“Who is it that interrupts the ceremony?” asked the Knight Captain, his voice booming even more than it had when he’d been leading Lance through his oath.

  Laird saluted and looked down. “Knight Laird and Knight Blake Captain. We have news of the villages to the northeast that we feel warrants your attention.”

  “Is this regarding the mapping the horned creatures had been doing?”

  “Partially.”

  The captain removed his helmet revealing an aged, but handsome face and long gray hair that accentuated a steel gaze. He placed the helm on the plinth by his sword and turned to Lance and the witnesses.

  “You are dismissed,” he said.

  The two witnesses saluted and began making their way out.

  “May I remain Captain?” asked Lance.

  The Captain frowned. “Now is a time for celebration and meditation for you. I know you are eager to begin your work, and that is commendable, but with what lies on the horizon you should take your rest where you can find it.”

  Lance nodded. “I appreciate the wisdom sir, but I know the two men with Sirs Laird and Blake. I simply wish to hear how they’re involved.”

  The Captain raised an eyebrow. “You two know the newly minted Sergeant?”

  Michael nodded. “We trained together. I fought him in the festival of blades back in Stent and we fought together many times after that.”

  “Not to mention the whole deserting together thing,” said Ollie.

  Michael shot him a look that Lance must’ve noticed.

  “Don’t worry Michael, they know my history. They welcomed me anyway.”

  Michael nodded. “They’ve been similar to us. Necessity is a great catalyst for change I suppose.”

  The Captain turned to Knight Laird. “You have news? Many other knights I would question leaving their post personally to deliver it, but as it’s you I am certain there is a good reason.” He glanced at Blake, an ever so slight smirk on the corner of his lips. “With you I am not so certain.”

  She winked at him.

  “The reason I came here personally is these two,” he gestured to Michael and Ollie. “These two are takers that arrived in my village of responsibility nearly a month ago. They were drafted immediately and with their help we have sealed nearly thirty rifts, healed all the wounded among all villages on the way here and we took almost no losses in the process.”

  The Captain blinked in surprise as his eyes turned to Ollie and Michael.

  Lance simply nodded. “That makes sense.”

  The Captain looked at him then turned to Ollie and Michael, holding out a hand.

  “I am Knight Captain Leon.”

  “Michael,” he said, clasping his hand for a moment. Leon’s grip tightened for just a moment before he nodded as if understanding something.

  “Ollie,” said Ollie, clasping his hand next.

  “You’re a mage, that much is written across everything about you. I don’t think that type of hat has been in style for mages for a few hundred years though.”

  Ollie shrugged. “It’s an oldie, but a goodie.”

  “How did your support allow the accomplishments my knights just described to me?”

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  “I’m a diviner, and a healer,” said Michael.

  “The strongest healer I’ve ever even heard of,” said Blake. “He can heal an entire infirmary, go to seal a rift, and then do it again before breakfast without tiring.”

  “What?” exclaimed Leon.

  Lance nodded. “Even when we were training he was able to heal multiple bad injuries within a day. He’s only gotten better since then.”

  “He seems to possess even more gifts than that. He can also light his sword aflame with divine power, read the hearts of men, and bless others with minor titles.”

  Michael nodded, “The gods have granted many gifts to help end the rifts.”

  “The gods?”

  “The gods of the divine have become themselves again. They need our support to empower the barrier between this world and all others. I am their champion.”

  The Captain looked at Blake and Laird in askance.

  “I don’t believe him Captain, but his results can’t be denied,” said Laird.

  “I believed him when I saw him carve a horned man in two with a single blow of a fiery sword while sealing a rift and healing four men that were near death all within the space of two breaths,” said Blake. “At a certain point, it just seems like we’re in denial.”

  “He also granted me a title with the name of a god. I had to get a diviner to tell me about it, but that seems fairly definitive, sir,” chimed in Lance.

  “And you, mage?”

  “Well, I’m just chopped liver compared to my friend here.”

  Lance laughed. “You are one of the most naturally talented mages I’ve ever seen in my life. You can cast multiple spells at once, throw fireball after fireball without tiring, and that was nearly a year ago. I can’t imagine you’ve gotten weaker since then.”

  Michael took a good look at Lance. He had also changed since Michael had seen him last. When last they’d spoken Lance had lost a lot of the confident veneer that seemed to settle over his every action that he’d had back at the Academy. He’d been broken, to a certain extent. He’d lost his home, his brother, and so much else. Now though he seemed to be standing tall again. Not with the bluster of nobility and the cloud of success he’d been used to, but with the quiet assurance of a man that had built himself back up, that had struggled and gained greater understanding of himself. It was not perfect, no man ever fully outgrew the awkwardness of boyhood, but he certainly changed. Michael felt proud of him.

  Laird nodded. “If we had ten mages of Ollie’s quality, we could turn the tides of wars with them.”

  That seemed dramatic to Michael, but when he looked at Ollie and thought about it, he wasn’t sure that was wrong. After gaining the knowledge of the past and coiling his magicka channels, Ollie’s ability to exert his will magically around himself had expanded dramatically. That combined with his innate skill and imagination had made him a powerful force all his own.

  “This is why I decided to travel personally to you and deliver them. To have them sitting in a small village was a waste of resources. These two could be the key to turning the tide at Lataxia.”

  “Where your wife happens to be?”

  Laird’s usual frown deepened. “Yes sir. I will not hide that my motives aren’t purely honorable. I will accept any reprimand.”

  The Captain shook his head. “There will be no reprimand. A man can have good and bad reasons for doing something. Besides, you hold an oath to your wife, same as you do the knighthood.” He turned to Michael. “This town is a training ground for our squires and many of their teachers are men and women who lost the ability to fight due to injury, but would otherwise be able to return to the front. Manpower is the focus right now, do you think you would be able to heal them?”

  “In the name of the divine I will,” said Michael. The Captain seemed like a solid man. Doing as he asked would work as a test for Michael while also having an immediately positive effect on the conflict.

  Whether the Captain had feelings about Michael’s comment on the divine or not, he gave no indication. He simply nodded at him before turning to Lance. “Well, your first order as a Sergeant will be to go to the infirmary and have Carmen give you a list of those who regularly see her for healing and treatments, then guide Michael to each of them. Once that’s done I insist you go to the Heart’s Shield and have two pints. Perhaps even three.” He looked at Michael and Ollie. “Those two can join you.”

  Lance slammed his fist against his chest. “Yes sir!”

  He turned to Laird and Blake. “I want you two to stay and give me a more thorough report of everything you’ve seen recently.”

  “Are you going to order us to have a pint afterward too?” asked Blake.

  “Depends on the report.”

  Blake sighed.

  Lance gestured for Michael and Ollie to follow him and they made their way out of the domed building and onto the streets of Greathollow.

  Once they were out Michael wrapped Lance in a great big hug and Ollie joined him, tousling the young man’s hair.

  “I’m glad you’re alive,” said Michael. “And thriving, it seems.”

  Lance smiled. “I’d say the same, but you both smell like death and there’s so much blood on your armor I think it’s actually rusted from it in some places.”

  “Thriving would definitely be an exaggeration for us, mate, but we’re here and alive so there’s that.”

  Lance smiled. “I suppose we can thank the gods for that.”

  Ollie shook his head. “Don’t get this bastard started. He’s found four more since we last saw you and I’m sick of hearing about them.”

  “Better get used to it,” replied Michael. “I’m not intending to stop any time soon.”