Arthur Daigle's Blog - Posts Tagged "bomb"

This is part 1 of Doubtful Allies:

“How about Buttercup?” Dana Illwind asked Jayden. She saw his frown through his scarf, hat and thick coat with upturned collar. Both Dana and Jayden were dressed for the weather with extra layers of warm cotton clothes. Dana wore leggings and a coat over her usual outfit, and she carried a backpack full of food and camping supplies. “What’s wrong with Buttercup?”

“If you’re going to name a sword, it’s typical to give it a more fearsome title, such as Sworn Doom, a famous elven blade that has a history going back twelve centuries. The owner is attempting to intimidate enemies with his, or in this case her, terrifying weapon. Buttercup is not a name to inspire dread.”

Dana stopped marching along the snowy road and put her hands on her hips. “I happen to like Buttercup. My first cat was named Buttercup, and I loved her very much. And I think I should have the last say over the name of my sword.”

“Undoubtedly so, but your choice could result in insults at your expense that I would feel compelled to redress with overwhelming force.”

“Isn’t that your response to most of life’s problems?”

Jayden shrugged. “It’s worked well so far. Dana, named weapons are rare and much sought after. Naming your weapon may increase its value in the eyes of strangers, perhaps enough for them to attempt to steal it, so consider this matter carefully.”

“Oh.” Dana resumed walking. It was a long way to their destination, and she didn’t want to spend another night camping in the snow. Winter had taken a firm hold, with deep snow and bone chilling cold, making travel by foot difficult and dangerous. The road they were on was better traveled than most, and foot and horse traffic had trampled the snow down. Still, it was rough going even on a sunny afternoon like this.

“Traditionally sword names include references to the original owner, which we’re trying to conceal so the authorities don’t go after your family,” Jayden continued. “Other names refer to a famous battle, or enemy defeated with the weapon. That might be a worthy route since you used it to destroy Wall Wolf, an enemy few would dare attack.”

Dana looked at the sheathed short sword that hung from her belt. “Wolf Killer, Golem Killer, Iron Killer…none of those really work for me.”

“This doesn’t require an immediate decision,” Jayden counseled. “Take your time until you come up with a name that suits you, or no name at all. Until then we have much to occupy our attention.”

“Armored wagons,” she said. “I’d never seen one in my life, and the people in the last village said a caravan of ten went down this road.”

Dana and Jayden had spent the last week traveling toward the center of the kingdom. Jayden had hoped to ambush supply wagons heading for Edgeland, and thus starve out the army occupying the city, but days of searching had turned up no targets.

Instead strangers and passersby reported seeing wagons heading for the next major city, a metropolis of a hundred thousand people. These wagons had covered tops and armor plate on their sides, and oxen pulling them wore yet more armor. Ten soldiers accompanied each wagon, and four archers rode on top. Ten knights on horseback had escorted this strange caravan, guiding their absurdly well-defended charges from town to manor to city, never stopping on the road for the night.

“What could the king and queen be transporting that needs so much protection?” Dana asked.

“The last time we intercepted wagons, they carried a fortune in armor,” Jayden said as he trudged through the snow. “If these wagons warrant such protection they surely carry cargo of great value. What it could be, though, baffles me. Gold and jewels are compact and easily concealed, not requiring so many wagons. Trained monsters would require specialized transports, not wagons sealed as tight as a drum. It could be silks or furs, but even then a guard of a hundred fifty men is extreme.”

“Trade has been shut down,” Dana pointed out. “Travel to Kaleoth ended even before the king and queen tried to invade. Going anywhere is hard in winter, so not much could be coming from Zentrix or Brandish.”

Jayden pointed at deep wagon ruts in the road. “Yet something is coming through, a treasure of such value that the king and queen are willing to spend a ridiculous amount guarding it, and go through the difficulty of traveling during winter. I’ve been looking for a worthwhile target ever since we returned from Kaleoth. I daresay this is it.”

Dana and Jayden reached the top of a snowy hill and looked down on the walled city in the distance. Jayden pointed at it and said, “Welcome the city of Armorston, weapons manufacturing center of the kingdom. If a man tries to kill you, chances are the sword, spear, ax or bow was made here.”

“At least we know who to complain to,” Dana said sarcastically.

Jayden smiled at her. “Jesting aside, I visited here before and saw how dangerous it is. Soldiers have the best armor and weapons. The second risk, and the bigger of the two, is that the people of Armorston are loyal. The king and queen recognize the value of this city and treat its residents well, with lower taxes, no conscription of men into the army and no hostages taken from leading citizens to ensure their obedience. These men and women serve the king and queen by choice, and they will attack any who threaten the crown.”

“And a certain someone has wanted posters with his picture on them across the kingdom. What are you worth dead this time?”

“The last poster listed a reward of fifteen thousand silver pieces on my head, but it was weeks old. The price may have gone up since then.”

Dana peered at the distant city. “How do we get in?”

Jayden pointed at the city gate. “I see no easy path. Soldiers search pedestrians and wagons as they enter. The walls are too tall and smooth to climb. Archers in watchtowers would make short work of flying threats. Digging under the wall would be difficult and time consuming.”

“We could wait for the wagons to come out.”

“That could take weeks or months, if it ever happens.” Jayden shook his head. “The armored wagons aren’t far ahead of us and may not have even been unloaded. If we can get inside Armorston, we can investigate the cargo and then steal or destroy it.”

“I could go in alone,” Dana offered. “Look around, see what’s—”

“No,” he said firmly.

Pouting, she said, “I stabbed Wall Wolf through the eye and killed it. I think that proves I can handle myself.”

“Dana, you are fond of pointing out my mortality, and rightly so. Too often I let anger dictate my actions and put my life in danger. You are offering to go into a city of a hundred thousand people that hate me and love the king and queen.”

“There aren’t wanted posters with my face,” she pressed.

“You have a very identifiable magic blade. Enemy soldiers saw you use it when we brought down the bridge over Racehorse River and when we destroyed Wall Wolf. Soldiers will be looking for it. Even if you go unarmed, you are in great danger from men paid to kill anyone who might be a threat. You are not going into Armorston alone.”

Dana walked in front of Jayden. “Then how are we going in together?”

“I’ll tell you once I figure it out.”

Armorston had outgrown its walls, probably long ago judging by the huge number of buildings clustered around it. There were small villages farther out that offered minor services, including restaurants, inns, stables and teamsters. So many people were coming and going that two strangers drew no attention.

“We’re going to explore the outer sections of the city,” Jayden told her. “There may be ways inside such as sewer networks. We’re both wearing enough winter clothes to make it hard to identify us. Act naturally and don’t draw attention to yourself.”

Armorston was a prosperous city, far richer than any Dana had visited. Men and women wore good quality clothes made of leather, wool, furs or cotton. They were healthy and well fed, and most were in good cheer.

“It’s a good thing the king and queen finally brought those dogs in Kaleoth to heel,” a man declared. He was standing on a street corner and addressing a sizeable crowd. “Smugglers have been using that cesspit as their home base for years, and they’ve been recruiting riffraff from across our kingdom to swell their numbers.”

“That’s disgusting,” Dana whispered to Jayden.

“It’s business,” he replied softly. “The man is a professional agitator, paid to spread propaganda. He also judges how well or poorly his message is received, and points out to the authorities anyone who argues with him.”

“How can you be sure?”

“The king and queen saw us through the civil war, and they’ll see us through this, too,” the man continued. “Kaleoth’s corpse king won’t know what hit him!”

“I’ve met his kind before,” Jayden explained. “There are two armed men at the back of the crowd to guard the agitator. A nod from him can bring them down like lightning on anyone whose words betrays a lack of loyalty. If we stay in Armorston long enough we’ll see him performing on other street corners.”

Dana watched the crowd and found it depressingly eager. Men smiled and nodded at the agitator’s words. More people gathered to listen to him.

“How can they fall for this?” she asked.

“I’m sure Armorston’s residents swear by this man’s loyalty and friendship. He’ll buy them drinks, commiserate with them when they suffer, offer minor aid when he can, a friend to all. He’ll have a reputation for being outspoken and connections to officials who give him inside information. Make no mistake, he is an expert at measuring men’s opinions and changing them.”

Dana shivered. “Lies for sale.”

“Blacksmiths are doing record business, and iron miners and charcoal burners do just as well,” the agitator told the crowd. “The army needs clothes, food and draft animals, fairly paid for from those who have. Good times are around the corner.”

The agitator spent time answering questions before moving on. Once he was gone, Jayden led Dana through the city. They found more signs of royal control, including wanted posters, recruitment brochures for the army, and flyers urging residents to inform on their neighbors if they see suspicious activity. Soldiers guarded prosperous businesses, but Dana couldn’t guess who they were protecting them from.

Hours of searching brought Dana and Jayden back to the point where they’d entered the outskirts of Armorston. Jayden led her to an inn outside city limits. He stayed only long enough to buy food before heading to an isolated grove of fruit trees bare of leaves.

“I have to credit the king and queen for their thoroughness,” he said as they ate. “Sewers are too small to crawl through and sealed with iron grates. There is a space fifteen feet wide between the city wall and the nearest building. I heard hounds inside the city walls in case a man enters unnoticed. This is going to be tricky.”

“We need somewhere to stay. If we camp outdoors so close to a city people are going to ask why, but if we stay indoors the owner is going to report us to the army.”

“Not necessarily.” Jayden pointed to a distant inn on a lonely road. “I came here last winter and made the acquaintance of the man who owns that establishment. He will put us up for the night without telling anyone.”

“He could have left or been arrested since then.”

“The fact that the inn still stands is proof he owns it. If someone had tried to arrest him he would have burned the inn down to cover his escape. If he’d left he would have burned it down for insurance money.”

Dana frowned. “Am I going to regret meeting him?”

“Yes.”

Jayden led her into the inn, where a sniveling weasel of a man stood behind a bar. No one else was present, not surprising given the inn’s poor condition. The man choked on a drink when he saw Jayden remove his hat and scarf.

“Gaston, so good to see you still breathing,” Jayden said as he marched up to the man. “You clearly need business, and my friend and I need rooms.”

“W-what madness could have made you come back here?” Gaston sputtered. “The city bank you burned down has only just been rebuilt! Soldiers practice stabbing straw dummies with your face painted on them.”

“That’s been going on for years. Dana, meet Gaston. He and I have a good working relationship. Namely, I didn’t kill him when I really should have, and in return he does exactly what I tell him to do. How’s your wife, Gaston?”

“Which one?” Gatson asked.

Dana covered her face with her hand. “Why do I keep meeting people like this?”

“It’s a puzzle,” Jayden said. He went through his pockets until he came up with two gold coins and tossed them to Gaston. “I pay for the help I receive. We require two rooms with locks, and your selective ignorance if soldiers ask about us.”

Gaston slipped the coins into a slot on the wall. “Business is down regardless of what the king says. You’ve got the place to yourself. Have the good manners to keep whatever trouble you cause far from my door.”

Jayden sat down at the bar across from Gaston. “Naturally. Armored wagons have come into Armorston. What have you heard about them?”

Gaston shrugged. “Everyone has seen them, no one knows what’s in them. Soldiers guarding them won’t let anyone within ten feet. Businessmen swear the wagons aren’t carrying goods for them.”

“I need a way inside the city,” Jayden said.

“Rooms I can give you,” Gaston replied. “If you want miracles, God is picky about who he hands those out to.”

Dana put a hand on a chair and pulled it away quickly. “When was the last time you cleaned this place?”

Gaston pointed a dirty mug at her. “That’s not my fault. Goblins snuck in last night and brushed grease on the furniture. I told one joke about their king, this Bradshaw fellow. One joke!”

“One was enough,” a squeaky voice outside the inn called out.

Dana perked up at the sound. She’d had reasonably good luck dealing with goblins, and goblins could break into anything when they felt like it. She ran for the door, telling Jayden, “Wait here.”

Outside she found a lone goblin digging through a frozen pile of kitchen scraps next to a window. It looked like Gaston threw his garbage out the nearest window, no surprise given his character, and goblins snapped it up. The goblin was only two feet tall, and so covered in rags that only his wide face showed. Dana walked up to the goblin and smiled. “Hi there, my name’s—”

“I know who you are,” the goblin interrupted. “Goblins don’t have many friends. We remember the ones we’ve got.”

“May I ask a favor?” The goblin shrugged in response, but he didn’t leave or insult her. “My friend and I are looking for armored wagons that went into Armorston. Do you know anything about them?”

“We saw them, but we don’t know what’s in them. Soldiers drove the wagons straight into a warehouse and closed the door before unloading them. There were more armored wagons earlier this month. No idea what they carried, and we can’t get near the warehouse.”

“We’d like to look at them, but we can’t get inside the city walls. Can you help us?”

The goblin frowned as if in deep concentration. “We’ve dug tunnels under the wall, but none big enough for you to fit through. I know a human woman who might help, crazy as a goblin and good for a laugh. Give me a few hours and I’ll get you a yes or no.”

Dana bent down and kissed the goblin on the forehead. “Thank you.”

“Good gravy, woman, are you insane?” the goblin sputtered. “You don’t know where I’ve been!”

The goblin headed out, muttering to himself about crazy girls as he slipped between buildings. Dana headed back to the inn and saw Jayden waiting for her by the door with an upraised eyebrow.

“I have rarely seen goblins behave, and never without a substantial bribe. How is it you are on such good terms with a goblin you’d never met before tonight?”

“You know how I keep your secret?” she asked. When Jayden nodded, she said, “It’s not the only one I’m keeping.”

When she didn’t say any more, Jayden pointed at her. “You can’t end a conversation like that.”

Dana headed into the inn without looking back. “Looks like I just did. Innkeeper, do you have any cheese?”

It took a bit of haggling, but Dana was soon the proud owner of a wedge of cheddar. She stayed outside regardless of the cold, keeping clear of other people while she waited for the goblin to return. There was always a chance he wouldn’t come back, but she’d had good luck dealing with goblins ever since she’d kept quiet about their phony ghost in Fish Bait City. Jayden stayed with her, looking curious but not asking for details.

It was dark when the goblin returned with a wagon pulled by two horses following him. He was already smiling ear to ear before he saw the cheese, and he raced to her side at the sight of it. Dana handed over the cheese and the goblin wolfed it down.

Once the goblin finished eating, he said, “You got me a gift before you knew if I’d brought her.”

“I owed you for looking, whether you succeeded or not.” It warmed her heart to see the goblin smile. Dana rubbed her hands together and asked, “So, who is the mystery woman?”

Jayden tensed. “Woman? Oh no.”

“Jayden!” A young woman jumped off the wagon and raced to him, covering the last few feet between them with an impressive leap that ended with her wrapping her arms around him. Jayden’s face turned white, and his eyes opened wide in terror. He tried and failed to break free from the stranger’s embrace.

“Get her off!”

“That’s her,” the goblin said proudly. “She can get you in the city.”

Jayden kept trying to pry the woman off him. “Get. Her. Off. Now.”

The woman let go, but took Jayden by the hands before he could back away. “Jayden, it’s been too long. I love what you’ve done with your hair. It’s got a ‘dangerous wild man’ feel to it. Ooh, is that a scar? Naughty boy, what have you been up to?”

“Dana, make it stop.”

Dana took the woman by the arm and turned her away from Jayden. The woman was in her twenties, a beauty with an hourglass figure. Her blond hair was tied back in a ponytail that reached to her narrow waist. Her blue eyes sparkled like sapphires. The woman wore a gorgeous silk dress dyed yellow and green, and an emerald green silk coat over that. Her black boots went up to her knees and had blue laces.

“Oh my God, you must be unidentified female accomplice!” the woman squealed. She jumped up and down before hugging Dana. “I’ve wanted to meet you for weeks!”

“Hi,” Dana managed. “Who are you?”

“I keep forgetting how reserved people are around here.” The woman curtsied and bowed her head. “Suzy Lockheart, alchemist, adventurer and troublemaker.”

Dana put a hand over her mouth and tried to keep from laughing. “This is too good. Jayden, this is the lady you used to go on adventures with?”

Jayden gritted his teeth. “One adventure that nearly ended with us all dead.”

“Those boulders missed us by ten feet.” Suzy frowned and corrected, “Eight feet. Maybe six. The important thing is they missed us and we got the money, and there were no witnesses. That’s something you never understood the importance of, dear, making sure no one sees you do naughty things.”

Dana asked, “Unidentified female accomplice?”

Suzy ran back to her wagon and took a stack of papers off the driver’s seat. She sorted through them, throwing most on the ground, until she held up a wanted poster with Jayden’s face on it. “Sorcerer Lord Jayden: wanted for treason, destruction of royal property, theft, assault against royal officials and other crimes. Bounty 18,000 silver pieces, dead or alive, preferably dead. Known to travel with an unknown female accomplice armed with a magic sword. Is that it? Ooh, let me see it!”

The woman pulled Dana’s sword from her sheath and gave it an experimental swing in the air before stabbing a tree with it. The sword sank through the wood like it was warm butter and cut the tree down at chest level. Jayden grabbed Suzy’s hands and pried her fingers open to remove the sword.

Suzy pressed a finger against Jayden’s chest. “I worked with you. I didn’t get a sword.”

“The sword was made long after we’d parted company.” Jayden returned the sword to Dana before addressing Suzy. “I don’t recall you needing help spreading destruction.”

“It’s the thought that counts. You’re supposed to give gifts to pretty ladies.”

“Dana has been a great help to me, and never once nearly gotten me killed.”

Suzy rolled her eyes. “You just won’t let that go.”

Jayden turned his attention to Dana. “I’m going to require an explanation why you did this to me.”

“He,” Dana began, and realized the goblin had left. “I asked a goblin to find us a way inside Armorston. He said he knew someone who could help and brought Suzy.”

“So you didn’t know the goblin was referring to Lockheart,” Jayden said. That seemed to calm him down. “Did the goblin say how this miracle was to take place?”

Suzy wrapped an arm around Jayden’s waist. “You see that lovely wagon over there? I had it specially built by a master carpenter. I told him I needed to transport goods I didn’t want people to find. You know how nosy people can be. Tax collectors, sheriffs, soldiers, public health officials, they just can’t mind their own business.”

Jayden eyed the wagon nervously. “You built secret compartments into the wagon.”

“Sweetie, I can hide three grown men in there, and that’s without trying to squeeze them in. Yub and I are light on cargo at the moment, leaving even more space.”

A blue goblin wearing a white lab coat and blue pants climbed on top of the wagon and waved. Jayden pointed at the goblin and asked, “Yub, I presume?”

“Isn’t he a doll? We met when I was gathering ingredients for bombs.” Suzy pulled in close and whispered into Jayden’s ear, “I just learned goblins love alchemy. There are oodles of them in the Kingdom of the Goblins, blowing things up left and right. Yub wandered off one day to set up his own lab. He was looking for raw materials when we met. The poor dear wasn’t having much luck and asked if he could tag along with me. How could I saw no to a face like that?”

Jayden stared at the grinning goblin. “I am not this desperate.”

“A goblin came to me and said the high and mighty sorcerer lord needs me, which was a serious ego boost,” Suzy gushed. “Naturally I’d love to help, except he was vague on what you wanted. It’s getting late, so let’s go somewhere nice and cozy to talk about what I can do for you, and what I’m getting in return.”

Suzy wrapped her other arm around Dana. “And you have been spending way more time with Jayden than I have, so I’m going to pick your brain for all the dirt on him I can get. Does he snore? He looks like he snores.”

Dana laughed and led Suzy into the inn. Jayden followed, grumbling with every step. Once inside they went into a private room with gaming tables. Suzy and Yub sat down across from Jayden.

“Let me guess, the job is political,” she began. “It’s always political with you. The king did this, the queen did that, that’s all you talk about. Did you ever wonder how much money you could make if you’d just take the best paying jobs?”

“Money is a tool, not a goal,” he said. He grumbled more before admitting, “It’s political. Soldiers brought ten armored wagons into Armotston. I want to know what’s in them, and either steal or destroy it.”

“Innkeeper, drinks, strong ones!” Suzy shouted. “I saw those wagons. There’s no way you could steal ten wagons worth of goods, and burning them is risky when the warehouse they’re stored in is next to the city granaries. If a fire spreads a hundred thousand people go hungry, men women, children, elderly.”

Gaston brought a mug and set it in front of Suzy. She gave him a pitying look and asked, “One? I’ll tell you when to stop bringing them. Jayden, this sounds like it’s going to fail spectacularly, so I want payment up front. Two hundred gold pieces and two dates.”

“I’ll double the gold, but nothing more,” Jayden countered.

Suzy smiled. “Fine, four hundred and two dates.”

Jayden’s face turned red. “No dates!”

“We haven’t got four hundred gold coins, or even two hundred,” Dana said.

“We’ll get it,” Jayden said. “I understand there’s a new bank in town.”

Suzy burst out giggling. “You’re so much fun to play with. If your wallet is a little light, which it wouldn’t be if you took better paying jobs, we can make a deal.”

Jayden’s eyes narrowed. “Explain.”

“The king of Brandish is an itsy bit bothered about that invasion attempt on Kaleoth. He heard the justifications and didn’t buy it. He also noticed a lot more soldiers on his border. The clever boy hired me to close one of the passes leading into his kingdom and make it look like a landslide.”

Suzy drank her mug in one long pull. “He commissioned me to build a big bomb, place it at a narrow rocky point in the pass, and boom, no more pass. But, and he was really firm on this, no pay until he sees the explosion, and he wants it done before spring.”

Jayden folded his arms across his chest. “I fail to see how this requires help.”

“I’m getting there. Yub has plans for a bomb big enough to do the job, but it takes a lot of materials that are hard to come by. There’s no way I can find enough ingredients by foraging in the wilderness to do the job in time, especially during winter. Buying what I need isn’t happening with the prospect of a long, bloody, pointless war driving up prices. What I can do, with a little help, is steal it.”

Suzy leaned over the table. “It’s even political. I came to Armorston because an alchemist lives here, rich guy, takes contracts from the king and queen, the sort of person you hate. I visited, flirted with him, talked shop for a couple hours, and when he was busy getting us drinks I checked his stock.”

Dana waved her hands. “Wait a minute. How did you get past their security?”

The innkeeper returned with a bottle and tried to fill Suzy’s mug. She took the bottle from him and drank straight from it. “I don’t have a price on my head. I did some legitimate work over the years, burning tree stumps, blowing up monsters. It gave me a good reputation. Plus, alchemists don’t have the bad press sorcerer lords do. I just had to buy a pass for the month that lets me go everywhere except army and government buildings.”

“I presume this alchemist has the supplies you need,” Jayden said.

Suzy set down her mug and bottle. Her voice was filled with excitement as she leaned closer to Jayden. “He’s got everything and more. Dried powdered phoenix blossoms, shed dragon scales, harpy feathers, etherium. Etherium!”

Suzy reached across the table and grabbed Jayden by the collar of his coat. Her face inches from his, she asked, “Do you know how hard it is to get etherium? Do you have any idea what the black market price is for even one ounce? He’s got five ounces, Jayden! The king and queen have to be supplying him, or paying him enough to buy the best!”

Her voice fell to a whisper. “I want it all. I get you into the city, you help me clean him out, and then we look at your wagons. My part won’t take thirty minutes.”

Jayden looked at Suzy with the same apprehension usually reserved for poisonous snakes. He gently pushed her back into her chair. “When can we do it?”

“Tomorrow night. I don’t want to risk the alchemist using up any of those goodies before we can steal them. Plus, my pass is only good for another three days. After that I either have to apply for permanent residency or leave. We both win, Jayden. You get to burn stuff, or maybe steal it. That always makes you happy. I get a fortune in alchemy ingredients and get to work with you again.”

“Deal.” Jayden reached across the table and shook Suzy’s hand.

“You won’t regret this,” Suzy promised. “Well, you might. You’re so picky about mortal danger and collateral damage. I have to see to my wagon and horses.”

Once Suzy left the inn, Jayden turned to Dana. “I know you were trying to help when you arranged this meeting, but you don’t realize the threat she poses.”

“Come on, Jayden, she survived this long, so she must be good at her job.” He didn’t look convinced, so she added, “You’ve learned new spells since we met. I’ll bet Suzy has learned new tricks and is more powerful than she was the last time you two met.”

Jayden headed for his room. “Which means all of Armorston is now in danger.”

This is the conclusion to Doubtful Allies:

Jayden’s reunion with Suzy Lockheart clearly wasn’t a success, but at least it had happened without bloodshed, so Dana considered it a win. She headed for her own room, wondering if this meeting might be good for Jayden. He might not like Suzy, but he made it sound like the woman was dangerous. Maybe she might join them. Many of Dana and Jayden’s fights would have gone better with a powerful friend at their side.

Dana was settling for the night when the door opened and Suzy came in. Dana stared at the woman and said, “You could have knocked first.”

“I didn’t leave home, lose my dowry and get disowned so I could be polite.” Suzy sat on the edge of Dana’s bed and waved her hand north. “Zentrix society is all about not making waves. Be polite, follow the rules, bow and grovel to your betters, and once they’re gone let the verbal venom flow. Hypocrisy, thy name is Zentrix.”

Curious, Dana said, “I went there once. Everyone was nice.”

“You didn’t stay long enough. Grow up there and you see people at their worst. I got out before my parents could marry me off to a raging bigot with excellent breeding. Two years apprenticed to an alchemist against my parent’s wishes got me where I am today, not mindless obedience.”

Suzy edged closer. “Enough about me, let’s talk about you. I’ve had this burning question ever since I heard Jayden was traveling with a girl.”

“What is it?”

“I liked Jayden when we had our earlier adventure together. Really liked him. The weird part is he didn’t feel the same. I did everything except tie him up, and I considered it. Then I hear he’s got a girl who’s been with him for months.”

Suzy took Dana’s hands. “I’m not trying to steal him from you. He’s your chew toy, but I need to know what you did that I didn’t. What worked in the end?”

Dana’s heart raced. She felt herself blush. “I, um, you must have heard wrong. We don’t have that kind of relationship. I mean, I like him, but nothing happened.”

Suzy stared at Dana for a moment. The woman’s eye twitched. She stood up and said, “Would you excuse me for a moment.”

Suzy marched to Jayden’s room and kicked the door in. Jayden looked up from his bed where he’d been studying his spell tablets. “Nothing happened? You’ve been with the girl for months and nothing happened! What the crilviz, Jayden!”

“Crilviz?” Dana asked.

“A gnome word, very vulgar,” Jayden explained. “Ms. Lockheart, my love life, or lack thereof, is no business of yours.”

“Don’t give me that!” Suzy yelled. “I know you like girls. I’ve heard the stories.”

Dana got up from her bed. “What stories?”

“Fine, you think I nearly killed you, even if I didn’t, but what about her?” Suzy demanded. “What crime did she commit to spend the rest of her life in the friend zone?”

“Do you mind?” Gaston yelled from the inn’s common room. “If I had customers you’d be driving them off!”

“Shut it!” Suzy yelled back. She turned her attention back to Jayden. “Well?”

Jayden set his spell tablet aside. “Dana is my friend. I have few others, and none I trust like her. She cares for my wellbeing more than I do. I don’t wish to lose her friendship. To try to turn our relationship into something it isn’t, and shouldn’t be, would be wrong. Think ill of me if you will, but I cherish what Dana and I have too much to risk losing it.

“What you seek from me is something I can’t give when there is no depth to the feelings you have for me. When we first met you were rebelling against your strict upbringing, and you’re still doing so today. You seek constant excitement and new experiences, not a bad desire, but I’m nothing more than a diversion from your boredom. I seek more than that, and if you examine your feelings you’ll agree it’s more than you’re willing to give. If I’ve misjudged you, say so.”

When Suzy didn’t reply, he added, “And you don’t care about the people of this kingdom.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” she asked in bewilderment.

“It must sound odd given my actions, but I love the people of this land. I want to end this madness and return them to the peace and prosperity they once enjoyed. They don’t matter to you, nor do the people of your homeland, or the residents of Brandish that you’re in the process of saving from invasion. You prize your independence and care for a select few who have earned your respect. This is a job to you, nothing more, and to me it’s far more important than gold.”

Jayden got up and walked over to Suzy. He put his hands on her shoulders. “You must feel insulted by what I’ve said, but you did ask. You deserved an honest answer, no hypocrisy, no hidden feelings. I harbor no ill will if you wish to cancel our arrangement. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m tired from a long day, so get out of my room and let me get some sleep.”

Jayden led her from his room, shut the door and locked it. Suzy stood in the hallway for a moment before she turned to Dana and asked, “What just happened?”

* * * * *

Dana met Jayden the following morning in the inn’s common room. Gaston served them what might have been food if he’d cooked it right. Dana managed to keep it down with difficulty.

“Last night you gave Suzy a good reason to turn us over to the authorities for the bounty money, or just blow us both up while we slept,” she told him.

Jayden ate his food despite its poor quality. “Any other answer would have made the situation worse. If I had promised her what I had no intention of giving, she would have been even angrier. If I had returned her affections it would have made her believe we had a future together, and with such differing goals it wouldn’t work.”

Gaston walked up to their table and set down a bottle of wine. “The food will go down better with this.”

“And you wonder why you don’t have more customers,” Dana said.

“You try cooking good meals when you can’t get spices,” Gaston said as he left them. “I used to get good supplies from Fish Bait City.”

Jayden poured himself a cup of wine and tasted it. “Passable. In regards to Suzy informing on us, she despises authority figures of any kind. The price on my head is staggering, but claiming it would require her working for men she sees as no different from the ones in her homeland. Her dislike of royalty is so great that I’m surprised she accepted a job from the king of Brandish.”

“He wined me, dined me, and didn’t tax me,” Suzy said as she came into the common room. “I put up with a lot when people are nice to me.”

“I doubt I’ve ever been nice,” Jayden replied as he handed her the bottle.

“You have,” she told him, and took a swig of wine before starting her meal. “Jayden, I won’t pretend I understood half of what you said last night, but making you like someone you don’t is something my parents would do. We’re working together and that’s that. And I’ve never seen you lie to anyone or treat rich people better than poor ones, so you’re owed respect.”

Suzy sat down across from him at the table and fixed him with a stern look. “But tell me this, what happens if you win and the king and queen get killed, imprisoned, exiled, eaten by aardvarks or whatever? Someone’s got to be in charge when they’re gone.”

“I have no desire for the throne,” he told her.

She raised the bottle in a toast. “I’ll drink to that. Being in charge is no different than being in jail. You’re at the mercy of the job, day and night doing what has to be done and never what you want to do. But if you don’t take it someone else will. Men will kill to get the crown, and do worse to anyone they rule. We’re talking a repeat of the civil war your people had. If you get what you want you’ll make things a whole lot worse for everyone living here.”

Dana frowned. “You think people would accept a sorcerer lord as their king?”

“Of course not, that’s my point,” Suzy replied. “Turn down the job and it’s anarchy. Take the job and you’ve got rebels, coups by the army, and assassinations attempts on the hour every hour.”

Jayden sipped his drink before answering. “I never imagined my life would end happily ever after. What you predict may well come to pass. Your worst-case scenario has one advantage over doing nothing, namely only one kingdom would suffer, not four. It is a questionable improvement, I admit, but it limits the damage.”

“You’re smart enough to want more than that,” she told him.

“What I want, for now, is to see the contents of those armored wagons,” he replied. “How soon can to make that happen?”

Suzy set down the bottle. “Tonight. We need to get inside Armorston before the city gates close at sunset. It’s better if we go just before noon. There’s more traffic to cover our entrance, and the guard changes at noon so those men will be tired and hungry after a long shift. They’ll be more likely to let us pass without looking too closely.”

“I want see this hiding place,” Dana told her.

“Easy to do.” Suzy led them outside to where she’d stabled her horses and left her wagon. She opened the back to show countless bags and terracotta jars, some as big as a man. Suzy went to the back of the wagon and pressed a hidden switch, causing two of the larger jars to open and reveal compartments four feet tall and two feet deep.

“Nifty, huh? The tops of the jars have false bottoms and are filled with cooking oil, so if someone reaches down there they won’t get suspicious. You’ve even got hidden eyeholes to look through.”

Dana climbed into the wagon and sat in one of compartments. “Can we open these from the inside if we have to?”

Suzy pointed at a spot near Dana’s foot. “A switch by your left foot opens the door.”

“It will do the job,” Jayden said. “How soon do we leave?”

“Now-ish. I hope you don’t mind sharing that space with Yub. He’s a dear, but people overreact when goblins show up a their door, especially ones with bombs.”

Dana took the grinning goblin onto her lap before Suzy swung the door closed. She heard Suzy say, “Watch your hair,” moments before there was the bang of the other door closing. Dana found the eyeholes Suzy had mentioned and was able to watch the wagon leave the inn behind and go onto the road.

The trip there was more interesting than Dana had expected. She saw many other wagons on the road, plus carriages and men riding horses. Most people going into Armorston brought produce, hay, livestock and other simple goods. Men riding carriages were better dressed, and traffic stopped to let them go through. Dana was surprised by what she didn’t see, for there were no trolls, dwarfs, elves or other races, only humans.

Traffic slowed when they neared the city gate. Bored soldiers went through the motions of searching vehicles and people, but they seldom did more than open a few bags or barrels. When Suzy brought her wagon to the gate the soldiers perked up.

“Morning, boys,” Dana heard Suzy say. She couldn’t see the alchemist through the eyeholes.

“Hey, it’s Lockheart,” a soldier said cheerfully. “Got anything to perk a man up, besides seeing you again?”

Dana rolled her eyes at the cheesy pickup line, but Suzy laughed. “I’ve got a bottle of what an innkeeper called wine. It’s half done, but if you don’t mind leftovers it’s yours.”

“I don’t turn down alcohol.” A soldier reached up past the eyeholes and came back into view with a bottle. More guards checked the back of the wagon, but they didn’t search it long. Dana saw soldiers pass around the bottle until it was empty and toss it into the snow. “Go on, ma’am, but you’ll need a permanent residency pass soon.”

“No need for that when I’ll be leaving soon,” Suzy told him.

“That’s a crying shame,” the soldier said before waving her on. “The kingdom needs more pretty girls.”

They went into the more protected areas of the city, and what little Dana could see through the eyeholes proved that Jayden hadn’t exaggerated about Armorston’s weapons manufacturing. The wagon rolled by five large blacksmith shops with many men working at each of them. Firewood and charcoal were stacked up to fuel the forges. Large wagons with reinforced axels brought in iron ore, and armed men carried out swords, spears, axes, arrowheads and maces. The air stunk from so many fires, and it hurt Dana’s eyes and made her nose itch. Yub stayed quiet on her lap and read papers covered in strange formulas.

The wagon rolled through the streets for hours. Suzy received friendly greetings in some quarters and was barely tolerated in others. Soldiers urged her to leave whenever she neared a military post or government building like a jail or courthouse. Dana saw the same agitator from yesterday spinning his lies for a new audience. Eventually night fell and traffic dwindled as the streets emptied of foot traffic, carts and animals. Once they were alone, Suzy turned the wagon down an alley to a street filled with artisans such as surgeons and barbers who advertised their shops with colorful signs.

Suzy stopped her wagon next to a large stone building with its door shut and windows shuttered. “This is the place.”

“Halt!” Dana tensed at the shout. She saw two spearmen wearing winter coats over their chain armor approach the front of the wagon. “Traffic is prohibited on this road.”

“Hey, boys,” Suzy greeted them. “I’ve got a pass for this part of town. I’m supposed to bring your alchemist fresh supplies.”

Suzy showed them her papers, which they took one look at before glaring at her. “Your permits aren’t valid after dark.”

“I’ve come here at night plenty of times,” she protested.

A spearman shoved her papers into a coat pocket. “New regulations took effect yesterday. No travel after dark for citizens or visitors without military permission and armed escorts.”

“No one said anything about new rules when I came here today!”

“It’s your responsibility to keep up with regulations, not ours to inform you. Step off the wagon.”

Dana heard Suzy grumble and the sound of coins jingling. “I’m sure we can work this out.”

Both spearmen approached the wagon with their weapons raised. “You may have bribed soldiers in other cities, but not here. Step off the wagon now, ma’am, and keep your hands where we can see them.”

Suzy gave them a dramatic sigh, and then giggled. “Jayden, be a dear.”

The soldiers looked puzzled by her sudden change of mood. Their confusion ended abruptly when a black clawed hand as big as a man punched one man and then slapped the other to the ground. One spearman maintained consciousness and opened his mouth to scream. Another punch from the giant hand came before he could cry out a warning.

“Ooh, that’s a new one,” Suzy said as the giant hand dissolved. “I love watching you work.”

Jayden and Dana opened the secret compartments and got off the wagon. Suzy brought out rope from inside the wagon, and they tied up the soldiers before stuffing them into the secret compartments. Once that was done they studied the door. Jayden frowned and said, “Oak boards bound in iron, locked and likely barred. The owner values his privacy. Are there more defenses inside?”

Suzy took a small bottle from her coat and pulled her arm back to throw it. “Not that I saw.”

Jayden saw what she was doing and grabbed her arm. “A bomb? Are you trying to draw attention to us?”

“That happened when we beat up those guards. Their officers will notice when they don’t come back. After that we’re looking at an armed response by hundreds of soldiers. So, new plan, smash and grab.”

Dana drew her sword and walked up to the door. “I can do this fast and quiet.”

Suzy put her bomb away and watched Dana cut off the lock on the door with her sword. There were some sparks as the sword sliced through the iron bands on the door, but the light seemed to go unnoticed. She had to cut through an iron bar on the other side of the door. Once she had it open they went inside.

Suzy took the lead as they went through the alchemist’s shop. She took a glass tube from her belongings and shook it, making it produce a bright green light that lit up the building interior. There was a large counter running across the room, and behind it a dizzying array of bottles, vials, pots and jars filled with the most bizarre things Dana had ever seen. Dana winced when she saw a glass jar filled with pickled lizards.

“Ignore that,” Suzy said as she jumped behind the counter. “Those are props to make him look mysterious. He keeps legitimate ingredients back here…or he used to.”

“What?” Jayden asked. He and Dana went around the counter to find row after row of drawers. Suzy pulled them out one after and other and dropped them on the floor, each one empty. Only three drawers had pouches of ingredients, which Suzy took. “Where are the materials you need?”

“Kind of wondering that myself,” she said. Two doors were behind the counter. Suzy opened one and went inside. “This might take a bit. Yub, watch the door for trouble. Dana, be a dear and check the other room.”

Jayden went to the door and stood guard. “Could the alchemist have become suspicious of you and moved his stock?”

Suzy threw papers and clothes out of the room she was in and left them in a pile on the floor. “Last time I saw him, he invited me back and said he hoped we could have a long and productive relationship, the old lecher.”

Dana tried the second door and found it locked. It took her seconds to cut the lock off the door. She opened it and peered inside. Suzy had taken the light with her, so it was hard to see inside the room, but she could make out some things.

“Suzy, what would your bomb look like when it’s done?” Dana asked.

There were thuds and cursing as Suzy continued her search. “About three feet long, a foot thick, iron casing, knobs and a plunger to set the explosion.”

Dana backed out of the room. “That sounds about right, but this one is a bit thicker.”

Jayden and Suzy ran to her side. Suzy lifted her strange light producing tube to illuminate the room. There was a large table covered in empty bottles, dirty spoons, a mortar and pestle, stacks of paperwork and one enormous bomb. The black iron casing was rough and pebbly. The controls were made of wood and recessed into the casing. It looked unworldly, and somehow menacing.

Suzy pushed past the others and stuck the end of her light producing tube into her mouth so she could go through the paperwork with both hands. Jayden followed her and marveled at the bomb.

“This would explain where the alchemist’s stock went,” he said. “Producing this monstrosity must have exhausted his supplies.”

“Why would he make this?” Dana demanded.

“Mmm hmm hmm hmm,” Suzy said. Dana took the tube out of her mouth and held it overhead. “Thank you. The paperwork says this is a Class X Incendiary Device, made on orders from, Jayden, say it with me.”

“The king and queen,” Jayden growled.

“Clever boy.” Suzy held up a contract with a royal seal on the bottom. “He was hired to make his bomb a month ago. It looks like it took weeks to get the materials brought in. Once that was done he only needed days to throw it together.”

“How dangerous is it?” Dana asked.

Suzy went through the papers until she came up with a diagram. “My bomb would have gone off with one big boom. This one has fifty little bombs filled with powdered phoenix blossoms and drops of etherium. A small charge inside would blow open the outer casing, another charge would scatter the smaller bombs, and those would go off like fireballs twenty feet across.”

Dana’s jaw dropped. “You could burn down half a city!”

“Why stop at half?” Jayden asked. “Buildings in most cities are built one against the other, the wood dry and easily ignited. A fire could spread quickly from one building to the next until an entire city burned. It would be equally effective against an army with tightly packed ranks of soldiers.”

Suzy tapped a finger on a paper filled with strange symbols. “Phoenix blossoms are high in phosphorous. Liquefy it, purify it, and it turns white and burns really hot and makes lots of smoke, toxic if breathed in. Putting it out with water would be hard unless you totally submerged it. This bomb uses a lot of phoenix blossoms and can throw it far. The fires would be impossible to stop.”

“So he had all the stuff you needed for a bomb because he was going to build a bomb,” Dana said.

Jayden ran a hand over the bomb. “And he indeed built it. I can only imagine how the king and queen could use this weapon. Suzy, can you disable it and retrieve the materials you need?”

“That’s a hard no.” Suzy dropped the papers on the floor and took back her light tube from Dana. “The phoenix blossoms chemically reacted with the etherium to make it even more dangerous. It’s basically looking for an excuse to go off. I can’t reverse the reaction. It would explode if I even tried.”

“And this guy built it inside a city,” Dan said. She was in awe of the man’s stupidity. “What do we do with it?”

They saw Yub scamper in and point behind him, where a crowd of spearmen ran to the building’s door. An older man with thinning hair and dressed in a bathrobe and slippers led the group. The old man gasped and pointed at Suzy.

“You! You thieving wench! I should have known you were up to no good!”

Suzy smiled at him. “You really should have.”

Jayden stepped in front of her and cast a spell to form his black sword. “Gentlemen, and I use that term loosely, you can only attack us one at a time through that doorway, at least until it fills up with bodies. Allow us to leave in peace and you avoid needless casualties.”

One of the spearmen stepped to the front of the group. “You can’t stop us all! Come on, men, this man is a threat to the entire kingdom!”

The brave soldier took two steps forward and stopped when he realized the other spearmen weren’t following him. The soldier slapped a hand over his face and announced, “Whoever kills him gets the bounty money, tax free.”

“That’s more like it!” another spearman shouted. He ran forward with a dozen more men behind him.

“No one listens to reason,” Jayden said as the men charged him. He hacked two spears in half and dodged two more. That was enough to open the doorway for spearmen to pile into the room, a mistake when their long weapons were poorly suited to such tight quarters. Soldiers pushed up against each other, trying to bring their weapons to bear as Jayden cut spears to pieces.

Suzy giggled as she climbed onto the counter and pulled bombs from inside her coat pockets. She threw them with wild abandon into the packed soldiers, and was rewarded with screams of fear and pain as the bombs went off. Spearmen were thrown about, and many who weren’t hurt fell back to avoid her next attack. Yub joined her and threw more bombs into the fray, adding to the chaos and confusion.

Dana screamed when soldiers burst through the store’s windows. These men handed off their spears to other soldiers and drew swords before climbing inside. With Jayden and Suzy busy, Dana drew her sword and ran over to hold them off. One soldier swung his sword at her head, and she raised her sword to block the attack. There was a shower of sparks as her sword sliced through the soldier’s blade.

The soldier stared at her in horror, finally saying, “I’m still making payment on that!”

Dana put her left hand over her mouth. “Sorry!”

“Don’t apologize to the man trying to kill you!” Jayden shouted.

“Get help!” a soldier shouted. Soldiers outside blew whistles to attract reinforcements. Dana heard people running down the street toward them. She hadn’t seen other exits in the alchemist’s shop besides the front door, now choked with soldiers. Jayden and Suzy couldn’t keep them back forever. Dana wondered if there were wizards or more alchemists in a city this large who could back up the soldiers.

Suzy put a hand on Dana’s shoulder. “I’ve got an idea. Come with me.”

Dana, Jayden, Suzy and Yub fell back to the room with the completed bomb, fighting off soldiers the entire way. Jayden and Dana held back the horde of soldiers while Suzy climbed onto the table holding the bomb. Dana was fighting for her life, cutting apart swords and spears jabbed at her. She didn’t see what happened next until it was too late.

“Gentlemen!” Suzy shouted. The soldiers kept pushing forward regardless of her shout. Suzy threw bombs into the packed soldiers, injuring several and forcing the rest back. It ended the fight briefly, long enough for Suzy to yelled, “May I have your attention, please! This shop contains a firebomb large enough to at a bare minimum destroy the entire block. Anyone standing near it will die horribly when that happens. Is the alchemist nearby? Come on, don’t be shy.”

The older man in his bathrobe slipped between the packed soldiers. Suzy pointed at the bomb and asked, “Would you tell these nice people what I’ve done?”

The man’s face turned white. He trembled and his jaw dropped. “Y-you, you fool, you’ve armed it!”

Suzy smiled, a deranged grin that suggested a total lack of self-preservation. “That’s right, it’s going to go off. If we don’t get away, nobody gets away. So make your peace with God, because we’re all going to meet Him.”

The alchemist asked, “What time did you set it to explode?”

The room was silent. Soldiers stared in terror at the bomb. Suzy looked curious at best before saying, “Hmm, now-ish?”

Soldiers screamed and ran away. Dana threw herself to the floor. She knew it wouldn’t save her, but there was no way she could escape before the bomb went off. For long seconds she stayed down, her arms covering her head. Then Jayden tapped her on the shoulder and helped her up.

“What, why aren’t we dead?” Dana asked.

“I set the bomb to go off in five minutes,” Suzy said. She burst out giggling like it was a grand joke.

Dana yelled, “I thought I was going to die!”

“That was the point, dear,” Suzy told her.

Dana looked at Jayden. “You didn’t take cover. How did you know she was lying?”

“I don’t believe anything she says,” Jayden said. “Come on, the soldiers will return when nothing explodes.”

Suzy bent down over the bomb and began tinkering with it. “Give me just a minute to shut it off. Hmm. Jayden, grab the metal tab here, yes, that’s the one, and pull hard. Harder. Oh dearie.”

“Oh dearie what?” Jayden demanded.

“A metal panel slid over the controls after I set the bomb,” Suzy explained. “It’s not coming off. I think it’s a safeguard to make sure no one disarms the bomb after it’s been set. We’ve got five minutes until it goes off like an angry dragon.”

“You set a bomb you can’t defuse?” Jayden demanded.

Suzy shrugged. “It was this or fight our way out through a hundred men. We aren’t that good.”

Dana ran to the bomb. “I can cut off the metal panel.”

Jayden grabbed her arm before she got close to it. “Your sword produces sparks when it cuts through metal and would set it off.”

Suzy took Yub by the hand and headed for the door. “Five minutes is enough time to get out of here.”

Jayden didn’t budge. “Us, but no one else. Armorston would be destroyed, and countless lives lost with it.”

Suzy told him. “The best we can do is help some residents evacuate.”

“As angry as I am with these people, I won’t condemn them to death.”

Dana’s mind raced as she tried to come up with a solution. The bomb was massively destructive, and Armorston was so large they’d never get it outside the city walls before it went off. Even if they did, there were many houses and shops outside the walls that would be destroyed. There wasn’t a river or chasm to throw the bomb in, either. What was left?

“Sewers!” Dana shouted. That earned her confused looks from the others. “Jayden, we saw sewers flowing out of the city. That means water, maybe enough to smother the fire. Pick the bomb up with your magic hand spell and dump it down a sewer entrance.”

“The nearest entrance big enough to use is three blocks away,” Suzy said.

“Take us there on your wagon.”

Jayden recast the spell to form his magic hand and picked up the bomb. He carried it outside and mounted the wagon. Dana helped Yub into the back while Suzy snapped the reins and sent the horses racing down the street.

The streets weren’t empty at this late hour. A crowd of soldiers was running from the alchemist’s shop, and their panic doubled when they saw the bomb coming towards them. Fresh screams erupted from the soldiers as they fled in all directions.

“There they are!” a man cried out behind the wagon. “Get them!”

Dana saw a crowd of over a hundred soldiers and five knights on horseback coming from behind them. For a second she wondered why they weren’t running for their lives, but then she remembered soldiers had blown whistles at the alchemist’s shop. These men must have come in response and decided to chase the most obvious target, a wagon racing through the streets at night.

“Trouble behind us!” Dana yelled.

“Busy,” Jayden replied. He was focused on keeping his magic hand moving ahead of them and couldn’t help.

“Sweetie, there’s a big red bag next to you,” Suzy said as she drove the horses on. “Throw everything in there.”

Dana reached into the bag and pulled out two terracotta bottles sealed with wax. She threw them at the soldiers and was rewarded with twin explosions that sent men flying. Yub handed her more bombs to throw. She lobbed one after another, thinning the ranks of pursuing soldiers.

“Don’t be stingy,” Suzy called out. “They’re meant to be used.”

A knight rode up alongside the wagon and swung his sword at Dana. She parried the blade with her sword, cutting off the last five inches of the knight’s blade. Another knight tried to attack her. She grabbed a bomb with her left hand and threw it in front of the knight. The explosion spooked the knight’s horse so badly that it reared up and threw the knight off its back.

The wagon took a sharp turn and came to a stop next to an iron door set into the street. Suzy pointed at it and said, “That’s an access to the sewers for workers. Good news is it’s big enough to fit the bomb. Bad news is it’s locked.”

“Got it!” Dana yelled. She jumped off the wagon and hacked at the iron door with her sword. Sparks flew high into the air as she cut through the door until severed pieces splashed down into the sewer water below.

She stepped back as Jayden’s magic hand slipped the bomb into the hole. They heard a reassuring splash and saw water shoot up like a geyser. Soldiers and knights caught up and surrounded them, drawn sword around them like a circle of steel. No one moved. For five seconds the stalemate held, ending when the bomb went off.

The explosion sounded weird to Dana. Water muffled the blast, but the sewer walls made the sound echo. Bright light poured up from the hole, followed by foul smelling white gas. Narrow sewer grates along the street lit up as fire spread through the sewer. The heat was so great that Dana could feel it radiating up through the street and the soles of her boots. Soldiers cried out in confusion and fled. Then the street began to sag.

“You said water would smother the fire,” Dana said.

“If there’s enough to submerge it, yes,” Suzy replied. The street trembled and sunk further. “Construction standards are really low around here.”

“Run for your lives!” Jayden yelled, a warning the soldiers were happy to take. He helped Dana onto the wagon as Suzy snapped the reins. The wagon shot down the street with men fleeing alongside it. Dana looked behind them to see a huge section of the street sink into the ground. Fires burned brightly in the newly formed chasm, and smoke rose in billowing clouds. The chasm grew as more of the street collapsed from the intense heat.

“Ride faster!” Jayden shouted. He used his magic hand to batter aside a carriage parked across the street and then a stack of crates piled up in their way.

The wagon shot down the street at breakneck speeds. Dana saw fire consume more of the sewers and streets above them, but the blaze stayed contained in the chasms it made. She looked ahead to see a closed city gate in front of them. Suzy slowed the wagon, giving Jayden enough time to batter the gate with his magic hand again and again until it came off its hinges. The wagon rode on through the outer sections of the city until it came to a stop miles from Armorston.

Dana, Jayden, Suzy and Yub climbed off the wagon and looked at the devastation behind them. Barred sewer outlets poured out flames floating on the surface of the water. Fires inside Armorston were limited to the sewer network and spared the rest of the city. Panicked crowds fled the disaster but weren’t in immediate danger.

“Oh, oh wow,” Dana said.

“I knew it,” Jayden said. “I knew something would happen. I worked with Lockheart once and it went disastrously wrong. I was a fool to think it could end otherwise! This mission failed in every possible way. I didn’t get close enough to see what those wagons had brought into Armorston, and we didn’t get the bomb ingredients to save Brandish.”

Dana took him by the arm. “Jayden, this isn’t her fault. She didn’t make a huge bomb inside a city.”

Jayden broke free of her grip. “She set the blasted thing off! I can’t imagine who else I’d blame for this. No, I take that back. I blame myself. I should have had the common sense to look for another way in without Suzy ‘the walking disaster’ Lockheart!”

“At least the king and queen don’t have that huge bomb anymore,” Dana told him. “They must be out a lot of money, too.”

“For once in my life they’re not who I’m angry at!”

Dana went to Suzy. The alchemist stared at the city and the screaming crowds of people. She seemed stunned by the damage they’d done. Desperate to console her, Dana said, “Suzy, he doesn’t mean that.”

Suzy turned to face Jayden, not Dana. For a second Suzy’s expression was unreadable. Then she screamed, “Best date ever!” before lunging into Jayden’s arms and passionately kissing him.