Nothing came for us last night, luckily. With no issue, we found ourselves back on Kaleh’s trail toward Arnier. Marie walked in-between him and I, just enough to keep me in her vision while studying the tree line.

  As was custom, Agnes was walking and reading concurrently. Heavy bags sat under her eyes, dark and tired from her obsession with that journal. Whatever it was, it was distracting enough to send her tumbling over as her boot caught on a shrub.

  “I uh... Sorry. I’m fine,” She claimed, face going pale as everyone looked back in sequence.

  Kaleh continued his stride for but a moment, bending down to pick up a couple of long sticks.

  “Leonn, spar with me.”

  He demanded, tossing one of them my way.

  Marie turned as if someone had stabbed her, “we can’t just save it for when we get there?”

  Kaleh shook his head, “you don’t get a warmup on the field.”

  Agnes looked just as annoyed as Marie.

  “You can barely even stand. If your wounds reopen I’m not helping you.”

  This didn’t seem to deter him, and he held the stick out, mimicking a longsword. It reminded me of Donvan’s Kingscalibur, I hope to see that kid again soon.

  I took stance: One foot forward, free-hand behind me for balance, standing sideways to present a slim profile. The long lessons, the many hours of sharp corrections reinforced by a flick of the wrist came flooding back. For just a moment, this stick was a rapier.

  “Leonn, please don’t indulge him...” Marie pleaded.

  I figured she might be concerned for Kaleh.

  “Relax, it’s just footwork and technique. No contact.”

  He reassured promptly.

  Kaleh moved from long-point to a high guard.

  “Begin.”

  He lunged first, swiping diagonally from his top right. He closed the distance in an instant, whipping his sword around poking my chest with the stick.

  “You’re dead. Again.”

  On the second round, I seized initiative with a deep lunge. He managed a decent bat, before attempting to counter. I pulled the point back onto him as he followed through, causing us to double.

  “Chest. Vital. My death’s instant.”

  He declared, sounding somewhat dejected.

  “I still chopped your shoulder. You’d likely die of an infection, or at least never swing a sword again.”

  This time, I’ll try to cover myself a bit better.

  He prepared an overhead slash, causing me to move into another parry. I remembered a defense movement that would allow me to set up a counter thrust, but his sword disappeared from above his head. Instead it was at his hip, coming up toward my unguarded ribs. In my peripheral vision, I saw Marie’s arm drift toward the knife in her sleeve. Some unseen force tugged at my spine. Sudden, explosive — yanking my momentum away from danger before I could even think it.

  My boots hit the ground wrong, and for an instant it felt like they weren’t mine.

  The trees began to rustle in the wind, feeling the same jolt that I did. Agnes had turned pale behind the journal. Kaleh stopped in place, looking around for a moment, before dropping the stick.

  “What in the hell was that? I had you.”

  I shrugged, tapping him on top of his head with my weapon.

  “I have no idea. I guess I just reacted in time.”

  With Kaleh satisfied, we continued moving forward. His hand found his neck, lightly rubbing it as his foot sent a rock flying.

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  “You’ll need to hone in that technique of yours. I cant speak for the rapier, but you ought to practice feints.”

  I suppose he was right. It’d slipped my mind until he almost landed a point on me...

  We continued, steps muffled by the fallen leaves underfoot. Agnes continued to gather what she could, though her bag was practically full of the forest’s bounty. Kaleh stopped periodically, catching his breath as he leaned on whatever was nearby.

  Suddenly, Marie stopped in place beside me, before crouching low to the ground. It didn’t take an expert to recognize that specific track.

  “Boot-print.” she announced, “not us. This was recent.”

  We walked in silence after that, feeling every shadow for a pulse.

  I watched as Kaleh misplaced his foot, correcting it too quickly for anyone else to notice. Gods, we really were shaken up by that, huh? Even Agnes had her eyes out —her hands dancing together, longing for something better to do.

  Marie pointed in-between a couple of trees.

  “That’s foundation stone. We’ve been at it all day, so lets take a rest before continuing on.”

  Kaleh turned his head, revealing a smirk.

  “We’ll not need to continue. That’s it.”

  I felt energy surge through me. Just a few more steps and I can let my calves recover.

  “Ugh... finally we can stop walking” Agnes declared as her posture bent forward.

  “My legs feel like boiled reeds.”

  As we approached, I saw the ecosystem the place had growing on it. Twisting vines covered about every inch of the wall in a thick green net. Squirrels chased each other within it, birds rested in nests built upon window sills. Nature had truly claimed this library, for whatever that was worth.

  We walked up to the front door, decorated with an ornate handle and rotting off the hinge. Kaleh grabbed the lever, pulling downward and pressing into the door. It didn’t give way. “Damn it...” Marie muttered as she gave it a good kick, sending the final obstacle to our rest tumbling to the ground.

  The interior was caked in a thick layer of grime, but under it lay a truly impressive building. Something about it felt familiar, a mixture between Kastvassen’s library, with the building style of the Vuudweyen manor. Sunlight cascaded in through the tall, rectangular windows. The rays illuminated columns of dust. Two sets of arcing stairs, positioned across from each other, led to the banister of the second floor. Bookshelves lined each wall corner to corner.

  Kaleh cleared his throat.

  “If you all don’t mind, I am going to go take a seat.”

  He promptly did just that, pulling a chair out from a nearby table, before collapsing onto it with a deafening thud. I saw him wince. Agnes immediately began scanning the shelves, separating the place into sections, so that she could more easily begin her search.

  If I understand, she’s after more of those black journals. Something about a code...? I couldn’t be bothered for the moment.

  Kaleh spoke up,

  “Oh, right. Nobody’s been here in ages if you couldn’t tell. Feel free to loot to your hearts’ desire. I don’t give a shite.”

  I began exploring a quaint hallway packed into the east wing of the building. Old sleeping quarters branched off from it. Who could have possibly lived here? What secrets did the other wings hold? My eyes caught sight of a long, short piece of furniture. A dresser!

  I rushed over, peeling each drawer open with equal parts of hope and enthusiasm. There it was, a dusted over grey shirt. I pulled it out, before promptly giving it a good shake. It slipped onto me like a glove, and my face stretched into a grin.

  The sky turned a bright orange as we gathered in the common room. Marie was preparing a couple of cork bulb arrows, the corks of which were refashioned from a stockpile of long-dried ink bottles. Agnes was pouring over reams of diagrams, occasionally glancing at me with this look.

  A metallic rattle came from the forest and travelled through the doorway, the interlocking loops of chainmail. We were utterly unprepared as they stormed in with torches.

  “What the? Captain, there’s a couple of drifters here!”

  “What do you mean, let me... oh. Ohhh....” Elias. A face common at the long-table, just aside the commander and father.

  “That’s Leonn! Make sure he doesn’t leave here alive!”

  The world began spiraling into incoherence as I heard the order. As if the parchment our reality was placed on was drenched by the contents of a spilt bowl.

  Marie turned toward me, fear plastered all over her. One of the guards in the back lifted a loaded crossbow as the world ground to a halt. I saw Kaleh stand, shooting toward me, before his legs folded under him.

  Suddenly, I saw a merchant kneeling in his place.

  I was back in Argos.

  The burning herbs of the spice market seared my nostrils, the battle cries of Kastvassen soldiers threatened my eardrums. The emblems on their gauntlets merged into a shifting image of one.

  As the trigger of the crossbow lifted, I saw a merchant kneeled where Kaleh was, a guard behind them swung their blade wildly. The blood from the massacre pooled at my feet.

  The real world bled through in flashes, being swallowed once again in the memory. I felt a blade punch through my chest once again, ripping my wound right back open. I tried grasping at the sword with my left hand, though it phased straight through.

  Marie had flickered in and out of reality. Disappearing when she reached for her bow, and reappearing between me and the guards. She was in the line of fire. I needed to get her out of the way, but my legs were frozen in place by the pool of blood.

  Why wont you move, Leonn?!

  I lifted my hand out of instinct, stretched toward her. The ghost of Argos faded into the library. The false cinders floating around me twirled, caught in a tightening vortex, before a sharp gust of wind whipped forward.