The last thing Kurt remembers is falling asleep in the forest. As he opens his eyes to find himself in his bed, he wonders if it was all a dream.

  “It is good to see you, home, boy.” A familiar old, grizzled man says.

  Kurt grins, sitting up to give his father, Jack, a hug. “It is good to see you, old man.”

  When Kurt releases his hug, his father asks, “Heard you had quite the trip.”

  “Yeah, honestly, I am not sure how I ended up here. Last I remember, I fell asleep, and now I’m back home. Is this a dream?”

  His father flicks his nose, and Kurt yelps. “Still think this is a dream?”

  Kurt shakes his head, no. Jack grins, “Glad I could help.”

  Kurt takes a moment, “What happened? Did Olivia, Benjamin, and Jason make it?”

  “Aye, those two nobles were dragged back to the estate. Who is this Jason fellow? He’s got all the knights itchy under their armor.” The old man asks.

  “He is a wilder,” Kurt answers.

  “You happened to pick up a wild mage, eh?” Despite his suspicion, Jack doesn’t comment on it again.

  “Aye, pop, Lady Olivia finished her dungeon, and we were on our way back with a contingent of elves harrying us. They pinned us down and would have finished the job, but he popped up out of nowhere and killed half of them himself.”

  “Sounds like a powerful mage. Not that I have ever met one that seemed weak when bending reality to their whims.”

  “Yeah, and a healer to boot.”

  Jack raises an eyebrow. “Not many of those. Sounds like quite the find.”

  After a pause, Kurt asks, “How is Lady Olivia?”

  “They won’t let a lowly citizen like me near the heir, but last I heard, she’s alive.”

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  Kurt sighs in relief. “So what now, are they stripping me of my knighthood?”

  “No word of that, they are all up in a tizzy over this stranger. Said they want to talk to you when you are awake.”

  Kurt nods, “Thanks, pops.”

  After a short wash and shave, Kurt makes his way to the barracks. He can feel the eyes of his fellow knights as he makes his way to the knight-commander’s office. He thumps on the door twice before he hears a muffled, “Come in.”

  He creaks open the door to see the knight commander, a lean man with gray hair and more than a few scars. Kurt notices his unkempt appearance; it looks like the man hasn’t shaved in a week.

  “Good, you’re here, we can finally get some answers.”

  “Knight Commander, can I just say-”

  “No, you may not. Now sit down. I need to know what under Zeus’s sky has happened, where Lucian is, and how you managed to leave with one mage and come back with two.”

  Kurt gulps before launching into his accounting of going to the dungeon, the defense of the town, and their time in Bragen. The Knight Commander sits listening through the entire tale, only showing the hint of a frown when Kurt retells Lucian’s death.

  The knight commander leans back, considering Kurt’s retelling. After coming to a decision, he leans forward and growls, “Sir Lucian will be honored for his death in service to Lady Olivia… his death was… regrettable, though we are fortunate it was not Olivia in the bathhouse. Tell me more about this wilder. Lord and Lady Heartbran are considering what to do with him. I want to know more about who he is and why he’s here.”

  “Benjamin might be better suited-”

  The knight commander slams his fist, “I didn’t ask for their thoughts, I asked for yours.”

  Benjamin is technically a knight, but sometimes his status as son to the Lord Heartbran and the mage healer for the estate gave him certain privileges. The knight commander, even with his high rank, probably can’t get a report from Benjamin.

  “Sir, he is a bit strange. He has the dual affinity of ice, but when we tested him at the guild, there was no result.”

  “What do you mean, no result?”

  “The runite just stayed in place. His offensive power is lacking, and his abilities are eclectic, but his results speak for themselves. He took down just as many elves as us during the raid on the town and brought Lady Olivia back from the brink of death.”

  “So, you think he is some kind of prodigy or plant?”

  Kurt shuffles in place, looking away from the knight commander.

  “Knight! If there is something I need to know, you will speak up.”

  “Sir… Knight Benjamin believes he might have a third affinity…”

  The knight commander curses and leans back. “I need to inform Lady Heartbran of this news.”

  The knight commander gets up and pauses, drilling a hole with the intensity of his gaze. “I want you to know just how lucky you are. If the estate didn’t need every knight or if we didn’t have bigger problems, I would personally exile you from the Earldom.”

  Kurt grimaces and salutes, “I think the Knight Commander for his mercy, I will not fail you.”

  “No- no, you won’t.” The door slams shut, and Kurt deflates. He might have avoided exile, but he fears what might happen to his friend. Jason deserves to be given honor and glory for saving them, but honor and glory are the way of knights, not mages and nobles.