The Blacktongue Thief

Kinch awakens in a guest room lit by a magical wasp that responds to his Galtish commands. He follows the insect into an outdoor grove where gravity is also inverted. There, he sees Galva riding a clockwork horse that Deadlegs created. After Kinch joins her for a quick ride, the horse transforms back into a walking staff, which Deadlegs presents to Galva, warning her that the spell will only last for a total of one hour and should be used sparingly.

At a feast, Deadlegs introduces the Galtish girl as her great-niece, Norrigal: a witch-in-training who will now accompany them on their quest. Deadlegs then instructs Kinch to sacrifice a rabbit to the wolf god of war, Solgrannon. After he obeys, the rabbit’s corpse transforms into the gray wolf from the throne hall.

Deadlegs uses the rabbit’s blood to mark Kinch, Norrigal, and herself in a brief ritual. Before they depart, she warns Kinch that the Magickers Guild is secretly controlled by the Takers Guild and states that if his mission conflicts with her interests, she will oppose him.

After leaving the Snowless Wood, the group travels the Salmon Road. While scouting, Kinch discovers the bodies of three murdered charcoal makers. They find enormous footprints and conclude that the killer is Hornhead, the notorious mixling outlaw of which they were warned. They decide to hunt him for the reward.

The party follows the gang’s tracks, which eventually disappear due to a magical concealment. Norrigal uses a small, carved object called a false nose to follow the lingering magical scent. They make camp, but Norrigal’s enchanted heating acorn malfunctions and sets Kinch’s blanket on fire.

After moving camp, Norrigal casts a listening spell and learns that they are being surrounded. A woman suddenly emerges from the woods and feigns friendliness. Norrigal’s spell confirms that the woman is lying and that hidden attackers are closing in.

Mentally dubbing the woman “Deerpants,” Kinch fires an arrow at her, but she evades it with supernatural speed just as the outlaw Hornhead and his brigands ambush them. Galva engages Hornhead, but her sword strikes are deflected by a protective tattoo.

Norrigal’s staff moves on its own to intercept an axe aimed at her. A giant war corvid emerges from the tattoo on Galva’s chest and attacks the other brigands. Hornhead kicks Kinch away. After a brief grapple with Deerpants, Kinch reads the Galtish inscription on Hornhead’s tattoo, which translates to the phrase, “True Hand Turns” (119). Kinch yells for Galva to use her other hand. She switches her sword to her left hand and lands a mortal blow on Hornhead. Kinch moves in and cuts the outlaw leader’s throat, but allows Deerpants to flee. Because Norrigal was still under the influence of her listening spell, the noise of the battle has incapacitated her. Kinch suddenly realizes that Galva’s mysteriously appearing corvid is a “sleeper” tattoo: an entity that Galva can bring to life or return to hiding within her body at will.

Kinch revives Norrigal, who magically tends to a stab wound that he received. Nearby, Galva delivers a mercy killing to a wounded brigand. Kinch finds two other dead bandits, who were killed by an unknown third party before the fight. He loots Hornhead’s pouch and takes the coin. Meanwhile, Galva feeds her war corvid, who is named Dalgatha after the Ispanthian goddess of death, and woman and bird share an affectionate moment.

Kinch prepares to decapitate Hornhead in order to collect the reward, but Galva objects to the practice. While they argue, Norrigal pragmatically takes Kinch’s knife and severs the head herself, after which the group continues its journey. In a small hamlet, Kinch’s cat from Cadoth, Bully Boy, mysteriously reappears. Kinch puts the feline in his pack.

The group arrives at the city of Pigdenay, where Kinch spent three years studying at the Takers Guild’s Low School. He recalls surviving a deadly test in which he was lucky enough to feed poisoned beer to a dog, inadvertently saving himself from the murderous efforts of an Assassin-Adept-in-training.

Norrigal takes Hornhead’s head to the duke’s men to claim the bounty, but they refuse to pay, so she sells the curiosity to a traveling carnival instead. With the money, the group heads to the harbor to find a ship that will take them west toward Oustrim.

In a waterfront tavern, Kinch secures passage on a Molrovan whaler, the Suepka Burney, which is commanded by Captain Yeyar Boltch. Needing more money, Kinch goes to Marspur Commons, where a public hanging provides a large crowd for pickpocketing.

At the gallows, he recognizes one of the condemned as Deerpants. She spots him in the crowd, and they share a wordless moment of recognition just before she is executed. Feeling compelled to make a tribute to her, Kinch steals a valuable gold boot-anklet from a wealthy woman. Before leaving, he exacts a petty revenge on the cruel duke overseeing the hanging and uses a cantrip to make the man’s wife sneeze on him. He slips away amidst the distraction.

In the inn just before the sea voyage, Kinch prepares to abandon Bully Boy, knowing that the cat would not fare well at sea. However, he hesitates when the cat behaves strangely and exudes a sense of powerful magic. Rejecting a proffered treat, the cat retreats beneath the bed and begins coughing. Soon, a nude, tattooed woman emerges from beneath the bed. She swiftly disarms Kinch, pins him, and places his own knife point in his mouth.

The woman introduces herself as Sesta, a Takers Guild Assassin-Adept from Cadoth. She informs Kinch that his true mission is to escort her safely to Oustrim. She reveals she has been magically inhabiting Bully Boy, using the cat’s senses to travel with him undetected. (She explains that she can see through the cat’s eyes even though the cat is blind.) Before leaving, she warns Kinch that if she dies, the Guild will immediately know and will kill him. She then dresses, eats the group’s food, and takes their money.

Kinch and his companions board the Suepka Burney, where the first mate, Korkala, warns them to stay below deck. Captain Boltch asks Kinch where he is from, and Kinch names his hometown, Platha Glurris. Hearing this, a Galtish crewman reacts ominously. Kinch recognizes the man as Malk Na Brannyck, an enemy from his past. Kinch knows that Malk, a veteran of the Goblin Wars, harbors a deep hatred for him, and he realizes that the voyage has just become far more dangerous.

A flashback reveals that a 14-year-old Kinch was recruited into the Takers Guild by an agent, thereby avoiding being conscripted into the army during the Daughters’ War against the goblins. His stepbrother, Pettrec, was maimed for theft and later died in that same war.

Kinch’s desertion had severe consequences for the local musterman, Coel Na Brannyck—Malk’s father—who was forced to pay a heavy fine for Kinch’s decision to shirk the draft. Coel later died in a goblin battle that Malk witnessed, and Malk’s hatred for Kinch was cemented in that moment.

In the present, Malk confronts Kinch and warns him in Galtish to watch himself. Kinch replies with a wry Galtish proverb about having a blind cat’s luck.

During the voyage, rough seas make Kinch and Norrigal seasick. Norrigal attempts an anti-sickness spell, but it fails. In a quiet moment, they discuss their personal gods, and Norrigal reveals her devotion to the moon goddess, Cael Ilenna.

On the fifth day, the crew spots a rare red whale. The first mate, Korkala, orders Kinch and Galva to join the hunt. When they refuse, she coerces them by threatening to kill Bully Boy and to confiscate Galva’s wine, citing the absolute authority of ship’s law. Reluctantly, they both join a hunting boat.

Kinch and Galva are assigned to an oar-boat under Malk Na Brannyck’s command. As they row, Malk taunts Kinch for dodging his military service, causing Galva to give Kinch a sharp look. A mage aboard the Suepka Burney casts a drowsing spell on the red whale, allowing the boat to get close.

Malk throws the first harpoon, striking the whale. The wounded animal erupts in a violent fury, smashing the second oar-boat and killing a harpooner. After its rampage, the whale finally succumbs to its wounds, and Kinch reflects, “I’m not sure the best man won” (163).

As the crew tows the whale carcass back toward the ship, a juvenile kraken seizes the body, and Malk rashly leads an attack. The kraken retaliates by smashing the oar-boat and killing several crew members. Kinch is pinned underwater but manages to stab one of its tentacles.

The Suepka Burney fires ballistas and a flaming pot, which enrages the kraken. The creature climbs aboard, rampages across the deck, grabs a sailor, and retreats into the sea. In the chaos, Galva sees Kinch covered in another man’s blood and falsely accuses him of hiding. Ignoring the danger, Malk orders the survivors to retrieve the whale carcass.