Erihseht was in ruins. The fields had been stripped, and the homes and shops burned. If other lillits had escaped the attack, they wouldn’t be here. Esmelda, Gastard, and I were riding through to see what there was to see, and what we found did not inspire hope. Boffin’s manor had a stone foundation, which was all that was left of the structure. Esmelda’s possessions, her books and clothes, whatever keepsakes had remained from her mother, were all gone.

We paused outside the blackened shell of what had been her home.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“The Dark Lord ruins all that he touches,” her eyes were clear. “This is no more than what I expected to find.”

Gastard grunted his agreement, and we completed our circuit of the town. The church was gone, but its bell remained, cracked and blackened, resting atop a mound of crumbled masonry.

“Do you think Tipple was captured,” I asked.

Esmelda nodded. “Dongle said he went back for more people after they were out of Erihseht. I am sure he was taken. It wasn’t as if he had a sword to fight with. He would have surrendered if soldiers caught him.”

“It may not have been soldiers,” Gastard said.

All the refugees agreed that the monsters who had overrun the village had been remarkably tame, at least in the sense that they had not tried to eat everyone they saw. That didn’t mean there hadn’t been casualties.

“Until we know otherwise,” I said. “I’m going to assume that everyone is alive. They can still be rescued.”

“Not by Godwod,” Esmelda said. “He didn’t say it openly, but he thinks of the lillits as a buffer between the kingdom of men and Dargoth. Losing Erihseht gave him warning that the Dark Lord had stirred. But my people are no more valuable to him than that. The other villages, their loss will only buy him time to gather the army he needs to respond.”

“They should evacuate,” I said. “If they haven’t been attacked already. We can go to them. Godwod didn’t put a limit on how many people I could bring to the mine. We could make a place there for all the lillits, and fight to keep them safe.”

“I would like that,” she said, melancholy stealing the life from her words. Even if we saved the other villages, it would not bring her father back.

Eerb was less than a day’s ride from Erihseht, and even if we couldn’t make it there before nightfall, we could at least see that it was still standing. I had bought a horse before leaving Henterfell. Dongle had been happy to loan me the money, as it hadn’t seemed wise to try to sell a gold ingot in the city while Godwod was almost certainly keeping tabs on me. I wasn’t sure if I trusted the jeweler, but at least he was useful.

The horse was nothing special, not trained for war or show. But he was healthy and friendly enough and had quickly gotten accustomed to the smell of my leathers. He had a walnut brown coat and a lighter splotch across his face. I had named him Bongo and hoped he wouldn’t get eaten.

As we rode out of the collection of blackened husks that had once been a thriving village, Gastard raised one hand and pulled to a stop. We followed suit.

“What is it?” I asked.

“There,” Esmelda pointed. There was a group traveling along the river, still some distance away toward the east. It wasn’t an army, though it seemed too large to be a simple hunting party, and I wouldn’t have expected to see one coming from that direction anyway.

“Can you make out the banner?” Gastard asked.

One of the riders was flying a pendant, but I could barely make out the color of the cloth, let alone what house symbol might have been embroidered there.

“It’s the Margrave’s eagle,” Esmelda said. Her eyes were apparently as keen as her hearing, a lillit trait, I assumed.

“Then it will be Otto,” Gastard said. “Let’s find out what they have learned.”

Otto had set out with a group of twenty. Only a handful of knights, the rest were their squires and retainers, many of whom were on foot. They recognized Gastard, and our groups met beside Whiskywend, coming to a halt less than ten paces apart.

“What are you doing here?” Otto demanded. His long black hair and beard were greasy and unkempt, and his expression made it obvious that he was not pleased to see us.

“We came to see what had been done to Erihseht,” Gastard said. “Lord Godwod is well aware of where we are. What of the Dargothians, what did you find?”

“Gone,” Otto shrugged. “We followed their trail back to a pass in the mountains.” He glanced at Esmelda. “From the tracks, it looked like many of her people were with them. Traitors, no doubt.”

Esmelda drew in a sharp breath, and I interjected before she could respond. “What about the other villages? You’re saying the army went back to Dargoth right after attacking Erihseht?”

His gaze slid to me. “That’s right. The threat has passed for now, which is what I’ll be reporting to the Margrave. It wasn’t a massive force, and the Dark Lord may not be behind it at all. Who knows if he’s even still alive, after all this time.”

“He is immortal,” Esmelda said, “and nothing is done in his name that he does not know.”

“You old friends, are you?” Otto said, “Gossiped over tea?” He snorted. “Doesn’t matter, there’s nothing for you to do out here. Did you already make the Margrave his sword?”

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“I did,” I said. “I’m surprised he let you keep yours after you lied to him.”

Otto grinned. “Didn’t lie to him, I lied to you.”

“What?”

“You were never formally accused of sorcery.” Otto acted like he was sharing a private joke. “The Lady of Henterfell heard about you from some halfling, and my lord sent me to look into it and bring you in if I could. The rest was me taking advantage.”

“Knave,” Gastard uttered the word like it was a curse, and Otto only shrugged.

“Worked out for all of us, I’d say. As soon as I showed my lord the sword you gave me, he wanted one for himself. That halfling said some nonsense about how his goddess had blessed you to be able to make anything from anything, and I figured you were a skilled craftsman. The sword proved it.”

My blood was boiling, but there were a lot more of them than there were of us, and we were working for the same man. Otto laughed at our expressions and rode off with his group. Dongle had been the one to say something about me, but it had been an innocent, if foolish, mistake. Otto’s scheme explained a lot about my reception in Henterfell, I hadn’t been in danger from the church to begin with, and Godwod had simply played the situation to his advantage.

“No true knight,” Gastard said, as if casting irreparable judgment upon the man.

“He is vermin,” Esmelda said, “but that doesn’t matter now.” She was looking toward the east.

“Armies move slowly,” I said, “especially if they’re dragging lillits behind them. We could follow them.”

Esmelda shook her head. “The goddess gave you many gifts, but you cannot face the forces of Dargoth alone. I want to follow, but there is nothing I could do if we caught them. This won’t be the end, whatever Otto thinks. When the Dark Lord sees how easy prey we have become, it will encourage him to attack again and again. We have to do something about the other villages.”

“I agree,” I said. “You should go to Eerb, and try to get them to agree to come with us to the mine when I get back.”

“Get back?” Her brows knitted in concern.

“You’re right, I can’t take on an army, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing I can do. At the very least, I want to see what we’re up against, so we can be better prepared the next time.”

“A sound plan,” Gastard said. “We won’t take unnecessary risk, but there is scouting to be done before any enemy can be faced in earnest.”

“You too, Gastard?” Esmelda wore a pained smile. “If that’s the case, then I should go as well, I have better eyes than either of you.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I said. “Someone needs to prepare Eerb, and there’s no telling how long this will take.”

“Because you plan on doing more than scouting,” Esmelda said. She patted her horse on the neck. “It isn’t as if I don’t want you to try. It’s not just my father out there, Brenys, everyone I knew my whole life. The Dark Lord will bind them, and they will never be free again. If there is a chance to save them, I would take it, but I do not believe there is a chance, and there are still people to protect here.”

“I think there’s a chance,” I said. There wasn’t much for me to base that assessment on, but being reborn with supernatural powers has a way of making a guy cocky. “You know I can’t die, right?”

“You can die,” Esmelda said.

“You know what I mean.”

“And what if the Dark Lord knows nothing of you yet, but hears of a man with powers like his own striking out into his realm?”

“I admit, that’s an issue. But those people are my people too. Boffin’s my father-in-law, right? I have to at least try, and I’ll be able to decide whether the risk of exposing myself is worth it when we see what the enemy looks like.”

“And you expect me to stay behind?”

The way she was looking at me, I didn’t know what to say, but the answer was yes. Esmelda wasn’t a major asset in combat, and even if she had been, I wouldn’t have wanted to risk her in what would almost certainly be a foolhardy rescue attempt.

“I will keep him safe,” Gastard said. The river ran quietly beside us, and a slight breeze stirred in the grass. Bongo, unaware that anything dramatic was going on, lowered his head to snack. He was a good horse, I could already tell.

“And who will keep you safe?” Esmelda asked.

“I will,” Gastard said. “Of course.”

“Wait,” I said, “you don’t trust me to have your back?”

“You are reckless,” Gastard said, “and unskilled.”

“Reckless? I’m reckless? I’m way more cautious than you are. You would fistfight a troll.”

“If I had to,” Gastard said, his eyes hard.

Esmelda laughed. “Two would-be templars. You are both impossible.”

I wasn’t a very experienced horseman, so I had to tug on my reins a few times to get Bongo’s attention and convince him to clop closer to Esmelda.

“I made something for you,” I said, digging around in my pouch for the wooden flower. Her face lit up as she accepted it.

“It’s lovely,” she said.

“I’m still practicing.”

“I’m sure you’ll get better.” She tucked the flower in one of her saddlebags, then maneuvered Fuzzu so that we were sitting side by side. The animal responded to the slightest pressure from her legs, following her intentions so exactly that I had to wonder if lillits had special abilities that she had just never mentioned. She removed her mother’s comb from her hair and placed it in my hands.

“I expect you to bring this back to me,” she said.

“I will,” I said, holding it tightly.

Esmelda raised herself in the saddle and reached behind my head to pull my face down toward hers. Her lips brushed mine, the lightest kiss, and then she let me go. My heart pounded in my chest.

“Thank you,” I said, like an idiot.

Her eyes crinkled, but she didn’t say anything else. Esmelda turned her horse and set off for Eerb. I watched her go.

“If we hurry,” Gastard said, “ we can make the mountains before nightfall.”

I looked to the sky. The sun was already behind us. We would have to gallop.

“I have a shelter there already,” I said. “We can follow the river.”

“Good, and before we rest, I need to teach you how to run with a sword. If we face danger, I cannot abide the method you use now. It is the most absurd thing I have ever seen.”

“Hey, I’m doing my best.”

Gastard grunted and dug his knees into the sides of his mount. It responded instantly, leaping forward, and falling into a run. Much more awkwardly, I goaded Bongo into following. Once it had the idea of what I was after, it stretched out its neck and put its heart into the chase.

I wasn’t ready to meet Kevin, but I’d come a long way from making sandwiches. The memories of my old life were still there, telling me I was not enough. I’d never made anything of myself before, and I’d always found a way to screw things up. Relationships, school, the whole prison episode. I was lucky things had gone so well for me so far. Whatever her motivations, whatever her faults, Mizu had given me a second chance.

We might not be able to save Boffin and the others from what was waiting for them in Dargoth, but we could try. The goddess had sent me here to be a hero, and I intended to play the part. As the mountains came into view ahead of us, I felt the weight of what I had been, my failures, my inadequacies, everything I that had come before, lifting off my shoulders, carried behind me by the wind.