn't a great idea, but if they're moving, we'd be likely to have heard about their movements. If not from our own, from the Chorus before they turned traitor."

"Mmmh. Earthshakers would fort up somewhere rocky, not in forest. Fatebinder, you're in command; we follow these tracks, or head upland and try to find somewhere they're waiting?"

"...why did I not talk to the Earthshakers at camp before we left," she mutters, before pitching her voice loud enough that it's intended to be heard.

"I think we need to investigate those tracks, at least enough to be sure that they are not who we're looking for - but I have no idea if it's going to lead us to the missing Earthshakers.  Let's - see if the map has rocks on it somewhere along that line."