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  “Yes, sir. Everything is on schedule. Will they still arrive at the same time?”

  Rendal had just projected himself to the trail the group was following and seen that their pace was the exact same. “Yes. They’ll be here just as the sun goes down.”

  “We will be ready.”

  “You’re sure, Harold?” Rendal asked. “I would sincerely hate for our guests to be disappointed with our effort.”

  “Yes, sir. Everything is in motion, and there will be no setbacks. It will be as you wish.”

  “Thank you, Harold. Your service is invaluable, as always.”

  “It’s my pleasure, sir.”

  Rendal listened as Harold left the office.

  Rendal wanted to be prepared for this evening as well. He stood from his chair and walked across his chamber, heading toward the door in the back. No one else used this room, let alone this door. There were a lot of precious things in Rendal’s compound, but perhaps the most precious resided behind this singular door.

  He pulled on the handle, and it opened easily beneath his touch. The room was a long one, like a walk-in closet except for what stood at the end.

  It’d taken Rendal years of study to come to this understanding. After the World’s Worst Day Ever, so much knowledge had been destroyed. And then the Age of Madness? Rendal had been lucky to meet Linda, lucky that she had met the man named Ezekiel. Linda had taught Rendal what he knew about magic—nanocytes and Etheric energy—but it was he who had dedicated himself to the technology in this room. He’d dedicated himself to finding an engineer who could build his ideas.

  Linda was gone, but Rendal remained.

  A chair sat at the end of the closet, a simple wooden thing.

  Rendal walked to it, not bothering to shut the door behind him. No one would enter his chamber without being called.

  Rendal sat down on the chair and rolled up his left sleeve. A circle of tiny scabs marched across the top of his wrist. He placed his left arm on the armrest and then, using his right, reached beneath it and pulled up the small clamp. It was made of glass, and inside a dull green seemed to be waiting for something. Perhaps to be called upon.

  Rendal tightened the clamp on his left wrist.

  It would hurt a bit—it always did—but that was okay because pain was necessary. He wanted to be at his best tonight, and he needed more energy for that.

  With his right hand, he pressed a small button on the chair, immediately feeling the needles poke into his wrist. The glass clamp lit up bright green as nanocytes flowed through it, moving from their holding container to his bloodstream. To their new master.

  To Rendal.

  He closed his eyes, the pain fading as his body began rejuvenating.

  Whatever this group was bringing, he would be more than ready.

  “Everything is prepared, Harold?”

  “We are completely ready, sir.”

  “There’s a fourth,” Rendal commented. “How long has she been there?”

  “We’ve been following them for three hours, sir. There have been four the entire time.”

  That’s not possible, Rendal thought. I’ve been watching them for days, and there have only been three. The two Right Hands and the man I let loose. There had been no fourth.

  He sent his mind out to the stranger, a woman who wore a hood. He tried to infiltrate her but ran up against a giant block, like a mountain cliff that refused to let him scale it.

  That’s not possible either.

  Rendal was on top of his compound watching the strangers come.

  “A change of plans, Harold, if you and your men can handle it.”

  “Yes, sir. How can I serve you?”

  “I want you to send a group out to attack them. I want to see what they do.”

  “Now?” Harold asked with no hesitancy.

  “Yes, now.”

  Chapter Seven

  “Here they come.” William pulled Broadsword’s reins and brought the line to a halt.

  Riley whipped her horse to the left, bringing him next to William. The other two remained behind the Right Hands.

  “They’ve been watching us for hours.” She knew that William had seen the signs too, though neither had said anything. “You starting to believe someone dangerous might be here, chubby?”

  “Someone is definitely in that building.” William stared at the structure. “But that don’t mean it’s a mage sucking the magic out of other people for nefarious purposes. Could just be a minor warlord. It ain’t like they’re not scattered among the Badlands.”

  The four had come out of the woods maybe three minutes ago, into an open space. There was a large building a thousand yards off.

  A compound of sorts stood in front of them. It was four stories high, and Riley could make out a few people standing atop it.

  And now, people were coming for Riley’s group.

  Two large doors stood in the middle of the building’s first floor. They’d opened, and seven people had rushed forward on horseback. They were riding hard, the horses’ hooves kicking up dirt.

  “Three bows, two axes, and two swords,” William counted.

  “I guess I’m going after the bows? You’d need to lose a hundred pounds before you’d have a chance of stopping them. Think you can do that in the two minutes before they get here?”

  “Aye. You handle those three, and I’ll make sure the other four die. I’m not sure how good your math is, but I’ve got more to deal with.”

  The seven started slowing down as they approached, bringing their horses to heel. They spread out slightly.

  “You two get back,” William grunted to Lucie and Pat.

  “Oh, hi, cutie,” a woman called from the middle. Her hair was short and scraggly, and one of her front teeth was missing. She looked like she might have once been a bandit, her skin deeply tanned and worn. She was looking behind Riley at Pat. “I remember you. Do you remember me?”

  “He’s not your concern anymore.” Riley’s voice carried across the distance. “We’ve been sent by Prefect Goland Ire to inspect these premises. We demand you put your weapons down, dismount, and move out of the way.”

  “Aye, do ya now? You demand it?” The woman looked to her left and right. “She demands it, fellas. I guess we gotta do it, huh?”

  “I got first dibs on her when she’s disarmed,” a man to the right declared. “You guys can have her after. I’ll leave some to go around.”

  “Aye, you think so?” William reached to his back and brought his huge sword out from its sheath. “I think you might fit quite nicely on my sword when I shove it up your ass. What do you think, Riley? He big enough to fit on it?”

  Riley pulled her sword, looking at the distance between the bows. These people obviously weren’t well trained because to bring the bows this close was idiotic. They should have stayed back to pick off the strangers from a distance. Now they were within reach.

  Damn it, Riley thought, knowing it would be easy to kill them, and William would still walk away with one more than her.

  “Enough talk,” the woman called. “Let’s kill ‘em.”

  The archers started trying to back up, realizing now how close they were. Riley wasted no time, spurring Wind Whisper and jetting across the short distance between the archers and her. She used her sword like a painter would a brush, her artwork death instead of canvas. The first she caught across the throat, and the second she impaled quickly through his guts. The third was a bit farther off, his horse picking up speed now.

  “What’re ya waiting for?” William hollered as he shoved two men off him. They flew into the air before falling to the ground and skidding across the dirt. “Get em!”

  Wind Whisper charged across the open space. The archer was slowing down now, reaching for an arrow from her quiver.

  Hurry, Riley thought. Hurry, or you’re dead.

  The horse’s hooves pounded the ground.

  The archer nocked the arrow.

  Two more seconds.

 
; The archer pulled back the bow.

  Riley’s sword whipped through the air, although she was unsure if it would be in time.

  The woman’s scream answered her as blood poured down onto her saddle. She dropped the bow and fell to the ground, and Riley turned Wind Whisper to look back at William.

  Three men lay on the ground, and he was staring at the crazy-looking woman.

  “You want her?” he called.

  The woman was trying to retreat, although Riley saw that she wasn’t outright running. It would do no good since she was now on foot. Riley could run her down easily.

  “I don’t like beating on women. It’s why you never catch a beating for all the mean things you say to me,” William yelled across the expanse.

  “First,” Riley hollered back, “I’m never mean. And second, you couldn’t lay a beating on me if the Prefect himself demanded it.”

  Riley and Wind Whisper crossed to William. The woman’s horse had fled, and she was now looking at the dead skeptically.

  “Let her go back in,” Riley commanded.

  “NO!” Pat shouted from behind, practically forgotten by everyone. “No. Kill her. She’s evil. She’s as evil as the man inside there. I know her, and if you don’t kill her you’ll regret it!”

  “We’re within our rights.” William was leaving the decision up to Riley.

  “Let her go back in. One more isn’t going to matter.”

  The woman turned her face to Riley, and in that instant, she regretted her decision.

  “Ya dumb bitch. There’s no forgiveness in this place, and you’re going to learn that very soon.”

  The woman turned and ran, forgetting about her fallen comrades as well as her horse.

  “That was stupid,” Pat moaned. “That was so, so stupid.”

  Riley watched her go, wondering if she’d just made a mistake.

  “I’m sorry, sir,” Harold said. “I will send more.”

  “No, no,” Rendal answered. “I just wanted to see what would happen. Nothing else. You did fine. Let them come now, and let’s meet our guests properly. Please seat them, and I’ll be down momentarily.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Harold headed back into the building. Rendal stared at the four in the distance, two things going through his mind at once. First, he still didn’t know who the fourth person was. The hood above their head blocked his view, and the mental wall blocked his mind. Whoever it was, they had somehow shielded themselves the entire trip.

  No one from New Perth could do that. Perhaps there were some in Sidnie, but none would dare cross the Badlands. The trip was too hard, and it’d taken Rendal many years and many soldiers lost to be able to do it consistently. Even now, he still lost men and prisoners during the treacherous trip.

  No, this person had come from New Perth.

  And there’s only one person who could keep you out of their head, isn’t there, Rendal?

  It’s possible, but she would be old, he told himself.

  Still, it’s possible.

  He had Etheric energy, a constant supply of it. That was what kept him looking like this—using the energy to rejuvenate his cells.

  She’s not as old as you, though.

  Plus, Rendal could think of no one else in New Perth who might be able to practice magic at a level that could keep him out of their heads.

  Then it’s her, and what of it? She made her choice long ago, and now she’ll suffer the same fate as everyone else.

  The second thought was about the young woman. Riley.

  What he’d just seen had been brutally brilliant. She was a master of her craft, and her craft was killing.

  Rendal was starting to see two paths available to him, and he wasn’t sure which he wanted to take. He could, of course, just subdue her and throw her in the compound. He could take her Etheric energy as he did everyone else’s, recycling it into his body—yet that would be somewhat fleeting. Removed from its host, the energy faded inside Rendal, leading him to need a constant supply. Given the amount of energy he imagined existed in her—the potential she possessed—hers would last a lot longer than anyone else Rendal had come across.

  Yet, he saw a second option now.

  Especially after watching her dispatch of the small army he’d sent down there. The woman had been ruthless against the three archers, dispatching them with a coldness and speed Rendal admired. True, she’d let the last woman go, but Rendal could work with that. He could teach her the power of callousness, the need to show no mercy, ever.

  He could bring her into this. Into his revolution. He could show her the way, the future, and she could be his second-in-command. The two of them could take New Perth together, ruling like father and daughter.

  Why commandeer her magic, if Rendal could simply command her? Yes, he wanted power...but he needn’t have it all inside his own body. He could use her as she used her sword.

  This young woman would have an option, the first Rendal ever granted anyone: she could serve him, or she could join him. Either way, he would possess her potential.

  Riley and William led the group to the front doors.

  “Do you believe yet?” Pat asked from behind.

  “Like I said, crazy man, I believe we’ve got a warlord here, but he ain’t stealing people and taking magic from ‘em. That’s not what’s happenin’ here. Sorry to break it to ya,” William answered.

  Riley was quiet, not wanting to get involved in their quibble. The doors were opening again. Both of the Right Hands still held their swords.

  “Welcome, ladies and gentlemen,” a man spoke from the building’s darkness. Riley peered through the open doors, hoping to see something, but the darkness was too complete. “My name is Harold, and I’ll be your tour guide.”

  “And who are those dead people lying behind me?” William called. “They tour guides like you? Because if so, I’m happy to show myself around.”

  A chuckle came from the darkness, a light thing that didn’t sound at all menacing.

  “No, no. We only wanted to see what you were made of. We sent our least capable. The woman you let come back—she’s a mutant from the Badlands, and I’m not entirely sure why we keep her around. You would have been doing me a favor by killing her.”

  “Why don’t you bring yourself out here and let us get a gander atcha?” William called.

  “Certainly, but would you mind putting your swords up first? I could overwhelm you with soldiers right now, despite your skill. Killing a hundred would be a lot different than killing seven, but I’d rather not do that. So, if you put your swords up, I can reveal myself and then we can continue with the tour.”

  Riley looked at William.

  “What do you think, skinny?”

  “I think we’ve seen enough to report back to Goland and Mason. Whatever is inside here, mage or just a man, he’s too powerful and too close to New Perth for the Prefect to allow it to stand. There’s no sense in going inside. It’s dangerous.”

  William nodded, turning again to the blackness inside the open doors.

  “Ya might be right, skinny, but I didn’t come all this way to not know what the hell is inside there. Did you?”

  Riley turned as well, still able to see nothing. She felt the weight of the sword in her hand, a comforting thing. No, she hadn’t come all the way up here to be run off the moment they were faced with danger. She wanted to know what was inside so she could go back to Mason with actionable information.

  “No. Let’s go in.”

  “Good girl,” William told her. “We’re warriors, after all. Right Hands, and these people will bow to us. Go on and sheath your sword, but if they ask us to give ‘em up we start cutting throats, okay?”

  “You got it,” Riley answered.

  The two Right Hands shoved their swords into their sheaths.

  “All right,” William called. “Come on out so we can see you.”

  “Gladly.”

  A bright light flashed on inside the building, illuminating t
he whole area.

  Riley struggled to keep her eyes from widening and showing her surprise.

  She thought the voice they’d heard was coming from a small man—someone regal, who might be wearing glasses. Certainly someone educated better than Riley. The man before them looked like he’d seen more fighting than William or Riley.

  He was large, almost as tall as William, and a bit wider. An axe rested on his back, and a scar ran down his cheek to his neck.

  “My name is Harold.” The voice didn’t fit the man before them at all. “I’m your tour guide.”

  William looked at Riley with his eyebrows raised. “Is this a joke?”

  Riley shook her head. “I’m not sure.” Keeping a straight face, she asked, “Harold, are you making a joke of some sort?”

  “I assure you, ma’am, I am not.” He looked past Riley to Pat. “Hello, Pat. Welcome home.”

  “Get fucked,” Pat called. “This isn’t my home.”

  Harold turned to Riley with a look that said, What can you do? “Are we ready to enter? My master is excited that you’ve come.”

  “Do you guarantee safe passage?” William asked.

  “Guarantees? What guarantees are there in life? Come in, and let’s look around. The master will decide what guarantees there may and may not be.”

  “Fuck it.” William looked to Riley. “Ready?”

  She nodded, still staring at the warrior who sounded like a professor.

  “Where do we put our horses?” William asked.

  “We have stables inside. Beneath. It’s too hot to leave them out here, yes?”

  Riley said nothing, only watched as Harold turned and started walking away. Riley spurred her horse but heard Pat say something behind her. She reined Wind Whisper in and looked over her shoulder.

  “He sounds nice, you two,” Pat spat. “He always sounds that way. I’ve seen him decapitate children. Don’t trust him. He’s a straight-out psychopath, loyal only to the master he talks about.”

  Riley looked at Lucie. The woman stared forward as if she were hearing nothing.

  The four followed Harold into the building.