“It is an honour to meet someone from the Order of Bck Mountain,” Lady Marcia said, p Dunes some wine from her wineskin. It was fruit wine reserved for the officers stationed within the minor fort. It was only slightly more refihan the aleant for the rest of the troops, which they were allowed to drink once a week or so, or when they could order some from nearby travelling merts authorised by the nearby nobles.

  “It is an honour to be weled within your fort,” Dunes replied, fshing a charming smile, bowing his head lightly. “An audieh the ander of the fort is not something I would refuse.”

  Marcia was certain the noblewoman with them would have accepted her invitation, but she wasn’t going to shirk Duhere must have been a reason as to why they had sent him instead. “I hope the swill is to your liking.”

  Dunes smiled. “It is not the alcohol, but the pany, which makes the meeting.” Dunes sipped wine, before making a face. “Though…” His face rexed into a smirk. “A good driainly helps.”

  Marcia smiled, taking a sip of her own wine from the tiny cup. “I am ined to agree.”

  “I would like to apologise for Adam, and the Iyrmen,” Dunes began, still smiling brightly. “Adam is quite the fool, a good man, but a fool, and the Iyrmen… well, they’re Iyrmen.”

  “I should dare not call any man a fool who seems to lead such a band of mighty warriors, and one who works for an enter, no less?”

  “Would you like to hold the bde the Enter created for me?” Dunes asked, and after a bow of the ander’s head, Dunes unstrapped his sword belt, holding the bde’s sheath ft, near both ends for her to take. He offered the bde in the old Aswadian way, and not the way of the newer Aswadians and the Aldishmen.

  Marcia plucked the sheath from his hands, holding the handle of the bde. She drew it slowly, noting the jagite bde, not true jagite, but that which was sold to the masses, though it still held some respect. It ricier than typical steel, and sidered better fed. She eyed up the fkes of gems withial, almost perfectly smooth to the touch, only the slightest differeweeerials, betraying that it wasn’t true jagite. The geingle of magi through her fingers, g against the hilt tighter.

  “It is a Basihanced bde, oh the ability to allow me to strike true a few times a day, and tain some of my vigour when I do so,” Dunes said. “A worthy on to use in Lady Arya’s name.”

  ‘It has so many abilities?’ Marcia thought. Most magical ons were of the Basic variety, that which allowed oo bypass the resistances of certaiures, but also struck truer and heavier than mundane ons. There were some whily held the property that they were magical, but they were far and few between, and worth much less than the likes of the typical Basic on.

  However, if a on held more than just that property, it was sidered Basihanced. Some Basihanced ons, though iegory of Basihanced, were eveer thaer reater Enhanced ons. A on such as Dunes would be able to match the likes of some Greater Enhanced ons.

  “Ah,” Dunes said. “It also strike greater than some bdes, with its fire.”

  “What a magnifit bde,” Marcia said, brushing along the bde’s side. Many Basihanced ons also held a certain amount of charges to deal additional damage, and to hear this bde was the same, it made sense.

  However, that was not what Dunes had said. Dunes had said it struck greater than other bdes with its fire, not that it held charges like Wraith or Phantom. It, teically, dealt more damage than most ons, even ons like Wraith and Phantom, if one was to ighe fact they were Greater ons.

  Marcia realised this was the perfect bde for the likes of a Guardian, those who swore their oaths, for they could use those charges for striking true and the damage, along with their own smites, and tain their vigour too? Such a on was more than worth its weight in gold.

  ‘Five thousand gold would be too little for a bde like this…’ Marcia tried to imagine how high the price would be if aued to nobles across the nd. ‘There is a ce it would reach ten thousand, ahis… Expert is walking around with it so casually?’

  “It must serve you so well,” Marcia said, already feeling her coveting such a fine bde. There was a way to gain the bde without spending any gold at all, but the price was far too high. She sheathed the bde and held it out, holding it as one might do to casually hand over a bde, holding it by the sheath with a hand, while Duook it by grabbing just above her hand. It was the Aldish way of returning the bde, as an Aswadian might have said, though it was the most on way in many parts of the world, and even across their own nd.

  “It does,” Dunes replied, not admitting he barely ever used such a fine bde. “The Enter has shown me such great favour, though it was only through the Executives I was able to gain such a bde.”

  “What did you do to deserve such a fine bde?”

  Dunes leaned back, holding the bde tight in hand. “I do not know.”

  “What?”

  “No, it’s not that I do not know, but rather, I have not yet done much to deserve such a bde,” Duated. “It is an iment.”

  Marcia wondered how she could coax out more without sounding so offensive. ‘What a foolish thought.’ “To i in a priest who is able to use Third Gate spells, and the member of the Order of Bck Mountain, this enter is surely wise.”

  “Most wise,” Dunes admitted, barely able to hide his smirk. To go from calling Adam a fool to calling him most wise, how could he not smirk?

  “Lady Marcia,” a voice called through the door, before the veteran knocked against it.

  “You may enter, captain,” Marcia replied.

  Sir Katheriepped inside, allowing the ao save some face. She he appearance of Dunes, bowing her head towards the young man, who was a member of a prestigious order within Aswadasad, one which made its home within their ally’s nds.

  “I have heard many great things about the Order of the Bck Mountain,” Katherine said. “I had the pleasure of meeting Basim many years ago, when I was training with my mentor in the mountains south of the desert.”

  “Ah, Kal Basim?” Dunes replied, recalling the heavily bearded Aswadian, someone who had spent some times training Duhough, Kal Basim was a Guardian, so the training was mostly limited to on training, with some lighter magical training every so often. He was also one of the order’s Sheaths. “Was your meeting… amicable?”

  “Quite. I aired with Kal Basim when we were still both training under our mentors. He assisted in esc us through the mountains. His skill with a bde was of course as expected, though I did not fight beside him, rather, I fought behind him,” she said, pg her bow beside her. “It was around that time the name Mad Dog was being a distant memory.” The woman’s eyes fell to Marcia.

  “You have mentiohe name several times,” Maroted, realising that was why the woman had arrived to meet with her. “Who was he?”

  Dunes let out a long exhale, his eyes falling to the older woman, the pair sharing a look.

  “Do you know of the tale of the Mad Dog?” Katherine asked.

  “I have been told the tale a few times retly, sometimes from the man himself,” Dunes replied.

  “You speak of him as though he is a nightmare,” Marcia stated, feeling the heaviness among the pair.

  “His tale is sed to who he is, for he is a man whs trouble even to the Great Elders of the Iyr,” Dunes said. “Not just him, but one of his grandsons too.”

  “If it is Mad Dog, then it uandable,” Katherine said, allowing Marcia to pour her a cup of wine. “Mad Dog was a name from before even my own time. He was the kind to csh against so many great names, but most of those names have also been fotten. When the pair were still making names for themselves, Fme Bde and Mad Dog cshed together, and it was said to have ended in a draw.”

  ‘Fme Bde?’ Marcia thought, thinking about the current Fme Bde. He was a man who had retired fairly quickly, sidering his heritage. He was sidered the weakest of the Bdes, but that was only because he retired so quickly. If he had tinued, he’d be among the likes of Gold Bdes and the others, so for Mad Dog to have cshed with him to a draw while he was still active, it was quite impressive.

  Katherine could see the look on Marcia’s face, realising they had only scratched the surface of the one known as Mad Dog. “Mad Dog may have e face to face with the current Fme Bde, but one must remember what Fme Bde was like in his youth. Though we are sidered to be of the same geion, even I have only retly mao reach the height he had reached when he had retired.”

  “Jarot,” Dunes said, pig up his cup of wine. “Jarot is the kind of Iyrman to e face to face with Lord Asa, knowing how truly strong he is, and draw his axe, eager to fight.”

  “Do you know of Lord Asa?”

  “Lord Asa is the father of one of the myths within Aswadasad,” Dunes said. “I had the pleasure of meeting both on my journey.”

  “You have met Lord Asa and his child?” Katherine asked.

  “I have met the one known as Lord Asa, I have met the one known as Lord Shama, I have met the one known as Lord Stokmar,” Duated, slowly nodding his head. He decided against saying more, especially not that he had met a porary of his Lady Arya, the daughter of one of the Major Divine. “Whatever you know of the names I have mentioned, Iyrman or otherwise, that is not why you should fear them. It is not what you know, but what you do not.”

  No one is telling the ander who Jarot is...