Madaleene’s eyes struggled open as she heard whispered conversation around her. The voices were familiar. Her right eye was covered, held closed by a wrap around her face.

  She stifled a groan, and the rising panic. Instead she looked around to see where she was, what situation she was in, and how she should behave. It was behavior that came with growing up in a castle, but sometimes it was useful.

  “If we’re talking about where the food comes from, it gets brought in from neighboring cities.” Said a woman with a ragged and exhausted voice.

  “So even if… we really are screwed,” CJ whispered. “What did people have to say about the prison?”

  CJ was standing in the middle of the room, a tall figure next to Brook. The room was some sort of small room with stone walls. It was her bed, a few wooden stools, a pair of lanterns on the walls, and the exit. A woman in House of Mercy robes was sitting on one of the stools, her back to Madaleene.

  “Please,” the woman whispered, “keep your voices down.”

  Brook glared at the woman, then answered CJ, “The prison was a sore spot for a lot of people in the Brothers. You won’t find any local but the merchants and nobles that liked the place. Emptying it out was… popular.” Brook’s skin still appeared pale, and she had bandages wrapped tight around her chest and neck.

  CJ narrowed his good eye in thought. She liked when he did that, he even stopped in the middle of conversations to consider what to say next. Some people she spoke to found him impulsive, but she didn’t agree. He considered every word, and when he had to stop and think that meant there was just that much more to consider.

  “Maybe this can work then, have you been able to get me a map-“ CJ stopped mid-sentence and raised a hand toward Brook. “Wait, I should check on the others.”

  Madaleene expected him to walk out of the room, but instead he stood there. Then with a glimmer, a crown of soulflame erupted around his head. His eyes glowed, even the glyph eye behind his eyepatch. She could make out a pulse leaving him, the air disrupted like by a fast burst of heat.

  Madaleene sat up in surprise, and regretted the action. All eyes in the room turned on her, and pain went up the right side of her head, along her neck, face, and scalp. She could feel now that she had extensive bandages, and she couldn’t hide a small yelp of pain.

  Despite his eyes glowing with power, CJ looked her direction and held up a finger to her. There was another disruption of the air around him, and then the flame wreath vanished.

  “Ma’am,” the Ward priestess said as she turned and checked on Madaleene. “You shouldn’t move. You’re still recovering after all.”

  “Glad you’re awake,” CJ said with a grin, “sorry if we were a little loud. I was just asking Brook some questions while on the way here.”

  CJ and the priestess looked at her with something like pity. Soft expressions, slow movements. It was an expression she knew from past experience. Doing something stupid or humiliating, or even just bad, could get you that look when you were a noble. People took pity on you before they took umbrage. They knew you were sheltered, that you were just doing what limited best you had. They knew they couldn’t tell you how they really felt.

  Madaleene hated that look.

  She brought a hand up to her face, and the priestess touched her hand to try to dissuade her. “Leave your bandages where they are, I’ve done quite a bit of work to get them on right, ma’am.”

  “What happened?” she asked, looking to CJ.

  He thought for a moment, watching her eyes. Then he stood tall. “You took a bad hit, some kind of soulflame attack. I looked it up later, I guess it is called the Breath of Black Flame.”

  Madaleene looked to Brook, who was watching her with an emotionless gaze. The woman crossed her arms, as if to sell how much she didn’t care.

  “It seems like her facets drain people’s energy, leaves little bits burned into you that just feed back to her.” CJ continued. “Nasty stuff, but Brook stepped up to help, and we ran her off. Then Ophy got you to the Wards.”

  “Well if Brook is here, I assume we won.” She said. “What are we doing about the… Ash Cult problem?”

  She shifted, and felt the soreness across her body as CJ looked to the priestess for some sort of okay.

  “I’m fine enough to talk,” Madaleene said.

  CJ shifted his shoulder, and she could see that he was bandaged there under his shirt. “Well if you say so. Yeah we got Brook out, but the council in charge of the city aren’t too happy about us releasing the whole prison. Not that I blame them.”

  “Should we leave?” Madaleene asked. It seemed like the easy solution. They had a job, they did it. They even had a surviving member of the Brotherhood of the One Flame. Why were they sticking around, unless… “Unless, you have some sort of plan.”

  CJ put his hands on his hips like an angry housemaid, “I don’t like how you say that. You make it sound like a negative.”

  Brook chimed in, “is there something wrong with his plans?”

  Madaleene wanted to say yes. She didn’t know if that answer would be mocking him playfully, or honestly, she was still coming to terms with that. But she felt before how much it messed with him when his plans fell apart. It didn’t feel right to prod at a weakness he had so thoroughly exposed.

  “No,” she said. Looking between the two of them and ignoring the prodding fingers of the Ward. “But it means a lot of preparing.”

  CJ chuckled, “good news, you’ve been sleep for 3 days so you got to skip that part.”

  “Three!?” She tried to sit up as she gasped out the number, but pain shot up her back and she slumped back down.

  He came closer, standing at the edge of the bed, “I beat you, princess, I was only out for one.”

  “Alyss? Larl? Welma and Land?” She asked.

  “Your servants are fine,” Brook said with a tilt of her head.

  CJ nodded, “yeah, Alyss is already on her way back here. We have been focusing on protecting the people of the city while they do their own thing. Those that know about what was happening at the prison, or who got caught up in the fighting, are pretty fed up. Seems like having some mercenary bonds standing behind them was all they needed to stage an uprising.”

  “Something like that,” Brook said. She didn’t sound as convinced as him.

  Madaleene slid back down into her bed, ignoring the temporary pain for the larger relief. It sounded like she could relax a little longer at least. The situation was being handled.

  “Okay,” she said with a sigh. “I’ll go ahead and ask now. What was that ability you used earlier?”

  CJ actually smiled. “Finally! I was waiting for you to ask. I’ve been messing around with it, trying to get used to it enough that I could show it off. Takes a lot out of me, feels like running, well, running across the countryside anytime I turn it on. But if I ignore it and power through, I can keep it up.”

  She looked him over. He didn’t seem too different physically, but this new power definitely excited him.

  “So… what is it?” She asked.

  “I think it’s something new,” he said. “Larl thinks it might be a new attunement, but I haven’t had the chance to have someone crack me open yet.”

  “A new attunement?” She considered the possibility. New aspects of attunements and facets were always being discovered, but a new attunement from CJ? Was that an aspect of him being the a hero general? Was that wishful thinking?

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  He closed his eyes for a second, and then she felt it, a sudden rush of power. She saw the light of soulflame just above her, some kind of crown for herself. Her soulstone was connected to CJ, not unlike their bonds. She felt stronger, her pain dulling and thoughts sharpening. But it wasn’t exactly the same, she couldn’t feel exactly what CJ was thinking and feeling. That sensation was replaced with something else.

  ‘Again?’ She heard Alyss say. Except it wasn’t audible, just a thought expressed like words.

  ‘Someone else is here,’ added Larl.

  ‘What is this?’ Madaleene thought. But the thought went out like words, audible in her mind. It echoed out.

  She could tell, vaguely, where Larl and Alyss were. She knew who was connected. Her soulstone knew their soulstones. It was like their full bond but somehow very different, a lighter touch. Also, Larl and Alyss were so far away!

  “B-but how?” she said out loud.

  ‘You can blame Larl,’ CJ thought to the group. ‘He was just that sure I could break the rules, so I did.’

  Larl’s thoughts came in with excitement, cheer, undercut by something roiling and dark, ‘I wouldn’t put it that way.’

  ‘Not only can we connect from a distance,’ CJ thought, ‘but you can still have another bond. We can connect four bonds like this.’

  ‘It sounds insane,’ Alyss said, ‘but we’ve done it, Lady Mae.’

  Madaleene looked to the Ward priestess, who was making sure the bandages weren’t cutting off circulation.

  ‘Amazing.’ Was all she could say. ‘Is this how Greywind does his thing?’

  CJ shook his head no, despite not speaking aloud. ‘No. Well not exactly, but I’m not sure it isn’t completely different. I saw something else, something similar. But I haven’t found any other evidence of it. If Greywind also has a unique attunement, it means I’ve only started to even the battlefield.’

  The door opened, and Alyss was there. She could see the soulflame tiara floating near her head. Alyss turned on Madaleene and came over with hurried by controlled steps.

  ‘Three of us are here now Larl, I’m going to disconnect for now.’ CJ thought.

  Larl got in fast, ‘actually, I could use your help here. It seems like I’m making progress. We might be able to get you a meeting if you are willing to show your face to some of the men I’m speaking to.’

  Madaleene could sense Larl’s surroundings. Again, it wasn’t the same the full bond, more of a loose sense.

  CJ looked off into the corner for a few seconds, then nodded. ‘Okay, I’ll head to you.’

  “Take Brook with you,” Alyss said. “I need to speak to Lady Mae for a bit in private.”

  Brook wiggled her nose and sniffed at the air. “Oh, back to actually speaking for people to hear then huh?”

  There was a sensation like pulling your hand away from a whirlpool of water, the sudden loss of suction. Then CJ’s crown of soulflame was gone.

  “Sorry Brook,” he said, “I figured it was quickest to just show her what it did. I’m about to head to Larl, wanna come?”

  “I’m being paid,” Brook said with a cold indifference.

  CJ looked back to Madaleene. “Get some rest, I get the feeling everything here is going to get wilder before it gets easier. We’ve been trying to minimize how much fighting we do without you, I know you don’t want to be behind on tiers.”

  He smiled again, and then turned to head to the door.

  “Wait,” she said.

  He stopped. They still had their normal bond, lingering there. She could tell where he was, and she could sort of understand what was going on with him. Between the three of them there, the prevailing feeling was stress and worry in different amounts. It felt like she missed so much, and she wasn’t sure if her waking up was helping or hurting their situation.

  “Good job,” she said. “I mean, saving the prison situation. Thank you, CJ.”

  She looked at him, and he looked at her with curiosity.

  Then he nodded, “Thanks. I had a lot of help though, remember?”

  She chuckled, and he chuckled, then he walked out the door with Brook right behind him.

  “Sorry sister of the Wards,” Alyss said as she came and sat near Madaleene’s feet on the bed, “If I could speak to her for a short while.”

  The woman nodded, “Of course.”

  She walked out and closed the door behind her, leaving just Alyss and Madaleene. They looked at each other for a moment, a strange formality hanging in the air. She still didn’t know how Alyss was supposed to treat her. She did drop her title, but Alyss swore a new allegiance to her. Despite no longer being a ‘Duchess’, Alyss was her bodyguard before she worked for CJ. Not that they spelled any of that out to anyone else. It was their own agreement. CJ and Larl had some idea of it, by the nature of their connection.

  “Alyss,” Madaleene said. “I wanted… to apologize. I probably made you worry a bit.”

  Alyss reached out and grabbed her, hugging her so tight that Madaleene let out a gasp in surprise and pain.

  “Ow ow!”

  “Bear it, for just a moment.” Alyss said. Then she released the hold, and quickly dried her eyes with her thumb before sitting up straight as if it never happened.

  Madaleene sighed with relief as the pain receded.

  “You lived, and we’re both here. Since I wasn’t there to protect you, consider us even.” Alyss said in her usual even tone.

  They both chuckled, but she couldn’t ignore the tension in the air. She didn’t know what was the cause, but the air felt thick around them. She brought a hand up to her face, and touched the bandages.

  “Is it real bad?” She asked.

  Alyss’s brow fell, and she looked away. “You look as amazing as ever, Lady Mae.”

  She rolled her eyes, “Goodness, that isn’t what I asked. I have no intent to win a hand at a ball, Alyss! I… it feels stupid to even ask. We’ve seen so many people with scars as we’ve fought. We will have many more with time.”

  Alyss shook her head no, “asking is nothing. But we won’t really know until it all comes off.”

  “I just worry, am I on the right path?” Madaleene said as she looked to the opposite wall instead of staring at Alyss. “If the people we lost at home could see me now, what would they think? If Sir Byr could see me, would he…”

  She let the words hang in the air. She didn’t want to pull all of this on Alyss, but she was one of the few remaining who would understand. They fled home, they left soft beds and flourishing fields, to run for their lives. They were supposed to fight, to get revenge for their people and their faith, and win Akahi back.

  “They would be proud,” Alyss said. “And they would cry. So proud of their Duke’s daughter, who was willing to give up everything to stand up for them, and actually stood by that. Byr would be so sad that you have to take up the sword, but I can’t imagine anyone else more worthy.”

  She felt tears well up in her eyes, but blinked them back.

  “What if they knew?” She asked. “How long until the truth comes out, and hate spoils all of that?”

  Alyss shook her head. “We just have to accept what comes. The flames gives life, and the flames consume. Your father is dead now, Lady Mae. Don’t suffer for his mistakes.”

  They were the only two left with the secret. It wasn’t some terrible force that stopped the summoning of the 4 heroes. Sir Byr & Alyss knew, her father knew, as did select few among the Temple leadership. Akahi spoke of the day the heroes would arrive, but their leaders whispered in back rooms about how to prevent that day.

  She was there the day her father died by Greywind’s hands, and she heard a secret not even Alyss knew. It tore at her, especially as she watched CJ fight so hard to return her home.

  “I’m not doing it for him,” Madaleene said, “I have to figure this out for myself. You and I have to restart the Magmaguard, Alyss. We have to, for Byr, and for Akahi.”

  Alyss nodded. “But first, get some more rest.”

  “It just depends if you think you can make that work.”

  Brook was talking to CJ as they walked down a back alleyway. His mind was somewhere else, but he was trying to pay attention to her response. He asked if she would be willing to join a bond with him, and it seemed she had some conditions.

  He was watching the tops of the buildings, looking for any signs of the strange woman.

  “Your friend, right?” CJ asked. He shook himself alert.

  She nodded, “I don’t work without him.”

  “If we can find him, certainly.”

  “He’ll show,” she said with a confidence he didn’t expect. She was a strange person. He didn’t know how much of her personality was warped by her experience in the dungeon, but he suspected not much. She was matter of fact, and didn’t have any qualms with any dangerous or unseemly activities he suggested. She only cared about the price he would pay for it, and why he wanted to do it.

  The first part alarmed him, but paired with the second it made her make sense. She was willing to do anything, but not for anyone. He could respect that, depending on where she drew the lines.

  An explosion went off in the distance. They both stopped, and Brook put up a hand to stop him before running forward and checking at the corner before a wider street. She leaned further out, and then ran back.

  “We’re fine. It should be your pals.” She said.

  “That is a little early,” CJ said. Ophy and Benton were helping with some sabotage. The locals wanted to bring down another guard post, he was happy to provide muscle.

  It felt strange backing an uprising, but something deep inside him felt a little proud. The city was cruel to anyone that didn’t have the money or titles to make life easier. That was a situation he knew too well. He didn’t bother trying to explain the intricacies of his own world’s politics to these people, especially since it could just color how they see him.

  But it meant he couldn’t leave this place how it was. He couldn’t watch the powerful abuse the powerless now that he actually had the strength to do something more than wave signs and complain online.

  If he was supposed to be a hero, he would be a real hero to as many people as he could. More likely, he would die trying. So he would have to make a really impressive corpse.

  “Can’t you coordinate him with your, crown thing?” Brook asked.

  He shook his head. “I’m still figuring out the limitations there, but it seems like I can only have so many people connected through that. It may be three, so four of us connected total.”

  She nodded at that without thinking. The number four always made sense here, they just accepted it.

  But now if he was right, he could connect four groups of four, sixteen people all in one bond. That did rely on the individuals having the strength to maintain large enough bonds, but he could train them for that, he was sure. If the bond grew stronger for every member, then they could be stronger than most armies.

  His breath caught in his throat, and he felt a pain like a jagged knife slipping through the center of his chest. CJ staggered and stopped, leaning against a nearby wall as he bent over and let out a horrible cough.

  Brook stopped and turned to watch as he put a hand to cover his mouth as cough after cough shook him. Each felt like a new blade slipping into him, dancing around, then finally coming loose with the final hacking cough.

  His hand was wet. He looked down and saw blood in his palm.

  “Damnit,” he whispered, “not again.”

  “You’re sick,” Brook said. It was a statement, a fact without need of research.

  He grinned, then wiped it off on the nearest wall. “Tell you a secret, I always was. Though that hurt like hell. Come on, I want to get this meeting over with.”

  He didn’t have long to save this world, and all his enemies had a head start. Thankfully, he picked up on things pretty fast.