“Who is it?,” asked Elaine. She stood so she could yank the door open to give Josie

a clear shot at whomever was standing on the other side of the door.

“The Guard,” said a male voice. “We’re here to arrest some tax dodgers.”

“There’s nobody like that here,” said Elaine. “I think you have made a mistake.”

“The Exchange reported that you deposited a block of gold with them,” said the

guard. “The city wants its share.”

“That was fast,” said Josie. “Maybe the two I killed actually worked for the city, and

I expected them to be working for the Exchange.”

“Maybe the city, the Exchange, and the Montrose are all the same,” said Elaine. “Or

close enough, it doesn’t matter.”

“How much taxes are we talking?,” called Josie. She gestured for the kids to retreat

upstairs to the office.

“Open the door, and we’ll give you the writ,” said the guard.

“If I open the door, I will kill anyone standing outside,” said Josie. “If I were you, I

would just stick the note in the door and leave. I’ll talk to my partner about it

tomorrow.”

“We’ll bust this door in,” said the guard. “We have a ram to do the job.”

“If you want to die over some fake tax notification, I am glad to help you,” said Josie.

Her body was nothing but green fire standing in front of the door. “Open the door,

Elaine.”

Elaine pulled open the door, using it as shield. The guards paused when they saw the

green flames rushing at them. Some of them ran. Self preservation trumped any duty

to the city of Hawk Ridge. The rest that were too close to the door wore burning

clothes they struggled to get off before they went up like dry straw.

Josie nodded as she saw the Makeover on the tax collectors that had clustered around

the door. She added fuel to the fire so they would burn faster in the middle of the

street.

She had thought about letting them live, but the thought they would try to take her

Ducklings and Elaine again had triggered her temper. These wouldn’t live to do

anything else to anyone else.

And she was surprisingly fine with that.

“Get me some water, Elaine,” she said. “We should put the fires out so I can track

down the rest. I want them to be scared enough not to come back, but I don’t think

that will work until a lot more suffer.”

Elaine stepped into the kitchen and returned with a bucket of water. She held it as

Josie switched bodies. The water expanded in a spout of water and dropped down on

the burning corpses. The fire went out instantly.

“I have to find the rest, and check on Jane,” said Josie. “Hold the door until I get

back.”

“I understand,” said Elaine. “The bodies might need to be moved.”

“All right,” said Josie. “A woman’s work is never done.”

She took a moment to be Zatanna. That was long enough to blast her fallen enemies

out of the city like comets. She sent out birds to track down the survivors. She turned

off her watch to let it recharge. She wanted to be full power when she needed it.

As soon as she was done tracking down the last of the group that had tried to invade

the Hole in the Wall, she would go by Jane’s and make sure no one was trying to rip

down the gates.

They were targets just because Jack had rescued them and let them use the dead

Corle’s manor and grounds. That put them under the partners’ wings until better

accommodations could be arranged.

In her mind, she was not going to let some tax collector try to steal everything they

had gathered together just because some rich guy thought he could get away with it.

She checked her watch. It was almost at the top as she jogged down the street. She

decided to check on Jane first. Then she could finish tracking down her enemy’s

minions.

She pulled on Quick and crossed the city in a second. She powered down when she

saw Jane’s amazons telling the tax collectors at the gate to beat it, or else. They had

armed themselves with crossbows and swords.

Could they use them against the Guard?

Most of them had the Makeover too.

She decided to do something reckless and attract the attention of the tax collectors.

Once she had done that, she could do what she wanted.

If the unmarked guards came at her, they would get what she was going to give the

marked guards.

She switched to Bulletgirl and shot the one demanding access in the face. He fell

over. His group looked down at him in surprise. She waited until someone tried to

take command before she shot him too. She advanced to let them know where the

bullets were coming from so they had a chance to flee.

The marked guards fell under her onslaught in seconds. The surviving guards ran. She

let them go. She had a feeling they would join the other survivors she was tracking.

Once she had them in one place, she would decide if they deserved to live, or not.

“It’s the Witch,” said one of the women. “Hello, Josie.”

“Hello, Hilda,” said Josie. She powered down again. “How are things?”

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“All right,” said Hilda. “You came at a good time. We were about to fill these livers

with toothpicks.”

Jane came to the gate, crossbow in hand. She nodded at their visitor.

“Getting you the gold to run your house seems to have triggered the Exchange to try

to take the rest,” said Josie.

“What rest?,” said Jane.

“The rest they think I have laying around to finance things here in the city,” said

Josie. “Jack is talking to the Exchange officers. I guess keep an eye out for more

trouble. I am going to track down the ones that got away and warn them off.”

“Do you think this will be an ongoing thing?,” asked Jane.

“I don’t know,” said Josie. “I am hoping that things will settle when we finish

cleaning the Montrose out of the city, but they are in other places. We might be at war

for a long time. You can bow out if you want.”

“I think that we will avail ourselves of your sword instructor,” said Jane. “This is our

home. No one will take it from us except by force.”

“I’ll talk to Harp and get him here to show you some basics,” said Josie. “I admit

maybe I thought that the Montrose would never be able to turn and attack us. I was

wrong about that. I can see why the Society picks people to temporarily live here. I

have to go deal with the rest of this.”

“Good luck, Jo,” said Hilda. “We’ll be here when you get done.”

Josie turned and walked away. She called on Zatanna and sent out more birds to track

down the survivors of her second strike. She turned into the Northwind to fly above

the city and see if she could find all of the survivors at once.

The tax collectors had kept to duos running through the streets. Some of them paused

to watch behind them. Her birds kept them in view. The spells would run out when

they finally settled in one place for the night.

Josie planned to scoop them up long before that became an issue.

She started by assembling a place outside the walls of the city with her magic. She

moved around and sent each man to the prepared spot. She got the last one and sent

him right as the power in her watch ran out. She waited in a doorway for her watch

to recharge so she could finish the rest of her plan.

When the watch was full, she became Zatanna and stepped to the cells. She turned off

the persona to look at the captured men. Some were banging on the walls, trying to

break out. They had seen their comrades burned up in front of them. They definitely

didn’t want the same thing to happen to them.

“How’s it going?,” said Josie. She noted the silence. “Who thought it was a good idea

to come to my place and ask for money?”

“It was ordered by the Captain of the Guard,” said one brave soul. “Any women were

to be imprisoned until they could be transferred to the Duke.”

“Duke Hent?,” said Josie.

“Yes,” said the guard.

“Is the Captain in with the Montrose?,” asked Josie.

“I don’t know,” said the guard.

“Does he have the tattoos on his body?,” asked Josie.

“Yes,” said the guard.

“Does anybody here have a copy of the warrant?,” asked Josie.

“I thought that Commander Aile had the paper, but he went up in a column of flame,”

said the talkative guard.

“The Captain of the Guard is going to be dead in the next few days,” said Josie. “I

expect the Duke will be done sooner than that. The only question is what to do with

you guys. You aren’t on the list, but I don’t think you should live. And you are a

threat to my girls and my enterprise.”

“You can kill us any time,” said the guard. “We can’t stop you. Some of us were just

doing our jobs.”

“I am going to tell you a story,” said Josie. “A time gone by, there was a war. It was

huge. The Allied Forces crushed down their enemy, shrinking the amount of control

the enemy had. They uncovered these prisons. The enemy had taken civilians and

killed them with torture and machinery. There were trials to determine what the

punishment would be after the war was over. The judges determined that just doing

your job was not an excuse for murdering the helpless. Do you understand what I am

saying?”

“You’re going to kill us, aren’t you?,” asked the guard.

“No,” said Josie. “I should. I should treat you all like you have treated the people in

your care. I’m not. I’m going to give you a chance to work some of this off.”

The resulting silence was telling.

Josie checked that she had her messenger bag. In the excitement, she had not thought

about what she had done with it. She pulled out some sheets of paper. She wrote a

letter in fast strokes before sealing it and sending it away on the air.

“What are you going to do with us?,” asked another guard. Not being killed by a

piece of metal through the skull was better than being killed in his opinion.

“I asked some friends for a hand with you,” said Josie. “I can’t allow you to stay in

the city. You would be able to cause trouble for me. I don’t want to kill you. You’re

not on the list and murder is bad. So I am going to hand you over to someone who

will hopefully make you better guardians than you are now.”

Light split the evening air. Infantry in gold armor marched out and clanged their

spears on the ground. A knight rode a white charger into reality. He smiled lightly

when he saw Josie standing beside the rat warren of walls she had created.

“Josie,” said the knight.

“Thanks for coming, Bob,” said Josie. “Can you help me with this?”

“It’s not often that a kindness is asked from the Court,” said the knight. “Are you sure

about this course?”

“It’s hand them over, or kill them,” said Josie. “I killed their comrades and now I am

doing what I can with the rest of them. It’s a logistical pain from my point of view.”

“I understand,” said the knight. “How many of you want to live?”

He smiled at the captives. Some of them paused at the question. They all agreed that

they wanted to live. They didn’t all agree with going with the elves.

“Make no mistake,” said Bob. “This isn’t exactly a kindness either. You are being

turned over to the duchy as protectors of the lands. If you do well, and carry

yourselves honorably and bravely, you will be brought back here to this world. If you

don’t, well, there are worse things to happen to people.”

“If you do make it back here, don’t come back to Hawk Ridge,” said Josie. “Start over

and do what you have to do somewhere else. One mercy is all I am allowing.”

“Can you give us a door, Josie?,” said Bob. “Everyone who wants to live come out

and walk down the lane. Everyone who wants to die, stay inside there and wait for it.”

Josie switched long enough to carve a door out of her prison. She switched back as

she waited. The infantry tensed. There was no glory in killing helpless prisoners, but

they had heard the order and knew the command would be given.

You were told the consequences and then you lived with the choice. That was the

Elven way.

The guards came out. They were still armed, but they looked at the infantry and

decided that attacking and fighting their way clear was not going to happen.

The elves would slice them apart with their axes before they could flee off the road

and into the woods.

“I have a family,” said one of the guards. “I can’t just leave them.”

“What’s your name?,” said Josie.

“Quiton Gall,” said the guard. He made sure not to touch his sword.

“Your wife?,” said Josie.

“Enesia,” said Gall.

“I will tell her what happened and offer her support,” said Josie. “She and any kids

will be looked after until you return. Then you will leave the city. Am I understood?”

“Yes,” said Gall. He frowned as he looked after the other guards walking down the

lane of infantrymen and vanishing.

“Don’t worry,” said Bob. “You only have to be brave enough once. Go ahead while

I talk with Josie.”

Gall walked down the lane and vanished.

“This is so unlike the hard bitten ear ripper of justice to look after an enemy’s

family,” said Bob. He smiled under his helm.

“You know what Jack says at a time like this?,” said Josie.

“No,” said Bob.

“Don’t mistake kindness for mercy,” said Josie. “I have to go. He’s probably cutting

their boss into a million pieces right now. Thanks for the help.”

“We’ll see how much help I have really been,” said Bob. He turned his horse and rode

back across the border to his demesne. His men followed him with a clank of metal

and squeak of leather.