Val was having too much fun with her new role.

She stretched out her hand and focused. I could feel the magic gathering inside her, but I had no clue what she planned on doing. She had an affinity for water magic, and dousing the dock wouldn’t help us.

The magic blasted out and the air felt much colder.

Val hadn’t used a water spell. She’d used an ice one.

The redhead looked very proud of herself as she walked out onto the ice.

“It’s safe!” She motioned for us to follow her as she walked on the ice over to the dock.

The dock consisted of a single chair and a raft. I shook my head as we walked around the wall. There wasn’t a single guard anywhere to be seen. If we had been Zombies, the whole town would have been turned by tomorrow evening.

“Wait.” I motioned at the sheet of ice leading back to shore. “Aren’t you going to do something about that? What if some Zombies come before it melts?”

Val turned around to look at me and raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you the fire mage?”

I grumbled as I shifted Ziggy’s weight so my right hand would be free. I pointed it at the sheet of ice and let out a few pulses of magic. It wasn’t enough to do much damage to a Zombie, but it was hot enough to partially melt the places that got hit. After three more salvos, the sheet started to break up. I fired two more, just to be sure the larger pieces couldn’t make a walkable path after we left.

“What would a Bokor do now?” Eveth looked between myself and Val.

“Chew out the guard captain.”

“Chew out the mayor.”

Val and I spoke at the same time.

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“Master Bran would chew out the mayor after the guard captain.” I tried to justify my answer. “Because if he chewed out the mayor first, it would take longer to get guards over here.”

Val nodded. “We’re going to the guard house.”

It saddened me that we were able to walk along the dock on the inside of the wall and there was no one around to stop us. Once we were back on land, Val turned to Eveth.

“Eve. Where is the guard station?”

The blonde shrugged. “When I came here with the shipment, the furthest we went into the city was the warehouse.” She nodded at a big building a couple blocks away from us near the waterfront.

“Any merchant would have a guard to watch their stuff and the guard should know where the captain is.” Val started walking towards the warehouse.

Once we got to it, the redhead marched up to the door and banged on it. There were noises inside, but no one came to answer the door.

“I know you’re in there!” Val raised her voice. “If I have to start counting, I’m going to light something on fire for every number you make me use!”

“WAIT!” The voice was panicked and slightly muffled, but it was loud enough for us to hear through the door. “I’M COMING!”

There were crashes and thudding of feet as someone ran to the door and threw it open. The man saw Val wasn’t the only Bokor at the door and paled. His shirt was on inside out and his pants weren’t buttoned. He wasn’t wearing any shoes and didn’t have a sword or any other weapon on.

“Ma-Mah-Master Bokor!” The smell of ammonia washed over me as he bent down on one knee and bowed his head. “How may I serve?”

“Where is your captain?” Val glared at the frightened guard’s head.

The man didn’t lift his head, instead he focused on her boots. “The captain’s house is on the corner of Ninth and Gamma.”

Those numbers and letters didn’t mean anything to me, but Val seemed to understand.

“Get yourself cleaned up.” Val started to walk away, but paused. I saw a grin grow across her face.

“What’s your name, soldier?”

“Brold Piersym, Master.” The dark-haired man’s teeth were chattering.

“Thank you for being punctual.” Val tried to force the smile off of her face, but wasn’t doing a good job. “I’ll be sure the captain knows that you were very respectful and helpful when we got to the city without an escort waiting for us.”

“Thank you Master.” Brold still wasn’t looking up and I had a feeling that he wouldn’t until we were out of sight.

“Did you really have to scare him like that?” I whispered as soon as I was sure we were out of earshot.

Val looked at Eveth and grinned. “What would a Bokor do?”