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Title: In the Blood

Fandom: From Dusk Til Dawn

Pairing: BrasaXF!OC

Summary: Lilah began having strange dreams, then strange visions, followed by strange encounters. The deeper she goes, the more she’s pulled into a world of blood drinkers and gods.

Word Count: ~35,000

Prologue Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five Part Six Part Seven Part Eight Part Nine Part Ten Part Eleven Part Twelve

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Title: Skygazing

Fandom: The Mandalorian

Pairing: Cara DuneX F!OC

Summary: Set in the time Cara spends on Sorgan. Veda is the owner of a local bar who just happens to need a little security now and again, and Cara just happens to step in. Veda takes Cara to a local harvest festival that celebrates the transition between Fall and Winter, the giving and taking of the harvest. As they walk through the woods to give an offering to the gods, Veda gives Cara an opening to take a step forward in another way.

Word Count: ~4,200

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Title: A Need So Great]

Fandom: Narcos

Pairing: Horacio CarrilloX F!OC

Summary: Eva Moore is assigned to work the last year of her contract with the DEA in Colombia. She just wants to get to the end of her tenure, but she keeps getting drawn further into a string of murders in the city. It isn’t long before she’s forced to face the ghosts of her past.

Word Count: ~96,000

Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8.5, 9, 10, 10.5, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21

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Title: In the Bond

Fandom: From Dusk Til Dawn

Pairing: BrasaXF!OC

Summary: Lilah often wished she’d never said yes to working with the Gecko brothers—usually while dodging gunfire. At no time was she regretting that decision more than when she’s hanging upside down from the ceiling, staring down a group of hungry culebras and one (1) extremely powerful sun god.

Word Count: ~118,000

Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23

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Title: A Thing Most Desired

Fandom: Bright

Pairing: Kandomere/Bright!FemOC

Summary: Rosalind was eight years old when she knew she had a soulmate. At eighteen, she vowed never to find him. To protect her family, Rose makes the decision to tempt fate and she finds that walking away is easier said than done. Kandomere/Bright!FemOC AU

Word Count: ~121,400

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Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, Epilogue

Title: The Five Trials of Marissa Polznik

Fandom: Blade Trinity

Summary: Marissa Polznik lived what she considered a simple life. She’d been on almost every continent, had seen almost everything the world had to offer—or so she thought. Having agreed to become consort to their king, Marissa must use every ounce of skill and experience to escape this new world of vampires, blood, and death.

Word Count: ~32,000

Fear   Cunning   Strategy   Adaptation   Decisions

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Title: The Guarantor

Fandom: True Blood

Summary: Frankie went to work every day knowing that there would be an end. A deadline. Reconnecting with her adoptive father, Godric, throws that deadline into question. Teaming up with Godric’s child, Eric, obliterates it entirely. With an uncertain future ahead, Frankie has to learn if she can trust the people around her, let alone herself. Eric Northman/Bisexual!Fem!OC

Word Count: ~158,000

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1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37

Title: A Need Unleashed

Fandom: Narcos

Summary: Horacio Carrillo was a man of control…until he wasn’t. His carefully regimented life begins to change the second he scents Eva Moore, an unobtrusive omega whose secrets lead the two of them into dangerous territory. Horacio must protect her at all costs while battling a fierce need that threatens to bring him to his knees. Alpha!Carrillo focused story.

Word Count: ~43,000

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1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Title: Shadow and Veil

Fandom: Narcos

Summary: Eva Moore’s life was a carefully constructed fiction.  Every day, she did exactly what her mother in law, her husband, and his  best friend expected of her. No mistakes. And, that was going pretty  well for Eva right up until a huge complication literally tried to run  her over. Now, she’s faced with trying to keep the pieces of her life  from falling apart while attempting (and failing) to keep her feelings  for her husband’s new business partner at bay. Carillo/FemOC Character. 

Author’s note: This is an AU of my earlier story, A Need So Great.

Word Count: ~179,000

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1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47

Title: The Usurper

Summary: Lilah McNamara stole things for a living. It was tedious work and often dangerous, which made it just exciting enough to keep her interested. After botching a routine job, Lilah finds herself standing amid monsters. Wholly unprepared for the horror of living under Amaru’s reign, Lilah decides to use her well honed skills to thwart the queen’s plans and prevent the end of the world. 

A/N: This is an AU of my previous story, In the Bond and In the Blood.

Word Count: ~200,000

Read on AO3 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 

Title: The Thread of Destiny

Fandom: The Rings of Power

Summary: Odessa's job had two primary responsibilities: Keep the realm of Middle Earth in balance and don't get involved. For centuries, those two tasks have come easy to her--especially in the tranquil city of Lossarnach. When a dark stranger rides through the gates, the balance of her world turns on its axis. Both of her primary directives unravel at an alarming rate, leaving Odessa questioning her very purpose. 

Word Count: TBA

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1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 

Title: Under Duress

Fandom: Ready or Not, Ready or Not 2: Here I Come

Summary: Refusing a deal with Satan had its price. Kit Miller thought she paid it many years ago. Divorced, in debt, and facing a lifetime of bad decisions, Kit readily accepts Ursula Danforth's offer of employment--just until she can figure out how to get free of the mess she made. Returning to the Danforth estate brings back more than memories when Kit comes face to face with an old crush that sparks with a fresh burn.

Word Count TBA

Titus Danforth/Medical Doctor Fem OC! 

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“He might.”

“No, he won’t. I’m not supposed to be touched, remember?”

It was an order Odessa tested every time she left the tent, according to Yush. He was forever reminding her that she was an outsider and that no one was going to trust that she was poking around out of sheer curiosity. What he couldn’t seem to grasp despite Odessa explaining it several times was that this was not the first time she was regarded with suspicion upon first arrival in a new place. The stares, the blatant avoidance, and the vague answers to her questions posed no discomfort to her. She would simply make another attempt the next day.

Odessa walked determinedly past the practice grounds to where she assumed Glûg was going to gather the people he needed. The Uruk were making another excursion to the river and she wanted to talk with Glûg about his plans. If he was going to attempt what she thought he might attempt, Odessa had some thoughts to share.

“You aren’t supposed to be touched,” Yush said. “He can stab me instead.”

Odessa stopped walking and turned to face him. “Well, I’ll just have to stand in front of you, won’t I?”

Yush made several unintelligible noises and his eyes fell to the ground where they remained. Odessa let him stutter through a few words before she patted his shoulder and went back to walking.

As she suspected, Glûg gathered a few Uruk at the camp’s edge. His tall frame stood out among his peers even with the habitual stoop in his shoulders. He was talking and gesturing animatedly to the others, who were nodding along. She caught his eye as she neared. The expressive conversation slowed to a stop and he turned his nose up at her.

She hid her smile and took the challenge. “I hear you’re going to the river.”

Glûg sniffed. “What of it?”

“Can I go with you?”

He eyed her with a narrow gaze. “Why?”

Odessa bounced on her feet. “You’re going to divert it.”

Glûg started to deny it before his expression abruptly became suspicious. “Where did you hear that?”

“None of your people are sharing secrets,” she assured. “It just makes sense that you would want to route the river to the camp.”

“Why does that makes sense?”

“Because there are at least fifty Uruk carrying pails of water every day to and from the camp. Its a lot of labor that you really can’t afford to expend.”

“Humph.” Glûg’s nose wrinkled. “Why do you care?”

The question threw her off. “What?’

“Why...do you care?” he pronounced evenly.

Odessa took her time with her response. “You’re going to use a dam, right?” When he nodded, she continued, “It won’t hold. The river is too wide and the slope is too steep. You’ll get water overage and it’ll fall apart.”

Glûg’s jaw worked. “Again, why do you care?”

She rolled her eyes. “Call it boredom.”

To her surprise, he accepted her answer readily. “What do you suggest?”

“An aqueduct.”

His mouth turned down. “What is that?’

Odessa turned to Yush, who held out her folio. She thanked him and flipped through several new charcoal drawings to find the one she wanted. “This is an aqueduct.”

Glûg took the paper from her and looked at it. “Slag.”

“Pardon?”

“Like moving slag.”

Odessa had no idea what he was talking about. “Va bene. Can you do it?”

He gave her a mildly offended look. “Yes. We can do it.”

Glûg started to walk away. When she went to follow, he held up a hand. “No.”

“But,” Odessa protested, “I can help.”

“You can also get in my way. You stay here.”

Odessa let out an offended, ‘ugh’, while she watched him stride to the group of Uruk who were pretending not to watch their interaction closely. She ignored their covert looks. “Let’s find something else to do.”

Yush agreed readily. “There’s a game of Ckshos we can join.”

Ckshos was a favorite gambling game among the Uruk. The rules were fairly simple and it could be played with nothing but a stick to draw the board into the dirt and a pair of dice. Many Uruk made their own dice from the bones of animals, taking a lot of time to carefully carve in the numbers. Anything and everything could be put onto the board as a bet. Weapons, linen, and food were all acceptable. Betting was more than a pass time for the Uruk. It was a matter of honor. Anyone who tried to go back on a bet would never be allowed to play again.

As much as Odessa wanted to observe ckshos up close, she had other ideas. “Another time, Yush.”

“Where are we going?”

“Out of the camp.”

Yush visibly noted that they were walking in the opposite direction of the river. “Are we going to sneak up on Glûg again?”

“No. Not today.” Odessa gestured to the volcano that glowed ahead. “I need to get a little closer to it.”

She knew that she’d agreed to ask Adar when she wanted to leave the camp, but he was always in his tent taking endless meetings. Odessa was far ti impatient to wait in line to speak with him.

“Why would you want to do that?” There was an unmistakable fear in Yush’s voice. An understandable fear.

“I just...want to get a closer look.”

Odessa ignored Yush’s curious look and kept walking. They were already standing on the camp’s edge and quickly left the bustle behind. There weren’t birds chirping or insects buzzing around her. Just the wind and the sound of her feet moving over barren, ash covered ground. After more than a week of constant noise, the lack of it felt odd. Odessa kept walking in that odd feeling for about two hours until she stood as close as she dared to the huge mass of rock and lava.

The violence inside the mount was a physical thing. A force that pushed everything around it outwards. There was pressure all over her body that made her was to cringe backwards. Belatedly, Odessa recognized how hard she was breathing and how every beat of her heart thumped against her ribs. Overcoming the instinct to run screaming for shelter was an act of sheer willpower.

“We shouldn’t be here,” Yush murmured in a voice so small she could barely hear it above the rumble ahead.

“No,” Odessa said, “but, here we are.”

“Why are we here?”

She kept her eyes forward. “You should go.”

Yush hesitated. “...Odessa?”

“You should go,” she repeated. “This isn’t a place for you.”

Another hesitation. “I have a debt to pay. If this is a place for you, its a place for me.”

Odessa would have grinned at his steadfast answer if she were any less afraid. This close to the volcano, one wrong move could kill them both. She blinked away the dark thoughts. Stop delaying. Do what you came to do.

She sat down in the ash and got comfortable. Bit by bit, muscle by muscle, Odessa made her body relax. She closed her eyes and focused on slowing her shuddering breaths and her heart. When she felt somewhat centered, Odessa put both hands to the ground on either side of her and let the mantle seep out.

It burned. She knew it would burn, but it burned so hot that she flinched. The sheer power boiling just below overwhelmed her senses. Odessa’s fingers dug into the earth while she wheeled through the rush and roil. She set aside the reflex to release her hold in the same way she would a hot stone.

Between the searing burn, Odessa found the threads. They were loose and ragged, but she got them in a grip that stopped the whirlwind of fire. Odessa held still, simply existing in the flame that whipped at her mind. When she felt steady, she curled her hands into fists around the threads and brought them together.

The Fates once taught her about how they weaved the tapestry of existence. Every person’s life wrapped together with every other person’s life. If Odessa got very close to the loom, she could see the individual stitches that formed the thoughts, choices, and consequences within a single lifetime. She could also draw back to the other side of the cavern and see the whole of the universe on display. It was perhaps the most humbling experience she ever had.

She recalled those lessons now as she took up the threads. Stitch, pull. Stitch, pull. There was so little to work with that what she was doing could hardly be called mending. Odessa had to create a whole new section of threads and patch it together. She reinforced the patch as best she could and moved on. Over and over, Odessa applied the patches. Stitch, pull. Stitch, pull.

Hours passed. Daylight waned into night. Odessa’s body began to ache. Her stitches became less precise and, eventually, she had to loose her hold. She folded the mantle back into her body and opened her eyes. From the outside, the mount was the same. It still bubbled with lava. Still spewed chunks of rock into the sky. Still rumbled with barely contained power.

Odessa stood slowly and shook off the ash. She was unsteady on her feet and had to stand still until the world righted itself. When she could see straight, Odessa took a deep, cleansing breath. There was a lot more to do, but that would have to wait until she’d had some rest.

Yush was laying not too far away. In the days since she came to the camp, she realized how young he had to be. Uruk never really stopped growing. The oldest were tall and broad as the plain they made their home. If Yush ever got into a fight with one of them, he would be crushed. She stared at his sleeping body a moment, then reached out a leg to tap him on the side.

“Wake up,” she prompted. “Time to go.”

He sat up and rubbed the ash from his eyes. “How long have I been asleep?”

“I don’t know. We should head back.”

The camp felt very far away with its fires flickering small in the darkness. The unsettling feeling of being near the volcano was eating away at her and Odessa was itching to get away from it. She rolled her shoulders and made her tired limbs carry her forward.

Yush patted and swiped at his body, knocking the ash loose. He blew out a hard breath and made to follow her. “What were you doing?”

“Meditating.”

“What is that?”

“Thinking.”

He looked at her askance. “Thinking? You went all the way out here to think?”

Odessa shrugged. “Its too noisy in the camp.”

“So, you traded noise for danger?”

She could not help the laugh that bubbled out of her. “That’s one way to look at it.”

Yush scoffed. “Its an accurate way to look at it.”

“As you say.” Odessa went to rub the sweat from her brow and stopped. Her hands were covered in ash. Her whole body was covered in it. “Yush.”

“Yes?”

“Is there any way I can get a bath?”

He perked up. “I can get you water. Bring it to the tent.”

“I would appreciate that. Thank you.”

She was too tired to say much else in the hours it took to get back. Yush broke away as they cleared the perimeter, eager to get to his task. Odessa contemplated the length of the walk back to her tent if she decided to go around instead of through. The very thought of it made her want to sit down where she stood.

The Uruk cut down more trees. They lay in a long line beside an equally long line of tents. Odessa went by them, spotting Kince among the Uruk. He was using a large saw to cut the tree lengthwise. She went by him unnoticed and continued into the maze of tents.

Yush was already there when Odessa got to the village. She smiled at the way he spoke urgently into the tent, waving another Uruk out when he caught sight of her.

“Out! Out!”

The Uruk was smaller than Yush, but not by much. She was also female. “I’m going. I’m going. Oh!”

Odessa stopped a respectful distance away and waved at her. “Hello!”

The Uruk looked quickly between Yush and Odessa. “We brought water.”

“Like you asked,” Yush added. As if to illustrate his point, he opened the tent flap.

Odessa peered inside. She found a pail of water sitting near the opening and, beyond that, a stand with a metal bowl. A sliver of soap sat neatly beside the bowl atop a clean cloth.

“We stole that from the house.”

“Weopin” Yush hissed.

“Oh, right,” Weopin said. Then, to Odessa, “Its a secret.”

“Secrets are things you don’t tell,” Yush asserted.

Weopin ignored him. “Are you here to spy on us?”

“What?” Odessa blurted. “No.”

“Good.” Weopin accepted Odessa’s answer and turned to Yush. “I’m going to tell mother. She’ll want to know.”

Without waiting for any kind of response, Weopin tore off at a full sprint away from the village and into the camp.

“Your...sister?” Odessa guessed.

Yush nodded. “I needed help getting the water bowl.”

“Thank you for that,” Odessa acknowledged with a dip of her head.

He ran his forearm under his nose and sniffed. “I was supposed to be back before sundown. Mother was needed,” he waved a hand, “somewhere. They always need her.”

Odessa hummed, eyeing him. “You have a hole in your shirt. Just over there.”

Yush looked where she directed, finding the tear in his shoulder seam.

“Give it to me.”

“What?”

“Give me the shirt. I’ll mend it and give it back tomorrow.”

Yush reluctantly pulled the thin shirt from his back and handed it to her. “I can get it fixed.”

“Nonsense,” she said, shaking the remnants of ash from the fabric. “I’ll take care of it.”

Yush shifted his weight. “I need to…”

“Go. Go.” She waved him away and took a deliberate turn into the tent where she let the flap close behind her.

It was dark inside. Too dark for her to see anything but the faint outline of the cot and stand. Odessa reached for the bag around her neck and pulled it free. She untied the strings and slipped her hand into its depths until she found wax and metal. Odessa pulled out the candle with its holder. She put it on the stand and tugged the strings tight before putting the bag back around her neck.

Odessa picked up the candle and left the tent to find the nearest fire, which turned out to be a torch burning near the large tent at the end of the lane. She lit the candle and tried not to look at the tent opening too long. Adar wasn’t inside. From what she could tell, he only returned to the tent to eat or to rest—and, both of those things were done so rarely that she wondered if he was like her. If the need was more a formality than a necessity.

She turned away and carefully carried the candle back to her own tent. Once she was sure the flap was secure, she reached up and unwound the wrap on her head. She put it aside and, piece by piece, took off her clothes. Taking up the soap, she cleaned the ash and dirt from her skin. Naked, Odessa sat on the bed and wiped the bottoms of her feet. When they were clean, she put the cloth aside.

She almost laughed. “A job offer?”

“Yes.” The woman crossed her legs. “Full benefits with room and board. I’ll increase your salary twenty percent, and I’ll throw in a per diem for expenses.”

“Well,” Kit drawled, “I am…bewildered.”

“Don’t be,” the woman retorted. “You come highly recommended.”

“By who?”

“My lawyer.”

Kit let sharp, confused sound. “Listen, Miss…”

“Danforth. Ursula Danforth.”

Oh, my God. Kit’s mouth snapped shut and her eyes darted for the door on the other side of the room.

“You’ve heard of us. Good. Saves me the trouble of trying to prove to you how good the offer is.” Ursula’s mouth tipped up in a semblance of a smile. “It is a good offer.”

Kit worked to remain seated. This was dangerous ground and she had to be careful. “I have no doubt that your offer is good. But, I signed a non-compete when I came to work for the hospital.”

“Won’t be a problem,” Ursula countered. “We own this hospital.”

“I—yes, of course.” Kit inhaled and started again with another tactic. “What could you possibly need with a surgeon?”

“I don’t need a surgeon.”

“I’m confused.”

“I need an assistant.”

Kit blinked. “You expect me to give up my career to be...an assistant?”

She didn’t bother to hide the derision in her words. Assistants were useful—essential—for the running of any business. She respected the amount of administrative work that often fell on their shoulders, but Kit hadn’t gone to medical school, endured late nights, unending shifts, and more stress than she cared to admit to become an assistant.

Ursula leaned forward. Her eyes gleamed under the florescent lighting. “Not an assistant. My assistant. You want to work in the third best hospital in Rhode Island for the rest of your life? Spend the best years of your career waiting for Dr. Pickford to retire?” Her head tilted to the side. “Or, do you want to move up in the world? I can put you in all the right places. Introduce you to all the right people. Give you opportunities you could only dream of.”

There was a rhythm to her words. Power, too. It oozed from her pores, wafting through the air between them. The faint hum washed over Kit in a slow, honeyed wave. She tensed in preparation to resist.

Kit inhaled. “I’m a surgeon, Ms. Danforth.”

Ursula waved her hand. “Keep your license, if you want.”

“I have to practice to keep it.”

“I’ll allow you time off for that.”

Kit stared uneasily at Ursula. “That’s generous.”

Again, Ursula waved her hand. “Its nothing.”

Her head shook from side to side. “Ms. Danforth, I am flattered by the offer, but it sounds far too good to be true.”

Ursula’s mouth quirked. “It is too good to be true.” She ran her hand over her hair, smoothing the strands. “I’ve run through six assistants in fifteen years. I need someone who can handle intense pressure and long hours. Something I’m sure you’re familiar with in your current occupation.”

Kit dipped her head and kept her mouth shut.

“So? What will it be?”

A loud vibration cut through Kit’s indecision. She held up her hand apologetically and pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. The screen lit up and Kit tapped the message, thinking that there was a complication with her last procedure. What she found was a text message from an unknown number. Kit opened it.

Payment is due.

The skin along her hairline tightened and her spine straightened. A cold fear slipped into her veins and rode along with the quick pulse of her heart to touch every point on her body.

“Something wrong?”

Kit pushed the phone back into her pocket and tried to smile. “Just a patient. I need to do some follow up.”

Ursula’s head turned to the side and her eyes scanned Kit’s face. “Fifty percent.”

“What?”

“I’ll increase your salary fifty percent.” She leaned forward. “Take the offer.”

Kit weighed several things all at once—things she hadn’t thought about in over two decades. She looked down at the phone in her hand. At the message she should have never received, with all its implied threat. She considered the mess she’d made of her life. The decisions she made. The decisions she didn’t make. Kit was not cowed easily. If she were, she would not be sitting in this tiny conference room with a blade at her neck.

“Ms. Danforth,” Kit enunciated carefully, “this is quite the offer.” Her hand curled around her phone. “If you put it in writing for my review, I think it will be acceptable.”

Ursula grinned wide. “Excellent. I knew you’d see things my way. I’ll have something drawn up for you by end of day. I expect you’ll want some time to move house.”

“Right,” Kit said. “The position is live-in.”

“It is,” Ursula replied. “I’m afraid that’s non-negotiable.”

Of course not.

“I’ll need thirty days to tie up loose ends here at the hospital and break my lease.”

“Two weeks,” came the counter. “I’ll handle your resignation. If necessary, I’ll handle your landlord.”

Kit’s mouth opened with an objection that died on her tongue. “Two weeks, then.”

Ursula’s grin held. She stood and offered Kit her hand. “Welcome aboard.”

Kit slipped her fingers into Ursula’s. “Thank you, Ms. Danforth.”

“Call me Ursula.”

“Ursula.”

Kit walked her new boss to the lobby where she endured the pleasantries of an extended goodbye. She watched Ursula’s blonde head bob out of the building and into a sleek black car sitting in the No Parking Zone. The rest of her shift was a blur of muscle memory and back to back cases. Kit left the hospital with a chorus of ‘what have I done’ swirling round and round in her head.

She went back to her apartment, head still singing its refrain, and dropped onto the couch. To her left, the sun was rising and the world was waking up. She could hear the heavy step of her upstairs neighbor getting ready for work. He was a lawyer and she often passed him in the hall coming in from work as she was going out. Faint voices filtered in from the hall. Two kids shushed by the mother as they headed for the elevator.

Kit looked down at her hands. She’d performed countless procedures with these hands. Saved lives. Corrected life long issues. Put people back together from the inside out. She’d lost a few along the way, but not many. Kit always told herself that she was doing Good—capital ‘G’, Good—with her life. Look at me, now.

Her cell phone buzzed. Kit pushed her palm into her eye socket and checked the screen. She debated not answering the call before swiping her thumb over the green button.

“Hello?”

“Oh, good, you’re still awake.”

“What do you want, Richard?” Kit’s ex-husband was the last person she wanted to talk to.

“Did you...get a call?”

Kit’s eyes closed. “Not a call. A text.”

He groaned in misery. “I’m going to get this worked out. Don’t worry. I’ll have a talk with them and they won’t bother you anymore.”

“Sure, Richard.”

“I’m really sorry, Kit. I never thought this would happen.”

I never thought this would happen. He’d said that same thing the night he told her he wanted a divorce. I never thought this would happen.

“And yet,” she drawled, “it happened.”

“I’ll talk with them. I promise.”

Kit stood up and pulled the tie from her hair. She pressed her fingers into her scalp to soothe the ache. “Just take care of it, okay?”

“I will. Consider it taken care of.”

The conversation lapsed into a long silence while Kit pushed the elastic waist of her pants down and toed out of her shoes. She needed a shower and to sleep. Things would look brighter after she’d slept.

“Are you...doing okay?” Richard asked.

Kit pulled the phone from her ear and tugged off her shirt. She pressed the cell against her cheek and said, “I’m fine.”

“Still working at the hospital?’

“Yeah.”

“Night shift.”

“Yeah.”

“Did you end out getting that apartment?”

“Yeah.”

Richard made a low, angry sound. “Come on, Kit. Don’t be like that.”

“Don’t be like what, Richard?” Kit sneered. “Curt? Short? Sarcastic?”

“Bitchy.”

“Jesus, Richard.”

“Do you have to say my name like that?”

“Like what?’

“Like I kicked your dog, or something.”

She walked into the bathroom and leaned a palm against the counter. “We’re divorced. This is how divorced people talk.”

“I know that things didn’t turn out so good with us, but we can at least be civil with one another.”

The sheer gall of this man.

“Richard, you cheated on me, divorced me, and saddled me with a pile of credit card debt. How could I possibly be civil with you?”

“I said I’ll fix it,” he asserted. A feminine voice drifted across the line, muffled by distance. “I gotta go.”

“Sure. Yeah. Okay.”

Kit ended the call and tossed the phone on the bathroom counter. She avoided her reflection in the mirror and went to the shower to turn on the water. It never quite got hot enough for her liking, but it still felt nice to step under the spray. She washed the day off her body and stood for a moment in the dim light of the early morning.

What had she done? The Danforths had an ungodly amount of money and influence that went back generations. They existed in a world entirely separate from everyone else. A world that they protected ferociously.

Kit spun the knob to cut the water off. She knew what she was doing, even if she was doing it out of sheer gut instinct. Working for Ursula Danforth might be putting her in a place she’d rather not be, but it was better than standing exposed while her husband’s debt collectors circled.

She toweled the water off her skin and flung herself, naked, onto her little bed. Things would look better when she had some sleep. Kit closed her eyes and drifted. When she opened them again, it was late afternoon and a headache threatened to bloom behind her eyes.

Kit sat up and pushed her hair from her face. It dried in messy tangles that snagged against her nails. She huffed and scooted off the mattress, heading for the bathroom. Brush in hand, Kit worked through the blonde strands from the bottom up.

When she was born, her hair was stark white. As she got older, the white turned a soft gold. Now, there were grays peeking out from her temples to the left of her widow’s peak. During the divorce, Kit considered dyeing it blue or green. Something garish and ugly to match the way she felt about what Richard did. Hospital policy stopped her from taking that step. No one wanted a surgeon with neon hair.

She put the brush down and picked up her phone from where it still sat on the counter. As promised, her orientation packet and the job offer were in her inbox. Kit opened the email and reviewed the details. It was as Ursula promised, down to the stipend. Kit made a note to sign off on it before she went to work that evening. She’d also have to draft her resignation letter and make an appointment to speak with her landlord.

Kit dressed, drank her coffee, and put some food in her stomach. She tied up her hair and watered the pitiful little plant at her window sill. It was an impulse purchase the previous week at the grocery. She felt sorry for it sitting alone on the shelf. The thing was only about two inches tall and its leaves were wilting on the at the edges.

“Gotta work, buddy,” she said, giving the pot a little tap. “See you after my shift.”

On her way out, Kit’s cell phone buzzed. She hesitated the answer the unfamiliar number before tapping the accept icon. “Hello?”

“Dr. Miller, its Ursula.”

Kit’s shoulders dropped in relief. “Yes, Ms. Danforth. What can I do for you?”

“I’m preparing your room at the estate. Do you have any allergies? The pillows here are usually goose down and we’ve had a few incidents.”

The way Ursula said the word, ‘incidents’, was heavy with implication. Kit imagined staff waking up one morning with swollen faces and tongues.

“No. No allergies of that kind.”

“Good. You’ll be receiving a call tomorrow afternoon from the movers. Please don’t bring any furniture with you. Just your clothes and other essentials. Sentimental items, too, of course.”

Kit unlocked her car and eased into the driver’s seat. “Yes, ma’am. I can do that.”

There was a long pause. “Good, good. Well, I’ll see you in two weeks.”

“Of course, ma’am. See you then.”

The call ended and Kit let her head fall back against the headrest. “I sound like my mother,” she groused.

Kit’s conversation with her boss went much better than she expected. Dr. Pickford had, apparently, already had a conversation with Ursula about her new job. His smile didn’t quite reach his eyes when he shook her hand and wished her luck. Kit said all the right things to assure him that she would work hard during her last two weeks, but he waved her off. The Danforths already found her replacement. Kit wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

The conversation with her landlord was equally as smooth. Ursula arranged to pay for breaking her lease and fund upgrades to her unit as long as Kit could move out before her start date. It was a deal that her landlord was happy to take.

Kit packed. She worked. She slept. She avoided unknown numbers in her phone. There were no set backs. No odd problems to work out. Everything was...smooth. So smooth that she barely realized that her life was taking a huge left turn until she was standing with her potted plant in one hand at the threshold of the Danforth’s massive home in the country.

The stone entryway stood at least three times as she was tall. Kit pressed her hand to the heavy door of weathered wood. She traced a path down to the handle before catching herself. After taking a single, deliberate step back, Kit rang the doorbell.

An old man in the family’s standard uniform opened the door. “Yes?”

“I’m Kit Miller. I’m—.”

“Ah, yes,” the butler interrupted. “Ms. Danforth’s new assistant. Come in.”

Kit leaned down and picked up her overnight bag. Everything else was sent ahead with the movers. “Thank you.”

“I’m Wesley. The butler.”

She stared at him, taking in the deep lines on his face that implied a life spent laughing. He turned before she could respond, leading her through the foyer and down the hall. Kit hurried along behind, her eyes glancing at the wooden paneling and light fixtures that were original to the house. Their light cast an orange glow on every surface. She inhaled, tasting something that might be fig on her tongue.

“Ms. Danforth was expecting you earlier.”

Kit did not miss the note of censure in his tone. “There was traffic. An accident on the highway.”

“Ah.”

He led her to the East Wing, up a set of stairs, and down another long hall to a set of double doors. His knuckles rapped twice on the frame in quick succession.

“Come in!”

Inside was what Kit thought was probably Ursula’s home office. Unlike the rest of the house, there was no wood paneling and the room glowed with sunlight that streamed through the large uncovered windows. The carpet was replaced with marble flooring that shone with a fresh coat of wax. Two large leather sofas faced one another in the center of the room. Between them sat a modern glass coffee table. Beyond, Ursula sat at a desk that matched the floor. Her fingers tapped out a message and she clicked her mouse decisively.

“Kit,” she said, rising. “You’re late.”

“There was an accident on the highway, ma’am,” Wesley answered for her.

“Ugh, there’s always an accident on the highway.” She circled the desk. “Thank you, Wesley.”

Wesley gave a deferential bow and left the room closing the doors behind him. Kit watched him go with faint bemusement.

“Please sit.” Ursula gestured to the couch.

Kit put the plant on the coffee table and sat. The leather was unforgiving beneath her weight. “Did my things arrive?”

“They did. I’ve had them sent to your room.” Ursula sat next to Kit at a respectable distance. She held a tablet and key card in her hand. “You’ll need this. I’ve already uploaded my schedule and the house schedule. You’ll find briefings on our major clients, the board members, and our donors in your inbox. I need you to read through everything before tomorrow morning. Will that be a problem?”

Kit took the tablet from her and pressed it into her lap. “No. That’s not a problem.”

Ursula watched her face closely for several heartbeats. “Good. I’m sure you’ll want to take some time to unpack and I’ve arranged for a tray to be sent to your room in,” she looked at her watch, “two hours. Is that acceptable?”

“Yes, that is acceptable.”

“Fine. That just leaves one thing.”

“Oh?”

Ursula folded her hands together and regarded her with an open, honest look. “You’re free to come and go as you please, outside of work hours. I don’t much care what you do to fill your free time as long as its legal and there are no messes to clean up.” She took a breath and shifted her weight. “There is only one unbreakable rule.”

Intrigued, Kit asked, “What is that?”

“Don’t fuck my brother.”

Kit nearly choked on her spit. “What?”

Ursula sniffed and leaned into the back of the couch. “I am in no way doubting your professionalism. You wouldn’t have be so highly recommended if you were going to be a problem.”

“Thank you?” Kit’s voice tipped up in confusion.

Her new boss let out a brooding huff. “Its just that one or two of my previous assistants showed a lack of judgment when it comes to Titus. He can be very charming when he’s not annoying the shit out of me.”

Kit shook her head and searched for something to say. “I...have no intention of going anywhere near your brother.”

Ursula pointed a finger at her. “Good. Keep that intention.”

“Is that...all?” Kit’s grip tightened on the tablet.

“Yeah.” Hazel eyes took Kit in. They softened. “I hope you’re not offended. Its just...complicated with him.”

“I’m sure it is,” Kit allowed.

Ursula’s expression closed off. “Good. That’s all for today. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Kit left Ursula’s office to find Wesley waiting for her. He led her through the East Wing to the foyer where he took a left. Kit followed with vague surprise through the even darker halls that made up the center most part of the mansion. He stopped in front of the first door on the right, opening it for her.

“Your room, ma’am.”

Her surprise held as she walked inside. The room was as large as her apartment. To the left was a sofa that faced a small entertainment center atop which sat a rather expensive TV. To her right was a huge bed with called to her with a siren’s song. Down bedding. Massive pillows. A mattress that looked incredibly soft. Kit peered around the corner, noting the en suite bathroom.

“Ms. Danforth’s rooms are two doors down,” Wesley offered.

Kit turned. “So close?”

“She likes to keep her assistants nearby in case of emergency.”

“Oh.”

Wesley moved back to the door. “Welcome to our staff, Ms. Miller.”

“Its doctor.”

Without missing a beat, Wesley corrected himself. “Doctor Miller.” He reached for the door. “Ms. Danforth likes to begin her day at nine sharp.”

Kit took the advice with grace. “Thank you, Wesley.”

“Of course, ma’am.”

He left her standing alone in the large, ornate room. Kit ran her hand over the stone walls and the heavy curtains that covered windows that looked out over a courtyard. She put the plant on the sill and turned it so that the leaves could catch the light. As Ursula said, her boxes were stacked neatly next to an antique wardrobe that smelled strongly of cedar. She walked over to the bed and sat gingerly on its edge.

The fast pace of life in the camp was so different from Losasrnach that Odessa constantly felt like she was a step behind. The work she had to do to catch up to what everyone else seemed to already know was as exhilarating as it was bewildering.

She turned from the camp to look at the destroyed village. For days, Uruk went in and out of the buildings, carrying away wagons of usable materials and sweeping away the ash. The places that could not be saved were systematically demolished. Buildings that were deemed safe were in the process of being repaired. The stonework was solid and had probably stood tall for decades. It was a shame that the outside would forever carry scorch marks.

Odessa stopped in front of a building with an odd outcrop on the front. At first, she thought it might be a window, but the bottom ledge didn’t match with the other holes in the side that were the standard shape. The ledge was waist high and its top was long enough that she couldn’t reach the other side when she stretched her fingers across. Curious, Odessa stepped through the ragged entryway.

The room was large and encompassed most of the building from front to back. It content were sparse, having been scavenged by the Uruk. She tipped her head back and looked up. The ceiling was high and there were pieces missing in the roof. She noted the rafters were still in good shape. This would be one of the buildings saved for repair.

Odessa inhaled. Something sweet permeated the air. It wafted from the stone walls and the wooden floors. Molasses, maybe? Or some kind of sap?

At the back of the room was another strip of carved stone. An island of rock in the otherwise empty space. Odessa took a step towards it.

“Its dangerous to be in these buildings by yourself.”

She gasped and spun to find Adar standing in the doorway. He regarded her with the same casual interest that carried over from the timbre of his words. If it weren’t for the barest hint of a smile on his mouth, Odessa might have thought him bored. For some reason, that irritated her.

She turned from him and snapped. “I see you still feel like an expert on what is and is not dangerous.”

Adar stepped into the room. “You must admit, I do have some experience in the matter.”

“I must do nothing,” she volleyed back. Odessa walked to the island and passed a hand over its surface. The top was as smooth as glass, though where were nicks here and there. It was a wonder that it survived the fire. Behind it was a set of what used to be shelves. They were so burned and broken that they would never hold anything again.

“Glûg says that you followed him out of the camp.”

Odessa hid her wince. “I did.”

“Why?”

“I was curious.”

“What about?”

“Just...curious.”

Adar approached the island. “You could ask me. If you did, there would be no need to go out into the woods at night.”

“Would you have answered my question?”

“Yes.”

She laughed humorlessly.

Adar placed his hands on the island. “You doubt me?”

“I do,” she said. “You have a habit of avoiding my questions.”

He tossed his head. “Please, Odessa. We both know I am not the only one who picks what to share, and when.”

“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“What was the beast you killed in the woods?” He asked pointedly.

Odessa gave him an arch look. “I killed no beast.”

“You felled something.”

She dropped to a knee and began to knock on the wooden slatted floor.

Above, Adar sighed audibly. “What are you doing?’

Odessa crawled forward on her hands and knees, methodically going over each little bit of space. “This was a tavern. Every barkeep hides the good stuff.” Her knuckles rapped until the sound turned hollow. “Aha!”

Her fingertips curled into a nearly invisible divot in the floorboard. She applied a little pressure and was easily able to life the board free. As she suspected, there was a bottle hidden away. She stood and wiggled it at Adar. “Told you.”

Adar’s expression softened into amusement. “Glûg will be annoyed he missed that.”

She held it against her chest and turned, as if protecting the bottle from theft. “Its mine. I found it.”

“You did,” he replied, bemused. He sobered half a heartbeat later. “Are there more of them?”

“More bottles?” Odessa peered downwards. “No.”

“You know that is not what I meant.” Adar’s voice edged towards stern.

She put the bottle on the island and met his eyes with a level stare. “I don’t know.”

“Are my children safe?”

She scoffed.

He leaned forward. “Odessa, are my children safe?”

The intensity of his tone stopped the lie on her tongue. He was deeply concerned for the people he had under his protection and Odessa could not fault him for it.

She, too, leaned forward. “I think you can be reasonably sure that they are.”

Adar’s chin lifted. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

They lapsed into silence. Odessa leaned a little more weight onto the island while she held Adar’s stare. Even now—even knowing he’d lied to her—Odessa wanted to tell him. She wanted to tell him about her mantle and all the responsibilities that came with it. She wanted to tell him about Italy and how she came to live by the sea. She wanted to tell him how she died. The urge was as frustrating as it was inexplicable.

Adar blinked slowly. He was, apparently, content to let the silence continue to hang between them. His eyes drifted over her features—the curve of her brow, the jut of her chin—before dropping to her mouth and holding for a long moment.

She remembered his kiss. Remembered the heat of it and that sound of his groan rumbling through his chest. She remembered how he held her firmly against his body and confident sweep of his touch. It pained her that she might never feel it again.

“How do you find the camp?” he asked. “It must be very different than Lossarnach.”

“It is,” Odessa said, glad for the distraction. “I’m not bothered by rough living.”

Adar’s head tipped to the side while he assessed her. “I can see that. How long were you traveling before my children found you?”

“Captured me, you mean?”

He shrugged.

“A week or so,” she answered.

“And,” he continued, “you traveled with nothing.”

Odessa’s mouth spread into a smile. “No, I didn’t.”

“They said you had no camp. No pack.” Adar’s expression shifted subtly. “Were you robbed?”

She shook her head. “No. I travel light. Always have.”

“How did you survive?” The question came out quickly and incredulously.

I’m an immortal with preternatural strength and stamina resulting from a mantle that was bestowed upon me by a god.

“Just lucky, I guess.”

He didn’t believe her, but he let the subject drop. “Do you plan to ‘travel light’ again soon?”

Odessa let a few heartbeats pass before she answered, “I hadn’t thought about it.”

This was true. Odessa knew that she would stay until she could figure out a plan to repair the threads. What happened after that was unknown to her. She would worry about it when the time came.

“I hope you will stay,” Adar enunciated with meaning, “for a time.”

He was looking at her so honestly that she had to drop her eyes to the stone under her hands for fear that he would see how glad she was to hear it.

“Then, I will stay. For a time.”

Adar took a long, even breath and the tension in his shoulders loosened. Odessa pretended she didn’t notice.

“The next time you decide to go out into the forest, please come to me first. Yush is eager, but not well trained.”

Odessa hummed. “I agree. He is sweet. And, he brings me breakfast.” She leaned her forearms on the island. “I can take care of myself.”

“I have no doubt,” Adar replied easily. “But, my children do not know you. I would hate for them to mistake you for an enemy. A tent is much more preferable than a cell. Or, a sword.”

She looked away. It chafed that she might have to ask permission to leave the camp. Odessa begrudgingly admitted that his point was sound and she allowed herself to nod. Adar didn’t bother to hide how pleased he was that she agreed.

“Were they going to kill me?”

“If Yush had not admitted that you saved his life, they would have.”

She frowned. “That is harsh.”

Adar’s mouth pursed. “That is the way of things.”

“Why kill me? I wasn’t anywhere near the camp.”

“Because you are not Uruk,” he said.

“And that makes me dangerous.”

“Yes.”

Odessa blew out a disbelieving breath through her nostrils. “As I said. Harsh.”

“It is all they know,” Adar said by way of explanation.

She glanced through a nearby hole that used to be a window. The daylight was as bright as it would ever be. Flakes of ash fell to the ground from above. The Uruk were, perhaps, the only people who would willingly choose to live beneath the ever present threat of an active volcano.

“What will they know now?”

His brows drew together in question.

“You wiped out an entire village. Several of them, probably. Someone is going to want vengeance.”

“We will defend our land.”

His words were final. Absolute. If someone attacked the camp, Adar and his people would fight to keep it. To the death, if necessary.

“For how long?” Odessa asked.

“Until they stop attacking.”

“What if they don’t? What if you fight and fight and fight and they just keep coming?”

Adar’s weight shifted. “It would be no different than the last few millennia. Except, we are not scattered across the country. Now, we can gather and grow our strength.”

Odessa’s attention snagged on the mention of multiple millennia of fighting. “That sounds exhausting.”

He cast her a sardonic look. “It is unbelievably exhausting.”

“And yet,” she prompted lightly, “you keep going. One might even say you’re provoking the people of Middle Earth.”

His lip curled. “Our very existence provokes the people of Middle Earth.”

Odessa didn’t know what to day to that. There was a lot of pain in those words. Pain that felt ancient and intractable.

“Do you...want peace?”

His voice was barely above a whisper. “More than anything.”

Again, Odessa didn’t know what to say. The dissonance within her forced Odessa to change the subject. “Will you still build those houses?”

“I will,” he confirmed. “Although Glûg insists I build one for myself first.”

“Does he do that a lot? Insist?”

Adar’s tone was fond. “Often.”

“Good.”

The soft laugh that came from his lips was involuntary. “Good?”

“Uh huh,” Odessa said.

He paused, visibly thinking about whether or not he wanted to ask the question. “Why is that good?”

“When was the last time you slept?” she asked, putting a little bite into her words.

“I…”

“When was the last time you ate? Or spent time doing anything but working?”

Adar’s eyes closed briefly. When he opened them, he answered her. “Months.”

Odessa gestured at him with a roll of her wrist. “See?”

He conceded the point. “I will tell him you said so.”

“Oh yes, please tell your second in command that we’re discussing him. He will love that.”

Again, he laughed. It was small and almost soundless. The scowl that seemed etched into his expression disappeared and his eyes brightened. He was more like the Adar she knew in Lossarnach. A knot tightened in her chest to see it.

“He will have no room to be offended,” Adar said. “He has asked at least a hundred questions about you.”

Odessa should not have been surprised. The Uruk might not look like other peoples on the continent, but they were people. People were always intrigued by a good story.

“What does he want to know?”

“Who you are,” Adar said easily. “Where you are from. What you want.”

“Good questions. You should have no trouble answering them. I’m Odessa. I’m from Italy. I want to tinker.” It was as close to honesty as Odessa would ever get with him.

Adar’s brows lifted. “Tinker?”

“Experiment.”

His head tipped back a bit in understanding. “Shall I have a small plot of land set aside for you to dig into?”

“That was one experiment,” Odessa groused.

He made a sound that indicated he didn’t believe her. “I cannot imagine you have found something to tinker with inside that tent.” His expression turned wry. “Or, am I speaking too soon?”

Odessa was definitely tinkering with something, though it was far larger than anything that could fit in the tent. For what felt like the hundredth time, she resisted telling him the truth.

“I’m not tinkering inside the tent.”

His wry look continued. “Feel free to tinker outside of it.”

Odessa blinked and drew back. “What?”

“Feel free to tinker outside of the tent.”

“Yes, I heard you. What do you mean?”

Adar shrugged. “I saw how you tinkered in Lossarnach. If you can achieve half of what you achieved there here in the camp, then we can only benefit from it.”

“I didn’t do anything in Lossarnach.”

“Liar.”

Odessa scoffed. “I made suggestions. I offered advice to people I’ve met along the way. Advice I took from other people, no less.That’s it.”

Adar was not buying the yarn she was spinning. “If that were true, I would have never found the medicine I needed.”

She sobered and shifted her weight. “You would have found Maylen eventually.”

He shook his head. “I would have had no idea where to look. You guided me, went with me to find the ingredients.”

“And set an entire secret organization on fire on the way out.”

Adar laughed again. His third laugh of the conversation. Not that she was counting.

“I believe I was the one who knocked over the pot.”

“A matter of details,” Odessa countered.

The memory of that night brought with it the image of him laying next to her in the grass, bathed in starlight. The thought was so clear and crisp that the destroyed tavern faded away, replaced by clear night air drenched in the scent of flowers.

“Details are important.” His words were slow. Lazy, even.

“Sometimes.”

“Always.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Experience.”

“I guess I can’t argue with that.”

His lips tipped up. “I will have to note the date. Odessa admits she cannot argue.”

She resisted the urge to grin. “Yes. Enjoy it while it lasts.”

“I will.”

His response was so prim and self satisfied that Odessa broke completely. She grinned wide until her cheeks hurt. Adar watched her fondly with a soft smile of his own pulling at his mouth.

“I should return to my work.”

Odessa picked up the bottle and circled the island. “And I...should find Yush.”

“He’s probably taking care of his sister.”

“Yush has a sister?”

Adar nodded. “She’s young. Fifteen or so. His mother asks him to take care of her when she does the tent mending.”

“Ah.”

He went quite while they walked together to the street. “I mean it when I say the buildings are dangerous.”

Odessa looked at the tavern. “This one looks solid.”

“It may well be,” he replied, “but we haven’t done any repairs. Glûg hasn’t even assigned a team to determine what needs to be done yet.”

She lifted the bottle. “I think he’ll want to put it on the top of the list after he hears about this.”

Adar’s head tilted. “Perhaps.” He paused and gave her a meaningful look. “Please wait until its been cleared to do more exploring.”

Odessa agreed with a reluctant shrug.

“Thank you.”

“Uh huh.”

Odessa sat on the cot with her legs crossed. She rested her head on her fists while she stared at her dagger. The simple wooden handle never needed to be oiled and the blade remained sharp no matter how much she used it. For so long, it had been her tool to keep the apate at bay. The dagger was her constant companion all these years and it was useless against her many bad decisions.

She lifted her head and let her hands fall into her lap. Odessa studied them thoughtfully. Her long fingers were calloused from needlework. There was a permanent divot in the pad of her third finger where she often applied pressure to push the needle through. These hands were the tools she was going to need most in the coming months.

The light in the tent dimmed with the loss of the sun. Odessa pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes and rubbed until she saw lights behind her lids. If she sat in this silly little tent any longer, she was going to do something foolish. Odessa didn’t know what that thing might be, but it would definitely, definitely be foolish.

Throwing her feet over the side of the bed, Odessa stepped into her boots and slipped the dagger into its sheath. She checked that the wrap around her hair was securely in place and left the tent.

Yush sat near the opening. He got quickly to standing and looked at her expectantly. Odessa glanced at him, then jerked her chin towards the camp. He skipped a step to fall in line with her. One of his hands dug around in his pockets.

“Here,” he said, offering her a parcel wrapped in clean linen.

Odessa took it from him and peeled back the fabric. It was a piece of bread that was freshly baked, but no longer warm.

“I thought you would want something to eat.”

She was touched by the offering. “Thank you. That is very kind.”

Yush lifted a shoulder. “Its what I’m here for.”

Odessa tore the bread in half and offered some to Yush. “You should eat, too.”

He hesitated before taking it from her. Odessa politely ignored how eagerly he ate his piece, taking bites so large that she thought he might choke. She tore off much smaller pieces of her own bread, chewing while they walked. It was as good as any she might find in the open market. She wondered how long the grain stores would last since most, if not all, the fields were covered in a layer of ash.

“Yush,” she said, “what did that Uruk mean when he said they found a water source?”

“We need water.”

Odessa smiled at the simplicity of his answer. “Yes, but why has it been such a struggle to find it? There are tributaries all around.”

Yush brushed a dark hand over his sparse hair. “They were redirected after we broke the dam.”

“Why did you need to break the dam?”

“The Lord Father asked us to.”

“Ah.” She paused. “Do you always do everything he asks you to do?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because he saved us.”

Odessa was struck by the honesty of his words and the way his expression lifted into reverence. Yush believed them all the way down to his bones.

“Saved you from what?”

Yush tilted his head to the side. “I told you. From the men, and the elves, and everyone else that wanted to hunt us down.”

As with the night before, the camp came alive as the sun went down. Torches and small fires burned between rows of tents and small pits where Uruk sat and talked. She passed a covered stall where a shrewd looking Uruk displayed a number of small knives. A second Uruk that might have been female regarded the first with her arms crossed and her hip cocked.

“You took the berries last week and now you don’t want them?”

The first Uruk made a kind of rough, dismissive sound. “Those berries are wilted.”

“They are fresh! We went out and picked them this morning.”

Odessa meandered around a corner to find an area that had been cleared out. A large swath of mismatched fabric stretched out across the open area. On the far end, a very tall female Uruk was directing other Uruk to put down more patches. She circled the slowly growing quilt of varying colors with a discerning eye.

She stalled near the edge, watching as the Uruk sat down and pulled a basket close. From a basket, she produced a needle and rough spun thread. After threading the needle, she went to work. Odessa was impressed by the speed of her sewing. In minutes, she had a large section complete and was moving on to the next. She worked from one side to the other, then rolled the section up so that she could reach further into the project.

Someone bumped her. The hit knocked her off balance so that she had to quickly step out to regain her footing. Odessa turned to offer a reflexive apology only to find that the Uruk was striding away.

The press of bodies thickened and it put her teeth on edge. More than once, Odessa was on the receiving end of a blunt shoulder or a boot. She quickly grew tired of winding her way through people and deliberately put herself on a path to the camp’s edge. With Yush in tow, Odessa made a complete lap of the camp. The walk took several hours, but it was worth the time to see what the camp was like as a whole.

In the days since the eruption, the Uruk set up an open air kitchen that could churn out food at an alarming rate. Beside it were the tents designated for families of all kinds. They were all of a similar size and took up the most space in the camp. Larger tents were reserved for the healers. According to Yush, many Uruk were injured when the volcano erupted. Many more died.

To the north, near the cages where the prisoners were kept, were the practice grounds. Odessa picked a tree stump and sat to observe. The Uruk were more organized than she anticipated. They formed a two phalanxes of shields with long branches that mimicked a spear. After a barking order, they began to fight. They shoved and stabbed. Shoved and stabbed, working against one another until someone broke the line. Another barking order stopped them. They reformed ranks, and did it again.

A better regulated army with any amount of skill would overcome the Uruk quickly, if not for the sheer number of them. It didn’t seem to matter if they were male or female, everyone joined in to practice. Even the smallest ones. Away from the cacophony of the phalanxes, Uruk that looked barely old enough to hold a sword were being taught how to wield one.

Odessa was just about to go back to her tent when she noticed the Uruk from the day before walking determinedly with a group trailing behind. “Who is that?”

Yush peered across the practice grounds. “Glûg.”

“What does he do here?”

“He carries out the Lord Father’s orders.”

It was difficult not to get frustrated with Yush’s answer. “Yes. But, what does he do? Is he a commander? A counselor?”

“He is a hand.”

Odessa closed her eyes against the beginning of a headache. “A hand?”

“Yes,” Yush confirmed. “If we need food, he sends Uruk to raid. If we are sick, he finds medicine. If we need water…” He let the sentence hang.

“Ah,” she breathed. “I understand. He’s a hand.”

If Glûg managed the day to day needs, then whatever he did was worth knowing and understanding. Odessa got up and made to follow him. Within the camp, it wasn’t necessary to be sneaky about it. All Odessa had to do was keep her distance and the activity of the people around her did the heavy lifting.

Once they got out of the camp, she had to wait until they crossed into the forest. When she was sure they wouldn’t be spotted, Odessa crept into the trees. Without the benefit of the myriad of fires in the camp, she quickly lost track of the Uruk. She hissed a frustrated sound and put her hands on her hips while she stared in the last place she saw them.

“My lady?”

She shot him a warning look.

“Odessa,” Yush correct himself. “May I help?”

“Can you see in the dark?”

“Yes.”

Odessa felt a smile pulling at her mouth. “Of course you can. Can you see where they went?”

“No.”

She sighed and touched her palm to her forehead. “What kind of assistance were you thinking about providing?”

Yush flicked his hand to the bushes. “I can’t see them, but I can smell them.” He paused. “Uruk have a strong nose.” Another pause. “We should stay downwind.”

“Right,” Odessa replied. “Thank you. That is helpful.”

Yush bounced on his feet once, then turned his nose to the air. Odessa exerted as much patience as she could manage while he sought out a direction. He moved methodically from left to right, taking slow breaths in followed by quick, forceful exhales.

“This way.”

They found a small, clear path and followed it deeper into the forest. It swept around a bend before forming an incline that seemed to have no end. The shadows deepened and, if it weren’t for Yush’s sporadic instructions, she would have fallen flat on her face.

Eventually, they caught up to Glûg. Yush made sure they were downwind of the group and they both dropped into a crouch to watch. The darkness made it very difficult to know what they were doing. Odessa was glad that one of them sparked a torch. The low firelight illuminated the banks of a hard flowing creek that turned away from the camp.

Glûg scratched at the cap on his head and stared at the water. Around him, Uruk were doing the same while they waited for instruction. Glûg said something to the one at his side. He held out his hand and took up a piece of paper and a piece of charcoal. Then, he went to a large stone and ran his hand over it until he found a place smooth enough to write. He looked back and forth from the river to the paper several times, writing quickly. He straightened and handed off the paper to be stowed away.

Odessa tapped Yush’s shoulder when she realized that they were going to start their way. She scrambled further up the incline until she found a large tree that she could hide behind. With her back pressed against the bark and Yush laying flat at her feet, Odessa kept her breathing steady and her heart calm until Glûg and his Uruk passed beneath and their footsteps faded into nothing. Only then did she feel like it was safe to move.

She picked her way to the river and stared at it in the same way as Glûg. “What do you think he was looking at?”

Yush shrugged. “No idea.”

Odessa hummed ambiguously.

“We should go back.”

“You think we’ll be missed?”

“No,” Yush said. “I think there are wild men in these woods and I don’t want to fight them.”

Odessa laughed. “I’ll keep you safe, Yush. Don’t worry.”

The practice area was empty when she returned. An Uruk stood near the center, carefully using a rake to scoot dirt into the gouges so that it was level. The sticks they used were lined up neatly on racks alongside the shields. Odessa noticed that the shields were in particularly bad shape. Cast offs from the raids. They had so little to protect themselves. Not even roofs over their heads. It was a wonder they managed to survive at all.

Odessa and Yush moved through the practice grounds with an ease that hadn’t been there before. Almost.

“Oi!”

She turned to the sound of the voice. Klij was stomping towards them with an angry look in his eye. Odessa glanced at Yush and stopped walking.

“How did you get out of the cage?” Klij growled.

“They let me out,” Odessa answered in a dry tone.

Klij’s angry expression deepened. He sneered at Yush. “You let her out.”

Yush lifted both hands. She could see the glint of fear in his eyes.

Odessa stepped between them. “Your Lord Father let me out. You have a problem with it, you go talk to him. Leave me and him out of it.”

Klij’s gaze was so narrow Odessa could barely see his irises. “We’ll see about that.”

She watched him stomp away until he disappeared into the muddle of Uruk standing nearby. Odessa had no wish to push her way through the crowd and walked the perimeter until she reached the village. It looked more foreboding in the dark than it did during the day. She noticed the one of the burned buildings had been demolished while she was gone. The pile of debris was, however, absent.

Usable furniture sat in a neat line up at the far end of the tents nearest to the village’s center. Any broken pieces were loaded into a wagon along with the wooden siding. The large structural beams were neatly stacked beside it.

Efficient, Odessa thought as she passed by the wagon. Movement at the far end of the lane drew her attention. A figure walked out of the large tent, followed by several more figures. Even in the darkness, Odessa recognized him.

Adar walked slowly down the line of furniture, occasionally touching a piece to inspect it. He spoke pointed at a long bench and said something that spurred on the Uruk into action. Two of them picked it up and carried it off through the village, practically running in their haste to do as he asked. He moved further down the line and pointed at a large, heavy piece of wood that didn’t look like much of anything from this distance. Again, he gave an order that was immediately obeyed. The heavy wood was carted off in the opposite direction as the bench.

Klij took a turn and Odessa felt her stomach drop. A row of cages lined the north end of the camp. They were fashioned out of solid slabs of wood and branches cut down from the trees. As she approached, Odessa could see their contents more clearly.

Two cages at the end of the row were occupied. The six or seven human men scattered between the two cages looked like they’d seen better days. Much better days. Their clothes were in tatters and their skin was filthy. More than one was injured. The eyes that watched her approach were gleaming with hunger and despair.

Yush skipped ahead and opened an empty cage. If Klij cared that he’d gotten ahead of him, he didn’t give any indication. Yush made a gesture of invitation that was very out of place, given that he was inviting her into captivity. It brought a unwanted chuckle out of her throat.

It wasn’t a large cell. Maybe a bit wider than she was tall. Odessa had enough room to stretch out if she wanted to. She turned a circle while Yush closed the door. Klij put a large iron lock on the bar and tossed the keys to a nearby guard.

Yush stuck his head against the bars and hissed. “I’ll get you in front of the Lord Father as soon as possible.”

Odessa had no idea what that meant, but she nodded along as if she did. Yush cast her another look that seemed to meant ‘hold tight’, then scuttled away. She watched him go with an increasing amount of confusion that left her standing there looking like an idiot for far too long.

“How’d they get you?”

She glanced to the man speaking to her. He was tall with a flop of brown hair and a nose that had been broken at least once. His brown eyes were bruised with lack of sleep. They eyed her with interest that made her want to take a step back.

“Ambush,” she answered with mostly the truth.

He nodded and gestured to a man sitting at his feet. “They got me and Eaton in a raid.”

Eaton waved an absent hand at her. He lounged on the packed dirt floor with his arm tucked protectively around his middle.

“I’m Kince,” the man offered.

“Odessa.”

“Nice to meet you Odessa. If you can get a weapon, I advise you kill yourself.”

She blinked and tilted her head to the side. “Why?”

Kince lifted a shoulder. “You’re the first woman I’ve seen them take alive. I assume they want you for...unsavory reasons.”

“Oh.”

He frowned at her. “That’s all you’re gonna say?”

Odessa crossed her arms and approached Kince. He leaned on the bars between them in a way that felt deliberately casual. “Who are they?”

From the floor, Eaton said, “You ain’t never heard of orcs?”

She had heard of them. They were scary stories that teenagers told each other around the fire to scare one another. Vicious, angry beasts that roamed the countryside without law and without mercy. Odessa glanced at the guard, taking in his harsh features. She could see why people called them monsters.

“I thought they didn’t take prisoners,” Odessa said.

Kince sucked his teeth. “They needed us.”

“For what?”

“To help them dig out the mountain,” Eaton said in an angry, sardonic tone. “What else?”

“Dig out the mountain?”

Kince made the same sound that men sometimes used to calm horses. It put her teeth on edge. “They don’t do so well in the sunlight.”

Again, Eaton jumped in. “Fixed that right up, didn’t they?”

Odessa looked up through the top of the cage. The sky was not full of clouds, as she assumed hours before. It was smoke that blotted out the sun.

“You’re saying that the orcs set off the volcano?” She looked at them again, wondering how they managed it.

“Sure did,” Kince drawled.

“How?”

“Weren’t you listening, you stupid cow?” Eaton hissed. He pressed his face against the bars and enunciated every syllable. “They dug. Out. The. Mountain.”

Odessa held up her hands in defense. “I’m just asking questions. Its confusing.”

“Don’t worry about the details,” Kince said. “They don’t matter.”

She guessed he was probably right. Knowing how they set off the volcano didn’t change the fact that it was currently spewing lava and smoke into the air. It also didn’t change the fact that she’d let them take her captive and lock her in a cage. Without a fight, no less. Why had she done that?

“I meant it when I said you need to kill yourself.”

Odessa gave him a flat look.

“You look like you’re a smart girl. Don’t think you’re strong enough to take torture.”

She was. Odessa could take quite a bit of torture, and that was before she had the warden’s mantle.

“Listen,” Kince urged, “I’ll help you, if you want. I’ll snap your little neck. Quick-like.” His voice dropped low and he said, “All you have to do is help me out a little first.”

Odessa drew back from him. She knew that tone. Knew what he wanted. It was an offer she’d heard before. Do this small thing for me and I’ll end your pain.

“Its a good offer, little girl.”

Suddenly, she was glad Yush thought to put her in a separate cell. She’d have to thank him later. Odessa shook her head and went to sit as far away from Kince as possible. She leaned against the bars and stared out into the camp, trying to think about what she was going to do. Odessa might be a capable fighter, but she was chest deep in hostile territory. Everything in her was saying that her best bet for survival was to get out. Fast.

The cages were on the camp’s edge. If she could get out, Odessa could make a run across the ravaged stumps to the forest. Once she was in the safety of the trees, it would be easier to evade the orcs if they decided to hunt her down. Odessa glanced around, wondering if they would bother.

Aside from the single guard, no one was paying much attention to the prisoners. The camp was awash with activity. Every orc seemed to have a job to do—carrying firewood, sorting through wagons of belongings stolen in the last raid, sharpening weapons—anything that needed to be done had someone assigned to the task. She craned her neck to see if she could find the orc directing everything, but there didn’t seem to be one. Everyone performed their work independently.

Time passed, and Yush didn’t return. Odesssa made herself keep sitting despite the fact that she was so, so bored. She needed to rest. To think. Her toes tapped out a rhythm while she tried to decide what kind of community she was dealing with.

The orcs spoke a mix of the common tongue and another, harsher language. They moved together in packs so tight that they were constantly running into one another. No one walked alone. Altercations broke out at regular intervals, though it never seemed to be too serious. The skirmishes were over as soon as they began and had the air of siblings bickering with one another. A sharp word, a flicking swat at a shoulder, and then they were done.

When she could glean no further information from her immediate surroundings, Odessa reached for the things that couldn’t be easily seen. She put both hands on the packed earth on either side of her and sent out a quiet inquiry. The earth felt very far away despite the fact that she was directly touching it. Odessa sought out its voice and spread her attention in an ever expanding circle from her place in the cage.

The explosion had done a lot of damage. More damage than she’d ever seen in a singular event. The area beneath the camp was not much for than a ragged hole in the threads. Odessa’s heart broke to hear the sorrow and pain coming from the land. She offered as much comfort as she could and promised it that she would work to repair the damage. Odessa couldn’t tell if it believed her, or even heard her promises.

Once she escaped, Odessa would have to travel closer to the volcano to start her work. It might take years, even decades to build the threads back up. There was very little to work with as far as darning the damage. Odessa would have to create the thread from scratch and weave it piece by tiny piece. She closed her eyes, already exhausted from the weight of the task.

Letting go of the earth, she pulled her knees up to her chest and started planning her exit strategy. The cage was surprisingly well made, despite its rough structure. The orcs reinforced the corners with strong rope and the bars were close enough together that squeezing through wasn’t an option. The cages sat on nothing but flat earth. If she could find even the slightest bit of leverage, she could wriggle underneath the edge and crawl out.

Finding that leverage was a problem. There was no furniture in the cages. No bench to use as a lever. No chair to hook between the bars. Odessa was strong, but not strong enough to lift the whole thing by herself. She glanced at Kince and Eaton. They were thin and malnourished, but together they might be able to do it. Odessa pursed her lips and looked away. She didn’t like them enough to ask for help.

The guard changed shifts. Odessa paid attention to where the new guard put the keys. They were tucked into a pouch on his hip. She considered a plan to steal them away, but nixed it when the guard took up a post too far from the bars. After a moment, she reconsidered. She could call him over, try to engage in small talk and...Odessa shook her head. She didn’t have a thief’s hands. He would feel her trying to take the keys, for sure.

Night was beginning to fall. Fires lit up in the camp, though they numbered fewer than she would have liked. The gossip about orcs having excellent night vision appeared to be true. This, she thought, might work in her favor. The deep dark could hide covert actions.

She angled her body into a corner and pulled her dagger from her boot. Silently, she went to work on the ties holding her cage in place against the empty one beside it. Her initial assessment about the strength of the rope turned out to be true. It took more than half an hour to cut through the first few knots. Her arms burned from forcing the muscle to make slow, controlled cuts. Hacking at the rope would only make unnecessary noise and she surmised that the guard’s pointed ears were meant to catch the smallest sound.

Just before she finished with the first section, Odessa had to stop and hide the dagger beneath her thigh. An orc that she guessed might be female walked up with a stack of bowls and a large iron pot.

“Kednack,” greeted the guard with a deferential nod.

Kednack’s only reply was a low grunt. She was not very tall, but her body had a stout build that made carrying the heavy iron pot look easy. Clawed hands put it down and lined up the bowls. The men in the cage rose with eager expressions. When Kednack started to fill the bowls, one of them reached out to grab. She slapped his hand hard with the ladle.

“Wait,” she snapped in a clear and firm alto.

The man hissed and held his hand to his chest while the others knelt down in wait. Odessa could not move, lest she give away the fact that she had the dagger. She watched from her corner as Kednack finished filling the bowls and slid them closer to the cage. They were quickly snatched up and carried away to be slurped up.

Kednack picked up the remaining bowl and carried it over to Odessa’s cage. She stared down at Odessa with eyes that were both aloof and interested. Odessa returned the look for as long at Kednack let it hold. Eventually, the orc sniffed and knelt to put the bowl just inside the bars. Without another glance, she went back to her pot. From beneath her cloak, she produced a much larger bowl that she filled and brought to the guard.

“Many thanks,” he said as he took it.

Kednack grunted again. She went back to the pot and pick it up, walking away.

While the guard was distracted with food, Odessa put the dagger back into her boot and stood. She had only taken a single step toward the bowl when a long arm reached through the bars and snagged it.

Kince’s smile was not kind as he held it on his side of the dividing bars. “Hungry?”

Odessa suppressed a sneer. “What are you doing?”

“I’m hungry, too,” he said as he took a deliberate slurp. “When was the last time you ate?”

She looked away. Odessa might actually find torture preferable to having to deal with Kince’s taunting.

He wiggled the bowl at her. “What will you give me for it?”

Odessa was tempted to reach through the bars and break his nose. The snap might actually put it back into place. She settled for throwing him a baleful look and turning pointedly away. He let out a disappointed, mocking sound as she sat down in her corner. There, he made a show of eating what she assumed was a thin soup as loudly as possible.

Slowly, the camp came more alive. If she thought they were busy during the day, that busyness tripled at night. There were so many of them. Hundreds, she thought. Everything she heard about orcs made it seem like they were roving nomads. Small packs that moved from town to town pillaging what they could before moving on.

Part of that was definitely true. All the supplies she saw were definitely stolen or repurposed. The tents were sewn together and patched to the point that she couldn’t tell what the original material had been. Their armor, such as it was, didn’t always fit and most of it was dotted with the marks of a good, hard fight. Occasionally, she could see evidence of the strike that killed its previous owner.

With so many walking around, Odessa couldn’t risk taking the dagger out again. She spent the night dozing on and off to shore up her strength for the next day. Odessa could not make her run in the night. The orcs were too awake. Too active. When the sun came up, she would work on the ties until she could slip through the gap. Once she was free, she would draw on whatever power the land could provide to her in its current state to sprint to the trees.

The plan felt solid right up until the sun came up. Odessa was preparing to start work when a commotion simmered nearby. Orcs began to call out to one another, word passing down the line until it reached the guard.

“Its time!” an orc announced.

“No,” breathed Eaton from the other cell. “I thought he was gone for another week.”

Who? She wanted to ask. Who was gone?

Eaton pressed against the side of the cage, his eyes wide and frightened. “He’ll kill us.”

Kince, who was standing with his arms folded and a hard look in his eyes, said, “No. He needs workers. He just wants to parade us around.”

“How the fuck do you know?” Eaton bit out. “Do you see any of the men we came in with? Bordon? Fisk? Where the fuck did they go?”

Odessa looked between the men and the place where the commotion seemed to be coming from. The orcs were milling around between a set of large tents in an ever growing swarm. Many of them were talking excitedly to each other. Several were pointing at the cages. She caught the faint edge of laughter above the drone of voices.

Reaching back, Odessa tested the corner. She’d only managed to cut through the first tie and the gap she made was not big enough for her body. A vague sense of panic set in when she realized that she had run out of time. She should have never let them take her in the first place. There were only five of them. Odessa could have fought against five.

The milling crowd began to move. It undulated in the direction of the cages, parting as a smaller, more forceful group began to push through. To Odessa’s great surprise, the smaller group was led by a human. He was older, with white hair and a mean look about him. He shoved the orcs aside while he stomped along, uncaring if they fell and were stepped on by the others.

He stopped in front of the cages and gave a jerking nod to the orc beside him. They produced several sets of shackles that were thrown into the men’s cage.

“Put ‘em on!”

One of the men reached down and started locking the iron rings around his wrists. Eaton scrambled to standing and stopped him. “Let them come in and fucking make us!”

That was, apparently, not the right thing to say. The man spit at the ground and gestured to the lock on the cage door. It was quickly opened and several orcs rushed inside. After that, Odessa got a front row seat to a brutal, merciless beating. Eaton was dragged out of the cage and kicked to the ground. Punches, slaps, and more kicks followed until he stopped moving. Afterwards, the old man unsheathed a short-sword and stabbed Eaton through the torso.

The men put on their shackles.

Odessa hoped that they would forget she existed, but her luck wasn’t that good. A pair of shackles landed at her feet with a metallic clink. She stared at them in dismay, then leaned down and put them on. They let her out of the cage and, to her further dismay, brought her to the front of the line.

The old man leered at her. Feeling his attention made her stomach turn. Odessa could not give him the arch, haughty look her mother used when the ladies were too overt with their insults. There was too much noise. Too many growls. Too many mouths breathing far too close. She had to close her eyes against the memory of the last time she’d been walked through a crowd in chains.

“Move!” the man ordered.

Odessa started walking. The irons were heavy on her wrists, but her ankles were free, which meant she could still have an opportunity to run. She just had to time it right. Odessa bit down on the inside of her cheek. It felt like every eye in the camp was watching her, waiting for her to step out of line so that she could be kicked down and killed like Eaton.

I can’t do this again.

The man led her deeper into the camp. With every step, more orcs pressed in from every side. Odessa kept her eyes down and her arms tucked into her stomach. It was the only way to keep herself quiet and moving. Odessa’s fear burned at the back of her throat. It took her breath and made her want to reach down for her dagger and start cutting through bodies until they stopped boxing her in. She hated that she couldn’t see what lay ahead. She hated that she couldn’t face it with her head up and her spine straight.

Odessa walked until a hand gripped her shoulder and pulled her to a stop. Her breaths were quick and she still couldn’t lift her gaze from the ground. Pressure on her shoulder dropped Odessa to her knees. In her periphery, the other men were assembled in much the same position. The orcs kept their distance and the sound of their excited voices hushed. They pulled back from the line of prisoners. Odessa let out a soft, relieved breath and the pain in her chest lessened. She blinked at the ground while the world came back into focus and, with it, came a rush of anger.

“Do you swear loyalty to the Lord Father, rightful ruler of Mordor?” the man demanded.

Odessa looked up. “What?”

The man snarled in anger and lifted his hand in what was probably going to be a pretty hard slap. A voice stayed his hand with a single, harsh word.

I know that voice, Odessa thought as she turned her head slowly to look forward.

As with the other structures in the camp, the throne was an exercise in resourcefulness. It was built from scraps of metal and wood and—she couldn’t tell if she should be surprised—bone. The dais it sat on was encircled by the shields of the fallen. Hilts of broken swords haloed the person seated before her.

Odessa met his eyes and she was gratified to see shock written across his face. He rose and stepped off the dais.

“My lord?” the man asked.

Adar waved a dismissed hand. His attention was solely on Odessa. He opened his mouth to give an order, stopping when someone called out to him.

“Lord Father!” Yush cried. “I must speak with you!”

The old man let out a loud yell of censure and unsheathed his short-sword. He aimed it at Yush, who held up his hands in defense. Odessa felt her body flinch in Yush’s direction, which was confusing. He was a significant part of why she was on her knees in the first place.

Adar stayed the man’s hands with single word of warning. “Waldreg.”

Yush started talking very fast in the fractured sounds of what Odessa assumed was the orcs’ native tongue. His tone was entreating and he was directing most of what he was saying to Adar. Occasionally, he would gesture to Odessa. She did not know how she felt about being dragged into the conversation.

Adar listened until Yush stopped talking with his eyes focused on Odessa. He pointed to Yush. “Bring her.”

“Yes, Lord Father.”

Yush rushed over and helped Odessa to her feet. Over Yush’s shoulder, she could see the man—Waldreg—staring at her with anger. Unable to help herself, Odessa tossed him a mocking grin and let Yush guide her away. Thankfully, the crowd of orcs did not follow.

Adar’s tent was larger than the rest. The orc standing guard opened the flap covering the entrance as he approached. He bowed in reverence and held the flap open until Yush and Odessa stepped inside.

She took in the various chests littering the perimeter and the drapes of heavily patched material that made up the ceiling. A large table dominated the middle of the room. On either side were high backed chairs. Adar’s sword leaned against the chair on the left.

Adar, himself, walked up to the table and turned to face her. He leaned his hips back against the edge and crossed his arms. “What are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here?” Odessa snapped waspishly. “What are you doing here?” Before he could say anything, the answer came to her with all the force of a rolling storm. “Oh...you lied to me.”

His brows drew together. “I did not.”

“Yes, you did.” Odessa tipped her head back and laughed ruefully. “I believed you. I am such an idiot.”

To her right, Yush shifted his weight nervously. “My lord, the debt.”

Adar’s eyes cut to the orc. “Get the keys for the chains.”

“Yes, my lord.” Yush left after a quick bow.

Odessa watched Adar carefully. He returned her look with one of his own.

“I did not lie,” he asserted again.

“You told me your people were Uruk,” Odessa shot back.

“They are. We calls ourselves Uruk.”

She hissed through her teeth. “You knew I wouldn’t know what you meant.”

“Would you have helped me if you did?”

Odessa’s jaw worked. She wouldn’t have. The orcs—Uruk, or whatever he wanted to call them—sowed chaos wherever they went. Whole towns had been razed to the ground under their attacks.

Adar took a breath and pushed from the table. “Did you save his life?”

She lifted a shoulder.

His head ticked to the side and his hair fell forward over his shoulder. The look he fixed her with was so familiar that it made her chest ache. Odessa wished she’d never met him. She averted her eyes and set her jaw.

“He says you fought a terrible evil. He says it was a being of darkness.”

She kept her mouth closed.

“Odessa.”

Why did he have to say her name like that? As if it were all he wanted to say. As if he were tasting each individual letter with relish.

She sniffed and changed the subject. “You forced the volcano to erupt.”

Adar stepped forward. “It had to be done.”

“You and I have very different ideas about what has to be done.”

He was undeterred by the venom in her tone. “My children cannot walk in sunlight.”

Odessa scoffed angrily. His children. They seemed to be perfectly capable of causing horror and mayhem, even if they couldn’t go out in the sun. Dio, she was angry. Mostly at herself. He’d so totally deceived her that she had no defense against the fact that she’d willingly helped him ravage the land on which they stood.

“We needed a place to settle.”

Odessa didn’t want to hear his explanations. They were lies, along with everything else he’d ever said to her. “People already lived here. You killed them and you took their land.”

“I did,” he replied, as if his actions were justified. “It was necessary.”

She glared at him. “I sincerely doubt that.”

Adar moved closer. A patch of light slashed across his side and down his arm. It highlighted the sharp edges of a new piece of armor. The gauntlet was made of scorched metal that encased the wrist and fingers of his left hand. She wondered if one of his people made it, and who they might have learned the craft from.

“For centuries,” he began, “the Uruk have been subjected to so many atrocities that it would take me an eternity to name them. I have done what I must to ensure they can live in safety.”

Odessa’s eyes narrowed. “Why should I believe you?”

“It is the truth.”

“Or,” she bit out, “it is more lies.”

“Odessa,” he murmured, “nothing between us has been a lie.”

It irritated her how much she wanted to believe him. Odessa stared up into Adar’s eyes while she wrestled with her irritation. They were drained of color, more gray than they’d ever been. She noticed that he lost some weight in the months since she’d seen him last. His cheeks were hollow and the scars were more pronounced. She sensed a fatigue about him that hung heavy on his shoulders.

He took a final step forward, coming to rest very close to her. His attention, as always, was direct. The sweep of his gaze was a physical touch along her cheek and jaw. Odessa’s hands curled into fists as she fought the heat that threatened to spread all over.

The tent flap opened and Yush returned. He held out the keys. “I have them.”

Eyes still on Odessa, Adar stepped back. “Release her.”

Yush quickly went to work. Odessa held Adar’s gaze while the iron fell away. He gave Yush enough room to take the shackles, but no more than was strictly necessary. Looking at him, Odessa was sure he wouldn’t have moved at all if he didn’t have to.

“You saved his life,” he said. “and that incurs a debt. Until it is paid, Yush is yours.”

“What?” she blurted.

The corner of Adar’s mouth lifted. “He is now in your service and will remain there until the debt is paid.”

Odessa looked at Yush. “How long does that take?”

Yush gave a sheepish shrug. “As long as it takes.”

The tent flap opened again and a tall, thin Uruk stepped in. “Lord Father, we found the water source.”

Adar’s chin lifted and a soft look of pride passed over his face. “I knew you would.”

The Uruk stepped forward and his eyes caught on Odessa. He took her in with apprehension.

“Find her a tent near the foundation. Tell your brothers and sisters that she’s not to be touched,” Adar ordered before gesturing for the thin Uruk to come forward.

Odessa debated refusing to leave. She wanted more answers. If Yush hadn’t ushered her out with an earnest ‘please come with me, my lady’, she might have.

Outside, Yush guided her away from the tent and down a narrow pathway. He walked at her side, though she could tell he wanted to move at a faster pace.

“Tell me about the debt.”

“You saved my life, my lady,” Yush explained. “I am at your disposal until the debt is paid.”

Odessa passed a hand over her face. This was not the first time she was faced with learning about a new and strange culture. Usually, she was less angry about it.

“How do you repay the debt?”

“Through service. Whatever you need, I will do.”

“So, you’re a servant?”

“No.” His answer was quick and touched with insult. “Not a servant.”

“What do I call you, then?”

“I am Yush.”

Odessa decided that she wasn’t going to get much more clarification. She took a turn with Yush around a large cooking fire. Some kind of stew bubbled in a pot. A group of Uruk passed bowls around. They spared her barely a glance as they dug into their food.

Beyond the cooking fire, there was what remained of the city. It was covered in ash and there were buildings that were nothing more than burned husks. As Odessa walked deeper into the area, she was less inclined to call it a city and more inclined to call it a village. A small one. There might have been twenty buildings to begin with and only half still stood.

In what used to be the main thoroughfare was a long row of tents. They were covered in fabric that contained fewer patches than the other tents. The one furthest into the village was largest and tallest of the bunch. She peered at it with interest while Yush slowed in front of the fifth tent in the row.

“You can sleep here. There is a cot inside.”

Unashamed of her suspicion, Odessa opened the flap and looked inside. “Yush?”

“Yes, my lady?”

“Why did you dig into the mountain?”

Yush cocked his head at the question. “The sun burns, my lady.”

She nodded. “Why not live underground?”

“We tried that, my lady. The dwarves did not want us.”

“Oh?”

Yush shifted his weight nervously. “They hunted us in the tunnels. Put our babies to the ax.”

She didn’t like the way her stomach turned at his explanation. “And, you couldn’t live in the forests?”

He scoffed. “With the elves? Or the men? They hunted us, too.”

“Why?”

Yush shrugged. “I don’t know, my lady.”

“I’m not a lady.”

“What?”

Odessa made an ambiguous gesture at herself. “I’m not a lady. I don’t have a title.”

Yush’s eyes darted to the side. “What do I call you, then?”

“Call me Odessa.”

“Yes...Odessa.”

She was suddenly very tired. “I think I’ll get some rest. Thank you, Yush.”

Yush bowed.

Odessa stepped into the tent and let the flap fall closed. The dark covering made the inside equally as dark. She sat on the cot. The mattress was filled with feather down, a luxury she did not expect in a place like this. Odessa wondered which house it had been stolen from.

She touched the bag around her neck with one hand and the dagger with the other. If she wanted to run, Adar was certainly giving her ample room to do so. Odessa glanced at the tent’s opening. Yush’s shadow moved just outside.

Odessa walked slowly. There might be a job waiting for her further south, but it would still be there no matter her pace. For the last week, she wandered on and off the path at her leisure. There were small patches of land that she remembered. Waterfalls that fell off the Anduin. Trees that had been alive longer than Odessa. A formation of five huge stones that stood side by side in a semi-circle. The familiar landmarks were comforting against the unknowable reality on the other side of the mountain.

The peaks rose high to her left. She stopped and looked up to where the rock disappeared into the clouds. These, too, were familiar. Odessa never memorized a map, but she always took notice of the mountains. They had different names, depending on who was looking at them. This range was newer than some of the others on the continent. It lacked the erosion that came with age. A guardian that protected the south with sharp teeth.

Her skin pulled tight. The air shifted and the scent of fire turned rotten. Odessa turned from the mountain and scanned the forest from one side to the other. It was just as picturesque as it had been minutes before. Odessa inhaled and nearly retched.

I don’t want to fight today. I just want to walk.

Odessa stood there, waiting for an attack that didn’t come. Instead, she heard voices. Someone was calling out. A man. Another voice responded. A woman. She relaxed marginally and crept towards the sound. A man and a woman spoke to one another while gathering firewood. Their shelter was nothing more than a large square of fabric tied to trees on either side.

Three more people walked into the camp, each of them carrying firewood. Two men and a woman. They were younger than the two piling wood into a stone circle. All of them had the same dark hair and angular features. A family. She was just about to rise and go on her way when her nose caught the stench again. The little family was in danger.

Odessa put her hand to the earth and asked for its help. Her eyes fluttered as power rushed in. It fueled the warden’s mantle, made her stronger in anticipation of the battle. A pleased sound left her mouth. Odessa thanked the earth and loosed her hold.

She stood to call out to the family. “Excuse me!”

The conversation stopped and five pairs of eyes looked up at her. A man, the oldest of the three, shaded his eyes with his hand. “Who calls?”

Odessa stepped along the steep drop carefully. She held onto the trees for balance. “I’m just a traveler. Like you.”

Understandably, there was disbelief in the way he said, “Traveler? Are you alone?”

“No,” Odessa lied. “I’m supposed to meet my people that way.” She pointed in a random direction. “They sent me to scout ahead.”

The man she assumed was a father watched her with a narrow look. “They sent a woman alone into the woods.”

She tossed him a careless grin. “I got six brothers, mister. I know how to take care of myself.”

His mouth thinned. Odessa was chagrined to realize that he didn’t believe her.

Luckily, his wife stepped forward. “What do you want, girl?”

“I want to warn you. There’s an animal. A big one. Its been hunting in these woods. We lost all our food the first night. Started sleeping in the trees.”

A wave of anxiety went person by person. Odessa let the silence hold for a long time. Far longer than she originally intended. As if called by her words, something moved in the trees, bringing with it the brush of an icy fingertip. The apate was here. Watching. Waiting.

“I tracked it to this area,” Odessa asserted with more urgency. “This isn’t a safe place to make camp. Please, you have to move. Now.”

“Rew,” the mother breathed. She touched her husband’s arm. “Rew, I told you we should move on.”

“Hush,” the father urged. He eyed Odessa with further suspicion. “What kind of animal?”

“A bear, I think.”

That was the wrong answer. Odessa could tell by the way the father’s upper lip twitched.

“There are no bears in these woods.”

She steeled herself to lie convincingly. “There were no bears in these woods. They moved north out of the mountains.”

“Why?”

“How should I know?” she snipped. “We’ve been staying just ahead of it. We keep moving. We don’t camp.”

The mother’s brows came together. “Its been tracking you?”

“I think so. My father thinks so, too.”

“That makes even less sense,” the father cut in. “Sending a child to scout the tracks of a bear.”

“I’m better at it than my brothers,” Odessa answered his unasked question. “They don’t see what I see.”

She was seeing a lot, at the moment. A shadow was coalescing far into the trees. Ink and smoke.

“Maybe we should listen to her,” one of the sons said.

Good boy, Odessa thought while she reached out and stoked his inclination to retreat. The touch wasn’t as subtle as she might have liked, but the danger to these people was increasing by the second. She needed to act quickly if she was going to save their lives.

A low, rumbling growl wandered into the camp. Odessa closed her eyes in dismay.

“What was that?” the wife cried out.

All five of them looked around for the source of the growl. All of them missed the darkness hiding in the shadow of a tree not far away.

“You need to go,” Odessa whispered urgently. “Now. Run.”

The wife listened to her. “Come now. Grab your packs. Leave the shelter.” When the father started to argue, she held up a hand. “I will not risk our children.”

Odessa pointed in the opposite direction of the apate. “That way. Away from the tracks. Run!”

She picked up packs and bags, disguising the fact that she wasn’t going to run with them by appearing helpful. Another growl came from the trees. Closer. She had to get them down the path before the apate struck. The family was moving like cold honey, taking too much time to collect their belongings.

“Go! Go!” She physically began to push the two daughters down the path. “Go now!”

Finally, they ran. Packs bounced on their backs and dirt kicked up beneath their boots.

Odessa let out a breath of relief and turned to the apate. “Come on out.”

Usually, this was where they would slink forward and offer some kind of threat. Possibly try to reason with her, if they were young and inexperienced. Odessa waited for it to appear. The apate did not move. It hovered in the tree’s shadow, watching her grow ever more impatient.

She grunted and reached down for her dagger. The wooden handle was cool in her palm. Odessa brandished it at the apate and took a step forward. “I said, come on out!”

It ran.

Odessa stared after it. Why are you running? She thought. Followed by, What happened to an honest fight?

She burst into a hard sprint. The apate slipped over the land with ease. It rode the wind with its weightless body. Odessa, with her unfortunate need to use her feet to run, could not keep up. She drew on the earth’s power to push her legs faster, but the apate kept getting further and further away. Odessa pushed harder, until her lungs and thighs burned in protest.

Wheezing, Odessa stopped and leaned one hand against a tree. She swept her forearm over her face to wick away the sweat. Not for the first time, she wished she had half as much magical talent at Mika. She would have had something up her sleeve to keep the apate from getting away so easily.

The crunch of fallen leaves made her flinch. She straightened and held the dagger out in front of her body. For the third time that afternoon, she said, “Show yourself!”

Something moved behind a bush. Something covered in a cloak. Odessa frowned and squinted at the person huddling near the ground. They were hunched over, fearfully protecting themselves.

She dropped her arm, letting the blade fall to her side. “Its alright. I won’t hurt you.”

They moved slowly. One foot in front of the other. Odessa kept her posture relaxed while she waited for them to come nearer.

“You know,” she said, “You really shouldn’t be out here. There’s some...dangerous animals nearby.”

“My friends,” they rasped in a voice that she was pretty sure was male, “are close.”

The cloak fell away from his face and Odessa got her first clear look. Skin so dark that it look burned. Teeth crowded each other in his mouth. Sparse bits of hair that hung lank around his head. He was about her height and his black eyes were shining with intelligence and apprehension.

“Oh,” she breathed. “This is new.”

“You should not be here,” he said. “My friends are near.”

“Yes,” she replied, “you said that. Are your friends...like you?”

He nodded.

Odessa had never seen a person like this. Not in Middle Earth, not in the Underworld, and certainly not in Italy. “You and your friends need to get out of these woods. Go that way. Quickly.”

“Why?”

“I told you. There’s an animal.”

His ears, which she now realized were pointed, twitched. “An animal? Where?”

“Its doesn’t matter where. You just need to get away from it.”

“No,” he replied, holding up a short-sword. “We’ll hunt it for food.”

“I—.” Odessa barely got the syllable out before a low, recognizable growl rumbled behind her. “What’s your name?”

“Huh?”

“Your name. What is it?”

He frowned and stared at her with hesitation. “Yush.”

“Yush,” Odessa pronounced carefully. “Run. Now.”

To her consternation, Yush did not run. He barely had time to understand the command before the apate struck. It swished through Odessa’s field of vision from right to left, taking Yush with it. She yelped, freezing for several seconds before instinct kicked in. Odessa ran after them with her dagger at the ready.

Yush yelled and cursed at the apate. His arms and legs wheeled for purchase and failed to find it.

“Stay calm!” she barked.

Yush didn’t appear to hear her. He kept yelling. Kept struggling. His sword cut at the flora around him, snapping smaller branches along the way. His jerking, angry movements weighed the apate down. Made it slower so that Odessa could gain ground. She was almost upon them when the apate let go of Yush and flew away.

She stopped and knelt. “Are you well?”

Yush glanced around frantically. “What was that?”

“The animal,” Odessa answered.

“That was no animal.”

“Whatever you say,” she drawled absently. “Now, I know I told you to run, but I need you to stay very still until it comes back.”

Yush began to panic. “Its coming back?!”

“Yes.” Her voice dropped down to a near whisper. “I need you to stay still so I can kill it.”

Again, Yush did not do as she asked. He rolled to standing and held his short-sword out in front of him in a defensive position. His free hand reached up and tugged his cloak over his exposed skin and head.

“That sword won’t do anything.”

“Its sharp enough,” Yush shot back. “I can fight.”

She looked at his stance. “Can you?”

“Of course I can!” Yush squawked, indignant.

Odessa held up both hands. “Fine. You can fight.”

The apate returned, hovering nearer to Yush. He brandished his sword with a sharp cry and attacked. Odessa made a soft, disheartened noise while the steel went right through the apate. It cut an ineffective slice through the smoke. Dark edges swirled back together and solidified into a form that looked a little bit like a body. Three slits appeared where the head would usually be. Two eyes and a mouth. It snapped out a limb, long fingers wrapping around Yush’s neck and pulling him into the air.

Yush gurgled. His feet kicked at the apate, meeting nothing by dark air. To her surprise, he swung the sword again and managed to stab the end into the middle of the apate’s body. It didn’t hurt the thing, but she appreciated that he was still trying.

His struggling body made it somewhat difficult to find a target for her dagger. Odessa timed her approach and, after dodging a wayward foot, slipped her dagger into the apate. It screamed and dropped Yush, who caught Odessa in the shoulder on the way down.

Her knee buckled and she tipped to the side. The apate screamed again. It was painfully loud in her ears. Odessa winced, then shoved Yush to the side so that she could stab at the apate. The dagger’s hilt glowed between her fingers as its magic began to dissolve her foe. She bared her teeth in the direction of its eyes, wanting it to see her hatred before it died.

The apate was gone in a matter of seconds. Odessa ignored the loud panting of Yush and dropped down to feel the threads. It was as she suspected. The further south she went, the more the threads were frayed. She could patch them here and there, but they would continue to fray until she figured out what happened at the source.

She sheathed her dagger and looked at Yush. “Are you hurt?”

He touched his neck. “Only a little.”

“You’re very lucky,” Odessa asserted as she stood, “it hesitated to kill you.”

Yush stared at her with an expression that said he didn’t quite know what to make of her. Odessa grinned and offered him her hand. He let her help him stand, sheathing his sword.

“My friends,” he began.

“Are here,” a voice completed the sentence for him.

Odessa turned to find four more people who had similar features to Yush standing not far away. All of them were bigger than Yush by a head and shoulders. Only two carried weapons. She eyed the ax and bow, noting that they both had been repaired at least once.

The one who spoke lifted his ax. “You should not walk alone in the woods.”

Odessa ignored the jab. “I’m just traveling. I’m not going to hurt anyone.”

“No,” he said. “You aren’t.” To the one standing at his right, he said, “Take her dagger.”

A flash of panic went through her before she realized he meant the lord’s dagger at her waist. Odessa held up both hands and let him slip the knife from its sheath. A swift kick to the back of her knee sent her to the ground and an elbow at her back dragged a loud ‘ow’ out of her mouth. Odessa lifted her head and found an ax at her throat.

Yush jerked forward and put his hand on the ax’s handle. He started talking quickly in a language that rumbled out in sharp, staccato intervals that felt vaguely familiar. Odessa looked between him and his friend while he talked, wondering what was going on. She held still, mindful of the sharp edge at her neck until Yush finished speaking.

His friend’s upper lip curled. “We’ll take her before the Lord Father. Let him pass judgment on the debt.”

A hand gripped the back of her shirt and jerked her to standing. That same hand swatted at her back, pushing her to follow the one she assumed was their leader.

Yush fell into step beside her. “I have done what I can for you. Its a day and night’s walk to camp.”

“No talking to the prisoner,” the leader barked.

“Yes, Klij,” Yush replied. He gave Odessa one last look, then stepped away.

They didn’t bind her, which she found interesting. Klij must not have considered her a threat. That was good. Odessa could work with that. They also hadn’t thought to check her boot, which was also good.

She eyed Yush’s back while they walked. Either he was too scared to realize she had two weapons or he was keeping that information from the apparent leader. Klij walked at the front. His axe was thrown casually over his shoulder. She didn’t have a name for the two marching behind him. Odessa did learn that the one at her back, the biggest of them all, was named Jazuk. Jazuk didn’t talk much. In fact, none of them spoke very often. They formed ranks around Odessa with a focus that made her wonder what they were doing in the woods.

The group stopped after a few hours. Not to make camp, but to pass around a small sack of dried meat. Odessa wasn’t offered any food from the sack, nor was she offered a drink from their canteen. Her captors took turns resting for half hour periods while she contemplated what she wanted to do.

She considered escaping while they rested. Odessa wasn’t sure she would get very far. Not only because Jazuk kept close to her, but also because one of them had a bow and she didn’t know how good a shot they were. Odessa made it this far without being wounded by an arrow and she’d like to keep that habit going.

Klij did not let them rest for very long. He physically yanked Yush to standing. “Get up, you layabouts!”

The sun sank low, and then beneath the horizon. With the clouds covering the sky, there was no moonlight to guide their path. Klij ordered for torches to be lit and kept marching them forward. They climbed a large, steep hill and walked the ridge until Klij led them into a deep, dark valley that cut through a narrow pass in the mountains.

Odessa kept waiting for them to make camp for the night. The sun set hours ago and the temperature fell quickly. As the hours rolled by and she realized that they definitely weren’t stopping. A day and a night’s walk, Yush said, meaning an entire day and night.

Her feet were aching in her boots and the cold sapped her energy. The warden’s mantle made her strong, but not invincible. Odessa might not need food and water to survive, but she could still feel the emptiness in her stomach and the way her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. Sooner than she would like, the discomfort came to the point that Odessa needed to reach out for help.

It would be easier if she was in direct contact with the earth, but Odessa could make do. She waited until they reached a straight, clear path and let her power unfurl. As she expected, pieces of the threads were frayed and there were whole sections that were missing. What she didn’t expect was the inner lights of the people around her to be so...strange.

Most of the life force within Middle Earth was composed of orange and white. Its peoples were reflective of that force. Odessa had never seen such deep blue inner lights. The color was so dark, she could barely make it out against the night. In most beings, the life force tended towards spherical. This was not the case with her captors. Their inner light looked more like a stalagmite shooting up from somewhere near their bellies.

Odd.

The wind blew hard and Odessa shivered. She squeezed her arms tighter around her body and focused. The earth answered her call as if from far away and the flow of power felt more like a trickle. Slowly, her body warmed. There really wasn’t much she could do for her mouth unless the heavy cloud cover above created a bout of rain. Still, the relief was palpable.

She thanked the earth and let her hold on it go. When her vision came back into focus, Odessa peered past the flickering torches to find that they were headed for an edge in the treeline. More cold wind blew, bringing the fall of snow from the mountains that were now behind them.

Odessa followed Klij with Jazuk ambling at her back. He was starting to show the first signs of fatigue. She could hear his breaths growing labored and he was giving her a bit more space. She looked to the others, finding that they were also growing weary. If she was going to run, she needed to do so before they reached the treeline. Her odds were better in a forest rather than an open field.

A sound wafted to her ears. It was a rumble. Or, a roar. She couldn’t decide which, but it felt...big. Very big. Odessa looked up at the sky where the snow was falling more steady. No. Not snow. Snow was cold. What felt on her face was touched with ambient heat. She held out her hand and caught a few flakes that she rubbed between her fingers. It was ash. Odessa stared at her hand in confusion until Jazuk knocked her from behind.

“Keep walking,” he grunted.

Odessa hadn’t realized that she stopped. She eagerly cleared the treeline and walked right into a sea of stumps from trees that had been cut down. They dotted the field between the treeline and a faraway mountain.

Except it wasn’t a mountain. Mountains didn’t gurgle and smoke. They didn’t spew lava down their sides. Fire didn’t wander all along their base. Odessa felt her breath catch as she realized what happened days ago and why the earth’s threads were suddenly so torn and ragged.

A scrape of a boot against stone caught her attention. She turned to find Rune straightening from where he’d climbed the ladder. He was wearing a heavier wool version of his uniform, though the floppy hat was the same. He touched it to ensure it was still in place.

“Buona sera,” Odessa murmured in greeting.

“Good evening,” Rune replied after a short, confused beat. He came to stand next to her and leaned his forearms on the wall. “What are you doing up here?”

“Just...looking.”

“Looking for what?”

Odessa shrugged. “I have no idea.”

He stood with her quietly while the wind blew around them. “I heard you’re leaving in the morning.”

Odessa’s mouth spread into a grin. “I should not be surprised that word got around to you that fast.”

“Heard it at The Black Stirrup. Russ was talking about it.”

“Ah.”

Odessa should have expected that Rutinia would tell Russ. They were spending a lot of time together after that night in the hollow. In her walks through the city, Odessa caught them strolling arm in arm several times. Their conversation was short, and Rutinia did not question Odessa’s decision. In fact, she admitted that she expected Odessa to leave the city much faster after Elenna’s wedding. If not for Lord Ertan and the prospect of more apate skulking about, Rutinia would have been right.

“Another late night with Lord Wystrom?” Odessa asked, needing something to talk about that wouldn’t make her work to push back tears. She hadn’t even set foot out of the city and already she was missing it.

Rune’s eyes roamed the countryside. “Uh huh. He’s trying to figure out what to do with Lord Ertan’s lands and title. He never married, you know.”

“I heard,” she said softly. “Is he still going to build the addition to the gate?”

“Guess so. Haven’t heard otherwise.” He sounded so...dejected.

Odessa touched his arm. “Are you well?”

“Me? I’m well.” He pass a hand over his hat. “I can tell he’s sad.”

“Who?”

“Lord Wystrom.”

“Ah.”

Rune was quiet for several heartbeats. “I know he misses Lady Elenna. He is under a lot of stress with Lord Ertan going missing.” Another pause. “The cold months are coming.”

“Ah,” she said again. “The greenhouse is almost complete.”

“It is complete,” he murmured. “Finished just yesterday.”

“That’s good news!”

Rune did not look like he thought it was good news. She peered at him until the bounds of propriety were stretched towards rudeness before letting her eyes go back to the landscape. The moon was nearly full. It cast blue light over the tall grass and lit up the path out of the city. The shadows were not quite as deep on nights like this.

“He’s sad.”

“You said that.”

Rune shifted his weight. “I look at him every day and all I see is this sad old man. He’s a powerful lord. He owns the whole city. What does he have to be sad about?”

Odessa considered his words. “His daughter just moved two day’s ride away. A senior lord and counselor is gone. No one knows if there will be another frost. He has quite a bit to be sad about, don’t you think?”

Rune scoffed. “He won’t make decisions! People come to him and ask him things and he won’t tell them what to do.”

Realization came to her. “Ah.”

“Stop saying that,” he snapped.

“My apologies,” Odessa murmured.

She took a breath and tried to think about how she wanted to say the thing that she was thinking. Odessa might not actively get involved in the lives of the people she was protecting, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t observing them. It didn’t matter that he was a lord. Wystrom was a human and his power didn’t exempt him from loss.

“He’ll come back to himself,” she said, eventually. “Give him time.”

“We don’t have time,” Rune muttered. “The cold is coming.”

Gently, Odessa pressed her senses against him. His whole body lit up with the cool light of worry. She searched for and found the ever present ball of hope that never quite went away no matter how deeply it was buried. Quietly and firmly, Odessa encouraged the little ball to grow bigger so that it overtook the worry.

Rune’s body visibly relaxed. He drew in a full breath and let it out slowly. The tension in his eyes softened and grew somewhat sleepy. Odessa turned her head to hide her smile.

“Where will you go?”

Odessa was not surprised by the question. Everyone she said goodbye to that day—Rutinia, Brint, Ridder—they all wanted to know where she was going. Her answer was always the same. “I don’t know yet.”

“You don’t know?”

“No.”

He was staring at her with a look on his face that was deeply familiar. Odessa kept her attention on the plain and let him stare.

“Don’t you think,” he began, “that is a little dangerous?”

“Probably no more dangerous than going out on my own.”

Rune nodded. “I agree.” His head tilted to the side, as if the thought just occurred to him. “Why are you going alone? Why even go at all?”

“Because its time,” she replied easily.

“Time for what?”

“Time to move on.”

Rune scratched a nail over his eyebrow. “How many times have you moved on?”

“Many, many times.”

“That sounds lonely.”

“It can be.”

“Why do you do it?”

She almost said, its my job. The admission would only open up the door for more questions that she just couldn’t answer. Being a warden was a singular occupation, not because she only stayed a short time in one place, but because she had no one to talk about it with other than Mika. They hadn’t seen each other in...Odessa couldn’t remember how long. She hoped her letter would find its way to her friend soon. She also hoped Mika gave her a reply this time.

“Its in my nature,” Odessa lied with an easy smile.

Rune laughed absently. “I couldn’t do it. I’ve never even wanted to leave Lossarnach.”

“Its a wonderful place to live.”

“And yet, you don’t want to stay.”

Odessa tossed him another easy smile. “I’ll come back some day.”

Rune eyed her. “No. I don’t think you will.”

She shrugged and pushed from the wall. “I have to get packed.”

He remained where he was, leaning on his arms. “Safe travels.”

Odessa acknowledged his words with a short nod. “Give Lord Wystrom a little extra support, will you? He needs it.”

“Yes, my lady.”

“Not a lady,” she replied without conviction.

Odessa climbed down the ladder and made the walk back to the cottage for the final time. At this time of night, the open market was nearly deserted. She could see the ghost of the tracks left behind by the stalls. A faint scent of bread still hung in the air. She crossed into the shopping district, passing the jeweler on the corner. Another of Brint’s masterpieces was displayed in the window. Blue glass molded into the shape of a single, open flower about the size of her palm. It hung from a simple strip of leather. She paused to admire how it glittered in the moonlight before moving on.

On the other end of the block, Odessa passed the Tea House. Its white curtains were closed against the night. Tomorrow, it would open as it always did. Lord and ladies would go about their day. Odessa wouldn’t be there to see them in their finery.

She kept walking until she reached the split in the path. To her right, the keep sat in shadow against the starry sky. She hoped it would still be standing tall when she returned.

Odessa wandered to the left and up the path to the craftsman’s district. The flowers on the path were still blooming despite the cold. She touched the fragile buds with her fingers, memorizing the texture. An inhale brought with it a sweet, floral scent that she knew she would associate with Lossarnach as long as she lived.

The cottage was as she left it. Odessa had been truthful with Russ when she said she hadn’t yet packed. It was her tradition to put it off until the very last hour. It was also tradition to start with her projects. She knelt by the hearth and lit a fire. When the flames flickered merrily, she got to her feet and went over to her work table.

Odessa piled up her sketches and carried them over to the fireplace. One by one, she looked them over and tossed them in. The dress pattern and the diagrams of the trenches were the first to go, follow by the rough outlines of a furnace vent and the water wheel. Finally, Odessa held up a single page with a more detailed drawing she pretended she couldn’t remember sketching. Rough charcoal lines made smooth with her fingers pulled together to form a face that was looking directly at the observer. It was a good likeness, but it lacked the intensity she knew he could call forth without a single word.

Every time she thought about Adar, a little knot pulled tight in her chest. The flash of pain confirmed for her that their separation was a good thing. He was a distraction she didn’t need, no matter how many times she replayed their kiss in her mind.

Rising, Odessa put the drawing back into her folio. She stacked all of her work together and carried it to the bed where she laid it down in a neat pile. Afterwards, she emptied her vanity and pulled everything out from under her bed. These items were also placed into neat little piles. When she was done, Odessa looked at the sum total of her life in Lossarnach. It was pitifully small.

From the chest, she pulled the sack and a roll of small tools that she carried with her when she traveled. She learned very quickly that she didn’t want to be out in the woods at night without a fire starter or a small hatchet. Odessa opened the sack and started tossing things in haphazardly. It wouldn’t do any good to try to organize the various items. They’d only end up swirling around each other in the deceptively dark void a few seconds after she dropped them in. Task completed, Odessa closed up the sack and put it on her vanity.

She went to the door and scooped up the bucket. The walk along the cliff to the water pump was silent, save for the wind that occasionally blew cold and quick. While Odessa filled the bucket, she stared at the soft glow coming from Brint’s workshop. Like Rutinia, he hadn’t been at all surprised that she was leaving. He’d simply wiped his bald head with a cloth and told her to be careful.

Ridder, by contrast, was very surprised. Most of the gossip about her being a bad omen faded for more interesting stories. With Adar out of the city, she was no longer attached to any kind of mystery. Ridder assumed she would start getting involved with the gate addition, as she had with the tunnel. I was almost looking forward to arguing with you about stone placement, he said. Odessa’s simply told him that she trusted him to put the stones exactly where they needed to go.

With the bucket full, she waddled back to the cottage. Inside, she poured half the water into a pot and let it heat by the fire. She took off her clothes and unwrapped her hair. Thoroughly, methodically, she washed every patch of skin followed by every strand of hair. There wouldn’t be much opportunity for a bath on the road. When she was sure that there wasn’t a speck of dirt left to scrub clean, Odessa redressed and sat on the hearth until her hair was dry.

A yawn pulled her mouth so wide her jaw popped. Reluctantly, she admitted that she needed to get a little sleep if she wanted to make good time the next day. Odessa laid down on the bare bed and stared through the window until she fell into a soft slumber that lasted until the sky turned pink with the morning.

She woke easily. Sitting up, Odessa re-wrapped her hair and tugged on her boots. She used the cold water left over from the night before to wipe the sleep from her face. After tossing out the dirty water, she picked up her sack. With both hands, she pulled on the ties. The opening closed tight, then folded in on itself. It kept folding, until the sack could fit snugly in her palm. She opened the loop made by its closure and slipped it over her head.

Odessa tucked the sack beneath the collar of her shirt and made sure her dagger was in her boot. The dagger she took from the lord at Elenna’s picnic sat on her vanity in the new sheath she found at the open market. Odessa slipped the sheath onto her belt, just in case. At the door, she took one last look around before stepping outside and pulling the door closed.

It was early and most people in the city were just beginning their day. Odessa took the most direct route to the gate. She didn’t stop to look back as she passed through it. Odessa walked past carts and horses. She walked past groups of workmen. She walked past mothers carrying baskets and children on her hips. She walked until the people thinned out. Until the path turned towards the woods. Until the trees covered the skies ahead. Odessa walked until she walked alone.

Odessa stopped just past midday to rest. She sat down beneath a tree and leaned against its trunk. Here, she listened to the sounds of nature, including the far away rush of water. She forgot how peaceful it could be to wander. City life had its benefits, but there was nothing quite like the hush of the forest.

Odessa closed her eyes and let her senses roam. The threads here were looser than in the city, but they held strong. She searched the surrounding area for people, finding that she was alone. Odessa let her power dissipate and blinked away the threads so that the forest came back into focus.

She tugged the sack from around her neck and shook it so that it came more or less back to its normal size. Reaching in, Odessa dug deep. Her fingers slipped past fabric and leather until they met cool stone. She grasped the gem and pulled it free from the sack. It looked exactly the same as it had when Hades gave it to her.

The quartz refracted the light into a myriad of colors on its surface. Odessa turned it between her fingers, watching blue and green and yellow and red roll atop one another.

Folding the gem into her hand, Odessa held it to her chest and thought about her mantle. She thought about the power it gave her. The responsibility. She rested on the knowledge that she was here for a purpose. Destroy the apate. Maintain the balance.

Tell me where to go.

Odessa opened her eyes. Daylight streamed through the trees above, touching on grass and stone and dirt. Another light moved among the sun’s rays. It emanated from the gem in her hand, moving...south. Odessa was supposed to go south.

She put the gem back in the sack and pulled it compact again. After slinging it around her neck, Odessa rose and dusted off the dirt from her trousers. She was just picking a rogue stick from her hem when the entire earth shook with the loudest boom she’d ever heard. All around, the earth trembled and shook. Odessa grabbed onto the tree and held tight while she looked wildly around for the source of the noise.

The fierce shaking stopped, leaving something screaming silently behind. Her equilibrium shifted on its axis. Odessa’s stomach rolled over and she dry heaved into the grass. It took many minutes for her to stand again.

Something awful happened. It was coming from the south.

“Guess I didn’t need the gem,” she muttered.

Sparks of light flashed behind her eyelids. The pain was slower to come. It spread from her cheek up and into her temple. A dull throb that forced her face into a perpetual wince. Odessa lost her balance and barely managed to stay standing. More pain pulsed all the way from her nose to her temple. Her eye watered, obscuring her vision on her right side so that she didn’t see Ertan’s elbow coming in for a second hit. She cried out and fell back into the grass. Ertan pressed his advantage, lifting a boot to kick her in the side.

Dagger in hand, Odessa held it pointed straight up at the afternoon sky. The blade went cleanly through leather, skin, tendon, and bone. She grunted with the impact and held tightly to the handle. The momentum of Ertan’s leg forced the dagger’s hilt into the ground. A sting went through her hand and wrist, then up into her elbow. Her fingers reflexively let go. Odessa watched with horror as Ertan hopped away with it still stuck into the sole of his boot.

Her hands slipped along the grass until she got enough traction to gain her feet. Odessa wasted no time rushing at Ertan. She wrapped her arms around his waist and took him to the ground. She climbed atop him and balled her hand up into her fist. She punched hard across his face without a single moment of hesitation. Ertan let out a loud ‘ah!’, spitting broken teeth. She reared back and hit him again. And, again.

When his eyes were rolling lazily around beneath fluttering eyelids, Odessa crawled down to his feet and grabbed the dagger. She jerked it forcefully, only succeeding in pulling it free an inch. Odessa tried again with the same result. The hard leather sole simple wouldn’t let it go.

Lord Ertan began to come around. He kicked haphazardly at her with both feet. The kicks were no where near as powerful as his punches were a few minutes before, but they were still annoying.

“Quit it,” Odessa groused. “I want my knife back.”

She gripped the hilt in both hands and worked it back and forth. The blade cut into Ertan’s foot on either side. Blood squished from out of the boot’s sole. Behind her, he screamed in pain. She twisted her body and gave the dagger a good pull. Ertan screamed again and his kicks gained intensity. He pushed up to his elbows, then tried to roll over to crawl away. The movement spun the blade free.

“Aha!” she cried, holding it aloft. She was so satisfied with getting the dagger back that the kick to her shoulder took her off guard. “Ow! Wait until I’m ready, will you?”

He kicked her again. Odessa caught his ankle in her armpit and held it still so she could stab the dagger into his thigh. She dragged the blade down until it met his knee. More inky smoke wafted from the wound, pulled along by the breeze. It lingered around Ertan’s body, wrapping the two of them in dark fog. The balmy air grew cold. Odessa’s skin prickled with a shiver. She wrinkled her nose at the rank smell.

Ertan wriggled free and spun onto his hands and knees. He growled at her with a mouth open so wide it unhinged his jaw. The skin suit he wore was beginning to peel around its edges. A whole section around his mouth hung loose below his chin. It was an ugly sight and the daylight made it even uglier.

Odessa adjusted her grip on her dagger and got to standing. She waved at Ertan with it. “Come on! Let’s go!”

“Ready to die so soon?” he muttered as he stood.

“No,” she snapped. “Just tired of looking at your ugly face.”

He squared up with her. “You won’t be looking at anything in a moment.”

“Big words for someone whose skin is literally falling off,” Odessa shot back. “Even if you get away from me—which you won’t—that face you’re wearing is finished. And, so is the evil you’re perpetuating here.”

Ertan threw his head back and laughed. “You think defeating me going to stop it? You think killing one apate is going to stop the darkness that is coming?”

“I’ve killed several of you lately,” she replied in her driest voice. “That’s gotta put a damper on it.”

He laughed again. “ My kind are just one of many wheels turning, warden. The one we serve commands legions.”

Odessa paused, then shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. Let’s just get on with it.”

Ertan rolled his eyes. Sort of. His eyelids were kind of flaking away. He lunged for her again. They met in a flurry of fists and harsh sounds torn from angry throats. Odessa had centuries of experience and training, but she could not match Ertan’s strength. Somehow, he’d gained access to an exceeding amount of power and he was using it to his best advantage.

He kneed her in the stomach, knocking the air out of her lungs. She doubled over and wheezed. Her diaphragm simply wouldn’t budge so that she could draw breath. Pain dug into her, giving her no defense against Ertan snatching away the dagger. She coughed a groan while she watched it fly away into the grass.

A gnarled, peeling hand grabbed her around the throat and lifted her into the air. Her nails scrabbled at it, tearing away flesh to reveal the bones beneath. She kicked the air while Ertan carried her away from the cottage towards the cliff. Odessa thought she could feel it the moment her legs swung over empty air.

A rush of panic went through her. Hot and embarrassing and desperate to figure out how to get out of Ertan’s grasp. She could not let her life be ended by such a disgusting, worthless creature. Not again.

“I slay you,” Ertan slurred around a mouth that had no lips, “in his honor.”

Odessa was just about to let out her very last scream when Ertan’s whole body jerked backwards. Odessa went with him. His wheeling arms dropped her on blessedly solid ground. She gasped for air, looking around for her savior.

Russ grappled with Ertan near the cliff’s edge. He had both arms wrapped around Ertan’s body in an attempt to subdue him. Russ was strong, but there was no way he could hold Ertan down Odessa ran for the dagger, dropping into a slide to pluck it from the grass. She planted one hand into the dirt and used every bit of strength in her right thigh to swing around and get up again.

Ertan, his head more skeleton than human, crouched over Russ. His arm was pulled back in preparation to give the man below a hard punch. Odessa rushed over as fast as her legs could go. She half-believed she wouldn’t make it in time to spare Russ a blow that might kill him. No. She had time. She could make it.

Resolute fingers grasped Ertan’s risk and pulled hard enough to yank the arm out of socket. In the same motion, she plunged the dagger into Ertan’s back. His skull whipped back and he loosed an angry howl of death while the weapon did what it was made to do. The apate inside Ertan was sucked into its white light, leaving the bones behind.

Odessa gave the dagger a little shake to get it out from between a set of vertebrae. She pushed the bones aside and offered Russ her hand.

Russ, poor man, stared at her with wild, disbelieving eyes. “What was that?”

Odessa thought about lying, but she was sore and tired from nearly dying. “A demon.”

It was the simplest way to describe them. Technically, they weren’t anything but an idea—a horrible idea—taking shape. Doubt, shame, horror. Fear. The apate embodied all of that and more.

Russ hesitated. His breath came in and out with a speed that hinted at panic. Wide eyes flicked to Ertan’s bones and back to Odessa. He took her hand. “Thank you.”

“No,” she replied. “Thank you. I would be bleeding to death on the rocks, if not for you.”

“I saw. Why was he…?”

Odessa didn’t need him to finish the question. “I found out what he was.”

Russ eyed her speculatively. “Was he always a—a demon?”

“No. He just had the unfortunate luck of crossing paths with one.”

Odessa could not hope to know when, exactly, Lord Ertan had been possessed. Only that he was no longer himself every day after Elenna’s picnic. Every word he said, every action he took, after that day was the work of darkness.

He continued to eye her speculatively. “How do you know so much about demons?”

Odessa gave him a flat look. “Its my job.”

“Your job?” he asked incredulously. “You’re so small. How can you possibly fight them?”

“I’m holding a magical dagger, Russ.”

He looked from her to the weapon. “That is a good point.”

Odessa put the dagger back in her boot and stood with a long sigh. “Did anyone else see?”

Russ shrugged. “It was just me walking up the path.”

“Good,” she replied. Then, “Help me with these bones.”

“What?” he squawked.

She gestured to the road. “We don’t want anyone finding them, do we? How are we going to explain all this?”

“We?!”

“Yes, we.” Odessa waved her finger between them. “We’re in this together now.”

“I just saved your life,” he whined.

“And, I saved your life in return. Now, we have to hide the evidence. No one is going to believe what actually happened here. Trust me.”

Russ appeared to be weighing his options. He looked from Odessa, to the bones, to the road, and back to the bones. “Where would we put them?”

Knowing that she’d won the argument, Odessa picked up the skull, spine, and rib cage. “I have an idea. You get his legs and come with me.”

A short hike later and they were carrying the bones into Teig’s cave. Odessa made it to the first bend before she remembered that caves were, by their very nature, dark.

“You have a light?”

Russ cut a look at her. He unceremoniously dropped his set of bones to the ground and went to where one of the unlit torches hung on the wall. He pulled it free and touched the rag wrapped end. Sucking his teeth, Russ reached into a pocket and took out a small leather canteen. He poured the contents on it before taking a swig and offering it to Odessa.

“No, thank you.”

He shrugged and pushed the canteen back into his pocket. From the other pocket, he produced a pair of rocks. He pressed the torch between his thighs and clacked the rocks together. They threw off a spark that, after several tries, caught on the damp rag and spread out to throw firelight all around.

Russ lifted the torch high and bent down to pick up the bones. “Lead the way?”

With the torch at her back, Odessa drew from her memory to find the room where Teig managed the majority of his business. It was a ruin now. No fires burned from the vents. No people carted boxes to and fro. Even the tunnel was closed up.

Perfect, she thought. Odessa tossed the bones over the railing. Beside her. Russ followed suit.

“What now?”

Odessa started walking back the way they came. “Now, we forget it ever happened and hope no one decides to reopen Teig’s smuggling ring.”

He caught up with her, the torch held between them. “Are there more of those...things?”

“Not exactly like that one,” Odessa replied. “Most of them don’t take possession of humans. It requires a lot of knowledge and power.”

She remembered how strong Ertan was during the fight. His body might have started to fall apart once she stabbed him with the dagger, but it took way too long. If not for Russ, he would have bested her.

“Have you killed a lot of demons?”

“Yes. Many.”

“You said its your job.”

“It is.”

“Are there more of you?”

Technically.

“No. Just me.”

“Why?”

Odessa stopped near the mouth of the cave. “Why?”

“Yes,” Russ confirmed. “Why do you have to kill them? Why do they exist in the first place?”

It was a question almost every warden asked at least once. Phil said he was never told. The Fates gave only half answers cloaked in riddles. Even Mika really didn’t know.

“They just do,” Odessa said. It was the only answer Hades ever gave.

“And,” Russ replied, “they are evil.”

“Very evil. The worst kind of evil. They embody every doubt, every secret shame, every unkind thought you’ve ever had.”

His expression grew troubled. “There are more of them in Lossarnach?”

Russ’ voice was a small, worried thing. Odessa sympathized with him. In her early years after taking the mantle, she often thought about all the damage the apate did to people. Sometimes they were able to eat the soul whole before she found and exterminated them. Odessa thought she’d made some progress in finishing them off for good. Now, it felt like they were everywhere she looked.

“I don’t know,” she said eventually. “I’ve killed more in the last few months than I’ve killed in a long time.”

He stared at her. “Does that mean something?”

“Maybe,” she sighed tiredly. “Maybe not.”

They began the long walk back to the cottage. Russ was quiet for most of the way. When they reached the crest of the hill, he said, “I can’t tell anyone, can I?”

“I think we’ve established that no one would believe you.”

Russ nodded, eyes far away. “Will you keep killing them?”

“Yes.”

“For how long?”

“For as long as it takes.” Unlike Mika, Odessa had no deal with Hades to end her service.

He turned his eyes to her. They sparked with intensity. “You’ll keep Lossarnach safe?”

Odessa stopped in her yard and replied, “For a while longer. I’ll move on shortly.”

Russ pulled back. “You plan to leave?”

She nodded. “I do.”

“When?”

“Soon.”

“How soon?”

Odessa looked out past the cliff’s edge. A cool breeze was coming from the south, signaling the coming end of summer and the return of the cool months. The mountains would keep most of the winter from Lossarnach’s borders. Lord Wystrom already accounted for what they couldn’t keep at bay.

“Soon.”

Russ touched her arm. “Not too soon, eh?”

She smiled at him. “Not too soon.”

Russ left Odessa standing on her doorstep. She was confident he wouldn’t say a word about what happened that afternoon. That didn’t mean she was safe. Lord Wystrom was definitely going to notice one of his most senior lords missing. There would be an investigation. Someone was bound to have seen him stumbling through the city, wounded and filled with rage. It would be new fuel to the old fire of local gossip.

Odessa went into the cottage and stepped over to her work table. She grabbed a piece of paper and a quill. Then, she wrote a letter to the only person who might understand.

Mika,

Did you receive my gift last year? I thought you might like to scandalize the local nobility—again. When I see you next I’ll show you the new dress I made. You’ll say its too modest, even for the wedding I wore it to. Not mine, of course. A girl here in Lossarnach. She’s gone off to live with her husband now. She’s very sweet. I think you would like her.

The apate grow in number and strength. Do you feel it? Can you sense what is happening? I felled something evil today. Something strong. I fear there are bigger things than our mutual enemies working to poison the realm.

Here, she paused and stared at her words. It didn’t feel at all like she’d written them. Odessa paused again.

I am tired, Mika. Wish me strength as I go to meet this next battle.

If you have any knowledge to share, I welcome it.

Odessa

She looked it over a second time and put her quill down. There was nothing left that needed to be said. Mika knew the struggle she faced. She knew the weariness the mantle could bring, especially when it was time to move on.

Odessa waited until the ink was dry, then began to carefully fold the paper. She pressed it crosswise and diagonal, carefully easing it into the form of a bird that fit into the palm of her hand. This, she carried to the door.

Standing at her threshold, Odessa knelt and pressed a hand to the earth. She absorbed a little bit of power from the earth while holding the folded letter to her mouth. When Odessa felt like she had enough strength to send the letter off, she blew lightly on it. From her mouth came a soft breath of orange light. It seeped into the paper bird. At first, nothing happened. Then, the head twitched. The wings fluttered. It shook itself in the same way its real life counterpart shook off morning dew. The letter took to the air.

The front entrance was open to the public. Lord Wystrom funded a library and an art gallery, neither of which Odessa took the time to visit. There were numerous side entrances for staff to walk in and out. Each entrance had its own assigned guard. Odessa had doubts that they would let her in, even if she lied to them about why she was there. She considered using the gardener’s entrance. The guards in the garden were less likely to think anything of her arrival. Odessa also knew where the staircase led, which would give her a small advantage in locating Ertan’s quarters. The disadvantage was how often she’d used the entrance before. Anyone working on that side of the keep would definitely recognize her, which came with the risk of becoming an object of suspicion once Lord Ertan’s death was discovered.

Odessa sat on a low wall while she considered her options. Sneaking around was not her strong suit. She lacked the finesse to make herself unseen and unheard. It would be easier if she could simply attack the problem directly. Somehow, Odessa doubted Lord Wystrom would just let her kill one of his lords, even if she had evidence that he was evil—which she didn’t. When an apate was—she hesitated to call it living—outside of a human body, its dark nature was pretty obvious. Inside, however, it could disguise itself so thoroughly that only someone with a warden’s power could tell the difference.

Elenna would believe her, but she was leaving for Lord Tivan’s estate this afternoon. Telling her involved revealing way too much information about who Odessa was and her core mission. Something she swore she would not do. Odessa had to figure out how to get to Lord Ertan on her own. Merda.

Even with the keep mostly empty, people were still coming and going. Odessa watched them with interest. Most were wearing the simple tunics and dresses common to the working class. Yards and yards of fabric weren’t conducive to housework or tending to animals. They all seemed to be walking from the same part of the keep. The men carried large bundles on their backs. The women carried baskets. A few of the children were snacking on bread.

She inhaled when her brain caught up with what she was seeing. The kitchen. They were coming from the kitchen. Odessa closed her eyes, remembering that Lord Wystrom ordered all the leftover food from the feast to be given to the peasantry. She looked around her again. Twenty or thirty people were walking away from the keep with at least thirty more heading in the other direction. Clearly, word about the food was getting around.

The large group of people gathered at the kitchen doors made the single person coming from the front entrance more noticeable. Adar’s gait was slow and measured while he descended the steps into the courtyard. He, too, observed the people coming and going.

He was wearing his armor again. Odessa grieved the return to his usual dress. She wanted to see him as he had been the night before. She wanted to feel him as she had the night before. Looking at him as he was now, Odessa would never have guessed that he held such passion inside. She recalled the heat of his mouth and the texture of his scars. How his hands held her tight to him, molding her body against his. She could feel the slide of his tongue along hers even now.

He saw her and the direction of his path shifted. Odessa released a long breath. She felt too warm to speak to him. Too filled with remembered touch. When he came close, she stood and pushed her hands into her pockets so that he wouldn’t see them tremble.

“Good morning,” she greeted. “Are you coming from another meeting with Lord Wystrom?”

“I am,” Adar replied. “My last.”

“Last?”

His weight shifted and she noticed the pack hanging on his shoulder. “Yes. My last. I am returning to my children.”

All the warmth inside her dissolved. “Oh.”

The silence that followed her single word response felt as heavy as sodden wool. Odessa watched him watching her. His expression was too closed off for her to guess at what he might be thinking. She felt unbalanced by the return of the distance between them. It confused her. Made her question whether or not she accurately remembered the night before.

“I have stayed here far longer than I should,” he said, eventually. “It is time I found us a home.”

Of course, she thought. He has people depending on him. Odessa swallowed down the inclination to ask him to stay just a little while longer. Another day. Another week. However long it took to figure out her emerging feelings. She looked away, hoping to conceal her embarrassment and the sting of rejection. Selfish girl, this is a good thing. You were getting too close.

“I...wish you a safe journey.”

Adar tilted his head and assessed her again. He held out his hand. After a second’s hesitation, Odessa slipped her fingers into his. He gently pulled her a step closer and brought her hand to his mouth. The kiss he pressed to the back of it could have been considered polite if his stare was any less intense.

Odessa’s body bloomed with awareness. She felt every point where they touched acutely.

“Namárië.”

Another Elvish word. One she did not need to translate.

“Ci vediamo…,” Odessa began, unable to acknowledge that her goodbye might be final, “la prossima volta.”

He held her hand just a moment longer before let her go and went on his way. Odessa turned so that she didn’t have to watch and, holding her hand to her chest, began to walk to the keep. She moved in a daze, reliving the last few minutes over and over. He was here. And, he was gone. Its a good thing, she told herself again.

She tried to focus on what she was doing—blending into the crowd as if she were just another person looking for a meal. A row of long tables sat just outside the kitchen entrance. A single staff monitored while a line formed for people to gather up a little from each table. She was young, not quite out of her teenage years. An anxious vigilance sat heavy in her eyes. Her body was in constant motion and she seemed to hover over the tables in readiness.

Odessa sent out her senses to the girl. She was definitely worried about something. But, what? Odessa let her senses move around, picking through the throng of people. A man coming up behind her caught her attention. He was...calculating. Thinking hard. Measuring his steps and his movements. The area around his hands was tinged with red.

A thief.

The girl was worried about someone taking more than their share. An understandable worry. One that Odessa was willing to capitalize on. She gave the man a subtle push, softening his emotions and boosting his confidence so that he would feel like everything would go exactly as he planned.

The man approached the table and, at first, he took only as much as everyone else. As he moved down the table, his eyes went to the girl several times. Just as he was heading for the second table, he tugged a large cloth from beneath his tunic and threw it down. With a sweep of his arm, he piled a large number of vegetables atop it. A cry of anger alerted the girl to what he was doing and she rushed around the table to stop him.

“Della!” she yelled. “Help! Thief!”

A large woman who could only be Della flew out of the kitchen and the pair of them grabbed for the man’s bundle. People around them tried to help, although there were others that took advantage of the distraction. Odessa was one of those people.

She hustled around the tables and into the kitchen where a large stew pot was boiling over. Steam sizzled into the fire, sending smoke all around. She was lucky there was no one else in the room, otherwise she might be embarrassed by how she tripped over her feet in a mad dash for the door.

Odessa got up, rubbing her pained elbow. Mid-wince, she noticed a familiar box sitting on the counter. Her lips pulled up into a pleased grin and she reflexively tucked the box into her pocket. Slower this time, she walked around the massive island and opened the only other door in the room. Cool air rushed at her, drawing her into the hall. Odessa closed the door and looked both ways. Again, she was lucky that no one was walking nearby. She was safe to take a few seconds to orient herself.

She’d never been in this part of the keep, but she knew the kitchens were near the residential wing. If this keep was like the other keeps she’d been in, the kitchens were usually a floor below the lords’ rooms. The top floor was entirely reserved for the ruling lord’s family, which included Elenna’s rooms. And, there was usually...she peered around.

“Yes,” she breathed. “A staircase.”

Odessa went to it and stood at the bottom, listening intently. When there were no telltale footsteps, she quickly ascended to the next floor. The stone walls gave way to delicately carved wooden paneling and a long row of windows topped with stained glass. Opposite the windows were more doors than Odessa anticipated. She cringed. Trying each and everyone was surefire way to get caught.

She tucked herself into a corner while she chewed on her lip. Maybe she didn’t have to try them all. Maybe she just had to rule out a couple. Odessa closed her eyes and let her inner mind reach out from her body, just as she had done minutes before. The image that came to her was somewhat blurred by the stone and wood standing between her and her target. She frowned and pushed a little harder.

People were going about their daily lives behind the closed doors. Bathing, writing, reading, having sex. Odessa went room by room, ruling each out using the oddly distorted images that glowed with varying colors of orange. She kept going until she found one that was more distorted than the rest. Its edges were frayed and an inky darkness seeped from every angle. Lord Ertan, no doubt.

Odessa opened her eyes. He was behind the fourth door, sitting at a desk and rifling through paperwork. Her lips thinned with anger and she started down the hall. She only took three steps when a door a little further down opened and a maid stepped out. Odessa recognized her as the maid who helped Elenna with her wedding dress. Her step slowed and a vague sense of panic set in.

The maid looked up. “Odessa. What are you doing here?”

There was no good reason for Odessa to be in the residential wing, especially not with a dagger in her boot. She floundered for something to say.

“I...got a little turned around I think. I’m supposed to meet Elenna.”

Smiling, the maid pointed to the ceiling. “Its one more floor up. I’ll take you.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that. I can find my way.”

The maid’s smile turned sardonic. “If that were true, you would not be here. Come with me.”

Helplessly, Odessa followed the maid back to the staircase and up another floor. Being thwarted so easily was infinitely frustrating, especially when she was so close to doing what she came to do. As an afterthought, Odessa threw out a small bit of magic. Something she learned from Mika. It was not the most elegant of spells, but she’d performed it often enough to have confidence that it would work. Embers fell to the landing and dissipated. A human who walked over it wouldn’t notice a thing. An apate, however...would definitely notice. She stifled a smirk and kept following the maid.

She thought the maid might get her to the right floor and then go about her duties. That thought turned out to be incorrect. The maid walked with her to Elenna’s door. She even waited until her knock was answered to curtsy and head back the way they can. It looked like Ertan was going to get a second reprieve. She vowed he would not get another.

Elenna’s rooms were in a serious state of disorder. Boxes and trunks littered the floor, some piled near to the ceiling. Odessa was willing to wager most of them were full of her wardrobe. A bevy of servants rushed around to organize the chaos. No matter where Odessa stepped, she was in the way. After dodging the third harried maid, she angled around a large trunk and pressed herself against the wall next to the window.

To her relief, Elenna swept out of her bedroom. She pointed at a stack of wooden crates. “Those go in the wagon. Those, too.”

“Yes, my lady,” a servant replied. He picked the topmost wooden crate from the stack and carried it out of the room.

Odessa waved to get Elenna’s attention. “Busy morning?”

Elenna sighed dramatically and dusted unseen dirt from her skirt. It was made for traveling, with a hemline that barely touched her ankles. Beneath, she word a pair of shining, heavy boots. Her hair was pulled into several intricate braids that were pinned up off her neck.

“Very busy,” she said. “Though I slept in.”

Odessa caught the innuendo in her tone. “Sleep well?”

“Excellently, thank you. I wish we did not have to travel so soon. But, the harvest is coming and we need to begin preparations to take everything to market.”

Odessa never heard Elenna say anything like ‘take everything to market’. The way she said the words so casually told Odessa that she was repeating an earlier discussion. The tone of her words suggested that she was taking it seriously.

“Before I forget,” Odessa said as she pulled the golden rose hair pin from her pocket, “I need to return this to you.”

Elenna smiled and took the pin from her. She handed it off to one of the maids. “Please put this in my case.” Then, to Odessa, “I am not looking forward to riding in a carriage so long.”

“How far is Lord Tivan’s estate?”

“Two days’ ride,” Elenna answered. She then gasped and blurted. “You have not seen my saddle!”

Odessa paused, thinking, then said, “Right. The wedding saddle.”

“Yes. I had to rush the order, but its perfect.” She ushered Odessa over to a large trunk and opened it.

Settled between silk lined pillows was a saddle of deep brown leather. An artisan had likely spent a hundred hours tooling an intricate flow of wisteria all around the jockey seat and skirt. On either side of the horn, were the house names—Tivan and Wystrom. The seat was smooth and gleaming with fresh oil.

“Its beautiful,” Odessa said.

“Yes, I agree.”

“I’m surprised you haven’t already put it on a horse to parade it through town.”

Elenna shook her head. “The tradition is for arriving at the new home. Not leaving the old.”

The soft sadness in her statement caught Odessa’s attention. “How are you feeling about leaving?”

“I’m excited, of course,” Elenna said as she closed the trunk. “I’ll miss my father. And, I’ll miss living here.”

Odessa sympathized with her. There were a lot of things that she missed about her home. Olive trees did not grow in Middle Earth and, no matter how good the vintage, the wine never tasted as good. She missed her parents, and her little bed, and the smell foccacia baking in the kitchen. There were so many things that she could only carry within her memories.

More servants arrived. They began to systematically remove the boxes and trunks from the room. Elenna watched with a discerning eye, giving the occasional instruction. When she was satisfied with the progress, she gestured for Odessa to follow her into her bedroom. The larger space was much more empty than the anteroom. No boxes littered the floors. Through the open door, Odessa found the massive closet empty. Even the bed was stripped bare. Near the vanity was a stack of smaller trunks. The patina on the leather suggested years of use.

Elenna took the top two from the stack and put them on her empty vanity. The third, she opened. Elenna searched through them until she found a pouch made from a fabric of deep green. She closed the case and offered the pouch to Odessa.

“What is this?”

“A gift,” Elenna said. “Open it.”

Odessa pulled the pouch’s strings and turned it over into her palm. Out came a string of amber beads held together with golden links. It was the necklace she saw in the window at the jeweler’s all those months ago.

“It will match the dress you made. And, the veil, if you ever get to wear it again.”

“Its too much,” Odessa said, holding the necklace up to the light.

“No, its not,” Elenna asserted. She stepped closer. “You have been such a support all these years. I could never hope to pay you back.”

“I would never expect you to try.”

She smiled. “I know.”

Odessa pulled Elenna into a tight hug. “Thank you.”

“You are so welcome.”

Someone cleared their throat softly. “The carriage is ready for you, my lady.”

Elenna pulled away from Odessa and nodded at the maid. “Thank you.” She closed the jewelry case, saying, “Take these down, please. I will meet you shortly.”

“Yes, my lady.”

A group of maids scurried in to do as Elenna bade. They left Elenna and Odessa standing alone in a nearly empty room.

“Walk me down?”

“Of course.”

Elenna linked her arm in Odessa’s and, together, they took one last walk from her rooms, down the stairs, and out the front entrance of the keep. A carriage waited for them, pulled by four horses. Several wagons were lined up behind it. They were laden with baggage. A dozen guards stood at strategic locations. Lord Tivan was speaking with one at the front. He spotted them and his face lit up with a wide smile.

As they approached, he hurried over to greet Elenna with a kiss to her cheek. “Do you have everything you need?”

Elenna grinned. “Even if I did not, I think we would not have room for more.”

Lord Tiven eyed the wagons skeptically. “Perhaps we could fit one more dress.”

“Really?” She turned to Odessa. “Do you think we have time to go to Rutinia’s?”

Odessa laughed while Lord Tivan sent his wife a rueful look.

“Shall we go?” he asked.

Elenna’s eyes flicked back to the keep. “Yes. I think we should.” She touched Odessa’s arm. “You will come visit?”

Odessa nodded. “I will.”

Assured by Odessa’s answer, Elenna turned to Lord Tivan and let him lead her up into the carriage. She settled her skirts and waved at Odessa through the window. Odessa waved back. The driver called out to the horses and the carriage began to roll away. Odessa watched it go until it took the turn off the main drive. Then, she started running.

Odessa took the most direct route. Her feet took her through alleys, around the entrance to the Lower City, between the tea and linen shop, and through the open market towards the wall. A crowd gathered around the gate. Well-wishers waiting to give Elenna a final farewell. Odessa pushed through them until she got to the wall. Only after she climbed the ladder to the walkway above did she stop to breathe. Hands on her knees, she gasped and coughed until her lungs stopped burning. With a huge breath, Odessa straightened and adjusted the wrap covering her hair.

She stepped along the walkway until she stood above the gate. Here, she turned to focus on the road from the open market. In the distance, she could just barely see the carriage ambling along. The driver was going slowly, allowing the public to get a good look. As it came closer, Odessa spied Elenna waving from the open window.

People called out and there was as constant clatter of clapping hands. A child of maybe seven or eight ran alongside the carriage, some holding flowers out for Elenna to take. She tucked them gently into the crook of her arm, grinning so wide Odessa knew her cheeks had to ache.

The carriage approached the gate and the crowd parted to let the retinue through. Odessa went to the stone rail and watched it come out the other side. The driver called out and flicked the reins, ordering the horses to pick up speed.

Elenna’s head appeared at the window, her blue-green eyes taking one last look at her home. She found Odessa standing on the wall and lifted her hand. Odessa returned the gesture, holding it until Elenna pulled back into the carriage. She watched it go until it disappeared on the road.

The walk back to her cottage was slow. Fatigue weighed heavily on her shoulders. Usually, when Odessa was saying her farewells, it was her that was disappearing into the wilderness. Being the one remaining behind felt strange and disorienting. By the time she got back to the cabin, that strange feeling increased so much that she felt vaguely nauseous.

Safe behind her cottage door, she carefully tucked away the necklace into her trunk. From her pocket, she pulled the little box. Odessa thumbed it open and found exactly what she suspected. Tallow. She didn’t know why she took it. Adar was gone and she had no need to cook expensive food. She reached for her cloth bag and slipped inside, thinking that she might trade it for supplies later on.

Odessa started a fire and picked up her water bucket. Everything would feel better after a bath. She opened the door and found a figure standing on her doorstep. A hand reached out, grabbed the front of her shirt, and threw her into the yard. The bucket went flying from her hand. Odessa put the fall’s momentum into a roll. Crouched on her hands and knees, she looked up at her attacker.

Lord Ertan had definitely seen better days. His clothes were singed all over and his left leg was deeply burned. The apate within him was barely restrained behind its human facade. She could see glimpses of it pooling in Lord Ertan’s eyes.

He limped forward with a snarl. “You little bitch!”

Odessa’s grin was feral. She reached into her boot and drew her dagger. “I see you found my gift.”

“Fuck the orders,” he growled. “I am going to tear your heart out.”

She stood and took a fighting stance. “No. You won’t.”

He bared his teeth at her. A few on the left side were broken. He’d been looking down when he stepped on her trap. Too bad it hadn’t taken his eyes. This would go a lot faster if he were blind.