Please read In Recent Years: Introduction before reading this post.
Year 1478
Caravaneer Vaenuth is a fierce woman, biting in her ambitions and her appearance. A foreigner to the lands of Numa’nakres, Vae has proven herself among her peers. Nonetheless, she draws looks for her differing skin colour, her enveloping tattoos, her bold hair style and the weapons she bears. Her exterior is sharp to protect her from her past—a child slave sold to a brothel in Bellasa, on the Great Isle. On her back, she bears the brandmark of a slave—as well as a lionhead brand she gave herself in reclamation.
At the estate of Master Kivrad, in Rainrest, Vaenuth accepts a contract to bring her caravan into the Expanse—the inhospitable desert to the north—to a village on the Logren Rivers. Though normally Vaenuth trades with the Slithers, a race of serpent-people that roam the Expanse, she agrees to the contract as Master Kivrad offers her a favour of his contacts in Trader’s Bay or in the capital, Rema.
Vae’s closest friends, Banno, Tagg, and Pressip, are joined by the magician Hulean; the caravan soon sets off—Vae riding her trusty steed Belmyre—for the pass through the Yurna Mountains near Nokire. There, Vae barters with a tradeswoman, Iloli, for supplies to survive their journey. As they enter the Expanse, they encounter a friendly Slither tribe and trade with them; as the Slithers are incapable of conventional speech, a trade language consisting of simple symbols is used.
Deeper in the Expanse, the caravan is hunted by a feral group of Slithers and several of Vae’s employees are lost. Nonetheless, they reach the village of Logren. They treat with Mae, one of the village’s defenders and leaders; Mae refuses all their attempts to trade for the white lead that Master Kivrad seeks. Desperate for the favour that Master Kivrad promised, Vaenuth uses an upcoming festival as distraction and attempts to steal the white lead from the storehouse by the smithy. A fight ensues when Mae catches them, but Banno and Vae kill him and the smith.
Barely escaping from the walled village, Vae and a fraction of her caravan reconvene, counting those they lost—Hulean, their magician, among those that did not leave the festival. With Banno’s disapproval, Vae and her friends trek back toward the Nokire Pass. In the trade town, Vae is invited by Iloli to share some drinks. To the jokes of her friends, Vae and Iloli retire to the latter’s rooms for the night.
Shirtless and sweating, Vae and her comrades march through the jungles of Numa’nakres and reach Rainrest once more. Kivrad delivers his bargain and Vae asks for someone in Rema that can grant her any sort of information for which she asks—though she will not share with Master Kivrad what information she seeks. They are rejoined by Hulean, who must prove his loyalty after surviving the ruthless aftermath of Vaenuth’s attack on the Logren village; the magician explains that he seeks to study Slithers, which is why he joined the caravan.
To reach Rema, Vae and her friends must travel the Imperial Highway once more. They trade with a Slither tribe on the edge of the Expanse and then arrive in Nokire, where Vae reunites with Iloli once more. That night, the town suffers a fire that claims several buildings and leaves Iloli scarred from burns. The wounded woman accompanies Vae to Rema.
Vae passes through the Third Court, but is quickly advanced to speak with Ovoe the Keeper, the personal master of information for the god-like Emperor of Numa’nakres. Ovoe agrees to help Vae if she will return and speak with him when her personal matters are concluded. Of Ovoe, Vaenuth asks for the name of her enslaver—and how she can find him, even after all these years. The Keeper admits he does not know the name of her particular enslaver, but gives her the name of Gharo of Sheld, a criminal lord who would keep record of all smugglers and slavers in the region where Vaenuth had been branded.
Vae forms a plan with her friends. Banno, her right-hand, will maintain leadership of the caravan. Hulean will assist him for a few weeks and then will teleport to Sheld; with Journeying magic he should arrive close to when Vaenuth does. Tagg, Pressip, and a few trusted warriors set sail with Vae. As they leave, Vae admits her true plan is not only to kill her slaver… but to kill his whole family too. Tagg admits he has no qualms with this line of work.
As they sail down the River Ake’ma and out across Trader’s Bay, Tagg trains Vae more tricks and techniques to perfect her skill. As they leave Numa’nakres, a masterwork sword is delivered to Vae’s possession, ‘from a friend.’ Vae wonders if it was sent by Ovoe.
The voyage brings up sour memories for Vaenuth, who remembers sleeping with each captain who took her from city-to-city on her flight out of slavery. At that time, her only wealth was her physicality—but this time, she is so much more. In Varravar, however, the ilk of such dark men stirs up trouble once more. Vaenuth gets into a tavern brawl against some misbehaved patrons; despite all the training, circumstances cause an opening and Tagg is stabbed severely in his shoulder.
Their hopes that Tagg will heal are slowly subverted and Vae is forced to have their ship put in to Soros on the isle of Var Nordos for a healer. There, the guards ensure Vae dresses appropriately to the culture she has now entered, but they are able to find a healer.
Year 1479
As she set sail for Sheld once more, Vae longs to return to the sandy waste of the Expanse, free from all this humanity. Tagg regains his strength, and Vae continues training with Pressip. When they reach Sheld at last, they find Hulean awaiting their arrival. The magician explains that Gharo is no longer in charge of the crime family here; he has been replaced by his son, Lerran. Lerran, it turns out, is not even in Sheld anymore. During her stay in Sheld, Vae finds intimate rapport with a tavern regular, a man named Novon.
The team sets out along the Barren Road, and encounter Lerran on his return toward Sheld. He agrees to give Vae the information about her enslaver if it does lie within his family’s archives, but only if she completes a job for him—assassinating the owner of a Lo Mallago gold mine.
Vae agrees to it begrudgingly; despite the bloodthirsty goal she pursues, she has no wish to injure innocents. Nonetheless, her party reaches Lo Mallago and arrange a hit on the owner of the gold mine, Master Jorath. The plan goes sideways and they are forced to flee; Hulean remains behind, claiming he will succeed where they failed, in the chaos.
Hulean does not return, but Master Jorath’s son tracks Vae into the dead lands around Lo Mallago. She is forced to kill him too, and then heads back to Sheld. Lerran delivers on his deal and tells Vae that the man she wants dead is Ra’las of Bellasa, now known as Ra’las of Starath.
The voyage to Starath feels quick compared to how far they have come. Vae has never seen a place like Starath, though she has muted memories of its harbour. The entire city is like the forge of a smithy. Metal runs in the superhot sewers. They quickly learn the whereabouts of Ra’las’ estate and infiltrate it through a drinking-water cistern.
A few injuries are sustained as they clash with the guards in the heart of the estate. Confronting Ra’las’ son, who comes to his family’s defense, Vae is knocked from the foyer balcony. A spear lands in her elbow, embedding her to the floor, but so too killing her adversary. Dripping blood but driven by vengeance, Vae finds Ra’las and his wife cowering in their quarters. She recognizes the man who put her childhood through torture. Vae kills the wife first, then maims the hand that Ra’las used to once brand her, then kills him slowly with her sword.
They leave the estate in blood-soaked shambles—Pressip dead, Tagg and the others battered, Vae cradling her half-severed, speared arm. She lifts her head high and faces a brighter future.