"You don't really think we're in any danger, do you, Sella?" asked the redheaded man with a scoff.

Sella fidgeted with her fingers. "All I'm saying is that the government officials seem to be taking it seriously. Think about it, Fen — drafting! The Empire hasn't had a draft in, what, a century?"

Fen appeared surprised at the news. "I hadn't heard anything about drafting."

Sella blinked, her face going red as she realized she had shared something she wasn't supposed to. "Ah, please don't tell that to anyone. My brother will have my hide if it gets out early."

"The General," Fen said and began walking along the cliff, his left hand brushing the thin railing. "Then, it's really that serious?" he asked quietly.

"That's what my brother said," Sella replied, shuffling along after her friend. "The Dark Lord is still consolidating his ground, but my brother said the tacticians estimate him arriving at the border within the month."

"And what if he does get here? He conquered Canneria, sure, but that's as backwater of a place as it gets. They barely have any mages at all! Even the weakest of Archmagi could have conquered the place if they wanted to," Fen declared boisterously, though there was a hint of worry in his voice.

"He killed Archmage Ludis, though..."

"And he was a fool for it. Everyone knows only Heroes can kill a Villain. He just had to go and poke the hornet's nest," Fen argued, voice dripping with disdain.

Sella grimaced. "Yeah, that wasn't smart at all. But then again, none of the Heroes have showed up yet."

"Maybe the Temples were wrong? Could they have been mistaken about the summoning?"

Sella's eyes went wide, and she jumped to cover the man's mouth. "Fen, that's blasphemy!" She looked around, scanning for anyone who could have overheard before releasing her grip.

"Your hands are cold," Fen noted, amusement clear in his voice.

"Don't joke about this! What if one of the priests heard you?"

"Fine, fine. According to the Temples' infallible wisdom, the Heroes are clearly here and just waiting to make their fashionable entrance."

Sella rolled her eyes. "If you get arrested for bad-mouthing them again, I'm going to let you rot in there."

"Be realistic, Sella. Villains are for the Heroes to deal with. Clearly, if there's a draft," he said, whispering the last words, "then the government must be worrying about the same thing as me."

Sella furrowed her brow. "You're not wrong..."

"And, anyway, just because only the Heroes can kill him, that doesn't mean he can't be contained, right?"

"Maybe... I'm just worried since we're so close to the border..." she trailed off, frown growing deeper.

Fen smiled. "It's okay, Sella. I promise to keep you safe. Have I ever let you down before?"

"Well, there was that one time..." she smiled wryly. "But, yeah. I just hope you're right."

'Me too,' Fen wanted to say, but for both of their sakes, he left the words unsaid.

----------------------------------------

In the city of Strix, a tall, muscular woman sat in front of an open window, holding a plain letter. The only thing remarkable about the letter was how wholly unremarkable it was (not even a name written on the envelope, let alone an address), as well as the fact that it had been dropped off by a dead bird in the middle of her lunch.

"Mages," she grumbled unhappily, pushing a gray lock of hair behind her ear as she toyed with the now-empty envelope. "They just drop shit on you and expect you to take it in stride."

"You don't hear shit from them for years, and then they come and beg for your help. As if you owe it to them."

"Are you not going to help, then?" asked her apprentice, a young man barely out of Law school.

"Of course I'm going to help. I owe it to him," she stated as if it were the most obvious thing. "It's just the principle of it that I hate, you know?" she asked, twisting her lips in a tusked smile.

"I understand," he said, even though he really didn't.

The half-ogre woman smacked him lightly across the forehead. "No, you don't. Stop lying, you know I can always tell."

He nodded, not agreeing to her request, but acknowledging her uncanny ability to tell truth from falsehood.

The green-skinned woman released a suffering sigh. "How does that idiot even manage it? He starts a war with the whole continent — and he wants to fight a thief in court at the same time?"

The young man blinked in surprise. "Wait, when you said Julian, you meant that Julian?"

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

The woman snorted. "Yes, that Julian. The spooky one."

"How are you even going to handle the lawsuit? Surely he can't sue a Rhinian citizen while he's at war with Rhinia..."

"Actually, he can. There's a precedent for it, though it was four hundred years ago. You should have known this already." She narrowed her eyes, glaring at the man. "Volume 21. You will read it again by tomorrow evening and write a summary on it."

"Mercy, please," the man pleaded, mockingly raising his hand to his chest.

"Volume 22 as well, then. That should teach you to take things seriously"

"Fine, fine," he raised his arms in surrender. "But seriously, though. Is it... wise, to represent him in court?"

The woman snorted. "Of course it's not wise. The temples will probably try to have my head for even suggesting it," she said with a wry smile, made frightening by the tusks peeking from her lips. "But I'm not getting any younger. Getting to 70 is already a lot, for those like us," she said, glancing at her apprentice — her nephew — from the side of her eye. "If I'm on the way out, might as well do it with a bang. Representing the Dark Lord in a plagiarism case is gonna put me in the history books!"

"Just don't drag me down with you," the young man muttered under his breath.

"Was that complaining I heard?" the woman asked, giving her nephew a pointed look. "It sounds like you have too much free time. Add volume 23 and finish them all by noon tomorrow."

The young man's face fell and left the room in a hurry before his aunt could inflict more work on him.

Seeing him leave, Jenna smiled. "Ah, to be young," she said, reminiscing about her own youth. "Well, at least," she sighed, "my final days won't be boring."

----------------------------------------

In a small clearing in the middle of the woods, a boy and a girl sat on opposite sides of a fire, each waiting in silence for the meat to cook. This had been their routine for the past few days, with the third member of their group having left to gather news and supplies.

Now, though, they could do little but wait and hope that the other boy would return soon. Without the brains of their operation, they were as good as lost.

A crack tore through the deep silence of the night, startling the two campers from their silent contemplation. With surprising deftness, the girl picked up the bow lying beside her, nocking an arrow with a single, swift motion.

The boy was only a hair slower than the girl, unsheathing a pair of daggers he'd carefully hidden inside his clothes, the blades now glinting ominously in the campfire's light.

A single nod passed between them, and the boy disappeared from view, seemingly melding with the shadows. The girl retreated into the trees, climbing to a dizzying height in just a flash.

It had taken barely more than an eye-blink for the two to make themselves scarce, which only caused the source of the disturbance to grow greatly confused.

"Uh, guys? Where are you?" asked a voice coming from within the tree line.

"Idiot," the girl said with a hiss as she glided down the tree. "Did you forget about the signals?"

"Um..." the voice replied, and then a shrieked as a loud shuffle was heard from its direction.

"It's him", the boy confirmed, dragging the interloper out of the trees and into the light.

The girl rolled her eyes. "That was obvious from the voice, David."

David shrugged. "Can't be too safe. Especially with Cam being an idiot — moving through the forest like that, he could have easily led someone to us."

"Hey, that's not—" Cam protested.

"Sorry, but he's right," the girl interrupted. "You were moving like a bull through a china shop."

"Alexis, not you too..."

Alexis rolled her eyes. "Whatever, let's just get back to the fire. Don't want the meat to get charred."

"And you can tell us whatever you found as we eat," David added.

"But I wanted to eat too..." Cam protested, earning himself a pair of pointed glares from the other two. "Okay, okay, I'll just do both at the same time," he muttered.

After resuming their places around the fire, Cam began. "There's good news and there's bad news."

"Start with the good news," David said, "I haven't heard any in way too long."

"So, the good news is that they aren't searching for us anymore."

Alexis blinked. "That's great! Then we can probably move freely now?"

Cam grimaced. "That's where the bad news comes in."

Alexis and David frowned, putting their food down and discarding their previous levity as David motioned for Cam to continue.

"The Dark Lord is moving west, and the Rhinian Empire is preparing to stop his advance."

As soon as the Villain was mentioned, a collective shiver went through the three teenagers as they sat in the clearing.

"That means we have to move, doesn't it?" Alexis asked softly.

For a moment, a single question passed through David's head: Do we? But the thought was extinguished as quickly as it came, and soon he and Cameron found themselves nodding in agreement.

"So, what do we do? Wait at the border? Or rather, cross the border and try to stop him there?" Alexis asked, consumed by an uncharacteristic burst of initiative.

"I think tailing the army — the Rhinians, I mean, not his — is probably the best option. We can wait for them to start fighting the undead and then use the distraction to sneak around to assassinate the Dark Lord," David said.

Alexis raised an eyebrow. "Sneak around? With Cameron around?" she asked, skepticism evident in her voice.

"Hey, just because I wasn't hiding from you, it doesn't mean I can't hide at all," Cam retorted, crossing his arms. "After all, I'm the one who went to Aves, and the temple people didn't catch me. I'd like to see you try that."

"They just wouldn't see me, period," Alexis said simply, "and it's the same for David."

Cam shook his head. "I can sneak around well enough for the plan to work — and it's a good plan, unless you have something better?"

Alexis shrugged. "David's plan it is, then."

Cam stifled a yawn. "Why are we doing this, anyway?" he asked as he absentmindedly chewed on a piece of meat.

"What do you mean? We're doing it because we have to," David replied, giving the other boy a strange look.

Cam blinked twice, slightly confused. "Right, of course. Of course..." he said, trailing off. "Well, I'm gonna go sleep, now. I'm so tired that my mind is playing tricks on me." He shook his head and stuffed the last of the food in his mouth as he sat up from his spot. Then, he shambled unsteadily to his makeshift bedroll and tucked himself in, turning away from the fire.

Alexis and David continued eating quietly.

Finally, David broke the silence. "Did that seem strange to you?"

Yes, was what Alexis wanted to say. "Did what seem strange? I didn't see anything weird," she ended up saying, and oddly, she found herself in agreement.

"Yeah, me neither," David said, blinking as if he had something stuck in his eye.

Alexis gave him an oblique look. "Anyway, we need to prepare if we're going after the big bad," she said as she stared into the fire.

"That we do. This'll be hard," David said.

"It will," Alexis agreed.

"We'll probably end up dying."

"That is also true."

"Why were we doing this, again?" he asked, the fire's reflection flickering in his eyes.

"Because we have to," Alexis spoke softly, a sad smile on her face.

They spoke no more until they finished eating, and after muttering a quick 'Good night', they let themselves fall into the soothing embrace of sleep.

In their dreams, at least, they were happy and free.