Eggs lifted their head in greeting as we exited the moving floor and walked into the laboratory. The sight of them raised my spirits, and I immediately pressed my head against the stairs as their frill gently opened and closed. I rubbed the side of their face.

  “Don't go thinking you can greet me like that!” Sila smiled.

  I turned to him, “You break a man's heart, Sila, you know that?”

  “Piss off.” He laughed.

  “How are you, my darling?” Gertha asked, holding her hand on his head.

  “I'm fine, Mother. I rested a little; whatever the Good Doctor did, it's having an effect.”

  “Sila!” Sayo wrapped her arms around him and held him tight.

  “What happened up there?” Sila asked right as Helezar appeared behind me and placed a fetid hand on my shoulder.

  Sila started up, crying out, but Gertha held her arm firmly across his chest.

  “It’s ok! It’s not Fugue, it’s part of the Arcuzane.”

  “That’s a dead man! Walking. There’s only one group that does that!” Sila was getting agitated and was trying to push past Gertha. I strode over and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

  “She's right, trust me, if it were a threat, I would have dealt with it.” I went to pat where my sword hung by my waist before realising the Doctor still had it. I then realised that I had dropped the blade that Sayo had lent me and had not thought to retrieve it. Zath had clearly shaken me up more than I thought. I didn’t like that one bit.

  “I. Understand. You. Are. Upset. I. Am. Dead. Please. Be. Assured. So. Am. I.” Helezar walked to my side, standing uncomfortably close.

  “It talks, the corpse is talking?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “This whole place is strange. When can we go?”

  “You. Will. Rest. Together. In. Your. Room. Then. The. Council. Will. Convene. With. You.” Helezar grabbed my arm again, and I threw it off, my blood boiling. Eggs started to growl, unfurling their wings.

  “Stop fucking grabbing me, corpse.”

  The dead man just stared at me for a few moments before the Doctor’s arrival broke the moment, she had my sword held at her hip.

  “Helezar, we discussed this.” She said with a sad smile.

  “He. Is... Warm.”

  “Helezar.”

  “...Apologies.” The cadaver said, before bowing.

  “I think we all just need a bit of rest. Can you show us to our rooms?” Gertha said, not taking her eyes off Sila.

  “Just the one room, but don’t worry, it’s large enough for you all, even Eggs.” The Doctor said, smiling.

  #

  The Doctor escorted us to our room along with Helezar and Leech. I couldn’t help but notice that Leech took up the rear, keeping us all in sight as our procession made its way to one of the moving floors large enough to accommodate Eggs. It took us high up, and my ears started to feel full, until they finally popped. We emerged into an expansive, luxurious room. The entire place gleamed so much like sunlight off a river or polished metal that a panic rose in my chest, and I reached for my sword, cursing internally when I found it to be missing yet again.

  I looked at Eggs to see how they would react, but the shine didn’t seem to affect them the way it did other bastard lizards, or “Li’ards” as Zath put it. I’ll be honest with you, I find that name stupid, they’re Lizards, just bigger and meaner, bastard lizards is a far more accurate name.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  The room itself had a large window, easily the size of a section of my old wall, which I had guarded for so long. I found myself walking toward it, mesmerised by the sheer scale of the Free Forests far below, which seemed to stretch on forever. The window was North facing because I could see The Jut, much closer, across a stretch of water surrounding the land the Hold was built on were the ruins of a long dead city. Its walls lay shattered, and its towers were only half standing—the work of a Fell Dragon perhaps, or a group of smaller Li’ards.

  Even now, the term slips in now and then, bloody Arcuzane and their names.

  I turned back to the rest of the room, where already I could see Sila being assisted by Gertha and Sayo. They laid him on a bed at the end of a row of four. Each one the width of at least two people, I’d never seen a bed like that before, although I wasn’t bonded to another human in that way, so I did not need one. The rest of the room had a table with eight chairs around it, a large fireplace, and a selection of strange brass devices along the walls. I could only imagine how much it was worth. King Perek would no doubt have salivated had he been here in my place; however, he wasn’t, and all I could do was stand there and feel too poor to even look at it.

  “These are only the guest rooms?” I asked.

  The Doctor merely smiled at me as Eggs merely loomed in the doorway of the moving floor. The Doctor stepped into the room, propping my sword up against the wall.

  “Yes, you should all be comfortable here. Even our winged friend.”

  I fought down the urge to snap at her for propping my sword against the wall. She didn’t know any better, and I was just glad to get it back.

  “C’mon in, Eggs,” I said, and my Wyvern entered the room, picking their way gently to the middle of it, where there was enough space for them to sit on their hind legs and begin preening themself.

  “I’ll have some food sent up, rest here all of you, we’ll send for you when it’s time to decide next steps.” The Doctor turned and entered the moving floor.

  As the doors slid shut, I suddenly thought to ask for some Ham.

  For once, I was too slow.

  “Very funny,” I said to the Mummer under my breath.

  “So, this is our home for now, very fancy,” Sayo said. She walked to the window, and my heart leapt when she leaned against it, but she did not suddenly tumble through the glass; instead, she just watched.

  “We shouldn’t let ourselves get dazzled, they’re discussing our fate down there,” I said.

  “I’d be more worried if we didn’t still have our weapons, each other and Eggs,” Sayo replied.

  “The Arcuzane have more tricks up their sleeve than most. We should still be cautious, but I don’t believe they’re our enemy.” Gertha approached my sword, plucking it up and handing it to me, handle first.

  “I know how you hate that.” She winked.

  I nodded in gratitude, “What do you think about all this?” I sheathed my sword, immediately feeling a tension within myself release as Eggs started chittering.

  “Honestly, Tull? I think we’re in the middle of one of the safest places we could be for once. But the Arcuzane are powerful, and we already know they want you, Eggs or both to do their bidding.”

  “I’ve taken enough orders for a lifetime, I think,” I said, fiddling with the catch of my gauntlet.

  “As have I, but you can’t deny that they want the same thing we do. To protect humans from Li’ards and the Fugue.”

  “To what end? If humans aren’t busy fighting to survive, we’ll fight each other as Avandun and Cemfyllen will.” Sayo sighed.

  “If they haven’t already, we won’t know anything until we rejoin civilisation,” Sila said, sitting up in his bed.

  “I have to agree with Gertha, those bastard lizards and the Fugue can’t just be allowed to keep…picking us off. If we’re going to do more than just hide behind fucking walls, then we need to end the threat. I’m just not sure if the Arcuzane are telling us the whole story.” I said, walking up to Eggs and patting them on the side of the neck.

  “What makes you say that?” Sila asked.

  “Ever met someone in power? They never tell insects like us the truth. People like that don’t do proper work for a living, so they have more time to come up with complicated schemes and bullshit to wear us down with.” My heart pounded as I spoke, and my frustration began to spill out. My mind showed me Peevan’s face, and I held my breath before breathing out slowly to control my temper.

  “I can’t do anything but agree with you here, Tull. I’ve spent enough time in Perek’s court to know this myself.” Gertha said.

  “So what are we going to tell the Council?” Sayo asked.

  I stroked my chin, “We’ll play their game while it suits us, but there are other things we need to deal with, like my friend Mavev Tlatz. He knows too much about me, Steelweaves, and he’s the only person other than Zath or me I’ve seen with control over a type of bastard lizard. That smells of fuckery doesn’t it?”

  “He’s responsible for a lot of Nomad deaths. He needs to be punished.” Sila said, to murmurs of agreement from Gertha and Sayo.

  I unclasped the gauntlet and threw it to the ground, flexing my hand and looking at the rough puncture scar in my palm.

  “He will, I swear it,” I said.

  “So what now, we just wait to be summoned?” Sayo asked.

  “Not quite yet.” I smiled, “First, I need help getting out of this bloody armour. I’m not gonna let Zath pick me up again in our next meeting.”

  “The Doctor also mentioned food!” Sila laughed.

  “Food is definitely in the plan too!” I grinned.

  The moving floor’s door slid open once more, and out stepped Helezar and The Doctor. I wasn’t pleased to see the walking corpse again so soon, but I was overjoyed at the large ham he carried on a silver platter.