Michael

“Faster,” Michael barked as he struck at Mira's left. She jumped out of the way and said with a happy face, “It is a little bit like dancing.”

“If you could kill someone by dancing at them, then you would be a prodigy,” Michael said.

The princess stabbed at his chest with her staff, and he smirked. “But you can't.” Michael then deflected her stab with one side of his staff and aimed for her throat with the other, stopping right before hitting her.

Mira didn't look distraught though and smiled at him while holding out her arms in surrender. “That was fun. I actually thought I had a chance there.”

“You have been training for three days,” Michael laughed, “Don't get ahead of yourself.”

“Maybe I am a once-in-a-generation talent,” she argued with a cheeky smile.

“Of course, you are,” he shook his head amused, and looked around.

Eydis was currently sparring with Lance, the rest of Michael's guard and Sir Antreos Lampert were standing at the different entrances of the backyard.

Eydis was domineering the slightly older man with her aggressive attacks while he tried to fend her off and find an opening.

Michael watched for a moment before he put his staff back into the rack and said, “This concludes our training. Geron should be here shortly to notify me of the completion of all preparations for our move south. Just keep up your training when you return to Lionsgate, and you should be fine.”

He wanted to enter the house to wash up a little bit after the exercise, but Mira yelled, “Stop!”

Michael turned around surprised at her outburst and she looked similarly surprised while she struggled for words. “Ehm, why do you think I am going back to Lionsgate already? I have traveled far to see you and waited here not to just leave again after a couple of days.”

Michael frowned and inspected his friend, he had a feeling that she was lying to him about something, his perception of people had improved a lot in the last half year, but he couldn't put a finger on what she was doing right now.

“We will be gone for weeks clearing out our bridgeheads and it will take even longer to secure the entirety of the mountains that border Reen and Emall. It makes no sense for you to stay and wait until then. You could more reasonably return to Lionsgate and come back once we are done with how long this might take.”

Mira was grasping for straws while stammering and stuttering for a reply, something was seriously wrong. “What if I accompany you? My guards would certainly be a valuable asset in your campaign.”

Michael's frown deepened. “What are you actually trying to accomplish here, Mira? Sure, your men would be a good addition, but you know as well as me that Zen and your mother would curse me if I brought you anywhere close to the Ereic Mountains.”

“Oh, I was just thinking that some combat experience would do me some good,” it was apparent that not even she believed a word she was saying but before Michael could press for more details, Sola exited the door behind me.

“Kiran has made some food so come in before it gets cold.” Mira looked strangely happy to be bailed out by the priestess and quickly walked past Michael.

“Come on, let's get something to eat,” she said while giving him a smile over her shoulder.

“We just ate before the training,” Michael argued but still followed her. He noticed that Lance and Eydis had also stopped fighting but was too focused on Mira’s strange behavior to think about it.

She ignored his arguing and walked away in a playful step. Michael followed her until they entered the common room and Michael was hit by a loud, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!”

Michael blinked confused and looked into the faces of the people who had taken care of him for the last couple of years. They were all there, Solon, Geron, Kiran, and Sola were standing around the table and Eydis shoved him in from behind.

Mira jumped a little while ginning, took Michael’s arm, and pulled him into the room to the table where a crooked cake was waiting for him.

“What is this about,” Michael asked confused.

“It’s your birthday,” Sola said with a laugh.

“That is today?” Michael blinked again and counted the days in his head.

“I never met anyone that confused their own birthday as much as you do,” Kiran shook his head with amusement.

“I don’t know it just feels wrong. As if it is not the day it is supposed to be.” It was true he had forgotten his birthday at least three times in the last four years but strangely he never forgot the day he had awakened from his coma. He privately thought of that day as a more fitting day to celebrate his life, but he had never shared that thought.

“Well, you have us to remember it,” Sola said while shaking her head with a smile. “Come on and cut your cake.”

Michael looked at the cake, it was crooked to the extreme and looked like it had been made by someone who had never held any kind of cooking utensil in his life. He looked at Kiran with a raised eyebrow. The old mage loved cooking and baking and would normally gladly take over kitchen duty.

“I helped make it,” Mira said, looking a little embarrassed, “I think I should have let Master Kiran do it.”

“Master Kiran?”

The old mage quickly intervened and said, “Oh you made something eatable on your first try, I would say that is a success.”

Mira began to glow up again and her happiness quickly infected the rest. They split up the cake and it wasn’t bad at all.

While eating Michael asked Geron, “How are our preparations is everything ready?”

“Michael, can’t that wait for tomorrow? Let’s just celebrate,” Sola admonished him, but he shook his head.

“The nation will not grind to a halt just because today eleven years ago I was born. I appreciate the effort, but we will leave today.”

Sola frowned at him but nodded.

“Preparations are complete,” Geron started, “Lord Telp is well on his way to Emall to oversee the mission there and the last unit we have been waiting for from the border has arrived. We are ready to join up with the rest of our forces down south.”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“Good. We will get going after we are done here.”

Mira appeared in front of Michael and grabbed his hand, pulling him to his feet. “Let’s dance, Michael.” Her bright smile made it impossible for him to refuse and he found himself in a small open space with her while Solon was playing on a flute and Eydis was rhythmically slamming her flat hand on the table.

“Now you are in my world,” Mira said diabolically and spun around him. He had difficulties keeping up with her precise dance moves, she had learned a lot since the last time.

Geron and Sola joined them shortly after and Michael nearly forgot everything while dancing and having fun.

They danced for a while until Michael gave up with the ever-increasing difficulty and surrendered.

“I had enough,” he said while laughing, “I am going to hurt myself if we continue.”

“Got you to give up after all. I was starting to have doubts.” The princess was breathing a little harder and looked quite beat herself.

“Yeah, you win.”

“Come on, it is time for presents then,” Sola said and quickly added, “Yeah I know you don’t want us to give you gifts but suck it up.”

Michael raised his hands and simply complied.

“This one is from us,” Sola said and pointed at Michael’s retainers. She handed him a single bracer; it was like three metal rectangles that were angled to cover the top of his right arm. It had all their initials worked into it from the front to the back. The bracer appeared to have been forged by a competent smith but what drew his attention more were the symbols that had been carved into the edges.

“We had it made while you were away and Kiran and I worked on enchanting it,” Sola said with a huge grin.

“You mean I enchanted it, and you were standing behind me and complained,” Kiran corrected her with a raised eyebrow.

“I made sure you weren’t overlooking anything and supplied mana to the effort.”

“You are barely any better than Michael at artificing.”

“Well, you aren’t good at it either.”

“I never said that I was proficient.”

The two of them looked like they would throw spells at each other any moment when Michael stepped in with an amused expression.

“Alright, don’t blow up the house.” They settled down and Michael could see a hint of amusement in both mage’s eyes. “First of all, thank you for this, I really appreciate it. And now what does it do?”

Kiran shrugged, “Nothing much, it is just strengthened. But you can catch an enchanted blade swung by an augmenter with it, we even tried, that is where that nick on the side comes from.”

Michael turned the bracer and saw a small chink in the armor piece.

“Where did you find an enchanted sword? Wait, you didn’t use my father’s, right?” He looked at them, but they quickly shook their heads.

“We wouldn’t dare touch it. No, we asked Sir Pyke for his,” Geron quickly explained. Enchanted swords were a rarity as all artifacts were in the kingdom. Most of them were either gifts from the church for some good deed or more often remnants of the old days.

Michael put the bracer on and inspected how the light reflected in the metal. “Thank you very much.” He exchanged a couple of handshakes and hugs with his people while Mira waited patiently.

After they were done Mira spoke up, “I also brought something for you.” She gave him a small rectangular package wrapped in simple cloth.

Michael inspected it and the interest of the rest of the attending was obvious. After opening the band that was holding it shut it was revealed to be a small book with a black cover. He opened it but the pages were blank.

“It is a diary,” Mira explained, “So that you can write down your adventures and tell me about them later.”

“Thank you, that is very thoughtful of you,” Michael said and hugged her.

“You will have to tell me about this one in letters, okay?”

“That means you are going back to Lionsgate,” Michael asked, and she nodded.

“As you said it will be weeks if not months until you are back, and Mother will ask me to come back soon anyway.”

“I will make sure to give you every detail.” They shared a smile and the party continued for a while longer.

The mood got ever more somber the closer they came to noon and at one point they were all sitting around the table exchanging gazes.

“I think it is time,” Michael said, and the others nodded. He rose from his chair, and everyone followed suit.

“Solon, I will leave the administration in your hands while I am gone.”

“I will make sure to keep everything going and welcome the new inhabitants as soon as they get here,” the dwarf answered.

Michael nodded and turned to Mira, “It was nice seeing you again. I hope we can repeat this some time soon but for now I wish you safe travels back.”

“I think I will stay here for a couple of days, Mister Solon wanted to show me some things. Stay safe down there and don’t do something heroic,” she wrapped her arms around him, and he reciprocated.

“Heroics are not my cup of tea.”

Solon would be the only one that was staying behind in Reen and the horses were standing ready for them to leave. Michael had barely returned home and now he was going to his next adventure.

Lynx

A guard stepped through the hallway, unsuspecting of the being hanging on the ceiling.

Humans are such narrow-minded creatures, Lynx thought while watching him turn around a corner. He dropped down from the ceiling and wandered the halls of the estate, dipping in and out of the shadows every time he came across a guard or servant.

No, wonder that the light child’s castle got infiltrated so easily if all human guards are as careless as this, he continued pondering while walking behind a guard a mere meter away. The guard turned around as if he had heard something, and Lynx mirrored his movement to stay at his back and then slipped into a room.

It was a rather large living room with a fireplace and a couple of armchairs in which three men had made themselves comfortable.

Lynx breathed out a little bit as the door fell into the lock behind him and let his mana flow. The sound of the clicking lock vanished and he was instantly on the move again, climbing up to the support beams.

He spotted a cat on his way up that was watching him from in front of the fireplace and tilted his head before continuing his climb.

There was a reason cats had been tamed by many mortal races over the millennia they had keen senses and were quick to spot more esoteric intruders, but the humans had forgotten their purpose and now kept them as useless pets or vermin hunters.

What a shame, it would make these infiltrations more exciting.

“What if he is successful and there actually are riches in the mountains,” the smallest of the men said with a nervous voice. “Lord Rowan has declined every attempt of ours to offer support for his endeavor, he only allows Viscount Telp to lend his support. If he actually finds what he is looking for then he and the Viscount will profit while we go empty-handed.”

“It is quite troubling that the young lord seems to be quite adept in keeping us away,” the overweight man said and took a sip from his cup. “If he expands his power we will suffer. He doesn’t like us; he never has but how could we know that we had to deal with the brat one day.”

“He is still just a child,” the last man interjected, he had a calm demeanor and was taller than the others.

“I have heard that often before he does something extraordinary. He is just a child but destroyed Fredrick’s operations when he was even younger, he might even still have the damn book. He is much smarter than you give him credit for.” The short man looked quite troubled and played with the cup in his hand.

“No need to worry, my friend. I believe that this is a façade. I believe that his retainers are the ones pulling the string. Maybe a plot by the dwarves, everything changed since that Solon arrived here after all.”

“You really think so,” the fat man asked.

“Yes, I do. How would a normal child accomplish these things, that is ridiculous. Doing trade with the dwarves and trying to exploit mineral wealth is exactly what the dwarf would want.”

“So, what are we going to do about it,” the small man asked with an unsure expression.

The tall man smiled and looked at the liquid in his cup. “For now, we won’t do anything and just see what happens in this expedition. If it fails, we will be in a great position and can offer to bail out Lord Rowan for some concessions. With that, we can regain control like we had it the last decade.”

He smiled a dark smile. “And if he succeeds then we might have to get rid of the ones pulling the strings and take the young lord into our care.”

“You want to kill them? They survived one attack already, what makes you think that we would have more success than the ones that wiped out most of the family?”

The tall man leaned forward in a conspiratory manner and said, “Because we have more inside support and are not trying to kill the ruling family.”

Lynx cocked his head; he had been in many noble houses in the last couple of weeks and had heard many questionable if not outright criminal conversations but this one was definitely the one to take the proverbial cake.

He would love to just drop down there and end their treacherous plan before they could even think about enacting it, but he had strict orders to gather information and nothing more.

Good spies follow orders, after all.

The nobles continued with less treasonous subjects and Lynx wanted to leave but saw that the cat had moved to the beam he had climbed and looked up.

Lynx would smile if he could as he made himself comfortable.

What a shame.