“No, you dolt! We were supposed to investigate those strange kidnappings?”

  “Oh!” he exclaimed. His eyes grew three sizes. He rushed back into his hut, and the sounds of plate armor being banged around came from inside.

  I took a seat on a nearby log and waited for him to get ready. I shook my head. “You aren’t normally this forgetful,” I said. “Were you drinking last night?”

  “Aye,” he hollered. “Got home rather late, too.”

  “Apparently,” I said. “Are you going to be useful in a fight?”

  “Yeah, just like old times.” He stepped out of the hut, his plate armor impeccably polished and gleaming. A sword hung from his left hip and a dagger from his right.

  “At least you remember to clean your equipment,” I said.

  He grinned. “Always. So. Where are we heading?”

  “I figured we’d stop by Beachmarsh. I wanted to ask Captain Ashford some questions about local criminal activities.”

  “Ahh, okay,” he said, nodding. “Do you think we’ll run into trouble?”

  I laughed. “If you poke a beehive, you’re bound to get bees.”

  “Makes sense.” He tried to shrug, but his plated shoulders simply bobbed up and down.

  * * *

  “Have you eaten yet?”

  “What do you think?” he asked.

  I sighed. “Didn’t think so. You really should take better care of yourself, you know.”

  Phillip huffed. “Yeah, probably.”

  “We’ll stop by somewhere on the way out of the city.”

  “Sounds good,” he said. “I could go for something to eat.”

  “That guard captain is such a plonker,” said Phillip.

  I nodded. “I agree. I don’t think it was his idea; someone else set it in motion. He was just benefiting from it.” I frowned. “I dropped by his office and confronted him yesterday. Plonker is the perfect word.”

  “Oh yeah?” Phillip’s eyebrows shot up. “What happened?”

  I told him everything.

  He nodded. “Still, someone else has to know something. Things don’t get this far out of hand without somebody—”

  The sound of metal boots clanking against stone grew louder. Ten armored guards, weapons drawn, ran past the restaurant we sat in front of.

  “What the hell?” asked Phillip.

  “I was done eating anyhow.” I dropped my fork on the plate and stood. “Let’s go.”

  Phillip nodded once and was right on my heels. We followed at a distance, unsure of where the guards were going.

  “Ulrich, isn’t that Avelyn’s shop ahead?”

  “Yeah, come on.”

  I charged through the guards that had arrayed themselves around the shop. I slid to a stop and almost toppled Segarus. The guard captain stood next to him.

  “Segarus, tell us. What happened?”

  Segarus’s shoulders heaved as he sobbed.

  “They took her,” he whimpered. “They took my sweet little girl.”

  “Who took her?” I asked.

  “Dead Hand cultists,” he said between sobs. “They took my little girl.”

  “Dead Hand? Here?” demanded the captain. “Preposterous.”

  Segarus spun toward the men. “First you try to extort me. Then you falsely imprison me, and now you call me a liar?”

  I glared at the captain. “Go back to your post. You are no longer needed here.”

  “But, Prince Ul—”

  “I said go. Do not make me repeat myself.”

  “Yes, sir.” He spun on a heel and marched back toward his men.

  I set my jaw and put my hand on Segarus’s shoulder. “I’ll get her back. I swear it.”

  He looked me in the eyes for a long moment and nodded. “Please. I don’t know what I would do without her.”

  I nodded. “I will get my father’s leave to head out immediately.”

  “Thank you,” he said.

  I turned to Phillip. “Are you with me?”

  “Of course,” he said. “Always.”

  I nodded my thanks, and we took off at a sprint.

  “Father,” I called as we burst into the throne room. “Forgive the intrusion. Do you have a moment?”

  He looked up, trying not to seem startled. “I suppose. What is it, Ulrich?”

  “The Dead Hand cultists kidnapped Avelyn in broad daylight.”

  He frowned. “Why are you bringing this to my attention? Shouldn’t the city guard have been your first stop?”

  I scoffed. “They were far from useful. I’m asking to go after them myself.”

  “You? Hmm…” My father nodded. “Do what you must.” He hesitated for a moment. “While you’re at it, take Emery here with you. I have charged him with a special mission, and you will be of assistance to him. It is my belief that, in the course of executing said mission, you will find your woman.”

  “Yes, Father.” I bowed as did Phillip and Emery. The two of them followed me out of the throne room and into the outer corridor.

  “I must make arrangements,” said Emery. “We shall set out within the hour, if it pleases you, Prince Ulrich?”

  I nodded. “We’ll meet you at the stables.”

  “Yes, sir.” Emery bowed and rushed off.

  “Are you ready?” I asked.

  Phillip nodded. “As ready as I’ll ever be.” He frowned. “Come on. Let’s go find Avelyn.”

  “How do you suppose they got out of the city?” asked Phillip. “Surely the guards at the gate would have noticed several men abducting a noncooperative young woman. Especially if it was the prince’s woman.”

  “There is another way out of the city,” said Emery. “Come. I will take us there.” We followed him as he led us to a stone building I’d never been in. He opened the doors, and we descended a long stone staircase. As we left the corridor, we entered a large underground chamber.

  A muted pale blue light glowed from the nearest sconce. They were spaced evenly down the tunnel corridors. It bathed the entire corridor in the same blue light. I could feel the magic behind the slow burning flame. These lights would never go out as long as magic fed them.

  Our footsteps echoed down the corridor, and drops of water hit a pool somewhere off in the distance. “What is this place?” I asked.

  “Ancient aqueducts and sewage canals,” said Emery. “They were built long before the city was.”

  “Probably best not to fall in, huh?” Phillip chuckled.

  Emery nodded. “Yeah, probably best. You’d likely not remove the stench from your skin for weeks, perhaps even months.”

  Phillip nodded and made a retching sound.

  “So, you think they came through this way?” I asked, quickly trying to change the subject to something more constructive than toilet humor.

  “It’s just a guess,” he said. “It’s the only way in or out of the city where they wouldn’t be caught instantly.”

  “And the centurions don’t patrol down here?” asked Phillip.

  Emery scoffed. “Those buffoons are less than useful. It’s hard enough to get them to patrol the city, let alone come down here. But you’ve already seen evidence of that, have you not?”

  Phillip nodded. “That’s a fair point.”

  A harsh gust of wind blew down the corridor, whipping our cloaks about us. A grinding howl followed the wind, and the lights went out.

  “Um,” said Phillip. “What in the hells was that?”

  “I have no idea,” whispered Emery. “But perhaps if you don’t ask again, we won’t find out.”

  I willed a sphere of light into existence and chuckled. “Little chance of that.” I pointed down the corridor at the five pairs of glowing eyes bobbing their way toward us. “We have company.”

  “This darkness is oppressing,” said Phillip. He conjured his own sphere of light and willed it down the hallway toward the disembodied crimson eyes. The light revealed five very muscly stone statues, each twice my height. In each hand, they held gigantic stone hammers the size of small horses. Phillip gulped.

  Emery gasped. “I think those are golems!”

  “Golems?” asked Phillip. “Aren’t golems something out of a kids’ story?”

  “Feel free to ask them,” I said.

  “Nah,” he said. “They look pretty grumpy.”

  “This makes no sense,” said Emery. “The golems and their magic were said to have been dormant long ago.”

  Phillip frowned. “Well, they look pretty awake to me.”

  “Indeed,” said Emery. “We are in grave danger.”

  “Why are they even here?” I asked.”

  “They were meant to protect the aqueducts and sewers from invaders.” He furrowed his brow. “Something’s wrong. They should not be hostile toward us, but—” He gestured toward the five imposing stone figures marching toward us, and I drew my sword. Emery put his hand on my sword arm. “Remember, these columns support the city above us. Try not to damage them.”

  I nodded. “Understood.” The staccato thud of the golems’ steady march drew nearer. Phillip and Emery both drew their weapons as well.

  When the golems were fifty paces away, the lead golem swung his hammer around, braced, and leaped forward with unbelievable speed.

  “Scatter!” I yelled as I dove to the side. The ground shook as a deafening boom echoed through the corridors. Dust fell from the ceiling, blurring my vision. I turned back to see the golem lifting its hammer from the crater in the stone floor. It was staring straight at me. Emery and Phillip were laying into its back, but it didn’t seem to have a care in the world. It stood, slowly, never breaking eye contact.

  “Stop ignoring me!” screamed Phillip. He swung his sword around to cleave at the back of the golem’s knee.

  It twitched its leg, sending Phillip flying like a pesky fly. He slammed into the wall and struggled to his feet. Emery was at his side in an instant. The other four golems stood still, watching their leader. I turned my attention to it.

  The lead golem took another bracing step and jumped at me with explosive force. It landed next to me and swung wide. I dodged the hammer, but it smacked me in the chest with its left. The force of ten horses kicking me in the chest sent me flying. I hit the ground hard and slid into a support pillar.

  “Ugh…” My legs shook as I stood.

  One of the closer golems made a rush for me. I dove forward and rolled between its leg just in time to duck under and miss the leader’s hammer swing. It nailed the first golem dead center in the back. It slammed through the pillar. Chunks of stone the size of a wagon dropped on top of it. The light of its eyes went out. I retreated several steps back and away from the partially collapsing ceiling.

  “What do we do?” I asked. “There’s no way we can beat one of them, let alone five!”

  “Something must be feeding them energy,” Emery yelled over the pounding footfalls.

  Phillip nodded. “So if we find it and break it, they should stop attacking, right?”

  Emery shrugged. “One would assume so.”

  I hefted my sword back to a guard position. “Find it. I’ll hold them off.”

  Emery’s eyebrows shot up. “But—”

  “Do it!” I yelled. I charged forward, putting as much power into my swing as I could. I swung at its hammer arm. The impact shook me to my core and numbed the fingers of both hands. Pain shot up to my shoulders. I focused a blast of force and jumped as I fired it at the golem’s chest. The blast sent me flying away from it as its hammer smashed the ground where I’d stood not a moment prior.

  It looked up at me and hesitated for a moment. My eyes widened as it picked up a giant slab of stone with its left hand and hurled it in my direction. I used another blast of force to narrowly dodge the projectile. Unfortunately, it smashed another support pillar. I ran as fast as I could, dodging falling stone slabs as the roof began to cave in. Shards of stone pinged off my armored back. I jumped forward and rolled in time to miss a particularly large slab.

  When the dust settled, moonlight flooded in from above. Then the torches of the centurions shone over the edge. Their faces were contorted with confusion.

  “Prince Ulrich?” called one. “Is that you?”

  “Aye!” I called back. “Evacuate the area. There may be more damage before this is over.”

  “Yes, sir!”

  “Got it!” yelled Phillip. His voice echoed from farther down the corridor. A bolt of blue lightning slammed into the lead golem, enveloping it. It wailed in agony for a moment and dropped to its knees. When it stood up, its eyes glowed blue instead of crimson.

  “Foreign influence detected.” Its voice rumbled off the walls. “Targets acquired. Eliminating targets.” It launched itself toward the three remaining golems. In a matter of seconds, it had smashed them to rubble. It looked around for a moment. “Assessing damage and commencing repairs.” It held its hammer above its head. Blue light flooded the room. I stood, slack-jawed, as I watched the stonework float back to where it belonged. As shards and blocks arranged themselves like a puzzle, the cracks would fill. The light faded. “Aqueduct defended and repaired. Initiating standby mode.” The golem walked back in the direction it had come.

  “Wow,” said Phillip. “You can’t tell a battle had taken place here.”

  Emery nodded. “Simply incredible.”

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “Yes, what did you find?” asked Emery.

  Phillip shrugged. “There was this pulsating purple crystal. When I got close to it, I could feel a sort of slimy feeling crawl up my spine.” He grinned. “So I smashed it.”

  I laughed.

  “You simply smashed it like some barbarian oaf? Brilliant. Simply brilliant.” Emery frowned and shook his head. “That could have killed you.”

  “Meh. It worked out.” Phillip laughed. “Saved your sorry arse, didn’t it?”

  “Indeed.” He picked up one of his daggers. “Shall we continue on? I fear that we have some distance to travel.”

  “Lead on,” I said.

  He nodded and we followed. The aqueduct let out into a cave, which in turn let out onto a rocky outcropping at the base of a cliff.

  Twenty minutes later, we were on a country wagon trail heading to who knew where. We hiked for several more hours in silence before we slowed.

  “Let’s take a little detour,” said Emery.

  “Huh?” I asked. “Detour where? We are in the middle of nowhere.”

  “There.” Emory pointed at a grouping of trees off to the left of the road. “There is an old road to a town called Murton. It will be a good place to rest.”

  We stepped between the trees and looked at the road to the town of Murton. The road was barely more than a dirt path now. It was overgrown with grasses, shrubs, and small bushes. As we traveled farther along the path, it became apparent that gardens once covered this entire area. They were once looked after and trimmed to perfection but were now rough and overgrown, nature having reclaimed them.

  We entered the outskirts of the town, and the pressure changed. Something was judging me. A crawling feeling went up my spine. I looked around. Many of the doors still stood in their frames. Some were ajar, perhaps left open in a hurry. Many of the walls and balconies had collapsed. It was easy for rot and water to do their damage without proper maintenance and cleaning.

  “Emery,” I said. “I’ve never heard of this town. Tell us more about Murton?”

  “Murton was once a growing community of hundreds of families. Now it’s little more than a forgotten remnant of a time long passed.”

  “What happened?” asked Phillip.

  Emery hesitated. For a moment I thought he would speak, but he shook his head and continued. The place was eerily silent. The sound of playing children and talking neighbors and a working community were long since gone. The silence was oppressive.

  4

  Cristof

  “The ceremony was beautiful,” said Oswald.

  “Yeah,” I said. I pushed open my front door. Grandfather sat at the dining table.

  “How are they holding up?” I asked my grandfather.

  He frowned. “About as well as one could expect of children. The littles are confused and sad. They’ve finally gone to sleep. Then there is Micah. He’s… Well, upset is putting it mildly.”

  I nodded. “Where is he?”

  He pointed toward the kitchen. “Good luck.”

  Oswald and I stopped abruptly as we entered the kitchen. Furniture had been overturned, and there were several scorch marks scattered randomly throughout the room.

  Micah sat on a chair at the table. Dried tears stained his cheeks, and his eyes were bloodshot. A plump desert moth flitted around the room and landed on Micah’s hand. It danced around for a moment and then flew away once more. Tethers of necromantic power and focused will tied it to Micah like a puppeteer controlling a marionette.

  “Hey,” I said.

  Micah didn’t look up. “Are you going to go find him?”

  “Yeah. I’ll take care of him.”

  “We’ll take care of—”

  “No,” I said.

  “But I wanna go!” squealed Micah.

  I sighed. “I know you do. But it’s too dangerous and—” I felt the surge of necromantic energy a fraction of a second before the desert moth exploded. Half of the room turned to ash in a blinding flash of light that sent Oswald and I crashing through furniture. I looked up and saw Micah glaring at me. His shoulders heaved, and a vein pulsed at his temples. Sickly green tendrils of lightning arced from him to the nearby surfaces, and the ground began to shake as the lightning intensified.

  “I. Said. I’m. Going.”

  As I reached for him, Oswald grabbed my wrist. He shook his head, then turned, and squatted down to address my little brother.

  “Micah, listen to me.” He put his hands on Micah’s shoulders and looked him in the eyes. “I know you’re angry. But you have to stay and protect your little brother and sister from the bad guys. Cristof can’t protect them while he’s gone. You’re the eldest until he gets back. The man of the house. That’s a really important job that only you can do.” He raised his eyebrows and grinned. “Do you understand?”