‘Ross?!’ said Horatio to the foreigner as soon as they had killed all of the monsters. ‘I didn’t realise that you could fight!’

And not just “fight”. In the battle, the man had been able to imbue his sword with a variety of different element infusions to target specific weaknesses of the monsters. He was skilled in the ways of magic.

Ross sheathed his glowing blade. Or at least, he made a sheathing motion as if to put away the naked blade at his hip, but there was no scabbard there, and the sword hung by itself suspended securely in the air next to Ross’s side for a moment, then disappeared when he let go of it.

Horatio’s mouth dropped open. Come to think of it, he realised he hadn’t seen Ross carrying a sword before the battle either.

‘There is, perhaps, much about me that you do not know, young man,’ Ross said to him with a smile.

‘So tell us, then,’ said Ceres, dusting herself off from the battle. ‘Who are you, Ross? Where do you come from?’ Horatio did not like that she was showing an interest in him–but he had to admit that he wanted to find out more about Ross, too.

‘I suppose that I have nothing to lose by telling you,’ Ross said. ‘Indeed, I may have something to gain: You other travellers are clearly skilled in the martial and magical arts yourselves. Perhaps there is some benefit to be gained in us cooperating, for as long as we find ourselves sharing the same path. I will tell you my story.’

Ross began to tell his tale, and the party, the other traveller called Owen, some of the crew members who were not needed to continue sailing the ship towards the Wastes, and even Captain Antonio gathered round to hear, eventually sitting down in a semicircle, right there on the deck, to listen to him. The crew had clearly been impressed by his battle skills too and were grateful to Ross and the party for defending them from the monsters, and were prepared to pay attention.

Ross remained standing, and held his hands out as he spoke, making theatrical flourishes as he told his tale.

‘As I have informed you, my full name is Rossalento Qumbrick Macaventa the Fourth. As it so happens, I am the last surviving prince in the royal line of the Kingdom of Xanadu.’

‘Xanadu…’ said Primus from where he sat. ‘I’ve heard of it… But Xanadu is an ancient, mythical Kingdom. Xanadu hadn’t existed for many years, if it ever existed at all.’

Ross fixed Primus with his green-eyed gaze. ‘You are correct, magus, when you say that Xanadu has not existed for years, at least as a physical form and land. It did once exist, though, and it lives on in my heart. Hundreds of years ago, Xanadu was a magnificent, thriving Kingdom occupying a lush and sun-drenched country in the extreme West of Gard, over the Sundering Sea. So great was our strength and prosperity that we rose as a power to challenge even the might and security of Braxia in the South, and perhaps put an end to the tyranny of the monsters once and for all. We even succeeded in purging all the monsters from our own land, and an invasion of Braxia was planned, through which we would wipe out the Braxians and purge them from Gard.’

Ross paused, then sighed wistfully.

‘What happened?’ prompted Silvia.

‘Something went wrong’ said Ross. ‘Somehow, the Chief Vizier to the King at the time was seduced by the Braxians, and brought over to their side. He betrayed Xanadu in exchange for wealth and reward, and told them of our plans. He passed onto them all the details of our arrangements and logistics. So Instead of invading Braxia as we had planned, we found ourselves taken by surprise and invaded in turn, by the Braxians, with a horde of monsters more numerous than Gard had ever seen before, targeting us precisely when we were weakest, as our army set out out for Braxia. My people were slaughtered, and Xanadu razed. The land it once occupied is now a wilderness decorated only with ruins, overrun by the demons and monsters of Brax.’

Ross concluded his tale, swallowing against the emotion that threatened to overwhelm his composure.

‘Fascinating…’ said Primus, perhaps a little insensitively.

Speaking of monsters, just at that moment they were attacked by some more of them, which leapt out of the sea to attack them.

Battle2