Emily sits on a stump and chews on her lower lip in concern, as Bill holds onto Blue’s leash, kicking his feet in the dirt and occasionally looking up and scanning the horizon for the rest of their cobbled-together party. She glances down at the piece of paper that she’s been holding once again, trying her hardest to decipher the writing for what feels like the hundredth time.

  I swear, I can almost read it… But no matter how I try to look at it, it’s just nonsense. What the heck kind of language IS this?

  She glances up at Bill, and he catches her looking at him, raising his eyebrow at her in question.

  “Anything you need, ma’am?”

  Emily glances down at the paper, considering asking him what exactly this assignment even is. She looks up and her eyes catch Blue, completely dry and prettier than ever, sitting docilely on the ground with the hood still on his head.

  “You sure you don’t want me to let ‘em go?”

  Emily shakes her head swiftly, not willing to let Blue run havoc this close to the camp. “No, thank you! He looks happy just the way he is.”

  Bill smiles at that, patting the side of Blue’s fluffy neck affectionately. “Yeah, they really like it when the hood’s on. It’s the only way you can get ‘em still enough to ride ‘em.”

  Emily’s eyes gleam in excitement at the thought of other people having ridden ostriches before. “Ride them? Is there a saddle for ostriches? How do you ride them properly? How do you get them to stop?!”

  Bill tilts his head at Emily, his face confused. “Ma’am… Didn’t you ride him into the camp yourself?”

  Emily looks away, trying to hide the expression on her face. “I’m kind of figuring it out as I go along… I never really got a lesson or anything on them before we… We left.”

  Bill nods his head understandingly, shifting Blue’s rope to the other hand as he scratches his neck idly.

  “Well, riding ‘em is pretty straightforward. You just gotta get the hood on, sit on their backs, get yer legs in front of their legs and grab onto their…”

  He glances at Blue’s front limbs, which are arm-like besides the wing feathers attached to them, with long, wicked talons which he currently has curled up and tucked close to his body.

  “Wings… You know what? Maybe it’s different with war ostriches. But uh, with normal ostriches, you just grab onto their wings and then take off the sack! They get running after a second or two, if ya don’t have anyone to guide ‘em. I normally walked behind them and made ‘em walk slow.”

  He scratches his chin, thinking for a moment.

  “As for the saddle… I ain’t ever seen one myself. Most nobles have ostriches as decor or a party trick to whip out for guests to ride for a few seconds, so the normal ones never need one. But maybe you can ask the Quartermaster to make you one when we get back? It can’t be that different compared to a horse’s one.”

  Emily nods to herself, adding ‘Talk to the Quartermaster’ to her list of tasks, right before ‘Escape to find her friends’ but after ‘Survive whatever the Captain threw her into’.

  Speaking of the Captain…

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Emily glances down at the paper once again, before taking a deep breath, psyching herself up for what she’s about to do. She’s barely known Bill for a few hours now, but…

  He seems really trustworthy… Maybe I can just pretend that I don’t understand the task itself? Or that I didn’t bother reading it, because it’s below me as a noble, or something?

  “Hey… About the mission?”

  “Yeah?”

  Emily gulps, as she gathers her courage, looking back up at Bill to find him smiling at her pleasantly.

  “What… What exactly are we supposed to be doing?”

  Bill’s eyebrows scrunch together in confusion. “Getting rid of the Mind Mage Pixies? Why? What do your orders say?”

  Getting rid of the what?!

  With some concern, Emily wordlessly hands Bill her paper, and he scans it quickly. His eyes rove across the page, from one corner to the next, before he looks back up at Emily with confusion.

  “Yep, right here. Group of Mind Mage Pixies wandering close to the camp, same as the one the messenger had.”

  Emily feels her heart clench. Mind Mage Pixies?! Aren’t Mind mages the most feared type of Mage? Why is he so calm about it?!

  Bill continues to look at Emily with a confused look on his face, as he hands the paper back to her. Emily takes it and stares down at it in concern, wondering if she should make a break for it now or not, before the rest of the party gets there.

  Who even are the people who were supposed to make up the rest of their party? Were they other mages, like her? She’s never met a mind mage before, but from all the posters and fliers rewarding people for the capture or proven killing of one in the town nearby Emily’s farm, she’s gathered that they’re quite dangerous. Not to mention, the rumors that spread about them. They can make you hallucinate, or make you fall in love with them. They can whisper a word to you, and you’ll hand over all your money and valuables to them. Or they can have a conversation with you, and by the end of it, you’d believe they were your oldest friend. So maybe Bill’s so calm about them because the rest of the party is made up of some really powerful mages?

  “And what about the other people who are joining us? Are they mages, too?” Emily asks.

  Bill gives Emily a resigned look, leaning over towards her and tapping a spot at the bottom of the page.

  “It’s all written right here, ma’am. Names, ranks and positions in the party.”

  Emily glances down at the section, seeing three bulleted lines that could be the names. But unless Wrenfall names are wildly different to what she’s seen so far and to what their Greenbarrow counterparts are, Emily still can’t read this.

  “Can you… Not read the cypher, ma’am?” Bill asks her, and Emily feels her blood run cold for the upteenth time this day. She swiftly glances up at Bill, trying to gauge his expression. Is that suspicion? Caution? As her panic grows, she finds she can’t tell.

  “I thought everyone in the army could read it… It was mandatory. ‘Can’t let anything fall into enemy hands’, the spymaster said. ‘So best memorize the cypher, or you’ll be sent to the stocks before spending a lot of quality time with me’. And you do not wanna spend time with him, I’ll tell ya that. The horror stories about him? Sheesh.”

  Bill raises an eyebrow at Emily. “So… You needa be sent to the stocks, ma’am?”

  Emily feels her panic start to wane a bit, as she realizes she can excuse this away. She’s already come up with the perfect backstory to explain all the little… Discretions that pop up. Even the Captain bought it.

  Just as Emily is about to explain to Bill that, actually, her brother was the one selected to go on this mission, and she just stole his place without ever learning the cypher, she catches the sound of many footsteps swiftly approaching the pair.

  Bill looks up and smiles, waving towards the source.

  “Looks like the rest of the party’s here.”

  He gives her one last look, his expression unreadable, as Emily loses her chance to explain herself.

  “Come on, ma’am. We’ve got some pixies to take care of.”