"I don't understand alchemy," Niko said.

"Add it to the list," I muttered.

Niko reached over Alastair to hit me.

He raised his hand, cutting her off. "Not while I'm here," he said.

We jostled along in the undergrowth on a slightly too narrow trail, passing wild, twisting trees and untamed shrubs. When the wall was out of sight, we all breathed a little easier and Grey came out from his cover.

Niko crossed her arms and sat back down. "I just want to know how it all works. I've never seen it in action until today."

"I didn't get to see it at all," Grey whined from the back. "I mean you guys really melted a wall without me." He dug through one of Alastair's book trunks.

"You were there," I said.

"Couldn't see it, didn't count." He pulled out a big brown book with The Fate Anthology embossed across it. He skimmed through some of the pages and then plopped down to start reading.

"Alchemy is a highly complex and broad spectrum science. It is the science of transformation and balance, physically, mentally, and spiritually." Alastair's voice went deep and fervid. We were in the danger zone, right in the heart of his favorite territory of discussion. "There are different levels and processes for each act. It's also still very unknown even to those who have studied it for their entire lives. I know I've personally only scratched the surface."

I heard the big book close and turned to see Grey set aside the story of the fates and instead grab one of Alastair's alchemy books. This one had notes scrawled all over the worn pages.

"I know there's something with chemical reactions," Grey hummed.

"Yes," Alastair's eyes sharpened. "The basics of alchemy begin with the chemical reactions to different combinations of elements. It's more than just the sigils. It's what you use to carve them into place. It's what you put next to or around it to induce an effect."

I glanced down at my clean hand.

"Then it moves onto more advanced levels and methods of transmutation. There is always an exchange of equivalent value. The universe's value of objects and elements are quite often different than man's, so that's why it can be a very difficult and dangerous science that requires continuous exploration."

"Incredible," Grey breathed.

"Sounds exhausting." I sank down in my seat and hung my head over the back of the bench. I watched the upside down Chaos child drool over a copy filled with sigils and intricate diagrams.

"How did it all start? Who discovered that we could use it?" Niko asked.

"Many people were intrigued by the power that Fate held over us. Why were we weaker beings than them? Why must we age? Why were our bodies subject to disease and pain while the great line of fates lived forever, ageless, and powerful? It's said that alchemy began with the search to defy our own making. Defy our weaknesses and even the fates themselves." I didn't have to see Alastair's face to know it was glowing. "It's always been a bit of a taboo art in it's own way for that reason alone. It became more of the science we know today, but it all truly started with the simple task to make eternal life."

"Ah yes, simple," I muttered.

"Much was learned, but only two succeeded in the endeavor," Alastair paused.

"The great philosopher, Salocin and her husband Lemalf," Grey spoke. He'd skimmed back to the beginning of the book he held and had his fingers resting on the names of the referenced. "They were the best. She created the philosopher's stone with the elixir of life and shared it with her husband, right?"

"That's the basic story that's given," Alastair said. "In reality, she created more of a shield around her heart that prevented the decay of time to slip in. She was strengthened, didn't age, or get ill. It was very powerful alchemy that no other alchemist has ever been able to duplicate since. She shared the secret with Lemalf and the two of them lived for hundreds of years."

"They're not still alive now?" Niko asked.

Alastair was quiet for a moment. He flicked the reins before speaking again. "No, they're not. The secret of their success obviously didn't remain a secret. Many went to Salocin to know how it was done—what sacrifices she'd made. She refused to give it away. People were furious and went after them, chasing them into hiding, continuously on the run. Eventually they were tracked down and murdered in their own beds. Their hearts were stolen from their chests, covered in what seemed to be a stone layer—thus where the whole philosopher's stone came from. The thieves ate the hearts and gained the shield around their hearts as a result."

Niko made a squawking sound. "Ate their hearts?"

"Yes," Alastair said. "Don't ask me how. But anyway, after people heard what had happened, those people were hunted, eventually killed, and then it became a deadly cycle."

"Maybe that was the price," Grey said. "You don't age or get sick, but you don't really get to live. Not a true eternal life."

Alastair let out a long sigh. "In many ways, yes."

"If people just keep their mouths shut after eating the hearts, and move around every once and while, I bet they could get away with it," I said up to the thin wispy clouds above.

"Many have lasted like that for some time," Alastair conceded. "But people still know that they're out there and they always find a way. The solution is to erase themselves from existence. Go back through and erase one's identity in any document or script. Make it look like you were never born."

No one said anything for a moment. Then Grey said teasingly, "Soooo, are you a thief that ate one of the stone hearts?"

I turned my head enough to glance over at Alastair and see him grimace. "Obviously not." he tugged at his wiry beard. "I wouldn't want to live forever at this blasted age. I've certainly passed my prime."

"Not intelligence wise," Grey said.

Alastair's face softened and a small almost smile traced his mouth.

"You used to be a teacher," Niko said after a short lull. "I heard you talking about that to my papa. Did you only teach alchemy?"

Alastair shook his head. "I used to be the private tutor for the prince and princesses at the castle. But after I was removed from that position, I focused back on teaching my true passion to the young adults who desired to learn about the transformative science."

"Why were you removed from your position of teaching royalty?" Grey turned the page.

"The peacekeepers didn't care for what I was teaching them."

Niko and Grey waited for Alastair to say what it was. I stared blankly up at the pale sky. The horses made light grunts as they clopped along the rough path. We went down a particularly deep divot that bounced us up and made me bang my head against the wood. I sat up and rubbed at where a lump already was and hissed.

"The truth."

My eyes darted over to the old man again.

"I told them about the perdido plague," Alastair said.

"Everyone knows about the perdido plague." I rolled my eyes. "All six of the continents, excluding Venth got it because Venth hadn't been discovered yet. It took out a large chunk of the population everywhere. Fire and sacrifices to the fates were how they got rid of it." I thought of the whole phrase Grey had thrown at me when I asked him why he was a runaway.

"Why does a man burn his house down."

Now I understood why. We were all runaways now.

Because he has no other choice.

Grey chuckled from behind me.

I craned my neck around. "What?"

"Someone paid attention in class." He gave me his idiot grin.

I wrinkled my nose and stuck my tongue out at him.

"It came from Venth." Alastair brought my attention back. "The perdido plague originated from Venth and her people."

"Wait, what?" Niko's brow furrowed. "That doesn't make any sense."

"What were you taught about the founding of Venth and the four kingdoms?" Alastair asked.

"They said that Venth was discovered by a joint exploration with a mix of people from Eerd, Cond, and Ourth. They called it the Great Voyage," Niko said. "They all had their different cultures and ideas about how to run it. There were arguments, but then a ship of Ixths showed up and claimed the land as theirs. They wanted to make it a breeding ground for all their animals they merge with or whatever." She crossed her arms and closed her eyes as she thought.

It was strange to see such a calm, smooth expression on her face. Her long lashes brushed along her round cheeks and a few more of her shiny hairs slipped from her braids. They were still fiercely curly, but finer and the color of steel rather than raven like most of her hair. She breathed out slowly through her thick lips that had been way too close to my face earlier. Heat trickled back up into my face. I straightened like a rod and jerked my gaze to the horses in front of us.

Niko went on with the history review. "The Ixths called the others heathens in wanting more land for themselves. It eventually led to the Founding War. The Eerds, Conds, and Ourths banded together and chased out the Ixths and their blasphemous ways. After they won, they decided to split the land initially for the kingdoms on their respective continents. But it had been several years of fighting and exploration side by side, and they decided they wanted to change things, combining several of their cultures. There were still sides and disagreements. So they kept the land split and declared independence from their nations."

"Each kingdom was named after the leaders from each place," Grey commented. "There were two Eerdian kings, Fyren and Adderghast. Then the Condish queen Torja, and the Ourthian king, Evocatus." He set aside the alchemy book and looked up to the sky too. "They were all friends in the beginning. There didn't used to be walls."

Alastair nodded. "There are no walls between Torja and Evocatus. They remain allies to this day."

"So Eerds are stupid. No shock there," I said.

"Some parts of Eerd are amazing. There are some incredible people there," Alastair steered the horses around a wide bend.

"So what about the whole plague coming from Venth?" Niko brought the initial subject back.

"The Great Voyage of those explorers you mentioned were not the first to discover Venth," he explained. "There was a first voyage that was erased from the books. It was similar to The Great Voyage in that there were people from many other continents—all of them, including Ixth."

"Who would ever voyage with Ixths? They're half beast." Niko pursed her lips.

"This was before they started their ceremonies of combining themselves with their soul animal," Alastair said. "They still had a great reverence for the animals and did want to keep them safe and free. But at this time, there was none of what you refer to. Anyway, that's not the point. The point is that they came and found Venth and they found several tribes of people here. They were much further behind developmentally in the ways of industry and travel. They had well-enough intelligence, but there were also very few of them. Most of the entire people had been killed by a plague. No one knew where it started, but it spread and took so many of them out. The first voyagers came and unfortunately contracted the disease. Those who hadn't gotten sick, retreated back to their homes, but they were carriers and thus the whole world was stricken with the perdido plague."

"Why in the world would they want that covered up?" Niko asked.

"Rumors began spreading that the plague was a curse put upon the people of Venth for being disloyal to the fates," the alchemist answered. "People with this way of thinking banded together and constructed carefully made robes to help protect themselves from the illness. Then they got a ship and sailed back over to Venth and slaughtered the remaining people on the entire continent, believing it would appease the fates and bring peace."

Niko looked away with a mixed expression of sadness and disgust. She blinked several times, also still looking confused. She opened her mouth.

"Bring peace," Grey's soft flat voice sent chills across my arms. There was a cold threat in those two words.

Her eyes widened.

"Yes," Alastair nodded. "They don't want others knowing that the keepers of peace were born out of violence."

"They're still doing it with Chaos children," I muttered.

"By ignoring their past, they don't learn from it," Alastair sighed. "Therefore they stay the same. They get away with what they do now because they've convinced the people that what they are doing is right. They've dehumanized the Chaos children, so that murdering them is seen as good. And that's also why the Ixths are painted as the villains in the Founding War and continue to be harassed mercilessly. It's due to their lack of cooperation in integrating peacekeepers into their government. They don't want people retreating to Ixth like we're trying to do."

"So after you got fired for teaching the truth, you went and taught alchemy, which was then later banned." Grey nodded thoughtfully. "You like getting under people's skin."

"I wouldn't say it like that." Alastair's mouth twitched back up into that almost smile. "I just don't have any luck. Now, I'm the keeper of the books at the largest library in the kingdom and a consultant for physicians and peacekeepers in Emrin."

"While secretly continuing to do illegal alchemy on the side."

The almost smile finally flashed to a full one. "It's hard to let go of what you love."

"So let me get this straight," Niko butted in again. "You think Ixthens are good?"

"I don't think they're bad," Alastair said.

I sunk down in my seat again. My brain fuzzed out as the conversation turned to the culture of the animal people—how they believed that souls were tied to nature and that we are all born with a guardian of some kind that protects us as we protect it...blah...blah...blah.

I stared to the side of the bumbling cart, letting the dark green trees and yellow wildflowers blur. This was turning into another school lecture. Leaving Emrin had me thinking that I wouldn't ever have to worry about another one of Goat's rambling talks about society and class. But I forgot who I lived with. Alastair may not be as bad as the fat rump, but he did have this way of turning everything into a lesson.

I hoped that it wasn't going to be like that for the whole day.

* * *

It was like that the whole day.

The traveling school of misfit children continued through the rising sun and increasing heat. My backside killed and my head hurt from all the droning. I'd contemplated sawing off one of the wheels, but that would be annoying to fix when Alastair was sure to make me do that. I caught sight of a snake slithering along beside us and thought about catching it and either trying to spook the horses or Niko with it. But I didn't want to fly out of the cart or have my arm chopped off. So in the end I made do, gouging holes in the wood around me after finding a loose nail by my foot.

Alastair pulled on the reins, stopping the horses. He leapt down and patted the darker of the two animals. "Nox and Dias need a rest. There's some food in the blue trunk for—" He didn't get to finish that before the three of us dove in the back to find the blue trunk. Grey got there first since he was already there and he found bags of animal feed. "—the horses."

Grey smiled sheepishly and tossed a bag to the old man.

"And what about for us?" I asked.

"Tan trunk."

There were dried meat strips and bread. Grey, Niko, and I each grabbed a handful of the strips and hunk of bread.

"Be sparing," Alastair said as he unhitched the horses. "If we do that, that should last us a few weeks. Then we'll have to hunt and gather."

I tore into one of the strips. They were tough and barely salted, but I gobbled up five in a matter of minutes.

"When you've had your fill, please go and get water. Fill up the pouches for us. I'll lead the horses down a little further." Alastair pulled them away.

The heavy trickle of a stream said that it wasn't far off. Grey gathered several pouches with purifying sigils on the sides and jumped off the cart. "You two coming?"

"Leaving the two of us alone is not a good idea." Niko slid down after him. "He'd be dead by the time you came back."

"Could be the other way around," I grumbled and jumped. Pain reminded me of my stupid feet. I limped after the two as they already started into the forest.

"You have no chance, Chronus." Niko's hand ghosted along the handle of her axe.

"So, Niko," Grey marched along happily. "I never really caught the reason why you decided to join us. It's a little insane of you, but I've always been fond of the wild ones."

"I'm not insane or wild," Niko said. "And it's Miss Sajes to you." She stomped ahead of him, snatching some of the pouches from him. "I'm not going to Ixth with you. I'm eventually going to be going my own way, so I can go through Ruras, the time of finding oneself in the ways of Kybaa."

"She came with us to find her mom." I rolled my eyes.

A pouch slapped across my face.

I grit my teeth and made to lunge at her. Grey grabbed my arm. "Oh, you want to carry mine? Excellent." He dumped his pouches into my hands. "I'm going to walk right between you, since you're my two new friends."

"I'm not your friend," Niko snarled as I said, "I don't have friends."

"You guys are the best," Grey sighed.

Once the water pouches were filled, they weighed a lot more. They held extra due to Alastair's magic and they were of course purified, no matter where we got the water from. But the weight made my shoulders ache as the leather straps dug into my skin.

Niko walked easily ahead of Grey and I. "She should take all of them with her stupid strength," I muttered to him.

"That would be rude to dump them on her," he said.

"Two things," I said. "One, I am rude. Two, she's awful so she deserves it."

"Is she really that awful though?" Grey arched his eyebrows at me, giving me a weird look.

I glared ahead at her curved hips swaying back and forth in front of us. "Yes."

We got back to the cart before Alastair returned with the horses.

"I'd like to ask a question without being hit," Grey said to Niko.

"I make no promises."

"Your mother..."

Niko reached back and unlatched her axe.

"Is she alright?"

Niko pulled out her weapon, but then she drew back at that. "What?"

Grey stretched his arms up, popping them from all the sitting we'd done. "Is your mother alright?"

"In what way are you asking? As a person? As a mother? Or in health?" Niko thudded the shining silver into the dirt by her feet, her hand circling the dark wooden handle.

"Yes."

Her mouth tightened into a straight line. "I have no idea on any of them except one. She's an awful mother who abandoned me. In that, I'd also say she's a horrible person, but that's just my opinion."

"You've never met her."

Her fingers curled back around the hilt. "No."

I jumped onto the back of the cart and took off my shoes to rewrap my feet. I should have dipped them in the water when we'd been at the stream.

"What do you plan to do when you see her for the first time?"

I glanced over the side and saw the slightest flinch from the girl. "Why do you care? Who do you think you are? Did your mother abandon you?"

Grey shook his head.

"Then stop this game." Niko swung her axe up and rested it over her shoulder, the sun glimmering off it and blinding me for a moment.

I looked away and heard Grey's quiet, "Sorry."

Even with the light flashing in my eyes I turned a cold glare on the girl. She didn't notice. I shoved my feet back into the big shoes and leapt down. I took several angry steps toward her, but Grey caught my elbow and shook his head.

Alastair returned not long after and we all piled back in for the painfully silent next few hours. I sat in the back with Grey this time. "Her mother is a peacekeeper," I whispered to him.

His eyebrows knit together. "That's odd. Several peacekeepers run in families. Why would she abandon her child when it's practically encouraged to raise them in that life?"

I shrugged. "What does it matter? It's just more proof that peacekeepers are the worst."

He turned his brilliant eyes on me with a faraway look. "I often forget they're human."

I pulled back. "You're going too deep. It's no fun."

"Fun." He blinked and returned. "Oh, look at this!" He rolled away from me and grabbed from his ever-growing pile of books in the corner. He brought a large green one over. With one of the tabs, he opened up to a page of an ink black horse surrounded in mist. It rode up on its hind legs, but there were four more besides, making it a six-legged beast. Its wild mane swirled behind it and around the two long obsidian horns growing from the sides of its head. "It's the nightmare!"

My eyes fell down to the description on the next page.

The dimor is the creature that first coined the term 'nightmare'. They are monstrous horses that bring fear to those who draw near. The alphas—differentiated by their six legs rather than four—are far more powerful and terrifying than the average dimor.

They are nocturnal animals that travel in herds through shadows. When they rode too close to towns or cities, the citizens were overrun with horrible dreams that drove some mad.

I had to admit this stuff wasn't so bad. Then I read the next line.

But our great peacekeepers saw the threat that these beasts were and they were quickly hunted and are now nearly extinct on this great land.

"Of course," I huffed.

"I've heard that because Ixth is so protective of all animals and that the peacekeepers don't have the same control, there are still a few herds there," Grey said.

I smiled.

* * *

"Did you two go to school together?" Grey asked as the sun sunk below the tree-line and the sky turned that sickly pinky purple color.

Niko hissed. "No. I'd have killed him ages ago if I was forced to spend that much time with him." She swung her axe cleanly through the air, making a sharp whish sound.

From my place on the dirt floor, laying on my stomach, I massaged my neck. I didn't like the thought of how much time we would be forced to spend with each other already.

"Chronus went to school with the other noblemen's boys, taught by one of the royal tutors. I used to go to a smaller school in town for young girls. But my papa pulled me out of school last year and started homeschooling me." She brought her weapon back over her shoulder, preparing to swing again.

"Yeah, because you didn't get along with the other girls." My gaze flicked back down to Alastair's map of Venth that I had splayed under my chin. He'd sketched out the course we'd be following for the next several weeks, hoping to reach the wall to cross into the Fyren kingdom in a month's time. It had only been a single day. It was going to be an age stuck with this girl.

"No," Niko clipped. "They didn't get along with me."

I glanced up again.

Grey, Niko, and I waited for Alastair as he'd gone to make a few sigils around the clearing we were using as camp. They wouldn't lead any peacekeepers off, but they'd keep any wild animals from attacking us in our sleep.

"You must have gotten along with some or at least one."

Niko turned away from me, swinging the axe at nothing again.

"You cut up my shoes for some girl!" I propped myself up on my elbows.

She whirled back. "I didn't do it because she was my friend! I did it because you deserved it!"

Grey popped out from behind Nox, whom he was petting. "Don't worry, Niko, he just really has a thing for shoes."

I shifted my glare from her to toss it at him.

"Why didn't they get along with you?" He asked.

"It's because I'm Kybaan." Niko brought her axe up for another swing. "There aren't a lot of people who keep to the Kybaan ways here. My father moved from Tresslan on Ourth, so he stays to the traditions and taught me to do the same." She twisted and tensed like she always did before she let her weapon fly, but then her muscles relaxed. A mumble under her breath wisped out.

"What?" Grey stepped a little closer.

"I was also told I could be...a bit aggressive and stand-offish at times." She ducked her head.

"Look at that." He smiled. "You two do have something in common."

"Not even a little!" Niko shouted at the same time I snarled, "Pits no!"

Grey gave an obnoxious snort.

Before I could reach him to give him a good sucker punch to the gut, Niko marched over and hooked his ankle with the back of her axe and yanked up.

Then somehow that idiot flipped backward, back arcing like a bridge and pushed himself up from his hands. He landed upright, standing with that smirk that could drive a saint to murder.

"How did you—?" Niko's mouth dropped. She closed it quick.

"He gets up early and trains," I supplied.

Her eyes narrowed. "Do you really train in case of something like that?"

"With his smart mouth, he has to," I said.

Grey shrugged. "My father taught me to be prepared."

Niko tilted her head. "Did he teach you how to fight with a weapon?" The anger drained out of her voice and a curious light filled her big dark eyes.

Grey's expression lit up too. "Oh yes. I know a little with a knife, and I learned to hunt with a bow. But my favorite has always been the sword."

Niko turned and swung up onto the back of the cart.

I glanced at Grey, but he was locked on her. She returned, holding two thin swords. They had simple hilts, unlike the fancy ones her father made for the castle's knights, but they'd do the job fine. She tossed one to Grey.

"Let's see what you can do, Fairy."

Grey caught the weapon easily, his face practically glowing.

I rolled up to my feet, scooped up the map, and backed out of the way.

Niko swished hers back and forth a few times. Grey stared at the craftsmanship, his hand gliding reverently up the blade. Then he too felt out the weight and balance.

The two of them lifted the points that had small rounded covers over them, and tapped them against each other. Niko dove in first. Grey backed away, deflecting her strike, then the next and the next. He steadily parried each hit she threw at him. His eyes darted wicked fast, and then he must have caught an opening and made his own offense. Two quick hits made Niko stumble a little and Grey then moved forward on her. The dull silver clanked and sparked a little and I was hooked.

I'd seen some of the knights practice out in the courtyard, outside my classroom, but I'd never been this close. I wasn't allowed to have weapons myself. Of course that didn't mean I'd stolen a few and stashed them behind some loose bricks in the library. I had yet to use them on anyone.

"I tend to win most fights I get in," I said, sitting back down and watching them unblinkingly.

"Because you cheat," Grey said as he danced around a desperate jab from Niko. Then he lightly grazed lower down to the base of her sword, scraping close to her hand. She flinched back a few steps. "If you fought fair, you'd lose a lot more often."

"Pfft." I rolled my eyes, thinking of his obnoxious training. "You'd call the fight back in the old ladies' orchard fair?"

Grey shook his head. "Of course not. I was lying down while you were standing above me."

Niko let out a breathy snort, loose black and silver curls pasted around the frame of her face.

"How are you doing that?" I asked.

Niko, a Kybaan, was losing steam. Her harder throws should send Grey's sword flying from his grasp. Her strength should have him flat on his back with a few broken bones, but he practically floated across the dirt, while she heaved her way to get to him.

"The most important part of a fight is to be smarter than your opponent," Grey said, tapping Niko's sword away like he was barely trying, and she continued to give her all. "Intelligence and strategy. Then you need to be faster, balanced, and adaptable. Then you can beat them, no matter how strong."

Niko grit her teeth, but a lot of the fire was smothered under her exhaustion. "Strength...is...needed," she gasped.

Grey smiled, stopped, and lowered his sword.

Niko didn't even blink before she lunged.

Like the lightning he could conjure, his dropped blade flashed up and I heard a loud clang and surprised cry and a thud. I rubbed my eyes and gaped at Grey standing above Niko, laying flat on the ground, both swords in his hand. "You're absolutely right." He grinned like the devil he was. "It is."

I expected Niko to growl and dive at him, but she gaped too.

Grey tossed her sword up and caught the blade expertly and held it hilt out to her. She took it and stood. A twitch at her mouth almost turned into a smile.

"You're not insulted that he won?" I shook my head.

"There's a part of me that feels like I should be," she confessed. She held out her hand for his weapon too. He handed it to her and she went back over to the cart. "But no I'm not."

I stood and walked over to Grey. "How do you do that?" I whispered.

He raised his eyebrows.

"You don't just win the fight, somehow you...you..."

"Win them over?" He finished for me.

I jerked back. "What?"

His stupid crooked smile grew. "It worked on you and I think it might have worked on her." He stretched his arms up over his head and turned his stare up to the dusky sky. "My father told me that there's an art to winning."

"So he taught you," I said.

Grey's smile flickered.

"You want food, Grey?" Niko asked from the cart.

"That would be amazing, thank you." He turned his attention to her.

She passed him two leather strips.

I held out my hand to get some as well, but Niko leapt down again, chewing her own piece. I nodded and went to get some myself.

Niko and Grey sat against the wheel as I grabbed a few decent sized strips. "Strength is needed in a fight, which is why I train every morning," Grey went on. "But it's not the most important thing. If you're smarter and faster than your opponent, your size doesn't matter as much. My mother went out and visited her niece, my cousin, one time. She told me how she could beat a bunch of boys that were quite a bit bigger and stronger than her because she was clever and quick on her feet." I jumped down from the cart and went to join them. "Apparently, she would disguise herself as a boy and go to these yards a ways from home to brawl with them. My mother said she was a wild one for sure."

Niko swallowed her bite hard and glowered down at the piece of dried meat in her hand. "I wouldn't have to disguise myself as a boy." Her eyes darted up and shot poison at me.

"You look quite feminine to me," Grey said.

Niko breathed out through her nose. "I'm flat and broad shouldered."

"You have full lips," he said.

I guess it was true, her mouth was full. It looked soft too. It might be the only thing that was soft on her always hardened face.

"Round eyes," Grey went on.

They were big and dark, cavernous. Someone could just fall right in and never find their way out.

"Lovely, long, thick hair."

It was braided loosely along her scalp, the stray curls dancing across her round face.

"Tell her something pretty about her, Salem."

"Huh?" I recoiled. It was like a whip crack and I was back. That dreaded heat flashed up into my face again.

"Don't make him strain himself," Niko rolled her eyes and pushed herself up.

"I don't play this game," I snarled.

Grey shook his head. "He may not say it, but he definitely notices."

Niko scoffed and strode away from us.

I snatched Grey's shoulder and dug in with my nails. "Don't put words in my mouth," I muttered darkly.

Grey, immune as ever, smirked. "Of course not. I only shared the words on your face."

I took another swing for that smug grin, but I was promptly squashed for the countless time.

Alastair returned not long after and pulled out the same old tarp for me and Grey. Then he set up a small little makeshift tent for Niko.

"Where will you sleep, Sir?" Grey asked as he tucked himself under the ratty old blanket, next to me.

"I'll be keeping watch," Alastair glanced around at the dark trees, their shadows stretching further and further over us. We didn't have a fire. "We're still too close to the capital. I've routed around the bigger cities, but peacekeepers can venture out a ways."

"You shouldn't do it the whole night." Grey shook his head.

Alastair nodded. "I know, I'll wake Salem in a few hours."

"Hey!"

The old man eyed me sharply. "You do want to protect your weapon, don't you?"

My mouth snapped shut and he left the two of us to go brush the horses.

Grey raised his eyebrows at me. "Weapon?"

I shrugged my shoulders and looked away. "I have no idea what he's talking about."

His eyes narrowed, and I felt the invisible static pricks that fired from those mini blue storms. After a moment of being scrutinized he chuckled. "Riiight. As your sword, I'll do my best to be swift and steady, oh great knight of the realm."

I gave him a good hard kick in the leg, so he yanked the tarp off of me. I snatched at the corner and tugged, but he rolled further away. I lunged and tackled him in a whirl of knees and elbows. Grey laughed and coughed when I got a good hit to his stomach. He relinquished and I collapsed next to him breathing hard and with an unexplainable smile on my face.

"Grey?" I gasped quietly.

"Hmm?"

"Could you get me up early with you tomorrow?"

After a long yawn Grey replied, "Of course, Sir Chronus."