If someone had told me a week ago that I would be a deserter in the King’s Army, become the most wanted fugitive in all of Valencia, and get chased all over the country to avoid going into a war zone—just to end up going into that very war zone willingly—I would think that person must have had their brains scrambled into pudding by a lich. Maybe I’m the one whose brains are scrambled.

  Piper doesn’t share my concerns. “Do they really have trolls in Fornia? I would LOVE to fight a troll!”

  I shake my head at her. “You say that now. Wait til one of them is using your organs to make its stew with. I hear livers are their favorite.”

  “I don’t think they’d want mine at this point. Speaking of which…” She twists around in her saddle to scan the horizon. “You don’t know anywhere around here we could relax and get a drink, do you? It’s getting late.”

  “Oh no, we are not going to any more pubs. Or inns. Or shops or towns or anything. Not until we cross the border into Fornia. It’s too risky.”

  She growls through her closed mouth. “So we’re sleeping outside for the rest of the trip?” I nod. “How long you think it’ll take?”

  “I don’t really know.” I look down and try asking the mask, “Hey, you happen to know how far Fornia is from here?”

  “Hmm…” Mazi’s eye holes move left and right. “I don’t believe I’ve ever been this far north before. Afraid I’m of no help.”

  “Well I do know that it’s right on the other side of these mountains. I just don’t know how far the mountains go in this area. Hundred miles, maybe. Depending on the terrain, I’m guessing a couple days of riding.”

  Piper shrugs. “I can handle that.” Then it’s quiet for a few seconds until she starts humming a tune I recognize but don’t know the name of. The humming goes on for a bit until she opens her mouth and starts quietly singing to herself. And suddenly, everything but her voice has melted out of existence. She always sounds sweet but when her words form into a melody it’s utterly intoxicating. It puts me in a trance every time. The song she’s singing has a happy melody but sad lyrics, “O’er the mountains my love did go. To fight for his laddies, he left his home. All that came back was the horse he rode. Now oh, how I miss him so.” She flashes a modest smile at me when I start to clap.

  Mazi tells her, “That was very lovely. What is the name of that song?”

  “Oh, it’s just one of those melodies that people put their own words to. I don’t think it has a name. It was one my mother would sing when I was little.” After she says it, her gaze drops to the ground and stays firmly planted there.

  It goes quiet again until I take a deep breath and wade into treacherous waters, “You know Piper, something I’ve been meaning to say to you for a while now…When you started wanting to learn how to fight and asking if you could come on missions with me—‘Adventures,’ as you like to call them. It was only after…well, you know. It was only after what happened to your mother. It’s like you started running and never stopped. It’s been three years now that she’s been gone. And look at you, you’re still running.”

  She narrows her eyes at me. “Yeah, and your point is?”

  “Well hey, I’m not complaining about getting to spend all this extra time with you. But I’m just saying, maybe you should think about slowing down one of these days. Stopping. Reflecting.”

  Now she’s got one hand on her hip. I know what that means. “Uh-huh. And what are you, my royal therapist now? Actually, while we’re bringing up each other’s issues, how about we talk about you and your parents?”

  I shrug. “Not much to talk about considering I never actually knew them.”

  “Yeah, exactly.”

  I raise my hands in surrender. “Look, it’s just something to think about. I promise I won’t bring it up again.” She’s still squinting at me so I assure her a second time, “Promise.”

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  ***

  It takes more than a week to get through the mountains. We see and kill lots of interesting wildlife on the way. My favorite is a fucked up-looking goat with two heads and a snake for a tail. One of the heads looks like a lion. Thing’s even got wings, though we never get a chance to see it use them. Piper’s out of her flammable arrows so instead she just jams a pinecone onto the end of a stick and enchants it with fire. Then she launches the flaming pinecone projectile at it with her bow and we both watch it run itself ragged until it barbecues into a gnarly monsterducken. Tastes like chicken.

  On the other side of the mountains, the land flattens out into fields of flowers of just about every color imaginable, with little glowing pixies flying all over the place in between them. They rise up out of the field as we trample through, creating a glowing trail behind each of our horses. I swat some of the majestic creatures away as I lean over to yank a handful of flowers out of the ground while we ride. Then I tie the stems together to make a rainbow-colored bouquet and hand it over to Piper. The pixies are swirling up around her, casting flowing glimmers across her body as she puts a hand over heart and reaches out with the other to accept my gift.

  We see more and more houses the farther we get into Fornia. Eventually, the dirt path becomes a gravel road which then becomes a cobblestone walkway. Looks like we’ve entered our first Fornian town. We both throw our hoods up and a few trotting minutes later, we arrive at a big building in the middle of what I can only assume is the town’s market square. There’s an endless flow of people coming in and out. Most look like regular townsfolk while others are bloodied and bandaged soldiers. Apparently we’re not far from the front. I dismount when we get close and tell Piper, “Wait out here.” Then I make my way inside.

  There’s even more people in than there are out. And more shops, too. It seems this is just an extension of the market square. I suppose being up in the mountains this far north means having to spend a lot of time indoors. It’s summer now, so I can only imagine what the winters are like.

  Fornian soldiers are everywhere. Along with all kinds of vendors and peddlers and…“Goddamnit, I told you to wait outside.”

  “Yeah, and I’m surprised you thought I actually would. This place is amazing! Look at all the places to shop in here! I bet I could finally find some cute armor for once.”

  “Cute?” I cross my arms and continue my survey of the area. “Well, did you at least hitch the horses?”

  She groans, “Ughhh yes, I hitched the horses. Any more requests, Your Majesty? Want me to shine your boots for you?”

  I motion forward with my head. “Come on, let’s just find out what it is we’re dealing with here.”

  We learn that the name of this place is ‘Freetown.’ Ironic, considering it’s probably about to be overrun with Valencian soldiers. We’ll have to get farther away from the front line to evade our own army. While we’re here though, we take some time to breathe and explore and even take our hoods down once we’re convinced it’s safe. After we secure some bread and cheese and a pair of ales, we take a seat along a long bench and finally relax.

  As we’re settling in next to each other, Piper’s hand brushes against mine and in an instinctive reflex, I lace my fingers through hers and then all of a sudden, before I know it, the two of us are holding hands. I didn’t even realize what I was doing until it was already done. All this time spent fantasizing about being a couple must have made it into a subconscious habit. And to my utter astonishment, instead of letting go and batting my hand away, Piper just turns toward me and smiles.

  And now I’m suddenly very aware of my pulse.

  I try to suppress my grin by taking a bite of the bread, but as soon as I do, I hear Mazi say from my waist, “This is it.”

  I look down and ask through a mouthful of bread, “What’s it?”

  He answers while I brush away the crumbs that just fell out of my mouth onto his face, “This place. This is it. It’s absolutely perfect. This is the kind of place I’ve always dreamt of living in. On one of these walls. Look at all the people! And it’s even indoors.”

  Piper glances at me and then back down at Mazi. “Here? You want us to leave you here?”

  “I think so. Yes. Yes, I think that would be lovely.”

  “You don’t want to come with us? You want us to leave you behind?” I think she might actually start to cry.

  Seated on the other side of me is a Fornian soldier with a nasty neck wound that extends halfway up his face on one side. He pulls a spoon out of the bowl in his lap to point it at Mazi. “What is that, some kinda magical mask or somethin’?”

  I swivel my head around to tell the dimwit, “No, it’s a rutabaga. Yes, it’s a magical mask. What the fuck else would it be? Do you mind? We’re having a moment here.”

  I turn back toward Piper. “You did promise him. I mean, this was kinda the whole point of why you took him in the first place.”

  She pushes her shoulders up toward her ears. “I know but…”

  “Excuse me, what are you doing?”

  I put a hand on her shoulder and she relaxes. “Hey, as much as I hate to admit it, I’m gonna miss the little guy too. He’s actually kind of grown on me.”

  “Please stop that. Let me go! HELP!”

  Holy fuck, the soldier just cut through my waistband and snatched Mazi. He’s already halfway to the door with the little shit screaming his nonexistent lungs out. The food in our laps gets sent flying as Piper and I spring to our feet to chase after him.