“I don’t get it,” Kax said. “Why would it be closed?”

Hart banged his fist on the gate, but no reply came. “I don’t know.”

Kleotram wasn’t open to them. Goslin peered up the wall. “I don’t understand either. There is no reason for the entire city to be shut tight like this without even posting guards by the gate.”

Plenty of men, women, and children milled about in frustration and confusion. All of them were fellow travelers looking to get into the city. No one knew what had happened. “Let’s just go around. There was no important reason for us to enter. We can head straight for Tyralien,” Goslin said.

Emeryn grazed the stone with the tip of her finger and placed her ear against the wall, as if trying to hear a whisper. “I might be able to find us a way in,” she said softly.

“We shouldn’t,” Heylien said. “What if there’s a good reason why they are shut in. A plague or the like?”

Goslin looked around at all the unwashed bodies around them. “A plague?”

“Inside, I mean. They could have shut the gate to make sure it didn’t spread beyond the city.”

“We better leave then. I’m too young and handsome to die of some terrible disease,” Kax said.

The group headed for the border to Tyriu. Goslin peered back over his shoulder after they’d put some distance between them and the city. No movements on top of the walls. It was irresponsible to leave a city the size of Kleotram unattended. He felt a dire sense of foreboding.

The border between Eldsprak and Tyriu was less than an hour’s ride out of Kleotram. Two narrow lakes separated the kingdoms and a well-guarded outpost was the only way in and out of the respective countries unless you wanted to cross the lakes, adding days to your travels.

Goslin knew that something was wrong well before they entered the fenced-off area that would eventually let them cross over to Tyriu. The crossing was packed with travelers.

“What do we do?” Lana asked, stopping next to Goslin. They watched the crowds push against one another impatiently. A fist fight broke out between two groups of merchants nearby.

“Ride on,” Kax answered. “The people will be forced to move out of the way.” He continued without waiting, and the others hurried to follow in his wake.

Everyone on foot did move, but several wagons blocked the narrow road, forcing Kax and the others to the side to make any kind of headway through the crowd. People swore at Goslin and the others as they passed, and his constant apologies did little to improve on the crowd’s irate mood. At the front of the mass of people, Goslin saw other riders argue with the guards at the gate that led into Tyriu.

The Tyriu side of the gate was deserted except for the guards. Goslin rode up, passing Kax. “I’m afraid you must let us pass at once. We have urgent business in Tyralien.”

The guards wearing the Kleotram colors stared at him without moving a muscle until their senior officer hurried out of a barracks nearby and scampered up to them.

“I’m afraid the border is closed, good sirs,” the officer said. His red and blue uniform carried Sanders’s insignia, depicting the keep against a background of the night sky filled with stars. The stripes in white across the man’s shoulder identified him as a lieutenant. It was unlikely that there would be anyone higher ranked than him in the entire camp.

“You must allow me and my companions to pass,” Goslin repeated.

The lieutenant blinked. “Like I said, it’s closed. The command did not come from Eldsprak, you must understand, but the road is closed from Tyriu. Allowing you to enter would be a severe breach of protocol.” The crowd jostled around the horses and the other riders kept hurling insults at the lieutenant.

“I am sent from King Druk. Kleotram was boarded shut as well, and I would have you tell me why.”

The lieutenant looked surprised. “Kleotram has sent no word to us, and I don’t know what to else to tell you. The border is closed. Couldn’t open it even if I wanted to. Both sides have to open it at the same time, and the Tyriu guards have refused to open their side of the crossing.” He nodded to his left, indicating the Tyriu guards.

Goslin looked to the crowd, which was getting rowdier. It wouldn’t be long before it turned ugly.

Hart sat very still on his horse when Goslin glanced in his direction. His fingers twitched and his hand kept moving to the spear but stopping before touching it.

Goslin watched as Heylien got down from his horse and navigated through the crowd. He put a hand on the wooden beam and leapt over it with ease before approaching the guards on the Tyriu side. They hefted polearms and pointed the ends at Heylien but relaxed almost immediately when Goslin’s friend spoke. A small bag, presumably of coins, changed hands and the guards nodded while eyeing the crowd on the Eldsprak side nervously.

Heylien returned to his horse and gestured for Goslin and the others to follow him back the way they’d come. When the crowd thinned out, he grinned and spoke, “Your name or your credentials won’t always be enough to get you through. They have their orders and won’t risk losing their position for disobeying them.”

“So, what did you do?” Lana asked.

Heylien shrugged. “Bribed them. Come on, there’s a side entrance the guards use.”

Lana grinned. They had to dismount and lead their horses through the much smaller door, but they were in Tyriu and that was all that mattered. The gate sealed before the crowd noticed and the guard barely glanced at them before returning to his post.

“What about them?” Goslin asked. “Won’t taking bribes endanger their jobs?”

Heylien looked at the few men standing by the wooden gate. “They haven’t received supplies in almost a week. Replacements should have arrived days ago but didn’t. They have no idea what’s happening.”

“Poor men,” Emeryn said.

Kax snickered. “They won’t stay much longer if they’re going hungry.”

Tyriu looked like Eldsprak, with wide green fields in every direction and the occasional forest to break up the monotony. They passed numerous houses, farms, and estates, but they were all covered in a blanket of silence.

“Where is everyone?” Lana asked after they’d ridden for a few hours. “I don’t think I’ve seen a single person since we crossed the border.”

“I don’t like this,” Heylien said.

Even Kax looked a little somber. “With this and the border closed, something is definitely wrong.”

Heylien looked to Goslin. “I should scout ahead.”

“Stay close now,” Goslin said.

“But—“

Goslin shook his head. “There’s just the six of us now.” He gestured to the open fields. “No one is going to surprise us here, not where we can see far in every direction. We stay together.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Heylien fell back into his saddle.

The sunshine and cloudless blue sky did little to ease Goslin’s nerves, and when small dots appeared on the horizon, his skin prickled. As they got closer, it became apparent that the men they saw were not farmers or merchants. They did not ride, but spears rose up as straight lines above their heads, and they all wore the same dark garments.

“Whose soldiers wear black?” Emeryn asked, squinting as she looked at the approaching group. They were still far off, but the distance was closing fast.

“No soldiers that I know of,” Goslin said. “Definitely not the King’s army of Tyriu. They wear yellow and blue uniforms.”

“I don’t like this,” Lana said, fingering her daggers.

“Someone hand me a weapon,” Hart grunted.

Goslin turned to him. Sarien’s spear was gone. “Where’s your spear?”

“Someone must have taken it back at the border.”

“We don’t have time for this. Do we hide?” Heylien asked, handing his short sword to Hart. He pointed to a farmstead off the road to their left. “They’ve already spotted us, but they might not follow.”

“Aren’t you curious about who they are?” Kax asked.

“They could be friendly,” Emeryn added.

“We’ll stay the course and meet them,” Goslin said. “They might know something about what’s happening in Tyriu. If they’re hostile, that will tell us something, too.”

“I can’t fight on horseback,” Emeryn said.

Goslin dismounted. “We’ll continue on foot for now. Heylien and Lana, how accurate are you from horseback?”

Lana slid down from her horse. “Never practiced. I better stay on my feet.”

“I’ll stay up here for now,” Heylien said. “Can’t tell how many of them there are yet, but I think I see five spears.” He frowned. “They stopped.”

A soft whooshing noise sounded from nearby, like the opening of a heavy curtain.

Kax yelled. “Look out!”

Goslin spun on his heel to see an opening in the air, not unlike the one in the clearing where they battled the trickster beast. His first thought was of Sarien’s and Tomford’s return, and he grinned. The grin slid off his face when men carrying spears leapt through.

Goslin brought up his shield and managed to dodge to the side as he drew his sword.

No. Not men, Goslin thought hastily. The creatures that came out of the gate were human-like in their appearance except for their monstrously large eyes and mouths.

Goslin thrust, his blade ripping through what looked like dark, almost black leather armor. The light went out of a pair of huge glassy eyes, and Goslin had to give ground as more of them poured out of the gate.

“Watch out! They’re not men!” he yelled, parrying another blow, this time from a sword.

Kax appeared by his side, the obsidian blade flashing through the air. He cut through a spear haft and his opponent screamed as the blade dug into his arm. Goslin watched as his friend laughed. “Take that, you monsters!”

Hart felled one too, though not displaying the usual rage. He looked almost bored as he stuck one of the attackers in the gut.

There were too many of the strange men-like creatures. The attackers were not very skilled, but they made up for their lack of fighting ability with sheer numbers. Men kept pouring out of the opening.

Heylien fired arrows through it and Goslin heard screams of agony from the other side.

“They’re coming through from over there!” Heylien yelled, pointing up the road. With that, he rode off.

Goslin swore. How were they supposed to fight all of the attackers? “Lana! Where are your daggers?”

“You’re in the way!” she yelled from behind Goslin.

Twelve of the men-like creatures surrounded them. Daisy barked wildly, but he didn’t add much to bolster their numbers. Emeryn, however, did.

The difference in her magical abilities from their time at the academy to now was staggering. She pulled down hard on the legs of their attackers and opened up potholes without breaking a sweat, causing the enemy to stumble. The constant practicing Goslin had seen her do was paying off now when it counted.

Hart chopped with the sword in one hand and thrust with one of the enemies’ spears with the other. However, he remained eerily detached, not screaming or rushing headfirst into action.

Kax split his opponent’s shield with a single arcing blow. “What the hell are they?”

“Their eyes look a little like Sarien’s, only bigger,” Lana said. She danced back to avoid a blow. A gust of air propelled her forward, and she hurtled into one of them before jumping back yet again, her daggers bloodied. The man she’d attacked fell to the ground without a sound.

Goslin was surrounded by extraordinary people. That much was certain.

As they struggled, the opening in the air suddenly winked out, only to open behind them. Goslin turned just in time to intercept a spear aimed for Emeryn’s back.

“Behind us!”

Goslin spun on reflex to protect Emeryn, leaving his own back exposed. Pain flared. Goslin turned back to see his attacker flung back by a wall of earth. It cut off attacks from one side.

Goslin lost his step and tumbled toward Emeryn. His face came dangerously close to hers, their lips less than a hairsbreadth apart. Goslin blushed, despite their precarious situation, and turned back to face their foes.

“That’s my limit,” Emeryn grunted, leaning against the wall she just created.

Kax stopped a blow with his sword, still laughing at the wide-mouthed men as they bore down with their swords and spears. If their opponents had been trained soldiers, they would have lost in mere moments. Goslin thanked the fire they were not, and wondered who would send incompetent soldiers to attack Tyriu.

Lana flew like a whirlwind in the tight space and Goslin did his best to protect her flank, thrusting again and again into the mass of men.

In a moment of terror, the opening winked out again, only to open above the group. Goslin looked up to see someone jumping through. The difference in perspective made his head spin, and all he could do was scream. Both his arms were tangled in the melee. “Look out!”

The soldier who’d jumped made it halfway through before the opening winked shut. He screamed as he was cut in two, but was dead before the top half of his torso hit Goslin’s shield. He stepped back, hitting his head against the earth wall behind them. Goslin felt himself weakening, the wound in his back must have been worse than he thought.

Emeryn stepped before him, her red hair billowing in the air, as she pulled back her arm. Her arm! Emeryn’s left arm was back. Wait. No, it wasn’t.

Goslin blinked. In the place of her missing arm was one formed out of packed earth and rock. The limb was much too large for her small frame, and she screamed as she used it to punch a soldier in the chest, throwing her opponent back with a sickening crunch.

Kax dispatched another attacker by lopping off their leg.

Lana jumped and half-flew up to stand on top of the earthen wall. Daggers flew from her hand and arrows punched into the final soldier’s side, and the man went down with a scream that cut off as Kax rammed him through with his obsidian sword.

He laughed as he pulled the sword back out. The blade was clean. Not a single drop of blood clung to it.

The fight was over. They’d won. Emeryn’s earthen arm fell away and crumbled as it hit the ground, and her wall crumbled along with it.

Goslin hugged her close to keep her from falling, or that is what he silently told himself. When she tapped on his shoulder, he stepped back hastily.

“What in the rotten seas are they?” Lana said.

“Rotten sea?” Kax muttered, sheathing the blade. “You Loftians have the strangest curses.”

Twelve of them lay dead at their feet, almost in a full circle. Heylien was riding back at full speed. His horse’s hooves thundered against the hard packed dirt road.

Goslin dropped down on one knee examining the dead. “Where do you think they’ve come from?”

“Somewhere far off like the dark continent?” Kax asked.

“No,” Lana said. “We would have heard of something like this. Loftians travel there sometimes. We would have known.”

“I agree with Lana,” Emeryn said.

“These things must be why we don’t see anyone around,” Goslin said, thinking out loud.

Heylien rode up, panting. “Any injuries?”

“We’re fine,” Kax said. Then he frowned, holding up his left arm. A deep cut ran down his forearm. “Uh, what do you know. Guess I’m not fine.”

Goslin grunted. “I got stuck in my back. Don’t know how serious it is.”

“I’ll take a look,” Heylien said, dismounting. “The one who made the openings fled through one. That’s why he closed the one above you so quickly.”

“Being showered in blood and guts was not something I expected when I woke up this morning,” Lana said.

Goslin looked at his hands as Heylien tended to his wound. They were covered in dirt and drying blood. His face would probably look as terrible as Kax’s. He shuddered and did his best to push down the overwhelming need to clean himself. There was no stream or river nearby, no water other than what they carried. They needed to find some, soon. He could hear his father admonishing him for being weak, not even letting him wash before being scolded. “Don’t let your brothers push you around.”

“Goslin!”

“What?”

“Pay attention. Your wound is deep,” Heylien said. “You’re going to need proper attention soon, lest it gets infected.”

“Better get going then,” Goslin said. “Tyralien isn’t far.”

Daisy barked frantically and ran in a tight circle, then jumped in place.

“What’s wrong, Daisy?” Kax asked. The dog ran off toward a sprawling forest to the north.

“We better get ready for more of them,” Goslin said, sighing. He made as if to stand and groaned from the sharp pain in his back. He looked up to see Emeryn smiling down at him, holding out her hand.

“We’ll make it through this, Gos. Don’t worry.”

He took it and she pulled him to his feet. “I’m just afraid I’ll make yet another mistake and lose you too.”

“You won’t lose me,” she said, her cheeks reddening. The blush made her look even more beautiful. His eyes dropped to her lips. She wetted them. Goslin did the same, tasting salty sweat. In that moment, he didn’t care about the grime and the dirt.

“Come on, you two!” Kax suddenly yelled.

Emeryn blinked, reluctantly pulling her gaze away from Goslin. “We better go.”

“Yes, we better,” Goslin agreed, his voice thick. The moment between them fled, and they turned to follow Kax, leaving all those strange bodies behind.