The fire crackled, and a harsh red glow enhanced the anger on Kenna’s face. “I swore,” she said again.

  “Kenna,” Laryn said softly. “I don’t want Harrat to have your spell module any more than you do.”

  She breathed deeply, lip quivering as she shuddered, controlling her anger.

  “No, you don’t,” she said softly. “And you’re right, I don’t want him to have your kingdom core either.”

  “We’re on the same side here,” he said, coaxingly.

  “I know. I know.”

  Laryn sat in silence, watching her turn over the options in her mind. “Will you show me where it is?” he asked. “It will give us an advantage that will help stop Harrat.”

  “I run the risk of him getting them both,” Kenna protested. “That would be worse.”

  “But you also improve the odds of him getting neither,” Laryn said. “It’s all or nothing. You’re not just afraid of Harrat getting the spell module, though, are you? You could have simply destroyed the thing. You want to use it. Use it against him?”

  Kenna nodded slowly. “I don’t just want to hurt him. I want to destroy him,” she whispered.

  Laryn leaned back from the ferocity of her tone.

  “Let me help you,” he said.

  “Fine,” Kenna agreed. “I’ll take you to it.”

  “Is it far?”

  “A day or two, on foot. Maybe more to carry it back to Vallor, if you can manage it.”

  “We’ll have to go fast, before Harrat regroups for another attack.”

  “Do you think we even have time?”

  “His forces were scattered and his core destroyed. It will take him at least a few days while he tries to figure out what happened, before he tries again. Besides, the island is harder to reach until the water level falls.”

  “Tomorrow, then,” Kenna said, leaning back against the trunk of the tree. “When I’m warmer.”

  They slept that night huddled around the burning coals of the fire. In the morning, when Laryn awoke, he was pleased to find his shirt and cloak had fully dried out in the night. Kenna snored softly, still curled up at the base of the tree.

  He did what he could to mask their camp site, then slipped out from under the tree branches.

  Not ten meters from where he stood, a white tent sat, anchored among the trees. Laryn watched it for any signs of life, but saw none. He crept closer, and spotted nearly a dozen more of them, spotted about. Not a carefully planned out campground, but the midnight crash point of weary troops.

  A few men moved between the tents, as the camp stirred. These were, without a doubt, Harrat’s men who’d been behind him in the night. They must have done the same thing as Laryn, turned away from the water at the first possible opportunity, and then stopped for the night at the first sight of somewhat level ground.

  Laryn ducked back into their shelter. He roused Kenna, who seemed dazed and confused. She stretched and yawned.

  “Kenna, those soldiers are outside!” he hissed.

  “They found us?”

  “No, but they will if we don’t get out of here. They must have stopped here in the darkness, just like we did.”

  Kenna rolled out stiff joints, then scanned her surroundings. “Nothing to pack up,” she said.

  Laryn moved a branch aside for her. “Let’s go.”

  They crept out of their hiding place and slipped off through the trees, trying to keep large objects between them and the camp.

  After only a dozen meters, though, someone shouted behind them.

  “Hey!”

  Laryn and Kenna ran.

  “Hey, stop!”

  The voice pursued them, and others joined in the chase.

  “Bald man, woman, running that way,” someone yelled.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “You think it’s them?”

  “Maybe!”

  Laryn blasted a life dart in the direction of the voices, then continued running.

  Laryn was faster than Kenna, but he let her lead the way. He kept checking over his shoulder for signs of pursuit. A few scouts wouldn’t be a big problem for him, but getting cornered by dozens of soldiers would be bad.

  The shouts of pursuit faded behind them.

  “They’ll be able to track us in this,” Laryn said. “The ground is so soft, it won’t even be hard.”

  “Then we’d better keep going,” Kenna said.

  “Did you hear what they were saying? I thought Bram was big, and old.”

  “He was bigger than you,” Kenna agreed. “But you should take it as a compliment.”

  Laryn chuckled nervously.

  “They know I’m here now,” Kenna said. “They’re going to keep chasing us.”

  A short time later the sound of rushing water informed them that they were nearing the Lewin river.

  “We can’t be far from Jardensvale here, then,” Laryn said.

  They paused, listening for sounds of pursuit. Nothing but the roar of the river could be heard.

  “You want to try crossing the river?” Kenna asked.

  “Let’s get closer and see. Do we need to cross it to get to the spell module?”

  “We do.”

  “Then we have to find the best place to do that. It will help hide our tracks, too.”

  “We also need to find something to eat,” Kenna said. “I’m getting hungry.”

  Laryn hadn’t noticed it before, but he was also feeling the need for food. He suspected that his additional constitution points helped with that.

  They worked their way northward, angling toward the sound of water. When they finally broke through the trees onto the banks of the Lewin river, Laryn sighed with relief.

  The Lewin was not nearly as large as the Ebil, and did not seem to have flooded so much either.

  “There is a ford, near Jardensvale,” Kenna said. “It’s possible there’s still food in the cold cellars there.”

  They followed the river north, looking for anywhere wider and shallower that might be easier to cross.

  Around midday, they reached a point where the current seemed slower. The murky water obscured the depth of the river though, but Laryn thought he’d risk it.

  “I’m going to try crossing here,” he said. “It’s as good a place as any we’ve seen, and I’d like to put this river between us and Harrat’s men.”

  Kenna watched as he grudgingly waded out into the river, getting his clothes wet again. The current was strong, but the Lewin was a much more mild river than the Ebil. Water rose to his chest in the middle of the river, and then he was across.

  “I think it’s doable,” Laryn said, and he started coming back for Kenna.

  She plunged into the water and started wading out. He was taller than her, and she would have had to swim to get across. Instead, she clung to him and he helped her through the current.

  They stayed in the shallow water of the river bed and continued northward, hoping that they’d make it harder for Harrat’s men to find where they exited the river.

  Laryn received an update from Adi as they worked their way northward.

  “The water level is still very high,” she said. “We’ve spent all morning watching the north shore, but haven’t seen any one. We did hear a few distant rumblings that might have been elemental bombs going off, but we can’t be sure.”

  “I hope that’s the [Mages], harassing Harrat,” Laryn said. “Thank you for the update. Also, it might be good to build a tall tower atop the island, to get a better view of what’s going on. They know where we are already, so if we have a chance to see them coming, that would be good. And what about the walls we built along the shore?”

  “They’re under water,” Adi said. “I don’t know how well they held up.”

  “Build new ones at the higher water mark. They’ll be helpful even after the water level goes down.”

  “I’ll pass that on,” Adi said. “What about you?”

  “We’re heading to Jardensvale. Hope to find some food there. Then we’ll locate the spell module and start working our way back. We were pursued by a few of Harrat’s men this morning, but I think we’ve managed to shake them off our trail.”

  “Korwin and Thallon want me to tell you that they don’t know if we’ll be able to hold out for long without reinforcements.”

  “I know. We have to hope Hober or Ollen can make it back in time.”

  Laryn felt more driven than ever to find the spell module and install it in Vallor. With the additional power of the module, he’d be better equipped to take the fight to Harrat. But his councilors were right. Without more manpower, they’d be seriously limited.

  Laryn and Kenna found a narrow track later that afternoon, which Kenna believed would lead them to Jardensvale. Laryn wondered if the spell module might be hidden in that town, and hoped it to be the case. His stomach growled.

  Kenna laughed at the sound.

  “Angry about something?” she said.

  “I’ve just been eating air all morning,” Laryn grumbled. “There had better be something good to eat stashed in Jardensvale.”

  “This area is looking familiar,” Kenna said. “I think we’re not far from the town now.”

  The ground rolled gently, sloping uphill as they traveled west, away from the Lewin. Here the forces of time and erosion had weathered away the stone, so that the large ridges which formed to the east did not exist.

  Instead, hills and slopes caused the path to twist and turn, but nothing was fully impassible. A few areas had clearly been cleared of lumber, and Laryn caught glimpses of herds of grazing animals as they passed.

  Finally they caught a glimpse of a wrecked village, and Laryn’s heart leapt in his chest at the sight. The signs of voidling destruction scarred the scene, but all Laryn could think about was getting something to eat.

  The path wound through a field, where green plants were growing. Kenna stopped to examine on of the plants, and plucked a green fruit from one.

  “A pepper,” she said. “We can eat these, at least.”

  Laryn wasn’t so sure. He’d tasted the peppered beef that Thallon raved about, and it had been a painful experience. Eating a pepper directly seemed to be a bad idea. His face twisted.

  “You must not be hungry, then,” Kenna said, seeing his expression.

  His stomach growled again.

  They reached the top of a low rise, and the village that had once been Jardensvale spread out before them again. The village was little more than a dozen small houses and supporting buildings. In the center of the village, the wrecked remains of the kingdom core sparkled in the afternoon light.

  Something moved in one of the windows.

  Laryn grabbed Kenna, pulling her down to take cover.

  “There’s someone down there,” Laryn said.

  They watched, staying low in the field. More movements through broken windows, and a flash of brown between two buildings troubled them. There were several things moving around down there.

  “Voidlings?” Kenna asked.

  “I’m not sure.”

  They continued watching until the creatures in question began congregating in the center of town. Green skinned, bi-pedal, and hauling sacks of loot, they were clearly goblins.