I decided my next course of action should be to find a safe way off the rafters. I awkwardly shimmied down one of the wooden pillars dotting the room, and a few minutes and several splinters later, I finally made it to the floor and was informed that LDB and his Time Mage had promptly fled the castle after my most recent performance and taken their soldiers with them. Yay! Less exciting was the knowledge that after fleeing, they’d decided to do something wholly original and set up another siege around the castle. Not yay.

We had a feast that night to celebrate our kinda victory, all of the supplies we’d snagged from the Boujie Boys meaning we might actually have enough food to survive the next few weeks of the siege. The mood of the feast was somber but hopeful. Yeah, there were still a bunch of baddies outside the walls waiting to either kill or enslave us, but we had food to eat and a secret weapon. Unfortunately, that weapon was me.

“I’d like to raise a toast to our resident spellcasters!” Cassian sat at the front of the mess hall on an ornate scarlet chair; he lifted a goblet and smiled at myself and Princess Melanie. “Times may be tough now,” he continued, “but for the first time in what feels like ages, we have hope for tomorrow.”

Hundreds of people sat in the mess hall with us; they cheered and applauded, staring at Melanie and me. The princess, for her part, was eating up the attention, making her hands flash with a green light in a display of showmanship. I sunk into my chair as people bombarded me with platitudes.

“You’re amazing, Miss Piper!” Said one villager.

“I can’t believe you saved us a third time.” Chimed another.

“Will you marry me?”

Okay, that was enough of that. I mumbled an excuse about needing to use the chamber pot and practically fled the room. It’s not that I’m against having a little praise and attention dolloped onto me, but my bag of tricks was starting to run dangerously low. I’d fought off three large-scale attacks against the kingdom, four if you included my pep talk with Princess Melanie, and in the process, all of my future technology had ceased to function. I seriously doubted I could pull another miracle out of thin air for a fifth time, and if I failed, that meant either death or enslavement, neither of which I was a fan of.

I paced through the castle to clear my head, and my feet carried me toward Thomas’ Wizard Room. I needed to check on my laptop and pray it was holding a charge. I reached for the door handle, only to have it open out towards me. Thomas stepped into the hallway, eyes turning as round as the moon when he noticed me.

“Oh, h-hey, Piper.” Stammered Thomas as he forced the fakest smile I’d ever seen. “Lovely weather we’re having.”

I cocked my head to the side; that was classic suspicious person behavior, and why wasn’t he at the feast with everyone else? “What are you hiding?” I asked, not in the mood for games or preamble.

“N-nothing.” He lied, trying to move past me and adjusting something he had wrapped in his arms.

Whatever, I didn’t have time for this. Without another word, I strode into the room and went to turn on my laptop. Or at least I was going to; my laptop wasn’t where I had left it.

A lightning bolt of panic raced from my head down to my feet. Where was my laptop!? “Thomas!” I cried, turning to face him, “Someone took my–.” Thomas sprinted away from the room as fast as his beefy legs could take him. I stared stupidly at him for a few seconds before finally making the mental connection. “You!” I growled, probably sounding like one of those creepy demon girls from The Exorcist.

I dashed after Thomas, running as fast as my rage-fueled girl legs could carry me. Technically, Thomas was taller and in much better shape than me, but he was also wearing 30-50 pounds of metal plate mail, so even if I lost sight of him, I could follow the clanking sound as his metal feet slapped against the stone floor. I chased him all through the castle, up and down the stairwells, and through the hallways, finally cornering him at a dead-end on the uppermost floor. Thomas didn’t say anything; he just stared at me, panting heavily as he clutched the thing wrapped in his arms. My laptop.

“Hand it over, Thomas.” I wheezed, sweat slicking my face. “I’m not gonna ask twice.”

“No!” yelled Thomas, his entire body shaking as he glared at me with twitchy eyes. I stepped back; Thomas looked about as crazy as I felt. If we got into a scuffle, my laptop could get damaged. I took a breath, trying to calm down and failing.

“Why do you even want my laptop?” I asked, attempting to be diplomatic. “It’s not like it’s even working.”

“You’re planning on leaving once it’s fixed.” Snapped Thomas, glancing down at the bundle in his arms.

I blushed. Was Thomas doing this because he’d miss me? I was flattered, of course, but I had thought he and Ellie were a thing. Was I the other woman?

“Your magic is the only thing that’s kept Praedones from being conquered,” he continued. “If you leave, who’s gonna protect everyone?”

Oh, he wasn’t falling in love with me; that made things slightly less awkward. “I’m sorry, Thomas,” I replied, trying to make my voice sound as soothing as possible but probably still sounding furious. “But I need to go home. You, Ellie, and everyone else are great, but I don’t belong here.”

Thomas didn’t look convinced; I tried twisting the proverbial knife deeper. “If you were in my situation and ended up somewhere far away from home, wouldn’t you do anything to see your family and Ellie again?”

That seemed to do the trick. Thomas gritted his teeth, breaking eye contact with me and staring at the floor. He didn’t speak for a long time. “A knight’s job is to protect the people of his kingdom,” he said, voice almost a whisper, “And keeping you here is the best way to not only protect Praedones but also keep Ellie safe.”

“My phone and Bluetooth speaker are both dead!” I said, exasperated, “My flashlights will run out of juice eventually, too. I’m severely limited in what I can do to help moving forward.

“Well, then we can use potato magic to fix your phone and speaker.” Replied Thomas, “You’re far too important, and I’m not letting you leave, that’s final.”

Okay, diplomacy was not working; time for a more violent approach. With a tribal yell, I lunged for Thomas, leaping onto him and trying to wrestle him into submission. Normally, I’d be concerned about a beefcake like Thomas beating me into the ground, but thankfully, he was so awkward around women that even skin-to-skin contact between us was enough to make him flip out.

“No, stop!” Cried Thomas, curling up into a ball as I scratched at his exposed bits. “I can see your ankles!”

“Give me back my laptop!” I yelled, wondering if all of Thomas’ armor would protect him from a crotch shot.

“Never!”

I scrambled onto Thomas’ back and wrapped my arms around him in a headlock. He bolted up from the floor and started running for his life, trying to reach behind him and shake me off but struggling to do so as he still needed to hold my laptop with his other hand.

“Eat this!” I spat into my hand and rubbed the spit into Thomas’ eyes.

“Augh, cooties!” Screamed Thomas, blindly running down the hallway and trying to ram me into suits of armor and furniture that littered the castle.

Suddenly, I felt myself floating in midair. I looked down and saw, to my horror, that Thomas had run us right off a set of stairs. “Brace yourself!” I yelled as we smacked into the staircase and began our long, painful descent down the castle. We bounced and thudded down those stupid stairs for a comically long time; I’d had no idea the castle was this large. Thomas thankfully took the brunt of the stairs as we descended, and normally, I would’ve felt bad for him, but I was too mad at the moment to be sympathetic.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

After what felt like ages, we finally slammed down onto the next floor, and I went flying from the force of the impact and slammed gracelessly into a wall. I scrambled back to my feet, ready for round two, but froze when I saw Thomas staring down at his arms in horror. “Oh no.” He whispered.

I walked over without a word, my movement feeling floaty and unnatural, almost like I was in a dream. I stared at Thomas’ arms and cradled between them was my laptop, now in two pieces. “You broke it,” I said, feeling a hole beginning to form inside my stomach.

“I’m so sorry.” He whispered, tears beginning to well up in his eyes. “I just wanted you to stay; I didn’t mean to break it.”

I stared into Thomas’ eyes, expecting to feel rage or anguish, but came away empty, feeling nothing. This was it, I was screwed, I was never getting home. I knelt before Thomas and reached for my laptop; he didn’t try to stop me. Then, holding what was left of my only way back home, I turned around and walked away.

XXX

I stiffly walked out of the castle and into the courtyard. I wasn’t sure where I was going, just that I needed to keep moving. If I kept going forward, I wouldn’t have to think; I wouldn’t have to ponder my situation. I wouldn’t have to come to the conclusion that I’d most likely never be saved, I’d never get on Broadway, and that I’d die hundreds of years separated from all the people and things I ever cared about.

And that’s when I started to cry. It was long, loud, and ugly, interspersed with hiccups and snot that flowed out of my nose like a river. I cried until I had nothing left, and then I cried some more. After that, I just started running. I don’t know why, but I had to move again; I had to keep myself from thinking about…well, you know.

A few torches lit the courtyard, but it was late now, and the castle grounds were bathed in deep black shadows. Normally, I would’ve been worried about busting my shin on something as I sprinted in the darkness, but I didn’t care. Honestly, I might welcome the pain; it would be a useful distraction. I did end up running into something a few moments later, but it wasn’t a wall or a stony precipice; it was a person.

The figure grunted from the impact, and we both went sprawling to the ground. “Sorry,” I mumbled, standing up and extending a hand to the person I’d run into. “Hard to see where I’m going–”

My eyes widened; it was difficult to make out details in the gloomy light, but even partially obscured by shadow, I’d recognize that cloak anywhere. “You!” I yelled, scrambling back from the Time Mage.

“You!” He screamed back, jumping to his feet and fleeing behind a stone wall.

We stood there in silence, sizing each other up. The Time Mage peeked out behind the wall, and I poked my head out of the barrel I’d dived into. “I’m just here to talk,” said the Time Mage, putting up his hands in surrender. “So please don’t summon that dragon of yours again.”

“You wanna talk?” I asked, surprised he hadn’t already turned me into a pile of dust.

He nodded, cautiously stepping away from the wall. “Yeah, just talk, no funny business. I won’t try to hurt you, and you’ll do the same, okay?” The Time Mage dropped his hood, revealing a surprisingly young-looking guy. Actually, guy might be too generous of a descriptor; he looked to be about twelve, this was a pre-teen!

“You’re awfully young,” I said, staring down at the cute little kid who’d managed to solo a zombie army.

The boy wrinkled his nose in obvious displeasure. “Older than you I bet, you’re like 11.”

I scowled; I was 14 and proud of it. Who was this punk suggesting I was in middle school?

“There’s another attack coming.” Said the boy suddenly, pulling me out of my thoughts. My heart dropped into my stomach, if the Boujie Boys were going to launch another offensive, I had to get ready. Otherwise, we were all gonna-.

“Wait?” I said with a frown. “Why are you telling me this?”

The boy’s face was grim, and I felt displeasure radiating off his body. “No one’s ever resisted my time powers before,” he snarled, glaring at his hands as if scolding them for being so weak, “and when Uncle Bussin saw you shrug off my attacks, he decided that instead of enslaving everyone in Praedones, it’d be safer to wipe you all off the map.”

“Off the map?” I asked, glancing around to see if the kid had brought the Boujie Boy army along with him.

The time kid nodded gravely. “He’s called in every favor he has with the neighboring kingdoms; they’re all sending reinforcements to bolster his army so we can crush Praedones in one final, decisive blow.

“How many reinforcements are we talking about?” I asked, dreading the answer.

“At least 30,000,” said the boy. “I doubt even your dragon would be strong enough to stop all those armies attacking at once.”

I felt my blood run cold. We’d already been screwed, now we were mondo screwed. “Why are you telling me this?” I asked again, wondering why the boy had wanted to talk with me. “Also, how’d you even get in the castle?”

“I made an entrance for myself,” replied the boy in response to the second question, “And I’m telling you all this,” he said, blue and red light suddenly swirling around in his eyes, “because I want you to join me.”

“Join you?”

He nodded. “Like I said, no one has ever resisted my time abilities. But you shrugged off dozens of attacks without even a scratch. Plus, you’ve got a really scary dragon.”

I nodded. That explained why this kid seemed as scared of me as I was of him. We both assumed we could wipe the other out with a flick of our magical fingers. “Whaddya wanna join up for?” I asked, the tension forcing me to at least crack a single joke. “We starting some kind of magic club?”

My breath caught in my throat; it felt like a massive invisible force was pressing down on me, making it difficult to breathe. “With our powers combined,” said the boy, voice suddenly slick with malice, “we could take over all of Europe.” His face broke into a jagged smile, and I realized that this force I was sensing was pure blood lust radiating off the boy’s cute, doughy face. “Just think about it: my time magic combined with your abilities, no one could stop us. The world would be ours to command!”

This kid was surprisingly evil for someone so cute. “Thanks, but I’m not much of a witch,” I admitted, “You wouldn’t want to work with me.”

The boy let loose a howling, unhinged laugh. He stopped a moment later, seeming to remember that he was supposed to be sneaky. “I’ll admit, when I first saw you, I didn’t think you were all that special; I didn’t even sense the spark within you.” He looked me up and down like a puzzle he couldn’t figure out. “Even now you appear completely ordinary. How’d you learn to hide your magic?”

I had no clue how to respond, so I just shrugged, hoping he’d accept that as an answer.

“Regardless,” continued the boy, “Leave this kingdom to its fate and come with me; there’s no reason for you to die along with everyone else.

I bit my lip, considering. I had zero interest in ruling the world (I doubted dictators had much spare time for acting and theater), but if nothing else, this was a free pass out of Praedones. I’d be able to bypass the siege and not get murdered by LDB and his goons. Plus, there was still the chance that Gerard would find me. It was a small chance, minuscule even, but it was all I had left. If I went with this guy, would it help me survive long enough to be rescued by my cousin?

I must’ve taken longer to respond than I thought because the boy suddenly spoke up. “How about I sweeten the deal?” he asked, his bloodlust being replaced by caution as he took a hesitant step toward me. “I know you’re also a powerful spellcaster in your own right, but is there anything I can use my time magic to assist you with?” The boy raised his hands, his left palm glowing blue, his right turning red. “Each of my hands manipulates time differently; my right hand advances time, and my left will reverse it. Need anything brought forward or backward?”

“My laptop,” I replied, barely thinking and raising the broken pieces. “Can you fix it?”

The boy stared at my laptop, having zero clue what he was looking at. Then he shrugged and raised his left hand. The laptop was enveloped in a blue glow, and I stared, transfixed, as the pieces of my computer knit themselves back together. Suddenly, the laptop’s screen flickered to life, and I saw Gerard in the school science lab, yanking an arrow out of his butt. Also, was it just me, or was everything outside the classroom on fire? “So she wasn’t at the Battle of Tours,” mumbled Gerard, massaging his bottom with one hand and checking a clipboard with the other. “That’s one more off the list.”

“Gerard!” I practically screamed, not quite believing I was seeing my cousin again.

Gerard’s head shot up towards his computer. “Piper?!” He scrambled over towards his computer, his face filling the monitor. “Piper, how did you contact me? Where are you?”

“I’m at a castle,” I yelled, “It’s someplace called the kingdom of–.”

The laptop was enveloped in a red glow and splintered back into pieces. “No!” I screamed, grabbing the separated parts and desperately trying to stitch them back together.”

“I’ve never seen magic like that before,” said the boy, staring warily at my broken laptop, “But it’s apparent that we both have something the other wants.”

I stared at the Time Mage, mind racing. This guy was my way home; he was how I could return to my time! “Just to clarify,” I said, stepping back and clutching my laptop to my chest, what is LDB planning on doing to the Praedonians?”

“Everyone will die, and their bones will be ground into dust,” said the boy with a shrug, like we were simply discussing the weather.

I bit my lip hard, tasting blood in my mouth. “I need time to think about this.”

The boy frowned, “well, don’t be long; the attack will begin the second the final army arrives.”

“How long do I have?”

“About four days.”

“OK, I’ll give you my answer then.”

The boy’s face set in a grimace, like he didn’t want to wait that long. “Very well,” he replied with a poorly disguised sigh, “I’ll see you then. For both our sakes, I hope you make the right decision.”

And with that ominous statement, the boy turned around and walked back into the darkness. “By the way,” said the boy, calling out from the pitch black. “What’s your name, witch?”

“Piper,” I said automatically.

“Huh.” came the boy’s voice out of the darkness. “You can call me Abe.”

“Abe?” That didn’t sound very medieval or European.

“It stands for Always Being Evil.”

I groaned. Of course, it does.