As soon as I shifted from the forest in Inabar to the grotto in Lexas Gardens, I collapsed on all four, and all hell broke loose. Throwing up on an empty stomach was one thing. Throwing up on an empty stomach and with a broken rib was another level of horrible. I almost passed out from the pain. It felt like my whole digestive system hated me and wanted out. Well, I hate you too!

My ribcage felt like it would burst with every spasm. And there were many of them, shaking my whole body, making me unable to sustain my own weight on my hands and knees. I ended up lying on the ground, trying very hard not to stain myself with the burning liquid pouring out of my mouth.

My last meal was yesterday’s lunch, how could there be so much left in my stomach?

After what felt like an eternity of pain, I finally gathered enough energy to get up and stumble to the spring. I rinsed the bitter taste out of my mouth. Inside the grotto, the basalt dragon looked like an artist’s rendition of a Gold Dragon, if the artist had only seen him from afar. All in all, it was cute, rather than majestic.

I felt lightheaded, but I needed to go.

The park was empty, so I had the rising sun all to myself while I walked among statues and topiaries. I searched my pockets for a piece of paper I’d carried along for days, just in case, not actually believing I’d need it.

And I was well inspired, because I do need it now.

I found it, unfolded it and followed the directions written on it.

I walked out of Lexas Gardens through the north gate. There were carts everywhere, vegetable growers bringing their production to the market, farmers transporting live animals, men with barrels, women with eggs, in a profusion of noises and smells. Nobody paid me attention. Some people even seemed to look away on purpose.

I let the livelihood of Carastra warm up my sore body. Food smells made my empty stomach groan. I was starving and out of money, which was almost as painful as my scratches, bruises and broken rib. But as long as I could walk, I wouldn’t give up.

I got lost in the streets until I recognized the narrow alleys and jettied upper floors of Potions’ Corner. Once there, I took a better look at shop signs, which also meant I paid less attention to my feet. I tripped over uneven cobblestones, three, four times, and every time, I thought I’d fall and fail to get up again.

People weren’t as indifferent in Potions’ Corner as they’d been near the marketplace. They gave me disgusted looks in passing, as if I was carrying some infectious disease. It made me smile. It’d even make me chuckle if I wasn’t hurt. I looked terrible, I felt terrible too, but if these were the reactions I attracted, it meant no one knew who I was. The Great Hero Al was still officially on the run, and certainly not back in Carastra, preparing to expose Senior Magus Pernel’s treachery.

There it is!

The sign above me read “Rare Woods for Enchantments” and the shop itself didn’t look open yet. Then again, most of its neighbors were still closed, too. I knocked nevertheless, and a young woman in a striped apron opened the door. Her dark blue hair was held in a tight bun and she was holding a broom. Not the kind witches ride, just a very ordinary broom for sweeping floors.

She looked me up and down and wrinkled her nose. “We’re closed.”

As she began to close the door, I raised a hand.

“No, wait! I’d like lamb stew, please.”

She froze in place, puzzlement widening her eyes.

She didn’t expect me to know the password, but hello, here I am. I’m not a beggar, I’m not sick. Quite the contrary, actually.

“Isn’t it a bit early for lamb stew?” the young woman asked.

“It’s an urgent matter.”

She looked left and right in the street, then she sighed.

“All right, come in. I’ll get the stew.”

She ushered me inside, made me sit on a chair in the middle of the shop, where none of the precious wood samples on the shelves was at arm’s length, and disappeared out the back door. Was she afraid I might ruin her goods just by touching them?

A moment later, the young woman came back with Vilo Jozin, the leader of the All One party. Back in Lexas Gardens, after our conversation, he’d given me the paper with instructions for finding him.

She pointed at me with a worried face.

“This is the woman I told you about. Deal with her, please. I want her out of my shop before I let customers in.”

He squinted and blinked several times. Then he frowned.

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“Lady Al? Is that you?”

I smiled.

“Nice to see you, Vilo. Or should I call you Lamb Stew?”

He rushed to help me up from the chair.

“Come with me before my cousin beats us both with her broom.”

“Can’t you dodge the beating with your power?”

The young woman clenched her teeth. “Leave this shop or I’ll give it a try.”

Vilo took me to the shop’s reserve, where narrow stairs led up to a hallway with three doors. I was wondering which one we’d go through when he grabbed my arm.

“If you’ll excuse me…”

And he walked right through the wall, pulling me into a corridor with a hardwood floor. My head was spinning from going up the stairs, and I looked around, disoriented. Vilo had an embarrassed smile.

“There’s no door between my place and my cousin’s shop. I wouldn’t need a door at all if I was the only one who goes in and out of here, but some people do visit, you know.”

“Uh?”

He ran a hand through his dark blue hair.

“Nevermind. Follow me.”

The corridor led to a living room that overlooked the street. Vilo gave me a comfortable chair and sat down in front of me.

“What happened to you, Lady Al? You look terrible.”

“I fell off a cliff.”

He frowned. “A cliff? How high? You shouldn’t even be alive, let alone able to walk!”

“It’s a miracle, I know. But I’m hurt, and my companions are held captive over there in Inabar, and I’m running out of time to save Brealia.”

Vilo held out a hand in front of him.

“Wait a second, Lady Al. Save Brealia from what?”

Can he really be unaware of what’s going on?

I breathed hard enough to make my broken rib hurt.

“You mean you don’t know? Didn’t you notice a change in the military activity in recent days? Like they’re preparing for something?”

Vilo looked out of the window, but all there was to see was the opposite house. You didn’t get a panoramic view in Potions’ Corner.

“I heard you deserted and King Esthar was looking for you. Then again, right now, you can show up anywhere, all scruffy and bloody and wrapped in that horrible cape, and no one will think they’re standing in front of the Great Hero Al.”

“It’s not a cape. It’s a skirt that was torn.”

My vision was turning black at the edges. Low blood pressure? I should rest my head against the back of the chair.

Vilo sprang out of his chair.

“Lady Al? Are you all right?”

“No, I’m not. I got cursed, I got captured, I fell off a cliff, and I’m starving! But we’re about to get attacked and I’m the only one who still has a chance to prevent it. I don’t have a choice, I must finish what I started. My friends are in jail. You must help me, Vilo!”

He looked down at me, arms crossed, a storm raging in his dark blue gaze. “Let’s suppose I believe you. How long do we have left?”

“A little under two days.”

“Then let’s take care of you first. You’re not getting anywhere or saving anyone in this state.”

Vilo gave me a bowl of thick and creamy soup that helped me feel a little less lightheaded.

“Why do you keep calling me ‘Lady Al’ if you want to get rid of nobility?” I asked between two spoonfuls.

“Precisely because I do. I don’t think you were born to a noble family, yet I believe that, even bruised and dirty as you are, you have a right to be called Lady, as much as anyone. Does it bother you?”

“I’m not used to it. I don’t really like it, either.”

To be honest, the only other person who calls me ‘Lady Al’ is Demon Lord Faur, and I think there’s a fair deal of irony in his use of the title.

Vilo nodded. “I’ll try to just call you Al, then.”

After I ate, he left me alone in a small room with a large jug of hot water, soap and a sponge. I’d have loved a bath, but this would do. I removed the dirt and dried blood from my skin, wincing every time the sponge touched a wound or a bruise, and I was literally covered in them. Nothing too deep or serious, fortunately. But washing my body helped me realize how badly the fall had hurt me, despite Cherub’s precautions to save my life.

Vilo knocked on the door.

“I brought you clothes. I’m leaving them in the corridor. Help yourself.”

With his power, he could walk through this door anytime, but I don’t even think he’ll try. For some reason, I feel safe here.

I painfully brushed my tangled hair, held it up in my usual loose bun, and then peeked into the corridor.

There were men’s and women’s clothes in neat piles on the floor. I cherry-picked items I liked and recreated my favorite look, with a shirt and bodice over comfortable pants. I couldn’t lace the bodice the way I wanted, though. I had to keep it looser than usual, to spare my ribs.

My boots were still usable. Vilo brushed the mud from them, then he handed them back to me.

“Now that you look better, Al, tell me what you’re supposed to save Brealia from.”

“Kossi, remember?”

He crossed his arms. “How could I forget? Thirty dead and a destroyed garden, on the day you were summoned.”

“Well, it was only the beginning.” I pulled on a boot and began lacing it. “Kossi is being used in a conspiracy, there’s a spell controlling him, and long story short, we have two days left to stop the wizard who cast it.”

“What happens if we don’t?”

“Kossi will murder King Esthar and his whole council.” I pointed a finger at Vilo. “This isn’t good news, Vilo Jozin!”

He crossed his arms and puffed out his chest.

“Of course not! As much as I want Esthar to leave the throne and give equal opportunities to commoners and nobles alike, I’m not cruel enough to rejoice if he gets burned to ashes.”

“If he died, Lord Saegorg of Inabar would claim the throne.”

“Well, he’d have to fight me.”

I now had both boots on, so I stood up and looked straight into Vilo’s dark blue eyes.

“It’s not about you, Vilo. It’s about using a dragon against his will to murder innocents. Possibly thousands of them. With your ability to go through anything, you’d probably survive a war, but would you like to live in a barren country? Fuming ashes and starving survivors?”

He smirked. “Aren’t you overdoing it a little?”

“Maybe, but by the time a disorganized kingdom gets rid of both Kossi and Saegorg’s army, I honestly don’t know what’ll be left of it. So we act now. We expose the traitor, we free Kossi of the spell, Inabar doesn’t attack and Brealia remains as we know it.”

“As we know it.” Vilo sighed. “That is, with a king on the throne, paving the way for his crown princess of a daughter to reign after him and never be accountable to anyone. What’s in it for me?”

I tapped the tip of his nose. “You’re young, Vilo. You have a lifetime to bring about political change in this country. But here’s what I can promise you right now.”

“I’m all ears, Al.”

“Esthar chose to follow the crowd that wanted the dragon’s head instead of listening to me. He even sent soldiers after me when I decided to do things my way. Come with me and you’ll get to prove him wrong in front of his whole council.”

Vilo frowned.

“This is hard to believe. Is it true?”

“All of it. Why would I trick the only person in the world who’ll always escape?”

A wide smile lit up his face. “Count me in, Al! All One has a protest scheduled tomorrow. I’ll gather my friends and see how we can work together.”