Andal woke up in a covered wagon bumping along a worn road. His armor was nowhere to be seen, but sitting a few feet away was Professor Tharow. His chest ached, but his hand even more so. With strained effort he raised his hand to where he could see it, finding a thick white scar running from his palm up through his knuckles.

"You certainly put yourself in a harrowing position," Tharow said, "We healed your wounds as quickly as we could, but it had been hours already, so we couldn't do anything about the scarring. How does your hand feel?"

"It still hurts," Andal answered. He wiggled his finger, finding that he felt less range of motion around the middle of his hand.

Tharow noticed, "Thankfully that's not your sword hand. We could have prevented that if we'd arrived sooner, but you're lucky we arrived at all."

Andal propped himself up on the wagon wall, grunting from the pain in his chest. "What happened after I blacked out?"

"Jeva finished off the general, then bandaged your injuries with pieces of the tent. That night after you left the academy we received a draft order for all students fourteen and above, and over half of the staff. I took as many with me as we had horses, and we made it to Vilnaris just as the Haverdash had collapsed the barricade walls. We were joined by forces fleeing Mavozshidog, and together we aided the defenders of Vilnaris and fought back the Haverdash." He looked out the back of the wagon, "The city would have fallen long before we got there if not for you and Jeva. You did great."

Andal looked out the back and front, "Where's Jeva now?"

"She's somewhere in the wagon train. We're heading to the capital with some of the citizens from Vilnaris, which we're evacuating. We'll leave only soldiers there to defend it."

"Wait, you said forces fleeing Mavozshidog?" Andal realized, "So it fell?"

Tharow inhaled deeply, disturbed by the report he'd heard, "Yes it fell. A lone Haverdash broke through the walls and fractured the defenders before the rest of them came in. We've heard about some of these characters fighting in Donfas as well, Haverdash of extreme power." He lowered and shook his head at the thought of having to fight them.

"They're called Glorious Haverdash," Andal told him, "Killing them should be our first priority."

Tharow was confused by that statement, "Who calls them that?"

"The Haverdash do."

He raised his eyebrows, "Ah, interesting. Killing them would be excellent, but that is not where we're going next. We've been drafted, you know. We have orders."

Andal noticed a bag with bars in it that were a mixture of fruits and nuts and pulled a few out to be his breakfast. "So what are our orders?"

"You, Jeva, and myself are going to Donfas." Andal looked up in surprise, and Tharow continued, "You and Jeva have been nominated to represent Tubarai in a special team. Every kingdom on the continent is to take part, if they have someone worth nominating. This team will lead Donfas soldiers and, for the first time, capture Haverdash cities."

Andal gawked with half-chewed food in his mouth, making Tharow frown. “Everyone is going to work together? And they’re going to send their best fighters to Donfas instead of letting it fall?”

“The situation is dire enough that we cannot let Donfas fall, old grudges must be pushed aside. Donfas is a buffer between the Haverdash and several other kingdoms, and we can’t let it fall into chaos. We need to set off quickly. There’s an armed guard that will be traveling with us already being put together if everything is going as it should be.”

“Wouldn’t we be a lot slower like that?” Andal asked.

“Slower, and safer! We either take a massive detour or pass through Haverdash controlled territory. An armed guard is necessary.”

“We’d stick out more.”

“Are you suggesting the three of us head off on our own, into enemy territory?”

Andal made an apologetic smile, “Actually, we’d be a lot more maneuverable with just the two of us. I was thinking Jeva and I could get there a lot faster on our own.”

Tharow raised his voice, “Absolutely not! You’ve been given too long of a leash as it is, we’re under orders now and they will not be disregarded!”

Andal lowered his eyes, “Sorry.”

Jeva appeared at the back of the wagon and climbed in, “I heard someone making reckless suggestions and figured Andal was awake!”

Andal was immediately cheery, “Good morning, Jeva!”

“Good morning! How do you feel?” She pointed at his hand as she asked.

He stretched his fingers as much as he could to show the reduced range of motion, “It still hurts some, but it’s mostly good. Thanks for bandaging it.”

“Of course! So what was the totally ridiculous suggestion?”

“I wanted for us to go to Donfas on our own, without the armed guard slowing us down.”

“Oh, I think I can help with that!” She turned to Tharow and tried sounding more formal, “Professor Tharow, there is a spell I have some familiarity with that causes our image to distort over a distance, making us invisible at what’s supposed to be 200 feet away or further. Should I successfully learn this spell, would that mean we could travel on our own?”

He was bothered by the nature of the question, but he had to think about it. “I’m not the decision maker in this matter anyway, you’ll have to ask someone in an actual military office once we get to the capital.”

“I’ll take that to mean I should start working on it!” She high fived Andal and hopped back out of the wagon.

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*

Moxey walked into the earl's bedroom and yanked off his gloves, flinging them into the bath with a splat.

Lars was sitting on the bed, looking at a large map. "What was that gunk on your gloves?"

"Spit. I was doing some crude investigating in the strange world. What do you have there?"

"It's a map of Tubarai, very detailed. It was hanging on the wall when I came in."

Moxey sat next to him and looked at the map. "This is excellent. We can definitely make use of this. You see here?"

"Yes, that's where we are. I figured that out right away."

"Very good, and you see Velnaris? That's one of the cities the coordinated attacks were against. That fool Skadis led that one."

"I thought you liked Skadis, 'ignorant but strong' you said."

"Words I regret. He failed to take Vilnaris, hopefully he's dead. I was thinking you could fix that."

"You want me to lead the troops again so soon? A lot of them are still healing."

"No troops, we don't have the numbers to spare here anyway. We don't need to take Vilnaris, it's an embarrassment, and should be destroyed. You can handle that, right?"

"Will do. Here," Lars handed Moxey the map and got up to go.

*

Jeva had learned the spell by the time they reached the capital, and the captain who was going to guide them was actually very encouraging. He was concerned first and foremost with being spotted, having slimmed down the size of the armed guard for that reason. Andal was excited to learn they were going to Rathifan, the capital of Donfas. He may have been part of bigger things now, but it was one of his desires as a kid to see Rathifan, and the king’s palace.

It was an eight day journey, but thankfully central Donfas was mostly grassy plains. That meant it was both easier on the horse to carry them, and he could be fed by grazing.

The food they were given was a step up from what Jeva's mother had given them. This time they worried more that they might gorge themselves the first few days than they were

about having to eat something less desirable in them.

They were immediately happier when they descended into Donfas. It wasn't that they preferred it to Tubarai, but the weather up where Mamma was stayed chilly even in summer. It was early fall, so this had been perfect timing for them to avoid winter in a high elevation.

However, over time they noticed something strange about Donfas. It was the feeling of being watched, but normally that feeling comes from behind you. This feeling could have come from anywhere, even right in front of them.

They relied on Jeva's spell to reassure them that nobody could see them, not unless they were close enough to be easily noticed at least, but the feeling was strong enough that they were worried. They elected to cut some sleeping hours and stagger their rest so that one person could always be awake.

Their dreams since entering Donfas had been growing more and more foul, and when they were two days away from Rathifan that peaked for Andal.

He was laying in a thick bed of grass, and the sun was the warmest that he could ever remember it being. He was unsure where he was, and Jeva was nowhere to be seen, but he was so comfortable that he decided to stay where he was and shut his eyes as he appreciated the warm sun.

At first he thought he would doze off, but then a cold wind started blowing over him. He assumed it would pass, and tried to focus on the heat of the sun. Instead the wind grew colder, and the sun felt more distant.

He opened his eyes and saw that the sun was noticeably darker. He curled up and tried to nestle into the grass, losing hope that the cold would pass away. He watched as the sun turned from yellow to an ugly gray in minutes, and emitted cold rather than warmth. The wind grew fierce enough to tear the grass from the earth around him, exposing him even more.

He looked for shelter frantically, noticing a jungle that started suddenly less than three hundred feet away. He got up and ran for it, hiding his hands in his armpits and shivering the whole way.

The jungle wasn't actually that warm from his usual perspective, but it was instant relief. It wasn't any warmer than the air outside except that it blocked that freezing, violent wind. He kept his arms folded and walked deeper into the jungle, hoping there would be more warmth trapped within.

After several minutes of trudging through sharp bramble and thick foliage, Andal heard the distinct sound of music. Somewhere nearby a harp and drum were being played, and there was the faint sound of laughter. He followed the music and made it to where there was only a bush between him and whatever was going on, feeling the earth beneath his feet change into mossy stone.

He knelt down and peered through the leaves, seeing a dozen or so people dancing around a bonfire. A few people would rest at a time and periodically switch with those who grew tired. They were beautiful, not only the women, but oddly enough the men. They all wore thin, brightly colored garments of silk that flowed behind them as they danced, and flared out when they spun.

It was warmer here, and their laughing and dancing were comfortable, so he kept watching from behind the bush. There were several statues just outside the circle they were dancing in. Some were of men, some of animals, and some were a mixture of the two. They had an ominous presence, but it was so offset by the cheerfulness of the dancers that Andal didn't mind.

Then the face of a young lady popped up in front of the hole he was peering through. Andal fell back, feeling surprised and guilty that he'd been caught staring. She stepped around the bush and offered him her hand to help him up, which Andal took.

She pulled him up and then brought him into the glade, jumping into the circle with him and starting to dance. He felt uneasy, but they were so friendly and welcoming that he didn't have the heart to say no.

As he danced, spinning and leaping around the fire, he noticed something like water, but not quite, dripping from the eyes of the statues. The laughing and excitement increased as they danced, and so they went faster and faster. The faster they danced, the faster the liquid dripped.

They began to sing, but if they were words being sung Andal couldn't tell. It was repetitive and simple, so Andal joined in quickly. They sang ceaselessly, and dang quicker as they danced quicker, leaving Andal struggling to breathe.

They began to sling mud at the statues, seemingly as part of the dance, and Andal joined in so as to not stand out as the only person not participating. Those who had been sitting out to rest ran off and gathered sticks to add to the fire. They took some of the sticks and just lit their ends, handing them out to the dancers as torches. The fire streamed behind them light shooting stars, and as the size and smoke of the fire increased Andal could only see each person as a dancing blur.

Then a man and a woman took Andal aside and presented a goat to him, telling him to throw it in the fire. He took the goat, but before he tossed it in there was something like a flash of lightning with no successive thunder. It was only for the briefest fraction of a second, but in that time Andal thought he saw a boy his age in his arms instead of a goat.

He was confused, but he could see clearly that it was a goat in his arms, so he threw it in. The dancers around him jumped and sang with more energy and joy then ever, then he awoke.

*

Lars walked through a rabble of humans being put to work tearing down old buildings which were in the way of Haverdash changes, over to where Moxey was supervising from. The humans were prone to spasms, twitching, sensitive stomachs, and attacks of anxiety, but they could still be productive if made to be. The trace particles of Haverdash hallucinogens in the air were probably the cause of their degradation, but it shouldn't be fatal.

When Lars drew near, Moxey asked, "All finished?"

"All finished. That's easily the biggest project I've ever undertaken in my life."

"You did it well, the dust and smoke from Vilnaris can probably be seen to the edges of Tubarai, and if not the wind will carry it there. I think we can say the shame from our defeat has been dealt with."

Lars grabbed a chunk of rubble and set it next to Moxey to sit on. "So what's next?"

Moxey took a moment before answering, "I'm not sure."

"You're not sure? You've had five days to pour over that map and plan things out, I thought you were waiting on me to get back!"

"I have planned things out, lots of different things. The more we expand and the more kingdoms we involve in the war the more needs doing; I'm being paralyzed by choice." He looked down at Lars, "How would you like to choose for me? I'll give you some options and you can take on whatever job you'd like."

"Am I choosing where you go as well?"

Moxey smiled, "No, but your decision will inform my decision. I'll give you three choices, few enough that you don't get paralyzed by choice as well. You recall how Skadis was uninformed about changes in the past two years since he came from the rivers region, southeast of Donfas? It seems being so separated from the rest of us has caused more problems in the Haverdash there, some of them have even started to think differently than us. This problem shouldn't continue any further, as we've been able to establish quick contact to that region via the strange world, but the problems that arose before we improved communication need dealt with. There's a governor named Halacs. He, his court, and anyone under him who shows loyalty to him needs killed."

Lars propped his feet up on something only he could see, "That one's interesting. I'll probably pick it, but keep going anyway."

"We've learned from some prisoners that a team is being assembled to lead an attack against some of the cities we've taken and capture them back. You could meet them at their first target and stop this retaliation early."

"That one's not bad, but I don't think I'd get as much of a kick out of it as other people who could do it."

"That's probably true. And lastly you could lead the attack against Yirdah. It should be easy enough as we've already cut them off from the rest of Tubarai with these attacks. If you don't do that one, Ghaulos is still nearby."

"Then I pick the first option, where exactly am I going?"

"Just go to Hathor and get directions through the strange world at the palace. I don't actually have the directions memorized." He thought over how Lars's choice impacted his, "So Ghaulos to Yirdah. We'll have to leave that retaliatory attack unanswered for now. Not a big deal, it may fail regardless."