I met the gaze of the older man, and he matched me evenly with sunken eyes. Grey, like the mists that swirled around us, but blazing with an intensity entirely their own. My shield, the reinforced exoskeleton of a gargantuan 3rd tier spider, came up to ward my front, and my spear haft slid along the keratin surface until it locked into place against a ridge, pointing directly at Fandar’s chest.

  ‘Show him who you are’, Vera had said, and I intended to, even if I planned not to hurt him. He was peak 2nd tier, and with a combat class much like myself. A veteran of the rebellion a decade ago, though he had joined only a couple of years before Vera had left from what I understood.

  I should have had no chance, but there was a difference between gaining a combat class as a 2nd tier, after spending two decades as a farmer or some such, compared to growing from level 15 all the way to where I now stood. Not only had I spent the last year actually fighting and killing rather than organising and training, but I’d also had time to align my skills and even beliefs with the concept of my class and path.

  Fandar had no such advantage, and I suspected that him being stuck at the peak of the 2nd tier had more to do with that sudden change later in life than the ridiculous experience requirements of a 2nd tier combat class itself. Still, each level in the 2nd tier was worth far more than those in the 1st – that was how the tiers worked, after all – non-linear power growth for non-linear experience requirements.

  Our backgrounds had narrowed that massive level differential between us somewhat, but as it turned out, not enough to make up for the difference in attributes and skill levels. I managed to juke aside from his first strike of some magical blast with a quick activation of Break-Step, and my hatchet flew towards his head. It was enough to distract him for a moment, and that was all I needed to close in, my spear blocking off his avenues of attack and forcing him to back away and circle.

  He was a canny fighter though, and quicker than I could track and before I knew it, he was ducking under my stab and inside my rage, pushing me back even as he lunged at my head. I dropped Resolution and summoned my fang dagger as I backpedalled, lifting my lead leg to avoid a downward swipe of the short katar that had appeared in his fist, but his front foot managed to snare my back one as I took the step, and I fell hard to the floor.

  I deflected the blade coming for my throat with my shield, punching up so the raised ridge running along the centre snapped him in the face, but he leaned back swiftly to avoid it. Still, it gave me the space I needed to roll to my feet and summon my spear. Resolution landed in my palm as he came forwards once more, and we danced around the impromptu ring, clashing weapons and trading blows for what felt like hours. I drew the short straw with each exchange but managed to avoid serious injury until the end.

  He fainted a jab with the katar and as I moved my shield off centre to block, he rammed his knee into it, doing no damage but driving me back all the same, and we fell to the ground with my shield arm trapped beneath his hips. From his dominant position, he managed to control my weapon-hand and was poised to strike.

  I thought he would leave it there, and was opening my mouth to yield when he rammed the punch-dagger down towards my face and I acted instinctively. The Mountain’s Gate forced itself onto the world, and starlight blinded Fandar, an irregularly shaped sphere of mana forcing him from atop me and casting him to the floor as I was wrapped in a protective cocoon of power.

  I stood and rolled my shoulders as I examined the man who now calmly sheathed his daggers somewhere beneath his cloak. “Testing me, were you?” I asked.

  He nodded, a shallow smile gracing his gaunt visage. It didn’t do much for his appearance, being honest. “Yeah…I thought you might be holding something back, and it looks like I was right. Good job, runt,” he replied.

  I glared at Fandar then. “How much did she pay you to call me that?” I asked, and he laughed, as did Vera and Jorge.

  “Looks like we’re all happy then?” Jorge asked, and Fandar nodded slowly.

  “You’ve got a strong group with you, Vera. I hope it’s enough, for all our sakes.”

  It was a somewhat grim pronouncement, but when I looked from Vera and Jorge to the rest of our group, I was filled with confidence rather than apprehension. The lean frame of Nathlan looked comically undersized next to Jacyntha’s muscular form, but i knew they were a dangerous pair, and Sadrianna stood beside them with an easy confidence. Jorge and Vera were pillars of strength behind them all, and I grinned as I felt my core slowly refill with the mana I had spent moments before.

  We were ready.

  “Okay then, students. Do we all know what we’re doing?” Jorge asked.

  We were all sat around the fire, a jug of sweet wine being passed around the circle, though vastly watered down. Grim work on the morrow, and none of us would be better off if we greeted it with a hangover.

  Jorge pointed to me first, and I cleared my throat dramatically. “The only task for me is to infiltrate the castle, and then delay the excavation until I am rescued, beautiful and distressed damsel that I am,” I said with a wink.

  “Can we just leave him?” Sadrianna snarked and the others laughed along with us.

  “Well volunteered Sadrianna. Your task?” Jorge asked with a grandfatherly smile, his single long braid nearly white at the tips, through fading to a strong black near the base of his mostly smooth head.

  “I, alongside Jacyntha and Nathlan, will pose as a mercenary from the mountain clans. We will escort Lamb to Castle Ryonic, then partake of the duke’s hospitality and reward. We then leave after Nathlan gets a good look at the castle wards, and head off back to Barrow-Under-Tine.

  “If we are being followed by then, we kill our tails, and if not, we circle back around to the woodlands on the northside of the castle to meet you and Fandar’s people, where we all attack at nightfall.”

  She finished with a flourish, ceding the metaphorical floor to Jorge once more, who smiled once more. “Jacyntha and Nathlan…I suppose I’ll have to let you off. Seems we all know our roles then, aye?”

  He asked, but I piped up a question. “What about you and Vera?” I asked.

  “We wait, lad, and we watch. Anything seems to be going wrong in that castle, and we come knocking whether the wards are in place or not.”

  “And then?” I asked, again.

  Jorge didn’t share my smile this time though. His gaze remained flinty, and he breathed in almost a whisper, though it carried across the camp easy enough. “Then lad, we do the World Tree’s work and topple a dynasty before it can lay down its roots.”

  “How’s that done then?” I asked, though I thought I already knew the answer.

  “In the way all dynasties eventually fall,” he said sadly, and then Vera broke in, her voice cold and final as the last nail in a coffin.

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  “We kill.”

  Nobody spoke for a few moments, and when I looked around the fire, I saw heads bowed. Some in preparation, no doubt readying themselves for the fighting to come, others simply in contemplation. Thoughts always came thick and fast before a life-altering decision, and there weren’t many things more life-altering than gambling your life on the edge of a blade.

  I didn’t like it though.

  “Come on, people,” I said, standing and clapping my hands together in the way Jorge was fond of. “Not like this.”

  I looked around, holding gazes until I was sure I had their attention before I started pacing. “We’re all risking our lives tomorrow, for different reasons, I’m sure, but risking it all the same. Some of us might not come back from this. Hells, maybe none of us will! But I’ll not spend what is possibly my final night moping about it.”

  “Vera,” I said as I pointed to her across the fire, seeing the flames’ reflection dance in her eyes. “I’ve been piss scared of you since I met you. You’re a brute of a woman and if I ever find myself face to face with whatever god runs the 9th circle in this world, I won’t be surprised to find out you stole their fire but they’ve just been too scared to ask for it back.”

  She raised her eyebrows, and Jorge laughed in surprise, but I continued on regardless. “…but I’ve never seen such compassion for others in anyone before. You’ve got the weight of your own crushing history on your shoulders, but you didn’t even hesitate to stoop down and add mine to your back as well. You’ve done the same to Nathlan, and now you’ve taken on Jacyntha’s burdens too. Saddie’s too perfect to weigh you down much, but I’m sure Jorge is a right fucking whiner, so no doubt you’ve been carrying his burdens for years, too.”

  Sadrianna grinned, and Nathlan and Jacyntha both nodded in agreement, shooting grateful looks Vera’s way even as Jorge spluttered. “Point is, you’re one hell of a friend, Vera, and I’ll never forget the care you showed me. I hope I can live up to your brother’s image one day, and I’m glad to take this fight tomorrow alongside you.”

  Despite his sputtering, Jorge hadn’t been idle, and I grunted in surprise as I caught a wineskin out of the air. I noticed everyone around the fire now had their own – courtesy of the old man - and he led us in a toast. “Skjal!” he shouted, and we all followed suit.

  I turned then to Nathlan, who looked suddenly uncomfortable as my attention fell on him. “Nathe-lan,” I said, purposefully mispronouncing his name in the way I knew he hated, “you’re an embarrassingly timid lad for one as dangerous with a blade as you are. You don’t like talking about yourself, and when you do start jabbering on about a topic that only you are interested in, it’s almost impossible to get you to shut up…”

  Despite the words, he grinned up at me, and Jacyntha smirked and bumped him in the shoulder good-naturedly too. “Stop looking at me with those puppy dog eyes, mate, you know what’s coming. Despite my long list of complaints, you’re my first friend in this world. You’re loyal and true to your allies, and you’ve got a good head on your shoulders and a burning need to see the right path through. I’ll follow you anywhere, mate, though I might try and steer you from time to time, especially if we risk running too close to a library on our travels.”

  I let that moment hang for a breath before my final point; “and most importantly, I look forward to once and for all proving who the better fighter is tomorrow!”

  “Skjal!” Jorge shouted, and we all echoed him, swigging from our skins as we did.

  Sadrianna flinched as I called out her name, striding over to her side of the fire and clapping a hand on her shoulder. “What can I say about you, Saddie?” She flinched again at the nickname, and I cackled with glee.

  “You’ve got ambition spilling from your ears, and you teeter on the verge of arrogant every single day. But with the gods as my witness, every fucking time I think you’re about to fall into that trap, you go ahead and prove yourself right in that self-confidence, and get the fucking thing done that you said you would. I have no doubt whatsoever, that if you survive tomorrow, you will skip all the way back to the clans with that perfect smile on your perfect face and announce to everyone in your perfect voice that you’re going to fix all their problems….”

  I sighed as I ran out of breath, deflating slightly before I pulled another deep breath into my lungs once more. “…and then you just fucking will. Wouldn’t be surprised if you could convince Alker Ribcrusher to take up singing lessons” I said with a laugh.

  She grinned in response, but before Jorge could raise a toast, she shocked me once more. “He has an incredible voice, actually. Very rich baritone, and he can really fill a room, as you can imagine.”

  “Of course she knows all about singing, too,” I moaned, rolling my eyes, and then Jorge called, “Skjal!” and we cheered and drank.

  “Jacyntha,” I pronounced with weight. She shrank down a little, letting out a quiet, “oh gods!”, but I bull-rushed through whatever protest she may have been about to let slip, and continued my pacing round the fire.

  “To be frank, you were a bit of a cunt when we first met,” I said pleasantly, and Nathlan snorted with laughter. She batted him softly, but nodded her head in acceptance as she did so. “…but you’ve worked hard to overcome that fatal flaw, which is far more than I can say for others,” I said, making an over-exaggerated head tilt towards Jorge. “I won’t belabour the point, because there’s too much I still need to find out about you – I don’t even know your favourite breakfast yet! – but I can see that you’ve got a heart in you, and you’re working on growing it.”

  I met her gaze and implored her to see the sincerity within my own as I spoke my next words. “Hold fast to your path – you’ve already grown into a friend I’d be honoured to stand beside, and I am confident that you’ll become much more in time. You’re one of us now, Jacyntha, wherever you choose to go from here, and you’re not alone any longer.”

  “Skjal!” went the chant, and I caught a tension in her shoulders as she drank that hadn’t been there before. Sadrianna placed a companionable hand on her shoulder, and she sniffed quietly.

  “Jorge,” I said softly as I turned to the final member of our little group. “Jorge, Jorge, Jorge.” I shook my head.

  “Brace yourself everyone, cus this will be a long one. You’re the most annoying fucker I’ve ever met, quite frankly.” I said, and he raised an eyebrow sardonically at me. “Seriously, Jorge, it’s excruciating working with you. You keep secrets close to your chest like a knucklebone player, and you manipulate us all into whatever dance you’re leading us into, and then you act surprised when we don’t react how you want. And worse than that,” I said, pacing once more as I gestured wildly.

  “Worse than that, is when you act all smug for knowing how we would act in the first place. You set the fucking thing up mate, of course you knew! Share some of the info with the rest of us, and maybe we’d have god-like predictions about our own fucking lives too!” I nearly shouted.

  He looked surprised at the heat in my tone, and turned to Vera, but she just shrugged and nodded. “He’s got you there,” she said softly.

  “I still don’t know to this day whether you’re actually an ancient old man who’s been here since the dawn of the era, or whether you’re just balding and greying early from the stress of pretending to be a wise old man with mystical powers.

  “I am thoroughly convinced that you are completely unkillable by this point, by dint of pure frustration if nothing else. Everyone you meet will know who you are, and you have a plan for everything. I’m half expecting the duke to just open the gates tomorrow and then trip onto a raised kitchen knife and his head will just roll all the way down the hill to rest at our feet. And then you’ll just turn to us and say ‘well I’ve never seen anything like that, lad’ with a smug smile on your smug face, ya old git!”

  I heaved in a breath, pausing my tirade for a moment.

  “Skjal?” Sadrianna asked, and I glared her unto silence.

  “Despite all of that. Despite your annoying tendency to keep secrets and act like you know everything, despite your-”

  “Lamb,” Vera interrupted, “you don’t have to list them all again.”

  I grinned a little sheepishly before trying again. “Despite all that…you’re an amazing teacher. I could live another century wandering the land and I doubt I’d find anyone both as filled with knowledge and as willing to share it with me. You’ve dedicated your life to a mission, though I’ll be damned if I know what it is, and you’ve given so much to it that I am frankly in awe. I can say without a shadow of a doubt, that I owe my life and everything I am to you.

  “You found me when I had nothing, and took me under your care for no reason as far as I can tell. You’ve given me food, shelter, safety and training. But most of all, you’ve given me hope. That I can make something of myself in this wide world, that it’s worth the effort to try, and above all else; you’ve given me hope that a better world is possible.”

  I watched him as I said my piece and saw something crack as my final words hit him. He didn’t wait for the ritual words, and instead stood from the fire and embraced me. He was a good few inches shorter than I was, but his arms enveloped me nonetheless, and he pulled me tight like father does to a son.

  His eyes were misty, and I wondered at the significance of those final words; why they’d had such an effect.

  “I’m proud of you, lad,” he said, and the question was wiped from my mind. After a handful of breaths getting my own face under control, I looked up to see the others standing around the fire.

  I coughed, and finished the ritual myself. “I’m proud to stand beside each of you, and may luck be with us tomorrow. Skjal!”

  The answering shout warmed me as sure as the wine did, and I grinned around at the group of fighters – each of us different, but all bound by a common cause.

  The night wound down after that, and within a bell we were all bedded down. I thought of what was to come tomorrow, and steeled my nerves. Now that all of the pieces were on the board, all that was left to do was to roll the dice.