The man coming down the ridge took a crooked path through the weeds until Felicity realized he was following the buried steps. Whoever these people were, at least one of them could read a ruined town well enough to find the stairs. The other four waited until he reached a landing, then came down together. She left the cubs with Sarge and Casper and went to meet the strangers where they could talk across a low stone wall without anybody getting a knife in the ribs by accident.
"If you were about to tell me to stay here," she said to Victor, "then you'll be pleased to learn this is exactly where I planned to stay." He smiled without taking his eyes off the steps and gave her a hand over a lump in the broken paving. He'd given her room to ask the questions. She squeezed his hand before she let it go.
