I holstered my pistol but left my hand resting atop it as I started toward the militia. “Can I help you folks?”

  The group came to a sudden halt. After saying something to the others I couldn’t quite hear from where I stood, the man in the middle stepped forward.

  I had just enough time to notice his peppered white hair marked him as conspicuously older than the others before he took a knee. “As the former mayor of Fiddler’s Green, I present myself to you, my Lord.”

  I shot a sudden glance at Cailleach, who’d followed a few steps behind. Her face was largely unreadable as she regarded me cooly.

  Caught off-guard, I cleared my throat before addressing the man. “Excuse me?”

  “Baron Kharkan, the commander you killed, seldom passed up the opportunity to remind us that his cousin, the great and august King Kharkan, granted him exclusive title to the new Barony of Fiddler’s Green. As established by Kharkan law, that would make the title now yours, by Right of Conquest.”

  I blinked. King. Cousin. Fuck. After a slow, deep breath, I tilted my head to the elf at my side. “You know what the problem with doing a good job is, Cailleach?”

  Her eyes twinkled. “The reward is so frequently more job?”

  “Fucking exactly. Goddamnit.” I turned my attention back to the kneeling man. “Look— ah, please, stand.”

  I offered my hand and took advantage of the moment when I helped him up to shake his hand. “It seems we’ve started off on the wrong foot. I’m Samuel Byrne, pleasure to meet you.”

  “Albert. Albert Adermann.” The uncertainty in the old man’s eyes marked him as wary, but the clarity of both tone and the way he looked at me spoke of growing confidence. Or at least receding fear.

  “Well, Albert, as incredible as it sounds, none of this—” I gestured to the smoldering remains of the garrison’s gatehouse behind us. “—was part of the plan. As the mayor, I’m sure you can understand being a little reluctant to make promises, especially big promises, when you get put on the spot.”

  Albert conceded the point with a slow, knowing nod and then studied my face for several long moments. “Are you not part of the Syr vanguard, then? Your declaration to the Baron left that impression.”

  I breathed in between my teeth, hunting for an answer that wasn’t a lie and didn’t over-promise. “We’re well-acquainted. You could say I’m here on related business.”

  The man broke into a wide smile. “Ah, you and your band are mercenaries, then?”

  When life gives you a hand up. “Not quite, but close enough.”

  “Reminds me of many fond days when I was younger.” His eyes fell to the rifle dangling off my chest. “Given how easily you brushed so many aside, your services must cost a king’s ransom, but the price is irrelevant, I suppose. It’s not like the Green can afford to pay. We’ll have to see what the Syr intend to do with us.”

  Sensing a possible opportunity, I decided to probe further. “Out of curiosity, what would you hire us to do?”

  The mayor’s gaze fell to the ground a moment before returning to meet mine. “Well, Mr. Byrne, in normal days, keeping the peace at the Green was quite easy. Everyone here simply wants to be left alone, and have always, largely, just wanted to be left alone.”

  I nodded. “I can appreciate that. Most of my countrymen tend to feel much the same. We’ve fought wars to that end.”

  “If we had the coin, that’s what I’d hire you to do. Convince everyone to simply leave us alone. None of us asked for this. First the iron, and now the coal—”

  I cocked my head to the side. “Excuse me, did you just say coal?”

  I had to remind myself that the words everyone used were translated by the goddess’ magic.

  Albert nodded furiously. “Aye, that’s what the Captain called it anyway. Now we’re well and truly stuck, like a chew toy between two dogs. I sold my sword arm for most of my youth, Samuel. I have no illusions. I suppose I should thank you for at least allowing me this before the Syr put the Green to the torch.”

  Knowing I was about to tread on shaky ground, I held up both hands. “Woah there. At least as far as I’m aware, that kind of decision hasn’t been made yet. Like I said, this wasn’t the plan.”

  Albert eyed me skeptically as I motioned to Millwall and waved him over. “I won’t hold out hope, Samuel. There’s every reason to do just that and not a one to let us live. The Syr had plenty of opportunity to retake the Green before today. Their timing now cannot be coincidental.”

  “You needed something, friend?” Millwall asked as he neared.

  I introduced him to Albert and then asked him, “Earlier, you said you’d need a lot of wood to make steel. What about coal?”

  Millwall coolly regarded both of us. “Why do you ask?”

  “What if I told you there was a coal deposit to go with the magnetite?”

  Millwall grimaced. “Then I’d tell you Kharkan dogs can’t be trusted closer than the reach of their claws, and with both deposits their claws would be long indeed. Even without the secrets of my order.”

  “Oi,” Tomas called out, joining us at a trot with my shotgun slung over his shoulder. “I got all the shells. Counted thrice to make sure.”

  Well, that’s interesting. Standing next to each other, the familial resemblance between Tomas and Albert was undeniable, obvious even.

  “Thanks, Tomas. I tell you what, Albert, if you’re willing to work with me, I’ll try to give them a reason to leave the Green in one piece, but I’ve got a question first. Did you grow up here?”

  Albert eyed me a moment before glancing at Tomas. The old man’s mouth went slack.

  Tomas raised an eyebrow at the old man and looked to me. “That didn’t seem like a hard question to me. Is he daft?”

  “Patience, Tomas. Albert?”

  Albert looked like he’d seen a ghost when he turned his face to me. “Yes. My father came here with his brother, my uncle, as soldiers when they were young. It wasn’t long before the Winnowing.”

  “And your uncle died alongside the Syr?”

  Tomas turned to Albert as the man nodded. “Wait, are you saying we’re—”

  “Cousins?” I interjected. “It’s pretty obvious you’re related to me.”

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Aye,” Millwall added.

  “But how? Father never said—” Albert suddenly stopped. It was obvious, at least to me, that his experience as a young mercenary had just made the how quite evident.

  Tomas looked to me. “You know, the resemblance is rather uncanny, isn’t it? Am I going to look like that when I’m old and frail?”

  “With a mouth like yours, I suspect you’ll be lucky to age half that far, Tomas,” Cailleach noted offhand.

  Tomas flashed a toothy grin. “Fair. I do have a certain knack, don’t I?”

  Cailleach merely pursed her lips and nodded slowly in reply.

  “So, Albert,” I said, thankful that Tomas had clearly not been speaking the local language the entire time. “That’s one reason the Syr should leave the Green be. It may have been a while ago by your reckoning, but your people have already shed their own blood to defend the Syr. As much as I’d like to think that alone would be enough— well, you’ve done the job, you know how it goes. So, if push came to absolute shove, how many militia do you think you could muster to aid the Syr in defending the Green?”

  Albert’s eyes narrowed in thought for several long moments. “On what kind of notice? None of us are cowards, mind you, but none of us wear the colors anymore, either.”

  Honestly, it was a stupid question. I’d asked it spur of the moment, hoping he’d see it as a chance to sell their potential strength as a bargaining chip. It wasn’t until the words had left my lips that I realized any sane, intelligent commander would see it as a potential enemy asking for accurate troop numbers. I motioned for him to continue his thought, knowing that the answer would certainly be a lie.

  “There’s no love lost between us and the Kharkans, if you couldn’t tell,” he added a few moments later. “But in defense of the Green itself? With an hour’s notice, I could get at least forty. Not well-equipped or trained, most of them, but they’d put their boots on anyway. A full day, maybe two, and I could triple that. There are a lot of families out in the hills who would probably answer the call. Most, the colors run in their blood, not on the field.”

  I nodded and posed one more question. “And if we could get them well-equipped, well-trained? Do you think you’d get more?”

  Albert shrugged. “Only the Fiddler could guess without knowing more, Samuel. It certainly wouldn’t hurt.”

  I shrugged. “That’s fair. Oh, one last thing comes to mind. Do you have any idea who all these spear types are?”

  “I’ve been wondering that the whole time we’ve been talking. No noble in Kharkan claims the black and gold. The King’s personal guard, deep purple and gold, is the closest match, but they’re certainly not equipped like this. Also, the guard’s armor bears the royal crest while these clearly don’t.”

  I frowned. “This will most certainly come back and bite me in the ass, I’m sure.” Albert nodded knowingly as I continued. “Well, it’ll probably be a few days before I have any sort of real answer for you. I’m not sure what to tell you about the bodies other than I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t worry,” Albert noted. “You clearly don’t have the people. This won’t be my first battlefield clean-up. We’ll stow them someplace the wolves won’t get at them for a day or two, then burn them. I’ll make sure no inquisitive hands walk off with too much before you can collect the equipment.”

  I turned around and nearly bumped directly into Aine, who held out a small sack filled to the brim with pistol and rifle brass, grinning nearly ear to ear. “Got them all!”

  I quickly replayed the last few minutes in my head, mentally trying to recount my shots. “Are you sure? There should be something like—”

  “Forty-three of the big ones and thirteen of the little ones, I know. They weren’t all easy to find. Oh, and I think you called this a magazine? You dropped it.”

  “Uhm, thanks, Aine.” I ejected my rifle’s magazine and started to count the remainders to make sure she had found them all.

  ***

  The view from the skyway as dawn approached was arguably just as beautiful as the sunset, but as tired as I was, I almost didn’t care. Thankfully, Aine merely grumbled in her sleep instead of pulling a knife or offering a helping hand when I slipped out from under her arm. Moving away from the group, I noted Tomas was nowhere to be seen, which worried me. He’d made it known after the trip to the iron deposit that he wasn’t used to combat and had been curiously subdued once we returned to camp after tonight’s introduction to just how bloody modern warfare could get.

  A decent walk away toward the Glade and I suddenly caught quiet intermittent notes between the wind picking up. A few steps later I could tell whatever he was trying to play was not meant for a lute. A little closer and the wind let up long enough for a few words to reach my ears. I froze because he had no right to know the song he was singing. The chorus he was starting belonged to a song Jenna had me listen to not long after we left Illinois.

  I'm a good pretender

  I'm not really cool

  I'm a good pretender

  'Cause I'm just like you

  I do not belong here

  You all clearly do

  I heard him set the lute down and blow his nose, so when I stepped around the intervening tree trunk between us, I expected him to be red faced.

  When he looked up at me, all I saw was surrender. “Sorry, I was just trying to play something that fit my mood. I have no idea where that came from. I don't even know what the words mean.”

  “Want to talk?” I triggered Object Query as I sat down next to him.

  Pandora’s Box – This character has been exposed to the space between worlds while unshielded. Gain the following trait:

  MTV – Once per day, the character may attempt to play any song that reached any Billboard chart for a theme-appropriate effect. Effect power scales with reproduction fidelity and appropriateness of the selection. Each successful use of this skill reduces the likelihood of subsequent success. DM discretion is advised in allowing the use of this skill.

  Just like the real MTV, eventually the music dies.

  “What am I supposed to say?” Tomas asked quietly.

  “What’s on your mind, mostly,” I answered. “You did well tonight, Tomas. Can’t speak for any of the others, but I don’t expect you to be okay with it.”

  “Of course I’m okay with it.”

  “Tomas, killing people isn’t supposed to be easy.” I let that hang in the quiet morning air for several heartbeats before adding, “Not at first.”

  Tomas’s eyes were glued to the horizon when I glanced over.

  He quietly noted, “I’ve killed people before, you know.”

  “I bet every one before today did something that made the decision easy. This time? Probably not the same.”

  Tomas slowly shook his head before somberly agreeing. “No, I guess not.”

  I nodded. Angry chirping brought my eyes skyward where a hawk of some flavor had drawn the ire of several smaller birds.

  “You know, Sam, Rowan would’ve told me to stop crying and toughen up.”

  A long breath later, I responded. “Maybe. Maybe not. You’re both in similar positions, you know.”

  Dripping with disbelief, Tomas asked, “How do you figure?”

  “You’re both doing your best, trying to not fuck up and get people you care for killed, and neither of you can admit you’re not nearly as prepared for it all as you want to be.”

  The bard frowned, started to try to say something, and ended up looking away with a grunt. “She’s got an awfully odd way of expressing how she cares, but— I guess it’s not that easy, is it? For any of us.”

  “Would be nice if life was all barmaids with low standards, wouldn’t it?”

  Tomas broke into a grin. “Wouldn’t it though? I could go for something like that right about now.”

  I looked back out over the forest before us and the crater rim further out. “Also, I’m sorry.”

  The grin faded, partially replaced with wary curiosity. “About?”

  “You how magic gets twisted around me?”

  Tomas’s grin returned. “That flame strike turning to frost was fucking amazing.”

  “It was, wasn’t it?” I couldn’t help but grin, too. At least for a few seconds. “What changed me to make that possible touched you, too.”

  Tomas looked down at himself, at his hands and arms, and then leveled a confused stare at me. “What do you mean? When? I don’t feel any different.”

  “When you were walking toward us and the night opened up. I doubt you’ll feel any different. I don’t, compared to before. For me, magic changes, but for you, it’s music.”

  Understanding dawned on Tomas’s face. “Wait, you’re saying that’s where that song came from?”

  “That song came from my world, Tomas. There’s no way you could’ve heard it before.”

  “That’s great. Just great.”

  ***

  We set out not long after, leaving Fiddler’s Green and no shortage of bodies long behind us. Unlike the trip there, every step of our return seemed to drag at me. Admittedly, it’s not like I slept much after we got back to the skybridge. In fact, if someone took a stab at guessing the reason, it’d be entirely reasonable to suspect anticipation buoyed me on the way there and, now that we were on the far side of the conflict, I was decompressing. Thing is, while both of those reasons were certainly true, they weren’t the source of my gradually increasing dread.

  It wasn’t Rowan I didn’t want to see, it was Aoibheann.

  When I caught sight of the keep off in the distance, I glanced over at Jenna and triggered Object Query one more time, praying that I’d misunderstood what I’d seen after my talk with Tomas.

  Pandora’s Box – This character has survived crossing between worlds unshielded. Gain the following traits:

  Principia Mathemagica — Chaos is Order on an incomprehensible scale glimpsed only in moments of brilliance. Work on this magnum opus allows the creator the ability to interact with the Weave directly.

  A Beautiful Mind — Sometimes brilliance comes at a cost.

  Geneva Checklist — This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.