{-Seldir-}

  He could live without all the stuffy nobles and complicated rules and masked intentions. All of that just made things more difficult than it needed to be, and he was nothing if not a simple guy.

  But where there were nobles, there were their guards, and he found himself much more interested in spending time with them. If he was going to put a deeper reasoning to it, it was probably how close they were to mercenaries; aside from the couple of super-faithful ones, most of them were rather laid back and willing to sit down and pass around some drinks when they weren’t on duty. And while Seldir personally didn’t participate in the physical shows of strength or whatever other rowdy activities they might’ve come up with, he found the environment almost relaxing. Was it peaceful? No, most definitely not. But it surrounded him, and this controlled chaos seemed to be the one thing he’d been missing in the past couple of weeks.

  “Got a cousin of mine workin’ over in Kositeia,” one of the knights—an older one, and called the not-quite-chief by the others—remarked. “I didn’t have too many hopes for him, but it sounds like he’s doin’ good over there. Gotta hand it to Queen Vaeri, for a place I thought was only about books, she runs a tight ship. Barely a conflict to be had over there—they’re nipped right off at the bud!”

  “Still plenty of work, though,” Seldir said. “Never seemed to be a shortage of scholars who needed someone to escort them from one place or another, or just to carry some stuff for them. But I’m not complaining—a job’s a job, if there’s honest work in it.”

  “So you’re not one of the ol’ Queen Vaeri’s knights? Thought you had a noble in that group of yours. And that other kid—dunno what his name was, actually don’t think I was ever told—seems pretty important. King Dain seemed to think so, anyway.”

  “Yeah, I’m just a mercenary. But I’m not with them for the money—trust me, I don’t think there’d be any to get out of it. We’ve all got something to do together, it’s what we’re traveling for.”

  “Not gonna tell us what it’s about? We’ve shared some of our stories. I bet we’re all a bit curious about yours.”

  “Believe me, I would, but it’s pretty complicated. I think I’d be here all day before I could even get half of it.”

  Someone else walked over—the lieutenant, Seldir recalled the other soldiers calling her—and sat down with her drink across from him. She was, to put it lightly, most likely drunk. “What’s with all you kids lately? It feels like all of a sudden, all of you thought it was your responsibility to have the weight of the world on your shoulders. Always talking so seriously about the future or things you have to do. What happened to being… kids?”

  The not-quite-chief shrugged. “Come on, you know some things are more complicated than that. Or at least half the case is. Some kids just want to be special, but I get the impression that’s not what Seldir’s talkin’ about. I think he’s got a good reason for what he does.”

  “Yeah,” Seldir said with a nod. “Suffice to say, three of the people I’ve been traveling with started in Ilatenes, and all five of us have been through Kositeia, Astiri, and now here. We’re planning on heading to Taururii next, once we’ve finished everything we need to do here.”

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  “Maybe all the details are too complicated,” the lieutenant began, “but what about the reason, at least? It’s not every day something like this happens, and I don’t think it’s something I’ve ever heard about. If I’m left up to my imagination, I might start worrying about what you kids got yourself into!”

  Seldir considered it for a moment, then thought of the best and quickest way to say it. “We’re working towards getting rid of the monsters, as well as a group of rogues. The longer version of it is something that King Dain’s aware of, but I don’t think should really be my place to share.”

  “Eh, must be why he likes you so much.” The lieutenant took another drink. “Take care of yourselves out there, alright? Heard something already happened between your group—that was you, wasn’t it? Don’t want to see anyone get hurt.”

  “Trust me, neither do I. But I think we’re all going to be trying a bit better from now on.”

  Just then, one of the knights walked over to their table. Casually, he said, “Seldir, right? One of your friends was wondering if you’re here. You want me to let him in, or tell him you’re not here?”

  Well, this was slightly worrying, even if there was really no reason to. But if most likely Rennyn had sought him out for something, then it had to be important. So Seldir tried to shake off whatever bad feeling he might’ve had and said, “Go on and bring him here.”

  The knight nodded, then walked away. It took a minute, but he finally came back, Rennyn following behind him.

  And suffice to say, Rennyn gave about one look at everyone else, before just focusing on Seldir. “Are you busy? I want to talk to you about something.”

  “Yeah, sure. Do you need help with something, or..?”

  “I overheard something and I had an idea that I wanted to run by you. Some of these knights could probably help, too.”

  “These people with me are the lieutenant and a trusted member of the knights. If there’s anything you’re worried about, they can sort it out.”

  The lieutenant nodded. “Just say the word, kid, and we’ll solve whatever problems you’re having.”

  Rennyn shook his head. “This isn’t something you’re going to be able to figure out on your own, which is why I’m here in the first place. I heard from some knights just coming back from their shifts that monsters are appearing near areas with… rune-like things?”

  “I guess that’s a pretty accurate way to describe them,” the not-quite-chief remarked with a thoughtful hum. “But it’s not like you can do anything about them… right?”

  “As luck would have it, I do. And I want to do something about it.” Even if Rennyn seemed to hesitate for a moment, his request was confident. “I wanted Seldir to come with me to check some of them out and, hopefully, get rid of them—I can’t go on my own and I trust him to watch over the both of us. Then I figured, while I was here, I could get some knights to verify the locations of the runes and show us to them.”

  Seldir couldn’t quite say he was completely on board with the idea, but he still decided to go along with it. Kind of. “You really want to go out right now? It’s probably going to be getting dark soon, and I don’t exactly know you to be the waiting type.”

  “I already knew it would be better to wait. I figured we could go first thing tomorrow morning.”

  “Then, how does Kaylin feel about this plan?”

  “She’ll be busy tomorrow and, since I expect it to be somewhat quick, I doubt she’s going to notice.”

  “I can’t help but notice that that’s suspiciously not what I asked.”

  A pause, then, “I haven’t told her yet.” And to top it off was the lie, “I wanted to wait until you agreed. No use in worrying her over something that’s not going to happen. So, are you going to do this with me or not?”