We flew for hours in complete silence. It gave me time to contemplate the future. The setting sun was our only indication that time had passed at all. I wanted to try and talk to Alicia, but what was there to say? A kingdom lay in ruins, its royal family severely fractured. In time, the vacuum would be occupied by a bloody power struggle, and regardless of who came out on top, Ishmar would suffer for quite some time before it recovered, if it ever did.

It was a safe assumption that the Monarchy of Algrustos would learn of Ishmar’s power vacuum. In time, an invasion would be the only logical outcome. Algrustrian mages would surge over the border, and like the confusion that took over the Castle of Brimstone, it could be weeks before Ishmar’s already woefully inadequate communication network could coordinate an organized defense, and by then the magister generals would have a firm, solid foothold. A second invasion would follow, and the might of magic would overcome the divided armies of Ishmar. A siege of the Castle of Brimstone would be the last step to the total capitulation of what had once been the mightiest nation in the land.

There was a kind of justice to it. The people of Ishmar would suffer like those of Marevar; their homes would be set ablaze, their fields trampled, their children weeping over their parents’ dead bodies before being left to starve. Everything would come full circle as all things did. But as I thought about these things, I felt strangely conflicted.

Can I really blame every Ishmarian for what happened? The soldiers and the royals were one thing, but the innocent peasants who tended farms or forged weapons? Were they to blame as well? No, they were just working hard to keep on living, like the people of Marevar had. They would be the first to suffer when the mage armies came, stealing their food, treating them like livestock, and executing anyone they wanted. It was just a matter of time.

It was a sad, sobering thought. Alicia’s father wished for his country to shed its old hatreds and fetters in order to gain a new age of prosperity, yet Marcus’s plan would have doomed it to follow the same self-destructive course it had for almost all of its existence. There wouldn’t be a chance for Ishmar now, given that its expansionist nature had alienated it from potential alliances. In fact, in the worst case scenario, Algrustos might not be the only nation to take advantage of the political fragmentation. Other nations seeking either reprisals or glory would flock to Ishmar like vultures to a kill, waiting to greedily devour what remained.

I thought about Edgar and how he had predicted this. How he had seen that, even with all the preparation in the world, Ishmar couldn’t stop Algrustos from rallying as many allies as possible to stand on equal footing with them. And it had plenty. Algrustos was a major exporter of goods, magical and not, and had established strong ties with several medium-sized independent mercantile nations that would donate goods, funds, and maybe even soldiers to a campaign against Ishmar. Even kingdoms like Guilford would gladly lend Algrustos their swords in exchange for a hand in the spoils.

I sat in the saddle with my arms around Alverd, lost in my speculations. Nothing really mattered now. If Fate had decided that Ishmar’s end wouldn’t come at our hands, then I could do nothing but watch as She did the job Herself.

The sky progressed from blue to the darkened red of late afternoon. I stared down at the endless fields and lonely trees as we soared into the unknown. We passed a village at some point, but Alicia ignored it. We all knew it was too dangerous to land there. We had to just keep going. So we continued east, with nowhere to go and no destination in mind. It was a situation Alverd and I were intimately familiar with, and it brought a twinge of pain associated with old memories.

At long last, Alicia directed the dragon to land in a small clearing as the setting sun made the nearby trees cast long, stretching shadows. She unloaded a variety of gear from the underslung part of the harness, then slapped the dragon’s hindquarters. The beast lifted off and flew away without pause. Alicia limped to the center of the clearing and threw camping gear on the ground before carefully removing the leather sling on her shoulder and taking a seat on a nearby stump, cradling the pouch gently in her lap.

Alverd and I were immediately drawn to the pouch’s design. It was reinforced to supply protection without being bulky or cumbersome. She reached in and pulled a large egg from the bulging recesses.

The egg was unremarkable in itself, other than the fact that it didn’t fit in the princess’ tiny hand. It was rough and coarse and an odd shade of beige. I reached out to touch the thing, and she drew her hand back sharply. She rested the egg firmly in her lap.

“What are you two staring at?”

“Is that a dragon egg? When did you have time to grab that?”

Alicia scowled as she admonished me. “What business is it of yours? You got a problem with this?”

Alverd put his hands up. “Of course not. Now, if you’ll excuse me…” He walked away to prepare his own sleeping accommodations. I grabbed some of the gear and went about setting up a tent as well. I quickly put up my own tent, taking the bedding cloak from the pack so I wouldn’t have to sleep on the cold hard ground. After an hour, as the sun began to disappear on the horizon, the camp was finished. Alverd came over to me as I poked our freshly lit campfire with a stick, stirring the embers absent-mindedly.

“Hey,” he said. I didn’t even look at him. I kept hacking at the campfire with my makeshift poker, until the stick itself caught fire and I was forced to toss it into the flame. He seated himself next to me and nudged me with his shoulder. “You know, we never did figure out why you survived that spell back at the arena. I’m no mage, but I’m pretty sure you should be dead. Care to share your thoughts?”

Honestly, I didn’t have any concrete theories on that either. I only had one that made any sense, and it was crazy. It only seemed logical because of the stupid old bedtime story about the man from Algrustos, who had saved his home from the wrath of a tornado, and the old magical theories about “guardian angels.” I knew it was crazy, but considering what I had survived, I was willing to accept divine intervention as a reason at this point.

“Well,” I ventured, “I think what happened was, the spirits in the arena…there were nearly a hundred of them, Alverd. They were trapped there, shackled by the atrocities committed within its walls. Like ghosts. So even though most spirits don’t have any connection to our world, that attachment allowed them to manifest. Only when they combined their power were they able to actually affect our world. They were like the people who died in the tornadoes in that old Algrustian bedtime story. Eventually, the man who resisted called upon them to help him defy the gods and protect what was dear to him.”

Alverd scratched his head. “So, what you’re saying is, they were rooted to our world by the traumatic history of the Arena, and thus granted a connection to our world?”

It wasn’t that simple, but he was on the right track. “Sort of. But when they merged powers to become an entity with actual substance, they were bound by this world’s rules and laws of magic, not their own. So, my guess is… I was their staff. After I released the spell that killed Marcus and brought that tornado down on the arena, they were free. They went back to where they came from.”

Alverd gave me a look that suggested that he thought I was pulling his leg. I realized that I would have to explain things a bit more delicately. It took a few tries and a lot of dumbing down, but eventually he understood. By using me (an “object” with magical power) as a focal point and grounding rod, as all staves were used, the spirits had cast the miniature hurricane that had carried Marcus to his doom, and the following tornado that had swallowed the arena. The more I explained it, the simpler it became to accept it as true.

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“...and that’s it, really.” I finished. Alverd nodded his head; I wasn’t sure if he truly had wrapped his head around the finer aspects of the topic but at this point I was too tired to keep trying to simplify it. But my theory was sound.

While my body was used as the transference to the focal point for the spirits’ spell, once it had been cast, the power flowed through my body in an instant. There wasn’t enough time for the accumulated power to ravage my body beyond what it had done. I had seriously lucked out on that count.

Alverd laughed, and I joined him, as we both saluted Lady Luck, that fickle-hearted bitch, for the first time in a long, long while.

I figured there was no need to tell Alverd about my “guardian angel,” the strange figure who had kissed my head. I had already done the impossible, and straining Alverd’s mind by attempting to explain such a foreign concept to him was more effort than I wished to expend at the moment. So I simply sat there and stayed quiet. I figured that if it was really all that important, I would find a way to explain later. In much smaller words, of course.

We sat together in front of the fire for a time. Alicia hadn’t come out of her tent since she finished setting it up. I was about to write her off as asleep when she came out and seated herself on the log opposite our side of the fire.

“Hey,” she said. “I need to talk to you two about something. It’s kind of important.”

We looked at each other, and then I shrugged. I was sure the princess had a lot on her mind, and the least we could do at this point was hear her out. We gave Alicia our undivided attention. She fidgeted for a bit before speaking.

“I intended to pay for your services with the Sword of Evros since you went above and beyond when you stuck with me as long as you did. Any common mercs would’ve cut and run immediately after we broke out of prison. Yet you stayed, and fulfilled whatever oath I held you to, despite the fact that I could in no way enforce the punishment for deserting it.”

Alicia turned her face down. “The Sword of Evros is our country’s greatest treasure. It is a fitting weapon for one so noble as you. I would have no qualms with letting you walk away with that sword, so long as you continue to use it for just purposes. Now, I have no power to hold you, so I release you from your obligation to me. You are free from the bonds of the Rite of Reconciliation. I am no longer a princess, and there is no need to follow me.”

It sounded very much like it had pained her to say such things. I knew that she was looking away so we would not see her cry, and that she was doing her best not to let us hear that her voice was about to break. She probably assumed we would abandon her now in the cruel world that would not care if she was former royalty. I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t the man who possessed the tact to say anything that wouldn’t result in a flood of tears.

Alverd both saved and doomed us in that moment. He knelt before her, gently lifting her tear-streaked face to meet his gaze. He gave her his irresistible smile and laid his hand gently upon her knee. “It is true that you are no longer a princess, but that makes you no less noble, milady. The Sword of Evros is indeed a priceless treasure and I will accept it only if you truly think it is fitting compensation for what we have done.”

Alicia’s crying stopped there. As comprehension dawned on her face, it struck me as well. Surely the fool wasn’t-

“Indeed, the Sword of Evros has value beyond simple gold…and until you pay off the debt you owe by being rewarded something beyond what you think fair, you would have to remain in my employ until you worked off such excess.”

Oh no. Oh dear gods, no.

His smile widened. “And until such time, you would still be our employer, and we would continue to be loyal to you until you agree that the debt was fully absolved. Even if you no longer have a kingdom, we didn’t owe you our loyalty because you were a princess. We owed you our loyalty because you are our employer. And until our contract is up, that’s the way it’s going to go.” He looked at me facetiously. “Isn’t that right, Kuro? I believe that’s Rule Eight, isn’t it? Loyalty to the employer, not the cause, am I right?”

Oh, you mad fool what in the seven hells are you doing?!

I wouldn’t have left Alicia to fend for herself, especially with her injury, but frankly, she wasn’t our responsibility anymore. Swords were a dime a dozen, and I’m sure Alverd could find another one easily enough. He didn’t need some legendary blade! And I certainly didn’t need the aggravation of that horrible girl using me as her personal manservant.

The man was trying to beat me at my own game. Indeed, that was what Rule Eight of my Cardinal Rules said. We owed our allegiance to the one paying the bill, not whatever cause or purpose they were hiring us for. For Alverd, who was normally ignorant about this sort of thing, to beat me on a technicality really stung my pride. Worse yet, there wasn’t any way for me to weasel out of it, either. The only thing I could do was beg him to reconsider.

I opened my mouth to voice my vehement protest. However, Alverd cut me off. He laughed and turned to me.

“Isn’t this wonderful, Kuro? It would seem our contract is going to continue for a bit longer. That’s great, hmm? It’s always good to finish a job with a fair degree of closure. Leaving things as they are now would leave a bad taste in my mouth.” He laughed again, a deep, throaty laugh I hadn’t heard in quite a long time.

Well, that was all well and good for him. He wasn’t the one getting picked on all the time. He wasn’t the mousy little mage, he was a big, hulking brick of a man whom Alicia couldn’t hurt even if she tried. He was the confident, charismatic goody-two-shoe girls swooned over the moment they saw his handsomeness and chivalrous personality. It didn’t help that Alicia was already starting to fall for him.

Oh, yes, I hadn’t fallen off the apple cart yesterday. The damn girl wasn’t exactly subtle. She practically screamed it every time her face flushed, the way she looked at Alverd when he wasn’t aware. It was even in her body language; when she addressed Alverd, she relaxed her shoulders and always looked him in the eye. A blind man would be able to tell that the damn princess was becoming as smitten as a little lost puppy.

Join the queue, I thought bitterly. You can stand behind every other peasant girl, merchant’s daughter or up-and-coming young noblewoman we’ve rescued in the past.

Alicia was no longer in poor spirits. Her face was beaming, and her smile could have easily outshone the sun even at its zenith.

“Then get moving, dogs! I expect a feast for dinner. I hope you fools are capable of satisfying a former royal’s sophisticated palate. Now go. I wish to dine on only the finest venison!” To emphasize her newfound authority, she smacked the ground with her maul. I resigned myself to my fate and began shuffling away to make the necessary preparations for a meal. However, she called my name with the same level of arrogant expectation she had used when I first met her. Wearily, I turned to face my old taskmaster.

“Not you, mage boy. You get the honor of massaging my feet while I await my dinner. Now get over here and get to work!” She kicked her leather boots from her feet, and removed the cotton stockings, wiggling her toes in anticipation. She grinned at me, the same feline grin from long ago that irked me right away. She sensed my hesitation and lifted her maul menacingly, her eyes full of playful malice. “Now, servant! My feet ache ever so much.” She lifted her head and laughed facetiously.

I cursed the gods above. I would have put gold on it that they too laughed at my suffering. Filthy sadists. As my hands gripped the princess’ oddly dainty foot (they smelled terrible), I wondered what the people of Marevar, Laura in particular, would’ve thought of this development. It only took a moment to realize that they would probably be laughing as well. I looked over to where Alverd was sneaking away, making a poor attempt to stifle his mirth behind his gauntlet.

Filthy bastard. One of these days, I’ll get my due. The world may be a cruel place sometimes, especially for the guy who always gets that extra kick in the ass, but mark my words: there’ll be a reckoning someday.

I just hope I survive long enough to see it.