“Hear ye, hear ye!” the prince’s herald shouted from where he stood at the intersection in the upper city. “Prince Kimorel Mithram commands that all children between five and fifteen years of age are to be presented to the Executors tomorrow at midday in the marshalling yard! Failure to report to those premises will be considered an admission of sorcery of the vilest sort and those involved will be summarily executed!”

  The pedestrians close by barely acknowledged the herald’s presence. The good citizens of Stonekeep knew this command well, and besides, everyone was well acquainted with unpleasant deaths. The Executors had been coming to Stonekeep to keep the city purged of sorcerers once every four years for the last thousand, so one in earshot looked troubled in the least. Mira watched the herald as he walked two blocks and shouted the same announcement at that intersection. She took a turn and walked quickly to Whizzbang’s home. Mira knew it was against his rules to go to his house on any day other than Threeday or Sixday, but this was a special circumstance. Bandit scampered alongside her as the two of them made their way down the street.

  Whizzbang’s shop looked very cheery and welcoming in the daylight hours. Glancing around and seeing that no one was looking, Mira hurried to the front door and slipped inside. Whizzbang was sitting at his workbench behind the counter fitting the pieces of a steel juicing machine together. It looked like it was almost done. He looked up as Mira and Bandit strode across the shop floor.

  “A warm welcome to my two favorite tenders of trickery,” he said with a wink towards Bandit.

  As soon as Bandit entered the shop, still maintaining her guise as a raccoon, she raced for a small bowl of sweets she knew Whizzbang kept on one of his counters. She could eat sweets every meal of the day and never tire of it. Bandit did remember her manners, however, giving Whizzbang a very un-raccoon-like wave and grin just before digging into the candy dish to find her favorites. Since no one else was in the shop, Bandit subtly changed her thumb to be an opposable one like humans have. All the better to unwrap sweets with.

  “Well met, Whizzbang. That looks nice,” Mira said while pointing to the juicer.

  “Thank you. I aim to please. You must be very worried about the Executors to have risked my displeasure.”

  “Uh, yeah, that about sums it up. Now that I know how to cast spells, will the Executors know?”

  “You have nothing to worry about, young lady. I, myself, have stood in the crowd close to the Executors as they waved their silly rods about, and they had no idea I was a wizard. Mind you, I was not foolish enough to cast any sort of enchantment while they were in the city, but I know from experience they can’t sniff out a wizard who isn’t doing anything wizardly.”

  “But what about Bandit?” Mira asked.

  “I think Bandit knows how to avoid the notice of people like Executors. Don’t you?”

  Bandit sat up on her hind legs, nodded her head, and made a rude gesture towards the keep.

  “I guess that settles that. You should probably hide your G.A.S.P. at home somewhere. I wouldn’t want that to get triggered at an inopportune moment,” Whizzbang said.

  “Got it.”

  “All right, then. Now you two get out of here before someone sees you here and starts asking questions.”

  “All right. Thanks a load, Whizzbang,” Mira said. She felt a lot better as she considered his words.

  Mira and Bandit went back to the door and peeked out the window next to it, surveying the street. She waited for a man to pass by, then quietly opened the door and slipped out when no one was looking. The two rascals were down the street and around the corner with no one the wiser.

  -----

  Fiveday began like any other day for Mira with the one exception that her mother admonished her to be back home for lunch. Mira knew it was her mother’s responsibility to take her to the marshalling yard to be presented to the Executors, and she couldn’t skip it. In the distant past someone had tried that, and the mother and son had both been put to death for it. Mira was definitely one to throw away the rules when it suited her, but she knew this was not the time to risk it. She would never bring harm to her mother like that, so she only gave a half-hearted effort to sneaking about today and arrived home before lunchtime with plenty of time to spare. Shortly after she finished eating, Mira heard the Executors’ bell ring the summons. She found a good hiding place above a rafter where she could stash her prized necklace, then went off with her mother to the upper city.

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  The marshalling yard was already nearly full. There had to be several hundred children gathered in the center in a big group with most of the adults surrounding them. The youngest children had their mothers or siblings holding their hands, but the older kids stood there by themselves. Maureen kept a sharp eye on her daughter as Mira took her place in the group even though Mira had been to this gathering before. Mira saw Juleen, Elle, and Fayorette Baker standing together already, so she squirmed her way through the crowd to stand with them. Darek Smithson was close by, trying not to be too bored. This would be the last time he had to present himself, and his relaxed posture told Mira that he was completely uninterested in the proceedings.

  Close to the castle gate, next to the wagon holding the Executors’ great bronze bell, on a raised wooden platform that had been constructed for the event, stood Prince Kimorel Mithram in gleaming plate armor. Arrayed around the prince were some of his officers and the five members of the Council of Elders. Mira saw Sivash Surekeel, Kromwell’s father, standing there with a slight smirk on his face, as if amused by some joke only he understood. On the far-left side of the platform were ten men who wore surcoats with the golden sun symbol of the Church of the Overgod. Each one of those men held a black rod in their right hand and had the air of deadly warriors about them. Mira had never seen a real priest before, but she imagined that they would look a little more cheerful.

  At an impatient gesture towards the bell by Prince Kimorel, one of the Executors jumped off the platform and struck the bell with his black rod, making a loud toll. The crowd quieted as the prince strode forward two paces to be at the front and center of the platform.

  “Citizens of Stonekeep,” the prince said in a loud voice, “you are here to present yourselves to the Church of the Overgod so they may purge our fair city of wicked Mordonian sorcery, lest the evils of that line rise again to oppress us. Anyone found to be a sorcerer will be put to death, the sentence to be carried out immediately.” The prince nodded towards the lead Executor, who stepped forward. “Do your duty, good sir.”

  The High Executor stepped down from the platform and raised his rod over his head to point to the sun in a salute to his god. The other Executors dismounted the platform and likewise saluted the sun until all ten were in a line before the platform. They then slowly spread out as they stalked toward the crowd of children. The youngest children immediately started crying out of fear. The crowd parted for them as the Executors came forward with their rods held straight out in front of them, slowly waving the rods back and forth, left and right. As the Executors passed by, the children held their breath, including Mira, to her own surprise. She thought she was tough enough to not show the fear she felt at not only being a budding wizard, but also at knowing who a real, live sorcerer was, and she tried to think of other things in case the grim Executors could read minds. The closest Executor passed by without noticing her, though.

  Mira lost interest. She thought that everything would be as uneventful as last year as the Executors were close to the rear edge of the crowd, but that was not to be. A woman holding a young girl in her arms suddenly gasped as a bright, green light sprang forth from her daughter. Immediately, the closest two Executors leapt towards the woman and clubbed her on the head and back, knocking her and the child sprawling on the cobbles. Her daughter screamed and cried. The Executors roughly grabbed them both and dragged them to the front of the platform before the stunned onlookers. The lead Executor pointed his rod at the crying little girl, who glowed with a sickly green light and helplessly reached for her unconscious mother.

  “Mama! Mama!” the little girl cried.

  “That’s my granddaughter!” one of the council members shouted. “She’s no sorceress!”

  “Indeed, she is a sorceress!” the High Executor yelled. “The light does not lie!”

  The prince looked sick as he looked at the councilor for a long moment. The councilor’s eyes pleaded with the prince in silence, broken only by the little girl’s pitiful cries. The prince wrenched his gaze away from the councilor, then looked to the Executor and nodded. The two Executors attacked the helpless woman and child without mercy, beating them to death in front of the silent crowd. It was as horrid a spectacle as Mira had ever seen in her young life. The green light flickered and died with the child. Mira shifted her gaze to the platform. The only person not horrified by the execution was Sivash Surekeel. He wore the same smirk he had at the beginning of the assembly. Mira’s eyes narrowed as dark suspicions formed.

  The Executors went through the crowd of children again as they brandished their foul, black rods at everyone. No one was bored now, that much was certain. Every child in the crowd felt true fear at the Executors’ presence, and Mira started to think that they wanted it that way. It looked like they were instilling this fear on purpose. Only when they worked their way to the other side of the crowd did people dare to move again. The smallest children sniffled and cried quietly as their fearful mothers held them protectively. The Executors strode purposefully to the front of the platform and stood in a line. An executor struck the bell.

  “The sorcery has been purged!” The executors yelled together.

  The high prince, who still looked uncomfortable at the violence done in his name, addressed the crowd. “Know that Mordonian sorcery has been banished from the city this day! Go in peace!”

  The crowd turned chaotic with parents hurrying to gather their children and get back to the safety of their homes. The elderly councilor cried bitterly on the platform as the prince and his officers descended and went into the castle. The Executors followed, two of them with rods that still dripped with the blood of innocents.