By the time they got back to Joachim’s property, the sun had set and the sky outside had been solidly dark for hours. Searchers combed the woods, and the first soldier to spot them recognized all four of them immediately. His name was Brian, and he had a port wine birthmark covering half of his face like a livid red scar, and a long furrow ran from his temple all the way down to his jawline, courtesy of a bar room brawl. Despite his fierce appearance, Brain was a kind man, quick with a joke or a pat on the back.
“We’ve been turning everything upside down!” he called out with relief.
“We haven’t been missing that long,” Davin said. “Or have we?”
Brian shook his head. “It’s not a matter of how long you’ve been missing—it’s a matter of how long the Count’s been looking for you. He’d have your maggot-riddled carcasses strung up if it weren’t for the fact that there’s trouble. Eason and his toadies are hopping around the Valleys, and Mr. Kine has word that there’s another Wizard’s Hammer on the prowl for the three of you.”
Davin met Niam’s gaze, and his friend nodded his head slightly. Niam knew what was on Davin’s mind: the Hammer that Kine implicated in the attempt on his life. He had let it slip during one of their practice sessions that his order was no longer safe.
Brian frowned. “What have you four gotten yourselves into, anyway?” he asked after noticing the bloody stain on Niam’s calf.
“We killed a trall,” Niam said nonchalantly.
“And took out a lot of undead,” Maerillus added.
“And found one of Kreeth’s secret hideaways,” Davin told him.
“And found out someone actually has been following me,” Bug piped in.
Brian looked from one to the other and gave an uncertain laugh. Then looked down at Niam’s injury and noticed the definite pattern of claw marks where the creature’s talons tore into the fabric of his pants.
“You’re serious, aren’t you?” he asked after an uncomfortable silence.
“As a trall,” Davin said. His voice was haggard and grim.
“You hurry this way,” Brian said, picking up his pace. “The Count will want to talk to you for sure,” he said. “And may not have you strung up after all.”
As they drew closer to the manor, the lights of the estate blazed brightly. Members of Joachim’s staff bustled about, and it looked to Davin as if the entire garrison had moved onto the estate proper. Dozens of tents sprouted up across the grounds, especially within the innermost complex, containing the kitchens, barns, storage buildings, and staff housing. Indeed, several fires blazed outside of the barns, and it looked as if a good many soldiers had bedded down in the lofts and empty stalls.
Niam felt a growing sense of dread taking seed in his stomach. “This can’t be about us,” he said quietly.
Brian escorted the four of them into the manor, and Gaius walked down the hall with several officers and local businessmen. He looked up briefly, and the worry lines creasing his handsome face lost some of their hold as his eyes first locked onto his son and then slid to Niam.
Gaius politely stopped the officer who was talking to him. He immediately walked over to Maerillus and embraced him. “Where have you four been?” he asked in a voice that hovered halfway between anger and fear.
“We killed the trall, Dad.”
Gaius’s face blanched. “You did what?”
“Well, actually it was Davin and Niam who did that. I fought a lot of undead corpses.”
Gaius blinked.
Twice.
“This . . . isn’t some kind of joke is it?”
Maerillus looked down. “No.”
Gaius placed his and on his shoulder. “Look at me son.”
Maerillus raised his eyes to meet his father’s. Gaius said, “I should know by now that it’s no joke. The three of you—Madeline included—have a knack for trouble. And I’m proud of all of you.”
Niam was as shocked as Maerillus was. In the least, he had expected another hard lecture.
“A lot is happening right now. We need to go see Joachim.”
“Dad . . . what’s going on?” Maerillus asked as Gaius ushered them into Joachim’s office. Joachim was seated with a number of his officers, and they were arguing heatedly with members of the town council. The topic appeared to center around the search for the trall.
“I cannot be divided between the hunt for that beast and what’s happening in Havel’s Dock,” Joachim said angrily. “They’ll not make a move this far into my province unless he has an official sanction from Pallodine, and I will guarantee you he does not have that!”
Joachim looked around as Gaius cleared his throat. “I think our young friends here might have the answer to part of this mess we’re facing.”
Joachim arched an eyebrow. “Oh?”
Davin spoke up. “We found one of Kreeth’s hideouts and killed the trall. Niam and I did, I mean.”
“Not really,” Niam interjected. “You ran it off of a cliff. I just ran it out of the cave. And you and Maerillus killed a lot of dead people.”
Joachim stared at them for a moment, silently. “You mean to tell me the damned thing that’s been terrorizing my province is dead?”
Davin nodded his head. “At the bottom of Siler’s Gorge.”
A councilman dressed in dark red britches and a satiny brown coat with puffy sleeves clapped his hands together in triumph. “Ha! Now this matter can be brought to a close!”
Joachim stood up. He told his officers to gather several squads of men and to prepare a wagon. Then he turned to face Niam and his three friends. “Madeline, I’ll have one of my men escort you home. Your father is very worried about you. And as for the three of you, don’t get comfortable yet, you’re taking us back to where you killed the trall.”
“And you can fill us in on whatever made you go down to the gorge to begin with. The trials are deadly this time of year,” Gaius rumbled.
Maerillus broke in before Gaius or Joachim could say anything else. “Can someone please tell us what is going on?”
Joachim’s voice was strained with fatigue. “Eason began moving his troops into the Lake Valleys this morning after the Mayor of Havel’s Dock sold out to him and requested his intervention.”
“Oh,” was all Maerillus could say.
Niam leaned in to his rich friend, and asked, “This is bad isn’t it?”