“Right, I can see that now,” Adam said, nodding his head.

The heavily armoured figures wore dark armour, near black. One wore a helmet fashioned to look like a bird’s head, whereas the others wore plain helmets, though a bird’s head was printed on their breastplate.

The group slowed on their horses, and were about to stop, but saw the Iyrmen and continued approaching closer.

“Good evening, Sir Dunnock,” Jurot said, bowing his head lightly. Adam noted the reverence within the Iyrman’s voice, the same reverence Argon had used when speaking with Sir Magpie.

“Good evening, Iyrman,” Sir Dunnock replied after hopping off her horse. “May we share your camp tonight?” She was as tall as Adam, and almost built like Nobby.

Jurot turned to Adam, causing the members of the order to glance his way too.

“I don’t think I can deny someone in such a prestigious order,” Adam replied, before motioning a hand towards their camp. “Please.”

“Thank you,” Sir Dunnock said.

The five members situated themselves at the camp, some of Adam’s companions moving aside to make room for them. The camp was always built slightly larger than they needed, though it was far more awkward now that there were few pieces of wood around.

Sir Dunnock removed her helmet, revealing her short red hair, and her hazel eyes, which were full of suspicion. She was darker than Aldishmen, her skin slightly redder than the typical Aswadian. Her wrinkles formed a frown around her face. She could feel it. Something was wrong.

The other heavily armoured warriors also removed their helmets. Some of them were pale skinned, others darker. The youngest was a man in his twenties, and from what Adam assumed, was an Aldishman.

“Kitool, Jay-,” Adam paused, thinking about whether Jaygak would act up. “Kitool, Jaygak, could you bring some rations for the good members of the Order of Wings?”

“Who can we thank for the kind hospitality?” Sir Dunnock asked.

“I’m Adam Fateson,” Adam replied. “I’m the leader of this motley crew.”

“What kind of motley crew is adorned in such fine armour, and carry such exquisite weapons?” Sir Dunnock replied.

Adam smiled. “I’m the Chief Executive Officer of United Kindom, like my brother here.” Adam motioned his head to Jurot. “We work for the Enchanter who has settled within the Iyr, and currently does business out of it.”

“You are the Iyrman’s brother?” Sir Dunnock asked, her eyes still full of suspicion.

Adam looked to Jurot, who nodded to confirm. “We’re Fate’s Golden, an adventuring party that usually works around Red Oak. We’ve done some business outside of Red Oak, but nothing you would have heard of. We just killed a couple of Dragons is all.” Adam smiled.

“You’ve killed Dragons?”

“We’ve had a hand in killing two Dragons,” Adam said. “Fate’s Golden… well, I probably shouldn’t take away such a story from my brother. Jurot, why don’t you tell them our stories over dinner?”

Jurot bowed his head, sitting up straighter from the excitement. He could tell someone like Sir Dunnock his stories? He couldn’t wait to tell his mother.

“What brings the Order of Wings around these parts?” Adam asked.

“We are hunting a chimera,” Sir Dunnock said, her voice stern. “Have you seen it?”

“We did. It flew around us a few hours ago when we were travelling. Zishan managed to scare it off with his magics, and it fled away.”

“Do you know which way it went?”

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“I think it followed the road from what we saw,” Adam said, thinking back to the creature.

“Thank you.”

“Any time.”

“Is there a reason why you won’t take off your helmet?”

“Last time I did, one of Sir Magpie’s youth tried to get himself killed by coming after me,” Adam said.

“Sir Magpie?” Sir Dunnock asked.

“We met her a couple of years ago, around the villages near the Iyr,” Adam explained. “We defended one of the villages against the Undead.”

“Little Magpie was around this region back then,” Sir Dunnock confirmed. “It was probably her heir, who hates Elves with a passion due to the massacre.”

“Aye,” Adam said.

“We do not hate Elves, so you may remove your helmet,” the older woman assured.

“I appreciate that,” Adam said, removing his helmet to reveal his face. “I didn’t want there to be any unnecessary issues because I was a Half Elf.”

“There are no unnecessary issues because you are a Half Elf,” the older woman stated, pausing. “We are Watchers. We do not care for the threats of Aldishmen, Elves, Dwarves, Aswadians. We care for threats which come from outside these realms. Titans. Reavers. Demons.”

The air grew heavy around them. Adam and Sir Dunnock stared between one another. Adam confirmed that she knew, and Sir Dunnock confirmed that he knew. A silence fell across the camp, save for the crackling of fire.

“Are we going to have a problem?” Adam asked, staring into the older woman’s eyes. He could feel the pressure she exuded. She was probably only a few years older than Sir Magpie, but she was definitely far stronger.

“You travel with a pair of Demons,” Sir Dunnock said. “We are compelled by our oaths to deal with such threats.”

Adam inhaled deeply, before sighing. He kept his eyes glued to the older woman ahead of him, but knew that he outnumbered the members of the Order six to one. “Dunes, Sir Vonda, why don’t you take the kids for a walk? Rose, Rick, why don’t you take your friends, go see the sights for a bit too.”

Dunes and Sir Vonda exchanged a glance, before they stood, rounding up the younger companions. Nobby didn’t need to be told twice as his uncles tapped his shoulders, pulling him aside.

Nirot frowned, her eyes falling to Adam. She wanted to speak, to watch the fight, but seeing the tension in Adam’s neck and the darkness on his face, she held her tongue.

It was going to happen again.

It hadn’t even been a year since it had happened, and though Adam had barely managed to work through it, the situation arose once more.

The camp was cleared, save for the two groups. The members of the Order, and the strongest members of Fate’s Golden. Five Guardians, one of them Sir Dunnock, who Jurot knew to be only slightly weaker than their order’s leader. Adam, Jurot, Jaygak, Kitool, Jonn, Lucy, Mara, and Fred sat opposite them.

“Adam,” Fred called, cautiously.

Adam could hear the hesitation in Fred’s voice. It made sense, considering how well known the Order was in the land, and the fact they held quite some authority. For Fred, a farmer from Rock Hill, to go up against an order, it was something which placed him in an awkward position. “You should check on the Red River Squad, see if they need anything.”

“Thank you,” Fred said, getting up, bowing his head to the two groups, and stepped out.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Sir Dunnock asked.

“You know, Sir Dunnock,” Adam said, his lips almost twitching into a smile. “This isn’t the first time something like this has happened.”

“Walking with Demons will always bring you trouble,” Sir Dunnock confirmed. “You just need to walk away, and it’ll all be over soon.”

“You said there wasn’t any unnecessary issues with me being a Half Elf, but isn’t it a little rich that you have an issue with a Demon?”

“Fae are Fae, and Demons are Demons,” she replied, simply.

“It’s funny,” Adam admitted, letting slip a smile. “Last year the same thing happened. We were minding our own business and we met some old guy. He was one hell of a monster, let me tell you. Brought down a Fireball right on his head, and he didn’t take a lick of damage. Fire didn’t hurt him.”

Adam’s smile almost faltered. “He was a Dragon, you see. An Ancient Dragon at least. I did as much as I could to beat him. I crit him, dealing enough damage to knock out the average Expert. We all fought him, just one old man, and we were crushed. He killed Lucy, stole a magical weapon from us, and walked away like nothing happened.”

“So you know the consequences of your actions.”

“Yeah,” Adam said, slowly nodding his head. “I do. I know the consequences of my actions, and I know if I had to come across him again, even now, I’d fight him.”

Adam’s neck pulsed, and he refrained from grinding his teeth. “Now, I’m going to take a guess at what you’re thinking. You see us, Bronze Ranks the lot of us, and you think we’re a group of Experts. We might be a little harder to deal with, considering one of us is wearing puthral plate mail, four of us are Iyrmen, and that we all carry magical weapons. That right?”

“Yes.”

Adam slowly nodded his head. “What you don’t know is how strong these magical weapons are. You don’t know what kind of damage my brother here can do with Phantom, or Kitool can do with Tigerstaff, or what Jaygak can do with her magical weapon. What’s even more funny is that not even my brother knows what Wraith can do,” Adam said, moving his arm to reveal his axe a little clearer, “and he’s been waiting a long time. You don’t know that, technically, Jonn is the strongest out of all of us, he’s the most experienced you see. You don’t know that I beat him twice, and that from this entire group, I’m probably the strongest.”

“Why are you speaking so much?” Sir Dunnock asked. “Are you trying to bluff your way out of this?”

Adam smiled, but this smile was real. “You think you can beat us.”

“I know we can.”

“You hear that, Jurot?” Adam asked.

“Yes.”

Adam began to laugh.