Emily walks out of the healer’s tent with a clean, new bandage wrapped around her ribs and explicit instructions “Not to do that again.” Since she wasn’t really planning on ever getting grasped by Blue again, she thinks she can manage that without a problem.

  The sun is bright and hot, compared to the cool and shaded interior of the tent. It was surprisingly busy inside of it, considering that the forward operation only supposedly started a few weeks ago. But from what she could overhear from the conversations happening within, and from what she could pry from the nice doctor, most people are either going missing in the deep forest or finding their way here with a plethora of injuries to treat. Emily feels slightly conflicted about that information. On the one hand, every enemy lost to the forest is one less enemy threatening her kingdom.

  But on the other hand, it’s terrible to imagine people going into the forest and losing their lives just to serve their kingdom.

  A flash of a memory comes unbidden to Emily’s mind, of a tall knight’s arm falling from his body, the stump squirting blood as an Ostrich pounces to finish the job…

  Emily shivers, driving the memory deep down into the bowels of her psyche once again. That’s right. No matter what side, a loss is a loss. Life shouldn’t be spent so easily…

  “Hey, you all taken care of?”

  Emily looks up with a start and finds Bill leaning against some barrels stacked outside of the tent, his arms crossed lazily and his eyebrow cocked up questioningly at her.

  “You… Okay there, ma’am? It looks like you’ve got something on your mind.”

  Emily shakes her head, forcing a smile on her face as she walks up to the squire.

  “No, it’s nothing. I’m just… Thinking about what the Captain has in store for me.”

  Bill lets out a sympathetic hiss, as he shakes his head. “Yeah… I ain’t seen him that mad before. But don’t worry, I’m sure he can’t do something too bad to punish you. What with you being a noble, and all.”

  Emily feels a bead of sweat drip down her neck, and she chuckles awkwardly, hoping that Bill doesn’t notice how nervous she is. “Y-yeah! Of course. He obviously can’t do much to me…”

  Bill nods his head in agreement, sharing in Emily’s confidence. “And speaking of the captain… You ready to go?”

  Emily looks at Bill with wide eyes, her mouth hanging slightly ajar. “What… Now? But… What about ‘getting me situated’? What happened to that?”

  Bill looks at Emily with a pleased smile, giving her a thumbs up. “Don’t worry about that at all, ma’am! I’ve got your tent all sorted and ready for you. We’ll just hop on over to the Commander, get your quick dressing-down, and then you’ll be soaking in a warm tub and ready for a relaxing dinner! I’ve got it alll set for you.”

  “That… That actually does sound quite nice.” Emily replies, dreaming for a moment about a warm bath. “But… What about Blue? Shouldn’t I check up on him before we go?”

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  Bill waves off Emily’s concern with a confident smile on his face. “Don’t worry about him! He’s taken care of as best as can be. He’ll be fat, happy and gleaming clean by the time you see him again.”

  “But what if he gets scared without me nearby? Or… What if something spooks him?” Emily asks, as visions of a rampaging Blue flashes through her thoughts, his claws slashing out at people and tents as he goes…

  “He’s gonna be as happy as a pig in a sty where he is. I give you my word as a Squire and former ostrich handler, ma’am.” Bill replies, as he places a fist against his heart. “Nothing bad’s going to happen to him, as long as he’s in my care.”

  Emily takes a deep breath, steeling herself for what’s to come. “Fine… Let’s get it over with, then.”

  Bill gives her a nod, as he turns and gestures for her to come with. “You’ll see. It won’t be as bad as you think. The Captain won’t wanna anger an Archmage.”

  Emily lets out her breath, as she falls in step behind him, hurrying to keep up with the lanky-legged squire’s pace. “Yeah, you’re probably right… I’m just… A bit nervous, being here.”

  Bill turns around and gives Emily a reassuring smile. “Yeah, it can be a bit overwhelming. But at least you’ve got another friendly Fortsworth face here.”

  Bill turns back around just in time to avoid crashing into another pair of soldiers walking the opposite way, spinning away from them just in time to miss the worried look on Emily’s face.

  “So… You’re also from Fortsworth?”

  “Huh?” Bill asks, as he quickly turns around and looks at Emily again, a curious look on his face. He points to his blonde hair and smiles. “Yeah, Old Fortsworth. My ma lives right next to the river, past the mill.”

  He turns back to continue looking ahead. “Which side are you from? I ain’t ever really seen the Fortsworth nobles myself… Ma keeps telling me not to go making trouble with them. ‘You’re too much of a chatterbox, you’ll get us sent to the stocks for bothering ‘em’ and all that.”

  Emily feels her face go cold, wondering whether this is the moment where she’s found out. “Um… It’s… A secret?”

  Bill claps his forehead. “Riiiight, right… Undercover and all that. My bad, ma’am. I just… Thought maybe you were one of ‘em Stanners on top of Victor Hill. Everyone knows you’re – I mean, they’re quite secretive.”

  Emily furiously tries to memorize that name, as she nervously chuckles to Bill. “Yeah, it’s not much of a secret if I tell you…”

  “That’s right! Man, I wish I was on a secret mission… Are you, like, a secretly trained archmage?”

  Emily cocks her head to the side as she thinks of a suitable reply. “Uh… I don’t –”

  “Oh, wait! I’ve got it!” Bill interrupts, excitedly pointing a finger in the air. “Your parents trained you up to be the next head of the house, in an attempt to elevate the family… But then, you ran off to join the war in secret, to put your powers to use for the kingdom! And that’s why you can’t say your name, in case they come and drag you back.”

  He turns to look at Emily, a hopeful grin on his face.

  “Is that about right?”

  Emily has no idea how to respond to that, staring up at the tall boy with her mouth wide open. “Uh…”

  “Oh, shoot. We’re here already.”

  Emily looks past Bill to find that they’ve stopped in front of a massive tent, its maw wide open and inviting anyone to dare to cross its threshold. Emily feels her throat tighten and she gulps, her mouth suddenly going dry.

  “Well, go on in, ma’am. He does not like being made to wait.”

  Emily looks at Bill for reassurance, and the boy looks back at her, giving her a reassuring smile and a thumbs up.

  “I’ll check up on Blue and get ‘em fed while you’re here. I’ll come right back to take you to your tent when you’re all done, okay?”

  Emily takes a deep breath and nods, steeling her resolve for whatever’s about to happen.

  “Alright… Wish me luck.”

  Emily steps into the cool, shaded embrace of the tent, and disappears inside its depths.