“We were so close,” spat Cryppe. They turned into Asheevi’s halls through large doors watched by her sellswords. They let him and Sigvali in when they saw the Vrodian. “So close.”

  “It will be fine,” said Sigvali.

  “Kasar’s not recovered.”

  “Neither would they be.”

  Asheevi sat before them on a table, eating a meal of cooked fish and tomatoes. Cryppe’s mouth watered.

  Outside a battle had begun by the sounds of it. “Great,” he scoffed.

  “Might be the freedom fighters,” said Sigvali.

  “More blood.”

  “Always is.” A blood forger would know, more than most.

  “Asheevi,” said Cryppe. “I have come with Sigvali.”

  She smiled when she laid eyes on the Vrodian. “And where have you been this entire time?”

  “Shaenik,” said Sigvali.

  “Oh, that man. Though I hear nowadays he’s down a few homes up north.”

  “Had a run in with the Devil.” Sigvali smiled dryly.

  “That man has always been a wild card,” said Asheevi.

  “Not Vorza,” said Cryppe.

  “Grimblade?” she asked.

  “Sure.”

  “I knew Devils always proved their worth. Some say they value honor. But all I see is the fires they leave in their wake.”

  “To melt the chains, Asheevi,” said Sigvali. “The chains you’ll have me in too at some point.”

  “And better to be in my chains, no?” she said with a smile.

  “I suppose.”

  Cryppe pushed him forward.

  “Tell me the details,” said Asheevi.

  “Why should I?” asked Cryppe.

  “I taught Grim a lesson when he talked back to me with such a tone. Must I teach you?”

  Sigvali shot Cryppe look.

  Cryppe sighed. “Kasar freed the slaves Shaenik had. Ostrik and his crew burned his manor down. The slaves formed a little army and burned down other properties. All hell broke loose with the sudden power vacuum.”

  “That battle outside I reckon is the finishing stroke to this bloody mural,” said Asheevi.

  “More or less.”

  “Where are Grim and Vorza?” she asked. “Did they not make it?”

  “We got attacked by Ostrik and his crew.”

  “Ah, I see. Understandable. So the devils are in that fight?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well I should give them my aid.”

  Cryppe looked shocked.

  “You all served me so well. I would be cruel to not reward it with some gifts of my own. Let blood be paid with blood.”

  “You just want to capitalize on the power vacuum,” said Sigvali. “Sending your men there at the tail end of it all to take hold.”

  “In the process,” she said, an icy gaze drilling into Sigvali. “I will save Grim and Vorza from the fray.”

  Sigvali grunted.

  “And our rewards?”

  “Your voyages, yes. We will bring the devils here and get that started.”

  Cryppe sighed in relief. Now for the hardest part. Waiting for Kasar to come back and staying behind to help Sigvali. Lies and plots till the very end. When could Cryppe just be justice like he wanted?

  When indeed? Spoke the blade inside his head.

  You have been quiet, Cryppe thought back.

  I have been observing.

  And?

  No response. Sometimes, Cryppe wished whoever made the consciousness inside gave it a bit more character. It felt so lonely sometimes, and the sword somehow made it lonelier still with its drab presence.

  You make me feel insane sometimes, thought Cryppe. Again, no response.

  When Asheevi gave the orders to her men to march over there and retrieve Kasar and Vorza, Cryppe felt a bit of his burden lifted. Even Sigvali slumped his shoulders as if he’d been carrying something himself.

  “That young man is going to be the death of many greats,” said Asheevi, seemingly lost in her own thoughts. She gazed out her window from which smoke rose where the battle had raged. “Devils always are. They love their virtues and violence done for it.”

  Sigvali nodded, understanding, and agreeing.

  “What about you?” asked Asheevi. “Blade of Justice, I hear.”

  “Nothing much about me,” said Cryppe. Or my sword, either. “I must go now. I did my task, and I will rest until my ship comes to carry me.” he gave Sigvali one final look before leaving.

  ***

  “So my bloody friend,” said Asheevi after Cryppe left. “What have you decided about my offer?”

  Sigvali had seated himself on a chair. He noted how it stood shorter than Asheevi’s. Little things like that added up for her ego and power. He had to crane his neck up enough to look at her. It hurt his old frame.

  “Not much of an offer. Just an ultimatum.”

  “Please, let’s not get carried away with semantics. A war has raged over your skills.”

  “Hardly over mine. More due to the lad’s.”

  “You witnessed him? What is he like.”

  “You’ve seen him, haven’t you?’

  “No, I mean what is he like on the field? Have you seen him fight?”

  “Not really to be honest. I’ve just skirted around what violence I could. I have seen Ostrik and his crew. They survived an armada at that manor. No idea how they survived, but they did.”

  “Ah yes, Ostrik and his crew. The losers of our little game.”

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  “Sore ones at that by the looks of it.”

  “Hm, powerful folk usually are.”

  You would know, thought Sigvali.

  Asheevi couldn’t lose. If she did, it was actually a win, and she’d make sure everyone knew. Shaenik was like that too. But where was he now?

  “I wonder in a week how this city will look. I always loved the northern estates. So much space as opposed to my cramped part of town. With all its nooks and crannies.”

  “Blades in the dark,” chuckled Sigvali. “Didn’t think you’d be scared of them.”

  “Aren’t we all? But I digress. What have you decided?”

  “I’ll work for you,” said Sigvali.

  Asheevi didn’t act astonished, but she did show how pleased she was with a knowing smile and a squint of her eyes.

  “Let my countrymen go unscathed.”

  “After you are done, of course.”

  “Aye, of course. Show me my workshop, and give me the tools I need.”

  “Make a list, and you’ll have it.”

  Sigvali grunted. Now to relay the gritty details of Cryppe’s robbery to him. And to show Asheevi the importance of his blood stone.

  “Once the Devils are gone, and I find some fitting resolution for Ostrik and his crew, all I will need is your work, my good man. Then we can start what I’ve always dreamed of.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I think you know.”

  “Same old then.”

  Conquest over the Gilded Isles, commercial or otherwise.

  ***

  Cryppe watched the aftermath of the battle. So much blood on the hills and the cobbled start to Asheevi’s part of town. The countless dead, still counting even as Asheevi’s thugs butchered any enemies that still lived. That’s when he spotted Vorza lying next to Kasar’s body.

  “No!” he cried. He dashed over and nearly slipped with the crimson mess about the two. “Is he dead?”

  Vorza shook his head, but Cryppe could tell the young man was dying.

  “Hold him down,” said Cryppe.

  Vorza blinked the tears away and looked at Cryppe with pleading eyes. Cryppe knew what he feared. Green would break him. This was too much. His face was a mess of welts, cuts, bruises, and swollen tissue. All the wounds he’d gathered in the last few days added up to a young man tied together through spite, grit, and stubbornness. Now he would die or Cryppe would break his mind to save his body.

  “He’s gone through too much already,” said Vorza. “I don’t want this life for him. I should let him die.”

  “Vorza,” said Cryppe. He didn’t dare use any Blue on the old man to convince his mind. Not because he would sense it, but because it was wrong. “What would Kasar want?”

  “To be healed.”

  “And so I will.”

  “Just stabilize him, Cryppe. Don’t bring him back to his feet. He’ll just get right into the fight again. Let him rest and mend naturally.”

  “His face, Vorza.”

  “Cryppe, some wounds shouldn’t be given Green.”

  Cryppe knew that well. He’d seen how amputees were when limbs regrew. He knew Rend himself would never see that hand again. If he did, Rend’s own mind would give in. Not to mention, only a select few had the skill and Soul source to go about growing limbs.

  “Just keep him alive,” said Vorza. “Get him on that ship, and keep him safe there in the west.”

  “About that,” said Cryppe. He began tending to Kasar as he spoke. Just little streams of Green to staunch the blood flow. “I’m staying with Sigvali.”

  “Why?”

  “I have a plan.”

  Vorza gulped and looked down at Kasar. He wiped his tears away and cleared his throat. “It would be best if he didn’t know.”

  “Exactly. I plan to stay. He should go.”

  “And I should too.”

  “He will hate us for this.”

  “Oh, yes, I know.”

  “Can leave him a note. Maybe someone else could read it for him.”

  “The poor lad will be alone sailing west. Least we could do is give him a chance to hear why.”

  “I will write about it. First, we get him back to Asheevi. Sigvali’s with her. We have our ships out of here.”

  Vorza rested his hand on Kasar’s head. “I’m sorry you will awaken on a ship alone, my lad.”

  Cryppe knew the betrayal, the loneliness, and the confusion Kasar would feel when he woke up halfway to Mahar.

  “Maybe he can come north with you?”

  “I am retiring. He would have to venture into Vrodia alone. Or take me along with him. He has his path and it is much safer in the mainland if he is to be alone.”

  Cryppe didn’t know why, but he got the feeling Vorza felt safer and healthier if he knew Kasar was safe, but away. He wanted to rest, and Kasar’s life was not to be one of such breaks. Cryppe wished sorely he could go. He had a duty here. Unfinished business. Ostrik would most likely come for him. Perhaps when they hunted him down, he could finish them off so they would not be able to go after Kasar or Vorza.

  Yes, this was the only way.

  “Let’s get him back. He will live.”

  And the madman will hunt the devil, the sword spoke in Cryppe’s mind. You do not send the boy with the old man so as to protect the older devil. The boy will attract the madman like a moth to a light.

  You understand much, thought Cryppe.

  Justice is blind, but not deaf.

  ***

  Kasar was in bed rest, given minimal Green to keep him stable. Vorza took his rest beside him as well. Cryppe sat guard at night over the two inside the infirmary. He wouldn’t be surprised if Dumai, Shaenik’s men, or Kasulta snuck in to kill them. Asheevi would only go so far to keep them alive.

  Their ships would arrive in three days. Three more days. That’s all they had to survive and then Cryppe could get started with his plan. Snatch the stone, beat Sigvali for believability, and survive alone in the wild until Ostrik and Kasulta came to him. He knew who Asheevi would hire, afterall. Rend would also be there, but Cryppe wondered what he would do.

  If Cryppe survived this, he would find Kasar in the mainlands. He wrote that into his note Kasar would awaken to.

  ***

  No harm came to the infirmary. Ostrik and his crew must have been in rougher shape than he thought.

  Rumor had it that Shaenik was rebuilding somewhere to take hostile action against Asheevi’s takeover. Others said that the warband had freed enough slaves to be considered as a viable faction of power on the Gilded Isles. Legends of Grimblade and his host of warriors spread as the young man slept and healed.

  Cryppe wondered what they would say about him and how far his word would travel. He knew Kasar had yet to fully process his bloodbath at the slaver compound. He never resolved his perceived betrayal with Rhea who now marauded around the city shattering thugs wherever she could. They didn’t know what had happened to her or what her plans were. Maybe Cryppe could join their ranks once he stole the stone.

  The stress of his coming challenge began to wear on Cryppe, but the waiting was the worst of all.

  ***

  The ships came, and Cryppe held back tears. To leave without even a goodbye. Vorza and Cryppe watched as the sailors carried Kasar onboard. Asheevi had given orders about the nature of his voyage and how he was to be treated as well as royalty for his services.

  Cryppe caved and told Vorza to follow.

  “Hold on,” said a sailor. “You are on too?”

  “No,” said Cryppe. “Just wanted to say goodbye to my friend before the ship parts.”

  “Make it quick, we’re on a schedule.”

  “What are you doing?” asked Vorza.

  “Risking a little.”

  Vorza didn’t complain.

  Cryppe and Vorza hovered over Kasar. Cryppe set his hand over his friend and channeled enough Green to heal some more of his battered face. Enough for him to feel it and awaken. Not enough for him to walk or change the plans.

  “Ah!” he screamed, his hand jutting out of his sling. Vorza caught him and held him down.

  “Lad!” he cried. “Calm it!”

  “Vorza? Vorza it hurts. My face… Oh fates.”

  “Kasar,” said Cryppe. “We did it.”

  “We did?” he asked.

  “Yes, lad,” said Vorza, tears pooling in his eyes.

  “This is it then,” said Kasar. “Goodbye?” he saw the rigging above him. He knew they were on a ship.

  “Just you and me then, eh Cryppe?” he asked the question with a hint of worry in his voice. “Cryppe?”

  “I’m staying. There’s some things I have to do here.”

  “No, wait,” said Kasar.

  Vorza embraced Kasar. “Lad, this is goodbye. Just let it be. Let him do this.”

  “But what?” asked Kasar. “What’s the plan?”

  Cryppe placed a note into Kasar’s hand. “Have someone read it for you.”

  “Cryppe, don’t do this alone.”

  “Kasar, it’s my choice. I will meet you in the west.” And for the first time, Cryppe lied. “I promise.”

  “Where? When?”

  “I will find you.”

  Vorza placed his hands around Kasar’s battered face. “Listen lad. Have your fill of the world. Learn, train, and educate yourself. Then meet me someday in the north, huh?”

  “I will.”

  “I know. I love you, my boy.”

  “Love you too, Vorza.” Kasar cried as he hugged his father.

  Cryppe left before Kasar could protest more.

  He heard his name called out, but he had the note. He might never see his friend again. The closer he got to his mission at hand, the more he realized he wouldn’t survive this. Behind him, Vorza left as well, wiping his tears and struggling to breathe.

  Their eyes connected and Vorza gave Cryppe a respectful nod. He knew as well what kind of end Cryppe had in store. The imperative thing would be how much harm could Cryppe do to his enemies before he died.

  Kasar’s ship sailed off. So did Vorza’s, soon after.

  Cryppe waved to the ship as it vanished away.