They grabbed Zack’s arms and bound him with rope. As Zack and the soldiers entered the camp other soldiers took note.

A person who looked like an administrator than like a warrior joined them. He could not hear the conversation. The other person took a long look at Zack and walked back to the largest tents in the camp. A few moments later they were waved over to the large tent.

Zack was ushered into the tent and hit behind his knees to bring him to the ground. A few moments later another man who was clearly not a soldier entered the tent. He ignored Zack and the soldiers for a moment as he grabbed some food and wine.

Zack thought, Dollars to donuts this is the mage dude.

The other man gave a bored look to Zack and the soldiers. “Why are you all here, who is this man?”

The lead soldier spoke up and said, “My magical liege, we found this man in the forest, he says his name is Cor. When we asked him why he was walking toward our encampment he claimed it was a public forest under the protection of Zack.”

The mage almost choked on his food when the soldier said Zack’s name. He composed himself quickly. The Mage put down his food and looked down on Zack considering him for the first time.

He asked, “Tell me Cor, what do you know of Zack?”

Zack replied, “Not a whole lot. My grandfather was there when he saved the city from the oppressors there to kill everyone.”

The man smiled and with an inflated sense of self-importance said, “How rude of me, my name is Master Mage Hogant. I am not sure what tales your grandfather was telling you, but wizards don’t exist. They are a story told to scare children who misbehave.”

Zack replied, “Who said anything about wizards. My grandfather just told me about this guy who showed up and saved the village twice. At very different time periods. Who seemed to look the same age each time. Who killed a large group of soldiers with what appeared to be magic. But I never mentioned wizards.”

Master Mage Hogant grunted in annoyance at Zack, “Cor, nevertheless you have been told a tall tale. There is no wizard.”

Zack said, “Well that would be my mistake. I was just out for a walk enjoying the forest. When I came across your men. Can I ask why I am being detained?

Master Mage Hogan replied, “Sadly for you Zack, you are being detained because you saw us. We are not interested in being noticed yet. We can’t have you running off to Vinstra and telling everyone there is an army in the forest.”

Zack responded seeming naivety, “Why would Vinstra care if you were in their forest?”

The soldiers bristled at Zack’s words. The lead soldier moved to hit Zack, but the Mage waved him off.

Master Mage Hogant gave a very insincere smile and said, “Well Cor you see this is not Vinstra’s forest. It is Queen Aadici’s forest. The idea that you think this is Vinstra’s forest is part of the reason we are here.

Zack feigning genuine interest asked, “Huh, did not know that either, what is the other reason?”

Master Mage Hogant rounded on Zack with a malicious grin, “To dispel the myth, the lie of Zack and his supposed protection. Vinstra needs to be removed from this world. It has been a stain to this country and a personal affront to the queen. I am here to clean this stain up!”

Master Mage Hogant regained his sickly-sweet disposition and said, “Cor you seem like a simple man, I am sorry to say you are in the wrong place at the wrong time. But life is like that sometimes.”

Zack replied innocently. “Life is like what Mr. Mage?”

Master Mage Hogant replied, “Sometimes you are out for a walk, and you end up dead.”

He turned to the lead soldier and said, “Relieve this man of his head and bury it in the woods.”

Surprising the soldiers and mage Zack said, “Well that’s not very nice is it. I don’t think that will work for me.”

Master Mage Hogant gave a pitiless laugh and said, “You don’t have any choice.”

The soldiers dragged Zack out of the tent and threw him to the ground.

Zack sat up and looked at the lead soldier, “This is just not going to end the way you want. I tried to be civil. But I guess you lot didn’t listen the first time. Why should it be any different this time.”

The soldier next to the lead soldier replied, “Didn’t listen to who the first time?”

Zack replied, “To me.”

The lead soldier sneered and said, “Didn’t listen to you? What did you say the first time?”

Zack replied, “I told your leaders that Vinstra is under my protection. It seems from Mr. Mage’s comments your leaders got the message and decided to ignore it.”

The lead soldier stopped dead in his tracks and stared at Zack. He said, “When did you give this warning?” He put the word warning in air quotes to mock Zack.

Zack stared him dead in his eyes and said in a slow menacing voice, “When I killed Torgorth the Brute, killer of dragons and champion of the queen.”

Zack noticed the lead soldier’s eyes went wide and his grip loosened. In an attempt at false bravado he said, “Right, you are Zack? I am not buying it.”

With lightning speed Zack ripped out the throat of the lead soldier and said, “That’s ok, I don’t need to sell it, what is true is true.”

It happened so fast without any sound, only the soldiers nearby saw it. They all froze in horror.

Zack turned to them and said, “Go to sleep.”

All the soldiers fell to the ground unconscious.

Zack walk five steps back into Master Mage Hogans tent.

Master Mage Hogant did not look up from his meal when he said, “Good you already killed that naïve silly man. Go fetch the servant, I want more food.”

Zack waved his hand and all the food on the mage’s table flew to the back of the tent as he said, “I think you have had quite enough food you bulbous twat”

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The mage turned in rage and disbelief towards Zack. “How dare you come into my tent and touch my food.

Hogant grabbed for his staff. It was about seven feet long made of dark oak with an enormous emerald embedded in the top. As he touched the staff Zack snapped his fingers and the staff broke into many pieces on the floor. A significant force of yellow light emanated out from the broken staff and knocked the mage and Zack to the ground.

Zack recovered quickly and made a mental note that destroying magical objects may have a kick back.

The mage was closer to the staff when it was broken. He looked disoriented and could not focus his eyes. Zack could hear a commotion outside as other soldiers discovered the one Zack killed and the others sleeping on the ground.

Zack leaned down to Hogant and said, “Hello Mr. Mage, My name is Zack. You and your queen have violated my warning. Unfortunately for you this will not end well. Sometimes you are innocently eating dinner. Sometimes a pissed off wizard storms your tent and kills you.”

With that Zack rotated his wrist and Hogant’s neck snapped as he fell lifelessly to the ground.

Zack turned towards the entrance of the tent. It was suddenly really quiet outside. Zack suspected the other soldiers figured out something was wrong and were waiting for someone to emerge from the tent.

Finally, Zack heard a voice ask, “Master Mage Hogant, are you alright in there?”

Zack imagine an impenetrable bubble around himself as he walked out of the tent. Instantly over 40 arrows hit the bubble and fell to the ground.

Zack shook his head, “This is really the best you have?”

In response to Zack’s goading several soldiers rushed Zack.

Zack raised his hand and the soldiers stopped in mid step. Some in midair as they were diving towards Zack.

Zack raised his hand up in the air and the soldiers rose over one hundred feet in the air. They started screaming in fear and anger. Zack closed his hand and the screaming stopped.

Zack looked over the many soldiers who just stared at him.

Zack said in an amplified and cheerful voice, “Now that I have your attention, I wish to meet the hand of the queen. Would you please bring that person forward.”

Some of the soldiers just stared at Zack dumbfounded. Others turned in unison to one of the other larger tents and stared at it.

Zack smiled, “I get this must be confusing for you. Just to clear things up, Master Mage Hogant, who really seemed like an asshole is no longer. So, if you are waiting for him to save you. That is probably not going to work out. Now, if someone can be a big help and get the queen’s hand I would appreciate it. You should know I have wicked ADHD and might forget I am holding up those men up in the air. I would hate for them to fall to their deaths.”

The last comment seemed to motivate the soldiers. In a few moments a stunning woman with jet black hair and what must pass for office work in the field attire was standing in front of him. She was staring at her men floating a hundred feet in the air above her.

Zack politely coughed and she looked startled as she focused on Zack.

Zack said, “Hello, my name is Zack. What is your name?”

The women tried to regain her composure and said with a slight stammer, “My name is Wendriss, I am the hand of Queen Aadici.”

Zack said, “Perfect, it is a pleasure to meet you Wendriss, Hand to Queen Aadici. You may or may not know some time back, I told some of the queen’s men that they are to leave Vinstra and the surrounding area alone. I said if they did not there would be dire consequences.”

Wendriss nodded in understanding.

Zack continued, “Good, you are aware of my warning. Now I am not sure if you were mistakenly told that I am not real, and my warning was a myth. But as you can see, clearly it was real.”

Wendiss wordlessly nodded in agreement to Zack’s words.

Zack said, “Splendid, good that we are on the same page. Wendriss, I have a real conundrum on my hands.”

Wendriss looked at Zack with fear and a small amount of puzzlement.

Zack continued, “Let me explain. What constitutes dire consequences? Do you think Queen Aadici would find killing a few soldiers to meet the thresh hold of dire consequences? Or perhaps killing her Master Mage Hogant was enough to reach dire consequences status?”

Wendriss’s eyes went wild as she stared at Hogant’s tent.

Zack said, “You can go check if you want to. I assure you he is quite dead.”

Wendriss didn’t move an inch.

Zack said, “I appreciate your confidence in my word. None the less I am still unsure what the queen will consider to be dire consequences. Luckily for me and perhaps the rest of your men here. You are the hand of the queen. Who else could be more qualified to answer this question in the queen’s stead.”

Wendriss gave a fearful look to the dead soldier nearby and then back to Zack.

Wendriss started to say something, but Zack interrupted her. “Out if fairness I should warn you that I am something of a wizard. By that I mean I am most certainly a wizard. We have ways of telling if someone is lying so keep that in mind as you answer.”

Wendriss closed her mouth and then opened it again and said, “Master Zack, it is quite clear you have the upper hand here. It is also quite clear you possess the means and the will to kill all of the queen’s men. I think I can safely say you have definitely crossed the threshold of dire consequences when you killed a late gold ranked mage on the verge of diamond rank.”

Zack looked at Wendriss for a moment and then nodded his head, “I think you are telling the truth. This leads to the next question in my conundrum. How can I be sure that when the queen hears my next message, she heeds my warning and meddles in someone else’s affairs.”

Wendriss looked nervousness increased visibly. She said, “If I am being honest, I am not sure she will ever heed your warnings. She is not one to be cowed.”

Zack gave a genuine smile, “Wendriss, you are a credit to the Queen. I appreciate your honesty, I imagine that was difficult to say knowing it could have bad outcomes for you and your men.”

There was a moment of silence apart from the muffled cries and strained movements of the men up in the air.

Zack looked around the camp at the soldiers and came to a decision. “Here is what is going to happen. You are all going to leave everything of value. Get on your horses with the provisions you need to go back to where you came from. You will leave all weapons and armor behind.”

Wendriss opened her mouth and then shut it. She looked around at the soldiers and decided to risk a question. “Surely you know that is a death sentence for many people if we are not armed. It is a long trip and there are many dangers along the way.”

Zack gave a cold smile, “Wendriss, let us cut the shit. You all came here to inflict terror and death on the people of Vinstra. I find it hard to believe that when I am allowing you a chance to live you are questioning my decisions. You, who would not have given the same quarter to the people of Vinstra.”

Wendriss nodded her head and quietly said, “Understood.”

Zack looked first at her and then the rest of the soldiers. “Do we have an understanding? You will go back to your queen and let her know the village of Vinstra and all the land surrounding Vinstra for forty miles in any direction is under my protection. If I find even one soldier on Vinstra’s land I shall construe this to be an act of war. A war I will bring to the queen’s castle. Are we clear? Do we have an understanding?”

Wendriss and the troops all nodded their heads.

Zack said, “Good, you have thirty minutes to clear out with your horses, normal clothes on your back, and food and water provisions. Anyone here one second after thirty minutes will spend the rest of their lives up in the trees.”

With that the camp came alive as the soldiers all got out of their armor. Piled up their weapons and valuables in the center of the camp.

Zack sensed his way through the soldiers exiting the camp. He noticed a particular group and sensed deception taking place. He moved over to the group and asked, “Did you forget to leave your gold and weapons behind?”

They all stared at him, and a few shook their heads. Zack pushed his hand forward and pulled it back. Several gold coins, precious metal trinkets, and daggers flew out of the mens clothing. The process of ripping out the gold and weapons disrobed several of the men. Wendriss looked over in horror and shook her head.

Zack put his hand up and the men froze in place.

He asked some other men nearby, “Could you come over and tie one strong rope around one of their legs?”

The men looked at Wendriss who nodded. The men tied a sturdy rope around the five men who tried to escape with treasure and weapons.

Zack said, “Tie the rope to a couple of horses.”

The men complied.

Zack turned to Wendriss, “As a token of good faith even though the queen’s men could not adhere to our agreement, I will allow you to take them home.

Zack turned to the men and pointed at each of them. In unison they all floated up in the air like and over filled helium balloon.

The men gasped in horror. They floated along and bobbed in the light breeze.

Zack turned back to Wendriss, “This will wear off when you are back to the queen’s castle. Now be gone as I tire of dealing with you all.”

Within ten minutes Zack was sitting alone in the camp staring at a ridiculous amount of armor, weapons, and gold feeling pretty smug with himself.