Whydah idly plucked the strings of the lyre as she and Bird bumped northward on horseback towards the Luminarium. The tune was a required piece for the College of Bards entrance exam, back in Buhlent—difficult but not impossible. Each note eased the tension from her shoulders. Her breathing, shallow and tight as they skulked from the stables before daybreak, was more measured, her belly now rising and falling every eight beats.

  Surprised to find the sun already high overhead, her gaze lingered on its playful glint against the river’s surface framed by the rising peaks. She closed her eyes against the tickling breeze, her lips stretching into a wide grin.

  “Still at least six hours to ride,” Bird muttered over his shoulder, shaking his head impatiently. “Feels like such a waste of time.”

  His words struck her. She realized, in that moment, that they couldn’t be more different in this respect. While he tolerated the travel to enjoy the destinations, she tolerated the destinations to enjoy the journeys and the music that accompanied them. Today’s trip included a new sensation. The pendant, her secret prize from last night’s work, gently bumped against her breastbone with each step of her mount. Unconsciously, her fingers adopted the internal metronome into her routine, plucking the strings to the subtle beat it generated.

  They had been riding since just before dawn. Bird favored a dimly lit departure, particularly when it involved appropriating horses, as they had from the White Horse stables this morning. They had chosen well and were making good time, adjusting the pace to preserve the horses, who deserved a brief rest. This was as good a place as any.

  The riverside's sparse cover offered one of the more open stretches they had crossed. Green grass filled the space between the wagon ruts, offering decent fodder for the horses, and the noon sun promised a warm spot by the water for their meal.

  Whydah stowed the lyre into her pack and gave a quick, shrill whistle. Glancing back over his shoulder, Bird nodded in response to her call for a stop. He navigated his horse to the left-hand side of the path, allowing her to pull up beside. Although a pony would have better suited her stature, the quarter horse was manageable at today’s pace, even if she still needed assistance getting on and off.

  She waited patiently as Bird dismounted and removed his pack, setting it on the roadside before walking around to her horse.

  “You ready?”

  “Yep!”

  The tabby stretched out his arms as she swung her leg over the animal’s back and slid into his firm grasp. He lowered her to the ground before retrieving her pack. The two settled on a fallen log facing the river. The horses wandered nearby, heads bowed, nibbling the roadside grasses.

  “How’s the hip?” he asked, fishing through his pack for the traveler’s meals they’d secured that morning.

  “Been better. Having to stretch so much to straddle the horse doesn’t help.” She smiled. “But I’ll live!”

  Bird withdrew a waxed bundle marked with the outline of a rearing white horse, unfolding it to reveal a small loaf of fresh bread, a few slices of cured meat, and a wedge of cheese. They shared the meal, watching sunlight dance across the Shand’s flowing waters.

  Whydah held up the last piece of her cheese before popping it into her mouth. “Not bad for a roadside flophouse in a two-horse town.”

  “Better than I expected!” The tabby turned his head to look at her before reaching out a finger and tucking his claw under the silver chain peeking out from the neck of her tunic, lifting it gently. “That’s new,” was all he said before letting it fall back onto her collarbone. She felt the blood rush to her face. She hesitated, reluctant to raise her gaze from the bread crusts in her lap.

  “Oh, this?” She slid her thumb under the chain, pulling the pendant into the sunlight. “It was in Red Beard’s coin purse. I liked the way it looked, so I tried it on. I just forgot to tell you, I wasn’t trying to cheat you, I swear!” Regret replaced embarrassment as her gaze dropped to the exposed pendant, not wanting to confront the hurt and anger she expected to see on his face.

  To her surprise, he chuckled instead. His toothy grin confused her.

  “Relax!” He rolled his ‘R’ in a chuckling purr.

  “You’re not mad?”

  “Nope. It’s part of The Code.” His voice took on a snooty, mocking tone as he quoted the text. “‘In joint initiatives, the finder has the right of first refusal over any non-currency acquired during the operation.’ It’s basically a ‘finders-keepers’ situation for anything other than coin.” The grin on his face belied his amusement with her embarrassment. He raised his hand, palm up. “Let’s have a look.”

  Whew! She closed her eyes and exhaled, and the knot in her gut relaxed.

  She leaned her shoulder into his. “I’m sorry, I promise I’ll tell you next time!”

  Slipping the chain over her head, she passed it over. Bird held it up, rolling the chain between his fingers to make the crystal pendant spin slowly, the sunlight returning flashes of color across the spectrum from within its dappled interior.

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  “It’s crystal, but these flecks that refract the light are unusual.” He considered the setting. “Looks elvish, very pretty!”

  He passed the chain back, and she slid it over her head, tucking the pendant back under her tunic just as a series of screams to their left interrupted the conversation. Their heads immediately turned to where the road ahead disappeared around a nearby bend.

  “That’s not a creature. It sounds like a man.” The tabby craned his neck, trying to pinpoint the location. “I think it’s just up around that corner!”

  Whydah jumped to her feet.

  “I’ve got the horses.” She hurriedly gathered their reins and led the animals off the road, tying them off around a nearby limb. Bird grabbed the packs, stowing the remains of their lunch, before tucking them under the roadside brambles.

  “You want the lyre?” He called over his shoulder, holding the instrument aloft.

  “Please!” she confirmed, collecting the harp from his grasp, and they rushed down the road on foot towards the next bend and the source of the tormented wailing.

  Peering through the treed corner, the halfling identified the origin of the anguished cries. Two unfamiliar and unnatural-looking creatures—seven feet tall, black skin, eyes that shone like embers, and a single hooked horn curving forward from the rear of their skulls—were poised to overwhelm three humanoids. Fifty feet beyond the turn, a male dwarf lay prone, the armor on his torso glowing like it had just been pulled from the forge. And they have magic too. Charming.

  His screams transitioned to guttural wails. He doesn’t have long. To his right, a wizard, a bloodied gash under his ribs, scrambled to his feet, collecting something from the dirt. Most peculiarly, a female gnomish druid brandishing a small carpenter’s hammer stood over the dwarf, poised to defend him from the closer of the two attackers. She doesn’t stand a chance. Her hand reached for the tabby’s bicep.

  “We have to help!” Her tone left no room for discussion.

  “I thought you might say that,” Bird muttered. She felt his muscles tense, ready to spring.

  Spying the matrix of red energy swirling among the fingers of the farther creature, their plan solidified rapidly.

  “The far one is casting. I’ll take him. You help her,” she instructed.

  First things first. Reacting quickly, Whydah flicked her fingers towards the rear creature, dissipating its spell. It looked down at an empty hand, then to the wizard before hissing wildly and rushing forward. Let’s see how you like me inside that hooked head of yours.

  She focused her mind on the advancing demon. Amplifying the spell’s normal potency, she began whispering a haunting, dissonant melody. The creature stopped in its tracks and let out a wail of agony, both hands pawing the sides of its bony head. Its gaze snapped to Whydah’s position before fleeing in the opposite direction.

  “Well, they know we’re here now…”

  Taking that as his cue, Bird sprang from the brush towards the nearer adversary. Unaware of his approach, the creature shifted its spear into one hand as the familiar red matrix sprang to life in the other. Whydah could only watch as the druid, surrounded by an eerie red glow, levitated from the surface of the road.

  Extending its fingers in a flicking motion, the demon pushed her flailing, floating form thirty feet through the air, to the middle of the river, then dismissed the spell, dropping the gnome into the fast-moving water. Returning both hands to the spear, it plunged the tip into the dwarf’s torso with a sickening crack before Bird collided with the creature at top speed.

  The two tumbled into the dirt, the impact separating the attacker from the spear embedded in Grym’s chest. The cat smoothly drew both katanas from over his shoulders, the steel ringing as he rolled to his feet. Sunlight glinted from the slightly curved blades as he circled to his left, positioning himself between the creature and the two injured humanoids. The demon also recovered quickly, rising to face this new foe, baring its blood-stained fangs in an inhuman snarl. Further down the road, a roar, followed by several grunting clicks, told Whydah the second creature had shaken off her spell. She watched it rush at top speed towards her feline friend. The tabby, perfectly still, swords held high, waited for them to make a move.

  The bard looked to the river, then back at her partner. I’m sorry, you’ll have to manage without me for a bit. She bolted from the cover of her hidden position towards the water’s edge, pointing at Bird and shouting assertively in the wizard’s direction.

  “Help him!”

  Glynfir collected the rest of his spell components from the road, grimacing as he stood, and re-assessed the situation. The black cat, clad in leathers and a cape, held two wicked-looking swords aloft. He continuously adjusted his footwork as the demons crouched low, attempting to flank him. The wizard removed a small sphere of bat guano and sulfur from his satchel. After a quick examination, he blew off the loose dirt accumulated from its short time on the ground. Fingers dancing in the air, he muttered the incantation, and an orange spark of energy sprang to life, circling his right hand.

  “Incoming!” he shouted at the back of his new ally, pointing at the space between the two attackers. The arcane mote left his finger and grew exponentially into a raging fireball as it arced toward the target. Recognizing the troublesome trajectory at the last second, Bird snagged his cape with a sword tip and rolled to his right, using it to protect himself as all three were engulfed in a fiery explosion. The wizard winced at his miscalculation.

  “Sorry!”

  Rolling back to his feet, Bird shot him an annoyed look over his shoulder before shouting, “That didn’t slow them down much—try something else!”

  He hurriedly extinguished the smoldering fur on his right leg as the demons converged. A flurry of blades and claws erupted, the three figures weaving around each other and the blackened crater in the middle of the road. The tabby embodied lethal grace in his swordsmanship, leading and feinting with his off hand before delivering crippling blows with his second sword when his opponent exposed a weakness. At least, they were supposed to be crippling…

  These creatures were fast and intelligent, playing off each other’s movements, trying to force him to expose his flank. He anticipated a tail sweep, spinning right. Twisting away from a spear thrust, the cat smashed his blade into the attacker’s chest before pivoting to keep them both in front of him. Blow after blow, he painted the road’s surface with their black ichor—yet they kept coming. He dodged and spun until one of them caught the back of his ribs. He went down with a grunt, springing back to his feet in one smooth motion. I don’t know how long I can keep this up. Where is Whydah???

  He knew the slightest hesitation in positioning would mean his end and felt the ache of fatigue creep into his shoulder blades just before the levitation spell lifted him from the ground. Not good. His legs futilely scrambled for purchase as he extended the blades defensively to either side of his body, hoping to hold the advancing figures at bay. Seeing the telltale red energy pulsing among the fingers of both creatures, the palm of his right hand suddenly burned as the standard silver hue of the katana flared bright orange. Heat rippled off the blade into the surrounding forest air, and as the pain became unbearable, he had no choice but to let it fall.

  The Glimmerstone Enigma?

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