Book 1 - Chapter 2

Keth

Keth knew that she wasn't exactly likable. Even if she hadn't been possessed with a better than average personal intuition, her clients had told her as much over the years, as though they expected to be paying her for good company in addition to her services as a Ranger. One of them had even tried to pay her extra to smile. She declined the coin and made it a point to scowl for the remainder of the trip.

Her kinsmen liked her, though - perhaps because all of them were almost as stubborn and stoic as she. They didn't mind that she was a Half, and treated her with the same respect that they would any other person of orcish descent. They understood how dangerous and cruel the Wilderness could be, but loved it all the same, just like she did. Better still, they could commiserate with her about the foolishness of the cityfolk that their kind ferried from town to town. After all, Ziva was a good listener, but wasn't much for conversation.

Perhaps all of that was why Keth had decided to stay this time around.

It wasn't her first time traveling with this particular band of Rangers. After a positive chance meeting with them a few years ago, she made it a habit to seek them out for a few months each year - once to breed Ziva, and a few months later for a longer stint, when the aurochs' pregnancy was far enough along that traveling alone became dangerous. Even so, past experiences made Keth flighty in large groups, and she left as soon as the calf could be transitioned to a surrogate.

But she'd be a liar if she said that the band hadn't earned her trust. Certain members even more so.

"We should get ready to leave. They'll be opening the gates soon," Morokha said, already beginning the process of tearing down and packing the tent that he had offered to share with Keth the night before. "I'll let you know before I bring the canvas down."

"Why?" Keth emerged from her sleeping furs, pining for the loss of their warmth as the morning-chilled spring air struck her skin and sent goosebumps cascading down her spine.

Morokha shrugged. "I know you like your privacy," he said, gesturing at her nude torso.

Keth allowed herself a smirk. "After last night?" She elbowed him in the thigh as he shuffled past her. "I think that's a moot point."

He grunted and ruffled her hair in retaliation. "You know what I mean."

"Point being, we've camped far enough out of sight of the wall that the only people likely to see me are the ones that are already in the know."

"Fair enough. I just wanted to give you the option." Morokha leaned down from his great hulking height and touched his forehead to hers, and she rumbled with content.

"I'm going to miss this," she said as he brought the canvas down.

"Miss what?"

"This." Keth gestured between them and began rummaging around her pack for a tunic. "I don't know. I never thought I'd like the idea of being... domestic, but..."

Morokha was silent for a moment. "You know," he said, "There's something to be said for strength in numbers. There are a lot of us here, and I think we both know that anyone in this band would kill for you. You can trust us to keep you safe."

She stared into the middle distance for a moment, her optimistic and pessimistic sides wrestling for dominance while her intuition watched and shrugged at her.

"... I trust you, Moro," Keth said. "I trust the band. But them?" She pointed at the wall, just visible in the distance through the canopy. "I'd sooner trust an elf."

~*~*~

The clientele that awaited the band's services were just like every other group that Keth had ever ferried: naïve to the ways of the Wilderness, and convinced that the presence of Rangers in their midst rendered them immune to the dangers of the world outside the city walls. Most of them were merchants who had made similar treks before, which just made their irreverent attitudes all the more frustrating. A few clients appeared to be of noble birth, traveling on some diplomatic errand or other, no doubt. Keth often wondered what was important enough for nobles to risk their lives traveling away from the safety of an idyllic little town like Ironriver, across the Wilderness, and into the overcrowded mess that was Sheer Harbor, just to travel back again a week or so later.

The woman in the cloak was one of those, to be certain. She looked too delicate to be part of the working class, and though she took care to hide her clothing beneath a sensible waterproof cloak (which she had just purchased, judging by the lack of wear and tear), it was obvious to Keth that her garments were made of the kind of fine, flowing fabrics that the nobility preferred. She carried a pack that was far too small to be of any practical use, and had not even made an attempt at arming herself with so much as a dagger. At least she had gathered her voluminous umber curls up into a high braid to keep out of the way for travel, and was not riding sidesaddle - that alone gave Keth hope, though the woman's flighty attitude and tendency to keep away from the rest of the gathered group still concerned her.

Perhaps not so much as the man in red, though.

Keth had seen his type before. Fancy, overconfident, excited to "venture out into the unknown", and prone to breaking down into shrieking sobs at the first sign of a Beast. He had worn his Good Clothes - a long, red vest patterned with swirls of deep red and thin lines of gold over a white shirt - which would soon be splattered and ruined with mud, and if that didn't cause him to whine for the rest of the journey to Sheer Harbor, then the poor state of his hair by the end of the trip was certain to elicit complaints. After all, it was clear he had put a lot of effort into conditioning and styling the wild sandy-blond curls that brushed his shoulders and smelled of sandalwood. He was too loud, too flamboyant, too impressed with himself. By the time they reached their destination, Keth was sure that he would fling himself at the gates as if Ziva had been biting at his ankles the whole journey.

Idiots like these had a knack for getting themselves killed - or worse, getting their Rangers killed.

"We'll have to keep a closer eye on those two, hm?" Keth muttered to Ziva as she finished brushing out her coat. The aurochs grunted in what Keth deemed assent, and then the beast busied herself with the contents of her feed bag again.

"Keth!" She looked up from her task to see the band leader, Bardam, riding toward her upon his steer. Ziva let out a bellow at their approach, and Keth had to smack her with the flat side of the brush to keep the cow from coming to her defense like she was a calf.

"Sir?"

Bardam gestured toward the group of clients. "You want to go over the rules?"

Keth frowned. "You sure you want me doing that? I'm not exactly the coddling type, and I've scared people off before."

Bardam nodded. "You know the rules as well as anyone else - maybe better, seeing as how you've traveled alone for so long." He grinned at her. "Besides, these cityfolk could do with a healthy dose of fear before we get moving."

"Suit yourself," Keth replied with a shrug, and then pointed at the nobles she had been eyeing. "But when those two pack up to leave and take their money with them, don't say I didn't warn you."

"A damn shame, I'm sure," Bardam snorted. Keth chuckled and packed away Ziva's grooming brush. She saddled up, approached the cityfolk, and whistled between her tusks to get their attention.

"Alright, listen up," she declared in the common tongue when they quieted their chatter and attended. "The journey we are about to embark on is the most dangerous, foolhardy thing you'll ever do. The Wilderness is every bit as treacherous as you've heard; what the Wild Eruption did out there, beyond the walls, is nothing short of a cataclysm. Some of you have been out there, seen it." Keth leaned back in her saddle. "I don't much care about that - as far as I'm concerned, all of you could do with a reminder.

"A hundred feet beyond the wall, the Wilderness begins. It is a labyrinthine tangle of trees, vines, and leaves the likes of which are so dense as to block out the sun, in some stretches. Do not stop, unless a Ranger gives you permission; the plants grow quickly, and some of them like to eat people that pause to rest. Do not step so much as a toe outside of our ring of protection; your survival requires that you assume that every shrub, bush, and blade of grass hides a Beast within."

Keth gestured toward the band gathering behind her. "You have hired us as your Rangers. My orcish kin and I call the Wilderness our home - we live and die outside the walls, and we know how to defend ourselves and others. But, make no mistake: we cannot absolutely guarantee your protection. Every Ranger - no matter how good they are - has lost people just like you to the Wilderness before." She narrowed her eyes at the cityfolk. "If you cannot come to terms with your own mortality, I suggest you return to the safety of your homes and cower under your beds, where the Beasts can't get you."

One small merchant family began shuffling their feet, and after a moment of discussion, they turned their cart of wares around and started back down the road toward the town in the distance. To Keth's surprise, however, the two nobles did not so much as flinch.

"Right," she continued. "Rules. Number one: you leave the aurochs be, if you know what's good for you. Don't touch them, don't approach without its Ranger's go ahead, and gods help you if you try to take something from one of our packs. You think Beasts are bad, you ain't seen how ornery a bull or a cow can be."

As if on cue, Ziva let out a bellow. The man in the red vest raised his eyebrows and tried to stifle a smile.

"Something funny?" Keth asked.

He nodded and stopped bothering to hide his expression. "Yes," he admitted, "though not because I think you were joking."

"Hrmph." Somehow, Keth hated that answer more than if he had just lied. "Number two: as your Rangers, you are paying us to protect you, guide you, and shoulder the burden of our journey. We will do everything in our power to defend you from the creatures that lie in wait between here and Sheer Harbor." She pointed a gloved finger at the remaining group. "Do NOT make our jobs harder than they already are. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," the cityfolk replied. A shiver of relief passed through Keth, as it always did at the confirmation that her clients could not determine her true sex. Thank the gods she had been born with so few human feminine qualities.

"Last thing." She leveled them with a no-nonsense stare. "You see something, you tell a Ranger. Immediately. Doesn't matter if it turns out to be a rabbit or a bird or something equally harmless - better for you to be mistaken and look a fool than for you to keep your mouth shut and have it cost your life. Beasts are not like animals. A good deal of them are a lot smarter, and all of them would just as soon kill you as look at you. Got it?"

"Yes, sir."

Keth seized Ziva's reins and turned her toward the gate, shouting over her shoulder, "We stop at noon and twilight. You gotta piss, you'd better tell someone before you're exploding so that we can find a safe place to break."

Bardam was staring at her, his arms crossed, while Morokha stifled a laugh beside him.

"I did warn you," she said in orcish as she passed.

"Oh, I'm not upset," the band leader replied. "I just have to keep up certain appearances while the cityfolk are watching." He clapped a hand on Keth's arm. "Consider yourself hereby signed up for going over the rules henceforth."

Keth snorted. "Gods - is it too late to change my mind and leave?"

"No one will hold you back," Morokha said, "but we'd all be sad to see you go."

She glanced over her shoulder at the cityfolk as the rest of the Rangers started to encircle them and direct them toward the gate. "Guess I'll have to stick around, then."

~*~*~

The road from Ironriver to Sheer Harbor was little more than a trail stamped into the earth and had only become so "developed" due to Rangers trekking through on a regular basis. All attempts to widen the road or add cobblestones had been for naught, as was the case with almost every so-called road that Keth had ever heard of or traveled upon; if the elves didn't take offense and pick off the paving crew one by one until the rest fled, then the Wilderness was quick to reclaim that which it had lost. Every now and again, Ziva's cloven hooves would tap on the remnants of the cobbles and bricks, but more often than not, the Rangers were forced to navigate using only their acute sense of direction.

Meanwhile, their patrons appeared to be oblivious to the dangers around them, despite Keth's warning. Where they saw a pretty bush full of fragrant flowers, Keth saw the broken twigs at its base where a large predator had wormed its way through to mask its scent. Where they spotted a grove of trees hung with moss-covered vines and marveled at the serene silence within, Keth spotted tiny bones scattered in the foliage below, and steered her charges away for fear of assassin vines. The cityfolk spent the first day of their week-long journey to Sheer Harbor chatting and admiring the scenery as though they were walking through a garden and not a world overrun with dangers.

The man in red had nudged his horse closer to that of the cloaked noblewoman, and was smiling at her. Keth was willing to bet that the expression was predatory, and resolved to keep a closer eye on him, come nightfall.

"Might I ask your name?" he asked the noblewoman.

She roused from staring into the middle distance, as she had been for the past hour or so, and tried to suppress a wave of confusion from crossing her face with a returned, demure smile.

"Molly," she replied in a voice almost as delicate as her physicality. "Molly Thunderforge."

He offered her a hand. "Elias Sydio. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Thunderforge."

"The pleasure's all mine, Mister Sydio," she said, and Keth watched her shake his hand with a strength and confidence she had not expected. Judging by the subtle shift in Elias' expression - no more than the twitch of a pierced eyebrow - Molly had taken him by surprise as well.

"Is this your first time beyond the walls?" he asked.

"It's my third, actually." She shook her head and tucked a stray lock of hair back into the elaborate braid from whence it came. "Though, admittedly, it is the first time I'm making the journey alone - present company excluded. And you?"

Elias shrugged. "I've been around a bit - my line of work takes me interesting places."

"Really? And what line of work would that be?"

"Entertainment." He patted an instrument case affixed to his horse's saddle. "A good minstrel is quick to learn that staying in the same place for too long makes people bored of you." He flashed another grin at her. "And you, lady? What sort of business brings a lovely young woman such as yourself from a place as idyllic as Ironriver, through the Wilderness, and all the way to Sheer Harbor, by yourself? Family?"

"After a fashion, yes," she said. "Family business, if I had to say."

He shook his head. "You don't. I'm just the curious sort, is all."

"As am I."

"Ah, we've already found something in common!" His eyes flickered in Keth's direction, and he leaned forward in his saddle, mischief in his hazel eyes. "And what about you, good sir?"

Keth straightened in her saddle. "What about me?"

"Are you the curious sort as well? I gather you must be, judging by your keen interest in our conversation."

She snorted to mask her surprise - she hadn't taken him for the perceptive type. "What's that old saying about curiosity and cats?" Keth shook her head and tapped Ziva with her heels to urge her farther up the path. "I prefer to keep my nose out of trouble."

"Never a bad idea either!" she heard Elias proclaim with a laugh. "See? We're friends already, the three of us!"

That elicited a giggle from Molly, and Keth rolled her eyes until they were apt to fly out the back of her skull.

"No need to be hasty, Mister Sydio," Molly said. "It's a long way from here to Sheer Harbor, after all. Let's start with acquaintances, shall we?"

Keth didn't bother to suppress a snort of laughter.

~*~*~

They didn't encounter any danger until the second night of their journey.

"The good news is that there's a clearing nearby that looks large enough to house the whole caravan," one of the scouts reported to Bardam. Her aurochs was snorting and dancing with unease, such that Keth had to dismount to help her calm the beast down.

Bardam raised an eyebrow. "And the bad news?"

"If Farn's behavior isn't enough of an indicator," she replied, gesturing at her bull, "I think we have company. We found fresh tracks farther up the trail."

The rest of the cattle were starting to rile as well. Keth had heard of magics that were able to alert the caster of danger, but as far as she was concerned, nothing was quite as effective as the instincts of a herd animal. Even Ziva was beginning to follow suit. "We should make for the clearing," Keth suggested. "It'll be easier to defend from a position where the underbrush isn't blocking line of sight."

"My thoughts exactly," Bardam said.

They scattered in silence, passing the word along to the rest of the band in murmurs as they began to push the caravan to pick up the pace. With any luck, they would arrive at the clearing before anything nasty came after them, and long before the cityfolk ever became aware of the danger. The last thing they needed was a panicked stampede.

Molly stood near the edge of the group, exerting an expert's control on her flighty horse as she peered into the twisted, darkening forest beyond. If she knew that she was lagging behind, she didn't seem to care, curiosity overpowering self-preservation. Keth cursed under her breath and rode Ziva toward her.

"Keep moving," Keth growled.

The noblewoman glanced at her and then nodded in the direction she had been staring. "There's something out there."

"That's why you need to keep moving," she snarled.

Molly steeled herself and turned her horse's head back toward the caravan, urging it onward at a canter to make up the lost distance.

The Beast was on her before she made it half-way.

A flurry of snarling teeth, bristling fur, and jagged spines sprang from the forest around the caravan. Dire wolves - a whole pack of them, each one bigger than the last, and the smallest the size of a horse. They lunged at the caravan from all sides, the rumbling of baritone howls intermixed with the shrieks of terrified cityfolk and a series of commands in orcish. One of them had targeted Molly's horse as a straggler; it bowled her steed over and ripped out its throat while Molly struggled to free her trapped leg from beneath the horse's overturned flank

Keth already had a hand on her longbow. She nocked an arrow and clenched her thighs against Ziva, bellowing to lend her voice to the cow's furious lowing.

"Away!" She loosed a shot at the creature, sticking its shoulder. It snarled, rounded on Keth, and lunged.

For all of Ziva's posturing, she was still a prey animal at heart, and Keth couldn't blame her for startling at the sight of a predator that was a full foot taller than her, its teeth already red with horse blood, bounding in her direction. The aurochs bellowed and reared, and Keth lost her grip, falling backward to the ground. While she heaved a breath to reclaim the wind that had been knocked out of her, Ziva came to her senses and placed herself between Keth and the dire wolf, thrashing her horns in challenge.

The dire wolf backed away, and in the moment it took Keth to scramble to her feet and nock another arrow, she watched out of the corner of her eye as it weighed its options. The flicker of its eyes toward the rest of its pack told Keth that it knew its fellows were too distracted with the rest of the caravan to help it deal with Ziva. A glance in Molly's direction said "I've already made a catch - better to cut my losses and run."

"Ziva, charge it!" Keth shouted, loosing another arrow. The Beast dodged to the side at the last second, seized Molly's shoulder in its jaws as the bolt embedded into the earth, and began dragging her away from Ziva's thrashing head into the forest.

Keth turned her gaze toward the caravan. The cityfolk were screeching and clambering into or on top of some of the merchant wagons. A few of the braver ones were attempting to lend their aid to the Rangers as they fought off five other dire wolves. One of the Beasts was already down, but it had taken two Rangers with it. The nobleman in red - Elias - had broken away from the rest, and was riding his horse away from the fight and into the forest like a gods damned fool. He caught sight of Keth and swerved toward her, pulling his horse to a stop just long enough to shout, "Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to earn your pay, Ranger?" before urging his horse at a full gallop through the underbrush after Molly.

Snarling a string of expletives, Keth whistled for Ziva to meet her halfway, mounted, and charged after Elias.

The dire wolf tore through bushes and over fallen logs, an easy trail to follow in its careless escape. Ziva barreled through the remaining foliage while Keth struggled to keep sight of both the creature and the fool who had run after it. She caught glimpses of the Beast through the trees now and again, but found it was easier to navigate to the sound of Molly's agonized screams; the noblewoman seemed to have enough wits about her to scream a clear "THIS WAY!" every now and again, pain fueling the strength of her voice, rather than wasting her breath on unintelligible wails.

Still, the dire wolf was fast, and more agile in the tangled overgrowth, and Molly's cries grew quieter and quieter. The last clear view Keth got of them was when the Beast broke from the treeline to lope across the remains of an ancient rope bridge spanning a ravine. A paw broke through one of the slats, causing it to yelp in terror, but it reached the other side without further incident and vanished into the woods. Keth pulled Ziva to a screeching halt, Elias following suit from where he had fallen in behind her.

There was a beat of silence. Before the rage and sorrow in Keth's heart could boil over in the shape of the word "fuck", a shimmering blue light erupted from the trees just beyond the bridge, a thunderous crack accompanying it. The dire wolf yowled, and a second later, Molly limped out of the underbrush. Her dress was torn, her body was battered and scrapped, her hair was tattered and filled with sticks and leaves. One hand was clutching her wounded shoulder, the other was swirling with luminescent steam. She was mere feet away from the bridge when the dire wolf - its fur stood on end and one side of its face blackened and smoking - emerged behind her and pounced, throwing her down. The back of her head hit the earth, and she went limp beneath the Beast.

"Handle the dog!" Keth's heart skipped a beat as she watched Elias streak past her and begin to cross the bridge. His horse whinnied and danced in place where he had left it behind Ziva. "Keep it off of me!"

"Handle the-? Fuck!!" she dismounted, grabbed a pair of short swords from one of Ziva's packs, and seized the aurochs by one horn. "Do NOT follow me. Understand? If you fall into the ravine, I will climb down there, cook your steaks, and eat them."

Ziva mooed at her in offense, but did not follow when Keth chased Elias across the crevasse. She nocked an arrow and called out to the Beast, so that it would know who had struck it when the missile plunged into its side. Sure enough, the dire wolf stumbled from the force of the impact, snarled at Keth, and paid no attention to Elias as he skidded on his knees the last few feet to Molly's unconscious form.

Preparing another arrow, Keth watched Elias from around the creature's hulking form as it stalked toward her. His hands lit up with a soft golden glow that Molly's body absorbed when his palm hovered above her wound, and she gasped and sat bolt upright as the magic stitched her injuries.

"You're alright," Elias said. "Just take it slow."

There was a ring on Molly's left hand that was glowing blue, and the wild look of determination on her face was not the expression of a woman who intended to 'take it slow'. She glared up at the dire wolf, traced a symbol in the air with a finger, and hissed something in a language that Keth couldn't understand. A jolt of blue energy skittered forth from the ring and struck the dire wolf, an arcing tether of lightning between them that pulsed every few seconds.

Keth hit it again with another arrow and went to nock a third. She watched as the Beast danced away from the electricity still shocking it, as it lowered its head and glanced at Molly - a terrifying specter crackling with lightning as Elias helped her to her feet - and then at Keth, on the bridge, alone. Path of least resistance, Keth realized, and had just enough time to draw a short sword before it charged her.

The ancient ropes began to crack beneath the Beast's weight, and a few of the slats plummeted down into the chasm as the dire wolf fell on Keth with its full weight, tearing into her with a snarl. She tried to gasp in pain, but it had her pinned, one massive paw pressing the air from her chest, the hand carrying her sword trapped between a claw and the wooden plank beneath it. Across the gap, Ziva bellowed in rage, but did not attempt to cross the bridge. Blackness swam at the edges of Keth's vision.

She would not be bested by this creature - not because of a couple of foolish cityfolk that didn't follow her fucking rules.

Elias was shouting something at the dire wolf, his words charged with magical energy that made the Beast flinch and turn its attention away from mauling Keth. Molly stalked toward it, hand raised, and pushed, sending another skittering jolt of electricity through the humid night air and into the wolf's body. The paw pinning Keth's sword arm moved, and she grunted, slashing up at its belly from underneath.

The dire wolf shrieked, leapt off of Keth, and backed up onto solid land, blood blossoming across its fur. Its pupils were pinpricks, and it had tucked its great tail between its legs. Its weight had taken its toll on the bridge; Keth could hear more ropes snapping every second as she pulled herself to her feet. She roared a battle cry at the Beast and sprinted toward it, planting her feet on solid ground a second before the bridge collapsed behind her. The dire wolf turned to flee into the forest, came face-to-face with Molly, thought better of that particular route, and streaked past Elias instead, dodging the slash of a thin sword he drew from his belt as it passed him.

"Yeah! Run, you overgrown, throw rug!" he shouted.

There was another pulse across the lightning tether, and the Beast collapsed into a thorn bush, its body motionless save for the crackling of electricity cascading across its fur.

The three of them stood there for a moment, only Ziva's mournful lowing and the sound of millions of night insects to break the silence. Keth breathed in gasps, her body throbbing where the Beast had mauled her, and her legs felt like gelatin. Molly looked about as bad as Keth felt, and Elias was shaking like a leaf.

"Don't suppose," Keth said between deep breaths, "you've got anymore of that healing magic, do you?"

The two cityfolk startled when Keth spoke, and tore their eyes away from the hulking corpse to look at her. Elias grit his teeth and shook his head. "I'm afraid not," he replied. "I'm sorry. I didn't have much to begin with, and I used the last of it on Miss Thunderforge." He glanced at the ring on her finger, no longer sparking or glowing. "Er, rather, Mrs. Thunderforge."

Molly laughed at him in exasperation. "Disappointed, are you?"

"Not really." He shrugged. "You already made it clear that friendship was the furthest boundary I could reach, and I've long since been satisfied with that potential-"

"Can we PLEASE," Keth snarled, "discuss the issue at hand?" They both silenced immediately and returned their attention to her. "It is pitch dark out, and in my experience, the Beasts get more nasty at nightfall. What's more, this ravine-" she jerked her head, regretting the motion as a hot spike of pain rocketed through her chest. She took a second to compose herself before continuing. "I've come across it on my travels before. It's miles long, and I didn't even know about that sorry excuse for a bridge, let alone any others. On top of that, I'd wager that neither of you can see in the dark like my kind can. We'd be hard-pressed to navigate back to the caravan tonight, even if I wasn't beat to shit."

"So what does that mean for us?" Elias asked.

Keth screwed up her face. "It means we're roughing it for the night, pretty boy," she spat. "And you're taking first watch." She spotted a somewhat sheltered tree nearby and began limping toward it. "I need to sleep some of this off before I'll be up to getting us anywhere."

She felt Molly's hands steadying her. "Easy," she murmured. "Let me help patch you up. It's the least I can do." Keth nodded and allowed Molly to guide her the rest of the way. Elias lingered at the edge of the crevasse for a moment, staring across at Ziva's dark shape, before joining them.

"Your cow going to be alright?" he asked, thumbing in Ziva's direction.

"She'll be fine," Keth said. "With any luck, she'll take care of your horse, too." Beside her, Molly tore strips of cloth from the hem of her pretty dress without hesitation and began to bind Keth's wound with a deft, delicate touch. The ring glinted in the soft moonlight that reached through the canopy, sparkling and blue like the night sky itself. "... Magic?"

Molly followed her gaze and shook her head, a faint smile tugging at her mouth. "No. Just a convenient memento."

Elias settled in nearby. He produced a small journal from somewhere beneath his coat, scribbled in it for a moment, and then stowed it away again. "Who's the lucky spouse?"

Her smile widened, but her expression looked more sad than anything else. "A gentleman and a scholar. An inventor, of sorts."

"What's his name?"

~*~*~

The half-elven man ground his teeth and looked up at Kinna.

"Oliver," he answered. "My name is Oliver Thunderforge."

---

Previous Chapter | Archive | Next Chapter