“So Finn. About that scout friend of yours. The gorgeous purple goddess,” Jerseil said. We had been drinking after dinner and were attempting to make our way to the barracks. I wasn’t used to drinking so much, but it had turned into a party. And it had been a pretty shitty month.

  I squinted at him and tried to keep my balance on the unsteady earth. “Harper? Are you asking about Harper?”

  He pondered this for a moment. Looked at me, and gestured widely. His movement almost toppled us. “Whoops! But it’s inmateri… inmaterilize.. Bah! It doesn’t matter if I’m asking a question. Harper.” We took a few steps closer toward the barracks. There were only two stairs up to the door, and somehow we got to and over the threshold. We let go of each other, stumbling towards the empty beds. I flopped onto one and Jerseil onto the other. The barracks had ten, maybe twelve, or six beds. All were empty.

  “Harper!” Jerseil exclaimed.

  “What about her?” I asked.

  “Is she married? With someone? With you?”

  “No, don’t think so. An we’re just friends,” I said profoundly. “Eh, why ya want to know? Interested?”

  “Hic! Yeah. She just has that… something, you know? Her eyes. I think it’s her eyes. Get lost in them,” Jerseil replied.

  I blinked sleepily before I replied, “Okay, just don’t hurt her, okay? I’m not saying I could kick your ass. But Harper? She could.” His gentle snoring was the only answer I got. I drifted off after getting comfortable not long after.

  Jerseil and I sipped our cups of hangover tea when Harper and Juan joined us in the mess hall. The tea swirled in my cup as I waited for my food to not make me want to hurl.

  “Finn. You and your friend made fools of yourselves last night,” said Juan. His voice dripped with disapproval. Being the target of his ire was new, and I felt horrible for my behavior. I vaguely remembered teaching a few songs to Jerseil and a group of soldiers. A growing group of soldiers. Then they taught me some classic songs from the nineties.

  The bench scraped. I looked across the table as Jerseil stood up at attention. “General Venegas, sir! I am to blame for the unfortunate behavior last night. I love earth songs and couldn’t resist. Finn shared so much with us last night.”

  Juan glared at the soldier. “We heard. Everyone heard. Even from the barracks.”

  “Sorry General. I will take full responsibility,” Jerseil said. His face drained of color. He kept at attention while Juan considered.

  Juan slowly nodded, his face relaxing. “I don’t think that’s fully necessary. It was annoying and obnoxious. But it was a better way to let off some steam than getting into fights,” he said. Juan turned and proceeded to the kitchen area to get his morning meal. We watched him go, Jerseil’s face still pale as he slowly sat down, and almost missed the bench that his legs had pushed back. He scrunched his face in embarrassment. The stuttering bounce of the bench as he moved it back just added to the awkwardness of the situation.

  Harper smiled at Jerseil and squeezed my shoulder in sympathy. “Next time, torture cats. The sound would have been sweeter. And more likely in the right key.” Her shoulders shook in silent laughter as she followed Juan.

  Jerseil put his face in his hands and his shoulders slumped as he leaned his elbows on the table. “Oh, no. I made a complete fool of myself! Now General Venegas AND Harper think poorly of myself. How am I ever going to get over this?”

  “Hey. Don’t be too hard on yourself, buddy. These things happen. I bet Juan just needs to eat breakfast and have some coffee. It’ll all blow over,” I replied.

  He spread his fingers and looked at me through them. “You really think so?”

  “Yeah! I bet everything will be fine by the time we leave.”

  “Wait, the General is leaving today? And Harper?”

  “And me, too. We have to get down into the Shadow Lands.”

  The panic in his eyes became thoughtful as an idea had spawned. “I’m heading that way. I have to find out what supplies are low and lacking so that I can get an order together. Yes. This could work.”

  I looked at him, my muddled brain unable to puzzle out where this was leading. “What could work?”

  His smile belayed his earlier dismay. “Why, winning back into Harper’s good graces, of course. And the General’s, too,” he said. “I just need to travel with you, at least as far as the command area.”

  ****************************

  I had been right about Juan mellowing after getting some breakfast and coffee, and he had no problem with Jerseil joining us on the road to the command area in the Shadow Lands. The Cambion soldier was happily chatting with Harper, doing his best to charm her. She seemed amused by his attention and didn’t mind riding a little farther back behind Juan and me for privacy.

  “Juan, why is it called the Shadow Lands? From the little you said about it, the place does not sound like the name implies.” I asked.

  “You should see soon enough,” was all he said.

  He was strangely quiet about something that could be a teaching moment. I decided to change tracks. “I’ve been meaning to ask you about what the Council replied. You didn’t look at it before you left the mess hall last night.”

  Juan grunted. “They were unsure that it would be an appropriate use of my talents and thus refused my request. I’m going to have to talk with them in person, in a closed meeting. Your class will be brought up, which may cause problems later. But, in truth, it might be the only way to convince them that ours is the right path.”

  “Wait, is the council made up of people like us?” I asked.

  “No. Not entirely, at least. The Council is composed of the more politically minded individuals and representatives of the Twelve kingdoms. It’s a mostly democratic body that, among other things, governs the combined military might of the Twelve Kingdoms. As a General-at-large, I do have some pull with the council. Not enough, unfortunately, for them to assign an army strong enough to hunt down and subdue the Steel Falcon Company.”

  “Great. That sounds great. So maybe you’ll get the army you need and I’ll be thrown in jail pending my execution? Fucking love the idea,” I replied with annoyance. There was a chance I was still feeling some effects of the hangover. Juan gave me a sideways glance. I added, “Sorry, that wasn’t fair. The whole anti-mage thing puts me on edge, even if it’s justified.”

  “Finn, what you have to understand is that just about everyone, even many people who have settled down here, dream of going home. Most left families or careers behind that they want to return to. It’s also the little things that drive our desires to go home. Cars. Movies. The sounds and smells of the desert, or the city. Fast food, even.”

  “It is doubtful that any of the Earth born will get in the way of even a slight chance of getting home. Those representatives on the council not of Earth will provide the resistance. It’s a fairly common policy to limit and contain mages for the safety of all.”

  I did not like the sound of that, as my freedom was a necessity. And there were parallels in US history that I should have expected. “Even understanding why, the fact people I’ve never met have already judged me based on others makes me sick. But you know what? I don’t know this world or about the people here like you do. I just hope they can get past their biases against me.”

  The day was a peaceful one, and as soon as we hit the crest before the downhill, I saw what Juan meant. The name ‘Shadow Lands’ was quite apt. I reined in GB and looked down in awe at the natural phenomenon. The mountains cast a shadow that covered miles of land on the western side of the range. I had never seen the like, as the shadow reached almost to the distant sea.

  It wasn’t a true darkness, but I couldn’t pick out details other than cooking fires. And there were a lot of cooking fires in two large groups. It was an odd contrast, reminiscent of a starry night. I could only assume the closest grouping was the Allied Army, while the other…

  “Is that the Empire’s forces?” I asked. The grouping of fires suggested they were the bigger of the two armies. Harper and Jerseil caught up with us and stopped to take in the view.

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  “Yes,” Harper said at the same time as Jerseil. They laughed and Harper said, “Jinx!”

  Jerseil looked at her in confusion. “What does this ‘jinx’ mean?”

  “It means you have to stay quiet until you get me a soda or repeat a phrase, a certain phrase,” she said and grinned mischievously. “Else you get cursed with bad luck.”

  Her playful tone did nothing to assuage the surprise and worry on his face. He looked frantically at her and then at me.

  I sighed. “Harper, you have to tell him the phrase. Don’t leave the poor guy hanging!”

  She giggled. She fucking giggled. “I kind of want a soda. It’s been awhile.”

  I looked at Juan, and he was just shaking his head. Jerseil wasn’t getting any help from that corner. It was up to me to help my new friend. “Come on, do they even have soda here? Give him something,” I pleaded. I knew it didn’t really matter, and it was really childish, but I was having fun playing along at the moment.

  “Fine,” she replied dramatically. “If he says, ‘I promise to get Harper a soda whenever she wants one,’ it will break the jinx.”

  The relief on Jerseil’s face was almost comical and released the words in a fast torrent. “I promise to get Harper a soda whenever she wants one. There, or do you need it in a contract?”

  “No Jerseil. We’re good, and I will be holding you to that.” She said with a smile.

  Over the next four hours it took for us to get down the pass, the shadow slowly walked its way to the mountains. The revealed armies seemed to be at a standstill for something, like there was a ceasefire for a holiday. The lines of the trenches were visible in the no-man’s-land between the two. I wasn’t sure how I felt about trench warfare in a place without firearms. Actually, I didn’t know if there were firearms here or not. I just hadn’t seen any at that point.

  Even without firearms, with magical projectiles and other more primitive projectile launchers, the trenches could make sense. A cold sensation rushed over me as I thought about what I knew about Earth history and fighting in trenches. I had taken classes on both the world wars and the events and treaties that led to them. And I saw all the war movies I could, as war was just politics by other means.

  It would be messy and dangerous. The sewers of Alsiger had nothing on the horrors of fighting in trenches. And I could only imagine the devastating magics that were available to both sides. Massive attacks over enormous areas like gigantic fireballs or poisonous clouds. Honestly, I couldn’t truly see the difference between home and here for war. Many people on both sides would die needless deaths.

  I must have had a grim look on my face, a tightness around the eyes or something, as Juan gave me side-long glances as we rode towards a well-established camp that looked a lot like a rear command position.

  “What is it Finn? Are you thinking dark thoughts or just constipated?” Juan asked.

  “Nothing really. Just contemplating war. I’ve always enjoyed war movies and the international shenanigans surrounding them. I’ve spent a lot of time studying both World Wars, the politics before, during, and after. But the scale of it is hard to fathom until one sees things from this high up. So many more people are going to die here. And I can’t shake the feeling that I am going to be mixed up in this people grinder of a war. It’s kind of depressing.”

  Juan took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “You’re not wrong, boy. I’ve seen my fair share of things. Enough that I understand what my grandpa meant when he told me to get into something that would keep me far away from wars. He fought in the second World War in France. He liked to joke that he lost two things in that war: his virginity and his arm. But sometimes when he had a few drinks, Papa would say that he actually lost three things.”

  I listened quietly as we rode, now in sight of the camp’s sentries. I don’t know if he was waiting for me to ask about the third thing, but he didn’t continue. We rode like that until the sentries challenged us. Wood-spiked earthen bulwarks, topped by a wall, surrounded the entire camp from what I could see. The precaution seemed odd to me until I remembered the roving mercenary companies.

  After we entered the walled camp, Jerseil swung off toward what I assumed was the supply area, promising to rejoin us later. The noise was almost overwhelming after the ride down the pass. I said as much to Harper.

  “This isn’t bad at all. It’s worse the closer you get to the front lines,” she replied. “Besides, we’re not going to be here for long. Jerseil’s got to do his work, but he promised it would only take him a couple hours. Then we’ll wait for Juan to finish convincing the Council to give him command of enough troops to deal with the Steel Falcons. We’ll be out of here in maybe two hours.”

  I wasn’t so sure, but Harper led us to the Allied Army Council headquarters. Like everything else here, the two story building was a mix between a permanent structure and something that could be easily torn down and stored for the next campaign. Right next to it was a canvas tent-like building. I could see several chairs and a dais. It reminded me of the church tent revivals I’d read about that were fairly popular in the south and Midwest, primarily in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

  The ground was hard-packed and there were wooden sidewalks set up for looks or something just like in westerns. I was thinking it might be for the mud.

  “Finn, stay here for now and watch the horses,” Juan said. He and Harper dismounted, handing me the reins to their horses and the extras. GB shook her head and stomped a couple of times. I patted her neck, wishing I knew what was on her mind. Then I groaned and almost slapped my forehead. I had forgotten that there was a mind reading spell in my repertoire.

  Without over thinking it, I cast Mind Read on GB. She turned an ear towards me. Paying attention to slow/stupid friend. Need water. Too close to others, I need some room. Must protect slow/stupid friend. GB’s thoughts were mostly simple, and I got the general gist of them. I didn’t know if her thoughts of how I was slow or stupid should offend me, but it kind of made sense, as I wasn’t the best rider and knew little about horses. It was kind of endearing. I released the spell and patted her on the neck. I vowed to use it more often with her, especially during her rub down.

  “I care for you, too, GB. You’re a great horse,” I said, giving her a pat on her neck. GB snorted in response. I smiled, assuming it was a good thing.

  Harper came out then, a look of consternation on her face. “The Earth born members of the council want to meet you before they do anything official. I don’t know how they knew you were a mage, but they found out.”

  ********************************

  The room was small and had little in the way of circulation. After the cool breezes of the pass, it was too warm, and too stuffy. They had been questioning me for two hours. Mostly about what they had missed at home. Who won the Super bowls, the World Series, the economy, and about TV shows and movies that I had never seen. Boston winning the world series shocked them the most, I think.

  My eight questioners were an interesting bunch. The Earth born members of the council were all older than me, well dressed, and varied in race. There was a human man named Stephen with the musculature and height to make any body-builder drool. A couple of elves, Philip and Dahlia, held themselves aloof and mostly just listened. The third elf was Mary, who stood next to an old human woman introduced as Meghan, hunched over her gnarled and polished cane. Colin, a short, stocky guy with a beard hanging below his belt, stood next to another short, clean shaven man with elf-like ears who went by Alexi. The last person in the room was a tall woman with striking white hair, obsidian skin, and red eyes. She said her name was Isabella.

  “Alright. Enough with the questions about home. This young man needs to explain himself,” the older woman said, leaning on her gnarled stick with a slight grimace of pain. The young elf woman standing next to her shook her head and put a hand on Meghan’s arm.

  “No, little sister, this Mage needs to explain why he shouldn’t just be strung up by the mob that’ll form when they learn about his existence.” She said hotly, giving me an angry look. “In case you forgot, the last mage that ran loose made life hell for us.”

  The older woman shook her stick angrily at her… sister. “God damn it, Mary! Just because my body is old doesn’t give you the right to patronize me! How could I forget where I got my scars, or why I needed this stick all these god damned years? I’m still strong enough to throw you, so stop treating me like an invalid!” It sounded like this was not a new argument and was being exacerbated by my presence.

  The old woman took a moment to compose herself and turned to me again, “You’ll have to forgive my sister, young man. But yes. Why should we protect you, hmm?”

  “Um, first off, I only chose the mage class because my little brother enjoyed playing as a magic user in games. And it was the only one I recognized as having magic. Second, I have little desire for power. Like I said, I’m a political science major. All I have been studying for the past couple of years is how destructive power is. And what with Eric said, I’m not corrupted and won’t be as long as I don’t make a deal with the demon whose been messing up mages for the past several centuries.”

  “Eric’s research aside, we’re going to need more than that.” A short man with a beard grumbled. I wanted to say he was a dwarf. Maybe.

  “Look, I get it. A goddess told me a fucking story about a mage that went bad. I’ve been told how bad they are by others. But all of them were ambitious, power hungry before they got here. I’m not. All I want is to kiss this girl I met a few more times, complete this fucking quest so I can go home to my little brother and mom. I don’t want to stay here. Heck, if all of you get to go home, that’s a bonus in my book!” I knew my frustrated outburst wasn’t helping my situation, and that I should have just shut my trap. And yet, I was too hot, too hungry, and so sick of this crap.

  “But this whole bullshit thing about judging me without getting to know me is too much. If you don’t want to help, fine. I’ll do my best, but I’m only level 9. I’m going to die or get caught by those damned mercenaries who have been chasing me from day one, and the only people who can help me are treating me like dirt. Christ, I might be your only way back, and all you’re thinking about is whether to tighten the noose around my neck or let the mob do it!”

  I stopped for a moment, breathing hard, and glared at these older exiles. It had felt good to get that off my chest. I continued more calmly, “Hang me or help me, make up your minds. Maybe with only Juan’s and Harper’s help, I can make it to the caverns and find this beast that the Voice wants me to track. Maybe I can’t.” My voice got quiet as I looked down at my feet, “I have to try.”

  The short guy nodded his head and spoke for the first time in a high, reedy voice. “I’ve heard enough. The boy is sincere. It pains me to say it, as a victim of a mage myself, I think we can trust him.”

  Only Isabella held back her assent. She glared at me with her red eyes burning with hatred. “I can’t forget what he is,” she said and walked out of the room.

  The old woman hit the floor with her cane. “We are agreed, then. Finn, it’s likely you will be called in to testify. Show the reps of the Twelve the same honesty you’ve shown us, and you should be fine.”

  I watched them file out of the room, not knowing how to parse it all. That Isabella didn’t agree and would likely make trouble, and not the good kind. I stood there for a moment, enjoying the slight breeze from their leaving through the now open door. Juan stepped in, a grim smile on his face. He walked over to me and put his hand on my shoulder, giving it a squeeze.

  “You did good, Finn. I’m proud of you.”

  “Thanks, Juan. I’m pretty sure most of them wanted to kill me and be done with it,” I replied, the tension still in my voice and my body. “What’s next?”

  “Next? We walk into the lion’s den, boy,” he laughed without humor, “That’s where the real fun begins.”