“Dear mom and dad,” Dana wrote as a man staggered by her and fell to the floor. He’d nearly gotten back up when an angry dwarf trampled him to get an elf on the other side of the bar. “I hope you are well. I’m doing fine.”

“Keep your brawl away from the bar!” the tavern keeper yelled. “I swear I will end the tab of anyone breaking my glasses!”

“I know I have been away from home for a long time, but I found a problem so big I had to do something,” she continued. That was a diplomatic way for saying she’d met the world’s only living sorcerer lord and was trying to keep him alive. It was a full-time job. “I will come home as soon as I can, but for now I have to keep trying to fix this mess help out. I have come into some money and am sending it back with this letter.”

Two more men barreled past her table and slammed into a third man, knocking him into a wall made of tree trunks stripped of bark. The floor was packed dirt covered in sawdust, while windows and fire worms kept in glass jars provided light. The air smelled of beer, unidentified grilled meat and sweat.

Such rough surroundings were common to the market town of Despre, a dingy little community in the mountainous north of the kingdom. Buildings were crude and dirty, the people rough and hardy, and the land equal parts rich and desolate. The barely tamed north had both endless resources of timber, fish, furs and copper, while being so newly settled that there were few people willing to face monsters, storms and bandits.

“Who are you writing to?” Jayden asked from across the table. They’d taken a corner booth in the tavern and were out of the way of the brawl engulfing the tavern. Jayden’s reputation kept back men fighting nearby, and he ate a light dinner in peace. Dana had finished her meal before she started writing.

“My family. It’s been so long since they’ve seen me they must be worried.” Dana kept writing, saying, “Please give my love to Emily and Rachael, and tell Lan to stay out of my stuff while I’m gone. I’m sure he’s already eaten all my chocolates, but if you’re not careful the little pest might put my old clothes on a pig.”

“He can’t be that bad,” Jayden told her.

Dana covered the letter with her left hand. “No peaking! This is a private message, thank you very much.”

A young troll only six feet tall staggered by their table, with three men grappling the scaly brute. The troll tossed one man aside before grabbing the other two and swinging them into one another. “Feel free to jump in any time, wizard.”

The tavern keeper frantically waved his hands. “The wizard stays out of this!”

“I don’t have a horse in this race,” Jayden told the troll. “I can’t say I understand the issue, either.”

The troll pointed at a nearby dwarf. “We started that mine and it’s ours. If the dwarfs want one they can get their own instead of muscling in on our turf.”

“We did get our own!” the dwarf yelled before he was hit in the head with a chair.

“Yeah, by digging a shaft a hundred feet from ours,” the troll replied. “It’s the same ore vein, stumpy.”

Dana pressed three silver coins onto her letter and folded it over them before stuffing it into a crude envelope. Dana was a girl of only fifteen, soon to be sixteen. She had brown hair that was getting long and brown eyes. Her clothes were a mix of the thick dress and fur hat she’d had when she first met Jayden with new boots, bags, knife and a belt with an empty scabbard she’d gotten during her travels with him. Her father was the mayor of a frontier town a bit bigger than Despre and much more orderly.

The simple life she’d known ended when she’d called upon Sorcerer Lord Jayden, who sat across the table from her now. Jayden was in his thirties, handsome to behold in a roguish sort of way with his sardonic smirk, perpetually messy blond hair and black and silver clothes. Jayden carried some baggage but no weapons, as his magic was enough to keep smart enemies at a distance and deal with anyone stupid enough to challenge him.

Jayden was smart, strong, bold, charming when he felt like it, and had a near pathological hatred for the king and queen. Dana didn’t know the root cause for his rage, but in her travels with Jayden she’d seen ample evidence that such enmity was well earned. The royal couple had tried to seize the Valivaxis, a gateway to a world of dead emperors and living monsters. They’d hired an amoral elf wizard, banished the Brotherhood of the Righteous from the kingdom, killed an honest sheriff and replaced him with a cowardly fraud. Worse, they were planning a war against a neighboring kingdom, heaven only knew which one, which could kill tens of thousands.

Few men loved the king and queen, but Jayden’s hatred was so great he would do almost anything if it meant harming them or preventing their war. Dana tried her best to redirect him to helping the common man, but her efforts were temporary at best. Jayden wanted the king and queen gone. He wasn’t strong enough to end their reign yet, but he’d grown in strength in the few months they’d traveled together. It was only a matter of time until he was that powerful, provided he didn’t die first.

Dana’s train of thought was interrupted when a dwarf complained, “That scaly lummox isn’t being fair. There’s enough copper ore for decades of mining.”

The troll threw a table at the dwarf, missing by inches. “And it’s ours! Find your own claim!”

“How much longer do we have to stay here?” Dana asked as the dwarf threw a chair at the troll.

Jayden said, “Only until the dwarf I hired finishes making the chimera horn you brought from Pearl Bay into a proper weapon. He was almost giddy at the prospect of fashioning it into a short sword, and eager for the coins I paid him. I’ve seen his work and it’s splendid. He’s also one of the few swordsmiths not on the royal payroll, and can keep his mouth shut about jobs he does.”

The troll knocked a dwarf into a table before swatting aside a man. More men, trolls and dwarfs joined in until the brawl spilled over into the street outside the tavern. Struggling to be heard over the noise, Dana asked, “Is it always like this?”

Jayden smirked. “The local baron issued the license for this town to act as a marketplace for small communities around it. He doesn’t care what happens here so long as he gets a monthly fee. Half the trade here is smuggled goods. You’d be shocked how much the baron is involved in smuggling, and a sad testimony to our kingdom that even a nobleman has to do so.”

“And how does he feel about you visiting?”

“We have an understanding. I don’t cause trouble in his backyard and he lets me do business here the same as everyone else.”

A glass flew over Dana’s head to shatter against a wall. The tavern keeper pointed at a man and yelled, “I saw you throw that, Biff! Do you have any idea how much those cost? That’s it, say goodbye to your tab!”

More softly, Jayden added, “There is another reason why we came to Despre. The king and queen are preparing for war, with the kingdoms of Kaleoth, Brandish and Zentrix the obvious targets. Three weeks travel from here is the only bridge over the Race Horse River to Kaleoth. Destroying that bridge leaves only a few shallow sections of the Turtle River to ford, areas easily bottled up by defenders.”

“Destroying the bridge would shuts down trade to Kaleoth,” Dana said.

“I assume trade would end when the war starts,” Jayden pointed out.

“You’re also assuming the army is going to invade Kaleoth. If it goes after Brandish or Zentrix then destroying the bridge doesn’t do any good.”

“True,” he admitted as men, dwarfs and trolls intensified their fight. “Sparing one kingdom the possibility of invasion is worth the risk. The king and queen won’t be ready to launch an invasion for many months, giving us time to close down one avenue of attack.”

Dana frowned as people fought around her. Rough as the fight was, it was thankfully bloodless as no one drew swords or daggers. She was willing to accept that meager blessing.

Jayden saw her expression and said, “I should have made arrangements for us to stay outside town. There are times I forget your peaceful upbringing.”

“This is normal for you?”

“It didn’t used to be, but circumstances have forced me to adapt. Try not to hold this against them. At heart these people aren’t evil, even if they are crude.”

Dana did her best to ignore the fight as most of the brawlers moved outside. The tavern keeper grumbled as he set the tables and chairs upright. Thankfully the building and furnishings hadn’t suffered noticeable damage. She was surprised when a young man in wool clothes entered the tavern and took a seat not far from her and Jayden.

Smiling, the youth said, “Quite a fight going on, eh?”

“I’ve been in worse,” Jayden told him.

The youth’s smile faded as he said, “I guess nothing could be as bad as the underground lake.”

Jayden’s eyes narrowed, and he shifted in his chair to face the youth. “There are three people alive who know the relevance of that statement, and you aren’t one of them. Explain yourself while you can still breathe.”

“A friend of yours sent me,” the youth replied.

“I have one friend in this world, and she is sitting across from me.” Jayden stood up and spoke strange, arcane words to form a black sword rimmed in white in his right hand. The youth yelped and jumped up from his chair as Jayden advanced on him. “I’m giving you a second chance to avoid a closed casket funeral. Explain yourself.”

The youth held up his hands as he backed up against a wall. “Hey, wait a minute!”

The tavern keeper rolled his eyes. “You kill him, you clean up the mess.”

“I can explain,” the youth said hastily as Jayden drew near. “The guy with the cat hired me to get you. He said you’d understand the reference.”

Jayden paused. “What cat?”

“Big, black, evil, that cat. He keeps it with him all the time, and heaven help the man who gets closer than ten paces, because that ball of fur and hate goes right for your face.”

The answer must have been sufficient, for Jayden lowered his sword. “I will listen to you. If this is a trap, I assure you the cat is the least of your worries.”

The youth rolled up the sleeve on his right arm to show six inches of his forearm covered in fresh bandages. “The cat is bad enough. The guy showed up outside town on a river barge three days ago with five men and that furry psychopath. He hired me to find you and bring you to him. He said you two have worked together, and he needs help.”

“Doing what?” Jayden asked.

“He didn’t say.” The youth looked down and added, “I was given five copper pieces to deliver this message and promised another five if you come back with me. I need the money, and this guy made it sound like you’d get some kind of a reward.”

“This merits further examination,” Jayden replied. “I’ll go with you, but if there is any sign of betrayal you can count this as your last day. Dana, given the risk involved it’s best if you not come with me.”

“Leaving me here is safer?” she asked. As if on cue, there was a bang on the wall behind her, followed by a groan of pain from outside.

Jayden frowned. “That is a valid point.”

The youth hesitantly raised a hand. “I know I’m already not your favorite person, but Despre has ten men for every woman. I don’t think anyone here is stupid enough to attack the lady, but she’s going to get a lot of attention if you’re not around.”

“Too late,” Dana said as she held up three letters. “I’ve already got admirers.”

“When did you get those?” Jayden asked.

“One was handed to me when I was served lunch, another got slipped into my pocket, and I have no idea where the third came from.” Dana got up from her chair and joined Jayden. “If the guy knows things about you that no one should then it’s probably not a trap by the king and queen. Besides, who else would want to hurt you?”

Jayden chuckled. “That list goes on for quite some time.”

“So,” the youth began, “we can go meet the man with the cat, I can get paid, and you can hopefully put the nasty black sword away?”

“The black nasty sword stays in my hand until we meet your employer,” Jayden told him.

Jayden, Dana and the youth left the tavern to find the streets of Despre a battlefield. Men, dwarfs, elves, trolls and even gnomes brawled across the town in a fight that seemed to have no sides or end in sight. Dana and Jayden worked their way around the edge of the melee and to the edge of town. Most people stayed clear of them, and the few who got too close saw Jayden’s sword and gave him a wide berth.

“Where are we going?” Dana asked.

“There’s a river an hour’s walk from Despre,” the youth explained as they walked by exhausted fighters. “The river barge is moored there.”

“I’m told the wilderness is dangerous, yet you’re going with us unarmed,” Jayden pointed out.

The youth shrugged. “We have fewer problems since an ogre clan moved into town. They’re great lumberjacks, pretty good builders, and they ate the nearest monsters. You have to go pretty far to find trouble.”

The ogres in question were nearby building a barn. The furry brutes stood eight feet tall and favored kilts. One ogre was setting up a sign that read, “Clan Arm Breaker Traveling Contractors: You’ll fall before the house does.”

“I can see where they’d deter most problems,” Jayden remarked. The ogres saw him walk by and nodded, a show of respect ogres rarely gave.

The land outside Despre was hilly with fields in the places flat enough to farm. Here and there rocks jutted up from the ground, and tree stumps were common. Farther out were dense forests of pine trees. Despre’s lumberjacks had already taken a heavy toll, but despite their damage the forests seemed to stretch on forever.

“Not much farther,” the youth promised. “The river is just ahead.”

Sure enough, there was a distant roar of swift water crashing into stone. They soon came to a wide river with rocks on both shores. Not far upstream was a river barge tied to the far shore. Flat-bottomed boats like that were a common sight transporting good across the kingdom. They also saw men standing on the barge and fishing off the side. One of them smiled and waved as Jayden drew near.

“Ah, I knew you’d come. Jayden, it’s been too long.”

Jayden’s response was more subdued. “I must admit your presence surprises me, and I find it a touch disturbing that you found me.”

The man walked down a gangplank to shore and hurried over. He didn’t look like much, average height, a few too many pounds on his stomach, brown hair and eyes, and a thick mustache. His clothes were well-tailored leather, common enough. There was a twinkle in his eyes and a ready smile on his face.

“Allow me to introduce myself to the lady. I am Sir Reginald Lootmore of the Kingdom of Zentrix. You weren’t exactly hard to find, Jayden. Tales of your deeds flow as fast as this river. Wherever Sorcerer Lord Jayden goes chaos is sure to follow. It may surprise you to learn that you are credited with dozens of acts of violence committed a hundred miles from here, some of them on the same day.”

“Then why haven’t the king and queen found us?” Dana asked.

Lootmore smiled. “They have men looking for you, but few try very hard after what happened to the elf wizard Green Peril. Word is he found you and fled the kingdom the same day. The king and his loving wife will find someone more up to the task eventually, but for now your pursuers aren’t interested in finding their quarry. It helps that dear Jayden has the good sense to avoid more prosperous and populated parts of the kingdom where defenders are stronger and more numerous.”

Lootmore stopped in front of them and smiled at Dana. “This must be the young lady I’ve heard you travel with these days. I was wondering when you’d take an apprentice.”

“Dana Illwind,” she replied and curtsied. “I’m Jayden’s friend, not apprentice.”

“She’s trying to keep me from getting killed,” Jayden added.

Lootmore smiled. “Ah, a woman who likes challenges.”

Dana blushed when Lootmore kissed her hand. Jayden rolled his eyes and pointed at the men on the barge. “And who might they be?”

“Men who have long served the Lootmore family,” he explained. “You may trust them as you do me.”

Dana wasn’t sure how to address Lootmore. He called himself a knight, but he had no weapons or armor, nor the arrogance she’d seen in the few knights she’d met years ago. Instead he looked like the sort of man who any second might offer to sell her insurance. Strangely, Jayden lacked Lootmore’s enthusiasm about their meeting. She dearly wished she knew what had happened between them.

“Why did you hire that boy to get us instead of coming in person,” she asked.

“A fair question, young lady,” Lootmore conceded. “While there is currently no conflict between our kingdoms, my presence risks drawing unwanted attention and potentially causing a war. For that reason I have been careful who knows I’m here. In locating you he lived up to my every expectation.”

Jayden frowned. “Yes, you’ve found me, now kindly tell me what this is about.”

“Soon enough,” Lootmore said. He dug through his pockets and came up with copper coins for the youth who’d led them to the river. “Five copper pieces as promised. Be a good boy and never mention this to anyone.”

The youth pointed at Jayden and a black cat following Lootmore. “And get either of them mad at me? Thank you, no.”

Dana smiled as the cat came closer. It was a healthy animal, big with yellow eyes and a shiny, thick coat. “Ooh, she’s adorable. What’s her name?”

“His name, actually, and it’s Jump Scare,” Lootmore answered. “Best keep your distance before—”

There was no hiss or growl before Jump Scare leapt at Dana’s face. She didn’t have time to cry out or back away. Jayden snatched the cat out of the air and threw it into the woods, where it landed on its feet and scampered back to Lootmore.

“He does that,” Lootmore said. “My apologies.”

Jayden folded his arms across his chest. “Why do you insist on bringing that animal with you?”

“I left him home once when I went on a mission,” Lootmore replied. “Injuries were extensive. But that is neither here nor there. I am on an important mission and need help carrying it out. Of the three people I fought along side at the underground lake, only you were close enough to call upon. My task is risky, but the rewards equal the danger.”

“This is the first time I’ve heard of you having a partner,” Dana said.

“You never told her about me?” Lootmore asked. He clapped a hand over his heart and looked away in mock shame. “The horror, to learn I’ve been edited out of your life’s story. What sin have I committed to be considered so low?”

“Being overly dramatic, and owning a cat that by all rights should be tormenting condemned souls in the netherworld,” Jayden said. “May I remind you how our one and only job together went?”

“We were all nearly killed, but I believe if you review your no doubt excellent memory, you’ll recall it wasn’t my fault,” Lootmore answered. “And you came away from that caper richer and with a stone tablet containing a spell of the old sorcerer lords.”

Jayden didn’t look convinced, so Lootmore waved for them to join him at his barge. “I have the details for the job over there. I think you’ll find it worth your while.”

Jayden frowned before following Lootmore to the barge. “I’m going to regret this.”

Dana followed them onto the barge. It was as nondescript as its owner, a simple vessel, fairly old and beaten up with little cargo. The men onboard were young and wore wool clothes. There were no weapons in sight, no armor, no money. If Lootmore was a knight, he hid it well.

“On to business,” Lootmore said eagerly. He unrolled a map of the kingdom and pointed to the northern regions. “We are here, far enough away from proper civilization that the authorities don’t know of our presence. Downriver is an estate owned by Baron Scalamonger, a man known for his vineyards and his loyalty to the throne. In three days he is expecting Commander Vestril of the royal army to bring a caravan of soldiers, two knights, and this is the important part, supplies.”

“What sort of supplies?” Jayden asked suspiciously.

Lootmore smiled. “The best kind. Spies in my homeland have noticed your beloved king and queen amassing weapons, hiring mercenaries, training soldiers and so on. The forces and materials they need to wage war are currently scattered across the kingdom. Last month the order went out to bring them together. It’s war, Jayden, and soon, a war the Kingdom of Zentrix might not survive.”

Jayden stared at the map. “I thought I had more time.”

“We both did.” Lootmore drew a line across the map with his finger. “Those forces are converging on the capital. From there they will train, take on more arms and prepare for a war Zentrix officials think will come in early spring. Most of these caravans are too large or far away to attack, but this one is temporarily vulnerable.”

“Temporarily vulnerable why?” Jayden asked.

“Commander Vestril is going from town to town picking up manpower and supplies. In two weeks he’ll have enough men that the caravan will be too strong to take. Until then there is a window of opportunity to attack it. The commander knows this and is being very careful, stopping at night in every town or manor he passes, going around areas known for bandits or monsters, and he’s avoiding any place you’ve been seen.”

Jayden perked up at the news. “Really?”

“I thought you’d like that. In three days Commander Vestril will visit the estate of Baron Scalamonger. The baron traditionally pays his taxes in the form of wine, and he’s known to be a very good host to visiting officials.”

“He gets them drunk,” Dana said.

“Roaring drunk,” Lootmore told her. “If I’m right, Scalamonger’s contribution to the war effort will be wine. Vestril will stop his caravan for the night, load up a copious amount of alcohol and enjoy the baron’s hospitality, leaving him and his soldiers too drunk to be a threat. This leaves us an opening.”

“How can stealing wine prevent a war?” Dana asked.

“I’m not interested in the wine.” Lootmore pointed to a town on the west of the map. “Commander Vestril stopped here a week ago and picked up eighty suits of chain armor from another baron. I’ve been sent to steal it. Less armor for the enemy and more for my people won’t prevent the war, but it tips it ever so slightly in our favor.”

Lootmore rolled up the map and put it away. “Jayden, you’ve been trying to hurt the king and queen for years. Taking this armor does that. But if you’re undecided, I can sweeten the deal.”

Lootmore reached down to open a secret compartment hidden in the barge’s floorboards. He took out a black granite tablet with writing in white marble. Jayden’s eyes lit up at the sight of it.

“I’ve been nearly as busy as you since our last encounter,” Lootmore said. “In one mission for my kingdom I came across what looked very much like the spell tablet you found in our too brief partnership. The writing is shorter than the one you found two years ago and seemed so excited by. I was rather hoping it’s a spell you don’t already have—”

“I don’t,” Jayden said.

“And might want,” Lootmore continued.

“I do.”

Lootmore held onto the tablet. “I also know you are addicted to destruction. I don’t see the appeal, but I haven’t lived the life you have. Hopefully I won’t offend you when I say you might be tempted to destroy the armor or dump it in a lake rather than let me take it. So I propose a deal. I give you the tablet here and now. In exchange you help me complete this mission, including stealing the armor.”

Jayden’s eyes were locked on the spell tablet. He made no move to take it. “I promise to do whatever is possible to help you, but I can’t guarantee results. If it comes down to letting Commander Vestril keep the armor, I’ll have no choice but to destroy it.”

Lootmore handed him the spell tablet. “I can’t ask for more. Let’s be on our way. The trip will use up most of the time we have left, and I’ve seen worrying signs in this part of the kingdom.”

Concerned, Dana asked, “What kind of signs?”

Lootmore addressed his men before he answered her. “Break down our camp and throw evidence of our visit into the river. Were I a fearful man I would call them ill omens. I saw what looked like footprints, each one two feet long and half as wide, with a stride four feet long. Stranger still, there were no toes or heel on the prints.”

Dana covered her face with her hand. “Not again.”

“Excuse me?” Lootmore asked.

“How many times do we have to kill it?” Dana asked.

Jayden held up his empty hands. “Twice didn’t do the job.”

Lootmore gave them a long-suffering look. “Doubtless there’s a story here. Feel free to share it.”

“It’s the Living Graveyard,” Jayden explained. “We found it guarding a castle on the coast and killed it to retrieve a rich treasure. The Living Graveyard doesn’t die easily, or permanently. We killed it a second time outside Fish Bait City. It reassembled itself, again, and followed us here. It seems we have two good reasons to leave quickly. Dana and I can come back later to get her new sword, which should be finished by then, but for now we should be on our way before that monstrosity finds us.”

“Then let’s begin our adventure, and may it have better results than our last one,” Lootmore said.

“It could hardly have worse,” Jayden muttered.

* * * * *

Dana, Jayden and Lootmore spent the rest of the day sailing downstream. They left the wilderness behind and entered more settled lands. There were farm fields and ranches, and occasionally small towns. Their passage drew no attention, for there were other boats engaged in fishing or trade on the river.

Lootmore stopped his barge in a small tributary where few people lived and made camp among trees growing along the river. Lootmore and his men settled down on the riverbank while Jayden stayed on the barge.

“You’re not going on shore?” Dana asked him.

“Too many people live here who are loyal to the throne or live in fear of it. Lootmore is unknown in these parts and won’t attract attention, so he can sleep where he pleases, but I have to be more careful. You may sleep on shore if you like.”

Dana settled down next to him on the barge. “I think I’ll stay with you. One of Lootmore’s men already asked if I was seeing anyone, so I’ve got my own reason to keep my distance. So, what’s the story with you and our new friend?”

Jayden kept his eyes on the shore while he answered. “Two years ago I was desperate for funds and magic. I’d heard of a cave so large there was a lake in it, and what sounded like ruins of the old sorcerer lords as well. It sounded promising, so I went there and began exploring. I wasn’t alone.”

“There were monsters in the cave?”

“Were I only so lucky. News of the cave had reached more ears than just my own. The king and queen had sent an expedition to loot the cave of valuables. There were too many men for me to fight alone, when to my surprise I met Reginald Lootmore. He’d been sent by his queen to take whatever riches were within the cave. Lootmore had already secured the aid of the famous archer Ian McShootersun. Less wisely, he’d also partnered with the alchemist Suzy Lockheart.”

Dana gave him a mischievous smile. “Were you two romantic?”

“What? That giggling lunatic nearly killed us all.” Jayden waved his hand like he was shooing away a fly. “Lootmore made a deal with me to share rewards equally and I’d get any spell tablets, a fair trade for my services. We snuck past the expedition, explored the ruins and nearly escaped when they caught up with us. It was a close fight that nearly ended in disaster when Suzy Lockheart decided a large cave with an unstable roof was the perfect place to set off explosives.”

Jayden shuddered. “It was pure luck that we weren’t crushed by falling rocks. The expedition wasn’t so fortunate. I left with a small pile of treasure and one spell tablet, and we parted company shortly thereafter. Lootmore had to report back to his queen, McShootersun had heard of better opportunities far to the north, and quite frankly I didn’t care enough to ask where Suzy Lockheart was heading. I’d assumed that was the last I’d see of them.”

“Wouldn’t it have made sense to keep working together?” Dana asked. Jayden gave her a dark look, and she hastily added, “Not Lockheart, obviously, but what about the other two? You could do so much more with help.”

“It wouldn’t have worked.” Jayden turned his attention back to the shoreline before he spoke again. “Lootmore’s loyalties are to his homeland. That’s no discredit, but he has to be careful what he does as a knight of Zentrix. His actions could start an international incident if he’s caught, meaning there are places he can’t go and deeds he can’t do. As for the other two, McShootersun is a braggart with no cause to live for except the next payday, and Heaven only knows what madness run through Suzy Lockheart’s diseased mind.”

“She came onto you, didn’t she?”

“It didn’t happen like that,” he said firmly.

“You accept help from me,” she pressed.

“That’s different.”

“How?”

Jayden looked at her and said, “I’m trying to overthrow the king and queen because of the harm they’ve done. I’ve taken great risks for little reward or none at all because I truly believed I’m making the kingdom a better place. Lootmore, McShootersun and Lockheart have no interest in that because this isn’t their homeland. They don’t love it, fear for it, dream of it, and they won’t sacrifice for it. This is your homeland. You love it, you fear for its future, you want what’s best for it, and you’ve already proven you’ll sacrifice for its wellbeing. When, not if, the worst comes to pass, I wouldn’t be able to count on them, but I can count on you.”

Dana blushed. “Thank you.”

“Now be a dear and duck. Lootmore’s cat is back.”

Dana dropped to her knees as Jump Scare made another attempt on her life. Jayden caught the hissing ball of rage as it went for her face, but this time he threw it in the water. The cat yowled and splashed to shore before heading into the camp.

“Sorry,” Lootmore called out.

“Get the cat under control or you are going to lose it!” Jayden yelled back.