Emriana had not blamed her for wanting to stalk right up to the gates of House Matrell, just the two of them, and demand to be let in, but she knew better than to trust that the guards would make way for them to enter the dwelling. Grozier and Marga had turned them out, and it had seemed to be all on the level. So Tharlgarl Darowdryn and twenty of his best House guards approached the front gates of the Matrell estate with Xaphira and Emriana, and though she was ready to mete out some serious revenge all on her own, Emriana realized she was thankful for the support. Xaphira wore her red mercenary outfit, while Emriana had donned her more comfortable and practical black shirt and trousers. “The better for skulking,” she had said. She had told Xaphira to keep Hetta’s ring, for though she immensely loved her grandmother’s presence inside her head, she thought it only fair that Xaphira have an opportunity to share time, too. They arrived on horseback, for Steelfists had insisted on wearing his elaborate armor to the fray, and there was no way in the Nine Hells, he had said, that he could walk to the end of his property in it without passing out from exhaustion.
