Half an hour earlier, the closed gate exploded inwards when Almina touched it with her sword while Ioha protected them from archers manning the walls. Siege cavalry, she once said.

  Twenty minutes earlier, the last of the archers fell to Derina jumping around like a circus artist on steroids.

  Ten minutes earlier, the last defenders assaulted Ioha in a wide corridor, where he had set up a fully prepared defence. The siblings spent the time confirming they hadn’t missed anyone in armour elsewhere. They returned to a blackened half-circle, stinking of heated metal.

  Ioha’s dormant display flickered four times from when the riders charged at them, but he couldn’t muster the will to look at his gains. He hadn’t since before he gained points during the ambush.

  Now they stood in some kind of throne room facing the local lord. It looked a little like a boss fight, and they needed her alive. That was the only reason they faced her rather than sifting her ashes down a toilet.

  She was surprisingly young. Thirty odd something, haughty despite being terrified and without even the illusion of power.

  The few of her servant staff who hadn’t fled served refreshments from a trolley. Almina nodded after checking it for poison. One message had reached them. Anyone armed, even the cook who grabbed a knife, died. Everyone else remained unhurt, apart from one maid who sprained her foot when she ran down a flight of stairs.

  The lord was an exception. She sat on her throne with an old arming sword in her lap. Since she didn’t touch the hilt Derina decided to count her as unarmed. Well, and they needed her alive.

  “You grabbed two of my guests. I would like them returned.”

  The lord stared at Almina. “Young Wari, you are a long way from home.” There was a veiled threat there.

  Almina stroked her chin. “I believe we’ll manage. I sent the Terendala knights to join the caravan earlier today.”

  “Terendala?” In a moment, the lord lost all her colour. The name came out of her mouth, a mere whisper.

  “Terendala,” Almina confirmed. “The heir apparent has been part of our caravan since the start. Weren’t you informed?” A very deliberate smile turned her lips upwards until it became a sneer.

  Understanding slowly seeped through Ioha’s brain. Aspects like economically viable didn’t count the same way in the southern kingdoms as in the federation. The Wari house commanded a hundred knights. That made them dangerous but distant. That their wealth could buy thousands more just didn’t filter through the mindset here. Terendala had five thousand men at arms today. They made things go bump in the dark. For the lord here, Harvali wasn’t a young heir – he was the boogeyman and currently walked around somewhere unknown in her fief.

  “Sir Harvali Terendala is present?” The lord scanned the throne room as if he would materialise out of thin air.

  Almina stared back. “According to the trade treaties, wagon trains are to pass unhindered through our respective domains. I hope you have been made aware of this.” The assumption was a glaring insult. All lords knew very well of the central treaties the nations signed. Those concerning trade were more central than most.

  “We can’t prevent every bandit…”

  Almina flipped a coin through the air. Then when Ioha gave it a closer look as it made its way to the lord, he saw that it wasn’t a coin. Some kind of badge with an insignia.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Sir Terendala is currently exacting justice for banditry in breach of the treaty, just like we have done here.” Almina let out air between thin lips. “I dislike repeating myself. My guests. I want them returned,” she said after the badge bounced off the sword in the lord’s lap and clinked to the floor.

  “I didn’t order this,” she stammered.

  You didn’t?

  “The lord of the domain didn’t order her own soldiers? That’s odd. Then who did?” Almina’s voice had settled into a deceptive calm.

  Shit, if someone else pulled the strings, then they’re no longer here. Ioha gave it another thought. They probably had never been.

  “He’s an outworlder.”

  One of us? Who the hell… oh…

  “Would you please care to explain that?”

  “A very powerful outworlder. A noble from Isekai by the name Akira Yoshida.” The lord stared at Almina with eyes if possibly even more frightened than they had been when they burst into her throne room. “He might even be the king.”

  Ioha couldn’t fault her for not understanding the Isekai hierarchy. He had lived there for a year and didn’t himself.

  “And my guests?”

  “They never arrived here.”

  Almina turned to Ioha. “Do you know this outworlder?”

  “I only know a little. Yoshida Akira is a convicted mass murderer in outworld who should have been executed a long time ago. He fled here and started killing again.” Ioha smirked. “This time he made a lot of money and became very powerful. He’s vermin. You can leave his killing to me. It’s an outworlder problem, and he’s more of a monster than anything I saw in the border zone.”

  She gave him a worried look. “Are you certain?”

  Ioha nodded. “He doesn’t count as human. Every single day he lives is another black mark on human dignity.” He looked at Derina for support. “Look, you know my inferno abilities. If I told you, I’d be willing to reduce the blade storm just so he would live longer while trapped inside, would that explain what I feel about that man?”

  Derina stared back. “Don’t. Don’t become like him. Just kill him fast if you get a chance.” His face turned grim. “I understand,” he finished.

  Almina locked eyes with the lord. “So you made business with a human monster just to get at the Wari house? And broke the treaty while at it?”

  “I didn’t…”

  “One of my men is dead with an arrow in his throat. You meant everything about it.” Almina threw her brother a glance. “Derina, I need to stay here as heir to handle the fallout. Sir Terendala should arrive in three days, two if I’m lucky.”

  Derina bowed to his sister. “I understand.”

  “You can’t do this. I’m the lord of…”

  “You are guilty of breaking the treaty. As a lord, you must be aware of the consequences. Brother, I’ll close down the castle after justice is served.”

  He bowed again. “We’ll give pursuit. Please arrange for a pigeon home. Mother will worry.”

  Ioha looked at the siblings. “We have to leave again?”

  “The two of us.”

  “When?”

  “Now.”

  “Why the hurry?”

  Derina gave him a hard stare. “My sister is the heir. Like Harvali she has a duty. We should not be here when it is carried out.”

  Ioha bowed to Almina and walked out of the throne room. He might be naive to a degree, but he had read his own history. Serving justice also meant warning those who came after from repeating the crime. He never believed it worked, but he didn’t want to be here and witness it. Behind him the lord screamed in terror when Almina dragged her out of the throne room and Ioha hastened his steps.

  He and Derina passed the orchard before he looked back. Something swayed from the walls. It looked like a doll.