“Well, well, well,” said Captain Alden as Friedrich disembarked the Brass Stormer in Akatfall Bay. “Isn’t this a stroke of good fortune, my friend. We’re departing for Kai’roh in a day’s time.”

  Friedrich extended a hand in greeting. “Captain,” he said. “I trust things have been going well for you and the crew?”

  “Whatever,” said Alden dismissively and then looking to the ship. “Tell me about that contraption. Where in the hells did you find that?”

  “Why?” asked Friedrich. “Do you want it?”

  Alden laughed.

  “I’m serious,” said Friedrich, deadpan.

  The captain raised an eyebrow. “What sort of game are you playing, Friedrich?”

  “We may or may not have done something that will get us in serious trouble should we be found and that ship makes it easier to identify us. Sadly, we need to be rid of it. You can do whatever you want with it. Use it, sell it, sink it. Just know that it requires lightning magic to power it.”

  “Truly, you’re not pulling my leg?”

  “Truly,” said Marina hopping onto the pier with a grin. She was relieved to finally be back on land. “It’s yours if you want it. I can speak to someone from the Mages Guild and maybe they can provide you with either a mage or something electrically charged enough to power the boat.”

  “Consider it a thank you for transporting us wherever we needed to go,” said Friedrich.

  “Well…alright,” said Alden. “I appreciate it, my friends. We’ll take good care of…what’s her name?”

  “The Brass Stormer,” said Friedrich proudly.

  “And a fine name she has!” chuckled Alden.

  Once everyone has disembarked, they said farewell to Captain Alden and walked through the archway and up the hill, leading back into the streets of Akatfall. Most of the group had a single destination in mind and it sat above the city on the hillside; Akatfall Castle, where they would find Lord Buckstone. Marina, however, was heading to the Mages Guild to speak to her old tutor, Hansel the Striker.

  The streets of Akatfall were completely unchanged with the same clumps of moss hanging to the buildings, the cobblestones kept largely clean, and even the people seemed familiar without Friedrich knowing their faces. It was comforting to be back here, especially with no threat from the Butcher of the Bay. This city felt like a home away from home and it pained him that he could not stay here risk-free. Should the True King Believers or the guards of Orion Tower come here, he would be at risk; his father would be at risk. He could not allow that to happen and knew his time in Akatfall would be short-lived.

  *

  Marina walked into the Mages Guild. She looked scraggly from weeks on the water with the rather brief stop at Orion Island being her only time on land, but her face was a picture of youthful energy as she looked around the rounded hall that she missed so dearly. She took a deep breath and smelled the magic in the air. It smelled like incense and old books, which were of course littered throughout the room.

  She stepped forward and spun around, taking it all in. She received a few odd looks from the mages, but she did not care. She was happy to be here and wanted to enjoy the brief pitstop. As she let out a satisfied exhalation, she spied a Mercian with shoulder-length brown hair and a thin moustache. He stood up, smiling, and walked over to her with his shimmering purple robes flowing behind him.

  “Welcome back, Marina,” said Hansel the Striker, his genuine gladness for seeing her evident in his warm eyes.

  “Thank you, Hansel,” replied Marina with a small bow of her head. “It is good to see you. You haven’t changed much.”

  “You have. You look more mature; more experienced. Is that a new staff?”

  Marina proudly held her dragon bone staff out. “A new staff with my favourite crystal.”

  Hansel sniffed the air. “Dragon bone?” he asked in surprise. “I know the scent of it anywhere.”

  “You can smell it?” asked Marina, astonished.

  The mage burst into laughter. “Dragon bones, phoenix feathers. I can pick up on these little hints three times out of five.” Hansel leaned on his own ashen staff. “So tell me, Marina, how has your magic come along?”

  “I’ll show you,” she said brightly, holding out her staff. She twirled it around and the amethyst glowed brightly as dust swirled. A flash of lightning and the dust was bound to the glowing and crackling form of Shockwave.

  “Elemental summoning,” said Hansel nodding proudly. “His form is stable and strong; very impressive.”

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  “Thank you, Hansel. It pleases me greatly to hear that. I only regret that I cannot stay in Akatfall and continue studying under you.”

  Hansel whipped his staff forward and hurled lightning at Marina. She caught it in her hand and closed her fingers, dissipating it with ease.

  “Excellent,” said Hansel and beckoning her to follow him. “You have clearly been studying. Come with me, I have a tome that may be of interest to you.”

  *

  Friedrich and Lord Gaerfyrd marched up the long stairs leading to the doors of Akatfall Castle while Teleri and Pheston sat at the bottom of the staircase, looking out over the city. As the father and son approached the doors, the guards looked confused at the armoured young man and the rather dishevelled man with him.

  “Do you have an audience with Lord Buckstone?” asked one of the guards.

  “No,” said Friedrich, “but he will want to see me. I was the one who killed the Butcher of the Bay last year.”

  The guards looked at Friedrich more closely, looking him up and down, and then did a doubletake. “By Jorren!” cried one. “It is you. My, how you’ve grown, Master Friedrich. Come on in and I will escort you to Lord Buckstone’s study. That is usually where he is.”

  “Thank you,” said Friedrich with a brief nod of his head.

  The guard led him and his father through the castle that Friedrich remembered well. Although he had not wandered all the halls, he was familiar with the route the guard had taken him, for he had roamed them during the ball during his hunt for the Butcher of the Bay and even leapt from one of the windows into the courtyard. It was not much longer than a year ago, but it felt as though it had been several years. While everything looked the same, it felt different to him; perhaps it was he who was different.

  When they arrived at the lord’s door, the guard knocked. “Excuse me, Lord Buckstone.”

  “Yes?” came the lord’s voice.

  “You have a guest.”

  “Who?” asked the lord.

  “Master Friedrich Gaerfyrd,” said Friedrich and he could have sworn he heard a small gasp.

  “Come in, come in,” said Lord Buckstone.

  The guard led Friedrich and his father inside, gave Lord Buckstone—who was sitting at his desk—a firm salute, and then departed to return to his post. Lord Buckstone’s face upon seeing Lord Gaerfyrd was a mask of hidden disbelief. As the mask cracked, he burst out into laughter.

  “Siegfried, Siegfried, Siegfried,” he said merrily. “I am shocked to see you here alive and well, but it fills me with great joy.”

  “It’s good to see you too, Bucky,” said Lord Gaerfyrd, approaching his friend and clasping his hand. “It has been too long.”

  “Indeed,” said Lord Buckstone, turning to Friedrich. “My, how you’ve grown, my boy. I suppose this confirms what I suspected about your parentage all along, young man.”

  “I appreciate you not saying anything, Lord Buckstone,” said Friedrich, approaching him. “A lot has happened since we last spoke.”

  “As of five days ago, I am very much aware of what occurred on Orion Island,” said Lord Buckstone, gesturing for the two to sit before him. “Several of their mages and guards will be in the city in a couple of days. No doubt, they will pay me a visit and ask if I’ve heard anything about your escape.”

  “I know you have no authority over them, Bucky,” said Siegfried, “but we’ve come to ask you a favour.”

  “And I will see it done,” said Lord Buckstone firmly. “Your executions are scheduled for tomorrow, your bodies will be burned, and records of your death will be written up. I have no doubt that King Godfrey will sign off on this, leaving the Orion Tower mages at a dead end when they come a’knocking.”

  Friedrich was astonished Lord Buckstone was so obliging. He had expected to have to bring up his dealing of the Butcher to convince him to help, but here he was, perfectly content.

  “Thank you,” said the young man, not knowing what else there was for it. “You do not know how much we appreciate this.”

  “It is no mean feat to free someone from Orion Tower without being the one to put them there,” said Lord Buckstone with a wink. “I suspect you would be very capable of laying waste to this entire castle should I anger you, Friedrich.”

  “You’re a good man, Bucky,” said Lord Gaerfyrd. “Now there’s the question of where to disappear to.”

  “Might I suggest somewhere in Mercia that even King Godfrey had trouble keeping under control, so he turned to a source he speaks of only with great sourness?”

  Lord Gaerfyrd let out a grim chuckle. “Abnar’s Watch,” he said, shaking his head. “I should have thought of it myself.”

  *

  Teleri and Pheston stood at the bottom of the steps with Akatfall stretching out before them. They could see the everything going on in the city from the people fishing by the bay, the bustling markets in the town square, and the merchants loading their ships up with wares in the docks. It felt like everyone was a small cog in the grand machine of the city and they were all doing their parts.

  “It’s a lovely city, ain’t it?” asked Pheston, puffing out his chest. “It doesn’t have the charm of Lundstad, of course, but not bad for a Mercian place.”

  “It is pleasant,” said Teleri.

  “Alright, Goldie. Out with it. What’s gotten you down?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Nothing? You’ve been a bucket of misery since we departed Orion Island. You give brief answers, you barely look at any of us, and even your appetite isn’t what it once was. Were you not already an elf, you’d be skin and bones!”

  Teleri furrowed her brow. “I am fine.”

  Pheston looked at her pointedly and then shook his head. “Things have to change,” he said. “They always do. The last time you were like this was when I joined your beloved Lightning Foxes and disrupted what you’d grown accustomed to.”

  Teleri sighed. She supposed she would have to say something. “I am afraid of the future,” she said.

  Pheston expected her to continue, but she said nothing else. “That’s it?” he asked in exasperation. “You’ve got to give a little more than that, lass. We’re friends now, after all. You ask me to fix those two braids of yours and I’ll do it…badly. In return, you have the freedom to unload your woes to a friendly ear who will not mock you.”

  “Alright,” said Teleri glumly. “I do not want our group to fall apart. I care deeply for all of you, despite you all possessing qualities I find annoying. With Friedrich reunited with his father, I do not know if there is still a place for me in this—for lack of a better word—family.”

  “You think Friedrich would kick you into the streets?” asked a baffled Pheston. “The lad loves you to pieces.”

  “He does?” asked Teleri, her eyes widening.

  “Oh aye,” chuckled Pheston. “He cares about every single one of us and would never stab us in the back for any sum of kupons. If you stick by him, he’ll stick by you.”

  Teleri smiled. “I am being a fool.”

  “Utterly, yes. You don’t need to worry about a thing, Goldie. Once Friedrich finds somewhere safe to hide, things will settle down and you’ll feel right as rain, eh? Hell, that’s why we’re at this bloody castle, right?”

  “You are right,” said Teleri, sounding more upbeat. “I should not fret needlessly. Wherever our boots land, we will adapt to whatever challenges are thrown our way.”

  The Alaurian and the Northman turned back to the city and watched over it as they awaited Friedrich’s return. Teleri remained apprehensive about what was to come, but she was assured that she would not be abandoned. Not by this family.