Getting back into Valencia with a vampire and a whatever Gabriella is without attracting attention is no small feat. These two couldn’t look any more conspicuous if they tried. Not to mention the fact that now my face is plastered on wanted posters that are tacked to every storefront in the country. Everyone and their cousin is trying to cash in on my capture. It takes two whole weeks and a hell of a lot of bribing-slash-threatening to sneak our way across the countryside and get to where Wizard Fallow lives. Good thing Ulric is loaded for some reason—along with having that creepy ‘don’t fuck with me if you know what’s good for you’ look that he gives everyone.

  Magical people are hard to come by. Even rarer than noble people. Hell, there’s less of these fuckers than there are kings and queens in the world. Which makes Fallow a hot commodity right now. I might hate the guy, but I also know that he’s our only hope if we plan to tangle with an all-powerful sorceress who’s hell-bent on Valencia’s destruction.

  The place he lives in might as well be a castle itself. It’s outside the capital in the middle of a huge orchard that grows every kind of fruit I can think of. Now, I’m no fruitologist or whatever, but I’m pretty sure most of these trees aren’t in season anywhere in this hemisphere. Like, ever. Glad to see Fallow’s putting his magic to good use out here. Not like there’s a war going on or anything.

  It’s just after daybreak when the three of us ride to a tree-lined hill overlooking the grounds and stop. The tower in the middle looks like it could have been built yesterday or a thousand years ago. There’s a couple dozen workers picking fruit off of trees and placing them into baskets while deer meander down some of the lanes.

  Ulric’s got his hood pulled up and he’s hunched forward on his horse to avoid coming into direct contact with any sunlight. He growls at me without taking his eyes off the orchard, “We should wait until nightfall.”

  I shake my head. “We’ve been at this long enough already. Every day that Piper’s locked in that tower is a day my heart shatters a little more.” Gabriella looks over and gives me an acknowledging smile while Ulric harrumphs. “And besides, we have the war to think about. Who the hell knows what the sorceress is doing with that gem against our army right now.”

  Ulric’s eyes glow a little when he turns his head and squints at me from under his hood. It’s how I know he’s in a bad mood. “Your army. This is not my land. I don’t care about the people here.”

  “Look, just relax. I guarantee we’ll be in and out. Me and this wizard go way ba—”

  A bolt of lightning strikes the ground next to me and cuts me off. “Fuck!” I damn near fall off my horse as all three animals dart in different directions. We’ve barely made it anywhere when another bolt of lightning lands right in front of me. This time, the horse rears back and falls over, landing on top of my leg and trapping me underneath it. I use my other leg to kick as hard as I can at the dazed animal over and over again until Gabriella swoops in and hops off her horse to try and drag me out. Before we're able to make any progress, another bolt of lightning hits—this time exploding my horse’s head and half its body. Gabriella and I get showered with my former ride and then we stare in stunned silence at where the front half of its body used to be. But on the bright side, now my leg is free.

  When we both manage to retrieve our wits, we scramble to our feet and mount Gabriella’s horse together, her in the front and me in the back. Then I cup my hands around my mouth and scream across the orchard, “FALLOW, YOU SON OF A BITCH!! WE COME IN PEACE!”

  I can actually see him now. And the jam stains on his stupid robes. He’s in the middle of one of the orchard lanes, holding his staff out with both hands while he mumbles a spell to try and blink us out of existence. Gabriella steers the horse away from the orchard but I stop her. “No! I need to talk to him. We have to get close enough that he can hear me.” She huffs over her shoulder at me and then turns the horse around to ride down the hill and into the orchard.

  The sky is darkening fast and now the workers and deer are all fleeing into the woods. Then it starts to get hot. Like, really hot. Next thing I know, one of my sleeves is on fire. I pat the hell out of it with my other hand to try and put it out but then that arm catches fire too. “Shit! Go into the creek! That way!” We veer left and race down the hill, dodging trees and narrowly missing the occasional stray lightning bolt as we go. I can see the water from here but I might burn alive before we get to it. And now I suddenly have a lot of sympathy for that horse back in Dartmoor.

  My back is completely engulfed and the fire has even spread to Gabriella by the time we’re both hurling ourselves off the horse and splashing down into the creek. The two of us gasp in relief as we whip our heads out of the water. But then we look back at the orchard and get the relief swiftly knocked out of us. The sky is pitch black and clouds are now turning in a circle above Fallow. Our horse runs off and we slosh our way out of the creek just in time to see the clouds form into a funnel and start moving in our direction. Then we run all the way back to the edge of the treeline and stop to watch as the funnel extends all the way to the ground and then—just after making contact with the grass—the trees around it all catch fire and the land becomes a raging inferno. The funnel passes through the burning trees and drags the fire up into it, swirling it into a massive, flaming vortex that stretches all the way into the clouds. The wind is howling and lightning is striking all around the spinning inferno as it slowly moves toward us.

  Goddamn, this wizard’s been holding out on me.

  I hear galloping off to my left and look over to see Ulric racing our way, leaning forward on his horse while he whips the reins like a madman. His cape is flapping all around behind him. He’s got his hood down and he could not look more pissed. He jerks on the reins when he gets to us and the horse rears back onto its hind legs while kicking at the air with the front ones. A second later, the beast settles down and Gabriella and I climb aboard.

  Once we’re seated, Ulric yells over his shoulder, “I thought you knew this wizard!”

  “I do! I told you this guy was an asshole! Now let’s get the fuck out of here!” Then Ulric whips the reins one more time and we take off into the woods, away from Fallow and the apocalyptic death-orchard.

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

  ***

  “We still need him, do we not?”

  I’m wiping horse splatter off my arm with a towel while I plead with Gabriella, “There’s gotta be other wizards out there, right? Or sorcerers? A witch’s apprentice? Anything!” She just keeps shaking her head. I look at Ulric who’s sitting up against a tree with his hood pulled up, looking more morose than ever. “What about you? Tell me you know another magical person.”

  He’s got one arm extended out, resting it on his knee as he waves a blade of hay around like it’s a tiny wand. All he says is, “No.”

  I drop the towel and throw my hands up. Then I pace around for a bit to collect my thoughts. There’s no way I’m getting anywhere near Wizard Fallow without getting instantly eviscerated.

  I stop pacing a minute later. “I need someone to talk to him for me. Someone who can explain the situation so that he’ll know he can trust me.”

  Ulric leans forward and throws the hay to the ground as he snarls his lips and growls, “I will speak with the wizard.”

  “Fuck no. Gabriella, you’re up.” She nods. “—Actually, wait. I know someone even better.”

  ***

  Lorain is a day and a half’s ride from Fallow’s property. We barter with some peasants out in the sticks for a couple of horses and then set out to retrieve that one-eyed, axe-wielding, buccaneer wannabe, Tabitha.

  Her family’s province is as hick as it gets. Everyone’s related to everyone. And the three of us could not look more out of place when we come riding into Baylin, the only actual village in the entire region. Every yokel in town stands and gawks when they see us roll through. Though in their defense, Ulric and Gabriella look like total weirdos no matter where they go. As for me, I’d have my hood pulled up to hide my face except that I’m pretty sure this place hasn’t got any news from the capital since at least the Bronze Age.

  They mostly grow barley in Lorain, and beer is a staple food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Tabitha’s family estate is huge, but that’s mostly just because there’s so damn many people living on it. She’s got twelve siblings and enough cousins running around this joint to repopulate a continent.

  I leave the two weirdos out by the gate and go in alone. They don’t take kindly to strangers around here and I wouldn’t be surprised if they both got shot by archers just for being dressed the way they are. I ride my horse up to the enormous house in the center of the estate and, when I get close to the entrance, three of Tabitha’s relatives walk out and fold their arms in full country justice-mode. After spitting some black liquid onto the ground, the one in the middle menaces, “Well, well, well. Look who decided to pay us a visit. We’re about to make a lot of money.”

  I let go of the reins and hold up both hands. “Wait. This is all a big misunderstand—” I whip my head around when I hear rustling behind me and discover half a dozen more of Tabitha’s family members standing behind me. And these ones are armed. “Look, I—”

  “Cap’n!”

  “Tabitha! Oh thank god.” I never thought I’d be so happy to see that toothy grin.

  She runs between two of her kin, butting one of them with her shoulder as she passes through. “Cap’n, I told them fellers at the castle that you didn’t kidnap Princess Piperton but nobody believed me!”

  Can’t imagine why. I hop off my horse and give it a pat before walking over to Tabitha. “Thank you, it means a lot. I have had one hell of a month. Two months? I don’t even know how long it’s been but it is honestly so good to see you.”

  “You too, Cap’n! But how you gonna get the princess back?”

  Perfect, we’re already on the same page. I put my hand on her shoulder and turn her to walk with me, away from her glowering relatives. Once we’re outside the lynch circle, I start in on my pitch, “Hey, I’ve got a special job that I think you’d be perfect for. Now, I know you don’t owe me anything, and I probably haven’t been as good a friend to you as I maybe should have been, and I don’t really have anything to offer, but…” Goddamn I suck at this. “...Hey, we’ve been through a lot together, right? So…for old time’s sake, do you think you could do me sort of a favor?”

  She hops around to face me and throws up a hand in salute. “Aye!”

  Well hell, that was easy. I tell her about our little wizard problem and then less than ten minutes later, she’s packed her things, strapped on her armor, and the two of us are trotting our way toward the weirdos at the gate. When we stop in front of them, Gabriella looks Tabitha up and down with an amused smile while Ulric scowls from under his hood. He always gets cranky in the daylight.

  I make their introductions for them, “Tabitha, this is Ulric. He’s a…friend of mine. And this is Gabriella. They’re gonna help us get Piper back.”

  Tabitha salutes the two of them for some reason. Then she says, “Blimey, you two dress awful funny, but it sure is a pleasure to make yer acquaintances!”

  Gabriella nods with an even bigger smile while Ulric growls, “Charmed.”

  ***

  The rest of us hang back while Tabitha talks to Fallow. Like—way back. Like in the next town. We’re milling about outside the pub when we hear them galloping our way on horseback. I cross my arms and push my jaw forward as the three of us walk out into the middle of the road and form a line to greet them in a totally non-confrontational way. Gabriella’s got one hand on the crossbow attached to her hip and Ulric has his head tilted forward, looking like fire could come shooting out of his eyes any second. I don’t know what all powers vampires have so I wouldn’t be surprised if it did.

  They stop in front of us and Tabitha gives us a friendly “Oi!”

  Fallow goes right into his mea culpa, “Apologies, Darion. And to your party—hello there, splendid to meet you.” Ulric grunts while Gabriella relaxes her arm at her side. Fallow looks back at me to continue, “I hope you understand, it’s been pure bedlam here ever since the princess disappeared. The king is inconsolable and the generals assume that you kidnapped her to deliver her to the Fornian empress. And then with the abrupt advance of their army, as you can imagine, everyone is quite on edge.”

  I uncross my arms. “Sudden advance?”

  “Yes, don’t you know?”

  I shake my head. “It’s a little hard to get updates on the war when you’re the most wanted man in the country. It’s not like I can just go up and ask people about it.”

  “Oh, I see. Well, the empress herself has joined her army on the battlefield and is using her sorcery to devastate our forces. They’ve advanced right over our border. And all the while, they are demanding the king’s fealty in exchange for the princess’s life.”

  I look over at Ulric and Gabriella and shake my head. Fallow might not know it, but these two sure as hell do.

  This is all our fault.