Emily steps out of the tent after the Commander, her heart soaring at the fact that her gamble had paid out. She clutches the piece of paper to her chest and lets out a sigh, glancing at the man’s back as she does so to make sure he doesn’t hear her.

  They walk into the middle of the row between the tents, and Emily decides to take a look at the paper in her hands. She lifts it up, hoping against hope that it’s a nice, easy assignment that won’t actually take that much time to complete. After all, she still needs to make it back to her party, one way or another. So she needs to keep their suspicions down while waiting for an opportunity to escape. Maybe this assignment will –

  Oh, darn. She can’t read this.

  Emily stares at the squiggly letters in front of her, trying not to let her confusion show on her face while the Commander’s still near her. She glances up from her letter to find the Commander has stopped walking, looking back at her with that calm smile on his face.

  “Is something the matter?”

  “N-no.” Emily stammers. “Just… Uh… This assignment.”

  “That is a rough one.”

  Emily turns with a start and barely holds back a squeal, as the other soldier stares down at her with a sympathetic look on his face. “Good luck, ma’am. You’re going to need it.”

  Emily stares at him and then glances back at the page, trying to decipher the unknown words in front of her.

  How is it that our language is the same, but our writing is completely different?! How does that make any sense?!

  She glances back at the Commander, hoping that he’d give her a bit more of a clue as to what job exactly he wants her to do, but spots Bill and Blue rapidly walking towards them from the distance, Blue’s head in a sack once again. Emily lets out a breath of relief at seeing Blue safe and sound, some nervous tension she didn’t even notice that she had leaving her body.

  The Commander sees the expression on Emily’s face and turns around to look at whatever she’s seeing.

  “Ah, The Squire and The Ostrich. Perfect timing.”

  Bill freezes for a moment upon finding the Captain waiting for him, before he carries on moving towards the trio, tugging a shining wet Blue along with him. Emily’s eyes widen in surprise and delight, seeing Blue completely clean for once and still dripping wet, while Bill’s shirt is completely soaked, his hair even more messy than before and his footsteps growing even more hurried.

  “C-Commander! What, uh… What are you doing out here, sir?” Bill asks nervously, as he stops in front of him, giving the man a quick salute.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  The Commander raises an amused eyebrow at Bill. “Are you asking me what I’m doing in my own camp?”

  Bill’s face goes red, as he starts to stammer out an apology or an explanation, or both. But before he manages to actually form coherent words, the Commander waves him off, taking pity on the boy.

  “I’ve heard that there’s been some trouble with the horses,” he says, as Bill’s face goes as white as a sheet. “But it’s a good thing that I’ve run into you.”

  He turns towards Emily, clapping Bill on the shoulder as he does so, barely causing the Squire to flinch at the sudden contact. “Your Knight is still missing, I presume?”

  “Y-yes, Sir…” Bill replies, as he looks at the ground sullenly.

  “Well, while he’s still away, I’d like you to continue serving our dear Archmage, Miss Stanners over here, on her first appointed mission.”

  At the word “Stanners”, Bill looks up at Emily with a look of shock and glee that screams ‘I knew it!’, before he gives the Commander another salute, his back straight and his shoulders sagging in relief. “You can count on me, Sir!”

  The Commander nods his head. “Good, good.” He turns towards the other Soldier, clicking his fingers as he does so. “Make sure that paper is delivered. If there’s nothing else, I’ll be off, then.”

  The Commander turns and walks past Bill, as the boy continues to salute. As the Commander walks past him, Bill sprints up to the other soldier, grabbing them by the arm before they can run off themselves.

  “Wait, wait! Let me see that.”

  Bill snatches the paper out of the soldier’s hands with much complaint and scans the paper intently, before he hurriedly hands it back to the soldier. “Change of plans. Tell them to meet Miss Archmage and I at the outer-East side of the wall instead. We need to leave now.”

  The Soldier looks at Bill for a confused moment, before shrugging and turning to leave. Bill turns to Emily frantically, bowing his head. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but it looks like we’re gonna have to skip your bath and dinner.”

  Emily looks up at Bill with some confusion, hardly able to keep up with what’s happening. “But… Why?”

  Bill shakes his head as he gently guides Emily to turn around and start walking, pushing her faster and faster as he leads Blue along with them. “It’s uh… Best you don’t know. But this is the kinda mission that’s best taken care of sooner rather than later anyways.”

  Emily lets out a sigh, as her dreams of a hot bath and a delicious meal is snatched away from her too soon.

  “But what about Blue?” she asks instead, inspecting the ostrich from head to toe as they continue power walking through the camp. “Is he taken care of?”

  His feathers are drying quickly, the browns really popping, now that there’s no dust covering them. It also seems to really bring out the… Specks of red?

  “Is that… Blood?”

  Bill’s face turns grave, and he hurries Emily slightly faster, her little legs hurrying to keep up with his longer strides.

  “Oh, believe me, ma’am. Your boy is well fed.”

  this far by 80k when I first started off. But there's many, many more to come, and we'll be hitting 100 chapters in no time!