THE ARRIVAL CEREMONY ended quickly. Food was dispensed as well as extra clothes and apartments to live in at the Wardland Apartments. Knight Master Ward had given a speech to the new arrivals wishing everyone good luck and that he knew they would all become productive members of Wardland. More importantly, he had said here inside the walls they would be safe and they need no longer fear the dark. Tears flowed down the cheeks of some of the women while their husbands consoled them. They had arrived from other worlds and now they were home.

Knight Steve and the rest of the Knights of Wardland left shortly thereafter, but their day wasn’t over. They had many duties left to do. Still daytime, his contingent went to a mine just outside the city walls. Wardland needed all the resource blocks it could get, and mining was one of the many duties of a Knight of Wardland.

A cobblestone block whisked away to Knight Steve as he mined with his iron pickaxe at the stone wall. He was inside a cave, though the entrance was close by, along with Knight Aiden, Knight Duper, and Knight Trent. They didn’t speak much as they mined—this wasn’t exactly their most favorite activity. Nearby, a river flowed quietly just outside their cave mine.

While the other knights seemed to only be concentrating on their current activity, Knight Steve had other things on his mind as he swung his pickaxe.

Those voices What were they? His pickaxe mined another portion of the stone wall, which sent another cobblestone block to his inventory. He looked up and swung his pickaxe at the stone roof of the cave.

He could have sworn he had heard voices, and he just knew it wasn’t in his head. He heard it as if a person next to him whispered that . . . gibberish?

The old lady had given him that book and then the voices came, but he hadn’t heard an—

“Watch out!”

Before he knew it, someone had tackled him to the ground even as a cascade of gravel blocks fell down—right where he had just been standing.

It was Knight Duper who had saved him, and they both crashed to the ground, their iron armor rustling. “You didn’t see that?” Knight Duper said incredulously. He gestured to the gravel blocks stacked on top of one another.

“I-um,” Knight Steve stammered. He truly didn’t see them. He was out of it. “I, um—”

Hafashafasha. Hafashafasha.

“Knight Steve?” Knight Duper asked. He was looking at him weird and worried at the same time.

“Um, no.” Knight Steve picked himself up and Knight Duper did the same, though Knight Duper still seemed to be worried for his friend.

He went over to the pickaxe he dropped and got back to working the mine. The other knights only stared at him as he did so, not saying a word.

***

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

In the town hall, Knight Master Ward was trapped in the mayor’s office. By the window, Mayor Hobbes, a portly fellow, looked out the window at the view of the industrial quarter, his hands firmly behind him. Around them, the mayor’s grand office consisted of red carpeting, bookshelves on the sidewalls, several banners as decoration, and the mayor’s desk—made of jungle wood—in front of Knight Master Ward.

Mayor Hobbes was talking, his lips were certainly moving, but Knight Master Ward wasn’t listening. He thought about what he had seen. Back at the Arrival Ceremony, he had seen an old lady give something to Knight Steve. It seemed like a book, but he wasn’t totally sure about it. That was innocent enough, but it didn’t feel right. It didn’t feel right at all.

Should he badger the old woman? She may have suffered enough, and if all he had was a hunch and he was wrong, he may aggravate the old woman even more.

By the window, with the view of several blacksmith shops and factories outside, Mayor Hobbes kept talking. His hand did a cutting motion.

Then again, he’d always trusted his gut, and his gut told him something was wrong, very wrong. He had to find out. All he’ll do is ask a few questions, that’s all. Nothing untoward.

“Isn’t that right?”

Mayor Hobbes’s question broke him out of his thoughts. His eyes glanced side to side. Uh-oh. He’d been caught not listening. He had to make sure that Mayor Hobbes didn’t know that he knew he’d been caught.

“Uh, yes, Mr. Mayor,” Knight Master Ward improvised. “You’re exactly right.” A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his head encased in the iron helm.

Mayor Hobbes gazed at him inquisitively and narrowed his eyes . . . but then, he gave a closed smile in affirmation. “Yes indeed, knight leader,” Mayor Hobbes said, pleased. “My enemies are indeed everywhere and not just outside those walls.” He pointed to the walls of Wardland beyond the town hall. “Good talk,” he continued. “I hope to continue this conversation in the future.”

Inwardly, Knight Master Ward breathed a sigh of relief. Whew, that was close. “Thank you, Mr. Mayor,” he said with a slight bow of his head.

With that, he took his leave and headed for the auditorium. In a rush, he headed down the marble stairs and picked up the pace.

Inside, the place hadn’t yet been cleaned, though several custodians were busy cleaning up the resource blocks and pieces of food that hovered about. At the center of the auditorium, Elmyra, head of the town hall staff, supervised the clean-up.

Knight Master Ward hurried to her. “Elmyra,” he said. “Remember that old woman at the Arrival Ceremony?”

Elmyra only gave him a confused look back upon hearing his question. “The old woman?”

“You know,” Knight Master Ward said, as though it was obvious who he was referring to. “The one in the corner.” His eyes went towards the far-off corner in the auditorium.

“You must be mistaken,” Elmyra said to Knight Master Ward’s horror. “I have the ledger here. There weren’t any old women at the Arrival Ceremony.”

***

It was the end of the day, with the sun beginning to dip into the horizon, and in Castle Wardland, the door to Knight Steve’s room opened with a creak. He plodded into the room more fatigued than he’d ever felt before.

The voices. They wouldn’t stop.

Hafashafashafasha. Hafashafashafasha. Hafashafashafasha.

He took off his armor one by one and put it in his double chest. Maybe if he went to sleep the voices would stop, and he’d be back to his old self again. Then, from his inventory, he took out the old leatherbound book the old woman at the auditorium gave him. It should have been easy to store in the inventory, but he stopped anyways and looked at it.

He started to breathe heavily. It called to him . . . .

Hafashafashafasha. Hafashafashafasha. Hafash—Open me . . . .

Hearing it, Knight Steve was stunned for a moment as he gazed again at the book in his hand. He didn’t know if his eyes were deceiving him, but the book, it seemed to be glowing.

Open me . . . .

The voices, they were getting stronger. His hand came closer and closer to the book, ready to open it . . .

He stopped and shook his head once more. I’ll do it later, he thought quickly, and he put it away in the chest, which clunked closed as soon as he stored it.

Knight Steve turned to his bed. I need to get some sleep, he told himself, and he went to his bed, even as sweat rolled down the sides of his head.