Damien stuffed his last tunic in his rucksack and slung his sword over his shoulder. Drawers opened and closed on Lane’s side. It didn’t surprise him that he finished first; Lane had three times as much stuff as him.

Someone knocked on his door. Damien was surprised to find Baroness Trasker on the other side. She’d washed up and found some clean clothes. She wasn’t a beautiful woman. The lines of her face, the way she carried herself, everything was too harsh.

Damien bowed. “Ma’am?”

“Before you leave I wanted to thank you once more for what you did, both on my own behalf and for the others. Are you certain there’s nothing we can do to reward you for your heroic actions?”

“There is one thing, Baroness. You and the other ladies can keep an eye on your husbands. Be their conscience, keep them on the proper path as good kingdom men. I don’t want the king to have to send me back here looking for traitors. Your husbands love you. I could see it in their reactions when you got back safe. Keep them on the right path and I’ll consider that reward enough.”

The baroness pursed her lips. “You don’t trust them?”

“The border’s a long ways from the capital. They don’t have anyone keeping an eye on them, though that may change after this incident. The temptation to cheat will always be there. Look at Marris. It won’t end any better for the others if they make a similar decision.”

“Rest assured all the ladies watch over their husbands, though Baroness Kannon mainly watches to make sure he doesn’t pester the female servants too much. There’s nothing else?”

“I am curious about something. I saw no sign of Marris’s family.”

“They’re dead. The pig actually bragged about it. He liked to say if we didn’t behave we’d join them soon enough.” The baroness nodded and glided away down the hall, a slight limp the only sign of injury from her time in captivity.

Damien shut the hall door and frowned, trying to remember exactly what Marris had said when they spoke in his room. The baron had never actually said his family was alive. He’d said in one piece and like the inexperienced fool he was Damien assumed the rest. He wouldn’t make that mistake again.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Lane opened the door connecting their rooms, three stuffed bags sitting on the floor behind her. “I thought I heard voices.”

“Baroness Trasker stopped by to offer me one more bribe. I don’t know what she hopes to accomplish beyond getting her hooks into me.”

“Maybe she’s genuinely grateful.”

Damien raised an eyebrow at that. Nobles were seldom genuine and even less often grateful.

Lane shrugged and smiled. “I’m sure she had a good reason.”

“On that, at least, we’re in agreement.” Damien conjured a box around her luggage and they set out for the courtyard. They passed a pair of servants who both curtsied. The barons and their families made no appearance which was fine with Damien. He’d probably offended them with his little speech to Kannon.

“Not much of a send off,” Lane said.

“Disappointed?”

“Not especially. How will we be traveling?”

“Do you have a preference? I remember you mentioning a gold dragon.”

She blushed a little at that. “I was being sarcastic. Perhaps something a little less ostentations.”

Damien conjured a black horse with a double saddle. “How’s this?”

“Much better.”

Damien climbed up into the front saddle and reached back to help Lane up behind him. Remembering his first flight with Master Shen, Damien conjured a belt around Lane’s waist to hold her in place. “Ready?”

“Ready.”

The horse galloped into the air, Lane’s luggage box right behind. She yelped and grabbed Damien around his chest. Damien grinned, but kept his face turned away so she wouldn’t see.

They flew for a minute or two before she finally let go. Behind him Lane gasped.

“It’s amazing. I’ve never seen the world from this high before.”

Surprised, Damien asked, “Didn’t you ever fly with your mother?”

“She offered to take me, but I wouldn’t go. I was angry, a lot, when I was younger.”

“So you naturally became a diplomat.”

“The position got me away from sorcerers and the capital which helped with the anger. When we get back I need to talk to Mom, tell her I’m sorry for being so difficult.”

Damien reached back and patted her knee. “I don’t know your mother very well yet, but she was adamant that I keep you safe. Difficult or not, I think she loves you very much.”

Behind him Lane sniffed and a moment later her head pressed against his back. Damien suspected when they reached the capital many hugs and tears would be shared. He envied Lane the chance to get closer to her mother. He wished he had a similar chance with his father. Maybe if he tried harder to talk to Dad they could find some way to set aside the anger of the past few years.

A twenty-minute flight brought them to Allentown. Damien brought the conjured mount down a little ways out of town and transformed the box carrying their luggage into a mule. Now if anyone saw them they’d look like regular travelers, more or less.

“What now?” Lane asked.

Damien guided the construct toward the town gates. “Now I deal with the Lord Mayor, we head over to the Golden Stag for twelve hours’ sleep, and in the morning we fly home.”