Maddie sunk the ship by carving a few holes in the hull before shadow-stepping back to the pier. While she could theoretically shadow-step over long distances, it was easier -- and safer -- to step to somewhere close by.

Nobody noticed the young woman step out of nowhere. The docks were busy despite the oncoming dusk. Maddie looked around until she found a more legitimate ship heading for Britain and booked passage.

The fabled City of Ys had sunk beneath the waves more than three years ago. Maddie had almost no memory of it, only that she had been there, fighting with the Army of Mars. Her only clear memories started after that. She assumed she had a childhood, a family, maybe friends, but she didn't remember any of it.

Maddie stepped off the ship a few days later in a port town in the west coast of Britain that was almost a copy of the one in Ireland. She found an inn and booked a room. Once there she pulled a small mirror from her bag. Tereus’s face appeared on the glass.

“It's done. The crew is dead, the ship is sunk.”

“Good. Now our ships can sail freely up the coast.”

She caught the lie but didn't let on. Tereus could tell her whatever he wanted. She had enough freedom to find our the real truth without him knowing. She just nodded.

“What's next?”

“We're sending ships to the northern reaches of Britain. Beyond the wall. We need you there.”

“Understood.”

Tereus gave her the information and the next day she started on her travels. Walking the whole way wasn't feasible. She avoided riding simply because it was difficult to ride with the blade on her back. She hitched a ride with a caravan going as far north as she could, but no caravans traveled beyond the wall.

Started by some Roman emperor and finished by another, the wall marked the line between civilization and the barbarians. It spanned the entire width of the island, stood three stories tall in some places, and had manned watchtowers. There were no gates. The wall was a line of demarcation, not an entrance or exit. It was there for the protection of the southern Britons from the Picts and Scots that would overrun them if they could.

Madeleine bribed a guard to get herself over the wall. Once there, she hiked until she reached the town she was looking for.

It was more of an outpost than a town. There were very few people there who weren't warriors. Earthen ramparts with guards patrolling surrounded the outpost. As Maddie approached, a man on the wall spotted her. Instead of sounding the alarm, he hurried down to meet her.

“I'm Septimus Severus. You must be Madeleine,” he called as he got closer to her, “Come in, we've been waiting for you.”

He ushered her into the outpost. Instead of Picts, as she had initially assumed, the men were all dressed as British soldiers. She saw horses tethered up near the back of the fort.

“Did Tereus tell you what we were doing here? You look confused.”

“Just that I would be meeting a contingent of warriors. This far into Pictish territory I assumed they would be the warriors.”

“Nope, Army of Mars all the way. We're here to cause a ruckus. We're disguised as Brits to put the heat on them.”

“What's Tereus’s endgame?”

“No idea. They tell us to dress up and kill people, we do it.”

Maddie nodded. That was what she did, too. It was only now that she was trying to piece together Tereus’s plan. It was slow going, since he had apparently hired her out for a lot of jobs in order to obscure her association with the Army of Mars.

The plan was to attack at dawn, killing, burning, and pillaging while leaving enough people alive to tell their story. They would push forward, hitting as many villages as they could before nightfall. Depending on the response they would either keep going through the night or retreat back to the fort.

They set out late that night arriving at the first village about an hour before dawn. The men had leave to rape, pillage, burn, and kill -- as long as they kept some people alive. Maddie would handle any warriors that might be present.

The first village was too easy. It was mostly women, children, and old men. Some of the children bolted, no doubt running to the next village to warn them. The soldiers cut down half of them and let the others escape.

They made quick work of the village and burned it. Then they rode on to the next village. Maddie alternated shadow-stepping with running in order to keep up with the galloping horses.

The next village was much more promising. It was about five times the size of the first one, almost a small town. As their army approached, a group of Pictish warriors mobilized and came out to meet them.

The army's archers cut down some of the Picts in front and then spread out to perform a pincers attack. As they approached, Maddie had her eyes on a special target.

He stood about a head above the rest of the warriors. His mane of hair was wild. The golden torc around his neck gleamed in the morning sun. But what really caught Maddie's attention was the whorling tattoos all over his body. They glowed with a blue light, marking him as someone with magical potential.

The Picts charged the faux-British soldiers, yelling battle cries in Pictish. Had they been real British soldiers they would have understood the insults being hurled at them, but Tereus’s soldiers were mostly Greeks and Romans, with a smattering of German mercenaries. Maddie, a native speaker of Breton, understood and hurled back her own series of insults.

The giant warrior held back as the rest of his comrades rushed forward. She saw him appraise her, appraise the soldiers with her. Their lack of understanding seemed to tip him off.

He couldn't survive. Maddie blurred forward, drawing her blade as she went. With unnatural speed the Picts drew his own sword. Compared to most weapons it would be unusually large, but it was only half the size of Maddie's sword. She swung two-handed while she was rushing, taking advantage of her reach. He tried batting her sword away but it didn't budge. He sidestepped the swing instead. Maddie dropped into one of the stances she had learned under the Army of Mars’s tutors and prepared for a counter-strike.

As predicted, the huge warrior stepped closer. He was at a bit of a disadvantage, since getting in too close would limit the usefulness of his own sword while only slightly affecting Maddie's. She jumped back and then blurred forward, landing a shallow cut against his unarmored chest.

Mistake! The cut only enraged him. His swings became faster and more accurate. If it wasn't for the unique properties of her blade, Maddie would not have survived the exchange. As it was, he had her on the ropes. She was forced to shadow-step nearby and let out a shadow-slash. Part of Maddie was disappointed that she wasn't fighting fair, but she was clearly going to lose in a fair fight.

The Pict parried her slash. Such a thing shouldn't be possible. His tattoos glowed more brightly and he sent a slash of magic at her. She cut through it with her blade. Looks like it was going to be a fair fight after all!

Maddie switched to a one-handed stance and blurred forward, relying on her speed to even the playing field. His speed matched hers. He swung and she met his blade with her own. Normally such an parry would slice his sword in two, but the steel hit her blade with a ringing sound.

She jumped back, startled. She might have met her match.

The soldiers were pushing back the Pictish warriors and had manage to reduce their numbers quite severely. Archers sent arrows at the Pictish warrior.

“You are skilled, little girl. But no one has faced Brude and lived.”

“I would have said the same thing about myself,” Maddie responded.

It was time to pull out all the stops. Brude was obviously someone special, perhaps another demigod. But first she would try talking to him.

“You're obviously the child of a god. So am I. Join us and you. can rule this world with is.”

“My loyalty lies with my people, not with foreign invaders. I reject your offer.”

Maddie turned slowly until Brude’s back was to the sun, the she shadow-stepped into his reach, driving her sword through his chest. The blow was true. Brude continued to rage against her as she stepped back, but the damage was done. The loss of blood and the damage to his organs slowed him down and eventually Maddie was able to finish him off. She took the torc and the sword to study later. Septimus refused to take the body so that Maddie could study his tattoos.

During a quick rest on their way to the next village, Septimus approached Maddie.

“I was impressed by your sword-work. But how do you manage to wield such a huge sword with one hand?

Maddie shrugged. “It weighs almost nothing to me, though I've been told it's quite heavy.”

She held it out to Septimus. He took it but as soon as she eased up her own grip his hands started to dip. He would have dropped it or risked his hands being crushed against the ground.

“That's pretty amazing. How?”

“It's a weapon of the gods. They don't work the same way as normal weapons.”

Septimus sighed. “That's for sure.”

They started on to the next village, ready to do it all again.