As uncomfortable as I found being dressed, I was underqualified when it came to putting on armour. Morning found me in front of a mirror, two guys cinch together splint-like armour of leather and studded by earthen gems surrounding by circles squires and diamonds; my boots were made from animal hide, and since they were a little room around they had been tied tight. At my right hip was a holster large enough to carry the gun, tied around my tight over my pants.

I hadn’t slept well and there were bugs under my eyes. My expression was hard, glaring daggers at no one in particular and my mind was plagued by imaginings of giant spiders.

“We are done, Champion,” one of my dressers said. He had introduced himself but I was too out of it to remember his name.

“Thank you,” I said. “You can leave.”

The two guys bowed and left.

All of me trembled. All of me was tired. All of me was terrified.

I took a deep breath and held it, my mind grasping for anything that might be able to tether when I felt floaty.

Grandma would have turned to god in a time like this, but the same faith hadn’t resonated with me. I had gone to church while I was younger, but that had been because of expedience than anything else – being too young to stay at home on my own and being forced to tag alone. After growing up enough, I had stopped going to church and only been Christian in a theoretical sense.

But when it came to asking for guidance or protection, I’d always felt drawn to the old ways; through my ancestors there was a closer connection to my mom in a way that didn’t exist with the Christian faith, and that was the direction my mind moved now.

“Ancestors below,” I said, my voice shaking and catching. “I don’t know how far I am from you, but I hope you can hear me.” I swallowed, my eyes closed and impressions of mom and grandpa running through my mind. “I’m going to need your protection if I’m going to survive this, for you to look over me, giving me your strength when mine fails.”

It felt strange praying when I couldn’t remember the last time I had prayed, but these were dire circumstances.

The short prayer done, I left my quarters. There were guards at either side of the door and I thought they might bar my exit, but as I kept walking one of they kept pace behind me.

Guess being confident counts for something, I thought sardonically.

There were servants already at work in Allycea’s quarters. They stopped and bowed at my approach, but they were figures at the periphery, dull in comparison to the clacking of mandibles I could hear and the shiny black eyes I could already see against my mind’s eye.

Allycea and her ladies-in-waiting were in her training room, dressed in their various forms of armour. The princess was dress in full plate, painted blue and white, and the metal bent and folded so it drew the image of an old man with eyes of gravitational gems; like Owain’s armour, a cape fell from Allycea’s shoulders, checkered in the colours of the Mandaron family, with her family’s standard at the back – two olive branches at either side closed off at the top by a crown, at the centre were two crossed weapons, a spear and a hammer.

Jaslynn and Ellora were also dressed in scale mail. Jaslynn’s was a coloured in gold with hints of green, the dinner plate sized discs she used as weapons stacked to her back; and Ellora’s armour reflected the water gems on her gauntlets, coloured in a navy-blue with white tracing all over it. Freda’s armour was like mine, made out of leather that had celestial gems, but she wore a skirt where I wore pants; while Cybill’s was a mix of armour, mail and fur, her sword strapped to her side and a round, wooden shield held in her left hand.

Allycea smiled. “Champion,” she said as I neared. “I thought we would have to fetch you.”

“The sooner this is done, the better, Your Highness,” I said.

“Battle jitters?” Cybill asked, her voice soft. I shrugged. She closed the distance and slapped my shoulder. “We’ll protect you, Champion.”

Jaslynn snorted. “If we fail, I am sure His Majesty will have our heads,” she said. My expression twisted and she smiled. I wasn’t at all surprised because she had something of a mean streak.

I glowered at her, which made her smile even bigger.

“When will his baron-ship get here?” Cybill asked.

“His honour,” I said and Cybill frowned.

Allycea chuckled. “My brother is rubbing off on you, I see.” I shrugged. It had probably been a shitty thing to do, reminding Cybill that she didn’t fit into the rest of her group. “Sir Norbert will meet us in the dungeons so we can make our way into the old mines. It is nearly time for us to depart, if Owain the Younger has chosen to dally, then he will miss our hunt.”

“Good riddance,” said Freda, her voice soft, almost nervous.

“Is he not your cousin?” Ellora asked.

“All—” She swallowed. “All of us are cousins if you look back well enough into the past,” Freda said with a smile, head turned down.

“What?” I said, and I was thankful that at least Cybill looked as weirded out as I felt.

“Nothing of importance,” said Allycea. Jaslynn opened her mouth to say something but Allycea jabbed a finger in her direction that had her shut her mouth; Freda, pale skinned with a few freckles on her cheeks, turned red. “Let us be off,” the princess continued, “a thrilling hunt beckons us.”

Jaslynn threw an arm around me, surprisingly light for how much metal was on her, even if it was still uncomfortable against me. I only let out a sigh.

“And all thanks to the Champion,” she said, her face close to my ear. “Stay by my side and I will ensure that our training is not put to waste.”

The trip from the height of Malnor castle to its underbelly felt like a blur. I remembered the individual steps – getting into the elevator and going down a very long way, then into the dungeons which were just hallways that didn’t let me see what was going on beyond them, until reaching a wall with diagrams and large celestial gems – but it seemed dreamlike.

Three people stood in front of the wall – two knights and a mage. One of the knights was Owain the Younger, which meant the willowy man with blond hair and bright, silver armour was Sir Norbert, the huntmaster. The mage wasn’t dressed in robes, but a breastplate and leather gear, carrying a long wooden staff topped by a large water gem.

The trio had been talking, with the mage leaning lazily on his staff, but as we approached they stopped and stood straighter.

“Princess Allycea. Champion Jordan. Ladies in Her Highness’ service.” Norbert said all this with a bow at each of us in turn.

“Greetings, sir,” said Allycea with the smallest of nods. Her ladies-in-waiting didn’t speak so much as nod and bow. They were extensions of her in a way, and her saying hello spoke for the group.

Does that extend to me too?

“Greetings, huntmaster,” I said, because I wasn’t sure and didn’t want to be rude.

The man’s smile was tight as he took me in, moving from my face to my armour and finally settling on the gun holstered at my side. My hands felt like fidgeting, so I put them in my pocket.

“Greetings, all,” said Owain, “and thank you again, Champion, for your invitation.”

I smiled but it didn’t reach my eyes. “It’s a pleasure to have your company, Baron,” I said and my eyes turned to the mage whose name I didn’t know.

“Champion Jordan,” said Allycea. “This is the Leonard the Mage, third son of Baron Marlow of Tillsbury.”

I don’t remember who that guy is or in which duchy Tillsbury is in. So break it down.

Allycea had already helped me out a lot, if he was the third son of a baron then he was a lord and not that important. The way for him to rise up the ranks would be either to marry into a title, become a knight of some renown, or be a mage – as was the case here. He wasn’t as important as a baron or a viscount, but he meant something in this place’s hierarchy.

“Well met, mage,” I said.

“Well met, Champion,” he said with a light smile and a bow.

Should I have bowed too?

“No offence meant, mage, but I thought there was going to be a squire during the hunt,” I said, the words directed mostly at the huntmaster.

“Forgive my impudence, Champion,” said Owain. “Leonard is a companion of mine and I humbly requested from Her Highness and our huntmaster that he attend alongside me. I see now I should have asked the same of you since this is your hunt.”

“But worry not, Champion,” said Leonard. “I have seen combat. I have skill enough to protect you if you need it.”

Passive aggressive insults like Odysseus said.

“From what I’ve seen Princess Allycea and her ladies-in-waiting are great warriors,” I said with a shrug. “I doubt your skill, whatever it amounts to, will be needed.”

Leonard didn’t look the slightest bit impressed and neither did the others. I swallowed. I’d have to work on my insult game if today went well and I was introduced to other lords and ladies.

“Champion Jordan and Mage Leonard have yet to walk through the now barren Mines of Malnor,” said Norbert, “which means they do not know the threats which exist therein and should humbly defer to our knowledge.” I nodded slightly. “Beneath Malnor meets the celestial rivers of our lands, which means this island lives in ways many other places do not; the creatures you will see within are almost all dangerous. Which does not mean that they are necessarily aggressive, though many become so when they are disturbed.

“I will decide our path, and it will take us deep into the mines – perhaps into the caves as we search for our quarry. There might be spiders in the upper tunnels, but those will not be our targets. We will tread deeply, finding a carrier mother who we will fell, and whose eggs we will then send away using spatial magic before making our return.”

“Are we to follow your command, sir knight?” Owain asked.

“Yes,” said Norbert. He turned and held up gauntleted hands, with a flick pink-purple light coated the walls; with a shove stone ground against stone, and massive doors opened to reveal a dark staircase that went down.

“You have tuition as a mage, huntmaster?” Leonard asked.

“Enough for my duties,” said Norbert. “We should move as quietly as we can. Shrimp cricket colonies live near the surface and though one can be taken easily, they tend to live in swarms.”

“Shrimp crickets?” I asked.

“Crickets which look like shrimp,” Jaslynn said, humour in her voice.

My stomach tossed and turned, and not for the first time I thought about running, but that wouldn’t do me any good. A shuddering breath left me.

“Let us be on our way,” said Norbert.