Jack frowned for the first time in a while. He didn’t want to break what could be bad
news to his friend. He glanced around the room. No one else wanted to do it either.
“There was a thing in Hawk Ridge,” said Jack. “The girls handled it.”
“The girls handled it?,” said Josie. “What kind of thing are we talking about here?”
“I have no idea,” said Jack. “So we agreed to keep it from you while we filled out the
rest of this problem.”
“You decided to keep it from me?,” said Josie.
“I will take responsibility for the call,” said Jack. “Elaine said everything was okay.”
“Are the girls okay?,” asked Josie. She crossed her arms. He could see her hands were
fists clenching together.
“Yes,” said Jack. “Everything is fine. And we have people we can talk to about the
current mess.”
“What do you mean?,” asked Josie.
“Some out of town adventurers showed up to take Caroline away from the Ducklings,”
said Jack.
“Someone told them we had Caroline?,” said Josie.
“How many people know this?,” said Glunt.
“The people in this room, the Queen, the adventurers involved in transporting Rustam
and his men, the Amazons, maybe a stray adventurer working around the hospital, The
Duke, and part of the Watch,” said Josie. “I am not sure of the numbers.”
“How many would say anything?,” asked Glunt.
“Almost none,” said Josie. “Someone working for Rustam, or Brant, must have spread
the word. So we crack these adventurers? What does that give us?”
“If it connects back to the border, it gives us someone trying to force the war for the
land with Caroline as a hostage which was the original idea,” said Jack. “If we can link
the rest of the consortium to it, we have a criminal conspiracy against the crown.”
“It will put Illheim beside his brother if we are correct,” said Rickard.
“We will need official notice if you can link the Grecious to the Shemmarian side,” said
Worldy. “Then we can pick up the leaders on our side unless they flee when half of their
numbers are rolled up.”
“There is also the question of the rank and file that will need to be broken,” said
Rickard. “If the network has competent middle managers, they might try this again if we
do arrest these few organizers.”
“I can’t speak for the majority of the committee,” said Worldy. “The best that I can
promise is to try to arrest as many people as I can with what we now know.”
“I will send word about the clean up as soon as I am sure we have at least done
something,” said Rickard.
“The girls,” said Josie. “Let’s get back to what’s important.”
“Elaine said they are fine,” said Jack. “Enterprise, can you take us to station over Hawk
Ridge?”
“Affirmative,” said the machine.
“So the cadet royal branch might be behind all of this,” said Josie.
“Maybe not all of it,” said Jack. “The former Duke Hent seemed to be running Hawk
Ridge as his own piggy bank.”
“I think we know enough to say most of this started with Rustam and his brother,” said
Josie. “All of this could be their friends trying to take advantage of things.”
“Or we could be seeing a bunch of conspiracies just working together or at odds in
certain places,” said Jack. “We have no way of knowing from the quests we’ve been
given.”
“What would you need to prove things?,” said Glunt.
“A list of members we seized from someone’s house,” said Josie. “Something non-
magical, and in one of our suspects’ handwriting.”
“Like the ledgers we used to mark the Montrose,” said Jack.
“Yes,” said Josie. “We still have them, don’t we?”
“I think they are in the office at the Hole in the Wall,” said Jack.
“I gave Guin and Eric knowledge books so they could think about places to hit,” said
Josie.
“On station,” reported the Enterprise.
“Let’s go down and see what the damage is,” said Jack. “Maybe the kids have a piece
of the puzzle we can use.”
“It will be good to see Care again,” said Rickard.
“It’s only been a couple of days,” said Jack. “Have you never had trips without her?”
“No,” said the king. “She always went where we went.”
“No wonder she went for Case at her first chance,” said Jack. “Enterprise, locate Seven
Russ on the ground and then transport our party down. Let’s see what kind of fish the
kids hooked.”
The machine sent everyone down as it acknowledged the order. The party regained their
movement in front of a house on fire. Jack scanned the area for his beloved. He smiled
when he saw her with crossbow in hand in the street.
“I go out of town on business, and here you are burning places down,” said Jack. He
wrapped her up in a hug. “How are you?”
“I’m fine,” said Elaine. She put on a smile while returning the hug. She made sure not
to jab Jack in the back with the crossbow. “Aviras started the fire.”
“What happened, Elaine?,” said Josie. She had her eye on the reunion of princess and
king and beau.
“We came out of practice, and a larger group that these men belonged to accosted us and
commanded us to hand over the princess, or else,” said Elaine. “A general melee broke
out, and these men broke from the larger group and fled. We tracked them down and
subdued them as you can see.”
The group of men in question were manacled together on the road. They didn’t look too
happy about it, and some of them had acquired some burn marks.
“Aviras,” called Jack. He patted Elaine on the back. “Let’s see what we can do about
finding out something.”
“Aye, Jack,” said the dragon. He rested on Matilda’s head. A small flame escaped his
snout. The girl carried him to where the adults stood in their small meeting.
“I might need you to set fire to someone for me,” said Jack. “I think Matilda should not
be part of this.”
“He’s right, Matilda,” said Elaine. She held out her hand for the dragon.
“It’s all right,” said Matilda. “I’ve seen people hurt before.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. She frowned at the manacled men before her.
“They tried to hurt Caroline and all of us,” said Matilda. “I have no problem paying
them back.”
“You will,” said Jack. “Hurting people purposely hurts yourself on the inside. You will
be scarred for life.”
“It won’t be the first time,” said Matilda. “I can live with it.”
“But you’re not going to live with this, young lady,” said King Rickard. “Sir Dragon,
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.take these girls and women and leave the scene. Madam Numera, I appreciate what you
have done. The same for you girls. Now it is my time to exercise my will. Gentlemen,
please escort the ladies home. We will talk to you when we are done.”
“I didn’t get to show off my face eating skills,” complained Aviras. He hopped to
Matilda’s head. She stroked the back of his neck.
“I am sure they are excellent,” said the King. “In due time, you could perhaps have
someone to bite, but not at this moment.”
“Someone to bite is what I long for,” said Aviras. “Come, Matilda. It is time for Garion
the Hammer.”
“Two scoops of ice cream for him if we have it,” said Josie.
“And that is how you become the greatest defender of children,” Aviras said. His smug
look was directed at the Budds.
“I don’t think I have ever had a quest doing that,” said Thad.
“And you never will,” said Beatrice. She smiled as she grabbed his arm.
“Write everything up for me,” said Josie. “I will look at your reports later.”
“We defended the princess,” said Melanie. She gestured at Case and Caroline standing
together.
“Successfully,” agreed Angelica.
“And now you have to tell me how in five hundred words or more,” said Josie.
“Bah,” said Alicia.
“Adventurers have to fill out their paperwork, and so do you,” said Josie. “And when
you are done, you can treat yourselves. And how will Emily get paid if she doesn’t have
anything to show to Sally.”
“We need a magic writing spell so we don’t have to do these reports,” said Melanie.
“I am going to count to three, then someone is getting turned into a frog,” said Josie.
She frowned at her brood and Caroline. The adventurers backed away from the
threatened area. “So hop to it.”
“I like that,” said Jack. “There’s not that many frog puns.”
“Elaine,” said Josie. “Thank you for keeping the kids as safe as you did. We still have
the king’s business to take care of, and then we’ll be home.”
“We’ll be waiting,” said Elaine. She gave Jack a short hug. “Laura, Beatrice?”
“But not the loverboys,” said Jack. “If I can’t be with my beloved, neither can they.”
“But,” said Case. He waved at Caroline who smiled at him.
“Duty comes first,” said Jack. “Then the trouble in the boudoir.”
“I don’t think I like you,” said Case. He watched as his beloved floated away while
waving back at him.
“I will try not to be exceptionally hurt by that,” said Jack.
“We should have let the lizard take a couple of nips,” said Vin.
“Aviras was convenient,” said Jack. “But we do have Josie. She can shear feet off
instantly.”
“I don’t think I have ever seen anything like that,” said Glunt. “I have seen feet chopped
off, but it was never a clean line.”
“You can torture us,” one of the captives said. “We don’t know anything. We were hired
to do a job. We didn’t know anything about demon children.”
“Someone hired you to kidnap the princess of the realm?,” said Worldy. “And you
didn’t think there should be questions?”
“It was a straight job,” said the speaker. “I want to keep my feet.”
“I don’t want to let you keep them now,” said Jack. “I think it’s time for Blade.”
“Dial it down, Jack,” said Mister Warner. “What do we need from these mooks at the
end of the day so we can get back on track?”
“Who hired them, and where he is seems the most important,” said Hax.
“We might need to know how many more adventurers are acting as his minions,” said
Haslet.
“And we need to know where they plug into the border problem,” said Glunt. “This
might just be a side issue like Kyle.”
Josie transformed and did books for each of the captives, and one more personal one for
herself. She handed the criminal books over to Mister Warner before becoming normal
again.
Mister Warner handed the books to the king. He took a breath.
“I have a trick of my own,” said Mister Warner. “Josie just wrote a part of your recent
history down so the authorities can backtrack you, and look for your friends. It’s really
good.”
He changed into a man in a tuxedo, cloak drifting around him. A mustache covered his
lip.
“This is something I used to do when I wanted to hunt people down and I didn’t have
anywhere to start,” he said.
He held out his hand. A piece of paper formed out of the air. A picture drew itself on the
sheet while they watched. He handed that to the king before letting the transformation
lapse.
“It’s Illheim,” said Rickard. He handed the sheet to Worldy. “And what did the prince
promise you in exchange for your services?”
“A fortune to bring the girl to a place up north and hold her there until he worked out
whatever he wanted to do,” said the speaker.
“You wouldn’t happen to know where Illheim is, do you?,” asked Jack. He held his
hands behind his back so he wouldn’t be tempted to do something stupid.
“No,” said the speaker.
“I doubt he would stay in his residence,” said Rickard.
“I can find him anytime I want,” said Josie. “What do we do with our prisoners? Lock
them up on the Enterprise until we get done?”
“I think we should hand them over to Duke Hent,” said Rickard. “After that, I will think
about handing them to the dragon.”
“Aviras would love that,” said Jack. “Let me talk to the Duke and arrange for someone
to pick up these losers before we get back on the road.”
He pulled on Makkari and hurried off at the front of a blowing wind. He returned a few
minutes later and let the persona go. He gave the captives a grim look.
“I ran into Captain Griff,” said Jack. “He is sending people to take our friends to cells
under the keep. They’ll stay there until we come back for them.”
“That will be fine for what we want to do,” said Rickard. “I will make space for them
at the Delve when we’re done with this.”
A mass protest went up at that. Jack kicked the nearest man in the body.
“Shut up,” he said. “The only reason why you are not taking a closer look at the edge
of the sky right now is Elaine came through all right. If she hadn’t, you would all
understand the meaning of a sudden stop at the end of a long drop, king or no king. I
still have half a mind to rip you apart piece by piece and throw you over the wall. There
are no excuses. You signed up to try to cripple the country, and hurt my beloved and my
friend’s sisters. If the king wants to give you hard labor, I am fine with that, and you
should be too. The alternative will not be that pleasant for you.”
“Jack is right,” said Rickard. “If something had happened to Caroline, a hanging would
be more the order of the day. A slow hanging.”
“Jack,” said Mister Warner. “Let’s take a walk. Call us when the cops get here.”
The two walked away from the scene. Jack put his face back together to hide his anger
behind his usually happy mask. Mister Warner wore his Josie frown. He checked his
regular watch with a pull of his jacket sleeve.
“What are we doing?,” asked Jack.
“Thinking,” said Mister Warner. “I like to walk while I am thinking. As I got older, the
walking got harder, but old habits are hard to shake.”
“What are we thinking about?,” asked Jack.
“Rustam and Illheim,” said Mister Warner. “What do you think?”
“About what?,” asked Jack.
“About this situation,” said Mister Warner. He sighed. “This is why you don’t live
where you work. You get too involved with people when you should not be involved.
Why do I have to explain this?”
“I like living here,” said Jack. “You think I was too angry?”
“Not Josie levels,” said Mister Warner. “But feeding people to dragons is close.”
“I’m fine,” said Jack. “I would have only asked for a few scorch marks.”
“Rustam and Illheim,” said Mister Warner. He had his eye on people moving around
them. “What do you think? What do you think they want with Caroline?”
“That part is obvious,” said Jack. “Caroline is the next Queen. If she is removed, they
get the throne when Rick dies. If she is a living captive, she’s a hostage. Either way,
they control the kingdom if they can control her until another heir is in place.”
“And Illheim gets it all now that Rustam has been stripped of his titles,” said Mister
Warner.
“All he’s getting is a torpedo,” said Jack. “He doesn’t get to live when this shakes out.
I was okay with Rustam, but Illheim has to go down.”
“What makes him more important?,” said Mister Warner.
“Some out of towners show up looking for Caroline three, or four, days after she gets
out of the hospital, and they know where she is and who she is with,” said Jack. “That
means Illheim has eyes on us, and on Hawk Ridge.”
“And now he will know we’re looking for him if his lookout wasn’t among the people
the girls took,” said Mister Warner. “A fast messenger can get across country in a week
of riding if he has a string of horses to ride. They don’t have a pony express here yet,
but when they do, that will be the model they will be using.”
“How is the mail delivered?,” asked Jack.
“Coach,” said Mister Warner. “Or caravan. Adventurers can be hired for it if it is
important enough.”
“Maybe we can get Rick to start one here,” said Jack.
“Maybe we should get back to Illheim,” said Mister Warner. “What is our plan other
than blowing up wherever he is right now?”
“The easiest thing is to let Josie turn a bird on him and find him,” said Jack. “Then we
pick him up and see if we can find enough to pick up everyone else working for him.”
“We might not be able to grab them all,” warned Mister Warner.
“I could,” said Jack. “But the Society would flip their collective lid at the extravagance.”
“Really?,” said Mister Warner. “How long have you known that?”
“Since I built the Quinjet,” said Jack.
“What?,” said Mister Warner.
“How do you think the magic works?,” said Jack. He put on his natural grin at the
expression he received.
“If you thought you could get approval, how would you do that?,” asked Mister Warner.
He wore a questioning look on his younger face.
“I would pick a spot to put a ring down,” said Jack. “It has to be close to where the
selected targets are. Once down, the ring just expands until it gets rid of the targets. The
main problem is I will need material to build the ring.”
“Where would this material come from to build this ring?,” asked Mister Warner.
“Ideally, the targets,” said Jack. “But probably I would have to use plants to do it. If I
did that, there could be a problem at the end of things.”
“Do I want to know what kind of problem?,” asked Mister Warner.
“I have to use something to build the ring,” said Jack. “If the targets aren’t close enough
for me to build it out of them, and I am using plants, I could deforest part of the
kingdom just trying to reach them.”
“This is why the Faceless want you to slow down on the building stuff,” said Mister
Warner.
“I think I have a handle on things,” said Jack.
“So did Oppenheimer,” said Mister Warner. “How are you feeling?”
“I don’t need a therapist,” said Jack.
“I’m sure you don’t,” said Mister Warner, making a face of disbelief. “I asked you how
do you feel.”
“I’m okay,” said Jack.
“Do you need to take a moment and sit the rest of this out?,” said Mister Warner.
“I’m good,” said Jack.
“Game face?,” said Mister Warner.
Jack grinned.
“All right,” said the once retired champion of order. “Let’s do what we have to do to get
this done before they make another try for the girls. If someone was watching, and got
a message off, they’ll know the girls are a weakness.”
“Not a weakness,” said Jack. “People will think they are a lever to push us. They just
don’t know what Josie and I will do in retaliation. Especially Josie.”