With the sun well past its peak, Fenix sat at one of the tables littering around what was left of the stage from Festival. Stemming from an idea of Danni’s, a cafeteria of sorts had been opened. Until everyone was back in their homes, and able to cook for themselves, the most efficient use of supplies was to have the village women set up campfires and cook meals for the village all at once. After seeing all of the faces present, Fenix realized that it was an even better plan than it had originally sounded. Everyone eating together kept those who had lost loved ones in better spirits. Children played in the aisles between tables, and although it was still rare, the occasional laugh or chuckle from villagers echoed quietly in the somber late afternoon.

The village itself was in much better condition than the previous day. Men and women tired through the night once again to clear away rubble, sorting it between that which could be reused and that which could not. Any who may have arrived at the village while travelling today still saw a village in ashes, but would be impressed if they had seen it just a few days ago.

Even in spite of their loss, Fenix felt the village was doing well. He was proud of how easily the villagers were able to turn to and console one another. There were those still in shock, whether from the sight of what had happened or from the loss of a loved one, and Fenix could not blame them. But they were not alone. And for a village that could not offer much more than someone to listen, it gave everything it had.

He was also surprised at himself. Once, he had wished for adventure, for valiant fights of warriors defeating evil enemies. Looking back at himself, he was proud he had not gone and found somewhere to hide. He could understand Captain Ternagis being unaffected by the surroundings of death, having been in the King’s Militia, but not Fenix. He felt a pang of guilt as he secretly admitted to himself: the reason lay in the fact that none of his family had been lost in the ordeal.

“There’s really no point in cooking it if you aren’t going to eat it while it’s still hot.”

Fenix blinked from his thoughts and looked up at Captain Ternagis, staring down at him, holding a plate in his hands. Each day, Fenix noticed that the Captain was looking older and older, as if he had held off aging for years, and now his body was rushing to catch up. But then, no one looked their best, recently. “Oh, Captain. I—I’m sorry. This is the first time since the Explosion that I wasn’t needed for something right away. It’s the first chance I have had to think.”

Ternagis nodded silently and slid onto a seat across from Fenix. He laid his meal in front of him: several of the chickens’ eggs and some diced potatoes, both of which had been provided by Terov’s farm. Ternagis lowered his fork, pierced one of the steaming potatoes, and raised it. He blew on it softly, and placed it into his mouth. He considered Fenix as he chewed.

Fenix looked down at his own food. He had to force himself to eat, mechanically. He had no appetite, but he had not eaten since earlier the previous day. He had been stopping to make sure everyone else was being taken care of, receiving food and the like, that he had not focused on himself. Fenix wondered: what was the food supply like, anyways? He asked as much of the Captain.

Ternagis grunted. “It’s like Terov’s an entirely new man. He’s been working feverishly at the farm, him and the other hands out there, bringing everything in they can. They’re bringing in a cart or two a day instead of per week. He wants everything the village may need on hand in the shop, giving it away.”

Fenix nodded, and honestly, he was impressed. Terov was the friendliest man when you needed a favor, but the stingiest man when you needed a deal. Right now, Tel needed friends, not deals.

“And he removed the locks so anyone could get what they needed, even when he’s gone.”

Fenix choked. Turning to cough, he wheezed over the ground. When he could grasp air, he barked, “The lock?” That was a feature of Terov that was common knowledge: his shop was an impregnable fortress while he was not at it.

“Don’t give him too much credit. He had mentioned several times before we held council that we needed to discuss his losses. He had already been helping with some of his stock of foodstuffs, but only after Xia announced that he would be repaid through removed taxes did he become as eager as he is now.”

Fenix nodded. That sounded right.

“Besides, with Harvest as enormous as it was this year, he would’ve been able to donate enough for the village and then still turn a profit without any help from Xia at all. But, with a surplus like that, some of it was bound to rot. The more he can give away, the more he can recoup from the taxes.”

Fenix smirked. “Now that sounds like the Terov I know.”

Ternagis shrugged and cleaned another potato off his fork. “You cannot blame the man; he has many people’s salaries to pay for their work at the farm.” He put his fork down, and crossed his arms, gazing at Fenix. “Everyone has their loyalties, and their responsibilities. How would you expect the village to function, if we did not honor those?”

It was innocent enough, but Fenix knew the last part was meant to dig into him, and put up his hands, as if to defend himself. “My responsibility is to the people here. They need help, and they need Cerberus and his conflicts gone. I know what my responsibilities are; that’s why you picked me.”

Ternagis’ voice stayed neutral, as if addressing the weather. “And they need Xia gone too?”

Fenix gripped his fork in a tight fist and lowered his eyes. But he did not hesitate in answering. “If that’s what keeps them safe.”

“I chose you because you seemed well-rounded, boy.” Ternagis growled, and Fenix jumped. “You knew when the rules needed to be followed, but you ignored them as you chose. You knew when you needed to stick to your friends, and when to speak against them. When your responsibilities conflicted, you knew something had to give, made a choice, and you followed the path you chose with no shame at all.”

Fenix’s eyes glinted defiantly, meeting his mentor’s gaze. “What is so different about now? I had to make a choice, and I did.”

Ternagis leaned forward. “This time, the shame is written all over your face.”

Fenix opened his mouth… and stopped. Fenix knew there was nothing more painful he had done than his actions that morning, and he felt no pride in it.

“Look at what Xia has been through, boy. No less than anyone else in the village, sure, but throw in Cerberus and that…” Ternagis, as tough and stout as he was, still spoke nervously when referencing the events surrounding Cerberus and Xia. “Who has he got to depend on, now?”

“He has Danni.”

Ternagis barked a laugh. “As if there’s not enough tension there as it is. A man needs more than that, Fenix. He needs someone who can stand beside him, catch him when he falls, and fight for him when he’s down. A man needs the piece of mind that it isn’t him or nothing.”

“Well, Cerberus is there.”

“Boy, do you really believe that?” If Ternagis was not upset before, his eyes truly flamed now. “Young as he may be, Cerberus is a soldier, and he has a mission in mind. Frankly, if not for their common…connection…I’m not sure Cerberus would be tolerating Xia along for the ride. And damned if you think Cerberus would not sacrifice him to achieve his objectives.”

First, Fenix realized that the Captain was really angry with the situation.

Second, Fenix realized that the Captain was incredibly more insightful than he originally thought.

Then, Fenix realized that the Captain was right.

Ternagis saw it in his face. “You see, Fenix? You can’t abandon him now. The other townspeople, they need someone, but they have many someones, all working together. Xia, he needs you.” He poked a finger on Fenix’s forehead.

Fenix frowned, rubbing his forehead as if the Captain’s finger had left a smudge. “What about the Council? What will they say if I just up and leave?”

“They’re wondering why you’re not gone yet.”

* * * * *

In short order, Fenix packed a small bag. He stood at the doorway of his room, shared by two others whose homes no longer stood, and gave a final glance to his militia uniform, spread out on his bed. He had enjoyed wearing it, and it had fit him. Not just the clothes, but how others looked at him while he wore it, the feelings it gave him knowing he was an important part of his hometown. He absently ran a finger on the sword at his waist.

Fenix kept wondering how long a trip this would be, but something told him it was not going to be a quick one. He was not sure why; for all he knew, Cerberus would defeat—or capture, or kill…or whatever he was supposed to do to Tailz—and Xia would find the answers he was looking for. Xia would say “it will never happen again,” and they’d all come home by the end of the week.

Fenix turned and walked down the corridor, through the family room, and out the front door. If only we would all be so lucky.

Walking along the path, Fenix drew the sword he had received on Acceptance. It was a long blade, straight and double-edged. The hilt seemed plain upon first glance, but when Fenix inspected closely, he made out the tiny gems that made a small pattern on one side. Small rubies, shaped in the form of the fenix, the legendary flaming creature blessed with rebirth that he had been named for. He rubbed his thumb over it. When he was born, he made not a sound, blue and not breathing. At the last moment, with his mother panic-stricken and doctor ready to give up, little Fenix took a deep indrawn breath and let out an ear-shattering wail. His mother named him after the firebird, for coming back to her. He sighed and sheathed his blade.

In the little time it took for Fenix to pack his things and arrive at the horses’ picket lines, the rest of the Council were already there. Coole was brushing down Fenix’s sorrel, Ember, his back turned to the path. The Council quieted as they noticed Fenix approaching, and stood, waiting. Fenix cast his eyes around, puzzled. “What’s all this?”

“Well,” his father began, still facing the horse, “we wanted you to know you were doing the right thing.” He dropped the thick grass he was using to brush Ember and dusted his hands. He turned and nodded sternly at his son. “We’re scared for Xia. Who knows how he’s feeling, after losing his father, and then dealing with…this.” A growl vocalized from one corner of the group. Fenix’s father nodded towards it, and Fenix realized it was Master Lants. “And Danni too. They could be in danger, Fenix. They need someone to talk sense to them, remind them of home. Xia does not need to be involved with Cerberus any more than necessary, and Danni less so. We need you to make sure they stay safe, and not used as Cerberus sees fit.”

Fenix took this in as the Council nodded silent agreement. “That’s why you kept Ember here.”

Coole nodded. “I figured you’d might want to catch up at one point.”

Unconsciously thumbing the fenix emblem on his sword at his waist, he nodded. “Alright. Let me get a move on, I don’t have much daylight left.”

“In a moment,” the Captain said, stepping forward. He had in his hands an oddly shaped sword. Not quite as long as a longsword, with a double-edged blade much wider than his own sword.

Fenix recognized the falcon-shaped hilt. “That came from one of the swords the Mayor had on his wall.” Fenix swallowed and corrected himself. “The old Mayor, I mean.” Then it dawned on him. “Xia’s father.”

Ternagis nodded. “We found the hilt a couple days ago, on the outskirts of town. It was Danni’s idea to put a real blade on it and present it to Xia.”

“Why did Danni not say anything when they left?”

Ternagis shrugged. “It was not finished yet. The smithy could not smelt a brand new sword, but he was able to salvage most of an older one, and came up with this blade.” He handed the sword, hilt-first, to Fenix. “Make sure Xia gets it.”

“Right.” Fenix took the odd blade, and pulled it from its sheathe. The blade was slightly curved twice, a sinuous snake ending in a deadly point. The falcon hilt was impressive, the blade seemed to protrude from the bird’s beak, and it had four smooth holes, two on each side. It seemed to be its eyes: two on each side of its head. Shaking his head in admiration, Fenix sheathed the blade, and tucked it through his belt opposite his own sword.

As Fenix mounted Ember, Master Lants approached the horse and wrung his hands. “Please,” he begged quietly. “Bring them home safe, boy. Please bring home my daughter.” Fenix nodded assurance as he strapped his bag behind his saddle. With the sun not quite ready to set, Fenix kicked off, dashing down Tel’s central path towards the southern gate.

Fenix made what he deemed to be good time, pushing Ember as hard as he dared before the night fell, knowing he’d only have a few hours to travel. He rode until long after the sun fell beneath the horizon, slowing as the light evaporated from the sky until he was at a walk in the dim twilight. He stopped only when he did not trust his eyes to guide the horse safely in the dark any further, then slept on the ground until first light saw him off again.

He spent the daylight alternating between jogging alongside his horse and riding him ragged, stopping only briefly at each of the watering holes along the path. Fenix was determined to make it to Srynn before stopping. It was not until the sun had risen and fallen again that a weary Fenix trudged along the road within sight of the wall surrounding Srynn.

A single guard leaned against the closed metal gate in the wall. A lit torch sat in a standpost opposite the soldier, shedding a sphere of light that seemed clearly definable in the dark night. As Fenix approached close enough for the flame’s light to flicker across his face, the soldier lazily stood. He nodded at Fenix, and reached to dip his pen in the small inkwell on a wooden stand. “State your name.” He said blandly. “Where ya from?”

Fenix recognized Srynn’s procedure of documenting those who came in late at night. “Fenix Down,” he said. “I just arrived from Tel.”

The guard dropped his pen. “Tel, you say?” Coughing, the night watchman shook his head, and reached down to retrieve his writing utensil. Pursing his lips, he looked between Fenix and the pen, considering.

Fenix tilted his head. “Yes. Is something wrong?”

“Oh!” The guard started as if goosed. “Ah, not at all! Please! Ah, come in.” The guard turned, and banged three times on the gate. A chain behind the wall started to churn loudly, and the doors slowly opened, wide enough to allow the horse and its rider through.

Fenix nodded, perplexed, and guided Ember forward. As he passed through, he saw no one save the crank operator. The town entrance was completely empty. Then a thought occurred to him, and he turned to address the man who had taken his name. “Aren’t you going to write my name down?”

Eyes wide, the guard nodded, and spun quickly, darting back through the gate. “Of course, of course. Right away.” His voice faded as he disappeared around the corner out of sight.

Fenix looked at the beefy crank operator, who gave a massive shrug and began heaving the turnstile, lurching the large gate closed.

Several of the nighttorches were lit, tracing the cobbled main road into town. Standing from the gate, Fenix could follow the road with his eyes until it disappeared into the mesh of streets and buildings that made the center of the city. When it was daylight, from here, Fenix could even see the opposite city wall on the horizon, but the lights of the torches and buildings downtown made Srynn quite a pleasurable sight at night.

The second torch, easily seen from the gate, and larger than the rest, gave the King Faerth’s Inn its friendly glow. The inn’s proprietress had always been like a second mother to the children of Tel. For as long as Fenix could remember, “Mother Jax” had housed the Telians whenever Mayor Townsend had to make trips out to Srynn. Xia always invited Fenix to tag along, and Jax insisted that Mayor Townsend bring as many children as possible. No matter what time of day, whether breakfast, lunch, or dinner, the children would be treated to freshly made pancakes with huge dollops of fresh cream and butter, and dressed in the sweetest syrup.

Led on by the warm smell of pancakes created by his mind, Fenix grinned and hopped down from Ember, leading him to the ties out front. The lights were still on inside the inn, which was not surprising. Srynn’s inns did not close their common room until the early morning hours sometimes, not at all like the Inn in Tel. In Tell, the Inn closed its doors as soon as the last shard of sun disappeared behind the horizon. Tying the sorrel off, Fenix climbed the few stairs and entered the Faerth’s common room.

Open as it may have been, there was no one present save the staff. Two young men, no older than Fenix, were bent over wiping tables. Their bodies drooped noticeably, exhausted from a demanding day. A third was sweeping the floor. None of them so much as made eye contact with the new arrival. From nowhere discernible, a melodious voice rang. It was tinged with tiredness, but sweet-sounding nevertheless. “Sorry, but the kitchen’s closed up tight; just rooms for the night.”

Fenix’s grin cut his face in two. “That’s just as well, Mistress Jacqueline. A room would suit me well for the evening, but I would ask that you show me to my friends, first.”

A surprised face, just hinting at an age around his mother’s, popped out from the kitchen, and soft blue eyes cast about the room. When they landed on Fenix, a warm smile introduced the rest of Jax to the common room. Her dress was a deep ocean blue, contrasting the sky in her eyes. She seemed to float across to him. “What a surprise!” She clapped her hands happily around his. “What brings you all the way out here, Fenix? And so late! You look exhausted.”

Fenix grinned as the mother in Mother Jax enveloped him whole. He had already been weighed and measured, packaged and tagged. Shaking his head, Fenix replied, grasping her hands momentarily before dropping his arms to his sides. “It’s a long story. I’ve been riding nonstop to get here. My horse is tied out front.” Jax gave a stern look and a quick motion to one of the men clearing off the tables, who nodded and quickly ducked outside to tend to Ember. Her smile sprang back to her face—Fenix wondered if it had ever disappeared—and beckoned him to continue. “But before that, I need to talk to Xia and the others.”

A touch of confusion drew Jax’s smile into a frown. She tilted her head slightly. “But, Xia is not here, Fenix. As a matter of fact, you’re the first of Telian blood I’ve seen through here in a quite some time.”

Fenix’s frown matched hers. “Really? They should have been here long before me.” His body filled with fear. His mind raced through other possibilities. Did Tailz find them along the way? Then he realized, she had said no one from Tel at all, recently. “What about Cheryl? She should have been here even earlier, days ago.”

Jax smoothed her dress, then placed her hands together in front of her. “No, Fenix, I’m sorry.” Her eyebrows drew down, matching her frown. “What’s wrong?”

Sighing, Fenix flexed his hands on the two swords belted at his waist. “No, please, do not apologize. I know Xia and Danni came this way, and if they’re not here, I fear something may be wrong. They could be in serious danger.” He turned and faced the door. “I have to go find them.”

A calm hand on his shoulder prevented him from dashing out. “Fenix,” Jax said softly, stepping beside him. “Danni too? What is going on?” When Fenix seemed at a loss on what to say, she continued. “Well, you cannot go tromping around Srynn after midnight, boy. I won’t allow it. Do you even have any clue where they are?”

Reluctantly, Fenix shook his head. Fenix did not notice how white his knuckles were, clenching the sword hilts in his grasp.

Jax did. “Fenix, earlier there was talk of a knife fight right outside at the gate, of all places, closer than you can throw a stone from here. If your friends are in trouble, you won’t help them by getting yourself hurt at night. Why don’t you stay here until morning? I won’t charge you. Then you can get up with the sun and look for your friends.”

Fenix tried to protest, but he could not think of a more reasonable suggestion. He turned and looked back at the cool cerulean concern gazing at him patiently. The woman exuded blue comfort. “Alright, Jax.” He let himself be led to the stairs at the back.

“Everything will be okay, Fenix. You’ll see.” Fenix almost believed her. “For now, let’s get you into a warm bed. Tomorrow, you can tell me what’s going on before you set out.” She playfully sniffed at him. “And, you can get a bath.”

* * * * *

Tossing the blankets off the bed, Fenix turned onto his right shoulder for the hundredth time. As exhausted as he was, he had opted to go directly to bed, but he started to regret not choosing to soak in a hot tub. He was worried about Xia. Well, of course he was worried about Danni and Deia too, if indirectly. They made up their own mind to follow Cerberus on this crazy trip. They had nothing to do with Fenix. He was not responsible for their actions. He turned and lay on his back.

Xia is not responsible for his actions? His mind softly chided him. Fenix answered it aloud. “I should have been more supporting, at the least.” Then, he sighed. His mother had always told him that if you spoke aloud to no one, that was a sign that your mind wanted a second opinion other than yours. Looking out the window, the only light was the soft glow of the street’s nighttorches. No one would be up at this hour. He twiddled his thumbs idly.

He recalled a memory. Years ago, Xia’s father had come to Srynn to help mediate a nasty dispute. One of the builders of Tel had been called out to put a new staircase into a wealthy man’s home in the city. Two weeks after the staircase was completed, the young daughter of the wealthy man fell down the full length of it. It turned out the top two stairs had collapsed in on themselves. The girl was close to death. Master Townsend stayed at the King Faerth’s, as usual, and brought Xia and Fenix with him.

Late one night, the children heard footsteps in the hall, and decided to investigate. Peeking carefully from their room, they sighted Xia’s father descending the stairs, and followed him. Stepping softly down the stairs, then creeping into the kitchen, the children came upon Master Townsend in a quiet conversation with Mother Jax over fresh milk poured by one of the kitchen staff.

Fenix pushed himself off the bed and grabbed one of the shirts from his saddlepack, tossing it on over his head. That night was the only time Fenix had ever seen the Mayor in tears. The two boys were peering from around the corner, and before too long, tears came to the man’s eyes. Jax had one of his hands in hers, consoling, and the night staff placed a hand on his shoulder. Xia, distraught at seeing his father crying, entered the kitchen, asking, “What’s wrong, Father?” Even Fenix had forgotten about not being allowed out of bed, and tagged along behind him. On seeing them, Jax quickly stood and put her hands on her hips, ready to scold them, but Xia’s father put a hand out to stop her. He wiped his eyes, stood from the table, and reached down to envelop his son in his arms. “You’re squeezing me too hard, Father.”

Fenix shook his head, clearing the reverie from his mind. He was standing at the door, holding the knob in his hand, unturned. Getting a warm cup of milk was a good idea, at the moment. He knew he felt like sleeping, but he also knew his mind would not let him, once he lay down. He turned the knob and pulled the door open. Two lanterns hung in the hallway, turned down low, shedding just enough light to make out the corridor. He was about to turn left, towards the stairs, when he noticed light coming under the last door in the other direction. Jax’s room. She had been up late enough as it was; he was surprised to see that she had yet to go to sleep. Hesitating briefly, he thought getting that second opinion would be more satisfying than the milk. Fenix approached the door, and knocked quietly.

A shuffle told him that she indeed was already up. The door opened partway; cool blue eyes regarded him. As they recognized him, the door pulled open the rest of the way, revealing a smiling, albeit tired-looking, face. The blue robe tied around her was not quite as deep a hue as the dress she had worn earlier, but still made Fenix contemplate when the last time he had seen the woman not wear blue was. “I guess neither of us are sleeping well tonight. What can I do for you?” She beckoned him into the room.

He walked in and sat in one of the chairs. Looking around the room, it had not seemed to change from the last time he had seen it. Jax never changed. “Just can’t sleep.”

Jax closed the door behind her and sat in the other chair facing Fenix. “I’m sorry, Fenix. I’m glad you came to see me though. I find a friend makes these types of things easier, being able to talk through what is eating you.”

“Jax?”

“Yeah?”

“When we came with Xia’s dad for that one dispute he had to do, with the girl who fell down the stairs…”

Jax nodded sadly, remembering.

“Why was he crying that one night?”

“Oh, Fenix,” Jax said, reaching forward and putting a hand on his knee. “Is that what’s bothering you?”

Fenix shook his head. “No, not really. I only just thought about it.”

“Did he never tell you what happened? You two were pretty young back then.” Jax leaned back into her chair.

“No, not really. It never came up.”

Jax put her hands in her lap, and looked down at them. “Well, the truth of the matter, is that the little girl’s father killed her, and made it look to be a very tragic accident. Sam knew that, but he could not prove it.”

“Wait. She died? No one told us that.”

“Fenix, again, you were really young. Xia’s father did not have the heart to tell you anything more than a girl had gotten badly injured.” Then she paused, tilting an ear and listening. When Fenix tried to question her, she put up a finger, so he listened too. “Do you hear that?” She asked.

At first, Fenix dismissed it. It was just soft footsteps. Probably someone else moving around at night. Jax should be more familiar with that by now. Fenix looked at Jax, her head cocked to one side, still listening to the footsteps in the hallway. Jax would be more familiar with people up and about at night: she staffs a worker overnight for just that purpose! Fenix listened more closely to the footsteps.

Then he sat upright, and whispered softly. “There’s more than one person out there.”

Jax nodded and stood up. “I should check on it.”

Fenix stood up quickly and put his hands on her shoulders. “Wait, you don’t know what they’re doing yet.” Waving her to sit down, Fenix crept to the door, put his ear to it, and listened.

More feet scuffling. Then, silence. Then, low, fierce whispers.

A man’s low-pitched growl. “You said he was in here.”

A younger man’s higher voice. “He was! I swear. I made the room, I saw him.” Fear tinged his voice.

The slide of metal, as if from a sheathe. A grumble, from a mouth different than the first two. “We don’t have time for these games. Are we even sure?”

Yet another voice, familiar to Fenix’s ears. “Of course I’m sure! I watched him come in here, and the handler came out and took his horse.”

The low-pitched growl again. “Well, he isn’t here.” Another sound of a blade drawn.

A gasp. Slow steps followed the higher voice, even higher in stark terror. “Please, I tried, I did what I was told!”

The growl stepped forward towards the terrified voice. Fenix pictured a man brandishing a dagger. “Get in the room.”

The voice got just a smidge louder. “Please! I won’t say a word! Please!”

Fenix’s hand went to his side before he realized that he left both swords in his room. Looking around Jax’s room, he whispered sternly. “Weapon? Blade? Anything?” Jax shook her head, her eyes widening. Cursing softly, he realized that fighting outnumbered was not on the list of smart-things-to-do. He needed another plan before someone got hurt.

Then, Fenix’s eyes lit on the curtain rod. Leaping onto Jax’s bed, Fenix snatched it down, letting the curtains hanging from it fall off. He jumped back down, briefly pausing to say, “Sorry for the door.” Jax could only blink before Fenix leveled his shoulder and dove into the door, crashing it into the hallway.

Time became molasses. Fenix stood atop the door he had just been listening through. At the other end of the corridor, next to the staircase, sat one of the young men Fenix had seen downstairs when he arrived. Tears ran down his face, and his hands were raised as a shield towards the three men standing over him.

The guard who took Fenix’s name at the gate was one of them, out of uniform. One was short with an enormous hooked nose. The third was what made Fenix regret, momentarily, that he had jumped out here so rashly. He was one of the largest men Fenix had seen, and a memorable one at that, though Fenix could not decide if the man was openly sneering, or just naturally ugly. Or both.

All four men were staring openly at Fenix. In the second that had passed after the door landed and surprised the current occupants of the inn’s hallway, Fenix sized up the situation. The man on the floor pointed and said, “See! There he is!” Then, as the others looked to young man, Fenix moved quickly. The curtain rod swung down, and then sideways, clipping the guard above his ear. The guard yelled out and dropped to the floor.

Ugly and Hooknose both jumped back a step, flashing their blades at Fenix. “You’re gonna need more than a stick, boy.” said Hooknose.

Fenix waited.

Then, one door opened. Then two. Several people entered the hallway, demanding what all the commotion was about. Each man and woman to come out first looked at Fenix standing on the door in the hallway, focusing on him with their anger at being woken up. Then gazes turned to the other end, which resulted in either the trailing off of complaints, or a quick yell and diving back into their rooms.

Fenix lowered the curtain rod, looking over the heads of those still in the corridor. “You gonna kill us all?”

Hooknose growled and backed up to the stairs. “Later, boy.” He pointed a finger at Fenix. Then he turned and clomped down the stairs. “Come on, Jif.” The tall man ducked into the stairs and followed after.

Heaving out a breath he only realized he was holding, Fenix propped the curtain rod against the wall and sagged visibly, cursing himself. What was I thinking?

Jax stepped out from the room. “Alright people, enough drama for the night. Sorry for the trouble; we’ll get these rabblerousers out of here.” As the guests obeyed, Jax planted herself directly above the guard, still on his knees holding his head and moaning quietly. “You.” She said sternly. “Get up.” When the guard moaned in answer, she reached down, grabbed a fistful of hair, and pulled. He jumped up with a cutoff yelp. Turning his head, she thrust him through the open door of Fenix’s room. The guard stumbled forward, crashing into the floor. Jax pointed a finger. “Go watch that.” Then she turned and tended to her employee, who had yet to move from his position on the floor.

Fenix walked into his room and closed the door behind him. Turning up the lamp, he looked at the guard more closely, and shook his head as he determined the man was indeed the same who took his name at the gate. Walking to the corner of the room, he picked up his sword and started belting it around himself. It was just dawning on him that they might have very well been coming for his life, and he did not feel as if he would be sleeping anytime soon. “What,” Fenix asked, “is all this about?”

The man wiped dusty brown hair from his face and frowned, ignoring the question.

“Well?” Fenix asked. Then a thought hit him, and he put a hand to his stomach. “Do you… do you know where my friends are? Others, from Tel?” Other than a bored glance, Fenix got no answer. The two men just stared at each other. A minute passed, maybe two. The lantern flame flickered wildly, as if a wind had given it cause to panic. Fenix squeezed the hilt of his sword firmly.

The man on the floor glanced at Fenix’s hand on his sword, then back up to his eyes. “You know,” he said, a calm sneer spreading over his face. “You have to let me go sometime. Soon, they’re going to notice I’m not where I should be, and they’ll come looking, asking questions. You don’t want them to find out you attacked one of the Guard, do you?”

Fenix sighed, and dropped his hands to his sides.

The guard smiled.

The door abruptly opened, and both the guard and Fenix jumped simultaneously. Jax appeared from behind the thin wooden door as quickly as it made space for her. “Now tell me, what in all of whichever hell you believe in is going on tonight?”

When no one said a word, she sighed angrily and glanced around the room. “Well, no matter. We don’t have that kind of thing here. Raising metal under my roof!” She caught sight of Xia’s sword still propped in the corner, and purposefully strode over to it. She roughly raised it, and tore off and tossed the sheathe across the room. She admired the blade quietly. “We’ll just slit your throat and throw you out with the refuse.”

The threatened man’s eyes grew wide, but not as wide as Fenix’s. Fenix jumped in front of her, putting his hands around hers. “Jax, no one got hurt.”

Jax shrugged. “Not yet. But right now, either I kill him, or he goes out and does it to someone else. Best clean up the dirt under our noses.” She nodded satisfactorily and took another step across the room.

The guard jumped up, shocked, but Fenix backed up a step and held on to her. “Jax!” Fenix cried. “What is wrong with you?”

Her eyes met Fenix, but not with the caring and compassion of earlier. These eyes were lit with rage. “Boy, you step aside, and when I’m done, I’ll handle you for taking down my door.”

Fenix’s jaw dropped. “But—oof!” A swift upward jab from Jax brought the hilt of the sword into Fenix’s face, knocking him sideways. Landing on the bed, he put a hand to his chin, and stared at her, dumbfounded. He could only watch as the crazy woman approached the man cowering in the corner.

“Wait!” the guard called out. “You can’t do this! You’ll lose everything here.”

“Pfft.” Jax hissed. “There are no less than eight people who saw you in a scuffle just now. As far as anyone else knows, I sent you all outside to finish whatever fighting you brought into here. No one would be the least surprised to find out the next morning that you were the one who lost.” Jax raised the sword.

The guard turned pale white, hollow around the eyes. Fenix reached a hand out to try and stop her, even though she was out of reach, but before he could, the guard dropped to his knees. “Please, come on, let me go! We were not going to kill him. The other two that just left, their boss, he’s not here right now, but they said we better pick him up to be safe.”

Jax lowered her face into the man’s crying in front of her, holding the sword poised to strike. “What for?”

The guard shook his head. “Please! You have to believe me, I don’t know! The others from Tel, they were brought to the Srynn Hall. They said the Metson girl wasn’t needed, so she was taken to the dungeon. They said while their boss was gone, no one was going to go into the Srynn Hall, so we were going to take him to the prison.” He pointed at Fenix. “Honest! We weren’t going to kill him!” He pleaded, tears streaming, his hands clasped together.

Fenix stood, still holding his jaw, stupefied. “Who is their boss?”

“I don’t know. I never met him. He’s a retainer of the Lord Mensch, and we were told to obey him.”

Jax frowned at the man. “By the time I count three, if you are still in my sight, I’m going to kill you anyway. And if you ever come near my establishment again, I will make sure it is the last thing you ever see.” She frowned and stood back, leaving a clear path to the door. “One.”

Before she completed the word, his panicked footfalls down the stairs faded away.

Sighing, she tossed the sword onto the bed. “A messy business,” she said.

Fenix just stared.

“Sorry about the jaw, but consider it equal payment for my door. What was that for?”

“I’m sorry,” Fenix said. “Waking everyone up was the only option I had.”

“Oh, I know that, boy,” Jax laughed. “But couldn’t you have just slammed it really hard? I’m not made of money, you know.”

Not sharing her mirth, Fenix plopped onto the bed, staring at the floor.

“Oh, poor Fenix. What you just went through would be very difficult for anyone.” She sat next to Fenix, trying to console him.

Fenix shook his head, and looked her in the eye. “They have them. They have Xia and Danni.”

Jax’s mouth thinned to seriousness. “He said that the Lord Mesnch’s man took them.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Did they do something wrong?”

“No!” Fenix exclaimed. “It just, it makes no sense. Mensch has nothing to do with this.”

“So they’re innocent?”

Fenix nodded.

Jax thought hard. Then she stood and faced him. “Sounds to me like you have a puzzle on your hands, young Fenix. You need more information to fill in the holes. Your friends are being held in the Srynn Hall, if what that filth said is true, which I believe so, and that means there is no easy way to see them unnoticed. But they also said another was in the prison.”

“He said it was the Metson girl. That would mean Deia.” Fenix rubbed his jaw unconsciously.

Jax glanced down at his sword. “You any good with that?”

Fenix nodded.

“Good. Now,” she said, sitting down. “You will tell me everything that is going on. Everything, mind you. Once I know what I’m getting into, I may be able to help you.”

* * * * *

Just a few hours later, in the early morning twilight, Fenix leaned against the wall of a small shop, three buildings down the street from the Srynn’s prison. At Jax’s insistence, he had done away with the clothes he had come to town in and dressed in the manner of the local farmers of Srynn: plain, worn workclothes covered with soft, brown woolen robes. The robes easily hid the swords sheathed on his belt, both his own sword and Xia’s Falconblade, and the robe’s hood helped to hide his face, lest he happened to run into the guard from earlier. The cobbled road held a few stragglers, mostly milling about until the shops opened to hone in on the best deals.

Jax was across the street, engaged in a delightful conversation with a shopkeeper. Apparently her pancake syrup was purchased from here, because from what Fenix could make from their words, that was the topic. From the way he greeted her, smiled charmingly, and stopped what he was doing to speak with her, it was clear they were old friends, at the least. Glancing down the street, Fenix sized up the dungeon’s entrance. No fewer than seven of Srynn’s uniformed Guard were standing at rest around the street, and Fenix supposed there were some inside, as well.

Turning his gaze back to Jax, he met eyes with her just briefly before she turned away from him, laughing at something the shopkeeper had said. Fenix looked away as well. It was important that no one connect the two of them in their mind. When all was said and done, Fenix was to be an innocent bystander, just like everyone else. He instead looked at everything but Jax. He watched a few birds fly overhead until he could not see them anymore. He smiled, and then laughed, at two young kids running circles around their papa. He returned a friendly nod to a young man who had cheerily waved to him. Since he was dressed similar, Fenix guessed he was one of the farmhands Jax spoke about. The city was nice enough, if you did not know what lurked beneath it.

That irked Fenix to no end, and tried to work it out in his head. He knew Tailz was involved, he knew it. But what Mensch had to do with that, he could not begin to guess. The thought of Tailz working for Mensch seemed unlikely. Then the Guard, following their orders blindly. It smelled of corruption, and that, while not all too common, was not unheard of either. But then, that led him full circle as he wondered what Tailz’ involvement in it was.

Barely stifling a gasp, Fenix turned his head away, pulling his hood down, leaving just enough to peer out its side. The two ruffians from the inn came stalking down the street towards the prison. Fenix watched as the tall one stood idly, letting the shorter one with the bent nose talk to the man guarding the door. Glancing back to the shop, Fenix was going to try and get Jax’s attention, but she was already looking down the road, still half-heartedly holding up her end of the conversation while the shopkeeper continued preparing for the day. He turned slightly, and watched the two goons go inside the prison.

Fenix felt his heart drop. This was going to be more difficult than he feared, but it was too late to turn back now. A second man had approached the shop and greeted Jax and the shopkeeper. Fenix tensed, and then stood from his leaning position. Smiling one moment, the newcomer whistled loudly the next, and half a dozen rundown, dirty-looking men came from all directions. Behind the shop, down the street—one even ran down the alley Fenix was standing in, passing him on the way. They all brandished swords and daggers. “Alright,” the man who had whistled announced loudly. “Give me the money chest, and we won’t have to hurt any one, you understand?”

That was Fenix’s cue. Acting like a farmhand caught in a bad place, Fenix put his hands up in front of him, and backed slowly away from the scene, down the street, towards the prison. Others on the street did the same, moving away from the trouble to not be caught up in it either. As he slowly moved, the contingent of Guard in front of the prison ran past him, waving their swords about and yelling for the thieves to drop their weapons. Fenix flinched as the band of robbers cheered joyfully as they raised their steel above their heads, then threw themselves amongst the guards.

Fenix, being far enough away, turned and began walking down the street away from the commotion. Two of the guards were left at the prison entrance, but before Fenix reached it, a cry for help sounded from behind him, and the guards opened the door and called inside for assistance. Then they drew blades and sped down the street. In quick succession, several others exited the prison and followed suit. Almost laughing with joy, Fenix sauntered over and entered through the open door.

He leapt through with his hands under his robes, ready to draw his swords, but to his relief, no one was in the entryway. They did not leave a single man behind. Glancing at the large metal door that led further into the dungeon, he saw an empty hook that he guessed the keys would have hung on. Judging from the fact that they had not left with the other guards, Hooknose and Ugly were in the dungeon already. Sure enough, the door was unlocked, and so Fenix passed into the dark dungeon, closing the door behind him with a loud clang.

The dungeon was musty and humid, and Fenix could barely see a pace in front of him. He made out the lantern stand next to the door, but the lantern had already been taken. He heard voices, faintly, so with his hands out in front of him, Fenix cautiously made his way through the dark. He snagged his foot only once before making it to where the corridor turned.

Looking down the new length of cells, Fenix could clearly make out the two thugs from earlier at the far end, one holding a lantern up and peering towards him. The light faded before it reached Fenix, and he realized they could not see him yet. He approached them slowly, wanting to be as close as he could before they noticed him. Hooknose also cautiously stepped forward, using the lantern as a brush, dashing away the darkness to reveal what lay behind it. Then, the light revealed Fenix standing in the corridor.

“Who are you?” Hooknose growled. “What do you want?”

Fenix decided to leave the hood down for now. They did not know who he was yet, and was hoping for as much surprise as he could. “I’ve come for the girl.”

Big Ugly drew his sword. “I’m afraid she belongs with us, you get it?

Glancing at the thin corridor, Fenix realized there would not be much avoiding a fight if they pushed for one, and Ugly was already stepping down the corridor. “Very well,” Fenix said, drawing his swords from beneath the robes. “Come then.”

Ugly answered with a vicious slash down towards Fenix’s head. Fenix barely leapt back to avoid it. Then he leapt again, and again, as his attacker growled with each swing. The fool was using all of his strength in his opening attack. Fenix stepped back until he saw the first bead of sweat on Ugly’s brow, glinting in the soft light of the lantern, then rose both of his swords in a cross to meet his opponent’s broadsword. The broadsword stopping before he expected it put a visible shock through Ugly’s arms, and Fenix capitalized on the moment, swinging his arms in succession. Ugly had a hard time seeing in the darkness, and could only move his sword enough to stop Fenix from drawing blood.

“Gah!” yelled Ugly under Fenix’s relentless attack. “I need more light!”

The lantern was being moved, and Fenix knew that he could not keep up this flailing attack, or he’d use up as much of his strength as Ugly had, and he’d lose his advantage, especially once the light was closer for Fenix to be seen more clearly. At the last moment, Fenix reversed his swings, and threw his swords underhanded up at the big thug. Ugly moved his sword sideways to block them away, but overly so. Having no resistance, the two swords harmlessly were knocked away, and Ugly’s follow-through left him open. Fenix leapt forward, striking him square in the nose, and spun, driving his elbow into the man’s temple. Ugly dropped like a heavy rock in a pond.

Holding on to surprise, Fenix quickly leapt over Ugly and swung at Hooknose. The man had a single moment of recognition before he was laid out on the ground.

Fenix reached down and checked Hooknose’s pockets, and sure enough, there were the keys. Finding the key that lined up with the cell door, Fenix looked in, and was relieved to see Deia safe and sound. “We have to hurry,” Fenix said. “I don’t know how long the guards will be gone.” He turned the key, and pushed the door open, then turned to locate his swords. “Let’s go.”

Peering oddly up at him, Deia frowned and said, “Wait, who are you?”

Fenix forgot he had his hood still up, and pulled it off behind him. He began to tell her to hurry along, but Deia dropped to her knees and began to cry.

“What is it?” Fenix asked, bending on one knee to look at her face. Deia just shook her head, crying, and threw her arms around him, weeping into his shoulder. Unsure what was really going on, but knowing they were short on time, Fenix gathered her into his arms, picked her up, and began making his way towards the heavy dungeon door.

As he emerged from the prison onto the street, the sight was surprising. The fight had grown into almost a full scale riot, with a line of Guard across the entire street protecting themselves from the thieves. A loud “whoop” went up, and suddenly, the thieves fell back, retreating further down the street. The Guard yelled in victory and chased after them. No one even so much as glanced at Fenix carrying Deia in the opposite direction.

* * * * *

She cried, and cried. Fenix never said a thing, just held Deia while she cried into his shoulder. She had relayed to him, in between bouts of sobbing, what took place when she and the others had arrived. They had called her a murderer, she said. They separated her from the others and took her to the dungeon. They threatened her, called her names, some of which she had never even heard of before, and worse, she had taken a beating, or several. Bruises lined down the side of her face and neck, and when he got her to show him her side, Fenix immediately sent one of Jax’s staff for bandages and cool water.

When the bandages and water arrived, he stuck his finger in it to ensure it was cool enough, then turned to the door to leave. “I’ll see about some fresh clothes.”

Panic welled up in her. “Fenix, wait.”

He stopped and looked at her.

“I don’t want to be alone.”

Fenix looked from her to the bandages and back and swallowed, but nodded and closed the door. Instead, he turned and faced the corner. Turning away from him, as if he had eyes in the back of his head, Deia stood, and reached down and grabbed the bottom of her blouse to raise over her head. Her arms made it just over her head before she winced and moaned quietly.

“You okay?” Fenix asked the wall.

Deia sighed, and tossed her blouse aside. “I can barely move to take my shirt off, much less wrap bandages.” She pursed her lips. “I—I’m gonna need your help.” She looked over her back at him, and sat down on the edge of the bed.

Fenix turned slowly from the wall, eyes squinted closed, and carefully opened them. Deia felt herself flinch as he turned his gaze to her. Waiting for his first reaction, she realized. He met her eyes, neither pair so much as blinking. Then, so ever slowly, Fenix’s gaze lowered. It was as if his hands were slipping down her spine. So, which was her true feeling, when the mix of youthful desire and uneasiness in his eyes, after flickering on her nervously, narrowed in concern? Relief, or disappointment?

Frowning, Fenix turned to the small nightstand to pick up the stack of bandages and cloths in one arm, and the small basin of water in the other. He walked around to her side of the bed, and stopped, hissing silently. Deia looked down at herself, seeing the welts and bruises truly for the first time. They covered her sides, her chest, and her neck. Several had broken her skin, and she was bleeding. She realized, in the presence of the first man besides her own father to lay eyes on her skin, she felt disgusting, undesired. Her mouth twisted, and a tear escaped her eye unwanted.

Misunderstanding, Fenix knelt in front of her nakedness, took a cloth, and reached up and dabbed the tear away. “Don’t worry,” he whispered. “Let’s get you taken care of.” He dipped the cloth in the cool water, and asked her to move her arms back. She complied, and he set to work, carefully cleaning her wounds.

She did not know if it was because of her swollen skin, or her mixed feelings on the situation, but every one of his touches seemed exaggerated. Looking at him concentrating on her left side, she saw him being delicate, carefully navigating his hands around the painful swollen marks, sweeping the dirt and blood away, leaving behind only the soft memory of his fingers, and the warm chill of his breath landing on her as he worked. Fenix went through two cloths on her left side, another two on her right. He hesitated as he came to the bruises above her breasts, but the nervous desire was fleeting, and was overcome again by concern.

Fenix spoke as he tended to her face, the cloth in his hands softly caressing her cheeks. “Do you feel better?” He asked.

“What do you mean?” She asked, hesitantly.

“I remember when you came into Tel. You shed a few tears for your parents when you got there, but anyone could see you were trying to be tough, and hold it in. Nothing like you just did, a moment ago. Do you feel better, letting it out?”

She frowned as he cleaned the cloth in the basin. “That wasn’t for them,” she said quietly. “That was for what those heathens did to me. I did my crying for Mother and Father over their bodies.” Tears ran down her face.

This time, Fenix did not brush them away. “See how it pains you? You cannot hold it in forever,” he said, his eyes locked with hers. “It won’t make it stop hurting. It will never heal, either.” He picked up a dry cloth, folded it, and placed it against a sore on her side. She hissed inward sharply. “Sorry,” he said, holding it in place while using his other hand to place a bandage to wrap around her. “As I recently told my best friend, if you let the weight of the world ride on your shoulders while your insides are racking themselves with pain, you’ll be crushed, and won’t be able to do a damn thing about it.”

She rose her arms, painfully, as Fenix reached to wrap the first bandage around her stomach. He was quiet as he worked, carefully placing and pinning each bandage into place. She thought about his words, which brought back the memories of her smoldering parents’ bodies against her will. He was sitting on the bed next to her when he pinned the final one together behind her shoulder. “There,” he said. “How do you feel?” She answered him by falling forward into his arms.

She cried again, but nothing like she did just moments before. Before, she was angry and in pain because of the wounds to her body, but now, she was grieving and in pain because of the wounds to her soul. It was all she could do to hold herself up, until she realized it was Fenix doing that for her. She wept for the memories of her father, working the farms each year, and her mother, working the kitchen for the hands every day. Her very being poured out of her in tears.

Before too long, Deia realized Fenix was talking to her, but could not make out what he was saying. Fenix pushed her away, and looked at her, that concern in his eyes. “Deia,” he said louder, “you’re burning up.” He put a hand to her forehead to feel it, and hissed, pulling it away. “Lay down, quickly.” She complied, wiping her eyes, and Fenix went to the door carrying the waterbasin. Once she was decently covered by the blankets, he opened the door and asked someone for more water.

Her thoughts clouded her sight: thoughts of her parents, thoughts of Tailz and Cerberus, thoughts of Fenix. She was out long before Fenix returned with the first damp towel to place over her forehead.

* * * * *

A knock at the door woke Fenix. Looking around, he checked on Deia, who was still asleep, the latest towel on her head nearly dry. He jumped up from the chair he sat in, grasping the sword’s hilt that had been jabbing into his side just moments before. He cautiously approached the door.

“Fenix?” came a melodious voice.

Relieved, Fenix put his sword back in its sheathe before opening the door. “I am glad you’re okay.”

Jax looked just as relieved to see him, and entered the room. “That’s sweet, boy, but I was never in any danger. The Guard saw me as a sweet innocent victim, and the boys, well, they weren’t going to harm me none.”

Earlier, after hearing the story Fenix laid out for her, and then some convincing to try to prove to her that what he was saying was real, Jax decided that they had to do something. Even if only a part of what Fenix said beared any fruit, it was events surrounding Deia and the Guard’s odd behavior that made her act. She explained that she knew some men that had owed her a favor, and that they would gladly jump at the chance to help with this, especially with the Guard involved. What she had not told him was that they were a group of thieves in the city. They argued about it at first, but when Jax said she did not expect him to understand how the protection of her establishment hinged on absolute neutrality towards her guests, he let it lie.

True enough, they did the job, and did it well. That’s all that mattered.

“How long was I out?” Fenix asked?

“Out?” Jax asked. “I only just arrived.” She frowned at Deia and then back again. “You poor things, you must be exhausted.”

Fenix walked to the window and looked outside. The sun was barely visible out on the horizon. He had been back at the inn for an hour, maybe two. He must have dozed off. “Deia’s the worst of it, I’m afraid,” he said over his shoulder, watching the street outside. Guards were changing shift at the gate; nothing seemed out of the ordinary. “She’s become feverish.”

Jax walked over to the girl in the bed, and raised the dried compress off Deia’s head, and reached down to moisten it again in the waterbasin on the floor. “Poor thing,” she said again. “Did you find her like this?”

The gates opened outside. Fenix kept watching, half expecting the Guard to start storming the inn at any moment. “No, she just went under, not too long ago.”

“Hm. But, you know what is odd?” Jax said, squeezing the cloth in her hands and reapplying it to Deia’s warm forehead. “Lam and his boys, they said that the Guard was light this morning. Only minimal guards at the usual places, and nowhere as many joined in their little skirmish as they would have liked. We would suspect that the Mayor had been relaxing the number of guards on duty, but why today, all of a sudden, right when we needed it?”

Fenix gasped, and pointed out the window. “Because they were out of town.”

Jax strode over to see what he was looking at, and then put both hands to her mouth. What seemed to be an army, the entirety of the Srynn Guard was marching in the front gate. “Oh, my.” She lowered her hands, and spoke to Fenix without taking her eyes off the incoming soldiers. “What do you think they were after?”

“I don’t know, but—” Fenix cut off, choking. A tightly-formed group of Guard entered the gate, with a man in brown robes and fiery-red hair leading the way. “Tailz!” He growled.

Jax moved an inch away from the window. “That horrible man you told me about, he’s with them?”

Looking closely, Fenix scanned the group Tailz was leading and saw everything centered on one man, chained to himself and moving oddly. Then everything made sense. Fenix slapped his forehead.

Jax blinked. “What?”

“Tailz did not join Mensch. Tailz is in charge! Tailz needed help, forces, to capture Cerberus, and he’s using Mensch to do that!”

“But why keep him alive? Why go through all that killing, and not kill him too?”

Fenix watched the Guard parade down the central street, headed towards the center city. Towards the Srynn Hall.

They realized it together, exclaiming simultaneously, “Xia and Danni!”

Fenix rushed to gather his robe, checking the belt around his waist and his sheathe. “I have to go help them.”

“What are you going to do, Fenix? Fight them all?” Jax scoffed at him. “Boy, you can’t win this one, we have to think of another way.”

“Look, unless your ‘boys’ are willing to take on the Mayor and Srynn Hall, there is no other option right now. Tailz is going to use the Telians as leverage to get Cerberus to do what he wants.”

Jax put her hands on her waist. “What if Cerberus doesn’t count them as friends?”

Fenix drew himself up tall, and put a hand on his sword. “Then they’re as good as dead anyways. I have to get to them somehow.”

Jax pursed her lips, but did not say anything. She walked over to Deia, and looked at her. “What about the girl?”

Fenix opened the door. “Take care of Deia for me.”

“You take care of yourself, boy. I’ll handle the girl.”

“I’ll come back, I promise.” Fenix turned and walked out the door. “With the others.”

Lifting the blanket to check on Deia, Jax winced at the state of her bandaged body. “You’d better come back, boy. You saved her life, and took care of her. If you die now, after everything she’s been through, she’ll only blame herself.”

* * * * *

The window crashed and rained down glass over Lord Mensch. A robed figure flew through the window feet first, driving them into Mensch’s back. Mensch growled loudly as he was knocked forward. The robed man released the rope he had rode in on, and dropped to his feet on the floor. Mensch kept his balance and turned to face the newcomer.

“Bah!” Tailz said, turning away from Mensch and towards Cerberus. “You kill them! Kill them all! I’ll take care of my friend over here.”

Mensch raised his sword obediently. The robed man lowered his hood, and drew two swords from under his robes. “You bastard,” Fenix announced. “Let’s see how good you are now.”

Tailz stared silently at the new kid.  He knew it was a kind of hypocrisy to refer to a boy no older than himself as a “kid”, but the boy was fresh out of Selection; placed immediately into command, no less.  With the exception of the weapons exam, on which Tailz still held the highest proficiency, the kid, code-named “Cerberus,” had scored highest across the board.  The first Selection assigned specifically for command, he had been appointed specifically to replace their last Commander, who had vanished undercover deep in Fongen territory.  Tailz had been Acting Commander ever since the Union’s head leaders, the Will, gave up looking for Commander Fincher.

That was two years ago.  Tailz had hopes that his work against the rebel Fongen would allow him to keep the position in reality, instead of by default.  The only real obstacle to that was if someone came out of Selection with scores to match Tailz’, a feat he had believed impossible.  Only, that’s what this boy had done.  Tailz noted with some pride, however, that although he was a year younger than Tailz, Cerberus had spent four years longer in Selection.  Tailz was assigned to the Terra Scouts as lead tactical officer at the minimum age, thirteen standard years.  Cerberus may have been immediately assigned as the new Commander on Selection, but not until after his seventeenth nameday.

At least the boy’s first mission was simple.  The Union had been waiting for an opportunity to infiltrate a secure spaceport in the rebel Fongen’s space.  Recently, they had been able to discern the timetable of a freighter with the appropriate clearance.  The first mission was to secretly retrieve the craft’s authority codes to dock at the port, and the captain’s biometric data to confirm it.  They also needed the craft’s identification signal, so they get close to the port without alerting the rebel force nearby. 

The second task was to get to the port and dock with it.  The idea was—after broadcasting the Fongen colors—they would identify the Scouts, own craft as the freighter that had just left.  Their freighter, the Zeroth, confiscated on another smuggling raid, was an identical model craft.  The Scouts would then transfer scan data showing a power glitch that required them to return to port.

 Finally, they would infiltrate the port itself.  The Will wanted the Scouts to obtain the manifest database containing all of the crafts which docked at the port and their cargo.  With that, it would be easy enough to strangle the rebels’ supply lines.  A blockade was out of the question; the space was too great an area.  But as the Union suddenly began targeting known smugglers and confiscating cargo, it would be a bad time to be a supply runner for the Fongen.

Cerberus paced behind the communications station.  Heir, the Scout assigned to handle the station, was staring intently at the screen.  They had been waiting nearly an hour just on the outside of the Fongen’s known transmission range, so the rebels would not catch wind of the radio traffic.  Cerberus continued to pace, unwilling to abort the mission just yet.

The final member of their small crew, Blank, called out from navigation.  “Commander, the target is exiting Fongen space.” 

“Finally!” Cerberus sighed.  “Confirm it.”

Blank tabbed through several screens of information.  “It’s the right one; the Ire of Mandala.  Looks like they were just delayed getting off the planet.”

“Have they detected us yet?”

“No, Commander.  They are not running sweeps this far out.”

Cerberus nodded.  “Cut power as we discussed, make it look good.  Everyone get their helmets on.”  He turned to the comm station.  “Heir, transmit the distress signal, all Fongen channels, make it weak enough that they get it and no one else.  Don’t want a relay to accidentally pick it up.”  As Heir complied, typing into his console, Cerberus approached Tailz.  “Let’s go.”

As the pair exited the Zeroth’s bridge, the lights dimmed and went out.  They placed their masks over their faces, and connected them to the oxygen pack on their backs.  Then, they placed their helmets over their heads, hearing the click that locked them into place.  Normally life support would last several hours on a freighter this size after a complete power down, but to make their show more convincing they were going to vent all the gas into space several minutes after lights out.  Sure enough, in time they could hear the hissing of the ventilation system as it sucked out all the air.  Cerberus nodded, and led the way to the weapon locker. 

Opening the locker they had hauled on board the Zeroth, they each reached in.  Tailz, as usual, pulled out the trusty rifle he hefted with him everywhere.  He grabbed a phasic pod from the open box, and locked it in.  The clear glass of the unused pod quickly gave off a fluorescent blue as the rifle hummed to life.  Nodding to himself, Tailz attached the shoulder strap, and then heaved the big rifle over his shoulder.

Cerberus shook his head, but said nothing, pulling out two of the smaller pistols.

“What?”  Tailz asked, brushing his hand through his fiery-red hair.

The Commander shrugged while he belted on the double holster.  “Well, you’re the weapons expert, so it’s probably different for you.”  He clicked one pistol closed, and holstered it.  He began loading the second one.  “I prefer a weapon I can put away quickly and have both my hands free.”

Tailz scoffed.  Cerberus looked up and raised an eyebrow.  Tailz held his hands wide.  “Sorry, but I don’t plan on letting anyone get that close.”

Shrugging, Cerberus holstered the second pistol and closed the locker.  “Like I said, you’re the weapons expert.  So long as we get the mission done, I don’t care how you do it.”  He turned and moved down the corridor.  Tailz adjusted his rifle’s shoulder strap and followed along behind.

A brief walk to the elevator shaft that remained active and down four decks took them to the storage bays.  Cerberus palmed open the large door that hid their cargo.  Tailz whistled, impressed: “Now that’s a classy craft.”  He cocked his head, studying it.  “It’s tiny, though.”  It was about half the size of the crafts they currently used for single- or double-man missions.

Cerberus chuckled as he popped the hatch open.  “Yeah, the guys on the Antirades said it was an over-sized sardine can.”  Cerberus pointed at various components.  “Two-man seating, and the shallow contour of the chairs allows for two rows of controls on either side.  Also helps make the craft smaller.”

Tailz tilted his head to one side.  “I don’t see any armaments.”

“There are none.  This class was built for speed.  I had them only put two circuits: one for the thrusters, and one for the computer.”

“Just two?” Tailz said, eyes wide.  “Fine, no weapons, but what about the refractors?  Auto-stabilizers? Phasic dampeners?”

Cerberus grinned.  “Well, the light refractors and phasic dampeners have their own power source: a battery that is charged while the thrusters are low.  That way, they’ll be available when they’re needed, but they weren’t designed to be used for long.  All engine output is directed to the thrusters when they’re hot.  That, combined with the fact that there are no auto-stabilizers, you have the smallest possible package, with maximum speed and maneuverability.”

Tailz choked, surprised, and had to clear his throat.  “You took off the auto-stabilizers?”

“Of course.  The reports have always shown that a Scout’s natural reflexes are more accurate, forcing us to fight the stabilizers.  We were having to purposefully aim off our headings so that the auto-stabilizers would then correct them.”

Tailz nodded his head.  He had not thought to mention that to the engineers who handcrafted the Scouts’ personal craft.  Working with the auto-stabilizers that helped regular Humans guide space-faring crafts had been just a given.  It would be faster to just hit the heading they wanted, exactly, without having to reverse calculate what the auto-stabilizer would do.

Looking up, he noticed Cerberus with a hand to his helmet.  “What’s up?”

Cerberus did not move at first, then nodded to himself and climbed into the craft.  “I’ve got the signal.  Our ‘friends’ are preparing to dock and send over a few engineers to help ‘Captain’ Heir fix his little broken craft problem.  Time to go.”  He pressed several buttons near the main display, and the cockpit lit up.

A pleasant female voice chimed over speakers.  “TERRA PRIME ACTIVIX BEGINNING.”  The craft’s engine turned the pale dankness of the storage bay into a reflective neon-blue light show.  It hummed with power, similar to their hand weapons, but only hundreds of times more so.  “DIAGNOSTICS COMPLETED.”  Cerberus waved to Tailz.  “Welcome to the Terra Prime.”

Tailz slid into his seat behind Cerberus, which was surprisingly roomy and comfortable.  “Remind me,” Tailz said with a laugh, “to ask you who you bribed on the engineering team to get such nice chairs.”

Laughing, Cerberus shook his head.  “Nah, the engineers were not very forthcoming.  The construction crew, however, well, they don’t mind letting you do the work yourself, so long as they get paid.  All strapped in?”

“That’s affirmative.”

“All right.  Let’s go.” Cerberus addressed the craft: “Terra Prime, activate the dampeners, and the light refractors.”  The computer beeped compliance.  Cerberus reached a hand up and pressed a button.  “Blank, this is Cerberus.  Why don’t you open that present I got for you?”

Tailz closed his eyes as the refractors took effect.  Although to the outside world the craft seemed to fade away to invisibility, on the inside Tailz found the view to be most disorienting.  After several seconds, as the refractors adjusted, it would become clear, but until then it just looked out of focus, like a video feed gone bad.

“PHASIC DAMPENERS ONLINE.  LIGHT REFRACTORS ONLINE.”

“What kind of time do we have with the dampeners?”  Tailz asked, remembering they ran off a charged battery.  “How long do we have before they can trace our engines?”

“A full charge would give us an hour of continuous dampener and refractor use,” Cerberus replied, “but we’re not going full thrust here, so, the engines will be trickle-charging the battery anyway.  We’ll have unlimited time, so long as we’re not in a hurry to go somewhere.”

The bay door slowly slid open, leaving the two Scouts staring out into space.  I just opened your present, Blank’s voice spoke over the intercom.  When you come up to the bridge, I’ll thank you properly.

Cerberus replied, keeping the radio conversation innocent.  “Alright.  I’m busy down here at the moment.  I’ll give you a shout when I can come up.  Cerberus out.”  He turned and looked back at Tailz, “Wanna take her out?”

Tailz smiled, and nodded.  He punched up the thrusters and carefully maneuvered the small, invisible craft out of the storage bay.  When flying with light refractors on, there was always a slight delay as the light was refracted around the craft, was processed, and fed back to the cockpit so the pilot could see what was around him.  To Tailz’ approval, this Terra Prime was small enough that the delay was almost unnoticeable.  The delay in their current, larger crafts was slightly more discernible.  For the largest crafts, the delay made visual flight an impossibility, relying instead on sensors and other instruments. 

“Look, there they go.”  Cerberus pointed.  A long, slender tube had been extended from the Ire of Mandala and docked with the Zeroth‘s maintenance hatch.  “Let’s get around into position.  If Heir did his job right, there will be a small accident with the dock once the engineers begin investigating the power circuits.”

Tailz pushed the Terra Prime forward, making his way around the outside of the freighter.  “Don’t you worry about Heir,” Tailz snapped.  “He knows what he’s about.”  He looked down at his display, and tilted his head, perplexed.  “Hmm, looks like they’re not running sweeps at all.”

“Tsk, tsk.”  Cerberus responded.  “Lazy.  Well, keep the dampeners on, just in case.”

The Terra Prime was positioned beside the docking hatch opposite the one the Ire of Mandala was utilizing.  There, they waited for the distraction they needed.  “So,” Cerberus began, “how did Blank’s codename come about?”

Tailz frowned briefly.  Asking about how they chose their names came very close to asking about their lives before the Scouts.  But then again, Blank’s name did have a story behind it.  He wrestled himself a moment, deciding whether he should answer or not, and decided it would do no harm.  “Blank completed Selection as the best damn pilot the Union had ever seen.  He completed all the training, kept up on the endurance exams, but he was only so-so in tactics and strategy.”

“Then how did he make Selection?”

“Well, like I said, his skills and knowledge as a pilot more than made up for it.  You put him in a cockpit, and the boy became a strategic genius.  He knows his crafts to the pound, and has the reflexes and know-how to pull off the craziest stunts.  He can do things that no normal Human can pull off.  That’s what got him in.”

“But what about his name?” Cerberus asked.

“Well, the way he is, he was kind of withdrawn.  Doesn’t say much, is always studying and working on his crafts when he isn’t out flying them.  When it came time for Selection, and it came time to select a name, he just never chose one.”

“What do you mean?”

Tailz smiled.  “I mean he never picked one.  He never put too much thought into it; he was too busy.  At one point, they were prodding him to pick one already or they’d pick one for him.  He got upset and told them to leave it blank.”

Cerberus nodded his head in realization.  “So they literally did.”

“Yup.  They typed in Blank and called it a day.”

They shared a silent chuckle.  Then, Cerberus turned and looked at Tailz again.  “What about yours?”

Before Tailz could answer, a flash of light and the violent rocking of the freighter told them that their distraction had arrived.  Cerberus spun back around.  “Tailz, lock us onto their hull.”  He pressed a button on the console.  “Deactivate dampeners and refractors.”

“PHASIC DAMPENERS OFFLINE.  LIGHT REFRACTORS OFFLINE.”

A metal clunk announced the Terra Prime landing on the Ire of Mandala‘s hull.  After a moment, Tailz said, “The magnets are holding, we’re on tight.”

Cerberus nodded and pressed another series of controls.  The craft completely powered down.  They both waited for any reaction for what they were doing.  “What do you think?”  asked Cerberus into the silence.

Tailz watched outside the cockpit, through the windows into the freighter.  No one was running to where they were, no one looking out, trying to see what was out here.  Whenever a craft turned off its refractors, there was always a blinding light.  Part of the reason for their planned distraction was to draw everyone in the freighter in the other direction, and partly to keep anyone from looking out this side when the flash happened.  “I don’t think anyone saw our flash.”

Cerberus unstrapped himself and faced Tailz whilst kneeling in his seat.  “Get up, and fold your chair back.”  Tailz unstrapped as well and found the button that folded the chair forward, making it small enough to slide backwards into the rear of the craft.  Underneath where the seat had been was the docking hatch.  Tailz grasped the handles and pulled up, revealing the hatch of the freighter underneath.  “Ready?”

Cerberus nodded.

Tailz put a hand to his helmet.  “Blank, this is Tailz.  It seems I’ve locked myself out of my quarters.  Can you override the lock for me?”

The radio spoke back to him in a sarcastic tone.  Tailz, we’re kind of having a power crisis up here.  I’ll do it for you this once, but next time, you’ll wait in the hallway until we’re done.  A moment of silence, then the hatch popped open.

“Thanks, Blank.  You’re the best.”  Tailz jumped feet first into the hatch, and landed in the empty airlock aboard the Ire of Mandala.

Cerberus followed behind, a pistol in hand, and hit the control to close the hatch and pressurize the airlock.  Rushing across the room, he glanced carefully outside the door through the small window in the airlock door.  “There’s no one out there,” Cerberus said.  “No one posted.”

“Well,” Tailz said, “it is a cargo freighter, not a military craft.  They probably don’t leave someone here around the clock.  Or, they went to help over at the Zeroth.”

Cerberus nodded.  “Well, that just makes our job easier.”  The door light turned green, and Cerberus pulled open the airlock door and stepped into the corridor, aiming his gun left and right.  Seeing nothing, he looked back to Tailz.  “Let’s hurry.  They shouldn’t detect the override of the hatch, but if anyone checks, it’ll show it’s been opened.  We have a head start with no one knowing we’re here yet, I’d like to keep it that way for as long as possible.”

Tailz and Cerberus moved swiftly and soundlessly as they crept through the corridor.  They stopped at each intersection, checking the area ahead for anyone who might see them, but hallway after hallway they found no one.

At the end of the cargo deck, the pair skipped the elevators, which would surely be tracked, and instead scrambled up the maintenance ladders.  Side by side, they climbed, Tailz’ rifle hung off his back as he pulled himself up the ladder.  From time to time, he would lower a hand to steady it, keeping it from banging back against either the ladder or the smooth wall to his side.

Two decks up, Tailz noticed Cerberus was not keeping pace with him.  Stopping to look down, Cerberus had stopped, one arm hung around the ladder, the other pressed to his head.  “Cerb, what is it?”

Cerberus did not answer, frozen on the ladder; he seemed to be listening to something.  Tailz waited.  Shortly, Cerberus shook his head, and climbed to come even with Tailz.  “I’m not sure what it means, but it was Blank.”

Tailz felt a momentary panic.  Once they were inside the craft, radio silence was necessary to prevent the Ire of Mandala from realizing someone was aboard transmitting away.  For Blank to break silence meant trouble. “Why?  What did he say?”

“He said, ‘The present you gave me is too expensive for me to accept.  Please return it.’”

Tailz thought about it for a moment.  “That isn’t one of the codes we set up.”

“I know that,” Cerberus snapped, “but, it is related, and it must be urgent.”

“Do you think he’s calling us back?”

Cerberus thought carefully.  “He must have new information we don’t have.”

“How?”

“I don’t know.  But, to take the present back because it is too expensive?  I think he’s telling us this is a no go.”

Tailz nodded his head, “and we haven’t seen a single person since we boarded.  Something is weird here.  Abort?”

Cerberus nodded in return.  “Abort.”  He suited his words by spreading his legs to wrap his feet around either side of the ladder and sliding down.  Tailz followed behind.  They had only slid down half a deck before a high pitched alarm sounded and red lights flashed on and off in the maintenance shaft.

“Damn,” Tailz said, “they must have been watching us.”  They hit the alarms once Tailz and Cerberus changed directions, which meant the Scouts knew the plan was a trap.

Cerberus stopped one deck above where they had started from.  “Then we get off here.  They’ll be waiting down there.”  Together, the two leapt across the shaft from the maintenance ladders, and rolled into a corridor that ran lengthwise above the deck.  They each came to their feet weapons in hand.  Tailz ran to an access hatch and kicked it open, downwards into the deck corridor.

Uniformed Fongen soldiers were running down the hallway, apparently called to travel down to the deck they expected to find Tailz and Cerberus on as they retreated.  Tailz was just as surprised, finding soldiers on a merchant freighter, but his hesitation lasted shorter than theirs.  Tailz aimed his rifle and opened fire, blue fire roaring from his arms as if magic.  Each shot found a chest or head, bodies piling on the floor in the midst of drawing their weapons, which many still had not unstrapped from their waists.  Some of the Fongen further down the hall had finally realized what was happening, and dove behind crossing corridors to avoid Tailz’ deadly firestorm.

“Tailz, this is going to get dangerous real fast!”  Cerberus called from behind him, creating his own smaller, faster, firestorm with his pistols.  Heads were starting to poke back out from the corridors they had dove into, and Tailz had to agree.  Return fire was imminent. 

“Back up!” Tailz said, and dropped to a knee.  In a heartbeat, Cerberus leapt onto Tailz’ back, using it as a springboard.  With Tailz propelling him upwards, Cerberus easily grasped the access hatch opening.  Using Cerberus as a human ladder, Tailz quickly climbed back up into the maintenance corridor.  Cerberus was right behind him.  Their enemies below had yet to open fire.

Tailz reached down and closed the hatch.  “Nine,” Tailz said.

Cerberus stood and dusted himself off, “fourteen.”

Tailz choked, “Gah!  Wha?  Fourteen?”

“Well, I didn’t think it fair to count the ones I shot in the back,” Cerberus said.

Tailz’ mouth dropped as Cerberus started jogging up the corridor.  He refused to follow after him.  “Now hold on!”

“What?”  Cerberus said, over his shoulder.

Tailz kicked the hatch back open and fell into it head first, using his legs to hang over the edge of the hatch.  The stupid Fongen had assumed that the pair had kept moving once disappearing into the maintenance access, and had began to flow back through the hallway over their dead comrades.  Screaming, Tailz opened fire into a neat line of Fongen men.  They scattered faster this time, but not fast enough.  Tailz was still firing as Cerberus hauled him back up.

“Are you crazy?” Cerberus yelled.

Tailz shrugged, breathing heavily, “seventeen.”

Cerberus ground his teeth, then he shook his head and sighed, “this should not be.  There should not be soldiers here.  We’ve been setup, and this was planned from the beginning.”  Cerberus growled quietly, “looks like radio silence does not matter anymore.”  He put his hand to his helmet.  “Blank, what the hell is going on?”  Tailz put his hand to his helmet radio button to listen in.

No answer.

“Blank, forget silence, we’re under open fire.”

Silence.  Then a crackle.  Open fire? We’re not detecting any fire.

Cerberus smacked his forehead; he must have realized something.  “Check the phasic read-outs from the Ire.  You’ll see they have a dampener, and it is running.”

A moment passed.  That they do.  What kind of fire?

Tailz answered, “at least three or four squads on our deck alone.  Who knows what else.  We were setup.”

“Forget that,” Cerberus said, “what was your message about?”

I’m sorry, Commander.  Too much for open comm.  Suffice it to say, we found it was a trap.  Unfortunately, too late, it seems.

Tailz and Cerberus nodded to each other.  Blank and Heir had found new information, and tried to alert them.  “How’s the Zeroth?”  Tailz asked.

Heir and I are separated, but in communication.  We sealed off the craft before they sent any troops over, but the engineers are still here, trying to gain control.  They can’t get to me on the bridge, but they can override me eventually.

“Keep it up Blank.  You guys get control, and be ready for us.  Cerberus out.”

“So,” Tailz said, “what’s the plan?”

Cerberus pondered.  Their plan had been compromised and the Fongen knew where they were headed, where the Terra Prime was docked, everything.  Now, the Fongen were just waiting for them to come out of hiding.  “The danger is the same either direction,” Cerberus said carefully.  “We might as well get what we came for before we leave.”

Tailz laughed, and smacked his leg.  “They’ll never see that coming.”

* * * * *

Heir crept down the dark corridor, hearing only his own breathing into the mask on his face.  “I don’t understand it,” he whispered.  “They could have gone for the engines, the bridge, anything.  But they’re not in any of those places.  What are they up to?”

A voice answered him over his helmet radio.  I’m not sure, Heir.  But from here, I’m not showing anything not functioning that we did not turn off ourselves.

Heir sighed, leaning against a crossing corridor, checking for the presence of anyone other than himself.  “Well, I’m moving up to the next deck, the sensors and generators are there.”

Should I come out there and help you?

“No,” Heir answered.  “Blank, you stay there and keep the bridge sealed off.  It would be near impossible to stop them without damaging the craft ourselves if they got in there.”

Suddenly, without warning, the lights came back on.  Heir could hear the ventilation start pushing air in the corridor, and he could feel the craft shake as the generators came online.  “Blank?  What’s going on?”

Blank sounded panicked.  “Everything just came back online.  They were in the generator room, and powered everything on.”

Heir was confused.  Why, out of all the things to sabotage and control, power the generator?  You could not control the craft from the generators, only power the sensors.  The engines and bridge were separately powered and controlled.  Heir ran while he thought, leapt up the ladders to the next deck, and sprinted through the corridors.  He kept the mask on, as poisoning the ventilation was the only thing Heir could think of for the engineers to do, so he played it safe.

Turning the corner, he drew the phasic lance off his back and powered it on.  Its long tip glowed blue, and crackled with electricity.  He could wield it like a shocklance of old, but with the burns phasic energy left behind, or he could pull a trigger and emit electrical blasts in a wide arc.  He preferred the lance as his weapon of choice, because Heir enjoyed fighting in close quarters.

Brandishing the lance, Heir entered the generator room, ready for a fight.

The four engineers, however, were definitely not ready, not for a fight, anyway.  They stood quietly around the main generator console, looking at him calmly.

“What is this?” Heir asked.

The front-most man, carrying a small metallic box, nodded at him.  “My apologies.  But as long as the Ire‘s sensors could detect us, and hear us, we could not stop and talk.  We needed to get a jammer online, and needed the generators to do it.”

Heir raised an eyebrow.  What could they want to speak of?

“We surrender to you, sir, if you will turn this craft around and take us straight back to Union space.”

Heir spun the lance and shook his head.  “We don’t negotiate with rebels.”

“We are not rebels,” said the man.  “Your previous commander sent us into Fongen hands to retrieve this.”  He tapped the small box he was holding.  “We need to get this back to the Will as soon as possible.”

“How could I possibly believe you?” Heir asked, studying the man intently.

The engineer thought about this for a moment, then set the metallic box down on the console.  “Take a look for yourself.”

The other engineers gasped.  “He’s a Scout!” one said.  “We can’t show it to anyone!” said another.

The first man turned to face the others.  “They’re all Scouts, and currently our ticket out of here.  Unless one of you have had extensive Scout training I’m not aware of, we could not hope to best them in the long run.”  He turned back around to look at Heir.  “This is our top mission.  But you, sir, I hope you would keep this to yourself, as I’m sure our circumstances would probably not be considered for the penalty the Will would enforce, on us and yourself.”

Heir slowly walked forward, holding his lance out in front of him, forcing the others to step back.  Seeing that the others were not threatening, he used his free hand to open the box.

A small spherical gem, deep cerulean in color, gleamed back at him.

Heir dropped his lance, and it crackled as it struck the ground.

“This is what Fincher was tasked to find.  He found its location, but could not retrieve it himself.  He required some additional …assistance.”  The engineer held his hands open wide.  “We’re in your hands now.  Will you keep this to yourself, and assist us?”

Heir nodded.

* * * * *

The lean admiral growled under his breath.  The exhalation blew out the white mustache covering both sides of his mouth, further marking his exasperation.  He had not had such bumbling fools under his command since Fongen cut communications with the Union and been declared in rebellion.  Everything that could be screwed up had been, on a mission that everything was riding on.

He had called the Ire of Mandala‘s captain to his office, and eyed him with disgust.  “You told me your men could handle this, Captain Travis.”

Travis swallowed slightly.  “Sir, the intel we were given did not make mention of the task force being made up of Union Scouts.”

The admiral slapped his hand down on the desk.  “Frank!  They saw they were kids when they went over to the Zeroth!  Why would they have not said anything?”

It was Travis’ turn to growl.  “They would not have disobeyed their orders.  Plus, I trust my lieutenants’ judgement.  They would have noticed it, and adapted.  Their goal was to take control of the craft, or at least sabotage it so the Union task force could not escape.”  Travis took a step forward.  “And with all due respect, sir, they are still in there right now trying to accomplish that.”

“Well, they seem to be doing better than us.”  The admiral hmphed.  “We’re reporting casualties all over the craft, and no definite sign of the two who came on board.  Just where are they?”

“Sir,” Travis began, “this is a freighter.  There are many service corridors that are not monitored by the craft’s sensors, and we cannot track their phasic emissions without lowering the field that is preventing the Zeroth from doing the same.”

“Excuses!”

Travis shook his head.  “We’re scouring the entire craft, and their way out is blocked.  They’ll turn up eventually.”

As if to prove him true, phasefire sounded outside in the corridor.  Both Travis and the admiral froze in place.  Pitched voices yelled from outside the door as the admiral’s guards returned fire.  The admiral drew his sidearm, and motioned to Travis to do the same.  The admiral aimed his weapon at the door.  Travis merely held his in his hands, pointed at the floor.

Several more phasic blasts roared, followed by grunts and soft thuds.  Then silence.

Neither man moved. 

The door splintered as it exploded into the room.  The admiral fired several shots into the debris, but Travis could not see anything.  He waited, and stood absolutely still, pistol still lowered at his side.  The admiral advanced towards the door, firing.

Two screaming flares of blue caught the admiral mid-stride, and burned into his well-pressed uniform.  Dropping to his knees, the admiral continued to fire at the still unseen threat outside the office door.  A third, larger blast whizzed into the room, striking the admiral square in the nose.  The force toppled the large man, and he fell with a crash onto his back.

Two young men—no, children—cautiously entered the room.  The first was tall, his gaze as fierce as his eyes were dark.  His straight, deep brown, almost black, hair slicked forward with sweat, he was the first to notice Travis standing still in the midst of the broken door debris.  The boy poised both of his hand-pistols at him.  Travis was careful to not move.

The other waltzed in, a rifle leaned over his shoulder.  He looked at Travis and chuckled, shaking his head.  His flame-colored hair flicked to and fro as he moved.  Still, the gleam in his lighter eyes was just as dark as the other’s.  Travis had never been in the same room as the famed Union Terra Scouts, but despite their age, they seemed just as dangerous as the stories said.

“Well, Tailz,” the dark-haired one said.  “We’re here.” 

The fiery-haired Scout nodded and hefted his rifle.  “Alright Captain…” he squinted at the nametag on Travis’ chest, “Travis.  You’re just the man we’re looking for, and smart, not to put up a fight.  Go to the terminal, and transmit your authorization and biometrics to the Zeroth.”

Travis nodded, and, with one hand raised, slowly lowered the other to the ground to place his weapon on the floor.  He did not want to accidentally anger these two soldiers.  Then, Travis reached over the desk to the console, and turned it so the Scouts could clearly see he was cooperating.  Several keystrokes later, the computer beeped confirmation of the sent data.  He turned to the Scouts, hands wide indicating he had completed their request.

“We can’t leave him alive to tell what we took,” the dark-haired Scout said.

Travis’ eyes widened.

The Scout called Tailz shrugged.  “Whatever, Cerberus; kill him. We got what we came for.”  He started to leave.

Travis immediately started stuttering, trying to explain, but could not form words, unsure how to say what he needed to say. 

Cerberus raised his pistols.

Travis’ mind raced.  Please do not kill me, lest my work be in vain!

“Wait!” Tailz said, running back to the man. 

Cerberus lowered his pistols.  “What?”

Tailz grasped Travis’ chin and, pulling his face close, looked into his eyes.  The Scout stared at the man for a full minute, wordless.

“Tailz?  What is the matter?”  Cerberus asked.

“I…I recognize him.”  Tailz said.  “He’s one of ours.”

Travis sank to his knees, tears in his eyes.

“What do you mean recognize him?  He’s Fongen.”  Cerberus motioned to the uniform Travis was wearing.

Tailz shook his head.  “I was with him once, a while back.  He was supposed to infiltrate the Fongen, and he’s done a rather good job.  We’ll lose a valuable asset if he gets killed, and the Will won’t appreciate it one bit.”

Cerberus nodded and holstered his pistols.  “Well, at the least he can honestly say he gave over the information at gunpoint.”

“Not if he says nothing at all.”  Tailz looked again into Travis’ eyes.  “Not. A. Word.”

Travis still said nothing as the two Scouts left the room.  He was dumbfounded.

Recognize me?  But… I’ve never met you before in my life…

The console beeped.  Blindly, he made his way to the desk, and looked at the message.  He sighed and nodded.  At least the other mission was a complete success.  He tapped a button and opened the craft-wide comm.  “This is Captain Travis.  The intruders have made it to the executive offices.  All men report to the main offices on the double.”  Turning off the comm, he nodded to himself.  That should clear the path back for the two Scouts.

Thinking, Travis sighed.  He had bugged the admiral’s room before he came on board.  The admiral had supposedly been placed by the Union as well, but was suspected as doubling for the Fongen.  Since the admiral had not known of Travis, Travis was going to expose the admiral to the Fongen, and they would punish him just as bad for treason as the Union would.

So by now, Travis’ own conversation with the Scouts had been recorded and communicated to the Fongen’s intelligence. 

The first men arrived at his office.  He pointed to the admiral.  “Check him out,” Travis said.  “I’m going to look for the others.”  He holstered his pistol and jogged into the corridor, not looking back.

* * * * *

The Terra Prime has landed in the loading bay.  Heir waited outside the bay.  The bay doors closed, and the room pressurized.  Heir hit the button, and strode into the bay, the engineers at his heels.  The Terra Prime’s cockpit opened, and Tailz and Cerberus stood upright.  When a third man rose as well, Heir froze, instinct drawing his phase lance.

Cerberus put up his hands.  “It’s okay, Heir.  This is one of the Fongen infiltrators, who was compromised during this whole mission.  Meet Lieutenant Franklin Travis, with Union Intel.”

Heir frowned.  “Are you sure he is one of ours?”

Travis folded his arms.  “Beta-Alpha-Seven-Six-Beta.”

Cerberus blinked in confusion.  “What’s that?”

Heir lowered his weapon.  “That’s the security code of the message we got stating that this was all a setup.  It was you who alerted us.”

Travis shrugged.  “Much good it did anyone.  You accomplished your mission anyway.”

“And you accomplished yours,” Heir said, pointing at the engineers.

Tailz spoke up.  “What are you talking about?” 

“Mr. Travis’ plan depended on us foiling the setup, so that we would capture their engineers and take them to Union space.  It would be the only innocent way to get them transported without note.  They are Travis’ men.”

Travis frowned at the engineers.  “What does he know?”

The lead engineer bowed his head.   “We told him only what we needed him to know, we assure you,” he said.  “He was not exactly in the mood for taking prisoners.”

Travis nodded, assuming he knew what that meant.  “Please forgive me, but I need to keep this top secret from everyone but the Will.” 

All the Scouts nodded.  Except for Heir.

Travis nodded to himself.  “Well, let’s get a move on.  I gave a number of conflicting orders to keep everyone over there confused, but I’d like to be gone by the time they realize that not only is the admiral dead, but their captain is missing too.”

Cerberus placed a hand to his helmet.  “Blank, did you get that?”

Yes, Commander.  Waiting on your word.

“We’re aborting the infiltration mission for now.  Travis’ info will not work, since he’ll soon be branded a traitor of the Fongen.  We’ll take him and his men back to Intel for debriefing.  Then we’ll report to the Will.  Blank, take us out.”

The Zeroth slowly pivoted away from the Ire, and aimed into space.  The engines thrusted, and the Ire of Mandala quickly became a small speck in space, before blending into the stars.

Travis eyed the package carefully. Requests of this sort usually took some time, but the fact that the specifications had arrived so quickly only reminded him of the Willers’ personal interest in the pursuit. Travis was serving a direct mission for them and them alone. He had the entirety of the Union’s forces at his disposal. Failure would bring the Willers’ personal wrath. Nervous? No. Travis learned time after time to deal with stressful and uncertain situations. At the most, the unique situation made him… cautious.

The Scout, uniformed in the typical Union deep blue, stood idly by as he waited for Travis to review the information. His silence spoke volumes. The Scout had been specifically told that no one was to see the contents of the delivery, not even himself. Even worse, the Scout was then to be placed under the command of this Frank Travis indefinitely, and only given enough information to complete the mission. This Scout exuded frustration like an oven gave off heat. Scouts only ever answered to the Willers.

The large silver box lay open on the Commander’s desk. Inside was several thickly bound stacks of paper and a smaller container that was locked with a thumbpad. Travis was familiar with those: it would open only for him, and its contents would be erased after a short amount of time. It was the information meant only for his eyes. He left it closed, for now.

“Heir,” Travis began. Upon hearing his name, the short-haired Scout sharply turned and stared. Travis cleared his throat. With that deep gaze, the Scout did not seem as young as he looked. Travis lowered his eyes, and felt no shame in it. “We begin by modifying one of the Scout’s crafts with two new pieces of equipment.” He picked up one of the stacks of paper, and placed it on the desk closer to Heir.

Heir moved to the desk and picked up the tablet that was offered to him. Glancing at Travis briefly, he quickly shuffled through the pages.

Travis continued. “First, the craft will need to be fitted with the shielding. It’s nothing we have not seen before, but it is a special configuration in both its placement on the craft, and of the frequency of its resonance.” Travis waved a hand while explaining. “The shield plates will be arriving soon, and they’ll need to be bolted on and tested to make sure they each transmit the proper frequency to each other.”

The Scout turned one of the papers on its side, studying a specification drawing. “My own craft will do for this configuration, and it seems to use relatively little additional power draw. It should be no chore to accomplish.”

“I’m to take that to mean that you’ve selected yourself as the pilot?” Each of the Union Scouts’ crafts were custom made for its Scout.

Heir nodded.

“Good. That’s out of the way.”

“What about the engine? How will I catch up with Tailz?”

Travis reached and picked up the small locked box, turning it over in his hands, studying it. “That, I still need to read up on.”

Heir made a face. The Scout also had dealt with this type of security box in the past. It was apparent that Heir knew he would not get the answers to those questions.

“Dismissed.” Travis watched as the Scout saluted and exited the room, just barely not slamming the door behind him. The Commander stared blankly at the closed door. For a moment, he felt pity for the young man. Will he be able to handle it, once he realizes what he is for?

The thought reminded him of Tailz. Though, there was no guarantee that Tailz knew the true reason the Willers had called him in that day. Oh yes, he was to be removed from service, and the elaborate ploy would have all involved thinking he had been executed. It was possible that Tailz might have sensed that, known what he was going to be made into, though the Willers believed that he had no idea, and fled only to escape his own demise. It was almost ironic. As much as he might not have liked it, he would have lived on, had he stayed.

Travis looked down at the box, and placed his thumb on the pad. It beeped, a lock whirred, and the top sprang open. Inside was a small vidscreen, containing a readout of information. Two smaller buttons allowed him to scroll through the text, and he read it quickly, knowing it would not last very long.

The readout contained descriptions of the engine, and how it was used. Apparently, the device was not even an “engine” at all. Interacting with the frequency emitted by the thick metal plates of phasic shielding, it opened a “rift” that theoretically had no limit to its range. This rift created the opportunity to move from one end of the galaxy to the other, in no time at all. The craft then traveled through the rift on its own standard thrusters.

The theoretical part hinged on the amount of energy needed to create a rift. Tests showed that with a standard thruster-engine setup, two rifts in succession allowed the test prototype to reach a close neighboring star system, albeit the three day cool-down reaction process between opening rifts. Unfortunately, according to the captured readings from the rift that Tailz had created with the stolen craft, he had used much more power than that, and quite possibly reached halfway across the known galaxy. In theory.

Reading through the material, Travis came to the end, which detailed how the engine was able to use and withstand such energy. A special casing was constructed within the supplemental device to harness and channel energy directly into the rift emitters. The power source—

The box dropped from Travis’ fingers, and he recoiled as if burned. It landed on the floor beneath his desk, and he stared at it from where he sat.

It would seem the Willers have additional surprises for me yet. He could not take any chances. If Tailz, or any Scout, were to find out what was in there, the Union would be in serious danger. And Tailz has had this ship in his possession and been utilizing it without Union supervision for too long.

Then he realized, how could the secret be kept secret? He reached down and picked up the security box. Scrolling to the very bottom, he saw the final directives.

Rift to matched specs from prototype rift

Retrieve prototype power source

Terminate Terra Scouts Tailz and Cerberus

Rift to Union space

Terminate pilot

He stared at the directives for half an hour, but they were crystal clear. Again, he found himself thinking of the irony of it all. Tailz would have at least lived, had he not gone rogue in the first place. The directives were etched in Travis’ mind. Tailz, he could understand: there was no way he could come back. Cerberus is out there with him, alone, so there is no telling what information he had picked up. Probably better if he died, too. Then, only a Scout could hope to stand his own against another Scout. Two other Scouts. So another Scout had to be sent to recover the power source. Finally, Heir would eventually need to know what he was looking for, even if he did not realize the same device was what was strapped to his own craft. It bothered Travis. After losing several Scouts to Tailz in their initial confrontations, killing the best three of the remainder seemed a heavy price to pay.

He arose from his desk and lifted his jacket from the back of his chair. It would be several more days before the scientists of the Antirades arrived with the power source and assembly. Regardless of the Willers’ plans, the Union needed the Scouts. It took too long to select and train new ones. Maybe if he thought about it long enough, he would be able to come up with an alternative the Willers would accept.

The security box whirred again and went dark as it erased itself at the designated time limit.

* * * * *

Reaching the point he would diverge from the highway at a tangent, Cerberus closed the scanner and replaced it in his pants pocket. He considered for a moment pulling his pistol from his holster, but the soft whir and warm blue glow of the phasic capsule would give him away. Cerberus had to expect that Tailz, if he was in league with some kind of bandits, would leave a guard on his most vulnerable asset: his craft.

Cerberus considered and discarded a number of different ways to destroy it, but he came to the same conclusion each time: that would leave both of them stranded on the planet. This craft was Cerberus’ only way back to the Union. He dared not disable it, even temporarily. It was a prototype with experimental hardware he may not be familiar with. Beyond that, even if he could repair what he damaged, this planet may not have the materials necessary to attempt it.

Moving quickly away from the highway, Cerberus moved into the thick tree cover. He slowed his pace, and scanned his surroundings as he dashed from tree to tree. He simultaneously watched the ground for quiet footing, and the clearings for anyone who might see him. He kept an eye up on the tree branches as well. Many soldiers died from an unseen attack from above. All in all, the combined cover of night and thick treetops made seeing too far difficult, even for him. Cerberus felt confident that if he could not see anyone, no one could see him.

Cerberus decided his main objective: he needed to ascertain the capabilities of Tailz’s craft. Knowing what your enemy could know about you is very important. Once you learned the type of information that the enemy received, you could work on spoofing it, giving the enemy false data to go on. That was usually more productive than destroying the equipment, because if you did it right, it would take a long time and several mistakes before they realized what was going on. Destroyed equipment would be repaired or replaced, or, even worse, would force changes in tactics. Then you were back in the boat you were in before: not knowing what your enemy is finding out about you.

Cerberus slowed and crouched low beside a thick tree stump. A well-muscled man was stomping loudly through the brush somewhere ahead of him. Listening long enough to gauge his direction, Cerberus quietly crept to circle behind him. Watching him walk, the Scout sized the man up. Dressed in dirty, drab clothing, he looked to be what Cerberus would expect of one of Tailz’s outfit: a hired strong-arm. From the way he walked and kept a keen eye, he might have had some military background. He was well-built, with a shortsword held still with one hand, and a small wooden contraption in his other. Cerberus moved sideways several paces to get a better look, and saw a thick rod a foot long tipped with a metallic arrowhead attached to the device. A number of additional bolts were attached to a backstrap he wore. Cerberus remembered similar weapons from the Fongen Rebellion. Primitive projectile weapons, but extremely effective. And relatively quiet, compared to phasic weapons.

Cerberus approached within arms-length, and cleared his throat. The patrol jumped a foot before swinging around, crossbow first, as expected. Cerberus was prepared, and threw an arm upwards under the man’s hand, causing the loosed crossbow bolt to fly harmlessly into the air. Cerberus swiftly wrapped both hands around the patrol’s free hand to prevent him from reaching for his sword. The strong-arm’s mistake came when he hesitated to drop the crossbow the moment his sword-arm was restricted. With no threat of being grabbed, Cerberus stepped closer and, in one fluid motion, side-kicked the man’s shin and spun to twist his arm. The patrol flipped sideways, landing squarely on his chest. Then, in the moment of breathlessness from the landing, Cerberus swiftly drew the shortsword from the big man’s side, and drove it down into the back of his neck.

Cerberus froze and listened. The idiot decided to not yell out for help, but he listened to be sure. In war, there were the cautious, and the dead. When he heard nothing, he grabbed the crossbow and unfastened the backstrap around the dead patrol’s torso. He rose, placing a bolt in the harness of the bow and locking it into place. He glanced down at the body, considering. Deciding, Cerberus wrenched the shortsword free and wiped it clean on the rough’s shirt. Then he cut the sheathe loose and strapped it onto his own belt. With his phasic pistol on his right side, the shortsword on his left, and a loaded crossbow in his hand, Cerberus crept forward once more.

Time was always marked from the first kill. It was only a matter of time before the next patrol would find the dead body you left behind, and alert everyone. Those on the outskirts of an operation took longer to locate, but then, you still had the longest distance left to travel at that point. It came out to the same thing, regardless of where you made your first kill: the clock began ticking.

The trick, was when that happened, give your enemy an arrow to follow. Traveling north for a short distance, Cerberus came across another dirt-clad man armed with a crossbow. Armed with a quiet projectile, Cerberus stood in the man’s path. Unfortunately for the patrol, Cerberus could see farther in the dark. With one quiet ka-chunk, a bolt stood out from the man’s chest, flooring him instantly. Waiting only long enough to load his crossbow using a bolt from the dead man staring up at the thick trees, Cerberus turned direction and moved southwest.

Cerberus quietly slipped past two more armed patrols, solidifying his misdirection. Now, if either body was found, they would search the area, locate the other one, and draw a line in that direction to search for the trespasser. However, with the changing of direction combined with no stars to guide by, Cerberus decided to check his path. He crouched low and consulted his scanner momentarily before continuing west. He was right on track, but again: cautious or dead.

Cerberus kept low, crossbow in hand, but with luck, there would be no more need to kill until he reached the craft, then only whoever was watching it. Weighing the number of thugs he had passed so far, he estimated a guard of at least three on the ship itself. It was hard to believe Tailz could have achieved much more than that, though his current allotment of manpower was impressive. Cerberus curiously considered where the necessary coin had come from. He could not see bandits in league with anyone, including Tailz, unless they brought them some kind of profit. Since guard duty in itself did not pull profit Tailz had to have supplied his own, as payment. Where did he get it?

As he continued, he caught small flickers of light ahead. It was difficult to tell at first, but as he got closer, the light he could make out confused Cerberus. Deeper in the forest, from the direction of where the craft lay, a fire was definitely lit. That did not fit the bill of the “secret guarding of the secret item” operation. Slowly, Cerberus crept towards the light.

Coming to a clearing, Cerberus stayed hidden between two large tree trunks, and peered between them. Sure enough, the prototype craft lay in the middle of the clearing. Surrounding it were nearly two dozen men, all covered in mismatched bits of armor. Two campfires were lit, and most of the men in the clearing were at one or the other.

Cerberus tapped his chin thoughtfully; he had seriously miscalculated. Tailz had the equivalent of two squads in the clearing alone. Watching the men interact, lounging around the fires, Cerberus tried to find the connection he had overlooked. There had to be some way to ascertain how Tailz had amassed such a force. This was suddenly more important than the craft.

As he surveyed the clearing, he watched as two men conferred with each other, one speaking, the other nodding and pointing. Reading the mannerisms, Cerberus decided one was in charge, the other a close subordinate. The subordinate then went to the other campfire, and the men there all looked attentively, all nodding in obedience. Not a standard structure for bandits. Then one saluted. Cerberus’ eyes widened. He smacked his forehead as the final piece of the puzzle locked into place. All of the men, wearing random patches of clothing, all mismatched and dirty, each had a crossbow and shortsword. The same exact standard-issue bows and swords. This was not a random coalition of bandits; this was a structured military complement that was dressed to look like a random coalition of bandits.

It had to be the local guard. With the lack of travel packs, they were not on a trip from any far off town or city. They were from Srynn. Tailz had control of Srynn’s local militia. Jumping upright, he remembered the guards posted at Srynn’s gate. Xia and the others were in danger. He spun to leave immediately.

Cerberus froze staring at the man holding a large crossbow in both hands.

“Move, and you will die.” Tailz said.

* * * * *

Fear. Hate. Sadness. Spite. Betrayal. Revenge. Anger. Rage. Desperation. Each seemed to take its own color, and they ran across the sky like a rainbow that was unsure of where its end would be. Some were brighter than others, some hidden for a time altogether before growing larger and blotting out the rest. The colors came from the sky, and dwelled within the people.

Xia looked at his hands, and they seemed to have no color at all. Looking around, he saw everyone he knew, filled with vibrant colors. His hands wanted that, to drink it in. He reached out and touched a passerby, filled with white-hot Rage.

Xia howled as it flowed into him.

“Look he’s awake!”

“Xia? Xia!” A hand stroked his face.

Pain replaced the darkness, but the light was still thin. Focusing in the dim twilight long before dawn, he recognized Danni peering over him. She smiled at him as he looked at her. “Wh-what happened?”

Danni’s head shook, her blond hair swaying back and forth. “We are not sure, Xia. But right now what matters is if you are okay.”

Blinking, he nodded, then winced, wishing he had not. The back of his head pounded with pain if he moved even slightly. He was laying on a hard surface; he had to raise his head slightly from Danni’s lap to realize he was on the floor. They were in a plain, white room, empty save for themselves. He lowered his head carefully and glanced back up at Danni. “How about you? And Deia?”

“I’m okay,” Danni answered, “but we don’t know where Deia is. They separated us when they took us in.”

Xia blinked again, the world still coming into full focus. “We? Not Deia?”

A familiar voice answered him. “Hello, Xia.”

Turning his head, painfully, to glance at the source of the voice, he felt Danni’s hands tighten on him slightly. A young woman, beautiful save for the broken lip and chaotic hair she was sporting, sat in the corner of the room, hands on her knees. Her eyes were bloodshot, though from crying or lack of sleep, Xia could not tell. The way she looked at him, either was possible. “Cheryl?”

She nodded. “I am glad to see you, even if it’s in here.”

Xia tried to sit up, but needed Danni supporting him to make it work. “What is going on? Where are we?”

“Srynn Hall. There was a whole squad of them, Xia.” Danni said with a sob. “They took the horses, and Deia.”

“Deia?” Xia glanced around, now fully realizing she was not in the room. “Where is Deia?”

Cheryl spoke up. “Calm down, Xia. Danni, start from the beginning.”

Danni explained the long line of Guardsmen that exited the gate late last night. The lead was who knocked Xia out, and the others were armed. The guards quickly enveloped Deia and Danni, binding their hands together behind them. Xia was hefted over a large man’s shoulder, and the horses were led away. When someone realized that Deia’s dagger held the blood of the Guardsmen she killed, they bundled her up and whisked her away elsewhere. Danni had not seen her since. Danni and Xia were taken to the Srynn Hall, up to one of the higher floors, and deposited here, in this room. Cheryl was already here, and was surprised to see them.

Xia shook his head. “I should not have given her back the dagger. I just wanted her to make the guard back off, not kill him.”

Cheryl frowned. “You cannot blame yourself Xia. Me personally, he had it coming to him, trying to just grab you guys like they did. How could you know what their intentions were?”

“Help me up.” Xia said, and Danni helped to bear his weight as he stood. She wrapped an arm around him, to help him balance. “Srynn Hall?” He looked at the window. “How high up are we?”

Danni shook her head. “We’re four stories up. That, and the grounds are watched.” Helping him along, Danni moved to the window, and pointed at the men visible below. “Srynn Hall is both the town center, and the Mayor’s residence. The town guards watch this place.”

“Why did they kidnap us?”

Danni shook her head. “I don’t know, Xia. No one said a word to us.”

Xia stared out the window, thinking. Without looking back, he asked, “What about you, Cheryl? You have to have been here a couple days at least, since you did not make it back to Tel.”

Cheryl bowed her head from her spot in the corner. “I’m sorry, Xia. I did not mean to let you down.”

Waving it off, Xia said, “Just tell me what happened.”

“I came straight here.” Cheryl said. “The gates were closed. The guards said that they were instructed to not let anyone in, but when I explained what had happened in Tel, they opened the gate for me. One of them even walked up the path with me and opened the door to the Hall.

“It was strange, when I came in, because there was no one there. The whole bottom floor was empty. I figured the guards would have told me if the Mayor was gone, so I went upstairs. I heard voices behind one door, so I went up to knock, but before I did, I heard yelling. I heard Lord Mensch’s voice, yelling. Then I heard Mayor Taugen yell back.”

Xia turned and looked at Cheryl. “What were they yelling about?”

“They were looking for someone. Lord Mensch wanted the Mayor to write a warrant for whoever it was, but the Mayor said he would not arrest an innocent person. Lord Mensch pushed, and the Mayor said that even if he did, the guy is not even in Srynn. Mensch said to find out where he is, and then he must have pushed the Mayor into the door, because he hit it pretty hard, and it swung open and knocked me over. That’s how they found I was listening. Then they put me here. That was two days ago.”

Xia frowned. “So, did they think we were here for you?” He looked at the floor, thinking. “But why do that? Why not just say they did not know where you were? Why attack us the way they did?”

“I don’t know,” Cheryl answered, “but something is going on, something I was not supposed to find out about.”

“So they’re looking for some guy, big deal.” Danni said. “I don’t see what the big secret is that they would lock us up.”

Xia looked at the door from where he stood, and raised an eyebrow at the doorknob. The door was made to lock from the inside.

Cheryl nodded when he asked. “They keep two big guys out front.”

“Are you sure?”

Cheryl pointed at her lip. “They gave me this when I checked.”

Sighing, Xia sat back down. “All we can do then, is wait and see what happens.”

“Wait?” Danni and Cheryl said together.

Xia nodded. “We cannot overpower the guards, and then everyone between here and the ground floor. We cannot escape out the window. When Cerberus gets back, he’ll go to the Daggerpoint and see we are not there.”

“Do you think he can find us?” Danni asked.

Xia leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. “I hope so. Besides, Tailz is in Srynn too. If anything, we are relatively safe here.”

Cheryl blinked her eyes between Danni and Xia. “Cerberus? That guy you brought home? And wasn’t Tailz the one who burned down Tel?” Her eyes darted back and forth, and she licked her lips. “What is going on?”

Xia kept his eyes closed, and said nothing. Sighing, Danni filled Cheryl in on what had happened in Tel after Cheryl was sent to Srynn.

* * * * *

Deia hated the darkness. She was not weak; she did not mind the dark. But this deep, dank, darkness, where she could not even see her hands as she held them up in front of her, far too well amplified the hollow feelings of emptiness and hopelessness in her chest. When she thought on the emptiness, she thought of her parents, lying in a jumbled pile as Tailz rolled away in that damned carriage.

She forced herself to move again, gritting her teeth at the jarring pain. She did it each time her thoughts mirrored the darkness, and each time, it fanned the blackness into flaming rage, anger at what they did to her. They took turns, cuffing her head, smacking her with the flats of their blades, nicking her with the tips of their daggers. They dragged her by the hair, and laughed at her pain. They had singled her out as the “murderer,” and took it upon themselves to teach her a lesson. She was no murderer. They were trying to take away her hope of killing Tailz for murdering her parents. Tailz was a murderer, killing for no reason. Deia was only protecting herself.

If you keep telling yourself that, you might start believing it. Deia scowled at herself in the dark. Cerberus had warned her, the things he taught her, they were not for play, or even for self-defense. These were meant to kill.

“Now remember, this is not for playing around. It is not for fighting to win. It is not even for self-defense. These moves are to kill a man.”

Deia thought about this, but something he said puzzled her. “But what about when killing is the only way to defend yourself?”

In one of the few odd moments where he showed a hint of emotion, Cerberus looked at her sadly and said, “You have a responsibility to those you kill. You change the future of the universe for each person you take from it. And, you have to live with those consequences.

“You see, at some point, you have to consciously choose to kill your attacker. Then, instead of looking for chances to run, you do the opposite of protecting yourself. You turn and fight, and you become the attacker. You risk your life, and put your all into ending his life.” Cerberus shook his head. “If you must live, you cannot take action to further endanger yourself. In self-defense, there can be no killing.”

Deia shivered, pulling her knees up to rest her head. She could not tell whether the shiver that racked her body was from the damp coldness of the darkness, or from her own guilt. She knew now, what he meant. She knew, when she dropped the dagger, what she was doing. She did not think about who she was killing. She did not think that he might have a family, might just be following orders because he had to feed them. He might have friends or others who care for him, or children who look up to him. A tear ran from Deia’s eye. She could have taken someone else’s parent.

She might have killed some child’s adored parent. And she was still alive. That thought echoed in her head, chasing all her other thoughts away. It was just her and the darkness.

In the distance, she heard metal creaking. A door opened, and then slammed shut, but the echoing in the empty dungeon made it hard to tell where it was coming from. Deia waited, listening. The echoes faded away to silence, and for a short time she could hear nothing. Then footsteps sounded, shuffling in the dust that lined the old corridors of Srynn’s prison. All she could make out was that it was definitely more than one person.

An orb of light blinked at the end of the corridor. It seemed a small amount for a lantern, but the darkness here seemed to suppress the light. As it approached, she could make out two figures, one tall and wide, the other short and thin. She peered at them as they strode up to her cell. They came close enough for her to make out their faces, and when she did, she threw herself against the bars. They rattled violently as she shook them. “You!”

“Well, look here, Jif.” The smaller man said, his crooked-nose seemingly twisting along with his snarl. “It was the wench from Metson.” He laughed and pointed. Deia growled deep in her throat, and thrust her arm through the bars, intent on breaking that finger.

Jif nodded and grinned, several teeth missing. “She made us look pretty dumb in front of the boss.” He chuckled.

Tears came to her eyes, but she did not know it. “Boss? Tailz? That bastard murdered my parents! And you helped him!”

Skippy replied, ignoring Deia. “When they said there was a girl from Metson with them, I was hoping it would be her.” She froze as he flashed her a murderous grin. “We was gonna be nice and let her go, but no, we got to feel what her teeth felt like.”

The large man smiled. “Well, there do be a price for messing with us.”

Deia backed from the bars slowly, her eyes widening. Skippy pulled a key from his pocket and placed it into the lock. Deia winced as it turned over, and the metal door swung wide. Replacing the key in his pocket, he stepped into the cell and unsheathed his dagger. Behind him, Jif smacked a fist against his other hand. Deia put her hands up in front of her. “Please…” she started.

Skippy moved across the cell floor towards her. Deia cried out in pain as she flashed a leg forward, kicking at the bandit’s dagger hand. He jumped back a step, letting her leg swoop by, but, as Cerberus had shown her, she followed the movement by bringing both hands down on the wrist above his dagger. Instinctively, Skippy, intent on keeping his dagger, bent slightly forward to keep a grip on it. She smartly kicked her other knee straight up, and connected squarely with his nose.

Skippy yelled as he fell backwards. Jif caught him with one arm, and kept him from falling onto his back. “Cute, girl. Real cute.” Skippy said angrily, nursing the blood streaming from his nose. He waved off Jif’s arm, and turned the dagger point-up. “Enough playing.”

Deia’s attackers froze as the door that had admitted them into the dungeon was heard creaking open again. When it shut with a loud clang, the two bandits looked at each other curiously. “Well,” Skippy said, motioning with his dagger. Go on, see who it is.” Jif walked to the edge of the lantern’s light, and peered back the way they had come, but, of course, no one could see anything beyond that point. Skippy retreated into the corridor cautiously, closing the cell door behind him. “Well?”

“I don’t see anyone coming.” The lumbering bandit replied.

Skippy picked up the lantern and moved towards his partner, moving the light ahead of him. Before going two paces, the light revealed a figure in a dark hooded robe within arms reach of where Jif was standing. “Who are you? What do you want?” Skippy demanded.

“I’ve come for the girl.” The hooded man answered. The shadows from the lantern seemed to make him darker still, as if he had no face under the hood.

Jif pulled the broadsword from his back. “I’m afraid she belongs with us, you get it?”

“Very well.” From within the robe, the man drew two longswords, and flourished them. “Come then.”

Jif growled and swung his broadsword down. The robed man leaped back as the sword came crashing down. The bandit stepped forward on the upstroke, and slashed at him again, each time avoided by jumping further back. When the hooded man finally drew both swords above himself to meet Jif’s strike, they were fighting on the edge of the light.

The smaller, more agile fighter started flinging arm after arm at Jif, a flurry of strikes that Jif found himself unable to counter. With his attacker swathed in darkness, the bandit had a hard time keeping track of his strikes, barely moving his broadsword in time to parry the strikes as they relentlessly rained down.

Skippy was two paces behind Jif, his dagger drawn, but the passageway was not wide enough to allow him enough room to fight alongside his partner without being struck by his own sword. Mainly, he ducked left and right, trying to watch from behind Jif. When Jif yelled “I need more light!” Skippy jumped as if goosed, and leaped to where the lantern sat. Picking it up, he brought it closer.

But with the light source behind the huge Jif, it only changed the angles of the shadows painted on the dual-swordsman. His arms were spinning like windmills, striking down on Jif’s sword like smith’s hammers on an anvil. Jif started to bend his knees under the weight of it, struggling to inch forward and find some way to counter the assault.

Suddenly, the attacker changed posture, and his two swords leaped up from below. Jif managed to spring up and lower his sword desperately to block the strike, but blinked as the swords were casually knocked aside. He only had a moment of surprise before the fist struck him in the face, followed by an elbow to the side of the head. Jif slumped to the ground like a very large sack of grain.

In a flash, the man leaped over Jif and was in front of Skippy. His jaw dropped, and he looked up, baffled. “You?” He had only a moment before he too crumpled to the floor.

Rustling around in the smaller man’s pockets, the robed man found the key and moved to open the cell door. “We have to hurry, I don’t know how long the guards will be gone.” The key turned, and he pushed the door open. He turned around and gathered his swords. “Let’s go.”

“Wait, who are you?” Deia asked quietly.

After sheathing his swords, the man removed his hood.

Flooded with relief, Deia wept.

* * * * *

Cerberus counted again. Ten. It had yet to change, but the reflex made him check again anyways. Ten crossbow points aimed at his chest. No matter how swift he was, Cerberus could probably disable half of them before the others launched, but just one of those at such a point-blank distance would be deadly. Even Scouts were not immortal.

The Srynn Guard meticulously surrounded Cerberus at Tailz’s command. There were the ten with crossbows, instructed to fire at the first notice of escape. Then more surrounded that ring, twenty paces out all around. That was just in case Cerberus somehow got out of the loop of metal transfixed at his chest. Then, even further out, another squad of men encircled the entire parade, to ensure another line of defense if Cerberus single-handedly defeated the first two. At the very least, that gave Cerberus the advantage, that Tailz felt it necessary to take such precautions. The more your enemy thought you capable of, the more over-cautious they became.

Cerberus flexed the chains that bound his wrists together. Unfortunately, in this case, it’s working. He knew that he was useless like this, and he could think of no course of action that would not end with a bolt in his back. Cerberus had no choice but to continue on and see what it was that Tailz truly wanted.

Looking ahead, Cerberus glimpsed the flame-haired traitor at the head of the march. He had kept Cerberus under a similar guard most of the night, and decided to go back to the town at first light. The only part that confused Cerberus was that after going through all the trouble to capture him in the first place, he was rather quiet about his plans. As a matter of fact, Tailz had not said a word to him beyond telling him to sit down and shut up. Instead of killing him outright, Tailz held him in this elaborate ploy. Tailz wanted something, or needed something, from Cerberus. Cerberus just could not discern what that was.

Credit was due, however; Cerberus fell into the trap blindly. He had become so reliant on the scanner that he did not realize that Tailz had intentionally left his phasic rifle and Spheric in Srynn. Cerberus growled softly to himself. Tailz should have killed him on the spot. Which just looped Cerberus back around to his original train of thought: why was he still alive?

Marching out of the forest and into the grassland leading to the path, Cerberus could see further out. The gate had been opened for the morning, as horse-drawn carts were just starting to leave Srynn. Several had already began rolling down the path, the kicked-up dust reflecting the early morning light. As Cerberus’ escort was recognized as guards by the approaching carts, some raised their hands in greeting or salute. Cerberus was just another caught criminal.

Cerberus eyed the carts as he approached the path. Each had a driver directing their horses, some had a woman walking alongside, and one even had children playing, tagging behind the cart as it rolled along. He thought of several ways to use the passing carts as a distraction, but as before, each idea ended with him sporting several new holes in his skin. Gritting his teeth, he made no attempt to do anything but walk as directed past each cart. He would bide his time until he capitalized on Tailz’ mistake of not killing him. There was no sense getting killed at a time where his enemy clearly did not want him dead yet.

Tailz also eyed the carts in between glances at Cerberus. It was clear Tailz saw the same opportunities Cerberus did, and was concerned that he might attempt to take advantage of it, as if the amount of steel pointed at him was not deterrent enough. He expected such a reaction from Union men outside of the Scouts, given the Scouts’ reputation of near-gods, but he found it interesting to see it in Tailz, much less any Scout. Not only did Tailz need him, Tailz was worried about something. At least, he was concerned to the point that even the smallest chance of losing Cerberus was not worth the risk. Chuckling, Cerberus realized he was interested enough in what Tailz was up to that he was willing to ride this through, just to see what it was.

Arriving at the opened gates, Tailz waved off the salutes given and turned to wait for the rest of the escort. Glancing aside, Cerberus noticed a patch of stained dirt off to the side of the gate. Careful to not seem to take much notice, Cerberus looked elsewhere. He had seen enough fighting to know that blood had been spilled during the night. His thoughts quickly touched on Xia and the others, but from his position, he could only hope that none of the Telians had been hurt.

Frowning slightly, Cerberus began to wonder at what point he began to truly care for those people. He had been in many a situation in close quarters with allies and enemies alike, infiltrating secured buildings and protecting innocent citizens. He felt a kinship with the Xia boy that he had not felt since…

His eyes touched on Tailz as he passed him under the gate tower. …since Tailz. He had considered Tailz a friend once, and that was a mistake he was still paying for. Cerberus hesitated to apply it to anyone else. Blinking, he looked around and focused on his surroundings, cursing himself. Here he was, chained and under guard, and he was thinking on whether he should call a man a friend or not! He thought too much, as of late, and it would cost him one day; Cerberus knew it for fact.

His escort compressed around him, and made for an impressive sight. Without the open space to spread out around him, a full complement of fifty soldiers walked packed around him through the town streets. Townspeople pushed aside to the sides of the street, gawking at the man in chains who required half of the full Guard’s force to take in. They pointed and stared, but they moved aside, and the train of men flowed quickly through the maze of buildings.

Hustled through the town roads, Cerberus quickly found himself at the foot of the taller building he had glimpsed on his earlier foray into Srynn. He was rushed through the gates and up to the double-doors. The torrent of Guardsmen to his sides remained as they entered the building, crossbow bolts practically resting on his skin. At that close range, one of those bolts would sear completely through his body and likely strike someone on the other side. Oddly, Cerberus found the thought humorous. He shared a smile with his captors, wondering who would be the one to be shot by his own side. Uncertain, the guards glanced to one another uncomfortably, which only made Cerberus laugh out loud.

Tailz called irritably from behind. “Shut up, Cerberus.” Then, to the others, he barked out, “Get him into the back room.” With that, the stream carried Cerberus through a long corridor, depositing himself and his immediate circle into a large empty room. Several of the guards took up positions near the two large windows. The rest kept poking Cerberus with metal.

Tailz stepped just into the room, and from the doorway stared into Cerberus’ eyes. Having nothing else to do, Cerberus stared back at him calmly, and waited. It looked like he might learn what was going on here. He would wait Tailz out. If he did not get an opportunity to escape, he was good as dead anyways, so what little defiance he could show, he would, even in the form of not demanding Tailz explain himself.

Apparently, Tailz realized he would not get the satisfaction from Cerberus, and scoffed quietly. “All of you, you are dismissed.” He said to the guards outside the room. Then he surprised Cerberus by motioning to those still holding bolts to his chest. “You too, get out of here. Call for Mensch, tell him I have Cerberus here.” The guards backed slowly away from Cerberus, keeping their bows trained on him until they had backed clear out the door. The last one shut the door behind him, and it was just Cerberus and Tailz. Together. Alone. Cerberus’ eyes narrowed.

Tailz put up his hands. “Come now, brother.” He said. “Don’t try anything funny. You have not heard me out yet. I know you want to hear what I have to say.”

Cerberus tilted his head, and left his eyes narrowed and focused on Tailz. “I’m not your brother.” But, he crossed his arms and waited for the former Scout to continue.

Tailz smiled. “You are, in spirit.” He stepped forward slowly, approaching Cerberus. “Put out your hands.” When Cerberus complied, Tailz undid the lock on the chains and dropped them to the floor. Cerberus calmly placed his hands at his sides and waited. “What?” Tailz asked. “No thanks?”

Cerberus’ mouth twitched, the only sign of impatience he showed. “Get on with it.”

Shrugging, Tailz walked to one side of the room and leaned against the wall. “You’re not as friendly as you used to be.”

Cerberus shrugged slightly. “After someone tries to kill me once or thrice, I tend to forget to send them invitations to my birthday parties.”

Tailz barked a laugh. “That’s what I always liked about you, Cerb! You always were a funny man, in private at least.”

“Come on, man!” Cerberus growled. “Get to your point! I’m not here to talk about the old days. You killed the others! You ran from the Willers! You threw away everything the Union ever gave you, and for what? To come to this forsaken place and burn down a village?”

Tailz closed his eyes and seemed to listen. After a moment, he reopened his eyes and smiled. “Ah, yes, Tel, was it?” He shook his head. “An unfortunate accident, that.”

“Accident?” Cerberus said.

Nodding, Tailz answered. “I found the Spheric, and through it, I can touch so much energy.” His voice filled with awe. “It filled me, Cerberus. It was magnificent.”

“So you used it to murder innocent people.”

“No!” Tailz practically spat. “I could not control it. I tried to send the energy back from where it came, but it seems to be a one way ticket. You take energy out of it, and you have to do something with it, or it stays in you, and burns.”

Cerberus considered carefully. “You have the Spheric, Tailz. What do you need with me?”

“Do you know why I ran, Cerb?”

Cerberus shook his head. “No. We never knew.”

“They were going to kill me.”

“…What?” Cerberus blinked.

“Yes. They were going to kill me, for what I could do.” He looked at Cerberus sadly. “What we can do.”

Cerberus closed his eyes. “We?”

Tailz’s voice burned his ears. “You already know what I’m talking about, don’t you, Cerberus?”

Cerberus did not answer.

Pain. Revenge. Fear.

“…”

“You can hear me, can’t you, Cerberus.”

Cerberus growled and opened his eyes. “What do you want, dammit?”

“Think back to when our minds merged, Cerberus.” Tailz said. “Remember when our memories overlapped, yours, mine, and that other one’s. Xia’s. Remember?”

Cerberus frowned. The words seemed to rip from his throat. “You had been able to hear others’ thoughts for some time. You had even used it to complete some of your missions. Then, the Willers, they…” He shook his head. “But why, Tailz? It makes no sense!”

“I thought the same thing!” Tailz exclaimed. “It made no sense, so I ran. I was not going to die uselessly! What would you have done? Laid down to die like a dog?”

Cerberus did not answer.

“I found records, Cerberus. I broke into the Union database, and looked up the previous Scouts who had been called to sacrifice themselves to the Willers.”

“There were others?”

“Yes, but, Cerberus.” Tailz shook his head. “After they were marked as dead, their prints and security access were still used regularly. Whatever happened to them, they were not actually killed. They were made to look that way. They were never seen again, but their clearances were used regularly at some secret base called Station Zero.”

Cerberus held a hand to his head. “This is all so confusing.” He shook his head. “But what does this have to do with me?”

“The Spherics, Cerberus. They are a great power controlled by our ability. We reach out to them like we can to people’s minds, and they give us extraordinary power.” Tailz’s voice grew fervent. “If we stop fighting one another, and come together, we could gather them here, and control the greatest power that the Union has ever seen!”

Cerberus’ mouth dropped. “Are you crazy? Earth’s Sin was caused by these, and by people who did not know what they were doing! We stand about the same chance of surviving, Tailz!” Then a thought returned to Cerberus, one that he had pushed aside for some time. “Wait… That’s your plan, isn’t it? You are going to trigger another Earth’s Sin and wipe out the entire Union!”

Tailz held his hands wide. “After the Union is gone, there will be no one to persecute us, Cerberus. We can fully develop our power, and have anything we want, anywhere in the galaxy!”

“Do you hear yourself with your rule the universe talk?” Cerberus asked, flabbergasted. “Do you see? You are insane!”

“What is the alternative, Cerberus? When you go back, they will find out you can do it too. They will know, Cerb. The Willers, they can do it too, that’s how they found me.”

Cerberus’ mouth dropped. “The Willers… they… how…?”

“They’ll kill you, Cerberus. Or suck you into whatever secret prison they have for weapons like us.”

“Weapons…” Cerberus clenched his eyes shut tight. “It… I mean, we have always acted as weapons for the Union.”

“Not locked up in a cage for the rest of your life, Cerberus.”

“I… I don’t know, Tailz. You are asking me to betray the Union. I cannot do that. I am sure that if we go back, and explain, maybe there is a reason for what they did. We’ve done covert before, maybe with this, this is something that not even we get to know. That they have to fake our deaths to get us off the active Union radar.”

“I’m not willing to risk that, Cerberus.”

“And I am not willing to risk treason, Tailz.”

Tailz sighed softly and turned towards the door. “I was afraid that you might decide that route.” He put his hands on the door handle. “Then, so be it. In that case, I have another proposition for you.” He turned the handle, and pulled the door open wide.

Behind the door, Lord Mensch stood. He briefly nodded to Tailz before entering the room. In his hands, he carried a thick rope that dragged behind him three people, each bent over awkwardly. Their hands were bound together, and then tied to ropes leading to their feet. They had gags tied around their mouths. As they entered, their eyes each widened as they recognized Cerberus. Mensch closed the door behind them.

“Xia!” Cerberus said, and took a step forward. “Danni! Cheryl!”

“Not a move, Cerberus!” Tailz said, motioning to Mensch. In a single fluid move, Mensch had his sword drawn and under Xia’s neck.

Cerberus froze in place. “Damn you Tailz. What do you want?”

“If you refuse to help me, you have two choices, Cerberus. One, is you can take your friends here, and leave, and never bother me again. You live out your life on this planet here, far away from the Union, and never see me again. My fight is with the Union, not you.”

Cerberus growled. “And the other?”

Tailz shrugged. “I kill you all now.”

“You son of a bitch.” Cerberus glanced between Xia and Tailz, and licked his lips. Xia and the others just stared. Tears ran the girls’ faces. All three of them had been roughed up. Cheryl had a busted lip, and Xia had several bruises across his face.

“Well, Cerberus? Which is it?”

Cerberus frowned. A single tear slid down his cheek. He turned sideways and assumed a fighting stance. “Letting you gather the Spherics to destroy the Union would be just as bad as helping you do it. I cannot let you do this.”

Tailz shrugged. “Kill them.”

Mensch nodded, and drew back his sword. “Forgive me, boy.”

Cerberus leaped forward, reaching his hands out. “Noooo!” The world slowed down. He watched as the sword began its descent from where Mensch held it. There was no way he could reach Xia from where he stood. His mind flailed about for ideas, blood pounding in his ears. He silently begged for anything, to help his friend. Friend. Friend. Friend.

Cerberus felt a familiar feeling wash down his being, and he remembered. The room was bathed in crimson light, and his entire body was enveloped in a translucent sphere. His hands burned like fire, fueled by Rage. He remembered clearly the events of Tel. He remembered his body full of energy, unable to do anything with it, until Xia stepped in. Cerberus did not want to hurt the man, and forced the energy into the ground to save them both. He was angry at Tailz, angry for the death in Tel, and he had to put that elsewhere, for it fueled the fire that had threatened to consume them both. And in the haze, Cerberus found out how. “Burn, you!” Cerberus screamed, and just as before, forced Rage from his soul.

Flame spouted from his fingertips, quickly rushing across the room. Mensch screamed as he was drenched with fire, dropping his sword, and began flapping at himself, struggling to remove his cape and jacket. The captives fell backwards from the shock, but, thankfully, none of them were touched by the stream of flame. Cerberus lowered his hands in relief.

He had only a moment to recover before he was sent sprawling to the floor. The crimson light disappeared, leaving only the morning sunlight to beam in from outside. Cerberus slid to a stop against the wall, and his head rang. Blinking, the burning sensation he felt was gone, as was the energy that had surrounded him moments ago. Looking up, he saw Tailz just standing upright from the kick that had floored him. Tailz looked down at him with a look of pure fear.

Mensch groaned loudly behind him. His cape and jacket were on the floor, still smoldering from the flames. His face and arm was blistered, and he stood with a twisted sneer on his face. Growling, he reached down, and snatched up his sword. “Damn you, you vermin!” With that, he raised the sword over Danni’s head.

The window crashed and rained down glass over Lord Mensch. A robed figure flew through the window feet first, driving them into Mensch’s back. Mensch growled loudly as he was knocked forward. The robed man released the rope he had rode in on, and dropped to his feet on the floor. Mensch kept his balance and turned to face the newcomer.

“Bah!” Tailz said, turning away from Mensch and towards Cerberus. “You kill them! Kill them all! I’ll take care of my friend over here.”

Mensch raised his sword obediently. The robed man lowered his hood, and drew two swords from under his robes. “You bastard,” Fenix announced, angrily flourishing his swords. “Let’s see how good you are now.”

Stunned silence blanketed the room, holding everyone still as sure as steel chains. Xia looked up at the ceiling. Earth’s Sin had ignited Sol III, taking with it its entire solar system and more. No one really knew what it was, or even remembered why it was called Earth’s Sin, at least not until Cerberus had come and explained the history. The Spherics found on Earth caused an entire arm of the galaxy to detonate before the chain reaction had run its course. Frighteningly, that power was what Tailz was after.

Danni and Fenix looked at each other. “I don’t understand,” Danni said. “Cerberus said it was because of people using machines to talk without speaking. He said they set it off.” She eyed Cerberus. “Right?”

Cerberus gazed back, considering. His face lifted, as if to speak, but then sighed. He watched Xia staring blankly up at the ceiling and kept silent.

Fenix’s eyes widened as realization dawned on him, and turned his head slowly to look at Cerberus. He spoke quietly. “Tailz.” When he saw the flicker of Cerberus’ eye, he continued. “Cerberus… is it true?” The Scout said nothing. “Tailz knows how to talk without speaking. That’s how he did it.” He stepped up to Cerberus. “Is that how you know? Did Tailz…speak to you?”

Just like that, Cerberus’ calm cool snapped. His arms lashed out, gripping Fenix’s jacket by the collars, and hefted him against the wall. “Damn you, I did not mean to! It was not supposed to happen!” His face was a mix of anger and terror. He shook Fenix against the wall. “I did not want it, you hear me! I did not want it!”

Deia stepped up and placed her hands on Cerberus’ arms. “It was not Fenix’s fault, Cerberus.”

Captain Ternagis approached Cerberus from the other side. “Put him down, boy.” He said sternly.

Growling slightly, Cerberus shot one final look at Fenix before letting him go, dropping his feet to the floor.

Fenix straightened his collar, but he was not done. “Tailz came here and took away so many of our friends. He slaughtered them, Cerberus. He turned our village into a squabbling mess struggling to survive.” Fenix’s eyes grew hotter with each word. “Then, you go out there and nearly take the rest of the village with that stunt of yours.”

“But,–” Cerberus began.

Fenix’s finger stopped him. “You are just as dangerous as Tailz. Do you even know what is going on? You could have killed people, Cerberus! Did you even think about what you were doing?”

The fire in Cerberus’ eyes burned, but he kept his fists balled at his sides. “I told you! I was not trying to do anything! There was so much left over energy from the Spheric, and I was studying it, trying to see if I could learn anything about it.” He stared at Fenix a moment longer, then dropped his eyes and looked away. He took a breath, and when he spoke again, it was somberly. “The more I focused on it, I started thinking I could hear it changing. As my scanner said it increased, I thought I heard it, like a higher pitched tone. The next thing I know…” He trailed off.

Fenix hmphed. “And what happens the next time?” Cerberus just stared at the floor. Fenix sighed, and crossed his arms. “Cerberus, it’s long past time for you to be gone.”

Danni gasped. “Fenix!”

“I’m sorry, Danni.” Fenix said, raising a hand to silence her. “We cannot have another Explosion. More than one hundred people died. And those were just the ones I could count.” Fenix shook his head. “You take your Earth’s Sin, and Spherics, and all your damned lost technology, and get out of Tel!”

Cerberus and Fenix stared at each other. Fenix breathed heavily, his face red with outrage. He stood poised on the balls of his feet, as if ready to strike at the Scout. The Captain stood next to Cerberus, his hands on his hips, but he said nothing. Silence blanketed the room again.

Then Danni whispered. “Cerberus did not mention Earth’s Sin. Xia did.”

Fenix’s mouth worked, unable to find words. Then he turned to Xia, eyes wide. Xia flinched as if he had been stabbed. “How…how did you know, Xia?”

Xia squeezed his eyes shut.

Fenix snapped his mouth shut, squeezing his fists together. He turned to face Cerberus, and then Xia again. He watched Danni, stroking Xia’s arm softly and biting her lip, and then the Captain, who stood there, waiting.

“Fenix… you said everything ended after I moved closer, but… I cannot explain it really.” Xia’s eyes opened again, still looking at the ceiling. “I just know, Fenix.”

Fenix turned his back on the room, and announced to the open doorway, “We cannot have another Explosion. We cannot risk losing more family.” He strode to the doorway and leaned against it. “Cerberus, you need to leave here. Xia–.” He hesitated once more, before standing straight again. “Xia. You should probably go with him.” Danni gasped again, and then Fenix disappeared down the hallway.

Danni stood up quickly, as if ready to follow after Fenix, then hesitated. She struggled visibly, looking between the open door and Xia, before saying, “Fenix! Xia… you know Fenix does not really mean that, right? I mean, come on.”

Cerberus replied to her first. “Fenix is probably right.”

Danni whirled to face Cerberus, but found herself stuttering, unable to say anything.

“What, Danni?” He said too calmly. “You want to say he is right, I should leave, and somehow leave Xia out of it. It’s obvious how you feel for the boy, but can you really do that?”

Danni squeezed her hands in fists in front of her waist, and her face twisted, partially embarrassed, partially furious.

“That’s quite enough.” The Captain finally chimed in. “Cerberus, suffice it to say, there is nothing here for you anymore. You should go. You still have your reasons for coming to Landing in the first place.”

Cerberus nodded, not looking at anyone, then pivoted sharply and stalked out the door.

Deia sighed and took everyone else in with a glance. “Cruel-hearted people.” She said quietly. “Like you have any better idea what’s going on than he does.” With that, she was gone too.

Ternagis sighed and approached the door himself. “Frankly, Xia, I’ve never seen anything like this in my entire life. I could not say what I would do, if I were you.” He shrugged. “I know what kind of boy…” He nodded to himself, and corrected his words. “I know what kind of man you are. I’ll respect the choices you make. But, whatever you do, son, this is your town. You have people who love and respect you. In time,” he said, stressing that, “you will be accepted. Regardless of what happened yesterday.”

Like that, Danni and Xia were alone. Danni knelt at Xia’s bedside, and reached out to take his hand. Minutes passed as she sat there wordlessly, begging silently for him to look to her, to let out what he was feeling. She did not know anything to say, but she would not abandon him.

Xia eventually looked down at her hand on his, staring through it as if seeing nothing. Slowly, he turned his head and looked at her, his unshed tears glistening over his eyes as he gazed at her.

His eyes. She knew it for a mistake, and regretted it immediately. As he turned those sad eyes to her, she gasped, retracting her hands as if she was scalded. She fell back onto her bottom, and stared at Xia with a look of amazement.

Xia blinked, a tear forming at the corner of his eye. “What…?”

Composing herself, and berating herself internally, she calmly rose, dusted off her dress, and reached her hand out to Xia. “Come. Look.”

Xia gaped at her. Wiping his eye with the back of his hand, he extended the other to take Danni’s. Danni was surprised at how weak he was when she pulled him up from the bed. He really had exhausted himself, whatever he had done. Tossing that thought aside for the moment, she guided him, holding his hand delicately, as if too much pressure would cause him pain. Together, the pair of them crossed the room to the stand mirror leaned carefully against the wall. She drew him close to her, placing her arm around him, and when he looked at her questioningly, she made herself look into his eyes without flinching, and tightened her grip around him. Sighing, she said, more to herself than to Xia, “Okay. Here we go.”

She reached up and tilted the mirror forward. Xia looked at his face, bewildered, unknowing what he was looking for. Then he blinked, and leaned closer. “Wha–? How?”

Danni could not help flinching this time when his face turned to her, disturbed, looking to her for answers she did not have. He looked to her with those eyes, once a bright blue she had gazed lovingly into many times before, but now a deep misty gray that reminded her of a raging thunderstorm. She could only shake her head.

* * * * *

Danni could see the gathering mass blocking Tel’s front gate from down the street. Some were yelling and pointing at Cerberus and Deia. Several villagers brandished swords. Cerberus seemed unfazed, but Deia was bouncing on her toes. Another man shouted and Deia drew her dagger. The townspeople’s swords waved higher. Danni kept in step with Xia, staying a pace behind him.

Between the crowd and Cerberus stood Captain Ternagis, his sword sheathed and his arms crossed. No one dared to test the wall he created with his gaze, but the calling and insults continued.

As Xia approached, the crowd grew sullenly quiet. The looks on the townspeople’s faces grew less angry, replaced with sulkiness. Noticing the difference, the Captain turned to see what had gotten their attention. The swords remained raised, however. “Cerberus,” Xia said as he came within earshot, “what is going on?”

Cerberus nodded to the villagers. “Not everyone is happy just letting me leave.”

Xia frowned and moved beside the Captain. Danni followed silently. Ternagis spoke softly. “Cerberus was ready to leave without a word to anyone, when these folks stopped him. Guess they learned he was leaving.”

Xia sighed. “Fenix?”

Ternagis nodded. “He’s the only one who knew. I doubt he meant to cause this, but when I catch him, I’ll teach him to vent where others can hear him.”

Xia shook his head, one hand on his forehead as if nursing a headache. Raising his voice, Xia spoke to the crowd. “Has there not been enough bloodshed for one week?” Silence answered him. He waited, and when no one responded, he continued. “Fine then. Make way.”

“Are you really going to let him go?” someone asked. “After all he has done?” Several others agreed quietly. Danni put a hand over her face.

“And what is that he has done, precisely, Master Lants?”

The farmer answered loudly. “It’s because of him the Explosion happened.” More villagers agreed this time, not so quietly.

Xia’s mouth tightened. “Are you all so shallow as to believe that?” Stunned silence answered. He did not give anyone a chance to respond. “We have a method of dealing with crimes committed in our town, and mobbing is not one of them.” Several of the townspeople looked at the ground, abashed. “Also, I will remind everyone here that Cerberus was with me, outside of Tel, when the Explosion happened. He’s no more guilty than I am for it.”

The villagers looked up, uncertain, and several swords moved. Remembering yesterday’s events, Xia realized that might not have been the best choice of words, and quickly redirected their attention. “Danni, and Fenix too. If you believe us to be responsible, then surely they are too.” After that, several swords lowered. He thought he heard one slowly sheathe.

Letting out a breath, he relaxed visibly. “Now, all I see is an agitated gaggle of men and women who were attempting to assault an innocent man who has been helping us since the Explosion.” He pointed to a tall man in the crowd. “Gan, you especially. Cerberus lifted half a building to save your boy.” Xia’s hand moved again, quickly. “And you still have the use of your arm since he got you quick enough to Victor.” The remainder of the swords had been lowered, some townsfolk going as far as to hide them behind their backs. Xia nodded to himself. “Now move along. Or I’ll stick all of you in the cell. Regardless of how I have to pack you in there.”

Surprised faces blinked at Xia. Then they dispersed, everyone in a seemingly different and unrelated direction, as if they had coincidentally been walking by.

Xia shook his head and slumped, sighing. Danni smiled encouragingly at him, and he smiled briefly in return. Then, he turned back to Cerberus and Deia.

Cerberus watched impatiently as the gate cleared. “Can we leave now?”

“What?” Danni practically growled. “No thank you?”

Deia smirked. “Ha! All Xia did was save his own people. We would have been fine.”

Cerberus shook his head and raised a hand to calm Deia. “Still. Thank you Xia. Regardless, it is time for us to leave.” Looking between Danni and Xia, he noticed the packs on their backs similar to his own. “Where are you going?”

“I’m going with you.” Xia said at the same time Danni answered, “I’m going with Xia.” Xia and Cerberus looked to Danni, who blushed slightly.

“No. You’ll only slow us down.” Deia said. “We don’t need your help, and you’ll only get in our way.”

Xia stepped forward, staring Cerberus in the eye. “I am going.”

Cerberus’ eyes widened as he noticed the dim gray eyes he was looking into. Then he grunted and nodded. “Fine. But just so we’re clear, I know only just as much as you do.”

The women glanced at each other confusedly. Xia gazed a moment longer, noting that Cerberus’ own eyes had not changed from the deep brown they had always been. Then he nodded and stepped away.

A gruff call sounded from down the street, drawing everyone’s eyes. Fenix’s father was leading two horses by the reins, a bay and a sorrel. Xia strode to him and greeted him, taking the bay’s reins. Danni took the sorrel’s. She felt a small pang of regret that she was not bringing a decent dress, but she did not know how long she would be on horseback. Three more pairs of the soft riding pants she wore were in her pack. “Are you sure about this?” Coole asked.

Xia waved it off to avoid opening the discussion again. “Thank you, Master Down. I appreciate you taking care of things here.”

Coole shook his head. “It’s okay, boy. I cannot say I blame you. Personally, I think it’s a good idea to give everyone time to cool off a bit. Yesterday’s… well, yesterday was a lot for those of us who lost folks. People’s upset now, over everything.” He motioned to the crowd of people still moving away from the gate.

“Tell me about it.” Xia reached up and began buckling his satchel behind his saddle. Noticing the tuft of gray hair at the top of the bay’s black mane, he recognized the horse as one of the town’s stallions. Xia glanced back at the old builder. “Why Bluff, Master Down?”

Bluff snorted and tossed its head, as if it was offended at the question, then stepped back and forth in place. “Well, the geldings were all sent off with the runners, save Flametracer here.” Coole patted the other horse, a lighter sorrel. “The others are pullers, not fit for riding like that.”

Xia nodded and continued strapping down his pack. “What about the Council?”

“The Council, they stand behind you. Even Terov, through all the complaining that Danni was going with you.”

“Terov, huh?” Ternagis said thoughtfully. “Maybe Fenix is not as hot-headed as we thought.”

Coole almost sounded offended. “My boy may be rash at times, but he is hardly hot-headed.”

Ternagis just held his hands wide and shrugged.

“By the way,” Coole said to Xia, “These two, they are really what we have left. I don’t have more to spare for your friends.” Coole motioned to Deia and Cerberus.

Xia reached up and scratched Bluff behind its ear. The stallion nodded its head to the attention. “Well, we will have to double up.” Bluff turned its head and bared teeth, snapping at Xia’s fingers. Xia pulled them back quickly and chuckled before climbing into the saddle. “Bluff is a bit touchy today, but Cerberus can ride with me. Deia, climb on with Danni.”

Both women scoffed simultaneously. Xia sighed.

“How about I take the other horse, and Cerberus can ride with me.” Deia said.

“I think not!” Danni exclaimed. “Flametracer is mine. I’ll ride him, and Cerberus will ride with me.”

“Fine, whatever.” Deia said, and reached up to clasp Xia’s hand, helping her into the saddle behind him.

Danni frowned when Deia put her arms around Xia for balance, and suddenly regretted not letting her ride on Flametracer. She opened her mouth to call her down, and then smartly snapped it shut. She realized that anything she said now would just sound silly; after all, it was her idea that Deia ride with Xia. She had no choice but to silently turn and set about packing her saddle, albeit furiously.

Bluff had other plans. Xia had ridden Bluff on several occasions, rarely, but enough for the stallion to recognize him. Deia had barely gotten settled on before the bay reared up, landed, and reared again. Both Xia and Deia were tossed from the horse onto the flats of their backs. Xia had to roll swiftly to prevent a hoof from landing on him.

Coole leaped forward. He spoke firmly and calmly, telling Bluff to calm down. The stallion stepped in place, snorting, but did not move back from Coole’s approach. Coole grasped the reins and put a hand on the animal’s snout to calm it.

“A bit touchier than normal?” Ternagis asked.

Xia shook his head, coming to his feet. “Just restless.” Bluff was usually out on one of the larger pastures, getting plenty of running time, not counting when it was ridden. But in the days following the Explosion, it had mainly been restricted to the pickets at the edge of the village. The horse was restless and eager to be in the open.

Danni openly smiled at Deia peeling herself off the ground, her light cotton clothes covered in a firm layer of fresh dirt. Deia glared at her while she dusted herself, prompting Danni to cover her mouth with one hand. “Well, perhaps that was not such a great idea. I guess you’ll have to ride with me.”

Cerberus approached Flametracer and buckled his pack behind the saddle. Flametracer just looked back at him and blinked, not at all bothered by Bluff’s outburst.

Coole wiped a kerchief on his forehead. “Well, I suppose we could saddle one of the mares. They’re just not used to riding. They haven’t been properly sacked out yet.”

After Cerberus finished, he checked the straps, then turned and walked to the gate. “That will not be necessary, Master Down. Xia can ride the darker horse, and Deia and Danni will ride the red one.”

“The red one?” Xia asked, looking at Flametracer. “Cerberus? Have you ever ridden a horse before?”

“Secretly travelling from planet to planet for covert insertion missions, it is not a skill that comes up a lot.”

Xia nodded. “No. I suppose not.” He sighed. “Cerberus, we do not have much of a choice at this point; it will simply be faster on horseback if we are going to catch up to Tailz.”

Cerberus looked back at Xia. “It will not be necessary. Just keep up.” Cerberus turned and trotted out of the gate.

Confounded looks were exchanged between everyone. Coole scratched his head. “How does he reckon…?” Then his jaw dropped. Cerberus never stopped increasing speed. His legs pumped solidly and steadily, and before long, had to be running as fast as Bluff at full canter. “I’ll be damned…” The Scout was already a speck down the road.

Danni stared so wide-eyed that she did not notice Deia tugging at her pant leg. Blinking herself back to where she was, she reached down and pulled Deia up behind her. Then, Danni grinned. “Don’t fall off.” She kicked Flametracer off swiftly, and Deia barely got her arms around Danni in time. Danni laughed as she heard Deia growling into her back. She glanced back, and saw Xia and Bluff trotting to catch up.

“You take care, boy!” Coole called behind them.

Ternagis roared. “You come back safe, you hear me?”

* * * * *

The cart rumbled along the cobblestone road. Tailz grit his teeth. Who builds roads with countless rocks? And then run wheeled carriages over them! Growling to himself, he regretted the decision to not get out and walk when they reached Srynn. He held onto the carriage’s windowpane with one hand. He found it easier to ride that way, otherwise, he was bucked around the wooden carriage enough to lose a tooth. His other hand unconsciously touched the pouch he sewed into his cloak to carry the Spheric. After what they had seen it do back on the highway, he did not trust the idiots driving the carriage to not steal it.

Before too long, the carriage rolled to a stop in front of a building that was larger than most of the houses and shops they had passed on their way here. The largest fool himself, caped in his slick golden tassels and open cloak, stood at the large metal gate of a low wall that encircled decent sized grounds surrounding the building. Gregori Mensch, at first a sniveling coward, became quite a faithful hound after the demonstration of his phasic rifle and the promise of more extravagant power to come.

The carriage’s side door was opened by the lesser of the two morons he had traveled here with. Skippy was the ugliest creature Tailz had ever seen, but he was not dim. Fortunately, being small gave him a healthy fear Tailz used to motivate him. Normally, Skippy could rely on his large strong-arm friend, Jif, when muscle was needed, but Tailz was one man that Jif refused to come close to. As Tailz stepped out of the carriage and stretched, he glanced at the heavyset man tending to the horses. Jif flinched as he noticed Tailz looking at him, and tried to ignore it. Tailz shook his head and turned his attention to the aforementioned fool.

Mensch nodded briefly, a sign that he still considered Tailz an “equal.” To Tailz, this did not much matter, so long as he remained useful. Besides, the “Lord” bowing to some random stranger would make people ask questions.

Along that train of thought, Tailz swept his own graceful bow. “Good morning, Lord Mensch,” Tailz said with a smirk.

The fool blinked in surprise before pretending to take it in stride. “Welcome, Master Tailz.” He held an arm wide, directing Tailz up the path from the gate. “I hear you found what you were looking for.”

Tailz nodded. “So you met Tel’s runner. She passed us out on the road, driving her animal like mad.” He glanced back at Mensch. “We did not pass her coming back. What happened?”

“An unfortunate coincidence. Being an official from Tel, the guards let her pass.” He grumbled to himself. “Although they were told not to let anyone pass. Regardless, the villages are warm to one another, and when they heard of a…disaster…in Tel, they saw no reason not to let her in. She came into the Srynn Hall and witnessed my in-depth motivating of Mayor Taugen.”

Tailz growled quietly.

“What would you have me do? I could not very well let her leave at that point. I decided to hold her for now until I figure out what to do with her.” Mensch nodded to himself as they approached the Srynn Hall.

“Well, leave her for now. She may prove useful. Cerberus and very likely others from that village are coming this way.”

Mensch stopped at the large double doors. “This way? So soon?”

Tailz nodded, remembering the memories he had felt during his dream encounter with Xia and Cerberus. “Let’s just say things have not gone completely according to plan.” Tailz was unsure how Cerberus had salvaged enough of the Terra Prime to devise a makeshift phasic scanner, but even so, the blasted girl from Metson had witnessed him leaving Tel, and there was only one road south. That experience with the Spheric had been more than helpful, revealing to him everything he needed to know about Cerberus’ plans so far on Landing. “We just have to use this to our advantage. I was hoping to be without his interference for a while, but it just means we will have to handle him first.”

“What is your plan?”

“Have some men patrol the gates, keeping an eye out for Cerberus and Xia. There may be others, but those two, I know are coming.”

* * * * *

Xia set the pace for the ride south. Or rather, he tried to. When he rode Bluff in the past, it was because the horse loved to just run. If it was not taken out for occasional rides, it would get testy around the handlers, so it was saddled and just let to run to its content, sometimes galloping straight for a few hours before it would let itself be walked back. At that pace, Bluff would not make it to Srynn, but it was that pace that Bluff kept trying to push to. Especially if Flametracer got too close. After the first hour or two, he found that if he kept well enough ahead of Danni and Deia, Bluff stopped trying so hard to outrun the sorrel.

He kept the horses at a fast trot. With two riders on Flametracer, it was harder than the horse was used to, but it seemed able to keep it up. He had told Danni to keep an eye on it, and to just slow if the horse needed it.

The water sources up and down the highway to Srynn were well known, so Xia was able to gauge their speed to where they would stop to rest. They would be able to travel three, maybe four, hours before the horses would need to water and rest.

At their first stop, Xia stretched his legs and promptly tied Bluff down near the creek where he could watch him drink. After the clopping of hooves for several hours, the quiet was welcome. Then, Danni and Deia caught up on Flametracer.

Deia barely waited for Danni to halt the horse. She promptly jumped off its back and swung around, pointing a hand at Danni. Her face was contorted in anger, near purple. “Are you purposefully trying to shake my brains off?”

Danni climbed down, and put her hands on her hips, leaning forward. It was the stance Xia had seen many times before, when Danni was brooking no nonsense. “What ever are you talking about? Have you ever ridden double before? It’s harder in back.”

“Don’t insult me! You forget, my father was Master Farmer in Metson, just like yours in Tel. I’ve been on the back of enough horses, and none tried to shake my eyes out of my head!”

“Come oooon!” Danni stamped a foot. “If I wanted to shake your eyes out, I’d do it myself!”

“Oh yeah?” Deia retorted. “You’d get a pretty black eye for trying!”

Xia approached the two. “Listen, you two…”

Two pairs of eyes swung hotly in his direction. Two voices sounded simultaneously. “Stay out of this Xia!”

Xia sighed. “I’d love to but…” He motioned in the direction of the creek. Flametracer had noticed the water and walked over, but Bluff was snapping at the other horse with teeth bared each time Flametracer got close to the creek.

Danni squeaked, and ran to regather her reins.

Xia called after her. “Take him further up the creek.” Deia chuckled at Danni scurrying after her horse, until Xia turned on her. “Do you want to walk?”

Deia pouted. Deia! She even showed lip! Xia threw his hands up and turned back to Bluff, sighing. “Grab something to eat from the saddlebags. We leave in an hour.”

At their second stop, Xia announced they would stop for the night.

Danni squinted at the sun low in the sky. “We could get two more hours, Xia. We have not caught up to Cerberus yet.”

Xia growled as he explained that the next water source lay further than that, and he wanted to rest the horses fully because tomorrow would be a full day of riding, sun up to sun down. “Besides,” he said, motioning to the saddlebags, “Cerberus will come back when he’s hungry.”

Before long, the horses were tied down next to the small pond, and the three of them sat around a fire, sharing the salted beef they had brought along. They had brought two watercases. One sat between Danni and Xia, the other next to Deia on the other side of the campfire.

Other than the initial conversation upon arriving, no one had said a word. Danni and Deia apparently were not talking, and Xia was not sure what to say to break the silence. He was thinking of something to lighten the mood, when Danni spoke first.

“What exactly happened, Xia?”

Xia looked at Danni. “When?”

“You were knocked unconscious, then you wake up and tell us that Tailz is after the power of Earth’s Sin. How did you know?”

Xia looked at Danni, and then at Deia, who was looking back at him curiously. Sighing, he leaned back, and told them. He told them about his dream that was not a dream. How he saw and felt Tailz’s and Cerberus’ memories and emotions. He told them about the strange cave he had seen, and how Tailz and Cerberus were ready to kill one another. He spoke of the strange panther-cat that had stopped them. When he told them of the Seeker, with the color-changing eyes, Danni moved nervously. “Do you think she had anything to do with it?” He asked her, motioning to his own eyes.

“I don’t know, Xia.”

They sat in silence for a short time, the fire crackling loudly. Bluff snorted behind them.

“How do you know it was not just a dream?” Danni asked.

Deia answered for him. She said it sadly, not a trace of the earlier hostility present. “Cerberus told me the exact same thing. He had the same dream, and just like Xia, he knew it to be true.” She lowered her eyes. “I am not sure… but, I think he was scared. I’ve never seen him scared.”

Xia nodded. “I can still feel some of their memories as if they were my own.” He put a hand to his head. “It is hard to tell a few of them apart, sometimes.”

No one spoke after that. Danni looked at him worriedly. He could not blame them. What do you say to that?

Before too long, as the sun dipped below the horizon, Deia suggested that they get some sleep, and volunteered to watch for bandits.

“Bandits?” Xia asked. “On the highway?”

Deia’s mouth tightened. “I’m not finding us living in a peaceful world anymore, Master Mayor.”

Remembering her encounter on her way from Metson, Xia relented. “Alright. Do not stay up too late.” Deia half-smiled and nodded.

* * * * *

“They’ve got to be in here somewhere.” Sam placed the lantern on top the cellar table and moved a stack of boxes. They landed on the ground with a wooden smack. His son, Xia, was doing his best to help, but he could barely lift the lids of the wooden boxes, much less the boxes themselves. “If we don’t find those deeds, old man MacSendin and Coole will be arguing about the borders of their plots until they forgot what it was they were arguing about.”

“Wouldn’t that be a good thing, Father?”

Sam smiled. “It’s a figure of speech, son. It means they will be wasting so much valuable time arguing instead of doing their respective jobs, that the argument will only hurt them when they could be more productive.”

Xia nodded. His father always described things in ways that benefited the whole village. He was the Mayor, after all. It amazed him how his father managed to logically describe everything. Even the reason he had to eat his vegetables each night was somehow tied to the productivity of the village, though Xia was still trying to figure a way around that one.

Sam lifted the lid of another box, and stopped, peering into it. “Well, I’ll be.”

Xia peeped into the box. “What is it, Father?”

“It’s… it’s the box with your mother’s things.”

Saddened by the sudden mention of his mother, Xia looked gravely at the contents of the box. Sam reached into it, and pulled out a small tarnished box. Pulling it open, he smiled, looking into it. “What’s that, Father?”

Sam pulled a small glass ball from the box, and held it in his hand to show Xia. “It was a gift your mother and I received a long time ago. A trinket like no other I’ve ever seen.” Sam held the small orb up to the light and squinted through it. It was so clear, as if it were made from liquid, colored deep crimson. “It meant a lot to us.”

“Oh.” Young Xia sighed. “Is that why you put it away too?”

Sam squeezed the orb in his hand and sighed. “This, and so many other things I could not stand to look at any more when your mother died.” He shook his head. “It is sad, really. I’ve got so many things to remember her by, and I can’t bear to look at them for too long.”

Xia frowned sadly. “Mother never gave me anything to remember her by.”

“Well,” Sam smiled, “we can’t have that now, can we?” Sam reached his hand out with the orb nestled in his palm. “Why don’t you have this? I’m sure your mother would approve.”

Lighting up visibly, Xia snatched the orb from his father’s hand. He grinned as he held it close to him. “I will take good care of it!”

Sam patted him on the back. “Why don’t you put it someplace safe, while I keep looking through these boxes?”

Xia nodded, and turned to bound away.

He froze at the door, looking down.

“What is it, son?” Sam asked, placing the cover back on his late wife’s box and putting it aside.

The child turned around very slowly, his hand held out in front of him. The orb lay in it. It shined, giving off its own light independent of the lantern on the table. “Look at it, Father!”

“What..?” Sam could only stare at the little orb in his son’s hand. “It’s never done that before.”

“I think… I think its getting warm.”

“Warm?”

“Yes. Warm.” Xia’s eyes widened, and he drew his hand in quickly, dropping the orb to the floor. “No! Hot!” It rolled on the floor, resting under the table as Xia nursed his hand.

Reaching under the table, Sam poked at the glass ball. The light had started fading as soon as it had hit the ground, and it was as cool as it was when he himself had been holding it. Baffled, he lifted it from the floor, and sure enough, the wooden plank beneath it held a round indentation: a burn mark.

Xia frowned. “I’m sorry, Father… I didn’t mean to…”

Sam waved his hand at his son. “Its okay, boy. It isn’t your fault. Though, this thing may be more than what it seems.” Holding it between his thumb and forefinger, he dropped it into a stone case on one of the shelves and closed it tight. “I’ll have to speak to Lord Mensch and see where he obtained it from.” He shook his head. “Fascinating.”

“Maybe we should put it back for now, Father.”

Sam nodded. “Good idea.” He picked up the small box and placed the orb back into it.

Xia turned his head. A woman stood in the doorway, leaning on a staff taller than she herself was. She seemed friendly, familiar. Oddly, she was dressed in a deep blue uniform he had never seen before. She looked down at the boy, and smiled sweetly. Then, her bright blue eyes turned deep crimson.

Xia awoke with a start, panting, and put a hand to his head. Looking around, he was still in his bedsack, and the sun had not quite reached the horizon yet, though daybreak was close. Deia lay sleeping in her sack, and Danni stood next to Flametracer, stroking his snout with one hand, and running a brush through her hair with the other. Bluff stood, head down, drinking from the pond.

Rising, Xia stepped carefully over Deia, and went to Danni. “You did not wake me to take a turn at watch?”

Danni looked at him and smiled. “We decided not to wake you. Deia and I, we had a nice chat about you and Cerberus. We are worried about you two.” She sighed. “Deia was beside herself, because Cerberus did not come back last night.”

Xia blinked. “Does she care about him that much?” He thought for a moment. “Is Deia in love with Cerberus?”

Danni’s smile melted away. “Why is it men always assume that when a woman cares for someone that it is always romantic?”

Xia’s mouth worked. “But I thought… that you two talked… that it was the same…” He cleared his throat, and blushed. “Because, I mean, not the same, I don’t think you do, I mean, me…” He trailed off.

It was Danni’s turn to stutter. “Well, no, kind of… not exactly…” She stared at his gray eyes, her mouth unable to make noise. Then, her face flushed deeply, and she pointed a finger at him. “Damn you… you… man!” Then she turned and stalked off to her bedsack, and started packing her things.

Xia frowned, and spoke quietly, “What did I say?” Flametracer snorted and shook its head.

As they rode, Xia looked back at Danni and Deia from time to time, finding them talking, or as much talking as two people can do from horseback at a fast trot. It was still imperative that they get to Srynn and find out where Tailz went from there. He reached down and patted Bluff; the horses were doing exceptionally well. Bluff still wanted to break out into a gallop from time to time, but after riding yesterday, he had run out a bit of his pent-up energy, and was less pushy. He still had to keep a lead over Flametracer, a move Xia regretted as he looked back at Danni and Deia laughing. What were they talking about?

At the first resting spot, Xia tied down Bluff for a drink, and when he bent upright from tying off the hobble, he heard the women laughing. Looking behind him, he saw the two of them looking at him. “What?”

“You better check that hobble, Xia.” Danni said with a smile.

Xia frowned and bent down to look at the hobble. “Looks fine to me, why…”

The laughter started up again, and this time he caught part of it. “…nice bottom…”

He blushed furiously and stood completely erect. “The hobble is fine.” He said, then turned and walked thirty paces down the creek, trying to get out of earshot.

The next leg of their ride, he was more than happy to keep Bluff further ahead.

At their second stop, after announcing this rest would be for two hours instead of one, he purposefully took Bluff to the other side of the pond before stopping and tying the horse down.

After pushing the horses all day, Xia gave them the extra rest, and, as the evening came on them, he slowed the trot down. They were getting closer to Srynn, and the horses deserved the break after getting them down here so quickly.

As dusk deepened, Xia saw a man far down the highway. Slowing to a halt, he waited for Flametracer to catch up.

Danni slowed the horse as she came close to Xia. “Is there a problem?”

“Just someone on the road. Better careful.” Xia replied. Danni and Deia nodded in agreement. “I’m going to go on ahead, watch for me to wave to you if it is okay.”

“Xia.” Deia said, tossing him her dagger. “You did not bring a sword.”

Xia caught the dagger, and nodded thanks. He booted Bluff forward.

His mind went through a number of possibilities that made his hand sweat in grasp of the dagger. He almost laughed at himself once as he thought of fighting Tailz with just a dagger, and then he did laugh at the thought of Tailz just showing up on the side of the road. He somehow doubted it was Tailz’s style.

Then he stopped laughing as he realized: he knew it was not Tailz’s style. Grumbling to himself, he tucked the dagger under his belt and trotted on.

Still, he was still relieved when he got close enough to see Cerberus’ face. Shaking his head and smiling, he slowed and turned in his saddle to wave at the women, who started towards him.

“I’m glad to see you are being careful.” Cerberus said.

Xia walked Bluff close to Cerberus and dismounted. “How is this even possible? I pushed the horses as hard as I dared, Cerberus, and we never saw you.”

Cerberus stood with his arms crossed. “You caught up to me around the time you stopped for the night. I’ve shadowed you since then.”

“What? Why?”

“In case Tailz or his bandits showed up, then we would have an advantage of surprise.”

“Oh.” Xia blinked. “Wait? You kept up with the horses the whole way?”

Cerberus nodded as Flametracer rode up with Deia and Danni. “Cerberus!” Danni called, waving. “We were worried about you last night, when you did not come back.” Danni halted the horse on the other side of the road from Bluff, and the pair of them dismounted. Xia pulled the dagger from beneath his belt to hand back to Deia, but seeing her furious face focused on Cerberus, he decided against it.

Cerberus looked at Deia questioningly. “Wh–” He was cut off by a full-armed slap.

Deia pulled back, shaking her hand. “That was for disappearing.” Turning away, she walked back to Danni, and the pair of them moved closer to Flametracer.

Xia could not help but chuckle at the absolutely stunned face Cerberus wore, one hand clapped over his cheek. “Never been slapped before either, huh?” Cerberus just looked at Xia, blinking. Xia smiled and waved a hand. “Yeah, I know, not a skill that comes up a lot.”

Cerberus took his hand off his face, and looked at it, as if looking for blood. He blinked again, then turned to Xia, who was still smiling. “Well. The reason I came back to get you. Tailz is in Srynn.”

All other thought went out the window. Deia swung around and came back to the men, and Danni was a step behind her. “Tailz is still here?” Deia asked.

Cerberus nodded. “I am picking up both the Spheric and Tailz’ rifle in the center of the town.”

“What do we do?” Xia asked?

Cerberus motioned at the increasing darkness. “We stay hidden. Go through the town gate, go south two streets, then turn left and head east two more. There is an inn there called Daggerpoint, take two rooms in it.”

Xia put up a hand. “Wait. I’ve been here before. Why not just stay at King Faerth’s Inn, next to the gate?”

Cerberus replied, “Because it’s next to the gate.”

Xia blinked. “You were already in the town? What if you were seen?”

“I was not seen. I climbed up the wall and stayed out of sight. Now, do as I asked. Head straight to Daggerpoint. It is not yet late enough that your arrival would cause any more comment than anyone else. I’ll catch up to you before morning.” At Deia’s dangerous glance, Cerberus put up his hands. “I promise.”

“Where are you going?”

“Tailz’s craft is a mile or so back, and I want to see what I can figure out while he’s not with it.”

“You found his craft?” Danni asked excitedly.

Nodding, Cerberus reached into his pocket, and took out his scanner. “You go on, I’ll be there later.” With that, Cerberus trotted north, the darkness quickly hiding him.

Xia all but leaped into his saddle. “Come on, I would love to get out of the saddle and into a bed tonight.” Deia and Danni agreed, and climbed onto Flametracer.

Darkness fell quickly enough that the horses had to be kept at a slow walk. It would do them no good to ride them into a small hole and possibly injure a leg. Danni and Deia were discussing the prospects of a nice hot bath, but Xia could not get Tailz out of his mind.

Tailz was in Srynn, and they were going to waltz right in. Somehow, he just did not feel as safe without Cerberus there. It was at this moment, that he regretted not bringing a sword. He had chosen not to bring one, because he was not a hero, and he was not going to fight against Tailz. He just had questions he needed to find answers to, and he felt sticking close to Cerberus might get them answered. Looking back at Danni on her horse, he cursed at himself. He decided he would go to a smithy’s in the morning and purchase one for himself.

Soon, some time after full dark, they arrived at the closed gate of Srynn, a large metal set of double doors set into the white wall that surrounded the town. They presented themselves to the men on duty, in the green uniform of Srynn’s Guard.

“Xia Townsend,” Xia replied to the question of their names, “Mayor of Tel. This is Danni Lants, and Deia Vengen. We’re going in for the night.”

The two guards glanced at each other before nodding at Xia. The first man wrote their names on a small tablet he held for that purpose. The other turned, and pounded on the gate, three hard times. “Open the gate!” Then the two Guardsmen moved away from the gate as someone inside turned the crank to start it opening.

Xia waited calmly as the gate slowly turned open. He wondered what kind of hilt to get for his new sword. His father’s sword had been shaped with a falcon’s head on the hilt, with two small emeralds for eyes. Thinking softly, he began to wonder what had happened to it. His father used to keep it up on a stand behind his desk. Xia frowned. It was probably obliterated along with everything else.

Suddenly, Xia felt it clearly as a biting cold wind.

Ready… Just wait for the gate to open…

Startled, Xia glanced to his left to see that the guards had not only moved out of the way of the out-swinging gate doors, they also had quietly started to circle to their sides. They were being flanked. “Run!” Xia cried, and waved at Danni and Deia. They hesitated, confused, and before Xia could move, three men rushed out through the narrowly-opened gates. Bluff reared up, crying in shock, and Xia was again thrown from his horse’s back.

On instinct, he rolled to his left to avoid any danger of being kicked by his own horse. Coming to a stop, he saw the first guard, having dropped his writing tablet, reaching down for him. Xia kicked out, catching the guard squarely in the kneecap. The guard cried in pain and leaned forward. Xia kicked out again, sweeping the man’s feet from under him, and the guard fell onto his face.

Leaping up, he tried looking for Deia and Danni, but jumped back at the hands of another man snatching at him. As the man ran to catch him, Xia dropped to one knee, swinging his arms low as if he held a sword. Without the blade, it would not hurt as much, but it was still an effective move. His hands clasped together, he hit the approaching man’s armored shin sideways, knocking him off balance. Xia followed up by springing up with his fist, catching his attacker under his chin. With a half-strangled grunt, the guard fell backwards.

Breathing hard, he frantically searched for Deia and Danni. They were off their horse, Danni half-ducking behind Deia, and the other two Guardsmen who had emerged from the gate were slowly moving towards them. The final guard, the one who had pounded on the gate in the first place, was already on the ground sporting a bloody nose. Blinking, he realized Deia did not have her dagger out. Touching his waist, Xia remembered that he had not returned it. Pulling the dagger and its sheathe out, he flanked the guards and ran at them while their attention were on the women.

Passing the gate, Xia cried loudly, and the two men looked his way. Simultaneously, Xia threw the dagger to Deia and leaped forward. At the last moment, he kicked a foot out, taking one man in the ribs, and drove him to the ground.

Deia caught the dagger, and unsheathed it. She stretched her arm out, slashing at the guard. The man ducked and swooped, watching the dagger point carefully. He watched her methodically, and starting blocking her thrusts, throwing an arm to catch her wrist as she attempted to slash him. The guard smiled at her, as if mocking her childish fighting form. Then he frowned as Deia smiled back.

As the next parry hit her wrist, Deia opened her hand and released the dagger. She dropped to one knee and caught the dagger pointed upwards. Before he could react, Deia sprang forward, driving the hilt into the guard’s throat. “Ha ha!” She growled victoriously.

Xia gaped at the look on Deia’s face as she drew back her dagger. “Deia! None of them had pulled blades, they were not trying to kill us! I wanted you to get away, not kill him!”

Deia pointed and started to say something, but her words were swallowed by darkness as something bashed the back of his head.

It was not until the night faded into the first signs of dawn that Matthew Ternagis really looked at the dirt and grime that encrusted his hands. Or rather, it was the first notice of the dirt and grime that he realized that dawn was not long in coming. Tracking several miles the day before and then working grueling labor through the night was something that he could have done with energy to spare when he was much younger, but Matthew was afraid that today was truly showing him how old he was. Still, he knew his role in this community, and what it expected of him. Calm and always in control, Captain Ternagis was the epitome of confidence and the master of discipline. He would weather through any storm. No matter how weak he felt right then, he knew how much collective strength a calm demeanor would impart on his fellow villagers. He continued lifting heavy timber and stacking shattered loads of brick alongside the others who worked through the night.

Looking up at the Inn, Matthew took back everything bad he had ever said about Tel’s Master Builder. Only last night, it was encased completely in flame. When Coole recommended that the towns water be not wasted on the Inn until the other fires were out, Matthew was sure the Inn would not be much more than a rubble. It would seem that Coole was the only one who remembered some twenty years ago when they built it, one of his first few constructions as Master Builder. “With that many rooms,” he had said, “a pity that one imbecile could burn everything down around their heads.” It was decided that enough brick would be fired to case the walls of each two rooms in brick. Not one fire struck the Inn ever since then, and the Mayor had scoffed several times at the cost of the work and clay needed to make so much brick. When Matthew arrived in Tel, a few years later, the argument about it was still a hot topic. But today, with the water finally turned towards the Inn, did that really pay off. The third, topmost floor was caved in in three places, and the first and second floors each had some portions of the outer wall charred, but otherwise, the Inn stood tall and well. Coole’s boys were going to climb in and make sure it was safe, but Coole already had no doubt. After boarding up a few places to keep the weather out, there would be twelve more rooms to house villagers in.

Fenix approached from the direction of what was once the Festival stage, his clothes wrinkled and carrying the previous night’s smudges, obviously slept in. Stretching silently, he blinked his eyes as he stepped next to Matthew, and looked up at the Inn. His hair, slick with sweat and dew, stuck to his forehead. “Well, I’ll be. If there was one good piece of news to be had, there it is right there.”

Matthew nodded tiredly, and barely stifled a yawn. “We should probably rotate, at this point. I am not sure how much more useful I will be in a short amount of time. I can see to the runners, and then take myself to bed.”

“I already saw to the runners,” Fenix replied. “They seemed eager to finally leave. They really did not appreciate having to wait until first light, but they should know better than to want to gallop in the dark. And walking isn’t much better; the ground they’d lose walking all night they would make up in a day’s hour. Best use that time to rest.”

“Who did you decide on?” Matthew asked the boy.

“Thomas Wilker is riding to Metson, and old man Jalal to Chalen. Cheryl Tanis went to Srynn.”

Nodding, he was not surprised at the names. There were no better horse-handlers in the village save Sam Townsend himself. Sadly, Matthew looked at the ground. There were no better, now.

“Deia refused to ride with Thomas.”

“Deia?” Matthew asked. “The Metson girl?”

Fenix nodded. “Yeah. She said she was not going back. She insisted on staying near Cerberus.” He jerked his head across the street. On a smooth stone surface a foot high that was once the foundation of the Mayor’s Residence, Cerberus knelt, holding his handmade tracker device in front of him, speaking to it. Not four feet away, sure enough, in the dirt just next to the slab of stone, lay a girl wrapped up in two spare blankets, her head the only part of her visible. A black and yellow bruise covered the side of her face, forcing her to sleep on the opposite side. “Can you blame her?”

Matthew thought about the question, but did not answer. She was not the only one to lose her parents, but she had nothing left to lose, and had attached herself to the likeliest candidate that would return the favor on her behalf. It also made him think about Xia. What path will you choose, boy?

“Alright boys, get in there and check it out!” came a bellow from around the corner of the Inn. Big stout Coole himself appeared, and brightened slightly at the sight of his son. Stopping only briefly to point out to the other builders where to begin, he made his way over to the pair. “Morning, Captain. Morning, Fenix,” he said, and the two muttered pleasantries softly in return. “Won’t be too much longer here. We’ll be done checking out and patching up here before lunchtime. Its probably best we go ahead and find out who needs to be in here most, and get them gathered up.”

“Xia.” Fenix said. At a surprised look from his father, he continued. “Father, Xia is going to need time alone, and he’s going to need to keep everyone‘s faces up on top of it. He is not going to be able to do that packed cheek and jowl with them in the square.” Fenix nodded to himself and continued. “That, and we need at least a temporary Mayor’s Office, a place we can designate so everyone knows where to go.”

Coole nodded, listening thoughtfully. “I believe you’re right, son. We’ll set aside the room closest to the entry for Xia.” He glanced to Matthew. “How is the lad, Captain? Is he really ready for all this?”

“Who can say?” Matthew responded. “The only thing larger than the hole his father left in his life is the pair of shoes to fill.” He paused to think, and then smiled slightly towards Fenix. “But, he is determined to fit those shoes. It may be that focus that will drive him, and pull him through.”

“Well, he has no lack of support, that’s for sure.” Coole reached up and wiped sweat off his forehead with his arm. He only succeeded in smearing dirt on his face. “I’m just saying, the Council should be ready to step in if needed, that’s all.”

Fenix said nothing. Matthew hesitated before nodding, grudgingly.

“Coole!” one of the builders called from the Inn. Coole turned to face the sound. “Coole! Structure’s good all around! We’re heading up to the second floor!”

Coole waved for them to go ahead, and turned back to Matthew and Fenix. “Captain, Fenix, please excuse me, I want to see what’s what.” Nodding to each of them, brief nods in return, he turned and strode off to follow the line of builders filing into the Inn.

Fenix also nodded to Matthew. “Well, I’m going to be helping move the larger cookpots out to the green. Miss Toolin’s putting together a kitchen, and several of the women involved tasked us with finding and bringing pots out enough for near half the village.” With a half-hearted chuckle, Fenix strolled down the path.

The sun broke the horizon, pouring light and long shadows alike over Tel. With the dawn rose those who were able to sleep at all during the night: the youngest children, and the oldest villagers. It seemed too many people could not bear to sleep while their friends and family were still out digging in the rubble. Unable to stifle the yawn this time, Matthew realized he had been one of them, and was in dire need of shuteye, at least for a few hours. He glanced at Deia, who was just rousing from her blankets, and Cerberus, sitting nearby and shaking his head at his tracker. Shaking his head, he turned on his heel and walked in the other direction. His home was one of the lucky ones, barely touched by the Explosion. It was full of men and women older than he was, but at least his bed was there.

* * * * *

It seemed that he had barely closed his eyes when Matthew awoke again. Glancing at the large gilded clock standing across the room from his bed, he realized he had slept through noon. His body cried to stay in bed, but his head said he had been asleep entirely too long. Ignoring the dull ache that throbbed in his legs, his arms, and his back, he pushed his feet out onto the floor, forcing himself to sit upright. He stopped and stared down at his feet blankly, blinking the sleep away. His eyes seemed to want to remain shut with each blink, so instead he opened them wide and looked around his room.

Never in his life had Matthew owned very much. He grew up poor on the streets of Halvaren, rarely noticed amongst the myriad of homeless children his age in the city. He and his mother had lived together in one of the rundown quarters of the Capital, struggling to survive. He managed to earn what coin he could by running errands for local shopkeepers and the like, but it was difficult, and competition was fierce from other hungry lads willing to do more work for less. Soon after Matthew turned sixteen, his mother took ill, and he very nearly worked himself to death pulling enough money together for medicine. There was nothing fatal about the illness, so long as it was treated. But, his mother’s soft rasping breaths soon slowed to silence long before he had enough to buy what she needed. With nothing left to him in Halvaren, he heard the cry of the Royal Legion and their push to enlist recruits for the Eastern Conflict, as it was called now. The pay was laughable, as soldiering went, but they also fed their soldiers, and that was worth all the gold in the world.

Through it all, Matthew never had time for possessions. He lived on the land around him and what belongings he could fit in his carrying sack, which usually consisted of a spare uniform or two and rations for his journeys. As he looked about his room, he briefly wondered, as he always did from time to time, how others could gather and hold value to so many things. His belongings amounted to just what was in this room. A bed that took him years to learn to sleep comfortably in, a stand-dresser that he never had enough clothing to fill its four large drawers, and a small bookshelf that stood on the dresser, holding almost a dozen books he had collected on his travels. Books were a good friend on lonely journeys.

But most of all, his most prized possession, his only prized possession, hung on the wall above his bed. A painting of a beautiful, scarlet-haired woman smiled down at him, holding a young child in her arms, and he felt himself tense, confused between the tranquility her eyes always exuded and the anguish of knowing he would never truly look into them again. He had come home one day to find the house ransacked. He remembered Sandra’s glossed-over eyes twisted in fear above a messily cut throat, blood already drying on the sheets where she lay. When he found their daughter Shala missing, he was not sure whether he should be angry at finding her missing, or relieved that she had not met the same fate as her mother.

He crossed the room and leaned over the edge of his washbasin. He dipped his hands in the warm water still there from yesterday, and splashed some over his face. Years went by, and he never found Shala. He soon had to make the choice to abandon the search, and start earning a living again.

He shrugged out of his filthy working clothes, regretting with a single look at the bed at having slept in them in that condition. Splashing water quickly down his body, he scrubbed at some of the dirt caked on his hands and arms with the soft brush for that purpose, and dressed himself in soft-threaded clothing, suitable for a day out on the farm. He was bound to get dirty today, no point in mussing his uniforms over it. Finally, he picked up his sword and belted it on.

Exiting the room, Matthew nodded kindly to an older woman at the top of the stairs carrying linens. She smiled and nodded warmly in return. She, along with the nearly dozen men and women quartered in his home, were grateful for the roof. Most of them had never been without a home in all their lives, much like the rest of Tel, and each did what they could to repay the kindness. These particular folks had decided that although they were too old to assist much out in the village, they could assist the Captain by performing every manner of chore for him. His entire house had been cleaned from top to bottom. Matthew had never really paid much attention to cleaning. He usually never created any mess to clean. Walking past him, the old lady entered his room, and let out an amused sigh. She had seen the bed, he realized. Tsking just loud enough to be heard, she set about to work. Matthew chuckled and descended the stairs. He usually never created any mess to clean. He briefly nodded to the others in the entryway and reception area, and ducked out the front door.

Stepping onto the path, he immediately noticed a group of men down the path at the edge of the village. The border of the village was clear: the houses stopped and the trees began. Tel was backed into the forest. Noticing some of them with defensive garb, he realized they were mostly Guard, and decided to see what had attracted them.

As he approached, he took note that most everyone had a shovel in their possession. They were digging around the end of the irrigation ditch that had been dug from the Mahndestine Lake out west. When he came close enough to see exactly what they were doing, he stopped and blinked, perplexed.

Fenix stood straight and hefted his shovel over his shoulder before addressing the look on Matthew’s face. “Its going to be a pond, when we’re done with it.”

“A pond?” Matthew asked. The new mouth of the ditch opened into a pit dug deeper than the ditch itself had run.

Fenix nodded, and stepped around several of the Guard digging between him and the Captain. “Well, at first it was an attempt to move a log that had blocked the ditch further up.” He pointed at the heavy log that had been moved aside. “We had to dig under near the length of it to get it out of the ground, and the water pooled up in what we dug. That’s when I realized it. We were hauling quite a bit of water last night, and the level got pretty low. We were using it faster than the water was seeping out of the Lake.” The source of the ditch began just outside the Lake because the Lake itself was a stone formation, filled with water. It had some underground pockets as well, and the ditch made use of one of them to channel water to the village. “So, we decided to come down here to the village and dig a large pond. Then, there will be more to go around, in an emergency.”

Matthew smiled. It was something of a habit with Fenix. Always good for a laugh or a prank, Fenix’s demeanor led one to believe that he was not very bright. He was not too quick on his feet, but when he put his mind to something, he usually came up with something so blatantly solid that no one could ever argue against him. When it came to tactics, no one could match Fenix. Not in Tel, anyhow. The idea to expand the ditch into something like a small town reservoir would come from him. “Don’t spend too long on this, Fenix. We’re going to need these lads back in town.”

“We just decided to turn our efforts away from piling wood chunks out of the paths for a change.” Fenix said. “We will not be too much longer, so long as we keep focused.” Suiting his own words, Fenix joined the guard around his pond, lowered his shovel, and stabbed straight down.

His pond. Fenix’s pond. Fenix’s Pond. Matthew smiled. It would stick. He turned and strolled into town.

The rubble and debris from the previous day had already been cleared from the path. It looked like Fenix had focused on the streets first, as shown by the piles of charred wood along both sides of the path. Villagers had wheelbarrows and sacks, toting the unusable wood to the pits dug just beyond the forest-line. Longer planks of wood that was completely or at least mostly untouched by flame were stacked neatly besides each pile. Matthew observed men collecting those smaller stacks and carrying them to a cart central to the stretch of path. Clean-up was progressing, despite the somber mood.

Passing by the cart, the Captain saw another gathering down at the end of the path. Curious, he strode straight for them. Eventually he could make out that they were standing in a line that started at the Inn, and looped back and forth across the large center of packed dirt that marked the adjoining streets in front of the Mayor’s Residence. In front of what was once the Mayor’s Residence, Matthew thought with a sigh. He stepped to the front of the line and loudly asked, “What is going on here?”

“Why, Captain,” answered one of the women standing with her husband and small child, “the Mayor is assigning us rooms to stay in.”

Matthew nodded in realization as he recalled the conversation from early in the morning. Excusing himself, he pushed between the family in front and walked inside.

“Ah, Captain Ternagis,” a delighted voice sounded deeply. Jan Glandon, the Inn’s owner, floated up to the man and gave a slight bow. “Welcome to the Townsend Inn.”

Matthew grinned, and clapped Jan on the back. “Master Glandon, no need for your sweetness, I am not here for accommodations.” He patted the man’s back to ensure it was taken lightly. Then he blinked. “Wait, what?”

Jan’s smile widened. “Yes, the Townsend Inn. I do not have any signs yet, but as soon as I can get something made, we’ll put them up real large-like out front.”

Xia’s movement drew Matthew’s eye. The boy sat at a table that seemed pieced together from four previously whole ones and shook his head as he looked over a list he held in front of him. “What’s the matter, Xia?” Matthew asked. “Not everyone gets a building named after them.”

Xia sighed without rising his eyes. “It’s not for me, Captain. It is in honor of my Father.” The whispered words silenced the three of them. Jan cleared his throat, looking away. Even Matthew lowered his eyes. Xia put down the paper, and looked at the Captain challengingly. “I wanted something permanent left behind of him.”

Matthew raised his hands. “I meant no offense, boy. I think it is a fine idea, and Master Glandon did too, or else he would not have gone along with it.” That seemed to satisfy Xia, as he leaned back in his chair and returned his gaze to the papers laid out in front of him. “What’s wrong, Xia?”

The young Mayor leaned forward, his elbows on the makeshift table, staring at his list. “They just showed up when they heard Master Glandon was going to give out his rooms for the time being. When I got here, they were arguing with him, because more showed up than can fit in the rooms he has. Then he asked me to settle it.”

“He did, did he?” Matthew muttered wryly, shooting a look at the innkeeper. Jan smiled weakly and shrugged. “Well, I never heard of an innkeeper who could not settle his own differences with his guests, but,” he sighed, “I suppose this is a different situation.”

Xia continued as if the Captain had not spoken. “I took down their names. I made a list of those with the youngest children, and those with pregnant mothers. I added two more families because one among them was injured, and one because their father had died in the Explosion.” He whispered that last, and softly ran his finger over that name. Then, he continued. “The rest have no more right than any other, but I can only pick half of them. I do not know how to tell some of them they can come in out of the wind, and tell the others they still have to wait out in the square.”

“May I make an advisement, Mayor?” Matthew asked.

“Please.”

“We still have not finished sorting everyone out yet, and there are still yet others injured out by the Doctor’s. Maybe it would be best to save the remaining rooms for those that truly need it. We could bring quite a few of the injured townspeople here.”

Xia considered this. “That makes sense. Though, it will still mean telling everyone out there ‘no.’”

“I’m sure if you explain it to them, they will understand. Whenever your father explained his reasoning, few could argue with him.”

Sighing, Xia nodded, and stood from the table, clutching the paper in his hands. “Like my father.” He shook his head. “Master Glandon, please prepare to help those coming in. I’ll go and let them know.” Xia hunched his shoulders as if expecting a fight, and marched through the door.

Matthew followed behind to watch. The townspeople hushed as they noticed Xia’s return. They looked to him, some clutching their children, others sitting calmly on the dirt path. Xia took a deep breath.

“The Inn’s rooms are to be used first for those injured, and those with very young children.” He read the list of names he had compiled. Each time a name was read, the respective families smiled and hugged one another. Matthew saw their reactions, and realized that, to them, Xia giving them the entire world, not just a room. Xia ran down his list, and finished. When he looked up, the remainder looked up expectantly. “The rest of you, I want to thank you in advance for your understanding. We need to get as many injured into the Inn as we can, and for each of you who are strong and whole and can sleep out under the stars, we can get several more of those folks outside Doctor Johen’s in out from the wind. In the end, we owe you for doing such a great thing for them.” Licking his lips, Xia watched the crowd. He was expecting an explosion.

But there was none. Nods and smiles appeared amongst those whose names were not called. “See, I told you the lad would settle all this.” Someone said. “Alright boys, you heard the Mayor. Let’s move out of the way of the folks who need to get in there.” Another said. Xia sighed in relief.

“Come on, Xia. Let’s get those folks moved in.” Matthew said. Xia nodded and reached down to pick up a sack belonging to the closest family.

“Xia! Behind you!”

Xia turned quickly, but it was too late. He was able to sidestep the first one, barely allowing him to slip past, but he was no match for the other five. They plowed into him, crashing him into the floor. “Gah!” Xia cried. He landed with a grunt, and called, “Mercy!”

The children all stood and laughed triumphantly. “We got you again Xia!” Reets said, the youngest of the bunch.

“Well, what do you expect, its six on one!” Xia laughed.

“We saw you and Fenix fighting, you count as three people!” said a little girl.

“No, Fenix is much better. Fenix is three. Xia’s just two.” Reets retorted. That opened the floodgates, and soon all the children were arguing over who the best swordsman in the village was.

Matthew chuckled as he looked on. It had taken a few hours getting everyone in and situated, and with the children under their toes, Xia volunteered to keep them all occupied. It seemed a pleasant change of pace for the boy, so no one argued. With the children playing in the halls, there was almost a semblance of normalcy. In fact, it was the first time the Captain had seen Xia smile, and he was glad for it. It will be hard boy, but you just showed that you’ll survive.

With the last of the families inside, Xia stood and approached. “Captain, thank you for your help.” Matthew nodded and waved it away. Xia continued. “Tomorrow, we can see about transporting those from Doctor Johens’ office.”

“A good plan.”

As Matthew left the Inn—the Townsend Inn, he corrected himself—Matthew heard a collective “Aww!” from the children inside. Apparently it was time for the Mayor to get back to work.

Stepping back out onto the path that forked either west, towards his home and Fenix’s Pond, or south, towards Tel’s primary gate, Matthew felt the weight of his eyelids already, and decided he would take the former. He glanced briefly towards the old site of the Mayor’s Residence. Cerberus was still nearby, standing what would have been behind the building, had it still been there, and looking to the south. Deia stood several paces behind him, facing the opposite direction with a dagger in her hand. She was slightly squatted, as if ready to catch something that was about to be thrown to her. Her head was slightly ducked, and her face was twisted death. She did not move. It was not a comfortable position to be in. Matthew knew it as a basic fighter’s stance. The reason for assuming and holding the stance was so the body’s muscles were familiar and comfortable in the stance. It was also so it would come instinctively in battle. Battles were planned with strategy and thought, but battles were fought with instinct. Not being able to choose and assume the best stance automatically could kill you.

Turning his back on them, he shielded his eyes from the setting sun. Matthew’s eyelids were leaden weights. Even though he slept all morning, it was just no substitute for a good night’s sleep. After all, he was not as young as he once was. He realized once more that he just was not a soldier anymore, ripe for adventuring. He chuckled. He was going to have to leave all that to Fenix and his boys.

* * * * *

The next morning started much better than one before it. Matthew was surprised that although he had slept half the day the day before, and was back in bed before sundown, he had still managed to sleep clear through sunrise the next morning. He knew he had needed it, but still. He was slightly irritated that he was being constantly reminded of his age, and then abruptly chuckled. It was silly to be worried about ones age when he was likely lucky to be alive. Matthew rose from the bed, and sauntered over to his washbasin. He had already undressed the night before—some amused, but stern, words from the old lady who had cleaned his room that day had seen to that—and had laid out his Guard uniform for today. After a quick splash in the washbasin, he quickly dressed and left the room.

Decidedly less debris was left to lay about in the town’s small paths today, he noticed with a smile. He was proud of the determination of this village. No one stopped to let this disaster ruin their lives. They picked themselves up and moved on. They hurt, they grieved, and they held tighter who was left to hold, but they saw what needed to be done and moved on. He was glad to call Tel his home.

He passed by Cerberus and Deia again, still at the old Mayor’s Residence. This time Deia was not standing still, but taking small steps forward, and then back. As she stepped forward, she would toss the dagger ahead of her slightly, and catch it in the same hand, so that the point was aimed downward, ready for a stabbing motion from above. Then she would take a step back, letting the dagger go and bending her knees slightly. She would catch the hilt with the dagger pointing upwards, so that she was ready to spring forward with a thrust from below. He had not trained men with daggers, but it was an interesting tactic. Cerberus was training her to be able to switch back and forth between defensive and aggressive postures. It was more stance training.

Cerberus himself seemed to be staring again, sitting cross-legged in the center of the worn building foundation. If it was not for the fact that Matthew knew the boy had to have slept sometime, he would have said Cerberus had not moved since the night prior. There he sat, transfixed on the horizon, squinting his eyes as if he could make out Tailz from here.

Leaving the pair of them behind, he continued to the Doctor’s Office. The sight was definitely less gruesome than the night of the Explosion, and a difference from yesterday as well. The dead had been moved to the new graves north of town, though it had taken all day and likely most of last night to move them. Also, the number of injured townspeople outside had diminished as well, more than likely sent off to join the rest of the villagers in the Square once their injuries were not life threatening.

He chose to approach the Doctor’s assistant, since the Doctor himself was not in immediate view. She was leaned down over a man propped against the building. As Matthew neared them, he saw that Danni was applying fresh bandages. His old, blood-dried bandages were discarded next to him, and Danni was inspecting his wounds. His chest was crisscrossed with burns, but it looked like they were just burns now, with no open wounds that Matthew could see. Danni carefully worked a cream over his chest, using her delicate, gentle touch to keep from causing him too much discomfort. The Captain nodded at her work; she was known for her mansuetude with patients and children.

“Yes, Captain?” Danni said with a brief glance towards him.

“Xia asked me to inform Victor that there are six rooms available at the Inn for those he thinks need them.”

The young nurse placed the lid over the cream jar, and unwound fresh bandages to wrap onto her patient. “Doctor Johens is inside.” She said, motioning to the front door. “Though, I do not know what we can really do with those rooms. Those out here will be patched up soon enough, I think, and those in there… well, that’s up to the Doctor.”

Nodding thanks, Matthew stepped onto the porch and walked inside.

Every bed was filled with someone. Most had bandages, covering most of their bodies, still stained in blood because their wounds were not yet healed. One poor soul had his face uncovered, but it was twisted with burn scars. Matthew studied his face, and realized he could not recognize the man. The man turned his eyes to gaze hopelessly back, and Matthew quickly diverted his eyes elsewhere, embarrassed for staring so.

The Doctor himself was sitting next to one of the beds, talking softly to a woman, wrapped in cloth so that nothing but her eyes and hair showed. When Matthew looked at those eyes, he felt something familiar, but he could not identify it. They teared up again and again, squeezed shut to clear the tears from her sight, and then watered again. The Doctor spoke soothingly, stroking a bandaged arm, assuring her that once everything healed nicely, she would be back on her feet again. It did not seem to console her.

Matthew wondered what she had lived through. Those eyes had a hint of fear in them, and there was nothing to be afraid of here. She looked about frantically, not seeming to settle on any one thing, only stopping long enough to squeeze tears away. She must have seen the worst of it. Given the extent of her injuries, if she was close enough to be hurt from head to toe, she probably saw the townsfo