A week after the ogre’s ambush, we were no closer to figuring out who had betrayed our unit and why. Even Mira couldn’t find out who it was, and she was sneaky in ways I didn’t even know of at the time. What would motivate someone in Stonekeep to try to kill us? Money? Bran and Elle thought that there was something supernaturally sinister somewhere close by and that they had detected the markings God sealed them with. Maybe that was it. Anything was better that than having someone know I was a Mordonian sorcerer. Mothers told stories about Mordonians who would come to take away unruly children, never to be seen again.

  Aside from the time Juleen had been kidnapped, my whole family, Elle and Mira had all kept to doing very mundane things. Especially me. The death sentence for being a Mordonian sorcerer was a very real threat not only to the sorcerer, but also to his or her family. The king would not allow a rival to his throne, nor would the Executors permit a sorcerer to threaten their established order. I knew that if I wanted to live a long and happy life, I had to live without the use of any of the powers I had discovered I possessed. Granted, my abilities were pretty meager right then, but I had the feeling I could do more. I just didn’t know how to use them. The pain was a damned big deterrent, too.

  One day, our talon was patrolling the lush farms around Stonekeep’s outer walls when we saw someone coming. Up the dusty trail walked someone who, to my eye, was obviously a warrior even if she wasn’t wearing the arming sword she had on her hip. She had flaming red hair flowing with the breeze that framed by a fair face straight out of a dream. She had bright blue eyes and just a few freckles on her nose, but they were very cute. She was wearing a chainmail shirt over leather pants and had a light blue surcoat with a gauntleted grey fist emblem on it. Despite the businesslike attire, she was very attractive, and she held her head like she knew it. I turned back to my watch of the woods beyond the fields as she walked over to Sergeant Doornail, who was overseeing us as we watched for danger a short distance away.

  “Sergeant Doornail!” she said warmly. “What a nice day we have today, is it not?”

  “Yes, it certainly is, Relina. It’s Fiveday.” Sergeant Doornail said dryly. “I was wondering when you’d get around to trying to steal my recruits away.”

  “Oh, sergeant. You’re not still holding last year’s, um, incident, against me, are you?” Relina asked coyly.

  “No, absolutely not. Quite amusing it was, like you were trying to set a record or something. The other officers still tell stories of that night,” the sergeant stated. His easy smile disappeared. “My answer hasn’t changed, by the way.”

  “That’s too bad,” Relina pouted. “You were a legend that evening.” She paused for a dramatic effect, probably hoping the sergeant would make some comment that would continue the flirting, but his expression was blank.

  “I don’t think you’ll have much luck with my talon this time. The promising ones are way too talented to join the Grimguard,” Sergeant Doornail said bluntly. He must have been trying to change the subject. I wasn’t the only one who was straining to hear a tale from the youth of the legendary sergeant. All of us were very, very still so we could eavesdrop better.

  “Too much talent, you say? I’ve already heard of your talon’s run-in with that little war band of goblins. Tell me more.” Relina licked her lips.

  “I’m sure you’ve measured the fighting prowess of every man and woman here before your casual walk over here today, but I’ll play along. You see the two in plate over there closest to the farmers? Those are the youngest of the Smith brothers,” the sergeant said.

  I shared a glance with Bran, who crossed his arms and refused to look over. He heard.

  “The Smith brothers? From the family that decimated the drugged-up lunatics and their undead army without any help from the prince’s guard? Those Smith brothers?” Relina acted completely clueless, but she wasn’t really trying to fool anyone, I thought. She had the demeanor of a render that had the scent of her prey and had finally come within sight of it.

  “Yes, Relina. You knew all about their situation before you even came out here. The fact that you aren’t spinning your webs in the local taverns is confirmation enough. Only the juiciest morsels would tempt you from your tried-and-true methods, and only when those morsels don’t come to you.”

  “I guess you do know me too well,” Relina said, pouting. “They never come in for a drink. I’m just trying to recruit new talent for the Grimguard Mercenary Company, you know. I hope you don’t hold it against me.”

  “Of course not. You’ve got to earn a living, too,” the sergeant said. “But those boys have a good thing going here in Stonekeep. Good family. Good friends. Deep roots. They’re both armor smiths like their father. They made the armor they’re wearing, in fact. They have a good future here, and I’ve never heard either of them talk of going someplace else, much less go off to fight in skirmishes between the kingdoms. I don’t think you’ll have much luck at all here.”

  “Oh, you’re probably right. The thought of recruiting two men who can fight and smith armor… I just had to try,” Relina said. “At least it was a nice day for a walk. Come see me sometime, sergeant.”

  With a playful salute, Relina turned and walked back down the path to the city. I turned a bit so I could see her go, and she didn’t disappoint. She walked with the grace of a huntress. As a matter of fact, several of my talonmates had found a reason to watch for danger where Relina was walking. I glanced to my left to see Mira looking somewhat in my direction with her eyes narrowed. She definitely saw that I was looking. I cleared my throat and turned back to the danger at hand.

  “Show’s over. Time to move, you louts,” Sergeant Doornail called out.

  -----

  Another two weeks passed without anything unfortunate happening. I was actually disappointed. I understand what some soldiers say when they tell me that actually joining the battle is a relief. It’s the anticipation of a battle that can drive a man to distraction. I had been looking forward to Harvest Day, though, which was finally here. This was the second of four harvests of the year, which meant we only had six more months until we were finished with our military obligation. Because Harvest Day was always on a Sevenday, we always had the day off from militia duty. Bran and I were both looking forward to some home cooking, and Elle and Mira were excited, too. Mira was joining us for the feast, which was no surprise, and she said Whizzbang was going to join us also. My father had always invited him over to the house for Feast Days following the help he had given us against the cultists. I think Whizzbang was a little lonely, and he really liked coming over. He could spin masterful illusions, and my nephews loved how he could bring a story to life with colorful little illustrations floating in the air. His stories of the extinct dragons were an especially big hit.

  We all got up at the crack of dawn as we always did, and after showering and getting dressed in our civilian clothes, the sergeant dismissed us until this evening. Bran, Elle, Mira and I were walking through the great hall on our way out when Warleader Goodman caught our attention. He was dressed in civilian attire and held a bottle in his hands with a red ribbon decorating it.

  “Oh, Master Smith!” the Warleader called.

  All four of us stopped, turned, and saluted.

  “At ease. I only need Jeron for a moment,” he said to the others. “He’ll catch up.”

  The other three caught the hint, saluted and walked off, probably just to beat me to the best desserts if I knew Bran. Foiled again. I silently cursed my luck for another reason. With the threat offered by my secret identity, the Warleader was almost the last person in the entire world I wanted to talk to.

  “How can I help you, sir?” I asked, pasting a pleasant smile on my face.

  “I just wanted to commend you on doing so well with your service to our fair city,” Goodman said. “Sergeant Doornail holds you in very high esteem.”

  “Thank you, sir. I’m honored,” I said.

  “Please accept this small token of appreciation for your family,” he said, handing me the bottle. Bandit would love that ribbon. Maybe I could score a few points with Mira if I gave the ribbon to her.

  “Thank you very much, sir,” I said. “My family will appreciate your gift.”

  “And tell your father that I look forward to seeing him at the next Council session. He always gives such wise advice.”

  “I will, sir. Thanks again.” I saluted as he walked back to his suite in the keep.

  I held the bottle in the crook of my left arm as I walked out through the barbican wondering why the Warleader would single me out. He could easily have given the bottle to the four of us, as we were all going to the same place. My trick detector was fully engaged. There had to be a trick involved, but I had no idea yet what it could be. I shrugged to myself. Maybe I was being paranoid.

  I walked past a group of off-duty soldiers on my left as I exited the keep, then turned to the right and started walking around the keep, taking the most sparsely travelled way home. I didn’t want to step in anything noisome. I rounded a turret and caught sight of Bran, Mira, and Elle waiting for me. Maybe there was some hope of getting a honey bun after all.

  As I got closer, I noticed how low Mira’s and Elle’s blouses were unbuttoned. That was certainly welcome, but it was very much out of character for them, especially Elle. They were all smiling at some joke that Bran must have told. He casually stuck his hand into a pocket in his pants. Now that I think of it, Bran didn’t own any brown pants. Both pairs he owned were gray. A little alarm started ringing in my head. Now that I looked, with so much of Mira’s neckline exposed, I should have seen the little cloth-braided necklace she always wore. The alarm rung louder. The sound of a boot scuffing against a cobblestone caught my ear, and I glanced behind me. Those five soldiers were about twenty paces behind me, walking fast in my direction. They were not saying anything, and all of them were looking anywhere except at me. I got a really bad feeling all of a sudden, like the feeling a hare gets when he catches sight of a hawk swooping in.

  Bran, Mira and Elle started walking toward me, still smiling, and still not saying anything. This was a trap! Maybe they were disguised by an illusion or something, and I was now looking for a way out of here. Someone must have said something, and this must be the way they catch sorcerers unawares. Something like this probably happened to my real mother. I started angling away from my three “friends,” but I had only taken two steps before their smiles vanished and were replaced by the grim visage of killers. I tried to run around to the right, closer to the keep’s walls, but they moved with much greater speed than a normal person would have. I was cut off. A glance behind me showed me the five soldiers were bearing down on me very quickly. I threw the bottle at them just to see if I could delay them a second or two, but one of the men easily dodged to the side and the bottle smashed on the cobbles. That definitely didn’t work, but it showed me that they weren’t soldiers. No soldier worthy of the name would let a bottle of liquor hit the cobblestones without trying to catch it.

  I only had a second to think. I couldn’t risk any violent spells in the city. They would do too much damage and I risked certain death if anyone saw and reported me. I looked up to the rooftops and focused my will. I drew power from the source and disappeared, reappearing a moment later on top of the closest rooftop with a little whooshing sound. The pain was totally worth it. I slipped a little bit as I tried to adjust to the steep roof. Though it was only a small noise, both groups all turned at once and saw me. To my horror, their arms and legs melted and flowed, forming either wings or big arms with huge talons. They were Xerith! The very things my real mother had warned me about in her letter! The ones with wings sprang into the air with barely a sound and flew right for me. The ones with the claws ran to the house I was on and gripped the house like it was a ladder and began climbing with great speed. I only had another second to do something. The roof was tall, and the only thing in my field of vision was Stonekeep castle.

  I focused my will and drew the power I needed. Whoosh. Suddenly I was standing on the top of one of the lowest turrets, halfway up the castle. I realized I was standing on a crenel, perilously close to a long drop straight down. I felt my stomach drop out from under me with that realization. To my surprise, there was a little flower garden up here with a fountain that flowed into the aqueduct that distributed water through the upper city. There was also one of those strange stone archways going nowhere on the side of the keep, but there was no door to bolt into. I looked down at my attackers and saw that now they all had wings and they were flying straight at me as fast as they could, which was pretty fast. So much for hiding up there, and there was no way in.

  I needed some time, and I needed to get to a spot where I could fight without being seen. The only place I could think of was higher up. Hopefully, the roof of the keep had a flat spot on it. I chose a spot, focused my will, and then suddenly I was standing on a crenel on top of Stonekeep. I looked down and saw that they were winging their way up with great speed. No alarm had been raised by the townsfolk, either, so no help was forthcoming. I was on my own with the assassins. I looked around.

  The top of the keep was a big, flat octagon, and it had crenellations running all the way around. The shorter towers that always reminded me of birthday candles were evenly spaced at the perimeter, and they each had a hollow adamantine icosahedron on top. Close to the northernmost turret, but slightly closer to the center of the roof was what looked to be a big block of stone, thirty feet tall and twenty feet wide with one of those useless archways carved into it. The most striking thing up here was the ring of metallic statues standing an eternal guard. There was a statue standing next to each tower, all facing inward to the center of the flat roof, with two more standing on either side of the block of stone on the north side of the roof. I jumped down from the crenel to a merlon, then onto the roof, and ran towards the center of the keep, giving myself room to fight. Maybe I could burn them up here without anyone below noticing. As I ran, I realized these statues were identical to the golems in the great hall of the keep but were a little smaller. Each of these was twenty feet tall and had a greataxe. They each had those weird tubes mounted on their cuirasses, also. I reached the center and turned to face my pursuers.

  I thought they would be here soon, and they didn’t disappoint me. They flew with great quickness over the crenellations and came straight at me. Weaponless, I focused my will and drew as much power as I could take from the source. A great cone of fire sprang from my hands and engulfed the first three to advance. It felt like I was burning, too, but I found a way to accept the pain. I kept the flame burning, trying to keep the rest at bay. The ones I burned flung themselves out of harm’s way and kept coming in a more circuitous path, still smoking but very much alive. Much to my dismay, though the fire hurt them, they didn’t burn as easily as the goblins or undead did. As my attackers spread out to come at me from the sides, the golems suddenly came to life. They turned their metallic heads to see the shapeshifters, and with a shriek of metal on metal, they began to lumber forward towards the melee. God, please don’t let them attack me! The shapeshifters noticed immediately and realized the odds had suddenly shifted. I wasn’t out of this yet, though.

  A couple of the golems fired what looked like a lightning bolt out of one of those innocent looking tubes. They exploded into a great shower of sparks wherever they hit. They proved to be a good shot, too. Two of the shapeshifters flopped to the ground with a sickening crunch, stunned by the blast. Other golems were hurling a jet of fire out of the other tube as they advanced. Then suddenly everything was chaos. I conjured a shield as the Xerith began attacking physically and then arrows of fire that I hurled at the shapeshifters as quickly as I could, but they were incredibly fast, and I couldn’t hit them solidly. The golems swung their greataxes with tremendous strength and shot blasts of fire and lightning out of their cuirass tubes as they fought. The Xerith flowed into various forms and dodged like jumping bugs. One of them transformed into a small pit spider and struck out with its chitinous tentacles to try to trip a golem, while another caught on and shifted into a quillbear to try to push it over. That golem wasn’t moved so much as an inch, and it struck out with its greataxe, cleaving the pit spider in half with a spray of dark ichor. It concentrated on the one it felled, burning the Xerith to ash with a jet of flame. The bearlike Xerith was hit by a blast of lightning from a different golem and flopped to the rooftop, stunned. Its life ended a moment later when the golem that hit it with the lightning chopped it with its axe, then scoured it with fire.

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  I tried to keep track of everything close to me as I hurled my fiery arrows, but it was no use. I staggered as I was hit in the ribs by a spiked ball at the end of a tentacle that came out of nowhere. It must have depleted my shield! I heard at least one rib break, and I was bleeding freely. The pain was intense, but pain was nothing new to me. I focused my will, which was a lot harder when I was hurt, drew the power I needed from the source, and hurled an arrow of fire at the Xerith that attacked me. My aim was good, and it burned a hole right through its head an inch wide. Other than stagger back a little, it acted like it didn’t even notice. It wound its tentacle up for another strike. I stepped back as quickly as I could, hoping to get out of range, but it was too fast. I knew it was going to hit me again, and without my armor I would probably not survive. It was like divine intervention when a blast of lightning struck the Xerith just as it swung at me. The attack from the golem stunned it, and the spiked ball swept by mere inches over my head. The golem followed up with a strike of its axe, cutting it in half down the middle. Inside the wreckage of its body, I could see that there was a harder core in there that was suspended somewhere in the middle of its chest. When that got hit, the Xerith died. The golem burned it to ash with a stream of fire, and I staggered to one knee.

  I looked around and saw the ten golems burning what was left of the Xerith and felt a huge relief that none of the golems had taken a swing at me. They didn’t consider me an enemy. Even so, I actually thought I would die there. I lurched across the rooftop, leaned against the big, rectangular stone to keep my balance, and took a deep, painful breath. My chest was congested and I felt like I needed to cough, but I tried not to, as my broken ribs hurt terribly. This was one of the worst things I’d ever felt. Looking down, I held my bloodstained shirt away from the skin and saw there were four holes in the side of my chest that leaked a lot of pink, frothy blood. Actually, I still might die here. I fought to keep my breathing slow and regular, and scrunched up my shirt against the wounds the best I could, trying to stop the bleeding. I considered how to get out of here. I felt a strange vibration in my hand where I was leaning against the archway thinking of escape, and suddenly I could see a hallway beyond a shimmering in the air where there was only stone between the arches before. Whoa. I really wanted to go in there, but I knew I had to get to Elle to be healed, and she was at my house. At least, so I hoped.

  Ash blew across the rooftop. As the golems began taking their places again, I gathered my strength and stumbled over to the crenellations at the edge of the roof. The portal closed when I left the immediate area. I peeked around a crenel, and though some of the more observant people were looking at Stonekeep wondering what the noise was, no one was pointing at me. I braced myself for what I had to do, gritted my teeth against the pain, then gathered my resolve. I focused my will, drew some power from the source, and suddenly I was standing on a rooftop on the other side of the street from Stonekeep. I repeated that process three more times until I got across the street from my house, then looked around. The door to the smithy was closed. It was hard to focus. The pain was intense, and my breathing was labored. I coughed up blood that was pink and frothy. At the end of my strength, I focused my will one last time and drew the power I needed. With a whooshing sound, I found myself falling to the floor in our kitchen, my side a bloody mess, and I blacked out.

  I heard my mother calling my name and opened my eyes. I was still a sticky mess, but I felt all right. The pain in my chest was gone. Elle was kneeling next to me, as was Nora. The whole family plus Mira and Whizzbang were standing around, looking down at me with concern as I lay on the kitchen floor.

  “Jeron?! Jeron! Are you all right?” Nora was yelling.

  “Yeah, I’m all right,” I said. I took a few deep breaths just to make sure. “Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks, Elle.”

  “You’re very welcome,” Elle said. “You almost didn’t make it.”

  “What the hell happened?” Bran asked as he reached down to help me up.

  I stood up with his help, then mended my shirt with a little magic. Mira laid a finger on me and said a magic word, and suddenly all the bloodstains were gone, leaving my shirt and pants as good as new. I nodded my thanks to her.

  “Well, the short version is that I was attacked by shapeshifters after leaving the castle. They looked like Bran, Mira, Elle and some soldiers, and I almost fell into their trap,” I said.

  “You ‘almost’ fell into their trap, and still ended up nearly dying? That’s comforting,” Mira quipped.

  “Better than being killed immediately,” I said. “They were really fast and strong. The wound I got was delivered by a spiked ball on the end of a tentacle that hit me before I knew the Xerith was there. The only reason I’m alive is because I whooshed up to the top of Stonekeep to try to get away from them. There are golems up there that fought against the Xerith and destroyed them pretty handily. If I’d faced them on the street, they would’ve had me for sure.”

  They were all speechless, which was quite a rare state with Mira.

  “We’re just so glad you weren’t killed,” Nora said. She gave me a tight hug and wiped her eyes.

  “Sounds like you were absurdly lucky, son,” Dortham said. The others grunted or nodded in agreement.

  “We need to find out who is behind these two attacks, but I don’t even know where to start,” Mira said.

  “Attacks?!” Nora and Dortham said together.

  “What was the other one?” Darek asked incredulously.

  “An ogre with a band of about two hundred goblins lured our talon to a cave,” Bran said. “We would’ve been dead for sure, but Jeron killed them all. Well, almost all of them, all by himself.”

  “Oh my,” Nora said.

  Father whistled his surprise.

  “I’d really like to hear the full story,” Whizzbang said.

  “Mira, can you tell them, please? I really need to use a chamber pot, and I’m parched,” I said.

  I excused myself as Mira began her recounting. Nora and Samirah busied themselves with preparing the food while they listened. Mira was still telling the tale of the ogre battle as I returned and poured myself a tall glass of lemonade. I drained it in one pull, then poured myself another. I’d never felt so thirsty, and I was a little dizzy, too. The lemonade seemed to help. We sat around the table as Samirah and mom set the platters and bowls of food on it. Whizzbang sat in a chair with our four worn books boosting him up to the level of the table. Seeing the food, my nephews stopped playing in the living room and came in to see what they could find. When we were all seated, Dortham said a prayer of genuine thankfulness, and we began to load up our plates.

  Nora was still very agitated, and her tone showed it. “It’s been weeks since all that happened! Why didn’t you tell us?”

  “We didn’t want to worry anyone,” Bran said. “We’re fine.”

  “Things aren’t fine,” Dortham said seriously. “You only think you’re fine until suddenly you aren’t. It was an incredibly bad lapse of judgement on your part to keep the ambush from us, son. If these two attacks are linked, and they almost certainly are, we could’ve been in danger here in this house, and we’d have never known it until disaster struck.”

  Bran looked physically deflated and stared down at his plate. “I’m sorry, dad. I didn’t think.”

  “You sure didn’t. I expect you to do better.”

  No one took another bite for a long moment as we all thought about it. Dortham was a man of few words, and he never said anything unless he meant it. When he said something like that, it became a life lesson for the person involved.

  “Tell me in detail how the day started, will you?” Whizzbang asked, obviously trying to move past the awkwardness.

  Mira told them the mundane details until she got to the point where we met Councilor Goodman in the great hall. I picked up the story from there, trying to remember everything that was said. There was something nagging at me.

  “You said the order to scout out the goblins came from Warleader Goodman. The Councilman also happened to separate you from your friends, then marked you with a bottle with a big, red ribbon on it. Surely, this is just a coincidence,” Whizzbang said in a sarcastic tone.

  “Coincidence? What’s that?” Mira said with narrowed eyes and even more sarcasm. “It had to be the Warleader who was responsible. He probably told them to kill the guy with the red ribbon.”

  “So, why don’t we go to the prince with news of the Warleader’s treachery?” Elle asked.

  “With what evidence?” Dortham asked. He shared a look with Nora, knowing what she was thinking. Looking back on it now, they were both probably thinking about Dortham’s former activities as a vigilante. He never worried about evidence then, but he was now. There was no due process as a vigilante, and he liked it that way. Instead of actually saying that, he clarified using a different tack. “We have nothing except our word about what happened.”

  “And we can’t get to him in the castle without going through the guards, many of whom are friends,” Bran said, shaking his head.

  “And the guards are all honorable, even if the Warleader isn’t. They’s never let us through without a fight,” Elle said. “I couldn’t face them like that.”

  “Not to mention that the Warleader knows Jeron’s a threat now,” Whizzbang said. “Even if he didn’t before the cave ambush, he sure does now. If we went to the prince with what we know about the Warleader, he’d tell the prince Jeron’s a Mordonian.”

  Everyone present knew what that meant. None of us wanted that, and not just for my sake.

  “There has to be an angle,” Mira said. “Why risk an assassination style killing? I mean, the Warleader could have handled this some other way. An accident, maybe. And why do that second? Why send our unit to die by goblins in the first place?”

  “I’m guessing the cave ambush was a personal vendetta, and something the Warleader didn’t really care about,” Dortham said. “Something I’ve been dreading for a long time. It could have been done to hurt me.”

  “You made lots of enemies, dear,” Nora said, “but if any of them knew who ruined their dreamweed networks, they’d have retaliated long ago.”

  “We’re betting Kromwell survived Lord Surekeel’s plot and went to Fellton,” Mira said. “So far, it’s the only thing that’s made any sense.”

  “I think you’re right,” Whizzbang said. “But the Xerith attack’s what has me worried. The Warleader knew one or more people in your talon were extraordinary to have survived the first ambush, so he sent the Xerith to start targeting individuals. I do hope you were the first, Jeron.”

  “Well if he didn’t know if there was a Mordonian in our group before, he knows there is now, and worse, he knows it’s me,” I said.

  “And yet, the prince’s guard isn’t kicking our doors down,” Dortham said.

  “There’s something coming,” Whizzbang said quietly. “Something bad. Something secret.”

  “Something a Mordonian could stand in the way of,” Mira said, with a dark look at me.

  “So, what do we do?” Bran asked.

  “Nothing,” Whizzbang said. “The Warleader’s acting in secret, and he’s probably already lost all the assassins he could rely on. He knows we can’t move against him, and he can’t move against us.”

  “We need proof. Information. Something!” Mira said.

  “Unless we stumble on some kind of magical answer to all our problems, there’s nothing we can do,” Whizzbang said.

  “For now, at least,” Dortham said. He wasn’t the kind of guy who hid, biting his nails, when he knew there was a threat nearby.

  “Dortham and I will try to pursue this in our ways. We’ll just have to act normal until we figure out what to do.”

  We were quiet for a while as we ate. The others barely nibbled at their food. I, however, ate like there was no tomorrow. There almost wasn’t. When I felt almost painfully full, I decided to breach the next subject.

  “There’s something else. I accidentally activated some sort of portal up on the roof when I touched it. I only got a glance beyond, but I think it led to a place inside the keep.”

  “Inside?!” Mira asked.

  “How do you know?” Whizbang asked.

  “Well, it looked like a big hallway made of stone. The corridor was massive, somewhere a couple of golems could walk side by side, and you know how big they are. What other structure would have a corridor like that?”

  “What else did you see?” Whizzbang asked.

  “Nothing. I only got a glance before I had to concentrate on the assassins. I only looked long enough to make sure nothing else was going to jump out at me. I could feel the magic, though, and it felt a lot like the traveling magic I can use, not like the illusion magic Whizzbang’s so good at. I think I could open that portal again, if I had to.” I was just floating the idea out there like I didn’t really want to step through the portal. I was surely going to do it, though, and I’d do it the first chance I got. Maybe if I let the idea simmer for a minute, I’d get permission to explore the castle. Maybe one day I’d start behaving like a man, too.

  Dortham knew what I was up to. I could swear he was a mind reader sometimes. “That castle’s been sealed up for more than a thousand years, son. Maybe for good reason.”

  “There could be anything in there, dad. Maybe something that could help us.”

  “Yeah, and maybe there’s a bunch of powerful magical traps guarding the place, too. Did you think of that?”

  “I did. The golems didn’t attack me like they did the Xerith. They even protected me. Even if they weren’t consciously protecting me, they still didn’t attack me. Maybe any magical traps, if there are any, will treat me the same.” I was trying to calm my mom, whose hackles immediately rose when the words “magical traps” had been uttered.

  “That’s a high stakes bet, son.”

  Knowing I wouldn’t convince him if I pressed the argument, I let it drop. We all finished our food in silence, each of us lost in thought. Now that the excitement was over, I was dying to get into the keep, but I was pretty cautious, too. From everything I’d ever heard, there was supposed to be a dragon’s hoard worth of treasure in there. Everyone knew a place that could afford to have magical adamantine golems had to have riches beyond belief, and it was one of the great legends people held. Right up there with the evil of Mordonian sorcerers.

  Dortham broke the silence. “Something always bothered me about Councilor Goodman. He reminds me of an eel, not just by the way he could avoid unpleasantness in conversation. I think it’s more than that. He always stares, like he doesn’t know how to blink.”

  “The Xerith that attacked me didn’t blink either, even when I hit one in the face with a fiery arrow,” I said, remembering. My memory, even then, was pretty good.

  “Do Xerith have to blink? Do you think he’s a shapeshifter, too?” Mira asked.

  “I have no idea, really. We need a way to find out for sure,” I said. I looked over to Whizzbang with a questioning look.

  “No, I don’t have a way of exposing a shapeshifting assassin, unfortunately. I’ll make it my business to look for a way, though. Right now, my involvement in certain events is unknown to our adversaries, at least presumably, but it may not stay that way. I haven’t stayed alive almost three hundred years by sitting on my backside when danger lurked about, so I’ll do everything I can think of to find a way to help,” Whizzbang said.

  “Thanks, my friend. It’s all we can ask,” Dortham said.

  After a few minutes of silence, Nora asked Elle how she was doing with her military service, and the mood shifted. We all stuck with small talk for the rest of the meal. I stuffed myself, as cooking this good was not to be found in the keep. It seemed that the cooks in Stonekeep were allergic to spices. The meal was soon over, and it wasn’t even noon yet. As we were clearing up the dishes, I decided to voice my thoughts.

  “You know, we have until dark today before we have to report back to the keep for duty,” I started. “I think I can bring a few people with me when I whoosh around now, and I think I can get that portal to work again.”

  Mira couldn’t restrain herself and bounced on her tiptoes with a big smile on her face. “I thought you would never bring it up!”

  “You sure you want to do this, son?” Dortham asked.

  “I think we have to, and I think I’m as ready as I’m ever going to be. I just have to take a little peek inside that castle,” I said.

  Dortham looked at his wife, and Nora just glanced at him then kept her eyes on washing the dishes. She was silently saying she wasn’t happy with this, but she couldn’t say no, either. I think she knew this was part of my heritage, and she thought it could be dangerous, she couldn’t always be there to wipe the snot off my nose. She wasn’t happy about this whole situation. Dortham just looked back at me and nodded.

  I was so excited. “I know Mira wants to nose around in there. Bran, Elle, are you in?”

  Bran smiled. “You know full well that I’ve been daydreaming about that castle since I first saw it. I’m in.”

  Elle looked a little more serious, but then a smile broke loose. “Well, someone has to keep you fools from dying.”

  “Do you remember the warning in the letter?” Nora asked me. Her back was to us all as she washed the dishes at the basin.

  There was only one letter she could be referring to, the one from my birth mother. She warned me that though the portals would open to me, using them would change my life. I had a moment of pause then, and really thought about it. What if there were traps in there? What if the building collapsed under our weight?

  “My excitement aside, I think we’re at a crisis point,” I said soberly. “There’s someone here in Stonekeep that’s trying to kill us, and today’s attempt has shown that they know about me specifically. We suspect they’re in league with Kromwell, wherever he’s hiding, but they’re probably not allied with Prince Kimorel. It’s probably Councilor Goodman, but we don’t have proof. Even so, I think I survived today by dumb luck, and I won’t be so lucky a second time. The upper levels of the keep may hold something we need. Maybe there’s some kind of magic, or even an explanation of magic I can use to tip the scales in my favor the next time the Xerith try to kill me. This is something I have to risk.”

  Dortham shared a look with Nora. “No one’s been inside the upper levels since the Breaking. There could be any number of deadly things in there, son,” he said. Father put a hand on my shoulder and Bran’s. “You’re men now, and I have the feeling that you’ll face challenges I never could. All of you.” He gave a significant look to both Mira and Elle. “The safe route isn’t safe for us anymore. You’ve shown good judgement so far, except for one or two notable occasions, and I have to trust you to continue to use good judgement when you walk your path.” As stoic as he was, for Dortham that speech was borderline weepy.

  “What he means to say, is ‘please be careful.’” Nora said and she hugged each of us in turn.

  “I’d give my left arm for a pass to that castle, but I think I’ll wait to see if you come back in one piece first,” Whizzbang said to himself softly. I don’t think he knew he said that out loud. He cleared his throat noisily when Dortham looked his way.

  “So, do we arm ourselves first?” Bran asked.

  “Not if we’re doing this today,” Mira said. “We’d have to go get our armor to do that, which is in the barracks, and there’s no way to do that unseen. Also, no one in the militia would be wandering around the castle in full armor when they can be at home feasting, so we’d be even more noticeable.”

  “You’re right, of course,” I said. “When do we do this?”

  “Let’s get it over with,” Bran said.

  “Bandit?” Mira asked.

  Bandit was sitting on Whizzbang’s chair on top of the books, caught in the act of eating some of Dejen’s pie. Her eyes got big when she realized she had just been caught red-handed, and glanced over at Mira sheepishly, if a raccoon could be said to do that. Then she simply grabbed more of the pie in her little paws and kept eating.

  “I guess that’s a no,” Mira said with a smile.

  “All right, then, anyone need to do anything first?” I asked.

  No one said anything.

  I could hardly contain my excitement. I also wanted to get out of there before Dortham or Nora changed their minds. There was something about this household that made me act like a child. I could be a competent soldier, and I could be an incompetent sorcerer, both of which were very serious roles, and I carried those burdens like a man, but I always felt like a child there in that house. It was something that I had to grow beyond, but that time hadn’t come yet.

  “No time like the present. Hold onto my shoulders.”

  I waited for Bran, Mira and Elle to get a firm hold, then pictured the roof of the house across the street as vividly as I could. I focused my will, drew the power I needed, then we disappeared with a whoosh.