MONTH OF THE WOLF, SECOND TENDAY, THIRD DAY, 767 KD

I watched as the outlander, Mister Falcon, worked with the new members of our team. Arex, Pratt, Dogson, Fendy and Dristol had been pulled from the ranks by Farley to replace the ones we’d lost. They had all been tested in combat and performed well, and we had no concerns about them.

I had to admire the outlander’s skill. Everyone on the team attested to having learned something new by training with him. All but me. I had been hesitant. I do not know why. The man clearly did not remember me from Crille. I carried no grudge against him. On the contrary, he had probably saved my life that night long ago.

At the moment, Falcon was displaying what he could do against four armed men at one time. I watched as our four highly trained warriors fell to the wooden sword of Falcon. They had barely touched him.

The men dusted themselves off and got to their feet, grumbling good naturedly.

“How about you?” Falcon asked me. “Don’t think I’ve worked with you yet. Want to have a quick spar?”

“No thanks.”

“I won’t hurt you, I promise.”

It was the wrong thing for him to say. Or the right thing, I suppose.

I walked over to him and drew my sword.

“You want to use a real sword? No problem. Just let me know when you are ready.”

“Do you not want to draw your sword first?” I asked.

“No, that’s fine, I’ll just use this.” He waved his wooden sword.

I stood there and stared at him.

He looked puzzled.  “Did I offend you? I am sorry – I meant nothing by it. Look, forget it, I’m supposed to be meeting Trang in a few minutes anyway.”

“This will not take long.”

“You are insane. You saw what I just did to four of your men! Ok, fine, let’s go. Guys, get some Healing potions ready.”

I waited for him to move first.

“Ready?” he asked me.

“Yes. Go ahead.”

He sighed. “Fine. Jesus.”

He came at me. I blocked his blow with ease, countered quickly, and grazed his right leg. It drew blood, but he seemed not to notice.

“Not bad,” he said.

“Do not hold back,” I told him.

“Do I know you from somewhere?”

I attacked, moving in a flurry. He blocked all of my blows, gave me a kick to the midsection that sent me to the dirt. He could have finished me then but waited for me to get up. This annoyed me.

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I threw dirt in his face and lunged.

He dodged, and I went down again.

This time he did come to finish me, and I was just barely able to ward off his blows, still on my knees. On his final swing, I reached for the blow with my wooden hand, caught his sword, and pulled him down. He rolled just in time to miss being impaled by my sword.

We both leapt to our feet and circled.

Another flurry from him and another from me, to no effect.

Finally, he stopped. “I am doing you a disservice,” he said. “I am unable to hold back because I am afraid of killing you, or causing a permanent injury. Let me try with the wooden sword. I insist.”

“Fine.”

He sheathed his sword. Dristol tossed him a wooden one. I sheathed mine and took a wooden sword from Arex.

This time I could not see the blows when they came.

I was hit in the legs, chest, left arm – causing my sword to go flying – and finally my neck. The last blow knocked me to the dirt and nearly knocked me out.

The next thing I remember is being helped to my feet.

“You are the best fighter I have seen, by far,” Falcon said. “But in single combat, you could never beat me. I’m sorry. I’m not bragging. I’m just too fast. The best outlander fighters will always be too fast for you. Doesn’t mean you can’t beat them – just not one on one. And dirt in the eyes doesn’t really work on us.”

“Thank you for the lesson.”

“I remember you now,” he said. “Jesus Christ. You’ve come a long way.”

General Trang himself led the mission briefing.

“This is by far going to be your most important mission yet,” Trang told the twelve of us. “Perhaps ever. And your most dangerous. We have discovered the lair of Moroso.”

We looked at each other, perhaps wondering if Trang had gone off the deep end.

“Moroso does exist. He has wreaked havoc on this land for I don’t know how many decades. Always behind the scenes, but he has impacted the lives of each of you, by his masterful manipulation of your leaders. They are all puppets to him. Even the Empress.

“You wonder why so few mages exist, outside of that Sanctuary? He has secretly been running Sanctuary and ensuring that all citizens with the Talent for magic are sent there. They are taught to suppress their abilities, to use them only to achieve peace and enlightenment. It’s all horseshit. Those who go there languish for years, doing virtually nothing, their talent languishing. This is meant to ensure that Moroso remains the most powerful wielder of magic in the land.

“Moroso is responsible for the demonspawn that now plague your land. His black magic created them. They were confined to the tombs and the dungeons, until now. Many of the dungeons have been permanently opened. At this very moment, villages and towns are being terrorized, some of them overrun. Even the walls of the great cities do not stop all of them. A dozen citizens in Crille were slaughtered yesterday.

“This is all Moroso’s work.

“We have many enemies and you have faced them. You’ve killed barbarians. You’ve killed Varina’s men. You’ve killed soldiers from Astela. They are our enemies, but they are not all really evil.

“Moroso is evil incarnate. He is everything that is foul in your world.

“I am going to kill him. I am putting together a team of outlanders, the best mages and fighters in Friedor. Almost none of them are really allies, but they will help for their own reasons. They will jump at the chance to face down the most powerful being in Friedor. They will help me defeat him.

“And when Moroso goes down, the Empress will follow. Sooner or later, it will happen. I will see to it that you men, and your families, are truly free.”

Trang went on like that. His words may have affected the others, but not me. It was just another mission.

We would go back through Friedor, deep into Destra toward the mountains bordering Ariea. The wizard’s lair was in a valley. Kanni Valley. We would each memorize its location on the map.

We were to reconnoiter the area and provide cover for the mages. No army. Just us. The mages would go in fast. Into the lair, battle the evil wizard together. And defeat him. Trang sounded completely confident.

Whether he was too confident, that mattered not to me. I would do my job. We all would.

No uniforms, no armor. Fast horses.

Each of us had an alias and cover story in the event of capture. We were to avoid conflicts whenever possible, on our journey to the valley. That part would be easy for us. No part of Friedor compared to the dark unmapped parts of the Frontier.

In the early morning, already hot, still dark, we moved out. The guards opened the gate for us. The rest of Freejack slept.

We rode out into the early morning darkness.