20. A Knife in the Mouth

Kinch inspects the Molrovan whaler Suepka Buryey (“Storm Sow”), dreads the filthy voyage, and plans to leave his cat Bully Boy ashore. Galva and Norrigal are out buying supplies and a seasickness charm, respectively.

Back at the inn, Kinch tries to part with Bully Boy. A prickling of magic precedes an attack: a tattooed, nude woman—an Assassin-Adept Kinch recognizes from the Cadoth Guild Hall—erupts from under the bed, disarms him, and pins him with his own knife in his mouth.

She delivers orders: Kinch’s true mission is to get her—codename Sesta—to Oustrim in Galva’s company. Further instructions will follow there. The command comes from the Full Shadow of Holt; success promises reward, failure means death.

Sesta ties her survival to the cat: she has been riding Bully Boy’s senses and can steer him. If Kinch leaves or loses the cat, she dies, and the Guild will execute Kinch. She retrieves a hidden kit by vomiting up a leather pack, dresses, devours the group’s food, extorts coin for more, and departs.

Realizing he cannot abandon Bully Boy and that the Guild watches, Kinch accepts the altered stakes and the necessity of bringing both cat and covert assassin aboard the Storm Sow.