Arthur Daigle's Blog - Posts Tagged "bridge"

This is part one of the Border Crossing Story:

“Explain why I’m not allowed to use my own sword,” Dana Illwind said. She raised her right arm, wrapped in a thick layer of cotton, and added, “And this is extra ridiculous.”

“Both measures are for good reasons,” Jayden promised as he wrapped cotton around her other arm and tied it in place. He stepped back to study his work. “There now, nice and snug, and unlikely to injure yourself.”

“I’ve done some impressive stuff in the last few months, and you’ve got me wrapped up like a mummy.”

“Mummy wrappings are thinner, dirtier, smellier and frequently contain noxious parasites,” Jayden replied.

“Missing the point entirely!”

The morning had started well before degenerating into Jayden playing a demented game of dress up with Dana. Dana’s brand new sword was finished, a horn from the goat head of a chimera, forged into a weapon by a renegade dwarf, infused with a magic metal called uram, enchanted with magic by both the dwarf and the world’s only living sorcerer lord, it was a sight to behold. Dana had little experience with weapons, few peasants did, but the short sword was a thing of beauty. In the few minutes she’d been allowed to see it, she marveled at the black blade edged with silver, serrated ridges going down one side, runes cast into the base of the blade and hardwood hilt stained black.

The weapon was impressive, and Jayden wasn’t letting her touch it. She’d jumped at his offer to train her, only for Jayden to wrap her arms and legs in cotton. Then he handed her a wooden sword, more like a branch with aspirations.

“This is for your protection,” Jayden told her. The sorcerer lord was a handsome man even if a bit disheveled with his long blond hair a perpetual mess. He wore black and silver clothes and carried no weapons. Traveling unarmed was normally an invitation to being robbed, but few were stupid enough to challenge a spell caster, especially one with a list of accomplishments like Jayden’s.

“How?” Dana demanded. Dana was fifteen, sixteen next month, with brown hair, brown eyes and an athletic build. Her clothes were simple peasant wear including a skirt, blouse, leggings and fur hat, all of it durable and cheap, and a knife tucked into a sheath.

Jayden took both her hands and placed them on the wood sword. “Training with weapons is no different than learning any skill. It takes countless hours of practice and you will make mistakes. The difference is how much those mistakes cost you. Accidentally hitting your leg with a wood sword will leave a bruise. Do the same thing with a real sword and you suffer a crippling injury. Do it with a magic sword and you no longer have a leg.”

Dana hesitated. “Oh.”

“Training with a wood sword gets the mistakes out of the way early on without injury or death, and we’re doing it with padding on your arms and legs to make those mistakes less painful.”

“How long is this going to take?” she asked.

“Months. There are two kinds of fighters, the competent and the dead, and I wish to keep you out of the latter category. Nor is time an impediment. The king and queen are planning a war, but we’re too late in the year for it to start. You can practice during the winter months and be ready for the conflict in spring.”

“It’s coming that soon?”

“Depressing, I know, but the signs are there. The king and queen have amassed a sizeable army, gathered supplies, and men in their service have tame monsters like the chimera that donated a body part for your sword and the gargoyles we recently defeated. Others doubtlessly have followed this example, and monsters are extraordinarily dangerous.”

Dana looked at her wood sword a bit less disparagingly (just a bit). Jayden was right that war was on the horizon. She’d seen it growing up, when taxes in her hometown to the north were raised again and again with no cause in sight. Then her father the mayor was ordered to send her eldest brother to the capital, a prisoner in all but name to ensure her father’s support. After that the town’s militia was called up for military service. Other towns had suffered likewise, and she’d seen as bad or worse since following Jayden.

She’d joined him in appreciation for saving her town, but also to keep him out of trouble. Jayden’s hatred of the king and queen were legendary, and he struck at them any chance he got. Dana didn’t understand the root of this hate, for even after months traveling together there were still things he didn’t talk about. But she’d come to understand his feelings were well earned. She’d seen too much suffering and too many wrongs originating from the royal couple.

That was what brought them to their current location. They’d made camp in a grassy clearing in the woods. Fall was coming, trees were decked out in reds and oranges, and the morning air had a touch of chill. Pretty as it was, their camp was close to the border city of Edgeland, a likely invasion point for the Kingdom of Kaleoth.

“We’ll start with basic sword fighting techniques,” Jayden told her. “You’ll need to practice them daily before we move on to more advanced fighting styles.”

Trying to sound casual, Dana asked, “Who taught you to fight?”

“A man with considerable talent and valor, if a touch too fond of women and wine.”

“Gee, that’s vague.”

Jayden smiled. “It was meant to be. We’ll do this every morning before breakfast. You’ll find it intolerably dull, but the reward is worth the effort.”

They heard laughing in the distance, and a man call out, “There has got to be a story behind this.”

Dana and Jayden looked over to find a group of men exiting the woods. Dana counted ten of them armed with spears, axes and swords. They had no armor or shields, and their clothes were dirty and ragged.

Jayden stepped away from Dana and moved closer to their baggage and a campfire they’d made last night. Dana tried to follow him since her sword was in those bags, but Jayden held up a hand for her to stop.

“I’m not a storyteller by profession, but I think I can entertain you,” Jayden said. “Once upon a time there was a sorcerer lord known for being short tempered, ill mannered and impatient. Not surprisingly he had few friends, but he had fewer enemies than you’d think. They didn’t survive long. One day the sorcerer lord met armed men in the woods, and they, well, why spoil the ending?”

The men spread out to surround them. One said, “Oh no, do go on.”

“The ending depends solely on you. Over the years I’ve introduced a good many men to the graveyard. Whether you’re added to that number is on your head, not mine.”

One of the men snickered. “You’re a sorcerer lord? There’s but one man foolish enough to walk that road, and word is he’s in Fish Bait City.”

Another man pointed a spear at Jayden. “I think this fellow is borrowing another man’s reputation. Dress up in a silly costume—”

Jayden raised an eyebrow. “Silly?”

“And he figures men will let him pass,” the man finished. He leered at Dana. “And you have things worth taking.”

“Dana, is this your first experience with bandits?” Jayden asked.

“I’ve helped bury a few after sheriffs and soldiers caught them.”

A spearman said, “I prefer to be called a highwayman. It’s got more dignity to it.”

“I call you a thug, a fool, a coward, and rather shortly no one will call you anything,” Jayden replied.

The bandits laughed. The spearman said, “He’s sure keeping this show up longer than it’s worth.”

“Dana, would you mind putting out our campfire?” Jayden asked.

Dana rolled her eyes at Jayden’s attempt to protect her. Admittedly he wouldn’t need help. “Try not to kill them.”

As the bandits formed a wide circle around Jayden, a spearman said, “Whoever kills him gets the girl.”

That stopped Dana in her tracks. She looked at Jayden, who was now snarling mad, and told him, “You know what? Go nuts.”

Jayden cast a short spell, drawing shadows from across the clearing and nearby woods. The shadows whirled together to form an ebony clawed hand as big as a man in front of Jayden. He reached out with his right hand and the shadowy hand mimicked his movements. The bandits’ chuckles died away.

“Oh sh—” one began before the giant hand slapped him, sending him flying through the air. The hand swung back the other way and bowled two bandits off their feet. It grabbed another and hurled him into a pine tree.

“Flank him!” a bandit yelled moments before the giant hand formed a fist and hit him like a battering ram.

There was a time when Dana would have watched the spectacle, but she’d had months to get used to Jayden’s magic and bad temper. Instead she pulled off the cotton on her arms and legs while bandits screamed. She’d gotten the last of it off when a broken spear flew by her head, followed by its owner.

“Sir, ah, clearly there’s been a mistake!” a bandit called out. “We should have taken your introduction more seriously, a failure to show respect, I’ll grant you, but the matter’s now clear to see. Surely we can call off this dispute before—Jenkins, duck!”

Wham! A bandit landed at Dana’s feet, clutching his stomach. Dana tapped his head with her wood sword and said, “Do us both a favor and stay down.”

One of the bandits still standing pointed his sword at Dana. “Take the girl hostage!”

A bandit with an ax charged Dana. He threw his ax aside as he neared her and reached out with both hands in an attempt to grab her by the arms. Dana stood her ground as he came, and at the last second ducked under his grasp and drove her knee between his legs. The man cried out in agony as he fell to the ground. Dana swung her wood sword at him again and again, striking him across the face, arms and shoulders.

“I don’t think he’s a threat anymore,” Jayden called out from across the clearing.

“You’re not the one they were going to give away like a prize!”

“Point made,” he replied. Dana hit the bandit three more times, stopping only when her wood sword snapped in half.

The last two bandits fled for their lives. Jayden reached out with his monstrous hand and grabbed one by the heels. He swung his screaming victim at the last bandit, clubbing him repeatedly until both men were beaten senseless.

“I broke your sword,” Dana said.

“And by the look of it both that man’s collarbones,” Jayden said as he allowed the giant hand to dissipate. “Our foes are still breathing, as requested. I believe we have enough rope to tie them up. My map of the area shows a sheriff’s outpost not far from here where we can leave these fools.”

Dana kicked dirt on their campfire to put it out. “The punishment for banditry is—”

“Exceedingly painful, I know.” Jayden collected the bandit’s weapons and added them to his baggage. “I detest turning them over to the same authorities I seek to overthrow, but the alternatives are letting them go to menace others or killing them myself. Faced with three bad choices, I intend to let the crown do its job for a change.”

It took an hour to bind the bandits and in some cases bandaging their wounds, but they were on their way soon enough. They came across a major road and not long after that a low stone building with a heavy door and attached tollbooth. An old man manning the booth paled at the sight of Jayden. “I only have ten copper pieces and never hurt anyone you like.”

“Looks like he’s heard of you,” Dana said.

“And he possesses the common sense our friends lack,” Jayden added. “Good sir, as your pockets are so woefully empty allow me the chance to fill them. These men made the poor career move of attacking me.”

The old man stared at the captured bandits. “No one is that stupid.”

“We thought he was bluffing!” a bandit protested.

Jayden pulled the bandits along and handed the end of the rope to the old man. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but there’s typically a bounty placed on bandits.”

The old man grabbed a sheet of paper tacked to the wall and tore it off. “They’re wanted men, all right, with a reward of fifty silver pieces, but you’d have to present them in person to get the money. Some folks might take offense at that.”

“No doubt true given my history, which is why you’re taking the credit.” Jayden handed them off and smiled. “There you go, fifty silver pieces worth of vermin, a good addition to your salary.”

“They’ll put us to death!” a bandit cried out.

“They’ll put you to work,” the old man corrected him. “Baron Vrask doesn’t kill men he can use in his granite quarry.” More softly, the old man said to Jayden, “Do yourself a favor and keep a low profile. The city is in a terrible state these days, and there are folks who’d come after the price on your head.”

“I’ll bear that in mind,” Jayden replied. He left with Dana as the old man placed his wounded prisoners in a cell.

The road led through hilly country heavy with farms and ranches, but Dana saw signs of distress. Many houses were in poor repair. A few were clearly abandoned, with missing windows and doors, and some had caved in roofs. People they met on the road were simply dressed and paid no attention to them. That surprised Dana, as Jayden’s garish clothes normally drew looks wherever he went.

“We’re coming up on the city of Edgeland, which has numerous dubious distinctions,” Jayden began. “It’s on the border with the Kingdom of Kaleoth and was once a center of trade before high taxes strangled merchant traffic. The city is on Race Horse River, which should add to its value as a trade hub. Sadly the river flows so fast no boat can travel it without being destroyed.”

“Wonderful,” Dana said.

“There is the city of River Twin on the other side of the river, a pleasant part of Kaleoth that used to benefit from trade. I’m told today it’s nearly as poor as Edgeland and boasts an army contingent to keep the king and queen on their side of the border.”

“The King of Kaleoth knows a war is coming?” she asked.

“King Brent of Kaloeth is a man of great years and keen wit who can see what’s happening as plainly as we can. If the king and queen mean to surprise him, they’ve seriously underestimated the man.”

“How old is he?”

“Old enough he might shatter if he tripped. Nevertheless, he is a formidable foe and has the allegiance of a large ogre clan.” Jayden walked on in silence for a moment before adding, “He is also a man to be pitied, as he outlived his family. He has one grandson still alive, but the youth is untested. I think King Brent is staying alive out of sheer force of will to give the boy time to learn his job.”

They crested a steep hill to find Edgeland before them. It was a large city that could house fifty thousand people. Buildings were made of granite to survive merciless winter storms, and the streets were paved with cobblestone. East of the city was a wide chasm with a single bridge across it, and beyond that was a smaller city. Edgeland had a wall around it, but there were clusters of buildings outside.

“Edgeland got too big for its britches?” Dana asked playfully.

“Most cities do. Wise leaders build walls around their cities, but few leave room for expansion. When cities grow citizens build their homes outside the wall’s protection.”

Worried, she asked, “What happens to them if the city is attacked?”

“They flee inside the walls if they can and are locked outside if they move too slow.” Jayden saw her horrified look. “Grim as that possibility is, those homes are our best choice to find help. Prosperous and respected citizens live inside the city. Poor residents live beyond the city wall and are more likely to help us.”

“Hopefully they can get you new clothes.”

Looking annoyed, he said, “I wasn’t pleased when bandit questioned my taste in fashion.”

Dana waved at the distant city. “You heard the old guy who took those bandits, people here are desperate. Do you want them coming after you the moment we go in?”

Jayden frowned. “Discretion may be warranted.”

A brief tour of the homes and businesses outside Edgeland turned up furriers, cobblers, fishermen, hunters, and a pawnshop where Jayden sold the weapons he’d taken from the bandits. At long last they found a tailor who gave them a skeptical look when they approached his small shop and said, “No credit for strangers. Pay in cash or leave.”

“A charming start to the conversation,” Jayden replied. He took two silver pieces from his pockets and held them up. “I need clothes, simple, warm and functional.”

The tailor took both coins. “I might have something in your size. Let me take your measurements.”

The tailor went through his limited stock until he came up with a gray overcoat, gray shirt and black pants. An hour of stitching shortened the legs and sleeves to fit. Jayden tried on the new clothes and nodded in approval.

“A good fit, and I like the style.”

“For tax reasons I never saw you in my life,” the tailor replied as he slid both coins into hidden pockets in his pants. “Now get out of here before someone sees you.”

“You don’t get much repeat business, do you?” Dana asked.

“As far as the king and queen are concerned I don’t get any business.”

Jayden packed his old clothes into his bags, and he led Dana toward the city gate. “Now then, I believe we’re ready to go on.”

“Hold on,” Dana told him. She put her hands on his shoulders and sat him on a nearby barrel. “Wanted posters show your face. If I change your hair it might help you go unnoticed.”

“Will this take long?”

Dana took a comb from her bags and went to work. Truth be told, she’d wanted to do something about Jayden’s messy hair since the day they’d met. In minutes she had it combed and tied into a ponytail she tucked into the collar of the overcoat.

Jayden stood up and asked, “How do I look?”

“Like the kind of man my mother warned me about. Let’s go.”

With Jayden disguised they headed for the city’s main gate. They found the gates open and heavily guarded by men wearing the blue and gray of royal soldiers. The soldiers collected a minor toll without inspecting carts and bags brought into the city.

Once they were inside Edgeland, Jayden led her through the streets. “Our first priority is to study the bridge.”

Dana took a deep breath and exhaled. “You know, this is the first city you’ve brought me to that didn’t smell like a dung heap.”

“You can thank Race Horse River. Residents of Edgeland throw their garbage into the river and let it carry their filth away.”

Dana grimaced. “That’s disgusting, and could poison the water and kill off the fish.”

“That’s not a concern.” Jayden brought her to a stone railing running along the river and pointed down. Dana leaned over the railing and gasped.

Race Horse River lived up to its name. The river flowed so fast a galloping horse would have trouble keeping up with it. It was wide, too, at least eighty feet across and who knows how deep. Countless years of fast moving water had cut deep into the bedrock until the water’s surface was fifteen feet below street level.

“Race Horse River moves too fast to host fish,” Jayden explained. “Dana, look at the bridge and tell me what you see.”

Dana looked to her left and saw an engineering marvel. “It’s about a hundred feet long and twenty feet wide. I see eight columns holding it up. I think it’s made of granite.”

“Go on.”

“Guards are stationed on both sides of the bridge. Men on this side wear blue and gray, so they’re soldiers and not militia. Men on the other side wear green and gray. Who are they?”

“Kaleoth frontier soldiers,” Jayden replied. “They’re very good.”

“Two of them have staffs, so I’d pretty sure they’re wizards.” Dana kept staring at the bridge. “Jayden, no one’s crossing the bridge.”

“No, and that’s curious. I’d heard cross border trade was down, but there are no wagons, pack mules or pedestrians crossing. The guards don’t make sense, either. This is part of Baron Vrask’s territory. His men should be guarding the bridge, and they wear white and black.”

Dana looked at him and asked, “If this is Baron Vrask’s territory, why are royal soldiers guarding the city gate?”

“Another good question. This is going to be hard. I’d heard dwarfs built the bridge back when they did quality work, and it doesn’t disappoint. So many soldiers won’t help. I need time to plan my attack. That means we need a place to stay. I’ve never visited the city before, but I’m told there’s a credibly good hotel by the river.”

They walked along the river, passing a few pedestrians and one man on horseback. They found the hotel in minutes, except the building was boarded up and its sign lay on the ground.

Dana walked up to the nearest man and asked, “What happened here?”

The man spit on the street. “A law came out that hotels have to report their guests’ comings and goings to the throne. No one stayed here for months until the owner closed shop and left.”

“That leaves us in a bit of a situation,” Jayden said.

“You’re fine.” The man pointed at a nearby signpost covered in hanging wood placards. “Those are advertisements for people renting rooms. Technically they’re ‘inviting’ guests to stay out of the kindness of their hearts, no charge, so the law doesn’t apply. Of course honest God fearing folks like you might feel inclined to lend a hand with the bills, or ‘accidentally’ leave a few coins. Get the picture?”

“You paint it with such vivid colors,” Jayden said.

The man laughed and walked away. Jayden and Dana went to the signpost and studied the placards. They were small, homemade and covered in spelling errors. Each one offered one or more rooms, with cheerful descriptions of where to find them and the amenities they offered.

“Many to choose from,” Jayden said as he picked over the placards.

Dana handed him a placard. “Let’s take this one. It’s got two rooms, warm beds, a bathroom and they allow pets. Plus it’s a lady’s house.”

Jayden took the placard from her. “How can you tell?”

“The handwriting is nice, and guys don’t mention ‘super keen’ views. She even printed directions to her house.”

“It’s as good a choice as any,” he said as they walked through Edgeland. Dana was surprised how sparsely populated the city was. In ten minutes they saw only twenty people. Maybe residents were out gathering the harvest or working in mines and quarries.

Dana turned a corner near their destination and ran straight into two spearmen dressed in white and black uniforms. She cried out in surprise and backed up, quickly bowing and saying, “Sorry, sir.”

“Sir, eh?” the spearman asked. “You hear that, Nate? She called me sir.”

“Bill, don’t,” the other spearman said.

Jayden’s muscles tensed and his eyes narrowed. Dana put a hand on his arm before he could take action.

“No, I’m going to say it!” the first spearman shouted. “I’ve served ten years, fought bandits, monsters, animated skeletons, and after all that the king’s soldiers call me boy. I’m good in a fight, I know these streets like the back of my hand, I’ve upheld the law, and I get treated like a punk.”

The second spearman looked away in embarrassment. “Bill.”

“A girl, a stranger I’ve never met before, calls me sir, showing me a little bit of ulmixin respect that I can’t get from our own army! This is why people quit, Nate! This is why good men walk off the job!”

The first spearman stomped off. The second one looked down and said, “I’m sorry about that. He’s a good man, it’s just he’s been pushed too far.”

Once the second spearman ran after his friend, Dana said, “Wow.”

“Not surprising,” Jayden told her. “We’ve seen loyal men treated poorly before. Let’s get off the street before we draw any more attention.”

“What does ulmixin mean?”

Jayden reached the house described on the placard and knocked on the door. “It’s a gnomish word I’d prefer not to translate. Theirs is a language rich in obscenities.”

“Coming!” a muffled voice called from inside the house. The door opened and a young woman in a plain dress came to greet them. She looked like she was in her early twenties, with brown eyes and short brown hair, pretty in a simple sort of way. She smiled, took one look at Jayden, and froze. For a second Dana worried the woman recognized Jayden from his many wanted posters and was terrified of him. Then Dana saw the woman blush and look down. This wasn’t terror.

Dana stepped in and shook the woman’s hand. “Hi! I understand you’re renting rooms. My uncle and I need a place to stay tonight.”

“Perhaps longer,” Jayden added.

“Uh,” the woman managed. Jayden had this effect on women. Even Dana had been at a loss for words the first time she’d met him. Still, most women shook it off faster than this. “Rooms. Ah, yes, I, uh, have two rooms, ah, not technically for rent.”

“A passerby was kind enough to explain the loophole in the law,” Jayden told her. He took a gold coin from his baggage and pressed it into her left hand. “He was vague on how large a donation to make. Is this sufficient?”

“Money?” the woman asked. It looked like she was still dazed. “You’re not offering barter? I mean I’ll take money. I need money! It’s just other borders paid in flour, or eggs, or turnips. I hate turnips.”

Jayden smiled at her, making her blush again. “We’re out of turnips at the moment, so hard currency will have to do.”

“Yes, currency, money, good. That’s enough to cover a month’s stay,” she said as she led them inside. The house included plain furniture and white pillows. In stark contrast to this simplicity were the paintings hanging on the walls. Most were landscapes, including gorgeous pictures of Race Horse River, but there were also portraits of children and their pets. The house had three bedrooms with the doors open to show clean if simple furnishings.

Dana followed the woman to the rented rooms. “So, what’s your name?”

“Ah, my name’s Maya. Um, what’s yours?”

“I’m Dana Illwind.”

Maya looked puzzled. “And your uncle, who’s not following me?”

Jayden hadn’t gotten far past the door. Instead he’d put down his bags and was studying the paintings. “Uncle craves his privacy. I trust that won’t be a problem.”

“No. No, no, no, not for paying customers it’s not,” Maya said.

“I see an easel in the corner and canvas not stretched over a frame yet, so this must be your work,” Jayden said. “You have considerable skill as a painter. Clearly the lady has an eye for beauty in addition to beautiful eyes.”

Maya looked so shocked she could’ve been knocked over with a feather. Dana just rolled her eyes. She wondered if Jayden was doing this on purpose or if he didn’t even notice the effect he was having on the poor woman.

“I, um,” Maya stammered before words flooded out of her. “Dinner is at sunset, I lock the door an hour later, please don’t make too much noise after dark so the neighbors don’t complain because I need them to like me.”

“How many sentences was that?” Jayden asked playfully.

Dana got between Jayden and Maya. “We’ll be the best behaved guests you’ve had. Isn’t that right, uncle?”

Jayden picked up his bags and headed for his room. “You may count on our discretion. Come along, niece, let’s store our belongings and let the young lady go on to more important tasks.”

Dana followed Jayden to two bedrooms in the back of the house and went into the same room as Jayden. She closed the door behind them and said, “Don’t tease the landlady.”

“I complimented her, nothing more.” Jayden set down his bags and looked out a window facing the river. “Nor did I lie. As long as we’re admonishing one another, stop mentioning your name. We’re not in a small town, nor are we among friends like in Pearl Harbor. Our hostess could say things about us to the authorities. Should the king and queen learn your identity, they could go after your family.”

Dana froze. “I didn’t think of that.”

Jayden checked the window. “We can go out at night through the window without Maya noticing if we must. My hope is we can study the bridge at leisure over the next few days and look for weaknesses. I didn’t see any earlier, which worries me. Bringing it down is going to be difficult.”

“You seem really sure there’s going to be an invasion across that bridge.”

Jayden took a map out of his bags and unrolled it on the bed. “This shows the border with Kaleoth. The ground is hilly to mountainous, with only a few crossings easily blocked by Kaleoth frontier soldiers. Edgeland’s bridge over the Race Horse River is the only way to bring in large numbers of troops.”

“What’s in Kaleoth worth taking?”

“It has good pastures and a few mines, although no precious metals.” Jayden pointed at the map and said, “It’s not a large prize, but could be easily taken by a clever enemy. The capital city is only three day’s march from the border. Seizing that could be enough to end the war if they take the king and his sole heir prisoner.”

Dana pointed at a kingdom to the south. “Your sort of friend Reginald Lootmore thinks the king and queen are going to invade his home of Zentrix. You think he’s wrong?”

Jayden frowned. “Worse than that, I think he’s right. Kaleoth is a small prize. The king and queen couldn’t divide so little land among their nobles. So many ambitious men would demand a greater reward for their loyalty than Kaloeth could provide. The only way to satisfy them would be to conquer more land, and Zentrix is the next logical target. If that’s not enough, the Kingdom of Brandish will be the third and last to be invaded.”

“You think they’re going to take over three kingdoms?” Dana didn’t try to hide her surprise.

“All three have small populations, few soldiers, no strong allies and not enough money to support long campaigns.” Jayden rolled up his map and put it away. “It wouldn’t be easy to beat them, but it’s possible. Destroying that bridge may be enough to save Kaleoth from destruction.”

“That would force the king and queen to move to their backup targets,” Dana replied. “You’re saving one kingdom and dooming the other two.”

“I know.” Jayden stared out the window for a moment. “Dana, I’ve been grasping at straws since I vowed to defeat the king and queen. My blows against them have been annoyances at best. Defeating the wizard Green Peril, killing the chimera, stealing some armor and saving those girls from slavery, they were pinpricks.”

He turned to her and said, “This is my biggest strike against them, and even that leaves lives in peril. I can’t save everyone. My only hope is if I hit them hard and often I can weaken them until the armies of Zentrix and Brandish can fight the king and queen to a stalemate. That’s a brutal, bloody outcome that can’t possibly be called a victory, but it’s the only chance we have.”

There was a soft knock at the door. “Dinner’s almost ready.”

“We’ll continue this conversation another time,” Jayden said.

Maya greeted them at a small table, where she’d placed hardboiled eggs, a loaf of bread, fresh apples and a pitcher of milk. “I’m sure you’re used to better than this, but it’s what I could find at market.”

“Don’t apologize,” Dana told her. “It’s good food and more than we were expecting. You’ve got a very nice house.”

“Oh I don’t own it,” Maya said as she served Jayden. “I rent it from Baron Vrask. Lots of people rent from him.”

“How did he come to own so many properties?” Jayden asked.

Maya served Dana while she answered him. “I guess you wouldn’t know if you’re not from here. Not that I’m accusing my neighbors, but, ah, you know how taxes have gone up recently? Some families couldn’t pay. Baron Vrask takes labor or barter when people can’t pay their taxes. Royal tax collectors don’t.”

Worried, Dana asked, “What happened to them?”

“Some went to Kaleoth for a few days to buy wool or visit relatives. Lots of people here have family over the border, you know. But, um, a few days turned into a few weeks and a few months and now a few years, so I think they’re not coming back.”

“Which left empty houses that could fall into disrepair if not occupied, so your baron took ownership and rents them out,” Jayden said.

“It’s a very reasonable rent and I can pay it, sort of.” Maya looked worried when she served herself last. “I sell paintings, not as many with the bridge closed, I babysit, and I give painting lessons to a few boys, but, ah, I have to take in borders to make ends meet. Not that I’m against it! They’ve all been really nice people.”

“Surely your family can offer assistance,” Jayden said. Maya’s expression went from worried to sad. Jayden put down his food. “My apologies, I’ve upset you.”

Dana asked, “What’s the matter?”

“I, um, I’m a foundling. Baron Vrask’s men found me on the street when I was a baby. The baron takes in orphans and foundlings, and he supports them until they’re adults. I had a very good upbringing! He’s a nice man, and I learned a lot about cooking and cleaning, and his artisan taught me how to paint. I’m friends with the girls and boys I grew up with at the baron’s castle. The girls are nice, and the boys are loud and messy.”

“Sounds like my brothers,” Dana said. “Boys are like that the world over.”

Jayden was silent for a moment. “When Dana introduced herself, you gave only a first name.”

“I can’t have a family name if I don’t have a family.” Maya looked miserable. “I’m sorry, I’m not being a very good host. I shouldn’t babble like this.”

“You’re not babbling,” Jayden told her. “You’re being honest, and far friendlier than I expect or deserve. You’ve also earned my respect for Baron Vrask for treating you with such kindness in your youth.”

Maya smiled at him. “Thank you.”

This is the conclusion to Border Crossing:

Dana and Jayden left Maya’s house early the next morning. It was a cool, sunny day, and Jayden headed for the bridge. They found it guarded by ten soldiers dressed in blue and gray. No one approached the bridge, and pedestrians went to the opposite side of the street when they neared it. Jayden took a seat at an outdoor café and ordered breakfast.

“Glorious morning, isn’t it?” he said as a waiter served them. Once he was gone, Jayden added, “We have to thank Maya for more than lodging when we’re done here. Her painting of the bridge was most informative.”

“How’s that?”

“The bridge is made of fitted blocks of granite, too hard to break with the spells I’ve learned, but her painting showed mortar between the blocks. I might be able to cut through it and bring down the bridge piece by piece. Still, I need a closer look to make sure her work is accurate before we begin.”

“Speaking of Maya, she’s at the end of the street,” Dana told him. Maya was standing by a wagon loaded with fresh produce. It looked like she was buying food, and quite a bit of it. Two women walked up to her and smiled. That made Dana happy. Maya had seemed so lonely before. It was good to see her cheerful. “She’s talking with friends.”

Jayden kept his eyes on the bridge. “Really, what about?”

Dana was about to scold him for expecting her to hear a conversation so far away, but then she saw one of the women point to Jayden and give Maya a predatory smile. Whatever she said made Maya blush beet red. The two women laughed, and one patted Maya on the shoulder.

“You,” Dana told him.

“A worthy topic of conversation,” Jayden said. He finished his meal and stood up. “I need you to distract the guards so I can take a look at the bridge without being noticed. This could be dangerous based on the way Edgeland’s residents avoid those men.”

“I’ll keep a healthy distance.”

A short walk brought them to the bridge. Jayden stayed back and looked like he was studying the nearby abandoned hotel while Dana came closer. She smiled at the nearest soldier and said, “Hi there. I was wondering if there’s another hotel in town. This one’s closed and I need a place to stay.”

The soldiers leaned against the bridge’s support columns and barely reacted to her question. “We’re not tour guides.”

“You must have been here longer than I have. Have you seen anywhere I—”

“Do I have to repeat myself?” a soldier demanded. He took a step closer to her. “You can sleep in a ditch for all I care.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I don’t care! Nobody does!” The soldier pointed his spear at her and shouted, “You’re not fooling anyone! The bridge is closed to traffic until the king and queen say otherwise. Nothing’s going to change that, not begging, not bribes, not whatever sob story you’ve come up with, so bug off!”

Dana ran. She made sure not to get too close to Jayden so the soldiers didn’t guess they were together. She stopped when she was a block away, and was relieved when she felt a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“Sorry about that,” an unfamiliar voice said. Dana yelped again and bolted from the strange woman trying to comfort her. The woman looked startled and held up her hands. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

Dana pointed at the bridge guards. “What’s going on?”

“I wish I knew,” the woman answered. “Baron Vrask’s men used to guard the bridge. They’d let through people they were sure would come back, but these men won’t let anyone cross. I was supposed to get a wool shipment from Kaleoth weeks ago, but they won’t let the wagon across or let me go to them.”

Jayden walked up alongside them and asked, “Are you all right?”

“Just a little surprised,” Dana told him.

“We shouldn’t stay here if the guards are so hostile,” he told her. He took her by the arm and led her away. The woman waved goodbye and went on her way. They’d traveled a few blocks before Jayden said, “Maya’s attention to detail is exceptional. There is half an inch of mortar between the granite blocks, the bridge’s only weakness.”

“When are you going to destroy it?”

“The guards will be at their worst at midnight. Darkness will limit their vision and the late hour will leave them tired. Until then we’ll occupy ourselves studying the town and looking for potential threats or sources of aid. I don’t expect to find either, but we’re not in a rush.”

Edgeland’s markets were sparsely populated and had little to offer. Many shops were closed with signs saying they were out of stock. Others were open but offered only the most basic supplies. Dana and Jayden attracted little attention from shopkeepers and customers.

“Why do you think they closed the bridge?” Dana asked.

“Possibly to keep Kaleoth spies out of the kingdom. It’s a draconian move that costs the kingdom far more than it benefits, but paranoia seems to be the rule of the day.”

“What’s the point of doing it now? You said they won’t invade until springtime. Keeping the bridge closed all winter is going to make people in Kaleoth suspicious, maybe enough for them to double their guards on the bridge.”

Jayden frowned. “It’s certainly odd. I’d suspect such a move closer to the advent of war, but for that to make sense the king and queen would have to invade almost at once. Kaleoth is mountainous and has many natural chokepoints. Enough snowfall would close those for months and produce a serious avalanche risk. An invading army would have to make excellent progress in the face of determined opposition or be bogged down.”

“The king and queen must know that. They’re evil, but they’re not dumb.”

“So what are we missing?” he asked.

Dana and Jayden returned to Maya’s house late that day to find her busy cooking. She blushed when she saw Jayden, but she seemed a bit more at ease with him. “Dinner will be ready in a little while.”

Dana caught the scent of spices and cooking meat. “Is that mutton?”

“I paid my rent for the year with the money you gave me,” Maya said. Dana was shocked one gold coin went so far, and was amazed when Maya added, “There was some left over, so I splurged on groceries.”

“Which you’re sharing with us,” Jayden said. “Your generosity as a hostess knows no bounds, and that smells incredible. If you’ll excuse me, I need to work in my room.”

Once he was gone, Maya asked, “I noticed your uncle doesn’t wear a ring. Does he have a girlfriend at home?”

Dana stopped to admire one of Maya’s portraits. “Him? Ha, ha, no, I haven’t met one. The only woman I think was interested in him was Suzy Lockheart, and that didn’t turn out well. I think she came on too strong.”

“Nothing happened between us!” Jayden shouted through his closed door.

“Really.” Maya tried to sound casual and failed utterly. “What’s, um, what’s he like?”

Dana froze. Jayden’s casual flirting had more of an effect than he’d realized. This could end badly. Dana tried to come up with an answer that was polite and still make it clear there was no chance for a relationship.

She struggled for a response and briefly let an honest answer cross her mind. Jayden is a man on a mission. At some point he was hurt so badly it left scars across his soul that might never heal. I think he wants a family to replace what he lost, and that’s probably what I am to him, a sister or daughter. If you’re his friend there’s nothing he won’t do to help you. If you’re his enemy there’s nothing that can save you. He’s the world’s only sorcerer lord, and powerful as he is, he’s going to get himself killed taking so many risks. I’m terrified that I can’t save him.

After much thought, she said, “He can be difficult.”

“I wouldn’t say that. He’s the nicest man I’ve ever met.”

“Come on, Maya, a pretty lady like you must get lots of attention from men.”

Maya blushed and redirected her attention back to the cooking pot. “Um, yes, well, there were two men. Um, one joined the army to make his fortune. He said he’d come back for me once he became an officer, but that was three years ago. The other one, ah, he likes me, but he likes beer, too. Lots of beer.”

Dana sat down at the dinner table and faced Maya. “That’s not husband material. Uncle has been getting better about how he treats people. He can still be harsh at times. You’re seeing him at his best.”

“He’s on his best behavior for a failed artist?” Maya sounded hopeful.

“You’re not a failure,” Dana said. She got up and pointed at the nearest painting. “This is gorgeous. My mom would pay good money for this, if she had money, good or otherwise.”

Jayden came back from his room carrying a bag. “Excuse my interruption of your no doubt fascinating discussion. Niece, we’ll need to talk about coming activities.”

Dana was happy to exit this awkward conversation and warn Jayden about Maya’s interest in him, but her joy was short lived when the bag he was carrying tore. It wasn’t surprising since he’d loaded it with stone tablets inscribed with spells of the old sorcerer lords. The heavy tablets landed with a thud on the floor, followed by a few dozen gold coins and a jeweled ring. Maya stared in amazement at the bag’s contents. Her jaw dropped and she took a step back. Dana got between Maya and the tablets.

“I can explain,” Dana said as her mind raced. “My uncle is a historian.”

Maya looked puzzled. “Historians are paid in gold?”

“Historians explore ancient places. Sometimes they find things…nice things.”

Maya put a hand over her mouth. “You looted this stuff?”

“Looted is such an ugly word,” Jayden said. “Tragically accurate, though.”

“That’s why you came here!” Maya exclaimed. “I was wondering why you were by the bridge the other day. You found this neat stuff and you’re trying to get out of the kingdom before it gets confiscated.”

“Um,” Dana began. Maya’s guess was illegal enough that she might go to the authorities.

Maya ran over and clapped her hands. “Ooh, let me see what you found! That’s a gorgeous ring! Can I try it on?”

Dana watched as Maya, giddy as a schoolgirl, gushed over the treasure and marveled at the designs on the spell tablets. Dana whispered to Jayden, “She’s an adult, right?”

“Physically, yes,” he whispered back. Louder, he asked, “I hope we can trust you with this secret?”

“Oh!” Jayden’s question dragged Maya’s attention back to him. “I won’t tell a soul. If I had half as much as you I’d keep it a secret, too. Lots of people have had their money confiscated. Tax collectors show up and suddenly you owe twice as much as you should.”

Jayden got another bag from his room and repacked the spilled goods. Maya handed back the ring and smiled at him. “I don’t think you can get to Kaleoth from here. Soldiers aren’t letting anyone come or leave. There are other places you could cross, but they’re guarded, too. You have to walk a long time to find someone to sell this to.”

“An unfortunate situation, but one that lets up enjoy your hospitality awhile longer,” Jayden told her. He smiled and looked like he was going to keep flirting with her when panicking men ran past the nearest window. More men ran by. “That’s rarely a good sign.”

Dana stuck her head out the window and saw men and women racing by. “What’s the matter?”

“There’s an army coming!” a man yelled before he turned a corner.

Dana, Jayden and Maya went outside to find every nearby street in a state of confusion, with men, women and children fleeing like their lives depended on it. Maya pointed to a nearby street corner and said, “That’s the highest point around. We’ll get the best view there.”

The sun was beginning to set as they reached the street corner and looked outside the city. The city wall made it impossible to see anything close by, but in the distance they saw what was undeniably an army approaching Edgeland. Dana guessed there were over ten thousand men in blue and gray, maybe more. It was divided into dozens of companies carrying flags and beating drums. Some companies had their own distinct flags with gruesome images like ram skulls and bloody swords.

“Why is everyone scared?” Dana asked. “Those are our soldiers.”

“Only some of them,” Jayden said. He pointed at one of the unusual flags and scowled. “Those flags are for mercenary companies, foreigners fighting for pay. Such men are known for brutality and robbing anyone they meet unless their officers keep them on a short leash. If they pass through quickly then Edgeland’s people should be safe. Otherwise they’ll suffer attacks.”

That worried Dana. If Jayden’s plan worked then the army would be stalled her for weeks or months. There was no telling how much damage they’d do, and a pretty girl like Maya with no family to protect her would be in great danger.

“Jayden, we can’t leave Maya here.”

“No, we can’t.” Jayden took Maya’s hands and said, “We’re going back to your house to collect our things. Pack whatever essentials you need. We’re getting you out of here before those men arrive.”

Maya stammered, “L-leave? Where? That many men will fill the city.”

“Please, trust me.” Jayden led Maya back to her home. They hurried to pack supplies including food and Maya’s art supplies and then left the building. There was no way to carry all of Maya’s paintings and they were forced to leave them.

Still in shock, Maya asked, “Why is an army coming here? We’re not in danger.”

“Their stay is intended to be temporary,” Jayden explained. “I was wondering why the baron’s men were removed from the city gate and the bridge. The king and queen must have worried that spies would see their army approach, so they closed the bridge to prevent Kaleoth receiving a timely warning.”

“I know people in Kaleoth!” Maya cried out. “They’re good people. They’ve done nothing to deserve this.”

Jayden put a hand on her shoulder. “No, they haven’t, and we’re going to save them.”

“Dana called you Jayden,” Maya said. Dana paused for a moment and winced when she remembered the mistake she’d made. Maya pointed at Jayden and said, “You, you’re the sorcerer lord.”

“I am.” Jayden picked up one of Maya’s bags. “I’m a wanted man with a staggeringly high price on my head because I want to stop our kingdom from invading Kaleoth and possibly other lands. Dana is helping me prevent that invasion. Maya, I need more help, a person to give the people of Kaloeth a warning.”

“I’m just a painter,” she pleaded.

“Then today is worth remembering, because a painter is going to save thousands of lives.” Jayden wasted no more time and led them to the bridge. They avoided panicking people, but doing so still slowed them down.

It was getting dark when Dana, Jayden and Maya reached the bridge to find the soldiers yawning and inattentive. Two of them were even asleep. Jayden snuck closer and hid behind a parked wagon before casting a spell. Shadows wrapped together to form an enormous clawed hand. The hand was nearly invisible in the darkness, and it came as a surprise to the soldiers when he hit them like a battering ram. Men cried out as they were tossed about. Two tried to fight back and stabbed the hand before they were bowled over. Their leader tried to run and got thirty feet before the hand threw one of his men into him.

“Subtle.” Dana’s word dripped with sarcasm.

“Tonight is going to be loud, flashy and time consuming,” he countered as he used the hand to carry defeated men to the closed hotel. “Subtle isn’t an option. Dana, help me tie these men up. Maya, cross the bridge and tell the soldiers there what you’ve seen.”

Maya hesitated. “What about you?”

Jayden cast a spell and formed a black sword edged in white. Maya gasped at the sight of the magic blade and backed away. He told her, “I’m going to slow down the enemy for as long as I can. Go. Lives depend on you.”

Maya ran across the bridge, leaving Dana and Jayden alone. It took more time than Dana liked to secure their prisoners. Once that was done, they walked onto the bridge and stopped where two large granite floor blocks met. Jayden placed the tip of the sword over a thin gap between the panels filled with mortar and drove the sword in. It bit into the mortar and sank in slowly. With a final thrust the blade went through to the bottom of the bridge. Jayden walked forward, pulling the sword with him. His magic sword cut through the mortar so slowly a snail could outrun it.

“Keep an eye on our adversaries,” Jayden said as he inched forward.

The nearby closed hotel had spaces between the bricks wide enough for Dana climb onto the roof to get a better vantage point. “The army is still coming, but they’re not rushing. It could be an hour before they reach the city gate and longer to reach us. Why aren’t they hurrying? And why aren’t there knights on horseback?”

“Why would they rush when they think friendly soldiers hold both the city gate and the bridge?” Jayden called back. “There’s no need to exhaust their men with a fast march before battle when they believe they can catch Kaleoth’s soldiers unaware. As for the knights, Kaleoth’s steep hills and mountains aren’t the place to send horses. The king and queen will save their cavalry for the flatter countryside of Zentrix and Brandish.”

Dana spotted movement outside the city. “I see people with carts and wagons fleeing into the countryside. Looks like Edgeland’s population is going to drop even more.”

“And on the other side of the bridge?”

Dana turned around and frowned. “Men are running around. Maya’s talking to one of them and pointing at us. Jayden, you said the king and queen wouldn’t attack so late in the year. Avalanches, passes closed by snow, stuff like that.”

“All good reasons not to attack rendered invalid by simple fact it hasn’t snowed yet. Campaigning will be impossible in a few weeks, giving the king and queen a brief window of opportunity to make a surprise attack and seize the capital city of Kaleoth. If they can win every battle for the next week they’ll take Kaleoth before winter comes.”

Dana watched the approaching army. “They certainly have enough men. Wait, I see something big in the front of the army. Jayden get up here.”

Jayden let his magic sword dissipate and climbed onto the closed hotel. Dana pointed at a dark towering figure leading the army. Jayden’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped. “That’s Wall Wolf, an iron golem that guards the king and queen. It’s served the royal family for centuries and has never been beaten. It could have won the civil war singlehandedly except it was too slow to reach most battles in time.”

“Can you stop it?”

“I won’t even be able to scratch it!” Jayden climbed down from the hotel and went back to the bridge. “If the king and queen have sent Wall Wolf then they’re totally committed to this war, even sending their personal bodyguard for the task.”

“The army is getting close to the city gate,” Dana said. She climbed down and joined Jayden. “That many men are going to close off any chance for us to escape.”

“When I’m done we’ll cross over into Kaleoth,” Jayden told her. He reformed his magic sword and drove it between two granite slabs. “We’ll find another way back into the kingdom later.”

They heard noises behind them. Dana turned to see Kaleoth soldiers gathering on their side of the border. Soldiers rolled wagons across the bridge and then overturned them to form makeshift barricades. More soldiers armed with crossbows arrived and took up positions on rooftops.

“Following Maya might be harder than you think,” Dana said.

“The bridge is open!” a man yelled. An older man ran by Dana and Jayden to Kaleoth, then two more. Soon crowds of frightened people fled the coming army. They avoided Jayden, but a man slowed down long enough to say, “I don’t know what you’re doing, but do it faster.”

Dana heard a woman cry out, “Crimson Reapers are coming! Hide your daughters!”

“Mercenaries?” Dana asked Jayden.

“Among the worst, and as brutal to civilians as they are to their enemies.”

Dana retook her place on top of the abandoned hotel. “The army reached the city gates and are coming through. We’ve got more people headed our way.”

The stream of frightened humanity turned into a river. Dana saw men and women flee into Kaleoth and clamber over the barricades. Kaleoth soldiers helped them across. She also saw Kaleoth soldiers point at Jayden as he hacked into the bridge. Some men followed suit with pickaxes and hammers.

“Ten minutes until they get here, maybe less,” Dana called out. “How far did you get?”

“Not enough by half,” Jayden called out. He’d cut far enough to reach where two large granite slabs came together. He made a ninety-degree turn and began cutting out the mortar along another side.

Dana watched the fleeing crowds shrink to a mere trickle. She’d been wrong on how long it would take the army to reach the bridge. Their pace slowed to a crawl once they were among the buildings, and she saw mercenaries breaking into homes and shops. It took a lot of effort to get them moving again, and more than one officer resorted to using a whip on his own men.

Terrifying as they were, Wall Wolf was far more frightening. Dana could make out more details as the iron golem came closer. It stood twelve feet tall and looked like an enormous knight, even if the arms and legs were far too thick and the shoulders too broad. The golem carried no weapon, not that such an enormous monster would need one. It took slow steps but never stopped marching forward. The golem kicked over a wagon in its way and stepped on it, crushing it to kindling.

“They’re two blocks away and closing,” Dana told Jayden. She climbed down and joined him. Jayden had cut a gash fifteen feet long in the bridge and still hadn’t done significant damage.

Jayden kept working. “Get ready to run for your life.”

The vanguard of the army came onto the street ahead of them while Wall Wolf was a block away but still visible above the rooftops. Soldiers and mercenaries saw Jayden and stopped a hundred feet away. Every tenth man carried a lantern, lighting up streets. Officers soon came, and following them was a man in plate armor and a purple cape.

“As I live and breath, the sorcerer lord,” the armored man said. He watched Jayden inching along and laughed. “Spitting on the bridge would be just as effective.”

Jayden drew his black sword out and raised it in a challenge. “Judging by your armor you’re from the Rendmal family, likely their eldest son Kyver. Your father served with distinction during the civil war and was known for justice and mercy, traits you clearly don’t share if you’re invading a friendly state.”

Kyver shot back, “They’ve no right to such a title.”

“Kaleoth could have sent raiding parties to loot our farms and villages during our civil war. Instead they sent food to starving families. Your father held them in high regard.”

“My father is not in command of this army,” Kyver said as Wall Wolf smashed through a house on its way to the bridge. “I am. Kaleoth is an enemy state because the king declared they are enemies, and the king’s word is law. If he said the sky is yellow and not blue then his word makes it so. Loyal men understand such things.”

“If that’s an example of your keen wit, I see why you use it so rarely,” Jayden quipped.

More soldiers and mercenaries came but stayed well back. Kyver also made no move toward Dana and Jayden. Instead Kyver held up an iron baton with a black pearl on the end. “I’ve heard tales of the damage you’ve done. I could kill you with a word, sending a thousand men after you until one of them strikes you dead, but a more efficient means is at hand. Wall Wolf, hear me and obey. Kill the sorcerer lord.”

Soldiers scattered as Wall Wolf stomped toward Jayden. Cobblestones shattered under the iron golem’s feet. Jayden let his magic sword dissipate and instead chanted words Dana recognized even if she didn’t understand them. Jayden held out his hands and a tiny spark formed between them. He kept chanting as Wall Wolf drew closer, a hundred feet and then fifty. When the spell was finished the spark flew out and stopped inches from Wall Wolf’s head.

Boom! The spark exploded into a blazing fireball that washed over the golem. Soldiers cried out in panic and fell back while Kyver stood his ground. Seconds later the flames died away and Wall Wolf took another step toward Jayden. Jayden’s most powerful spell hadn’t even scratched the golem. Kyver laughed. His men rallied to his side and laughed with him. Jayden backed away as Wall Wolf came ever closer.

Dana asked, “I’d say he weighs twenty tons, wouldn’t you?”

Jayden reformed his black sword. “At least.”

“How much weight can this bridge take?”

Jayden stopped retreating. “That’s a fascinating question. An hour ago I would have said there’s a fifty-fifty chance Wall Wolf would be too heavy to cross it.”

Dana looked at the deep gash in the bridge. “If we walk back ten steps and two more to the right, and Wall Wolf comes at us in a straight line, that would put him right here.”

Jayden and Dana backed away while soldiers and mercenaries cheered on Wall Wolf. The iron golem marched relentlessly forward, slow but never stopping as it closed the distance between them. Jayden smiled wickedly when Wall Wolf reached the damaged section of the bridge.

Crack! A slab of granite ten feet long broke free as the last bits of mortar shattered. The slab tilted up and Wall Wolf slid backwards until both the golem and bridge section fell into the raging waters below. Water shot up high into the air and rained down onto the bridge and riverbank. Soldiers cried out in rage and Kyver’s look of smug superiority vanished, replaced by shock.

“That was entertaining,” Jayden told Kyver. “What else did you bring me to play with?”

“Fetch long timbers!” Kyver yelled. “Tear down the houses to get them if you must! I want that gap covered! Archers forward!”

Dana gripped Jayden’s arm. “That’s our cue to leave.”

“It is at that,” Jayden agreed. He and Dana ran down the bridge, with Jayden grinning like the cat that caught the canary. “This will slow them down long enough for me to bring down the bridge from the other side. Kaleoth will be safe now and forev—”

Wall Wolf came up from the river, climbing up a support column to stand before Dana and Jayden. Soldiers and mercenaries cheered when the iron golem stepped in front of them and clenched its huge fists. It blocked Dana and Jayden’s escape, and the bridge was destroyed behind them, trapping the pair.

“The show’s not over, boys!” Kyver shouted to his men. “Watch the king and queen’s enemies fall!”

“Go left,” Jayden told Dana as he went right. The bridge was wide enough that Wall Wolf couldn’t fully block it, nor could the iron golem go after both of them. Wall Wolf pursued Jayden, as ordered, ignoring Dana entirely. “Dana, you’re clear, run!”

“I’m not leaving you!”

Wall Wolf stomped after Jayden. Jayden swung his sword at its heels, only for the magic blade to bounce off. His next swing was equally useless. Wall Wolf swung its right fist and missed by a wide margin. Jayden slashed his sword across the fist without effect.

“Staying won’t help!” he shouted. “Run!”

Crossbow bolts flew over Jayden’s head and hit Wall Wolf. Dana spun around and saw Kaleoth soldiers peppering the iron golem with accurate crossbow fire. Their aim was impressive, awe inspiring, and totally useless. Bolt after bolt shattered against the iron golem’s tough skin without leaving a scratch.

Wall Wolf tried to stomp on Jayden. It missed, but when Jayden ran out of the way the iron golem swung its left hand and landed a glancing blow. It was enough to send Jayden flying twenty feet farther down the bridge. Soldiers cheered and Dana screamed. Jayden struggled to his knees before falling down.

Dana tore through her bags until she found her magic short sword. She hadn’t had the opportunity to practice with it in Edgeland because it would have drawn attention. Dana didn’t know how much good it would be without training, but trapped between a raging river and an iron golem meant there were no other choices. She raised the blade high and charged. She felt it warm up as she ran, then it began to glow. She was five steps from the iron golem when the sword lit up like a bonfire. Dana screamed and slashed at Wall Wolf’s right leg.

The sword hit, no surprise when her target was large, slow and not paying attention to her. Magic blade met magic monster and produced a shower of sparks so strong Dana had to clench her eyes shut. When the light died down she stepped back and opened her eyes. She’d wounded the golem, leaving a cut eighteen inches long and a quarter inch deep.

“That’s it?” she yelled.

“Is that all you’ve got?” a soldier jeered.

Kyver looked more impressed. “Wall Wolf has never been hurt before. Only a powerful weapon could make such a scratch. Wall Wolf, hear me and obey. Kill the girl and bring me the sword.”

Wall Wolf turned to face her. Dana backed away. “Oh boy.”

More crossbow fire hit Wall Wolf as the iron golem closed in on Dana. A Kaleoth wizard shot magic flame and hit the golem in the back. Wall Wolf ignored them and kept after Dana.

Dana ran around the golem. She swung at it again, but this time it was expecting the blow and pulled away at the last second. The golem swung its fists at her and missed, but more attacks quickly followed. It was all she could do to avoid the monstrosity.

Wall Wolf raised its right foot and tried to crush her underfoot. For a moment it looked like it might do just that before a clawed black hand as big as a man wrapped around Wall Wolf’s head. The magic hand pushed forward and tipped the iron golem over. Dana looked over and saw Jayden on his knees, his right hand held forward.

The fall did Wall Wolf no harm. It grabbed the huge hand with both its hands and pulled hard. Jayden screamed in pain as his magic hand was ripped apart and evaporated. Soldiers and mercenaries laughed all the louder as Wall Wolf stood up.

Dana raised her sword as Wall Wolf advanced on her. She knew it was pointless even as she did it. Her sword had barely hurt the iron golem when she’d hit it. If she struck a joint like the knees or ankles maybe that would do actual damage, but Wall Wolf had brought down Jayden with one hit. It would need no more to finish her.

“You stupid sword, you were supposed to be special!” she screamed at it. “You barely did anything to that monster! We paid good money for you!”

Wall Wolf came closer and raised both fists over its head. Dana backed away, briefly lowering her sword. The tip of the blade grazed the bridge, cutting a groove an inch deep with the barest touch. Shocked, Dana fell back further and let her sword slide against the bridge. The sword sliced through granite blocks as if they were made of sand.

Dana gasped as she gathered her thoughts. Jayden’s sword had been able to damage the bridge but not Wall Wolf. Her sword could damage the iron golem, if only just, so it should have no trouble finishing the work Jayden started and do the job faster. Wall Wolf had survived one trip into Race Horse River. Dana intended to give it another bath.

Dana ran around Wall Wolf, staying just outside its reach. She found where two granite slabs connected in the bridge and slid her sword into the mortar between them. The blade went in easily, and she ran between the slabs, hacking through mortar like it was nothing. Wall Wolf followed her to the cheers of soldiers. Dana heard men betting on how long she’d live. Wall Wolf was beginning to catch up with her when she followed another line of mortar in the bridge, hacking through it effortlessly. Wall Wolf pursued her as ordered, not understanding the danger it was in.

Crack! Another section of the bridge gave way. Dana jumped onto the nearest stable part of the bridge as the slab underneath her tipped and slid backwards. Wall Wolf was on the opposite end of the sinking section. It was reaching for her when the slab fell into the river and took the iron golem with it. Soldiers shouted in outrage, none louder than Kyver. They cheered again when Wall Wolf climbed up the nearest support column. Dana was waiting for it.

It was hard to hurt Wall Wolf, in part because of the iron golem’s long reach. That advantage disappeared when it was climbing. Both hands held tight to the support column and had to stay there until the golem got its feet back on the bridge. That left a few precious seconds where the golem couldn’t avoid her or attack.

Dana saw Wall Wolf pulling itself up and aimed for its fingers. Sparks flew when her sword hit the thinner armor at the iron golem’s knuckles. Wall Wolf pulled itself higher up until Dana saw it eye to eye. She swung again, hacking off four fingers. Wall Wolf fell into the river again, but when it tried to climb up it couldn’t do it with only one functioning hand.

The screams of unruly mob of soldiers and mercenaries were deafening as they saw their champion fail, none louder or more horrified than Kyver. The enemy general howled like a wounded animal and beat his breasts. He regained control of himself long enough to bellow, “Archers, kill her!”

Any elation Dana had felt vanished as dozens of archers took aim at her. Magnificent as her sword was, it couldn’t stop arrows.

They didn’t get the chance to fire. Kaleoth soldiers had been helpless against Wall Wolf, but they had no problems fighting men. Crossbowmen rained down fire on the soldiers and mercenaries. Wizards in Kaleoth’s green and gray shot streams of flames and ice javelins. For a moment the soldiers held their own as archers returned fire. That ended when a single glowing ember drifted toward their side of the river. Kyver saw it coming and ran screaming from the fight with his men following suit. The spark floated lazily to the opposite side of the river before it detonated in a fireball that swallowed up nearby buildings.

Dana ran to Jayden. He was sitting up, but casting that last spell had taxed him beyond his limits. Dana reached him as he began to sway back and forth. She grabbed his shoulders and steadied him. Jayden looked at her only briefly, saying only two words before he passed out.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” she said softly. Dana put her sword away and checked Jayden’s wounds. He had several broken ribs and his right arm looked awful. Moving him could do serious harm, but she couldn’t leave him here. Dana grabbed him by the shoulders and slowly pulled him toward Kaleoth.

She’d only gotten a few feet when another set of hands took Jayden. It was Maya. She had one of Jayden’s bags over her shoulder and helped carry Jayden. Between the two of them they pulled Jayden to safety while crossbow bolts and magic flames soared overhead.

“He needs a healer,” Dana said.

“There aren’t many in Kaleoth who can treat wounds this bad,” Maya told her. They reached the other side of the bridge and soldiers helped them through the barricades. “I know a witch who might be able to help, but she charges a lot.”

“I’ll pay it,” Dana promised, “no matter the cost.”

This is part one of the Dana Illwind and Sorcerer lord Jayden story Pseudonym:

Over many months Dana had come to admire Sorcerer Lord Jayden. His courage, his wisdom, his dedication to his few friends, all these and more had earned her respect. Jayden had also proved his skill in battle against monsters and men, the distinction between the two not always clear. At this moment, however, she was most focused on his weight.

“Careful,” Maya said as she helped Dana carry Jayden down the cobblestone road. The two of them held the sorcerer lord between them, an already difficult task made worse by Jayden’s wounds. His right arm was broken and he had several broken ribs. He was barely conscious, but even the slightest touch on his wounds made Jayden wince and cry out in pain.

Kaleoth frontier soldiers ran by in their gray and green uniforms. They were heading to the destroyed bridge over Race Horse River where a far larger army had tried and failed to invade Kaleoth not an hour ago. Jayden and Dana had destroyed the bridge, but their victory had come at a terrible cost. Dana and Maya had carried him to the nearby city of River Twin, but Jayden’s wounds were so bad he’d never recover from them.

“We need help!” Dana shouted. “My friend is hurt! He needs a healer!”

Most soldiers ran by, but a spearman stopped to look at Jayden. He frowned and shook his head. “I’ve seen men injured this badly before. I’m sorry, your friend won’t last the night.”

“Don’t say that!” Dana screamed. “You must have doctors for so many soldiers.”

“None who can treat such wounds,” the spearman replied. “You’d need a holy man’s help, and the nearest one is in the capital three days’ journey from here.”

Maya struggled to hold up Jayden. “If you can’t help him, can you help us get him to the witch? Maybe she can save him.”

The soldier’s face turned white. “I’ll have nothing to do with Witch Way. Better he died than that woman get her hands on him.”

Dana nearly drew her magic sword when she heard him say that. Only the knowledge that setting Jayden down could worsen his wounds prevented her. “He was hurt saving your people!”

“Then honor him and his sacrifice by not letting Witch Way near him.” The spearman ran after the other soldiers, leaving Dana and Maya carrying Jayden alone.

“Don’t worry,” Maya said as they struggled down the street. “I’ve heard stories where to find the witch. We’ll get there by morning. He’s strong, Dana. He’ll make it.”

Dana didn’t reply as she helped Jayden down the street. To their left and right were brick buildings a story or two tall, shops and homes. People looked out their windows and came onto the street, a few staring in horror at Jayden while others looked to the ruined bridge where soldiers fired arrows and crossbow bolts across the river.

“He’s going to make it, Dana,” Maya said as the crowd parted to let them pass. “Just a few hours and we’ll be there.”

A man dressed in badly tanned furs stepped in front of them. “Where are you going?”

Dana bared her teeth. “Move.”

Nearby people edged back except for one man who said, “Don’t do this, Porter.”

“Where are you going?” the man in furs repeated.

“Through you if I have to,” Dana said.

Maya looked at Jayden and said, “This man needs help. We’re taking him to see the witch.”

“My name is Mugs Porter, and I can help you reach her,” the man said. “I’ve got a pushcart we can load him on.”

Suspicious, Dana demanded, “Why are you helping us?”

“I owe the witch,” Porter answered. He took Jayden from Dana and Maya and set him on a small, dirty pushcart parked on the street. Porter lit a lantern hanging from the front of the cart and grabbed the handles. “Any who receive her help pay for it, some in gold, some in words, others in services. I bring her new clients.”

Porter took the handles of the pushcart and rolled it down the street so fast Dana and Maya had trouble keeping up with him. Men and women got out of his way. One man yelled, “We’ll remember this, Porter!”

“Ignore them,” Porter told Dana and Maya. “They’ve never been where your friend is, where I was. They don’t know what men will do when there’s no one left to turn to.”

“I’ll pay whatever price she charges,” Dana promised.

“That’s not how it works,” Porter told her. “Whoever gets help is the one who pays.”

Dana ran ahead of Porter. “This time I’m paying.”

Porter frowned. “Careful what you wish for. Witch Way doesn’t work cheap.”

Porter was silent the rest of the trip, understandable given how hard he was running with the pushcart. They left the city and went through farmland and orchards, then into wilderness. Houses were few and then absent, replaced by enormous pine trees and cliffs thick with vines and moss. Jayden was unconscious during the trip, a mercy given his condition. After two hours they reached a large masterfully built wood house nestled among trees ten feet across.

The house’s door opened and a young woman stepped out. She looked smug before she saw Jayden. “Greetings, and welcome to my—dear God! Get him inside, hurry!”

Dana, Maya and Porter lifted Jayden out of the pushcart. Moving Jayden made him scream in pain, cries that ended only when the witch put a hand on his chest and spoke strange words that soothed him. Together they brought him inside the house and set him on a large wood table.

“This is the fifth client I’ve brought you, witch,” Porter said. “My debt is paid in full.”

“You and I are done,” the witch said. Porter left without another word, leaving Dana and Maya with the strange woman. The witch snapped her fingers and pointed to a corner of her house. “Both of you, over there, and don’t touch anything.”

Dana didn’t want to leave Jayden’s side. The people of River Twin had reacted to her mentioning the witch as if the woman was a deadly threat. But she was also Jayden’s only hope, and Dana reluctantly led Maya back.

“This is bad,” Witch Way said. She was younger than Dana had expected, probably in her early twenties. The witch’s clothes were stylish black and looked new. Her hair was long and black, braided in a pattern Dana hadn’t seen before. “You did good to get him here so fast. The next hour would have been his last.”

“You can help him?” Maya asked hopefully.

“It’s going to be a close thing.” Witch Way studied Jayden’s wounds. “Broken ribs, the arm looks like it was broken from feedback from his own spell, and I don’t like the look of that concussion. This is going to take everything I’ve got and more.”

Witch Way stepped back and folded her arms across her chest. She closed her eyes and began to chant.

“What’s she doing?” Dana asked Maya.

“I don’t know. I heard the witch can save people who should have died, not how she does it.”

“No comments from the peanut gallery,” Witch Way snapped.

Dana and Maya fell silent. Witch Way continued chanting, a weird droning sound that went on and on. Not sure what to do, Dana studied her surroundings. The house’s interior was well made like the outside, every inch elaborately decorated with intricate animal carvings. Rugs covered the floors, thick curtains covered the windows, and colorful tapestries covered much of the walls. Furniture was copious and as decorative as the rest of the house.

Then there was the heart on the wall over the fireplace. It was made of granite, two feet across and beating like a living organ. Red light seeped through cracks in the heart, a dim glow that couldn’t compete with the cheery glow in the fireplace but was somehow more noticeable.

“Spirits of wind and fire, I beseech you,” Witch Way announced as she looked up. “This soul is in peril, his life nearing an end too soon, and I have been called upon to aid him. The power of my heart stone is not enough, proof your instructions on crafting it were useless. So once more I must turn to you for power.”

“This isn’t encouraging,” Maya said.

A high-pitched voice coming from the heart said, “Don’t I know it.”

Witch Way snapped the fingers on both hands. “Talk to the witch. I know your price and pay it unwillingly. I hereby recognize your union and authorize vacation pay. Now get off your backsides, lazy spirits.”

The stone heart beat harder and the glow from it grew brighter. Jayden stiffened before relaxing. Dana and Maya ran to him. He was breathing easily rather than gasping for air, but he was still unconscious.

Excited, Maya cried, “He’s better!”

“He’s getting there,” Witch Way corrected her. “Healing isn’t what witchcraft was meant for. A holy man could have done in seconds what I need all night to do. I’ve sped up his natural healing many times faster than normal, but even this might not be enough.”

“Is this why people in River Twin don’t like you?” Dana asked. “Do your cures sometimes fail?”

Witch Way laughed. “Oh, they hate me for any number of reasons, some fair and others not. Most of my problems are my own fault, like being a greedy, petty, vindictive, backstabbing harridan. And yes, my healing attempts can fail.”

“That’s more than I expected to hear,” Dana admitted.

“Or wanted to,” Maya added.

“Mother told me not to become a witch,” Witch Way said. “I ignored her. I wanted power, and this was the easy way to get it. I had to buy that power, trading parts of myself for it. The spirits demanded I accept the curse of total honesty, which sounded mild at the time. But as you can see it’s not to my advantage to speak the truth, especially when I don’t particularly like people other than myself.”

Witch Way gave the girls a cunning smile. “If I try hard enough I can share that burden with others, if only for a while. Two marriageable women traveling with a man, it makes me wonder. Do you love him?”

“Yes,” they said simultaneously. Dana and Maya both shrieked in surprise, and Maya clapped her hands over her mouth.

“I don’t love him the way you mean!” Dana shouted. She took deep breaths and tried to calm down. “I’m grateful to him for saving my family and town, and many other people. He’s handsome, and sometimes I think things, but I’d never actually do them.”

“I would,” Maya said, then shrieked again as her face turned red.

Witch Way laughed so hard she nearly fell over. Wiping tears of joy from her eyes, she said, “I’m a shallow, hateful person, but I have a good time.”

Dana pointed at Jayden. “Can we get back to talking about him?”

“Oh, yes, the sorcerer lord. Don’t give me that look, girl. It takes more than a change of clothes to conceal a man’s identify when his face is on a thousand wanted posters.” Witch Way curled a lock of her hair around one finger while studying Jayden. “He’s drawing a lot of power from my heart stone, but he’s hurt so badly that my magic could just be prolonging the inevitable. By morning he’ll be well again or be dead, fifty-fifty odds.”

Maya saw Dana’s pained look and put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s better than we would have gotten from anyone in River Twin.”

Dana took a deep breath and readied herself for the worst. “We need to talk about your fee. Jayden is in no condition to pay you, so I’m accepting the responsibility.”

Witch Way looked at Dana and laughed. Dana felt her face turn red, and she put her hands on her hips. Angry, Dana snapped, “I have gold. It might not be enough, but once he’s healthy we can get more.”

That provoked more laugher from the witch. Once she was done, she gave Dana a pitying look. “Oh you miserable child, as if I would work so cheaply. The spirits providing the extra power to heal your friend are charging a steep price. Even asking for their help is going to make them harder to deal with in the future.”

Worried, Dana asked, “Then what do you want?”

Witch Way walked over to a table and picked up a knife. Maya and Dana got between Jayden and the witch, prompting more laugher. “Do you think I was going to kill him? Silly child, if I wanted him dead all I had to do was refuse my aid. I’m going to cut off his coat and shirt to get a better look at his wounds.”

Dana didn’t move. “What’s your price for saving him?”

Witch Way rolled her eyes. “Total honesty. Why couldn’t the spirits have been satisfied with something else? I paid much for my powers, child, and I aim to recover the loss. I take whatever is most valuable from my clients. Sometimes it’s gold, other times land and always their honor, for no one leaves here with their reputations intact.

“Jayden is the only sorcerer lord on Other Place. A man who’s mastered the shadow magic of the sorcerer lords must know many secrets and hidden truths. What he has trapped in his head is worth a fortune to the right people. I know eight men who would pay in gold, jewels and magic to learn what the sorcerer lord knows. I can sell the information to each of them, netting eight rewards for one healing. That’s my price, girl.”

“I don’t think he’d agree to that if he was awake,” Maya said nervously.

“I know he wouldn’t,” Dana said. She shifted he hands off her hips and onto her sword hilt. The magic blade had hurt an iron golem and should be enough to intimidate the witch. “We can get you magic if gold’s not enough, but you’re staying out of his head.”

“You’re in my house, brat,” Witch Way snarled. “This is where I forged my heart stone, and it’s where my spells are at their strongest. Two doe-eyed girls smitten with a wanted criminal don’t scare me.”

The witch hissed words in a language Dana had never heard, strange and hateful sounds far different than the ones Jayden used when casting spells. Dana took a step closer to the witch, a move that ended when the rug under her feet bucked like a steer, throwing her and Maya to the floor. Tapestries and drapes twisted and knotted to form ropes that wrapped around Dana and Maya. They screamed as the makeshift bonds shoved them against the wall and then lifted them off their feet.

“That settles that,” Witch Way said. She walked over to Jayden and cut off his coat and shirt, throwing the red stained clothes to the floor. “Don’t worry, children, total honesty means I have to keep my word and save him, or at least try to. Let’s see, yes, he’s coming along nicely. The sorcerer lord should live, and will definitely keep breathing long enough for me to extract my fee.”

“You’re making a big mistake!” Dana shouted. She tried to squirm out of her bindings and failed. “If he lives through this he’ll be furious. He’s killed monsters ten times scarier than you.”

“Promises, promises,” Witch Way said in a singsong voice. She cast another spell and placed her hands against Jayden’s brow. “Let’s see what—”
**********************
The castle was dark and depressing, a home only in name. Prince Mastram, a youth of twelve, walked through hallways surrounded by people he didn’t know. Physically he was a sight to behold, dark haired, handsome and dressed in sable and silk, but he was lonely and frightened. Stepmother had dismissed most of the castle staff over the last two months and replaced them with her personal retainers. None of them looked at Mastram, none bowed, none smiled. Instead they went about their duties in sullen silence.

Breakfast had been a joyless affair like all meals were. Father didn’t talk. Stepmother doted on her two sons, her words sweet like honey to the boys and harsh as acid to everyone else. Food tasted bland to Mastram, father’s jester had no amusement that could reach him, and even his books offered no solace.

Mastram had nearly reached the castle library and the limited reprieve it granted from his suffering when the brightly dressed jester Kipling leaped over a servant and wrapped an arm around the prince. “Your highness, your grace, you charitable soul, how good to see you. I’d nearly missed you the way you blend in with the crowd, no smile, no laughter, not even looking up half the time, but there was a slight hint of joy as I saw you near your fortress against the world. What wonders tempt you today, oh prince, what secrets shall you plumb?”

“Another time, Kipling,” Mastram said. He tried to slip by the jester and failed. Kipling followed him like a remora on a shark, never more than three inches away. “I’m sorry, I’m not in the mood for company today.”

“Few men willingly spend time with a fool, but I have my uses.” Kipling leaned in close and whispered into Mastram’s ear. “Please, suffer my presence. You are in danger.”

Mastram glanced at Kipling, not sure what to make of that strange comment. He went into the library and was alone save for Kipling. Tall bookcases crisscrossed the room and held thousands of books on hundreds of topics. Kipling was right, this was his refuge in hard times. He’d come here often after his mother died. Lately he’d come every day after meals.

“I’m good at solving riddles, Kipling, but I need more clues to understand what you’re talking about,” Mastram said.

“My prince, I fear for your life,” the jester said. “The castle has become dangerous. Take it from a thief and hanged man that when I say trouble is afoot I know what I speak of.”

Mastram smiled at him. “Former thief, and you survived your hanging.”

Kipling smiled. “Minor details.”

“Speak plainly to me as you always have, and please, no more riddles.”

Kipling cartwheeled onto a table and crouched on top of it. “These days I save my riddles for entertaining your father, no easy task. Mastram, you know me better than most, and you’re friends with your tutor, Mr. Wintery. Besides the two of us, your family and the court officials, is there one person in the castle whose name you know?”

Mastram paused. His mind raced as he tried to put a name to the constant parade of new faces he’d seen lately. So few would even talk to him, a growing cone of silence that had been spreading for months. “No.”

“Nor can I, my prince. There was a time I could count on two hands and both feet how many men asked me to share a drink with me. Now I can think of none. The castle has been purged of friends and allies, your stepmother’s doing, I’m sure.”

“I had few friends to begin with,” Mastram said.

“That’s not true,” the jester countered. “Many hold you in high regard. With these books you found the location of an old sorcerer lord reservoir, and people drink clean water from it today as they once did long ago. You offer hope to those still hurting from the war, sharing wisdom and words of mercy, counseled justice rather than vengeance. You are loved elsewhere if not here, and God help me if there are more hateful words that those.”

Mastram sat in a chair, too dejected to search the bookcases for a novel that might offer hope in such dark times. Kipling sat next to him and put an arm around the boy’s shoulders.

“I try to reach them, Kipling,” Mastram said mournfully. “Father doesn’t speak to me the way he did when mother was alive. Nothing I do satisfies stepmother. Court officials ignore what I have to say.”

“Your father is a fine man in many ways,” Kipling said, “the best tightrope walker I’ve ever met, but no juggler.”

Mastram stared at him. “Father doesn’t perform stunts.”

“I speak only the truth to you.” Kipling took wood balls from the deep pockets of his colorful uniform. Mastram had often seen the jester pull items from his costume, so many that he wondered if magic was involved. The jester balanced on the edge of the table while juggling.

“Nobles come day and night, demanding gifts and privileges from your father. All kings suffer such annoyances, but your father owes these men for their service during the civil war. With the treasury depleted he can’t give them what they want, so he pits one against the other, saying he can’t give them land that others hold and gold owed to their neighbors. No finer tightrope walker was ever born, for no matter how many try to pull him left or right he keeps his balance.”

Just then Kipling dropped a ball. Matram’s jaw dropped. He’d never seen the jester make a mistake.

“But he’s no juggler,” Kipling said. “I’m juggling eleven balls, but your eyes are on the one that fell. Jugglers know that dropping even one ball makes the audience doubt you, something your father hasn’t learned yet.”

Kipling caught his balls and set them on the table. “We both hear the whispers, my prince, and everyone hears the screams as your father and stepmother fight. He owes her family a heavy debt for saving his kingdom. He thought marrying her would be enough, but it’s not. She wants her sons on the throne. By law the king’s eldest son must take his place, but she and her family campaign against you day and night.

“Prince, I fear the king’s resolve is weakening. He thinks if he lets one ball fall by casting you aside then no one will care, but we know better. A king who sacrifices his own son, that man is no king. Commoners won’t obey him, soldiers won’t respect him, other monarchs will despise him, but he can’t see that. He only sees the balls he’s still got in the air and hopes the audience doesn’t notice the one on the ground.”

“What can I do?” Mastram asked.

“Keep learning, keep studying and keep away from fights in court. Staying in the library does that. You may have to leave in a hurry. I’ll help you for whatever a jester is worth, and I know men who will do the same. But Mastram, and it hurts like a knife to the heart to say this, prepare for the worst. Dark times lay ahead, and you—”
********************
Witch Way cried out in agony and gripped her head with both hands. Dana and Maya winced in pain. The heart stone beat erratically for a moment before settling down. Only Jayden seemed unaffected, his breathes deep and even.

“What was that?” Witch Way asked as she staggered into the table Jayden lay on.

“How would I know?” Dana shot back. “It’s your spell!”

“It’s never done that before!” Witch Way yelled. She straightened up and looked at Jayden. “I’ve dredged secrets from countless men’s minds and never such pain.”

“What were we seeing?” Maya asked.

“I don’t…wait, you saw that, too?” The witch looked startled, then scared. “You shouldn’t have shared those memories with me.”

“Well we did,” Dana snapped. She struggled again to break free and failed once more. “I’m glad your healing spells work, because your memory spell is garbage. I saw a piece of Prince Mastram’s life, not Jayden’s. How could you see memories from a dead boy?”

“He’s dead?” Maya asked.

“The prince was exiled to the Isle of Tears, where royalty goes to die from cold and hunger.” Witch Way scowled and crossed her arms. “Spirits, what did you do this time?”

High-pitched voices coming from the heart stone giggles and laughed. “This disaster is on your head, not ours. Or should we say heads?”

The witch scowled again and looked at Jayden. “He can’t interfere with my magic if he’s unconscious. Unless, yes, he could have cast magic wards on himself, long lasting defensive spells that would work even if he wasn’t awake.”

Witch Way cast more spells and caused strange glowing shapes to appear over Jayden’s head. The witch frowned and pointed at one. “That’s a mind cloud spell to keep seers and wizards from detecting him with magic. Yes, that’s what’s doing it. Witchcraft is ancient magic, powerful if limited. Shadow magic of the sorcerer lords is nearly as old but stems from another source. His mind cloud and my telepathy spell are interfering with one another, dangerously so.”

Another shape loomed large over Jayden, a black armored snake that slithered through the air before locking its baleful eyes on the witch. Maya sounded terrified when she asked, “What does that one do?”

The witch made the floating images disappear. “Retribution spell, and a nasty one. If he dies the spell attacks whoever is responsible for his death.” Her voice changed from clinical observation to terror when she said, “If he dies under my care, it’s going to think I did it. I have to get out of here! The range on that spell is—”
************************
Prince Mastram was so deeply involved in a book on the history of the sorcerer lords that he didn’t notice the door to the library open. The jingle of armor was enough to get his attention, though, and he looked up to see four soldiers in chain armor and carrying swords. “What’s happened?”

“Come with us,” one said.

“Soldiers don’t travel armed in the castle unless there’s an emergency,” Mastram said, and once the words left his lips he realized there must be danger. Had a villain tried to assassinate the king? Were more rebels rising to contest the throne. Scared, he demanded, “Tell me what’s going on.”

“The king and queen ordered us to bring you to the main hall,” the soldier said. “They’ll explain their meaning there.”

The prince set down his book and left with the soldiers. They marched through castle halls now empty, the few servants quickly leaving their presence. As they neared the castle’s main entrance, Mastram saw more soldiers escorting weeping servants outside. He hadn’t seen such sorrow since the dark days of the civil war.

They reached the castle’s main hall to find the room filled with soldiers, court officials and lesser nobles. Mastram’s father sat on his throne, handsome and strong, his expression stoic. Stepmother cradled her youngest son on her lap. She was richly dressed, and had an expression of satisfaction. She only looked like that when she’d hurt someone.

Prince Mastram’s heart beat fast. This felt wrong. Something terrible had happened, and he feared the jester’s warning was true judging by the cold looks he was getting from everyone in the room. Mastram went before his father and kneeled.

“I come as ordered, my father and my king.”

“One but not the other,” the queen said sweetly.

“Does the queen question my loyalty?” Mastram asked in horror.

“Enough,” his father said. He waved for the chancellor to approach. The man was another new addition to the court who’d bought his position by providing gold the king needed to pay soldiers during the civil war.

The chancellor stepped forward and unrolled a long velum scroll. Reading from it, he said, “Be it known to all the kingdom and beyond that charges of infidelity have been laid against the late queen, investigated and found to be true.”

Mastram gasped. His voice was a whisper when he asked, “Father, how could you?”

“Evidence has come to light that the former queen was in an illicit relationship with a man or men of unknown origin, one of whom is father to Prince Mastram,” the chancellor said. “Prince Mastram is hereby declared illegitimate, a pretended to the throne and no relation to the royal family. He is ordered banished to the Isle of Tears, to remain there for however long he may live.”

“Mother loved you more than life itself,” Mastram said. “To speak ill of her when she stood by you through dark times, when her family sacrificed so much for the throne.”

“A pity they have no more to sacrifice, no soldiers, no gold, no land,” the queen said playfully. “If they did, they could buy you a few more days in court.”

“I said enough,” the king told her, a mild rebuke that made her scowl. “This command is to be carried out immediately.”

“Unhand me!” a voice cried out in the back of the main hall. It was Mastram’s tutor, Mr. Wintry. He was short and old, neither of which kept him from forcing his way to the front of the crowd. Mr. Wintry wore his best clothes, old and unfashionable as they were, and dropped to his knees before the throne.

“Your Majesty, I beg you, hear the petition of a man loyal and long in your service. Mastram is good and loyal, even if you refuse to call him a son, and doesn’t deserve such a death.”

“He is no longer welcome here, nor are you,” the king said.

“Then let him leave with me!” Mr. Wintry begged. “You hired me from the Vastan Institute of Magic and Technology to teach your son. I will pack my belongings and leave at once, taking the boy with me. He’s clever and good with languages. He could be a great teacher there in Charlock Kingdom, so far away that you would never hear of him again. I have no son, you know this, and teaching Matram has been the closest I’ve come to fatherhood. If he can’t be your son, let him be mine.”

The offer brought cries of outrage from the court. Mr. Wintry ignored them and said, “I can formally adopt Matram into my family. He will lose all claim to the throne, but he will live.” Mr. Wintry looked up, glaring at the queen when he said, “You get what you want without anyone dying.”

“And risk you training him to become a wizard, to one day return and claim a throne he has no right to?” the queen asked. “Your schemes are as obvious as they are treacherous.”

The king offered no response. The queen’s outrage grew, and she shouted, “This was agreed upon, and paid for in my family’s gold and blood!”

“Leave the room,” he ordered her. The court fell silent, and in a rare turn of events so did the queen. “I know my debts and pay them, but I have limits.”

The queen left with her son and her foul temper. Once she was gone, the king stared at Mastram in silence. Long minutes passed before he spoke. “Mr. Wintry, your offer is…unique, and one I had not considered. I believe the offer is genuine, but my queen makes a valid point. There can be but one line of succession or my kingdom risks a new civil war only years after barely surviving one. I cannot have nobles scheme to place a false heir upon the throne.”

The king stood up and pointed at Mr. Wintry. “Your services here are at an end. Guards, collect his belongings and escort him to the castle gates.”

“Men will hear of this,” Mr. Wintry said when armed men seized him. As he was led away, he shouted, “You will lose the loyalty of those who love you!”

“I need time more than love, for I have seen love die,” the king said.

The king opened his mouth to speak, not getting the chance as Kipling the jester slipped through the packed room to reach the throne. “My Liege, if wisdom is held in so low regard then perhaps a fool’s words might have effect.”

“You test my patience, jester,” the king told him.

“I test your love, for I am old enough to have seen you treat this boy with tenderness, and I am fool enough to not care what price I pay to say it.” Kipling walked up to Mastram and kneeled beside him. “You pronounce a death sentence, exile in name only. The king’s word is law and even I am not fool enough to challenge it, but I can join him in this fate.”

“Kipling, no!” Mastram shouted.

“Please, your majesty,” Kipling implored. “We’ll both die there, starve or freeze, take your pick, but until that day comes we’ll dance and sing and maybe laugh. Be fair, your majesty, you won’t miss me. When was the last time you laughed at my jokes?”

“When was the last time I laughed at anything,” the King said, a statement rather than a question. He’d needed time to consider Mr. Wintry’s offer, but his response to Kipling was lighting quick. “The Isle of Tears is reserved for nobles. Mastram is not my son, but his mother was of noble birth. The punishment is justified. You, Kipling, are a commoner and former thief, the only man to survive a hanging.”

“Cheap rope will do that to you,” Kipling said without shame. “Surviving a death penalty is what first drew your attention to me. Quick wits and nimble hands sealed the deal.”

“Then I break that deal,” the King said. “You are correct, jester, you no longer entertain me. As you are manifestly unfit for your job, you may leave with whatever belongings you have, but the Isle of Tears is forbidden to you. And I am certain you are responsible for the disappearance last week of two of my wife’s retainers.”

“The assassins she sent after the prince?” Kipling asked without fear. Mastram gasped at the accusation.

“My queen is ever hasty in her actions, quick to anger and slow to consider the consequences,” the King said. “Where are their bodies?”

Kipling folded his arms across his chest. “I paid good money to make sure no one would ever learn the answer to that question, including me. Good luck finding them.”

The king seemed unbothered by the jester’s response. Instead there was the barest hint of a smile on his face, the first sign of happiness Mastram had seen from his father in years. “You always did like the boy more than me. There was a time I would have praised such bravery, but saving him then condemns him to far worse now, and opens me to the very condemnation Wintry claimed. Better he had died a prince, but you forced me to do worse.”

Soldiers drew their swords, but the King waved them off. “Don’t kill him. Kipling, you provided a sufficient answer and put the queen in her place, acting as a much-needed reminder that she is not ruler, and that her schemes can be undone more easily than she thinks. Punishing you would embolden her to further mischief. Still, it is another reason not to keep you. Guards, exile the jester from my kingdom.”

“I—” Kipling began, but guards seized him and pulled him from the room. “You only had one ball to keep in the air, one worth having, and you let it drop.”

Mastram was afraid, but he surprised himself by being more concerned for his father than himself. He studied the court members around him and saw little reaction to what his father and the jester had said. “You and Kipling both accused the queen of sending assassins after me, yet none here seems troubled. What manner of men fills the court?”

“Ones I trust,” his father answered. “I saw my kingdom ripped asunder by treachery and lies. I refuse to see it happen again. I ask nothing more of these men than their loyalty. Let them have their faults so long as they do what they are told.”

Mastram watched as the last friend he had in the world was dragged off. With no chance to save himself and no one else to save, he spoke with the confidence of a condemned man. “I knew stepmother was trying to replace me with her sons. I feared you would find a reason to cast me away, but never in my worst nightmares did I think you would betray mother’s memory.”

“I do what I must,” his father said. “The kingdom still balances on a razor’s edge with enemies within and without. In time I can fix what is broken, but I must pay for that time. I have sacrificed my honor, my good name, my pride and the lives of countless subjects. I lost much and could yet lose everything. To avoid that I must make one last sacrifice, saying words I know are lies and ending the life of my son, less of a loss when I have two more. ”

He stared hard at Mastram before saying, “I thought this would be harder. Guards, take him away and leave me in peace, for I—”
*****************************
Witch Way’s screams could have woken the dead as she fell to the floor. Dana and Maya winced, for they felt some of the pain she did. The heart stone went into wild spasms as its light faded before recovering slowly. Only Jayden seemed unaffected. Instead he looked stronger, healthier, his wounds nearly gone.

“That…shouldn’t…have happened,” the witch gasped.

“Make it stop!” Maya cried out.

“Seriously, stop!” Dana yelled at the witch. “You’ve healed him enough. Keeping him here hurts you and us. You’re not even getting the secrets you want.”

Tears rolled down Maya’s cheeks. “These are just memories from a dead child.”

Suddenly Dana gasped and looked horrified. “Maya, what if they’re not?”

Witch Way crawled to the table and pulled herself up to her knees. “What do you mean?”

“What if the spell worked?” Dana asked. “I’ve heard stories about Jayden the same as everyone, and they all date from ten years ago to today. Nobody knows where he came from. He just appeared in the kingdom years ago, no family, no friends. And Prince Mastram has been gone for a long time.”

The more she thought about it, the more it made sense. Jayden had told her months ago that he’d once been known by another name. Goblins in Fish Bait City said Jayden had come there as a boy, part of a royal expedition. Jayden had known the interior of Baron Scalamonger’s mansion. Prince Mastram in the visions had also been studying the sorcerer lords, which would explain how Jayden could translate their spell tablets.

All three women stared at Jayden. Witch Way was the first to speak when she said, “I am going to get into so much trouble over this.”

“We have to get him out of here before he wakes up,” Dana said. “He’ll kill you if he figures out what you’ve done.”

“There’s no ‘if’ to it,” Witch Way said. “When I view memories from my clients they don’t just remember them, they experience them as if they were happening again. He just relived the worst parts of his life.”

“I don’t see this ending well,” Maya said.

Witch Way grabbed Jayden by the shoulders and tried to lift him. “My spells are linked to the heart stone in my house. Taking him outside will break the connection. Ooh, he’s heavier than he looks, all muscle by the feel of it. Come on, help me move him.”

“We can’t!” Maya cried out.

“We’re still tied up!” Dana yelled.

Witch Way looked at them, a puzzled expression on her face as she said, “I’m not making good decisions today. Wait, do you feel tha—”
******************
The cold air matched Mastram’s mood. No longer a prince, he was a criminal dressed in sackcloth, his black hair a mess as a strong wind blew in his face. The longboat he was on rose and fell on the rough sea, the overcast sky adding to the sense of woe. Eight sailors manned the oars and an equal number of soldiers stood guard in case someone tried to rescue him. There had been three attempts in the two months since Mastram was declared illegitimate, one by peasants, another by renegade soldiers and the third by harpies, all three failures. These soldiers were here if others should try.

They’d been at sea for eight day traveling to the Isle of Tears. Mastram had no idea where it was, as the isle appeared on no maps and was shielded from magical attempts to locate it. They’d passed several small, rocky islands, some inhabited and others not, and a strange black pyramid that moved through the water faster than the longboat. Still they traveled, sailing far from the coast and any chance of escape.

Hours later they reached their destination. Mastram wondered why the island was used only for executions, for it looked large enough to house many people. The shorelines were rocky and inhospitable, and there were few trees or plants, but he knew ways even such foreboding land could be made productive. Deeper inland were mountains with narrow ridges that jutted up like the bones of a dead monster. The only sign that anyone had ever lived here were brick piers reaching into the icy waters of a natural harbor.

As the longboat neared the harbor, Mastram saw a soldier draw a dagger. His officer saw it, too, and shouted, “Sheath that blade!”

“It’s a mercy compared to what we’re doing to him,” the soldier protested.

“It is the king and queen’s command, and you will obey!” the officer snapped. “Touch so much as a hair on his head and I’ll leave you here in his place.”

The longboat docked at a pier without further incident, and soldiers placed Mastram ashore. The officer stood up and unrolled a scroll. “By order of the king and his beloved queen, Mastram, pretender to the throne is thus banished to the Isle of Tears without chance of pardon or commutation of his sentence. Any who attempt to remove him from this place or offer him aid is guilty of treason and will be put to death. Here you shall remain forever.”

Without further adieu the longboat departed, leaving Mastram alone. It didn’t bother him. He’d been alone for years in a castle packed with people. This desolate island made his solitude more complete, nothing more.

He wondered briefly what to do. No one knew how long condemned men lived on the Isle of Tears, only that when boats brought new victims there was no sign of those who’d come before them. Would he last a day? A week? A month? Mastram had to wonder which would be better. Any thought of giving up soon vanished, though, for he would not give his enemies the pleasure of surrendering. If death came for him, he would fight it.

Surviving the night would be the first challenge. Cold could kill faster than thirst or hunger, so he needed shelter from the coming night. Mastram searched the shore for buildings or even ruins. The brick piers were proof that someone once lived here. Sadly they were the only evidence. Maybe powerful winter storms had swept the isle clean.

With no help at hand, he headed further inland. The ground was rocky and had little plant life, none of it edible. There were no trails leading from the piers, forcing him to pick his way between large stones. Here and there patches of soil supported tough grasses. Ahead he saw caves in the side of a rocky cliff. Most were far too high to reach, but one was low enough he could climb to it. With no other options available that would be home.

Mastram climbed up to the low cave and crawled inside. The roof was surprisingly high and the floor more even than he’d expected. He’d visited a few caves in the past and found them awkward and cramped. In comparison this was spacious. He traveled deeper into the cave to a spot that still received light from outside but was out of the wind. Mastram cleared away sand and small stones from the ground. He didn’t have to dig far before he hit a perfectly flat floor.

“This is surprising,” Mastram said to no one. “Hmm. I wonder if talking to yourself is proof you’re going mad. I hope not. I’ve been here less than an hour.”

Mastram cleared away more stones and sand. The floor extended in all directions and was as flat as a board. He reached the side of the cave and found larger piles of debris. Clearing that took more time, but the reward was worth the effort when he found the floor and cave wall met in a ninety-degree angle. He dug at the edge of the opposite wall and found the floor and wall met the same way.

It was a mystery that had to wait. Mastram mounded up debris around the cave entrance to further block the wind. It was a poor shelter but should keep out the worst of the weather. Wind began to whip around him, carrying sand that stung his face. That hurt, but it inspired him. He dug around the edges of the cave and found four corners.

“This isn’t a cave,” he said. “It’s a room. I didn’t see it before because so much sand has been blown in that it obscured the edges.”

He checked the back of the room and found a passage leading out. There was less sand here, and to his surprise there was light from holes in the roof. He followed the passage until he came to more rooms. Some were filled with debris while others were nearly empty.

He looked for clues who had built this place. Finding paper or velum was out of the question when both would rot in the damp air, but maybe there were bits of furniture or rusted tools. A clever person could determine much about a man by studying the junk he left behind. That had been one of Mr. Wintry’s stranger lessons, but his tutor had showed Mastram how scraps of armor, broken pots and other garbage people cast aside said a lot about them.

In this case it said nothing. There was no broken furniture or metal goods. He found bits of broken pottery barely larger than sand grains. Mastram frowned and rubbed his chin.

“Storms must have blown in water that rotted perishables, and the wind and sand ground down whatever survived the water. That would take decades or more. Whoever built this mansion died long ago. Strange that no one moved in.”

Further study turned up more mysteries. The walls were thick, some made of brick and others natural stone carved into rooms and passages. Building this mansion would have been hard work, and construction materials must have been imported. Yet in the end the effort had been wasted, for the thick brick walls were pierced in multiple places, and rooms dug from the rocky isle were broken into as well. Indeed, most of the rooms he found had holes in them, some as large as a man. The mansion’s fall had been violent and thorough.

Mastram found his despondency momentarily gone, replaced by curiosity. He’d always asked why and dug deeper when faced with a puzzle. Back home he’d spent endless hours finding answers to Kipling’s riddles with the dedication of a dog chewing a bone to reach the marrow. Questions were personal challenges to him, a test of his wits and perseverance. A prince never gave up.

That thought nearly made him stop, the memory of what he had been and what he’d lost stinging, but he pressed on. Princes didn’t give up. They didn’t stop when the odds were bad and enemies numerous. By law he was no prince, but he’d show his enemies and his father. A man could live here if he knew what he was doing and didn’t give in to despair, and that was what Mastram intended to do. Morning would find him alive, as would next week, next month and next year.

Mastram’s exploration turned up a stone staircase leading up. He followed it, slipping briefly on debris covering the steps before safely reached the top floor. It looked like he wouldn’t be visiting the place often, for much of the roof was gone, leaving it open to the sky. There were bits of walls rising from the wreckage, and what looked like empty sea bird nests. Mastram wondered if the birds only came here to breed or if previous prisoners of the isle had eaten them all.

Not far from the stairs were the ruins of a large room with a stone throne at the outside edge. Mastram studied it and found worn down letters cut into the throne. He rubbed away sand filling the words and smiled when he recognized the language.

“This is the writing of the sorcerer lords,” Mastram said. “That’s the owner’s name, his rank and ancestors. This was the home of Jayden The Fell Hand of Doom. I read about him. He was one of the powerful sorcerer lords. Hmm, not powerful enough to save himself from his enemies.”

Mastram cleaned off the throne and sat on it. “I guess this happens to all dynasties in the end. They grow strong and expand their influence, but in time fall and are replaced by others. It nearly happened to my family.”

The room had plentiful signs of battle, like fallen stone columns, jagged holes cut through thick walls and lots of black granite chips. That was interesting. The sorcerer lords had written their spells on granite tablets instead of paper. He poked through the rubble, finding a few larger pieces of granite but none that fit together.

Then he saw it. He’d missed it at first, nearly buried by sand and broken bricks, but behind the throne was an intact spell tablet. The edges were worn down, the white marble lettering was chipped, but it was legible. Mastram’s heart beat faster at the sight. Spell tablets were rare! Few were ever found, and those disappeared into private collections. This treasure could have been found ages ago if someone had bothered searching the isle. How many riches were here, waiting for a man with the patience to dig them out?

What if he could use the tablet? It was a fascinating question. Mr. Wintry had taught Mastram much, including a love of languages, but the prince hadn’t learned magic. Mastram could read the tablet and understood it, but the writing paused frequently and was replaced by small diagrams showing what looked like hand gestures.

“It says aklamasan morashal rathan,” Mastram translated. “Then it says the exact same words twenty more times. The hand gestures change each time you say it.”

It was an interesting puzzle, and with nothing else to do he tried solving it. His first try failed, as did the second, the fifth and the fiftieth. Daylight was fading and he should find a place to sleep, but the prince was tenacious. The problem seemed to be the hand gestures. He could make the silly looking patterns with his fingers, but how long was he supposed to maintain them?

Night approached and he was still trying. He sat on the throne using the last of the light coming through the sundered roof to try one last time when he felt a jolt go from his elbows to his fingers. The spell had worked! Unfortunately it only made a tiny spark that drifted away.

“That was anticlimactic,” Mastram said as he watched the spark float across the room. “Maybe this is a spell for beginners. It might explain why no one took the tablet.”

Boom!

The spark expanded into a massive fireball that engulfed half the room. Mastram screamed and fell off the throne, then scrambled behind it. The flames died away, doing little damage to the already destroyed room. His heart beat so hard he thought it might explode. He’d nearly killed himself!

“Very dangerous business, magic,” he gasped. “Not sure I should try again.”

He headed for the staircase, traveling only a few feet when he saw filthy creatures with long hair and dressed in rags come boiling up from the stairs. Mastram fled the stinking mob until he had his back to the stone throne. He didn’t try using the spell he’d just learned, lest it burn him and these foul creatures.

“We saw you make a fire,” one of the creatures croaked. “Please, can you do it again?”

“We’re so cold,” pleaded another.

Mastram hesitated, trying to tell who or what he was facing. He was afraid, but the unruly mob didn’t come closer. He approached the nearest one and asked, “Who are you?”

“Baronet Silas Fieldcrest,” the filthy figure said. Mastram was close enough to touch the poor person when he realized the claim was true. He’d assumed these were monsters coming after him, but they were men wearing dirty and torn sackcloth, their hair long and tangled, their beards caked in filth. More members of the ragged mob introduced themselves. Knights, earls, lord mayors, sheriffs, guild masters and more stood before him, sixteen in all.

“Forgive our appearances,” Fieldcrest apologized. “We were left here weeks ago, and I fear we’re lesser men for our time spent on the isle. Tell us, stranger, who are you?”

One of the men exclaimed, “Even in the darkness you should know your prince!”

Men cried out in horror. Many bowed their heads. Mastram said, “I am prince no more. My family disowned me.”

Fieldcrest stared at Mastram before dropping to his knees. “Then all is lost. Before my exile I asked my sister to seek you out and beg you to intercede on my behalf. Many of us did. We’d heard you were the kindest member of the royal family and might take pity on us. If you’re here then not only are we doomed but so is the entire kingdom, for no one else listens to petitions for mercy.”

“I didn’t know others had been sent here, much less so many,” Mastram admitted. “What were you accused of?”

“Treason, larceny, failure to uphold the law,” Fieldcrest replied. “The charge laid against us varies, but behind each one is the fact that we had what others wanted. Land, money, livestock, positions of authority, all coveted by those who had royal favor.”

Another man grasped Mastram by the hand. “The queen’s family and the king’s new favorites demand compensation. They gave much to the crown during the civil war and said we did little. We defended our good names and wouldn’t give up our homes, our livelihoods, so it was taken from us.”

Fire burned inside Mastram as great as the magic he’d so recently summoned. He demanded, “When did this happen?”

“This year,” Fieldcrest told him. “Royal officials travel the land removing those who the king doubts and installing his favorites in their place. Trials are quick and secret, guilt guaranteed and punishment swift. I’d heard it happened to another nobleman only days before the same fate befell me.”

Mastram gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes. Kipling was wrong, for his father had proven to be terrible at balancing the demands placed upon him. What his father had excelled at was hiding the evidence of his wrongdoing if no word of this had reached the prince. The loss of so many friends and familiar faces at court made more sense now. The newcomers had reason to help hide this injustice, and might have benefited from it, for their jobs had once gone to other men.

Fieldcrest got up and placed a hand on Mastram’s shoulder. “We must go. The Isle of Tears is a place of execution in more ways than the king knows, for two predators roam the isle. There are passages they can’t fit in, refuge from their attacks.”

Overhead the clouds parted to reveal a full moon that bathed Mastram and his fellow victims in welcome light, just enough to see the two monstrosities sneaking up on them. Men screamed and scattered as the nightmarish pair shambled toward them. To his horror, Mastram knew exactly what they were, for his studies under Mr. Wintry included the sorcerer lords who once called this land home.

These were estate guards, abominations built by the long dead sorcerer lords. Each one had a golden scarab attached to the pile of driftwood and bones that comprised their bodies. They had the form of men, but twisted, malformed things with long dragging arms. Under the light of the moon Mastram recognized where the bones in those horrible monsters had come from. Some were from seals, others sharks, and some were from men.

“Run!” Fieldcrest shouted.

Mastram held his ground as the wretch things approached. Estate guards were only as strong as the bone and wood they could find to make their bodies from, and these were poor specimens with brittle bones and half rotted wood. They shuffled toward him, making sure they were between their prey and the stairs leading to safety.

“You face an enemy worthy of you,” Mastram said, a warning the beasts ignored. He chanted the words he’d learned from the tablet, weaving strange symbols in the air with his hands as his foes raised their twisted arms to attack. He finished the spell when they were still fifty feet away, sending a tiny spark toward the pair. One recognized the spell and ran to the left while the other took the blast head on. Boom! When the flames died away the first monster was gone and the second had lost both legs.

Mastram marched toward his enemy while the other men watched in awe. The first estate guard was dead, its scarab melted in the fire, while the second tried to drag itself away. Mastram grabbed a large broken brick off the floor and swung it at the estate guard. Brittle bones snapped. Narrow branches of driftwood broke. The estate guard tried to block his swings and failed.

Men joined him with large stones they seized off the floor. They surrounded the beast, pounding it from all sides, breaking it to pieces and pulling it apart. The gold scarab tried to flee, but Mastram saw it run. He struck it with the brick, snapping off three of its gold legs, taking off another leg with the next blow and finally crushing it to pieces.

Mastram screamed in defiance. Fear, shame, doubt, these burned away as rage swelled in him, hatred greater than any he had ever known. The suffering he’d experienced was nothing compared to what was happening elsewhere in the kingdom. His father and stepmother had inflicted inexcusable crimes on their own people, and it was going to stop even if he had to—
************************
Witch Way was on the floor, both hands covering her face. Maya cried and Dana stared at Jayden.

“Please, stop,” Maya pleaded.

“What do you think I’m trying to do?” Witch Way mumbled and rose to her knees.

“Do it faster,” Maya begged. “Look at him, he’s in agony.”

Jayden was still asleep but not at peace. He clenched his fists and his muscles tensed. His lips pulled back in a snarl as he ground his teeth together.

“That’s not pain,” Dana corrected her. Months traveling with Jayden had given her insight into his moods. “That’s rage.”

Witch Way’s terror grew as she backed up to her heart stone. “Son of a—”
************************
Clams and fish. It was a boring diet, but enough to keep men alive. Mastram wouldn’t let his fellow prisoners die, demanding they go on in the face of what had seemed impossible to endure weeks ago. They stayed strong because they had hope. They had a sorcerer lord.

The ruins yielded further treasures now that they were safe to explore. No doubt most of the riches had been stolen when the original owner had been killed. Still, they found gold and a few weapons, and Baronet Fieldcrest discovered another spell tablet. Mastering it had taken time, a commodity Mastram had in abundance.

Safe, fed after a fashion and armed, they had only to wait. Patience was a virtue Mastram was finding hard these days. He yearned to save his people, and it galled him how long he’d have to wait to do so. Even with two spells he was weak. Once he was free he’d need to find more spell tablets, more gold, more of everything, for overthrowing a king was a task many tried and most failed. It would take decades, but he would do it. He would pay back his father and stepmother for the crimes they’d committed.

The wait was intolerable, but not eternal. After long weeks they saw the longboat approach the Isle of Tears with more victims of the king and queen. There were only four soldiers this time. Perhaps these prisoners weren’t so important that men would risk their lives to free them.

Baronet Fieldcrest came up alongside Mastram where he and the other prisoners hid near the piers. The prisoners were dirty and thin, but they’d found daggers in their search of the ruins and had used them to shave. “Careful, prince. We need the boat intact.”

“Never fear, friend,” Mastram replied. The longboat was large enough for them all to escape. Once they reached land the prisoners would scatter, going to friends and family, gather them up and leave the kingdom.

“You’re sure you won’t come with us, prince?” Fieldcrest asked. “I know of distant lands where you could live unknown to all.”

“It’s a generous offer, but I can’t accept.”

The longboat came to the pier and stopped. The same officer who’d brought Mastram to the isle stood up and unrolled a scroll. “By order of the king and his beloved queen, Tallet Mistrof and Anthony Albreck are thus banished to the Isle of Tears.”

Mastram stood up and approached the longboat. “I would ask a favor, though. Don’t call me prince. Prince Mastram died on these rocks.”

It was overly dramatic, but Mastram knew he couldn’t use his name and escape discovery. He’d adopted the name of his long dead host who had generously provided two spell tablets. Jayden had a nice sound to it, and a historical connection to the old sorcerer lords.

The officer on the longboat stopped reading from his scroll when he saw Jayden approach. A soldier pointed at him and told a sailor, “He’s still alive. You owe me a beer.”

Jayden cast a spell called the entropic lash, forming a black whip that could melt through nearly everything. Sailors manning the oars cried out in terror. Soldiers drew their swords, as if that would help. Jayden savored the opportunity to make them feel the fear they’d inflicted upon so many others before he swung the whip at—
********************
Jayden’s screams echoed through the woods outside Witch Way’s house. He thrashed so hard he fell off the table and landed on the floor before shooting to his feet. Covered in sweat, shaking in uncontrolled rage, he announced, “Someone is going to die!”

“I can explain,” Witch Way said hastily.

Jayden turned toward her. He opened his mouth, but the words died when he saw Dana and Maya tied up against the wall. For a moment he looked surprised, then his rage doubled as he faced Witch Way.

“That’s a little harder to explain,” Witch Way admitted.

Jayden cast a spell and formed his magic whip. Witch Way paled at the sight of it, but only for a moment as her own anger swelled. “You’re feared in many lands, but in this house we’re on equal footing. Make an enemy of me and you won’t leave here alive.”

“You page through my mind like a book, exposing my greatest shames, bind my friends, and now you threaten me? I’ve killed men for less.”

Witch Way snarled a spell that made the drapes and tapestries holding Dana and Maya let go and lash out at Jayden. He swung his whip and wrapped it around the bindings, burning through them before they could touch him. His next swing missed Witch Way’s head by inches.

“Spirits of wind and fire, grant me your power!” Witch Way commanded. “My life is in danger. I’ll pay time and a half, so don’t be stingy!”

“Done,” a high-pitched voice said. The heart stone beat faster than ever, and red light from it poured onto the witch. Under its influence her next spell was far stronger. Tables, chairs, beds, every piece of furniture animated, their wood legs becoming as fast and flexible as a deer’s nimble limbs.

Chairs charged Jayden as he exchanged his whip for a magic sword. He drove the blade through the first chair, which reared up and kicked like a horse as it died. He hacked another animated chair apart, then a third. Jayden’s next spell formed a shield of spinning black daggers. The table he’d been laying on charged him and went headlong into the blades. The shield spell buckled and failed, but not before reducing the table to woodchips.

“That was a gift from my mother!” Witch Way screamed.

“Good,” Jayden growled.

Dana had been in plenty of battles alongside Jayden and knew she had one advantage he didn’t: people ignored her. It was natural when she was a girl and he was a sorcerer lord. Men and monsters focused on the obvious threat and treating her like she was invisible.

She grabbed Maya’s hand and let her to the edge of the room. “Come on.”

Dana and Maya skirted around the battle, dodging broken pieces of furniture that crashed into the walls. Maya shrieked when the witch caused gouts of fire to leap from her fireplace, an attack Jayden avoided by using an animated chair as a shield. The chair cried out like a living creature when it burned.

“Where are we going?” Maya asked.

“Just follow me,” Dana assured her. They went around the fight, keeping down and trying to stay behind cover. Maya shrieked when a shadowy hand as big as a man slammed an animated bed into the wall next to them. The bed braced its back legs against the wall and pushed the hand back. Jayden leaped upon the bed and cut it in half with his sword.

“I’m going to regret this in the morning,” Witch Way said before casting another spell. Shadows lengthened around her before a horrifying red skinned monster rose up from the darkness. It had the shape of a man, but with eyes and gaping toothy maws scattered across its grotesque body. “Sid, I’ve got a job for you, double pay.”

“I can guess what it is,” the monstrosity said from its mouths. It lumbered after Jayden, shoving aside broken furniture to reach him. Jayden met it with sword in hand and a roar of defiance. The monster tried to wrap both arms around him in a bear hug. Jayden ran straight at it, and at the last second brought his giant shadowy hand in from the side to knock the monster over. Once it was on the ground he stood over it and swung his black sword again and again, cutting the monster to pieces that boiled away.

Dana finally reached her target with Maya. The two stood next to the fireplace and the beating stone heart over it. Dana drew her sword and held it high as Witch Way caused iron nails to pop out of her floorboards and rise up in a lethal cloud.

“Retribution spell,” Dana reminded the witch.

Witch Way scowled and let the cloud of nails drop to the floor. A surprised look crossed her face, and she turned and saw Dana and Maya next to her heart stone. Then the witch saw Dana’s sword. She held up both hands and said, “Wait, what are you doing?”

Dana swung her sword at the fireplace to prove its danger. Her sword had damaged an iron golem and had no trouble slicing through the brick fireplace. She then pressed the tip of her sword against the stone heart and said, “Hands in the air, or the rock gets it.”

“No! It took a year to build that thing!”

“Then stop fighting.”

Witch Way pointed at Jayden. “Tell him that!”

Jayden’s shadowy magic hand grabbed Witch Way around the waist and lifted her off her feet. He pointed his sword her and said, “You claim to be my equal within these walls, so let’s take this fight outside.”

Dana had seen Jayden consumed by rage before, a terrifying sight. Getting him to calm down would be difficult. She ran over and grabbed Jayden by the arm.

“Jayden, I know this woman is evil,” Dana began.

“Not helping!” Witch Way shouted.

“But she saved your life. No one else nearby could have helped you. People warned me about her and I brought you anyway. I was desperate and you were dying. What she did was inexcusable, but I’m asking you not to kill her.”

Jayden stared at the witch. He was breathing hard and looked like he was seconds from attacking. Dana needed to do more.

“Maya and I saw your memories along with the witch,” Dana told him. Jayden’s fury was replaced with confusion. He stepped back and lowered his sword. “We know what you went through as a child and why you fight the king and queen. I’m so sorry. You deserved better.”

“Should we bow?” Maya asked. “He is royalty.”

Jayden looked down. “Don’t bow. Don’t kneel. Don’t tell me you’re sorry. I’ll take contempt over pity, for I’m worthy of scorn.”

“Jayden,” Dana began.

“I failed!” he roared. “I watched my father descend into evil. No one else could have saved him. No one else had the connection to him I did. I didn’t know the words to reach him. Countless villains masquerading as allies badgered him, pulled at him, never letting up for a minute as they tried to make his soul as ugly as their own. They succeeded and I failed, and countless lives have become infinitely worse.”

“I know you’re hurting, but you have friends who can help,” Maya reminded him. “You did then, too, Mr. Wintry and the jester. Um, what happened to them?”

Jayden’s anger was replaced with a depression every bit as great. “I’m told Mr. Wintry passed away three years ago. He waged a campaign of words against the king and queen, telling every man of influence what villains they are. Father and stepmother never understood why their diplomats suffered such hostile receptions in foreign lands. Kipling might still be alive somewhere, an old man by now. The last I’d heard of him, he’d stolen a month’s payroll for the army and fled the kingdom.”

“Why didn’t you go to them for help?” Dana asked him.

“I wanted to. Countless days went by where I yearned for their advice or a friendly voice in dark times, but if anyone saw us together they would guess the truth, meaning death for me and them.”

“Surely the king must know you escaped,” Maya said. “You stole a longboat.”

Jayden shook his head. “Waters around the Isle of Tears are treacherous, and storms are frequent. Losing a small boat there isn’t surprising or cause for concern. Other ships sent to the isle would expect to find only bones rather than men, so our absence wasn’t noticed.”

“Your hair was black in those memories,” Witch Way pointed out.

Jayden saw one of his bags on the floor and took a small bottle from it. “Hair dye. It does more than you’d think to disguise me.”

Witch Way laughed. “The mighty sorcerer lord dyes his hair?”

Dana glared at the witch until she shut up. With the witch silenced, she said, “The king and queen are responsible for their own actions, not you. They had the loyalty and love of good men. They threw that away for followers with dog-like obedience. What happened wasn’t your fault, and nothing you could do would have changed it. You were only a child.”

“I was a prince,” he said bitterly. “And now I’m a dead man. I warned you once that if my true name became known it was a death sentence. The king and queen will send armies after me if they learn I still live. You, Maya and the witch know the truth. I trust you and Maya, but my secret isn’t safe with the witch.”

Dana sheathed her sword and approached Witch Way. “You’re cursed with total honesty. Whatever you say has to be the truth, and you have to keep promises. Promise that you’ll never tell anyone what you’ve learned tonight.”

Witch Way hesitated. Dana pressed her hard, saying, “Do you want this fight to start again? Either he’ll kill you or you’ll kill him, and then his retribution spell will kill you. You’ve already lost much. Don’t add your life to the list.”

The witch heaved a dramatic sigh. “Fine. Prince Mastram, in return for my life I’ll never tell another your secret. Many will know that Sorcerer Lord Jayden came to me for help, so telling clients I saved your life is good advertising. I can’t break this promise even if I tried. Does this satisfy you?”

Jayden dispelled the magic hand holding Witch Way. “Your can keep your life, witch, but what you’ve done demands a response. I won’t harm a hair on your head, but my vengeance shall be brutal.”

Dana and Maya grabbed their things and helped Jayden out of the witch’s house. The fight had taken a lot out of him, and he only went a short distance before sitting down. The sun began to rise, welcome light after such a difficult night.

“I never realized how hurt he was,” Maya said from a safe distance. “Inside, I mean. Imagine having your own family turn against you. I always wondered what it was like to have a father and mother, and his were awful.”

“He’s blaming yourself for everything that’s gone wrong in the kingdom,” Dana said. She’d known that for all Jayden’s bravado he was a mess, but she’d never thought he was so badly damaged. How could she fix this?

Dana had thought they were done with Witch Way, but the witch came near Dana and said, “I’m sorry. You have no idea how rare it is for me to say that. Jayden or I would be dead if not for you. Probably me. I brought it on myself, like all my problems.”

“Your house is ruined,” Maya said sadly.

“My heart stone is all that matters. Those are hard to build, and costly in power and promises.” Sounding more worried than apologetic, Witch Way asked, “About Jayden’s threat. Exactly what did he mean?”

A tiny spark drifted by them and went through the open door of the house. Witch Way’s face turned pale. “He wouldn’t.”

“He would,” Dana said.

Boom! The house exploded in a fireball that destroyed what little had survived the recent battle. Pieces of the heart stone landed nearby and shattered when they hit the ground. High-pitched laughed echoes across the forest as the spirits in the heart stone made their escape.

“He did,” Maya said.

This is the first part of the story Rematch.
********
“Join us for a drink, sorcerer lord,” a farmer offered. The inn was full with men eager to celebrate now that Kaleoth was no longer in imminent danger.

Jayden held up a full cup for the man and his friends to see. “I’m already well supplied, thank you.”

The farmer laughed. “Then join us for another drink!”

Dana was used to traveling unnoticed with Jayden, no surprise when he was a wanted criminal in their homeland. They’d stayed well clear of major cities and traveled on half-forgotten roads between small towns to ramshackle cities like Fish Bait that had degenerated into slums. Seeing such poverty and desperation in the kingdom had been an eye-opening experience for her. This made being cheered and cherished in the Kaleoth city of River Twin almost bewildering.

Jayden and Dana had destroyed the bridge to Kaleoth with great difficulty, and Jayden had nearly died in the process. Great as the risk had been, they’d done the deed before an army from their homeland could invade. That had won them great respect in River Twin, and they’d been treated like celebrities in the month they’d stayed here.

“Hail and well met, sorcerer,” a spearman said as he entered The Moody Muse inn. Such welcomes were common ever since Dana, Maya and Jayden had settled in the inn for the winter. Such a long stay was expensive, but Jayden had gold enough to cover the cost. That had only increased his popularity, since paying customers were rare in these parts.

Jayden raised a drink in toast to the spearman. He’d been nursing the same drink all night as he sat at the back corner of the inn’s common room. Thirty other people shared the room and kept warm by a roaring fire. The innkeeper kept drinks flowing and served hot food. Business was good, and in Jayden’s case a little too good.

“Kind sir, merciful and benevolent one, I beseech your aid,” a middle-aged man said as he sat across from Jayden. “Word reached me how you thwarted the invasion of my homeland. Surely one who can do such a mighty deed can help a humble man in need.”

“Merciful?” Jayden asked Dana. “When did that word ever apply to me?”

“It’s the first time I’ve heard it used to describe you.”

The man pressed his case. “My eldest daughter Elsa fled home in the arms of a rapscallion of the worst kind. He seduced her with honeyed words and promises of adventure and riches. Already they flee for distant lands, taking with them her dowry and a horse I’ll admit to being a nag. Surely one so great as yourself can bring Elsa back and punish this rogue.”

Jayden set down his drink and looked at Dana. “Does this sound like the sort of thing I should be interested in, but aren’t?”

Dana didn’t look up from her dinner. “Yes.”

“It’s strange how often that happens.”

Outraged, the man sputtered, “B-but sir! How can you leave my beloved daughter in the hands of such a man?”

“Because I’ve been called a rogue, villain, blackguard, backstabber, thief, betrayer and so on for years. Honestly, you’ve never heard the stories about me?”

“I thought you’d turned over a new leaf,” the man suggested.

“Sadly, no.” Jayden took another sip from his drink. “I wish the young couple every happiness and success.”

Disheartened, the man left Jayden’s table and rejoined the crowd. Dana finished her meal and made a mark on a sheet of paper. “That’s three today, fifteen this week and eighty overall requests for your help, every one of which you’ve turned down. Have you considered renting a house outside city limits? It might cut down on the number of people trying to hire you.”

“In my experience it actually makes the problem worse.”

“How is that possible?”

“Men become bolder when there are no witnesses to their deeds,” Jayden explained. “There are a limitless number of people in this city who could use my help, but they wouldn’t dare ask when neighbors can hear the requests. It’s shameful for most men to ask for help. Besides, it’s cold out, and I wouldn’t want anyone to fall sick coming to find me when the answer is going to be no.”

“I know we have money, but we could take a few paying jobs. It’s not like we’ve got anything better to do until your ‘friend’ comes back, and it would help the people of River Twin.”

Jayden frowned and looked out a nearby window, where an early snow drifted down in thick flakes. “I want to return home as soon as possible. The more I become embroiled in local affairs the harder it’s going to be to leave when I owe debts and favors to locals. Better to make a hasty exit once the scout I hired returns with news of where we can safely cross the river.”

Another man forced his way through the crowd and sat at Jayden’s table. “Heroic sorcerer, you have already sacrificed much for our city.”

“Yet I imagine you’re going to ask for more,” Jayden said dryly.

“Winter has come to Kaleoth, making travel difficult and dangerous. The invasion you prevented means frontier soldiers we once relied on are manning the defenses in case the invaders attack again. Honest men dare not travel far when threats abound.”

The man unrolled a map on the table. “Caravans running between River Twin and the capital are in danger from wolves, bandits and monsters coming down from the mountains. Few men dare travel even with protection, and none without it. That makes this an irresistible opportunity for the canny investor.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Dana asked.

“A hundred gold coins invested in such a caravan can bring in a handsome return of a hundred fifty once it safely reaches its destination. A forty-wagon caravan is preparing to head out and is selling shares at a premium to men with the cash and the courage to back up their gold. How can you say no to a chance at riches?”

Jayden set down his drink. “Easily. No.”

“You’re a hard bargainer, so I’ll raise the offer to a hundred fifty plus first pick of the loot and bounties from anyone you defeat,” the man said. “We might not even get attacked, making you a healthy profit for sitting on the back of a wagon. Plus, your reputation might make regional tax collectors think twice about asking us to pay tolls.”

“Out!” Dana yelled at him. When the man opened his mouth, Dana asked, “Do you want to see an angry sorcerer lord? Scoot.”

“Protecting my reputation?” Jayden asked with a wry smile.

Dana pointed at him. “You’re already a wanted criminal in one kingdom. I don’t want to make it two.”

Their conversation ended when Maya joined them with a large wood board. The plucky young woman smiled as she approached Jayden, and she blushed a little. “This might keep people from pestering you so much. Here you go, let me set this next to your table.”

Dana looked at the board that Maya had painted with skulls and crossbones, plus what looked like charred bodies. The words ‘Do not bother the wizard’ were written in red paint across the top, with ‘or else…’ along the bottom. Dana frowned. “That’s not the kind of message we want to send.”

“Good use of shading,” Jayden said. Dana elbowed him in the ribs.

Just then a smiling man in a tacky suit marched up and placed both hands on their table. “Have I got a business proposition for you!”

Maya jabbed a finger at her sign. “Do you not see this?”

“A good businessman lets nothing get between him and other people’s money,” the man said proudly.

“Even pain?” Jayden asked.

“Why would that—yeouch!” The man hopped off while grabbing his right foot.

Dana put a hand over her face. “You really need to stop doing that.”

“He’ll recover,” Jayden replied. He smiled at Maya, making her blush again. The poor woman had spent a month with Dana and Jayden since she’d helped save his life, and she was every bit as smitten with him as when they’d first met. “You seem to be settling in well.”

“I know fellow orphans raised by Baron Vrask who settled in River Twin,” she explained. “They’re helping me a lot. One girl showed me where to buy paints and canvas, and another introduced me to shopkeepers who need new signs. It’s not great work, but it’s a start.”

Jayden’s smile faded when he asked, “Have you been able to find permanent accommodations?”

“No, but I’m looking. So many people came over from Edgeland before you destroyed the bridge that there’s not enough housing. Most of the refugees are renting rooms, and a few are making their own homes or fixing ruined buildings. There’s not much space to live outside of my room in this inn.” Maya looked down, her face flushing red in embarrassment. “My room that you’re paying for.”

“And I will continue to pay for it as long as necessary,” he told her. “When I destroyed the bridge, I forced the enemy army to camp in your home city instead of marching through it, making Edgeland dangerous for young women such as yourself. You’re homeless because of me, and I will do right by you no matter the cost.”

Maya blushed again. “Thank you.”

The inn’s door opened and a man bundled up against the cold hurried in. Jayden stood up when the man came to his table and waved to the innkeeper. “A hot meal and a drink for this man, at my expense.”

The innkeeper set down a plate of roast fish and dumplings, and watched in astonishment as the man devoured the meal so quickly it looked like he might choke. Jayden glanced at the innkeeper and said, “Another course appears to be in order.”

Once the innkeeper left, Jayden leaned across the table. “Ibrin, good man and talented scout, what news do you have?”

“Uniformly bad,” the scout said. “I checked bridges and low places on Racehorse River within ten days travel both north and south. Most bridges are gone, destroyed by Kaleoth frontier soldiers to keep back the invaders. The two left standing are under heavy guard on both sides of the river. No man could cross them without being cut down before he went halfway.”

“How strong are the forces on the opposite side of the river?” Jayden pressed him.

“Five or six hundred strong with heavy support by archers.” The discussion ended when the innkeeper brought a second plate of food. Ibrin ate more slowly this time, getting a few words out between mouthfuls of food. “The few low spots on the river that could be crossed are under even heavier guard. Kaleoth frontier soldiers brought in ogres to help hold the line, and enemy forces brought cavalry and ballista. Both sides built field fortifications, wood forts, barricades, ditches and walls. I’m sorry to say this after you paid me good money for the job, but the only way a man is going to cross that river is if he can fly, and with so many archers even that is risky.”

Jayden slouched in his chair. “The news you bring is valuable regardless if you brought the answer I wanted to hear or not.”

Ibrin finished his food and nodded to Jayden. “You’re a better man than most to say that. I wish you well, sir, and pray you find what you’re looking for. It may not be my place to say this, but if you can’t go home, you’ll find Kaleoth is glad to have you.”

With his job done the scout left the inn. Jayden brooded at his table with a foul look on his face that kept further petitioners back. Dana tried to console him, saying, “You can do good in Kaleoth. Fighting could start up again in spring, and the enemy army still has Wall Wolf.”

“All the more reason to leave,” Jayden said. “I can do more to stop the invasion on the other side of the border than here. Excuse me, I need time alone.”

Jayden got up and left. Maya looked at Dana, who said, “I’ll keep an eye on him.”

Dana followed Jayden out of the inn and to the snowy outskirts of River Twin. They were close enough to see the destroyed bridge brought down on both sides so only the center portion remained. Cooking fires from thousands of enemy soldiers lit up Edgeland in the dark. Both sides of the river now boasted complex wood and stone fortifications manned by crack troops, an intimidating obstacle even to the world’s only sorcerer lord.

Once he was far from the city, Jayden stopped beneath a large old oak and cast a spell. Dana watched shadows swirl together to form a giant clawed hand as big as a man. The hand hovered with the palm flat and the fingers stretched out. He stood there for long minutes doing nothing until the hand began to tremble and then smoke. Bit by bit it boiled away until nothing remained.

“Five minutes,” Jayden said morosely.

“I’ve noticed you practicing that spell a lot this week.”

“The spell could ferry us across the river, but it moves too slowly and ends to quickly to make the journey safely. We could stand on the hand as it carried us, but we’d be floating targets for enemy archers. If we crossed far from enemy forces we would also be far from roads and settlements, not a safe course of action during winter.”

Dana thought about what the scout Ibrin had said. “How high can you make the hand fly?”

“I’ve never gotten it to go over fifty feet,” Jayden reported. “Sorcerer lords of old could make magic wings, but it’s a spell I’ve never found. I’m told the spell doesn’t grant users the innate knowledge of how to fly, which in ancient times killed more than a few sorcerer lord apprentices.”

Jayden turned to face her, frustration growing in his voice. “Fighting that enemy army would be ruinous even if Kaleoth soldiers won, but I could drive them off by ambushing supply caravans bringing those men food. They’d have to retreat after they went a month without nourishment. It’s a task I could do better than most and would save thousands of lives. Instead I find myself marooned here.”

“Surrounded by people who love you for saving their lives,” Dana reminded him.

“It’s a pleasant exile, I admit, but an exile nonetheless.” Jayden glared at the enemy troops across the river. “My greatest nightmare has come true, proof that all my efforts up to this point didn’t prevent the king and queen from attacking neighboring nations, and here I stand unable to do anything. I despise feeling helpless.”

“Welcome to how the rest of us feel,” Dana told him. “Most people see huge events like this happening and can’t do a thing to stop them. We just have to keep our heads down and hope the storm passes.”

“More is expected of a sorcerer,” Jayden said.

“And from a prince, I get that, but you’re just one man. Jayden, none of the spells I’ve seen you use can stop an army or make you invulnerable. That iron golem Wall Wolf nearly killed you, and after almost dying you’re chomping at the bit for another fight.”

“That’s because the people of Kaleoth are still in danger.” Jayden pointed at the opposing army. “Armies don’t fight in winter if they can help it, so our foes are likely quartered in Edgeland until spring, but in my heart I fear the worst. These soldiers could have been deployed elsewhere now that they know the advantage of surprise is lost and there is no easy path to Kaleoth, yet they remain. I despise the king and queen, but I don’t doubt their abilities. Those men are here for a reason, one I don’t understand, and the longer they stay the more time they have to put their plan in effect.”

Dana took him by the arm. “Come on, there’s nothing more we can do tonight.”

“I doubt morning will bring new insights, but if nothing else tonight may have some value.” Jayden selected two short branches off the ground and tossed one to her. “On guard.”

“You gave me a fencing lesson this morning.” Jayden had made sword fighting a daily routine. Dana didn’t complain when she needed the practice if she was ever going to use her magic sword to its full potential.

“I’m giving you another one. The warrior who sweats before battle doesn’t bleed during it.”

Dana took the improvised sword and dueled Jayden. She thought she did well, or at least walked away without bruises this time. When they were done she was overheated and exhausted. “You’re teaching me how to fight. Who taught you?”

Jayden tossed his branch down. “The captain of the guard. He was the best swordsman in the kingdom, and I begged him day and night to teach me.”

Dreading the answer, Dana asked, “What happened to him? I didn’t see him when I saw those memories of your youth.”

“The king and queen discharged him for drinking, womanizing and speaking his mind whether or not anyone asked for his opinions. He moved to Zentrix Kingdom, where he continues to drink, womanize, speak his mind and teach swordsmanship to young men of limited means.” Jayden smiled. “Men of influence in Zentrix despise him while the common folk adore him, so little has changed besides his address.”

“There’s got to be a line of men at the inn trying to get your help. We need to send them home or else they’ll badger you until morning.”

Dana led Jayden back to River Twin. They’d nearly reached The Moody Muse when Jayden pulled her to a halt. “Why is Maya waiting outside the inn?”

Maya stood shivering in the cold by the inn’s front door. When she saw them, she ran over and grabbed Jayden’s hands. “There’s a scary looking man waiting for you inside. He says he wants to talk with you. I told him you weren’t taking job offers, and he said you’re going to take his. He told me to get you, and when I said I didn’t know where you’d gone he said not to come back without you. I looked and looked, but you two weren’t at any of the places I checked, and I was scared to go back into the inn alone.”

Jayden scowled. “Dana, I think I’m going to damage my good reputation in Kaleoth.”

Jayden marched into the inn with Dana and Maya following him. Maya pointed at a man in a dark cloak standing at the table where Jayden had been seated earlier. He was armed with a sword still in its sheath, but the man wore simple leather clothes instead of armor. Jayden headed straight for the stranger, stopping ten feet away and resting his hands on the back of a nearby chair.

“I take a dim view of people abusing my friends, and that includes ordering one into the cold as if she was your servant,” Jayden snarled. Nearby patrons backed away and the innkeeper ducked behind his bar. The stranger turned to look at Jayden. Looking angrier than normal, Jayden said, “I ask for neither thanks nor reward from your people for what I did, but expecting basic civility shouldn’t be too much.”

“Dark times demand different behavior of men,” the stranger said, his voice betraying no fear. “My master would have words with you outside.”

“Then by all means, invite him in,” Jayden countered. “I wouldn’t want him to catch cold.”

“He wishes to discuss matters with you in private.”

Jayden didn’t budge. “I care precious little who your master is or what he wants of me. You may have noticed a rather colorful sign by the table you’re standing at. The message is succinct and less of an exaggeration than you’d think. I am seconds away from inflicting serious injuries on you, and let the consequences be what they may.”

The stranger approached him and took a folded piece of paper from his coat pocket. He tossed it to Jayden, who caught the paper, unfolded it and stared at it for a moment before burning it in a nearby lantern. Jayden glared at the stranger. “This is going to cost you.”

“My master brought enough money.”

“I meant personally,” Jayden said a second before he punched the man below the belt. Men winced in sympathy as the stranger fell to the floor. Jayden headed for the door and said, “Dana, Maya, we have to deal with this. As for you, errand boy, come when you’re able.”

“The invitation is only for you,” the stranger croaked.

“Obedience isn’t my one of my strengths.”

Jayden left the inn with Dana and Maya, and then headed to a nearby house guarded by four heavily armored knights. The knights parted when Jayden approached, granting entrance to a small room with a table, four chairs and three men.

“I appreciate your coming, especially on short notice,” one of the men said. He was a youth of roughly twenty years, handsome and well dressed in furs. His hair was dark brown and trimmed short. He had a warm, sincere voice, and an expression of relief at seeing Jayden. That look was soon replaced with concern when he asked, “Special Agent Ulem was supposed to guide you here.”

“Special Agent Ulem showed shocking disrespect for my friends, the sort of behavior I’d expect from thugs and bandits. He’ll be along once he can stand.”

The other two men tensed at this news and stepped forward. Both wore the gray and green robes of Kaleoth wizards, and their staffs were black oak set with jewels. The youth waved them back, and did the same when the knights outside looked in.

“King Brent is going to be disappointed,” the youth said. “I keep telling him I can handle myself, and he keeps sending men to guide me as if I was a child. I apologize for any offense given and trust you won’t prevent it from hearing my offer.”

Jayden folded his arms across his chest. “Pray tell, what does a prince want with a wanted criminal?”

Dana gasped. Maya pointed at the youth and asked, “You’re Prince Onus?”

The prince bowed. “The one, the only, the poorly named. I wish we could have met under better conditions, but for security reasons I travel as quietly as possible. The king and queen may have spies in the city who could attack me if they knew I was here. It forces me to use intermediaries whenever possible, sometimes men who are better skilled in battle than in negotiations. And in regards to your status as a wanted man, the bounties on your head have never applied in Kaleoth.”

“Charming,” Jayden said. “I’m surprised King Brent would risk his only surviving heir by sending him to a city in peril.”

“I come because of River Twin’s peril,” Prince Onus replied. “Kaleoth has only four cities, none larger than River Twin. We can’t afford to lose it, especially if doing so opens up the rest of the kingdom to invasion. If River Twin falls then Kaleoth falls with it.”

Jayden didn’t respond or unfold his arms. Prince Onus pulled out the chairs and offered them. “I had heard you didn’t travel alone any longer. Please, allow me to offer some hospitality in such dark times.”

“Interesting that you should use the expression ‘dark times’,” Jayden said as he sat down. “Your agent used it as an excuse.”

Prince Onus winced as if struck. “My apologies. Some men use their high positions like a club.”

Jayden didn’t look impressed. “Your letter, which I burned according to your written instructions, claimed you needed my services in the defense of the kingdom. Save both my time and yours by skipping ahead to the job you need done so badly.”

“Reports of your lack of tack are clearly true, but given your experiences I suppose it’s not surprising.” Prince Onus offered chairs to Dana and Maya before sitting down. “Enemy forces remain at the border, curious when there is no way across. Racehorse River runs too fast to freeze over or for boats to cross, and rebuilding the bridge while under fire from Kaleoth troops is impossible. Grandfather believes the enemy still seeks to invade, and I proved him correct.”

The prince tossed a cracked crystal ball with a bronze stand onto the table. “It cost the only crystal ball in the kingdom, but before it was destroyed by an interceptor spell it showed enemy forces building two mobile drawbridges inside Edgeland. The first is forty feet long, the second equally long but not as wide, and both are mounted on wheels. I believe the enemy intends to set one across the gap to the remaining bridge section and use the second bridge to cover the remaining distance to the riverbank. Once that’s done they can march soldiers across. They still have Wall Wolf, maimed by your assistant but still standing. The only blessing in this matter is that Wall Wolf is undoubtedly too heavy to cross these makeshift bridges.”

“It won’t have to,” Jayden told the prince. “Racehorse River runs fast, but Wall Wolf’s great weight means the river can’t wash the golem downstream. The enemy general Kyver Rendmal will likely send Wall Wolf in first by walking across the bottom of the river and then attack your troops. The enemy army will bridge the river while your forces are occupied.”

“That’s my feeling as well. Grandfather is calling upon aid from the Guild of Heroes, the Brotherhood of the Righteous, the Servants of the Cause, the Square Pegs, anyone who might listen. He even asked for help from the Yelinid Banking Cartel.”

“Why would bankers fight a war?” Dana asked.

The two wizards looked surprised that she’d spoke, but the prince didn’t seem to be bothered. “Dead men don’t pay back loans, and conquerors don’t honor the debts of their enemies. If Yelinid expects to ever see the money we borrowed from them, they have to keep us alive.”

“How soon until these bridge sections are completed?” Jayden asked the prince.

“The last image from the crystal ball showed the first section was finished and the second nearly done. I need those bridges destroyed before they can be deployed, a difficult request when they’re made from some of the largest trees I’ve seen. Such thick timbers won’t burn easily, and green wood from freshly felled trees even less so.”

“You have two wizards,” Dana pointed out. “Why do you need three?”

Prince Onus waved at his wizards. “Malvel is a fire wizard, and Klim understands water and wind magic. Both are talented and brave, but by their own admissions aren’t powerful. My original plan was for Klim to create a magic cloud and fly the two of them over, then have Malvel set the bridges on fire. It would have placed them in great danger while offering little chance of success, but having a sorcerer lord improves the odds.”

Prince Onus looked nervous when he said, “It may surprise you that grandfather’s spies developed a lengthy file on you, Jayden, including eyewitness evidence of the spells you have cast in the past.”

“Should I feel honored or paranoid?” Jayden asked.

“Both,” the prince replied. “Grandfather keeps files on anyone who might be a valuable ally or enemy. His file showed considerable evidence of your hatred for the king and queen of your homeland, if not the reason why, so you were listed as a possible friend in time of need. As for paranoia, that’s a healthy trait to cultivate.”

The prince looked at Dana. He was cute, close to her age, and good God did the man sound sincere. She could feel herself blushing.

“Our file mentioned the young lady, but not her name or the magic sword she used to cripple Wall Wolf. Please, may I see it?”

“No,” Jayden said.

“It’s my sword,” she reminded him. Dana gave the sword to Prince Onus. The prince drew it and marveled at the blade before sheathing it and returning it to Dana.

“Impressive. Grandfather’s spies keep a close eye on powerful magic items in the region in case they are used against us. I’m surprised I’d never heard of this weapon before. Is it named?”

“I didn’t know people named weapons,” Dana admitted.

“It’s a guy thing,” Jayden told her.

“It might be the right tool for the job, even if it’s not what I had in mind,” Prince Onus said. “I’m told you can create a black whip that melts through nearly anything.”

“Technically it ages through them, but I see your point,” Jayden replied. “The whip won’t attract attention with light and smoke the way your fire wizard’s spells would. We could get in, cut through the bridges with my magic whip and leave unnoticed, but it would buy less time than you’d think. Kyver could replace anything we destroy.”

“Not easily.” The prince held up his ruined crystal ball again. “Prior to this war, the resident nobleman Baron Vrask had his people harvest timber to cover high taxes imposed on him. The largest trees were cut down long ago. We saw enemy soldiers searching high and low for the trees for their bridges, using up the best trees in the process. Using smaller trees less suited for the task will still take a month or longer. That could be long enough for grandfather to summon help. If nothing else there might be deep snow that would slow down another attack.”

“Your plan puts my life in great danger,” Jayden pointed out.

“I realize what I’m asking. I don’t know what your grievance is against your own king and queen, even if I share your dislike of them. This is a chance to hurt them and save good men. Naturally I’m offering pay proportional to the risk.”

Shocking everyone in the room, Jayden said, “I don’t want it.”

There was a stunned silence in the room, broken when Prince Onus said, “I didn’t see this coming.”

“You need the money here,” Jayden told him. “I need to get back into my home kingdom if I’m to do any good. Once I’ve done this for you, Klim is to make a magic clouds and take me anywhere I want to go, no questions, no limits. Those are my terms.”

Prince Onus looked at Klim, who nodded. “It’s a deal. Klim tells me there’s a storm coming tomorrow night. That will be the best chance for the three of you to infiltrate the enemy city.”

Jayden got up to leave. “That’s enough time to finish my business here. Prince, meeting you has been more of a pleasure than I’d expected, and I respect your ignoring how abusive I can be. Few have that skill.”

The prince smiled. “Years living under my grandfather’s rule have given me a thick skin. I’m grateful you accepted, even if grandfather was sure we could count on you.” The prince’s brow furrowed for a moment before he said, “Grandfather is normally quite clever, especially for a man of his advanced years, but when I told him I was going to enlist your aid he said something that didn’t make sense.”

“What might that be?” Jayden asked.

“He said you take after your mother in every way that matters, which makes no sense when no one knows your parentage.”

Jayden was silent for a moment. “You needn’t worry that your grandfather’s wits are slipping. His mind is only sharpening with age, and he paid me a compliment. I bid you good evening. Dana, Maya, come.”

This is the conclusion of the story Rematch.
***********
Once they were outside and away from the wizards and knights, Dana whispered, “How does King Brent know who you are?”

“Prince Mastram visited Kaleoth as a child and made quite the impression by talking with King Brent for hours about the ancient sorcerer lords,” Jayden whispered back. It was strange the way he spoke of his life as a prince as if it was another person. “If King Brent’s spies know as much about me as he claims, then they doubtless drew sketches of me. The old man recognized me from those, and bless his heart told no one.”

Maya stopped walking. “You’re leaving.”

Jayden stopped and took her hands. “If I ignore this battle, another one far worse is sure to come before long.”

“I mean after this you’re leaving Kaleoth and not coming back. You’re not taking me with you, are you?”

“It wouldn’t be safe. I’ll leave sufficient funds to cover your needs for a year, and I’ve met a few people in River Twin I can ask to offer further aid. It’s not what you deserve, but it’s what I can give.”

Maya looked at her feet. “It’s okay. It was silly thinking anything was going to happen. Princes don’t marry foundlings.”

“Don’t you dare talk about yourself like that.” Jayden’s voice was firm, and Maya looked up at the commanding tone. “You lost your home because of me, and paintings you created that deserved to hang in the halls of noblemen and kings. Even after I’d done you harm you risked your life to save mine. I owe you a heavy debt, and I pay what I owe. Maya, ask of me what you will, one request equal to a man’s life, and if it is within my power to grant it to you then you shall have it.”

Dana slapped a hand over her face. The man just didn’t know how to act around girls, especially impressionable ones.

Maya hesitated. “You mean it?”

“I keep my promises.”

Maya paused again, gazing into his eyes, then frowned. “You know what I’d ask for, but you wouldn’t be happy here.” She waved her hand across the river. “After destroying these bridges you’d want to be over there, because people need you. You’d keep your word, but you’d be miserable for the rest of your life because that’s your homeland and those are your people, and you feel responsible for them.”

Jayden said nothing in reply. He stood in front of her, his eyes locked on hers, waiting for her to make her wish as if he were a genie.

“You want me to charge you for saving your life, but you don’t charge for saving other’s lives. Dana told me how you helped so many people, sometimes getting rewarded, sometimes not. I want this to be a no reward situation. I, I can’t live the kind of life you do. I’d come with you if I could, but I’m a painter, not a fighter. So, no reward, no gift or promise you’ll keep even if you don’t like it. Do one thing for me.”

“Anything.”

“When we’re at peace again, come back to me and we’ll talk. If I get what I want, I want you to want it, too, and that can’t happen when you think you have to do it.” She hesitated and asked, “Is that too much?”

Jayden kissed her on the forehead. “It’s proof you are a kinder soul than I.”

* * * * *
The following night it snowed as promised, not a serious storm but enough to reduce visibility. Jayden and Dana waited outside town, and were soon joined by the wizards Klim and Malvel. Special agent Ulem made the mistake of showing up as well, and Jayden gave the fool a hostile stare.

“Where is the prince?” Jayden asked.

“Gone,” Ulem said. “It was a mistake for him to come in the first place. He’s safe where he’s at and doing important work.”

“You’re ready?” Klim asked. The wizard had a soft voice and looked calm.

“He’s not,” Ulem said. “This mission is risky enough without you bringing the girl.”

“I helped bring down the bridge over Racehorse River, and I chopped four fingers off Wall Wolf,” Dana countered. “I can take care of myself.”

Ulem ignored her and spoke to Jayden. “I heard you settled accounts with the other girl. Pay her, and be quick about it.”

“What does he mean by pay me?” Dana asked Jayden.

“He means,” Jayden began, and punched the man below the belt again. Ulem cried out in pain as he fell into the snow, and the wizards winced. “That he’s a classless bore. Every kingdom has men like him, crude and belittling to those around him, as common as roaches and just as hard to remove. He means he’s sorry for his behavior, and is going to give greater thought to his words and deeds from this day on.”

“I kind of think that’s not what he meant,” Dana said.

Jayden scowled at the fallen man. “It is if he expects to walk away from this meeting.”

Malvel stepped between Jayden and his victim. “We’re on a time limit. If you’re taking the girl with us, fine, but there’s no room for delays.”

Klim cast a spell, forming a large, flat cloud that hovered inches above the ground. He stepped onto it as if it was a solid object, and to Dana’s amazement the cloud bore his weight without effort. Klim waved his staff at the others. “Let us begin, and may higher powers guide and protect us on our mission.”

Malvel and Jayden climbed onto the cloud without complaint. Jayden helped Dana up when she hesitated. The cloud felt spongy under her feet, like it was made of wet cotton, but it supported her. She grabbed onto Jayden’s arm as the cloud floated into the sky until it merged with the storm clouds overhead. Dana shivered in the cold. She could feel the magic cloud moving, but could see only inches ahead. Wind tugged at her, and she worried that a strong enough gust might push her off.

“Sorry Ulem was such a bother,” Klim said as he guided the cloud. “He has many fine features, bravery, prowess in battle, but he’s best kept outside of polite company, even more than you are.”

“I don’t insult women regardless of their birth, and neither should he,” Jayden said. “How long until we reach our target?”

Klim’s voice called out from the darkness, “Thirty minutes. If I travel faster we might make a disturbance in the clouds that enemy soldiers could see.”

“They’d notice it in a snowstorm?” Dana asked.

“They know Kaleoth has wizards,” Klim responded. “Unless their general is a fool they will have men with keen eyesight watching the clouds, especially in bad weather.”

“Do you always let your servant ask questions,” Malvel asked.

“Dana is my friend, and yes,” Jayden replied tersely.

“It wasn’t a complaint,” Malvel said. “My teacher told me an inquisitive mind is to be encouraged. Pity so few men feel the same.” Malvel hummed a strange tune before asking, “Does she have a sister?”

Dana was disoriented by the darkness, wind and cold, and she answered before considering the question. “Three. Why do you want to…oh, wait, hold on a second.”

“Don’t you have enough women mad at you?” Klim asked.

“Mission first, dating opportunities second, and none with my friend’s sisters,” Jayden told the wizards.

The cloud halted in the dark and cold. Klim called out, “I cast a spell granting me sight within clouds before we left. We’re over the bridges and nearly five hundred feet above them. I’m going to increase the snowfall for five minutes. That should cover out descent, but to be certain I’m going to drop us as fast. Hold tight, and no screaming.”

Klim chanted and the clouds dumped snow as if it was a blizzard. Seconds later the magic cloud dropped like a stone. Dana held tight to Jayden and clenched her eyes shut as she stifled a panicked scream. The magic cloud slowed so fast it forced Dana to her knees, and then landed before boiling away to nothing. Dana opened her eyes and found herself once more on the streets of Edgeland. They were near the inn that had been abandoned during their first visit but now brightly lit and packed to capacity with soldiers.

Jayden took Dana by the hand and led her into the alleys. Klim and Malvel followed before Klim pointed them to a courtyard in the distance. Dana saw large tents filling the courtyard, and soldiers patrolled regardless of the cold and thick snow.

“I don’t want to attack the guards if we can avoid it,” Jayden said. “They will be missed even if we defeat them silently.”

“No doubt,” Malvel said. “Klim can create a strong wind and fog to hide us while we get into the tents. If we’re lucky no one is inside them.”

Klim cast another spell, and the wind grew to gale strength. Soldiers turned away and covered their faces against the sudden wind. It was a momentary distraction that let Dana, Jayden and the two wizards to run over and crawl under the edges of the largest tent. It was dark inside until Malvel whispered a spell that produced a tiny light.

“Wow,” Dana said. The bridges didn’t disappoint. Each one was fifty feet long, half a base with large wood wheels and the other half could be lowered like a drawbridge to cover the gaps in the bridge. Construction wasn’t finished, with missing wheels on one bridge and only half the drawbridge section done, but they looked sturdy. The bridges were armored with iron plates and then wrapped in fresh ox hides.

Klim ran his fingers over an iron plate on the second bridge. “This could be an issue. Jayden, can handle this this?”

Jayden cast a spell and formed his black whip. “With difficulty. Once I’ve cut through a section it’s going to make too much noise when it falls to the street. I need the bridges supported.”

“Easily done,” Klim said. He cast a spell and sprayed blue-white ice from the tip of his staff. He aimed the icy spray under the bridges until there was a layer of ice reaching from the cobblestone courtyard up to the bridge.

With the bridge supported, Jayden swung his whip at the completed bridge. The whip stretched until it wrapped entirely around the massive bridge. It hissed like an angry snake as it began to slow process of cutting through the bridge.

“Dana, Malvel, keep watch in case the guards come,” Jayden said.

“I could cut the bridges with my sword,” Dana offered. “If it can hurt an iron golem, it should do the job.”

“It crippled Wall Wolf, but not quietly, and I recall a shower of sparks when you struck the golem. If we are discovered I’ll need you to step in and do as much damage as you can, but that is a last resort.”

Malvel stood by the tent flaps with his staff and Dana drew her sword. She’d had training with it, but she wondered if it would be enough for a fight. The last time she’d drawn it in battle was against Wall Wolf, a victory by the thinnest of margins.

Jayden continued cutting through the first bridge, his whip eating through iron, wood and animal hides. The bridge was so thick and the iron plates so hard that he made slow progress. Guards walked by the tent twice. Dana and Malvel readied themselves for a fight, but the guards continued on without looking inside. How long would their luck last?

Once the guards had passed the tent for the second time, Dana took the opportunity to look around. It was hard to see much with Malvel’s dim light. Dana barely made out woodworking tools on benches, extra iron plates wrapped in ox hides, and what looked like piles of dirt and curled bits of paper. She sifted some of the strange pile through her fingers and held it up to Malvel.

“Wood shavings and sawdust. I think it’s left behind from building the bridges. If we have to leave before finishing the job, we could spread it around and you can set it on fire. I bet it would burn pretty fast.”

Malvel picked up a pinch of sawdust. “The question is whether it would burn long enough to do serious damage. About these sisters of yours…”

“They’re not your type. Jayden, how’s it coming?”

“I should be done with the first section in five minutes. Barring interruptions, I’d like to cut each bridge into more than two pieces. At a minimum, we’re going to need hours.”

Dana tensed when she heard voices in the distance rose up, their tone angry. She heard the voices again, not coming closer but not stopping, either. More troubling, she didn’t understand the language. “What is that?”

“Dwarven,” Jayden said over the hissing of his whip. “I heard the words ‘idiot’ and ‘overtime’, but the rest was too quiet.”

“Why would anyone be speaking in dwarven in a human kingdom?” Dana asked. Guards walked by again, and she fell silent until they left. “Kyver Rendmal hired human mercenaries for his army. Could he have hired dwarfs, too?”

“A definite possibility,” Jayden told her. “I’m almost through.”

Dana looked to Klim. “I need cover. Can you make the snowstorm get worse for a little while?”

Klim cast a spell, causing the tip of his staff to turn pale blue. “You have three minutes of blizzard conditions.”

“Be careful,” Jayden cautioned her.

Dana left the tent and headed in the direction of the angry voices. The snow was so thick it was impossible to see far, but she could follow the sound of arguments in the dour language of the dwarfs. She reached another tent, this one far smaller than the one concealing the bridges. Dana bent down and lifted the edge of the tent to look underneath.

There was Wall Wolf.

The iron golem was on its back with five dwarfs standing around it. Wall Wolf’s right hand was still missing its fingers, but by the look of it not for long. The dwarfs wore brown robes and had the severed fingers on a wood table. They were studying the hand she’d cut them off of. The armor on the right arm was gone up to the elbow, revealing a bewildering array of pipes and cables. Strange runes were cast on the palm of the right hand and the forearm. Dwarfs waved wands and scepters over the runes. The symbols glowed in response.

One dwarf yelled at another and held up one of the damaged fingers. The second dwarf yelled back and pointed at the rune on the palm. They made wild gestures, waving their arms and stomping their feet when they spoke.

One of the dwarfs saw Dana. She winced under the dwarf’s harsh gaze. The dwarf shifted from his own language to human and said, “This isn’t women’s work. Leave.”

For a second Dana didn’t know what to say. Why weren’t the dwarfs attacking her? Then it hit her like a brick: they didn’t know she worked for Jayden. Most people didn’t since she didn’t appear on Jayden’s wanted posters and their steadily growing price on his head. The dwarfs thought she was a peasant girl, maybe a servant.

“Sorry, sir.” Dana ran to the other tent and hurried inside. Once she was back among friends, she said, “Wall Wolf is in the other tent. I saw dwarfs working on him. I think they’re wizards trying to put his fingers back on.”

“That’s not surprising,” Jayden said. He finished cutting through the first bridge, and the two pieces settled on the ice supports Klim had made. “Wall Wolf was built by Golem Works, one of the largest dwarf corporations. The king and queen must have hired them to repair the golem before they send it into battle again. It also explains who destroyed Prince Onus’ crystal ball. Dwarf wizards are experts at building magic items and would have no difficulty destroying one, even at a distance.”

“Can we kill it while it’s lying down?” she begged.

“Bloodthirsty little girl, aren’t you,” Malvel said approvingly.

“It would fight back if attacked,” Jayden replied. His magic whip vanished now that it was through the bridge, and he recast the spell to create another. “You’ll forgive me, but after our last encounter I’ve no desire to renew our acquaintance.”

Dana frowned. “General Kyver the Jerk could send Wall Wolf across the riverbed to attack River Twin even without the bridges to bring in troops.”

“The risk is too great,” Jayden replied. “We’re in a city filled with soldiers and mercenaries. If we fight Wall Wolf those men could come after us.”

Malvel extinguished his magic light and stepped away from the tent flap. “Guards are coming.”

“You’re going to get us whipped and branded,” a man’s voice called out.

“Staying out in the cold any longer could cost us our toes,” another man replied. “If the high and mighty general won’t give us braziers with hot coals, or at least a campfire, then we do what we must to keep from getting frostbite.”

Two soldiers in chain armor opened the tent flaps. The first one had enough time to say, “See, these guys had the same idea. Wait a min—”

Malvel struck the first soldier across the face as Klim blasted the man with a stream of icicles. Jayden created his magic hand and slapped the other soldier to the ground. For just a moment Dana thought they’d done it, but the second man screamed when Jayden struck him again with the hand. Men called out in the distance, and the air filled with whistles and bells.

“I do believe it’s time to leave,” Malvel said.

“Not yet,” Jayden ordered. “Klim, hold them off. Dana, Malvel, do as much damage to the bridges as you can.”

Klim sprayed the ground around the tent with magic ice, forming a slippery layer inches thick. Malvel cast a spell that made his hands glow cherry red. He pressed them against the second bridge and began to melt through the iron plates and burn the wood. Dana drew her sword and swung it at the nearest bridge. She hit an iron plate and had to close her eyes against the shower of sparks the sword made as it cut deep.

“Alarm! Alarm!” a man cried out in the distance. “We’ve got men down by the tents!”

The deepening layer on snow on the ground made it hard to hear the crowd of men coming. Dana had no trouble hearing those men scream and curse as they slipped and fell on the ground Klim had iced over. She saw a man slide by the tent flaps and crash into a building, followed by two more men.

Jayden wrapped his whip around the second bridge. The whip melted through iron plates, but at such a slow rate that he’d never destroy it in time. He looked at Klim and said, “Do we have minutes or seconds?”

Klim formed a wall of ice eight feet tall around the tent. “If we’re only fighting men then we have minutes. If Wall Wolf attacks then even seconds is too much to promise.”

Dana hacked at the bridge, cutting deep grooves through iron and wood. Normally she’d be thrilled at how much damage she was doing, but the bridge was so huge she’d need an hour to destroy it. Malvel’s and Jayden’s attacks sped up the process, but not enough. She glanced at Jayden and asked, “This would be a good time for your fire spell.”

“It takes too long to cast, and we’re so close to the bridge that we’d be caught in the blast.” Jayden’s whip cut through an iron plate that fell to the floor. He looked at her and shouted, “Watch your feet!”

“What?” Dana looked down and screamed. The sprays of sparks her sword made hitting the bridge had ignited sawdust around her. She ran from the growing flames and went to another part of the bridge.

Boom. The snow on the ground did little to conceal the sound of Wall Wolf walking toward them. Dana heard ice crack as Wall Wolf stepped onto the icy sheet around the tent. There was a horrible crunch when the golem broke through the ice wall, sending sharp chunks of ice through the tent that tore it open.

Wall Wolf loomed over them with Kyver Rendmal a step behind it, and behind them a host of soldiers. The golem’s right arm was missing all its fingers and much of its armor. This made it weaker than the first time she’d faced it, but not by much if it had burst through the ice wall so easily.

“You,” Kyver spat. The general still wore his armor, but had exchanged his purple cape for furs. He pointed the control rod for the golem at Jayden. “I’d hoped you would’ve had the decency to die like the mangy dog you are, but here you are again, attacking your own homeland once more. Worse, you make common cause with its enemies, treason by any standard.”

Jayden pulled his whip off the damaged bridge, and his magic hand pointed at Kyver. “You mistake me for someone who has any respect for your opinions. I hope you’re enjoying your stay in Edgeland. It promises to be a long one.”

Kyver’s eyes shifted to the left, where one of his bridges was cut in half and the other had suffered serious damage. “You think you can hold back the full fury of the king’s wrath with this? Fool! It would be easier to drink the ocean dry than to stop this army! Wall Wolf, hear me and obey! Kill Sorcerer Lord Jayden and his allies! Stain the snow red!”

“You remain charming company as always,” Jayden quipped as Wall Wolf stomped toward him. Kyver and his men didn’t follow it, a smart move when the battle between the golem and wizards could spill over onto them. Jayden fell back against one of the bridges and looked to Klim. “This would be an excellent time to leave.”

Klim raised his staff. “I need time to create a magic cloud. Slow the golem down.”

Stopping the sun from rising would have been an easier request. Jayden swung his magic whip and struck Wall Wolf across the face. Malvel hit the golem in the chest with a jet of white-hot fire. Both attacks did nothing. Klim was still casting his spell when Wall Wolf tried to trample the man. Klim gave up on his spell and ran for his life, dodging the golem’s heavy feet by inches.

“Aim for its right arm!” Jayden yelled. He swung his whip and struck the golem’s palm, while Malvel blasted it with more fire. Dana ducked below their attacks and swung her sword at Wall Wolf’s arm. Sparks flew when her blade cut deeply into the unarmored right arm.

If Wall Wolf could feel pain the golem hid it well, pushing onwards without hesitation and nearly stepping on Jayden. He ran along the edge of the damage bridge, dodging a punch that broke through the street near Jayden’s heels.

“Stop! Stop!” The dwarf wizards pushed their way through the crowd of soldiers until they reached Kyver. A dwarf pulled on Kyver’s arm and shouted, “We didn’t finish the repairs!”

Kyver pulled free from the dwarf. “Away from me!”

The dwarf didn’t give up. “With the armor compromised every blow they strike is doing serious damage. You’re pushing up the time and cost of repairing the golem. Send in your men instead.”

Gouts of flame washed over Wall Wolf, followed by a shower of razor sharp icicles and a stinging blow from a black whip. Soldiers saw the golem take hits that would kill even a man in armor, and they flinched when a giant clawed hand punched Wall Wolf in the head.

“Yes, send them in, Kyver,” Jayden taunted. “Maybe burying us in bodies will make up for your poor generalship.”

Wall Wolf pressed on regardless of the damage it was taking. It swung at Jayden, missing again but by a smaller margin. More fire struck it and the damaged arm turned red hot, but instead of retreating it dug its left hand into the street and pulled up a handful of cobblestones. It threw them at Jayden, the mass of stones spreading out as they flew so it was impossible to dodge them all. Three rocks hit Jayden in the chest and stomach, and he staggered from the blows.

“Give me the control rod!” the dwarf shouted. He tried to grab it, but Kyver shoved the dwarf to the ground. “Wall Wolf isn’t under warranty! Think about the bill!”

Wall Wolf grabbed part of the destroyed bridge, and with one hand the golem lifted it over its head before throwing it at Jayden. The golem missed as Jayden leapt to the side, but the heavy timbers and iron plates of the bridge dug a deep furrow into the street. Wall Wolf tried to stomp on Jayden and barely missed.

The golem pulled its left arm back for a punch when Dana ran it and stabbed its right arm. Malvel had blasted it with flame so often that the inner workings of its arm were red hot and softened. Dana’s sword sunk deep into the metal arm, showering her with sparks. Jayden created his black sword and ran in alongside her before he drove his sword in next to hers. Both of them pulled their swords up, hacking off the arm at the elbow. The severed limb fell to the ground with a thud. The runes cast in the limb flashed and sparked before they burst.

The dwarfs looked away in horror. Their leader said, “Insurance isn’t going to cover that.”

Kyver screamed like a child throwing a trantrum. Then his eyes fell on Dana. “You again! Wall Wolf, hear me and obey! Your armor will hold against their attacks. The girl is the only one with a weapon that can hurt you. Kill her first!”

Wall Wolf’s armored head turned to stare at her. It was missing most of an arm, but Kyver was right, the rest of its body was impervious to their attacks. Even Dana’s sword could only do superficial damage. The reverse wasn’t true, and Wall Wolf battered aside a section of the destroyed bridge as it went after her.

“Klim, we need that magic cloud now!” Jayden shouted. He ran along Wall Wolf and hacked at its heels. His magic sword bounced off no matter how many times he hit it. Malvel made his hands turn blazing hot and grabbed Wall Wolf around the left leg. His blazing hands heated the golem’s thick armor but nothing more before the golem kicked him off.

Dana ran from the golem and kept only steps ahead. Running wasn’t going to be an option forever when soldiers surrounded them. If she ran into them they’d cut her down with spears and swords. If she needed a reminder of what would happen if Wall Wolf hit her, she got it when the golem trampled and crushed the piece of the wooden bridge it had thrown at Jayden.

Which, oddly enough, gave her an idea.

“Let it come after me!” she shouted to the others as she headed for the second bridge. She, Jayden and Malvel had damaged this one, but not seriously enough to put it out of commission. Dana ran to the bridge and scurried under it.

Wall Wolf caught up with her and raised its left arm high into the air before swinging it straight down. Dana screamed when the huge fist came through the bridge a foot away from her. She crawled along the bridge as Wall Wolf punched one hole after another through it trying to get her.

“Wait, stop!” Kyver yelled. “I said kill the girl, not destroy the bridge!”

“Order it to come back to us while we both still have something left to salvage!” a dwarf begged Kyver.

“Wall Wolf, hear me and obey! Return to my side!”

Wall Wolf had its remaining arm raised for an attack, but at its master’s orders it halted and turned away from Dana. It raised a foot to take a step away from her, and that’s when all three wizards attacked. Klim encased the golem’s head in a block of ice four feet thick. Jayden used his giant magic hand to grab the golem’s heel and pull, toppling it over. The ice block shattered when the golem hit the ground. Malvel blasted the golem in the head with magic flames, and the metal made a pinging sound as it changed from extreme cold to intense heat.

Dana was still on her knees underneath what was left of the second bridge when the golem landed beside her, its armored head so close she could touch it. Wall Wolf’s head looked like a knight’s helmet, complete with visor and eye slits, and as she looked inside those narrow openings she saw runes cast in the metal within. Wall Wolf had similar runes on the arm they’d cut off it. Dana didn’t understand magic, but it looked like those runes were important to it somehow, a weakness concealed under armor thick enough to protect them.

Wall Wolf was struggling to get up with its one arm when Dana got out from beneath the bridge and ran straight at it. For a second its head was level with her, and she stabbed her sword through the visor and into the rune.

Wall Wolf rose to its feet and thrashed about wildly. Dana held onto her sword and was pulled up with it. She struggled to hold on as the golem staggered about and swung its left arm in the air. It seemed to go into seizures, shaking uncontrollably as the rune inside its head sparked and burst. There were more explosions inside its body, some strong enough to blast off pieces of armor and reveal more runes sparking and bursting. Dana screamed when Wall Wolf went stiff and fell over backwards. She lost her grip and fell next to it, nearly hitting the unforgiving ground before Jayden caught her.

“That seemed like such a good idea in my head,” she gasped.

Jayden set her on her feet and pulled her sword out of Wall Wolf. The golem laid silent, smoke rising from it. He returned her sword and said, “I can’t imagine how it could have gone better.”

There was a stunned silence from the soldiers surrounding them. Men backed up. A few even dropped their weapons. Kyver stared at Wall Wolf, too shocked to scream threats or insults.

One of the dwarf’s pointed at Dana’s sword. “That’s Thume Breakbones’ workmanship. I’d recognize it anywhere.” His face twisted in rage, the dwarf screamed, “I’ll kill him!”

“Klim, we haven’t got long before they regain their courage and attack,” Jayden said. “We need to leave.”

“Done and done.” Klim created a magic cloud under their feet and carried Dana, Jayden, Malvel and himself away.

“Archers!” Kyver screamed. “Get me my archers!”

The order came too late. Dana saw men scurrying below as the cloud went ever higher into the sky. A few men managed to notch arrows to their bows, but darkness and snowfall ruined any chance they had to see their targets, much less hit them.

“That is an impressive weapon,” Klim said as he guided the cloud. “Wherever did you find it?”

“That’s a long story,” Dana said. She studied her sword for a moment before sheathing it. The weapon had lived up to the promises Thume had made months before. Wall Wolf, guardian of the royal family for generations, a terror no one had even scratched, lay dead. Well, as dead as a golem could be. Maybe her sword did deserve a name.