“So you exchanged your monster for Iraiah?” asked Rusk as they traversed the forest. Both of them knew how to get around in a wooded area without paying much attention, and Mandy even more so than Rusk who hadn’t done it in a while, so they made good pace, seeking the sky for fowl the entire time without bothering to look down and keep their footing.

“Yes. It was an exchange, nothing more. Though it did turn out well for me. It was worth it.”

“You talk like you liked the monster,” said Rusk with a scoff of disbelief.

“Because I did. It was helpful in certain situations.”

Rusk had nothing to say about that, but plenty to think about it. He turned his eyes to the sky again after stepping over a root. And it seemed this forest really was different than his home territory. Right outside the capital city there was a foreboding air, like all the magic had been shoved out the city and settled right in the forest outside. It clung on the barks of trees and swam around in fog at their feet. Rusk could feel it in his bones, in his soul. The magic here. It was greater than the Elva, and more perverse.

Dragons Knock was alert in his quiver. But said nothing. It stood erect and ready. But Rusk was saving it for the necromancer, or the King. Either way. Whoever he had to shoot to get rid of the problem of the dead swarming this kingdom. The monsters.

“So you got along with it? The monster.”

“No.” Mandy quickly drew and shot a bird right out of the sky. It landed with a crunch of bones and feathers at their feet. She picked it up and presented it to Rusk in the same manner a cat might present a dead mouse to its owner. “But we had an arrangement of sorts. Will this do?”

“I guess. You’re the one who knows about the black magic stuff. I’m just along for the ride apparently.”

Mandy smirked. She stowed the dead bird inside her pack. Not a hawk, but doable. If nothing else they could use it for a quick dinner on the road. “The magic isn’t black or white, good or bad. It just is.”

“You should listen to this one,” said the Dragons Knock. “For she is wise.”

Rusk made a face at his quiver.

“You don’t think I should be friends with Iraiah do you?” Mandy spun around and backtracked, and it seemed she was heading for the outer wall of the city, skirting it, thinking, running her hand along the stone bricks that held it up right behind the slums. “I can tell. It’s been so long but you’re the same. It’s kind of nostalgic really.”

“Well if I’m the same then you’re different. I can’t believe you’d be friends with someone like that. She’s so… I dunno. I feel like I don’t know her loyalties. Makes her hard to trust.”

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“You don’t trust her?”

“I trust her as far as I can throw her.”

“That doesn’t really answer my question. You’d never catch her in time to throw.”

Typical Mandy. Always reading past his words.

“She’s more loyal than you think. All you have to do is prove yourself to her and then you’ve got a friend for life. She’d die for me. I know that now. We’ve been through a lot together.” When the pink spread across Mandy’s cheeks, up her neck, past her ears, Rusk knew.

“Been through a lot. Oh. No wonder. I though. I never. Oh.”

“What? You think I wasn’t interested in you because of some personal fault?”

“I thought you weren’t interested in anyone.”

Mandy laughed, and it was the bright child laugh he’d known as a kid. It filled him with warmth.

“Guess I’ve got a gay best friend now, huh?”

“If you wanna put it that way.” She’d slipped back into their forest territory dialect. And for once, out of character for one usually so poised, she tripped over her own feet.

Rusk grabbed her arm to steady her. “Where are we going anyway? We don’t have a plan to face the king, and I’m a bit nervous with anything involving the necromancer. Please tell me you’ve got some sort of plan because I’m fresh out of options.”

“Wrack that Hero brain,” said Mandy. “I’m sure you can figure it out.”

Always the tease. Rusk didn’t think it was very funny at the moment. He put his hand on the wall. Something felt off about it. Like it was made of more than just stone.

“You are correct,” said Dragons Knock. “It is imbued with magic, the same way your cell or the Sanctuary’s walls were. It is keeping something out. Or perhaps something in.”

Rusk made a contemplative noise. “Iraiah says you’re the best shot in the world.”

“Did she?” Private smile.

“Yeah. Maybe… maybe you could put this to better use than me.” Rusk tipped the Dragons Knock in her direction, feather end first.

Mandy pushed it back toward him. “No. It chose you. I have my own resources, and you’re the Hero of this story.”

“Don’t feel much like a hero at all these days.”

“Well I guess you better get over it. Because there are people counting on you in there. Say, what do you actually know about this Gedresial?”

“He helped me out. I want to help him. It’s that simple. I don’t know much else.”

“I feel like I’ve heard the name before.”

“Yeah? Where?”

“Can’t remember.” Mandy was lying. She knew. She’d met Gedresial in an escapade with Iraiah and at the moment didn’t want to get into the details with Rusk because it would complicate everything. So she played dumb. She was good at pretending, always had been. And Rusk had never noticed. That’s part of the reason she liked him so much. Naïve, but kindhearted. She approved. It was refreshing given the life she’d lived since leaving the forest territory. Since her cottage burnt down. Since everything.

“You’re lying,” said Rusk.

Mandy looked at him and for the first time in a very long time she felt the shock rip through her, right down to her core. Iraiah had the same look when Mandy had first caught her thieving. She remembered Iraiah saying I’ve never been caught, never ever, never ever, over and over again, and now she knew how that felt, to be so blatantly laid bare. To be found out.

“Why? You protecting him? Or protecting me?”

“I’m protecting… myself.” Mandy sighed. She’d have to come clean now. “Rusk, there’s a reason I live outside the barriers of the capital city. I’m dangerous. I’ve done terrible things. Things I imagine you’d never think I could do. That maybe I wasn’t capable of it. But I’m not that person anymore. I’ve crossed lines. Gedresial was one of those lines.”

Rusk couldn’t figure out what the heck she was talking about.

She looked up at him, a hardness in her eyes he’d seen only once before. “Gedresial was my monster.”