As expected, Saul didn't speak much over his morning soup. Anna didn't mind the silence, though; he still felt like a campfire for her spirit.

  She decided to poke him after a bit, when it became apparent he didn't plan on moving. When he turned, she smiled at him. "I wonder how Hiday?t's doing. Can we see him before Langley comes?"

  "We can arrange that. I'm curious about what he did after we made it back to the encampment."

  "You mean how he got so many kills?"

  Saul nodded. "It's not normal to be so efficient, even if you're superhuman."

  "Speak for yourself!"

  Saul chuckled at that, and they left out towards the encampment. Everywhere inside the fort was a flurry of activity as they prepared for the next wave of supplies- even outside the gate was getting more lively as refugees returned to their homes. Saul suspected the supply convoy would bring a large wave of returning citizens as well.

  Anna got nervous as they started walking over the field, but Saul patted her back reassuringly. "Don't worry, Anna. The memory is strongest for a few days, but its aggression fades with time. You should be safer now."

  Anna frowned, walking carefully. "A live coal still burns to touch it, ?adar. Forgive my fear, but I don't want to test the waters."

  Saul just chuckled and picked her up, letting her ride piggyback. "Fear is normal, Anna. To let fear control you is not."

  "You're saying I should feel it?" Anna's hands patted Saul's head. "You're asking me to touch the coal?"

  "What better time to feel it, than when you're next to someone that can help you?"

  Anna sighed dramatically. "Fine, I'll try. It's gonna hurt, though."

  Saul gingerly picked Anna up off of his shoulders then set her on the grass, and Anna tensed, expecting the same branding heat.

  Instead, although it was uncomfortable, it didn't attack her as she expected. She could even force out its influence if she focused.

  Saul smiled when he saw her shoulders relax. "Well? Does your ?adar know best?"

  Anna opened her eyes and smiled, rolling her eyes. "?adar knows best, I guess."

  The walk to the encampment was pleasant, if damp. A cool breeze was coming from the west; it looked like rain would be in their future.

  The demon encampment was nowhere near as energetic as the fort; they still were waking up and heading to their fires in twos and threes, conversing amongst each other in soft voices. Hiday?t noticed them and rose, nodding to them.

  "Sorcerer, Anna. Today is the day?"

  Saul nodded back. "It is the moment of truth, as we say."

  Anna blinked. "But a moment is so short, no? Isn't it an hour of truth?"

  Saul just shook his head while Hiday?t laughed. "Ah, children are as refreshing as a s?wa?n-?as?uf -or a mountain spring... But I imagine you two didn't come her for banter."

  "That's right. You came to the fort with another wapiti and some fowl, in the span of an hour or two after we got back. What was your trick?"

  Hiday?t wiggled his brow. "My ways are mysterious, sorcerer. Can't a man have his tricks?"

  Saul chuckled. "You say that as a man with a hoard of tricks."

  "My tricks are mine, and for my ?ar... but I can give you my method of luring in prey. Anna, you can learn too; it's a simple trick."

  Hiday?t bent down and grabbed a stone from the floor. He paused for a moment, concentrating, then handed it to Anna. "How does it feel?"

  Anna closed her hand around it and closed her eyes. "It feels like... coming home." Her eyes opened and she stared at the rock, like she could see the mana swirling inside it.

  Saul could feel it from here. It was a deceptively small pull, but a pull nonetheless. "What is this?"

  "It's named a call-mark. All it requires is to paint your mana onto something while thinking of an emotion. We use these often to move game trails, guide where animals rest, or mark territory."

  "And this was how you caught so many?"

  "It helped. Your marble helped more- I can't thank you enough for that."

  Saul smiled. "Ah, think nothing of it. If it can help you find more game, then that's good enough for me."

  Anna looked up at Hiday?t. "How are you, ?adar?"

  "I am... as well as can be expected, Anna. I've lived a life of certainty for many generations, and now, everything is different." He paused, looking over his people. "Most of all, I'm grateful that we are together."

  Saul looked at him. "What would you be willing to do to keep that? To keep your people together?"

  "Anything, sorcerer. I would rage against the moving of the sun until the sky falls, if it meant my people would be at peace."

  Anna nodded. "We hear you, ?adar, and we think there's a path ahead. It may involve a few of us going back over the mountains."

  Hiday?t nodded. "If that's what it takes, little ?ad, then we will do it."

  Saul nodded and smiled. "Then I'm satisfied. Thank you for your support."

  "Thank you, Saul. You've done more for us than you know."

  They clasped arms before Saul and Anna excused themselves. Anna walked off to her friends, where they chatted for a bit while Saul looked south, out of the encampment. It was only a little while before she turned to follow Saul back toward the fort.

  Anna nudged him as they walked. "Hiday?t was so... what's the word? Heavy?"

  "Stoic? Serious?"

  "Yeah, the last one. He's really serious as a ?adar- almost as serious as you."

  Saul laughed. "Oh, I'm not so serious."

  "You are! You fill yourself with warmth every morning, and I think it's just so you can smile."

  "Why would I need tricks like that? I have a small, horned distraction that keeps me company."

  They jabbed at each other on the way back, their tone light, matching their steps. They stepped onto the main thoroughfare into the fort, and while the activity had mostly settled down, the part of the fort that housed the support crew was still shuffling around. Saul and Anna just carried on into the courtyard of the fort, and decided to wait. Anna made herself busy by watching soldiers train, while Saul put on some finishing touches to his kindling.

  Fiadh, now Ser Crowley since she was dressed in armor, paced in front of them. Anna didn't even need her sixth sense to see that she was nervous: her hands were clenching and unclenching like she was preparing to use that sword she always wore.

  Anna leaned over to Saul. "She's practically running a trail. Can we help?"

  Saul sighed. "The best we can do is hope this goes over well."

  "Well, I don't like it. This feels like bad-waiting."

  Saul paused. "I don't think I have a word for that in English."

  That pleased Anna, to Saul's amusement.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  ---

  One of the support staff walked up to Ser Crowley and murmured in her ear, and she turned to Saul. "He's coming."

  They could hear the sound of the supply wagons rattling along the cobblestone as they drew near. Saul and Anna took positions behind Ser Crowley, who looked to Anna, then glanced at Saul, who shook his head.

  The first one through the gate, of course, was Langley. He rode in on a destrier decked out in the red-and-yellow livery of the Langleys, wearing a sword by his side. From the look he was giving Ser Crowley, he looked like he intended to swing it.

  The Viscount spent first few moments after an attendant led the warhorse away glaring. His eyes looked between Saul, Ser Crowley, and when they looked to Anna, they widened.

  He still spoke no words, but his tense hands, intense look, and tight shoulders spoke for him.

  Langley turned and looked up, to the smoke coming from the encampment, then looked to Ser Crowley.

  "Come." Was all he said.

  And they followed.

  His stride wasn't hurried; he seemed to be choosing his words as they walked to the meeting hall. Anna could feel his anger, and it wasn't the bright flash she was expecting- it seemed to eat at him, somehow.

  They filed into the meeting hall, and as Anna closed the door behind her and took a seat at the table, Langley finally spoke.

  His eyes bored into Ser Crowley. "When the Earl of Carlisle sent you as recompense for my shaman, he praised your experience, your ruthless efficiency, and your daring tactics. He said you earned the moniker 'The Red Knight' for your prowess in single combat and your brutality." He paused. "I must admit, I was skeptical. Any trade that requires me losing a shaman was robbery in broad daylight, or so I thought. I read the results of this campaign two days ago with pleasant surprise, seeing that we lost only 8 men to demons from the north," His eyes looked to Anna, "only to read on and discover, to my horror, that the very demons that displaced over 800 of my people are not only availing themselves of our supplies- we house them! They live on my land, and hunt in my forest, and eat of my food- and for what?"

  He turned to Saul. "I sent you with the full weight of my authority to dispose of a problem. You were the man my father swore would follow commands. You were the man who gave his daughter up as collateral, for your cooperation. Tell me, Saul 'Demonsbane' Tremonti, rebellion leader and exile, why I shouldn't have you executed for disobeying my direct orders."

  "I... I have no excuse, my lord. I followed my judgement."

  Viscount Langley nodded, taking a breath. He turned to Ser Crowley. "And you? We spoke at length on my expectations for you. You swore that this would be a fruitful arrangement, and I believed you. And now, here we are. What do you have to say for yourself?"

  Ser Crowley bowed her head. "I was acting on new information, my lord."

  "Speak it, then."

  "I have reason to believe that the ?a?s?as-?u?s? is planning an invasion."

  Saul immediately channeled a dead man's resolve, firming his expression, as the Viscount turned sharply to look at her. "They what?!"

  Ser Crowley nodded, looking back at him. "One of our scouts came back with evidence of a large force on the other side of the mountains, but before he could gather more intel, he was spotted by their riders and fled back. This information matches what we heard of the ?a?s?as-?u?s? from the demons in the encampment. It's my belief that we need every pair of hands we can get to defend against them."

  Langley looked to Saul, then Anna, and was met with stony expressions.

  She, of course, was lying.

  While it was true that they had a round of scouts come in from the north, they never went over the mountains- or even into the pass- so they had no evidence whatsoever to justify the claims she was making.

  Langley looked back to Ser Crowley. "And you say these refugees, as you called them in your report, are capable of fighting?"

  "They have a fighting-ready force of hunters, male and female. One demon fights as hard as two men."

  Langley waved his hand. "That fact is well documented; they are rather difficult to put down." He paused, eyes boring into Ser Crowley. "So we have no idea for the numbers of an invading force of demons that could be anywhere from a month away, to less than a week away? Do you have an estimate, at least?"

  Ser Crowley nodded. "They number enough to overpower a nomadic tribe of around a thousand. If they had two-to-one warriors to hunters... we're looking at a battalion, maybe two."

  Langley looked like he was going to be sick. He walked over to a window that overlooked the courtyard and stood there for a moment, looking out at his soldiers. "Two thousand demons..." He cursed quietly while Saul and Ser Crowley shared a look.

  After what felt like ages, he muttered to himself. "This changes everything... I need to send missives for aid and prepare Fort Linwood for siege." He turned and gave both Saul and Ser Crowley a warning look. "This does not mean I trust you two; you both have disobeyed my orders."

  Ser Crowley opened her mouth to protest, but he silenced her with a raised hand. "I recognize that circumstances change, but even then, your actions were a breach of trust, and that requires consequences. Ser Crowley, your knighthood will be stripped, and you will be demoted to a common soldier, until such a time comes that you become worthy of the title."

  Ser Crowley, Ser no more, bowed her head, her voice choked. "... I understand, my lord, and will obey."

  Langley turned to Saul. "And you, Saul Tremonti... you will receive a stay of execution until I can confirm that the threat of this ?a?s?as-?u?s? tribe is removed. Then I will re-assess if punishment is necessary."

  "As you wish, my lord." Saul's face might as well be carved from stone.

  Langley turned back to the window, passing a hand through his hair. "Now, leave me. I must decide how to get us out of this debacle."

  Fiadh raised a hand. "My lord, I know I have no right to speak, but if I may?"

  "You-" Langley stopped himself. "I'm only hearing you out because you've been overseeing this fort since you came here. This is your last chance."

  "My thoughts were to send an expeditionary force of demons out through the pass, to gather info about the ?a?s?as-?u?s?. Their physical prowess is well known, as you said, and other then a select few scouts and Saul, there are few humans with experience traversing the northern slopes of the mountains."

  Langley nodded. "You have been heard, now leave me."

  (I belatedly realized I'm using both s? and ? to denote the same sound. Whoops! I'll keep it consistent after this.)