“Right, I see that now,” Adam said, nodding his head.

  The heavily armoured figures wore dark armour, near bck. One wore a helmet fashioo look like a bird’s head, whereas the others wore pis, though a bird’s head rinted on their breastpte.

  The group slowed on their horses, and were about to stop, but saw the Iyrmen and tinued approag closer.

  “Good evening, Sir Dunnock,” Jurot said, bowing his head lightly. Adam he reverehin the Iyrman’s voice, the same reverence Argon had used when speaking with Sir Magpie.

  “Good evening, Iyrman,” Sir Dunnock replied after hopping off her horse. “May we share your camp tonight?” She was as tall as Adam, and almost built like Nobby.

  Jurot turo Adam, causing the members of the order to gnce his way too.

  “I don’t think I deny someone in such a prestigious order,” Adam replied, before motioning a hand towards their camp. “Please.”

  “Thank you,” Sir Dunnock said.

  The five members situated themselves at the camp, some of Adam’s panions moving aside to make room for them. The camp was always built slightly rger than they hough it was far more awkward now that there were few pieces of wood around.

  Sir Dunnock removed her helmet, revealing her short red hair, and her hazel eyes, which were full of suspi. She was darker than Aldishmen, her skin slightly redder thaypical Aswadian. Her wrinkles formed a frown around her face. She could feel it. Something was wrong.

  The other heavily armoured warriors also removed their helmets. Some of them were pale skinned, others darker. The you was a man in his twenties, and from what Adam assumed, was an Aldishman.

  “Kitool, Jay-,” Adam paused, thinking about whether Jaygak would act up. “Kitool, Jaygak, could y some rations for the good members of the Order of Wings?”

  “Who we thank for the kind hospitality?” Sir Dunnock asked.

  “I’m Adam Fateson,” Adam replied. “I’m the leader of this motley crew.”

  “What kind of motley crew is adorned in such fine armour, and carry such exquisite ons?” Sir Dunnock replied.

  Adam smiled. “I’m the Chief Executive Officer of United Kindom, like my brother here.” Adam motioned his head to Jurot. “We work for the Enter who has settled within the Iyr, and currently does business out of it.”

  “You are the Iyrman’s brother?” Sir Dunnock asked, her eyes still full of suspi.

  Adam looked to Jurot, who o firm. “We’re Fate’s Golden, an adventuring party that usually works around Red Oak. We’ve done some business outside of Red Oak, but nothing you would have heard of. We just killed a couple ons is all.” Adam smiled.

  “You’ve killed Dragons?”

  “We’ve had a hand in killing twons,” Adam said. “Fate’s Golden… well, I probably shouldn’t take away such a story from my brother. Jurot, why don’t you tell them our stories over dinner?”

  Jurot bowed his head, sitting up straighter from the excitement. He could tell someone like Sir Dunnock his stories? He couldn’t wait to tell his mother.

  “What brings the Order of Wings around these parts?” Adam asked.

  “We are hunting a chimera,” Sir Dunnock said, her voice stern. “Have you seen it?”

  “We did. It flew around us a few ho when we were travelling. Zishan mao scare it off with his magics, and it fled away.”

  “Do you know which way it went?”

  “I think it followed the road from what we saw,” Adam said, thinking back to the creature.

  “Thank you.”

  “Any time.”

  “Is there a reason why you won’t take off your helmet?”

  “Last time I did, one of Sir Magpie’s youth tried to get himself killed by ing after me,” Adam said.

  “Sir Magpie?” Sir Dunnock asked.

  “We met her a couple of years ago, around the vilges he Iyr,” Adam expined. “We defended one of the vilges against the Undead.”

  “Little Magpie was around this region back then,” Sir Dunnock firmed. “It robably her heir, who hates Elves with a passioo the massacre.”

  “Aye,” Adam said.

  “We do not hate Elves, so you may remove your helmet,” the older woman assured.

  “I appreciate that,” Adam said, removing his helmet to reveal his face. “I didn’t want there to be any unnecessary issues because I was a Half Elf.”

  “There are no unnecessary issues because you are a Half Elf,” the older woman stated, pausing. “We are Watchers. We do not care for the threats of Aldishmen, Elves, Dwarves, Aswadians. We care for threats whie from outside these realms. Titans. Reavers. Demons.”

  The air grew heavy around them. Adam and Sir Dunnock stared between one another. Adam firmed that she knew, and Sir Dunnock firmed that he knew. A silence fell across the camp, save for the crag of fire.

  “Are we going to have a problem?” Adam asked, staring into the older woman’s eyes. He could feel the pressure she exuded. She robably only a few years older than Sir Magpie, but she was definitely far stronger.

  “You travel with a pair of Demons,” Sir Dunnock said. “We are pelled by our oaths to deal with such threats.”

  Adam inhaled deeply, before sighing. He kept his eyes glued to the older woman ahead of him, but khat he outnumbered the members of the Order six to one. “Dunes, Sir Vonda, why don’t you take the kids for a walk? Rose, Rick, why don’t you take your friends, go see the sights for a bit too.”

  Dunes and Sir Vonda exged a gnce, before they stood, rounding up the younger panions. Nobby didn’t o be told twice as his uapped his shoulders, pulling him aside.

  Nirot frowned, her eyes falling to Adam. She wao speak, to watch the fight, but seeing the tension in Adam’s ned the darkness on his face, she held her tongue.

  It was going to happen again.

  It hadn’t even been a year si had happened, and though Adam had barely mao work through it, the situation arose once more.

  The camp was cleared, save for the two groups. The members of the Order, and the stro members of Fate’s Golden. Five Guardians, one of them Sir Dunnock, who Jurot ko be only slightly weaker than their order’s leader. Adam, Jurot, Jaygak, Kitool, Jonn, Lucy, Mara, and Fred sat opposite them.

  “Adam,” Fred called, cautiously.

  Adam could hear the hesitation in Fred’s voice. It made sense, sidering how well known the Order was in the nd, and the fact they held quite some authority. For Fred, a farmer from Rock Hill, to go up against an order, it was something which pced him in an aosition. “You should che the Red River Squad, see if they need anything.”

  “Thank you,” Fred said, getting up, bowing his head to the two groups, and stepped out.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” Sir Dunnock asked.

  “You know, Sir Dunnock,” Adam said, his lips almost twitg into a smile. “This isn’t the first time something like this has happened.”

  “Walking with Demons will always bring you trouble,” Sir Dunnock firmed. “You just o walk away, and it’ll all be over soon.”

  “You said there wasn’t any unnecessary issues with me being a Half Elf, but isn’t it a little rich that you have an issue with a Demon?”

  “Fae are Fae, and Demons are Demons,” she replied, simply.

  “It’s funny,” Adam admitted, letting slip a smile. “Last year the same thing happened. We were minding our own business a some old guy. He was one hell of a monster, let me tell you. Brought down a Fireball right on his head, and he didn’t take a lick of damage. Fire didn’t hurt him.”

  Adam’s smile almost faltered. “He was a Dragon, you see. An A Dragon at least. I did as much as I could to beat him. I crit him, dealing enough damage to knock out the average Expert. We all fought him, just one old man, and we were crushed. He killed Lucy, stole a magical on from us, and walked away like nothing happened.”

  “So you know the sequences of your as.”

  “Yeah,” Adam said, slowly nodding his head. “I do. I know the sequeny as, and I know if I had to e across him again, even now, I’d fight him.”

  Adam’s neck pulsed, and he refrained from grinding his teeth. “Now, I’m going to take a guess at what you’re thinking. You see us, Bronze Ranks the lot of us, and you think we’re a group of Experts. We might be a little harder to deal with, sidering one of us is wearing puthral pte mail, four of us are Iyrmen, and that we all carry magical ons. That right?”

  “Yes.”

  Adam slowly nodded his head. “What you don’t know is how strong these magical ons are. You don’t know what kind of damage my brother here do with Phantom, or Kitool do with Tigerstaff, or what Jaygak do with her magical on. What’s even more funny is that not even my brother knows what Wraith do,” Adam said, moving his arm to reveal his axe a little clearer, “and he’s been waiting a long time. You don’t know that, teically, Jonn is the stro out of all of us, he’s the most experienced you see. You don’t know that I beat him twice, and that from this entire group, I’m probably the stro.”

  “Why are you speaking so much?” Sir Dunnock asked. “Are y to bluff your way out of this?”

  Adam smiled, but this smile was real. “You think you beat us.”

  “I know we .”

  “You hear that, Jurot?” Adam asked.

  “Yes.”

  Adam began to ugh.

  Oh dear.