The Wendeln Keep made Silas’ house look like a small beach bungalow. Three stories tall, the plastered brick shone in the morning sun. Towers pierced higher at three of the corners, with the last side left bare toward the Wall.

So he can watch for a Horde breaking over the Wall, Orrin realized. This guy takes guarding the city pretty seriously.

“He’s got a god-damned moat,” Daniel complained. “There is a flipping drawbridge. This is inside the city. Just how pretentious can you get?”

“Maybe you can break the bridge,” Orrin suggested. “That should get everybody’s attention. I’m going invisible. Good luck.”

Orrin cast [Camouflage].

“Don’t do anything stupid. Get in and out.” Daniel glanced back and sighed. “And he’s gone.”

Orrin slapped Daniel on the back of the head. “Not yet. Same advice to you. Get out if you need to.”

Daniel rolled his shoulders and started to jog at the mini castle ahead. One of the two guards standing at the foot of the bridge, near the front gate, yelled and took a step forward.

Daniel accelerated.

The first guard pulled a mace from his hip while the second turned and knocked on a small door set into the heavy wooden gate. Then he turned also and a small crossbow appeared in his hands.

A bolt jumped out at Daniel. Orrin almost yelled but his friend swatted the arrow from the air with a casual flick of his wrist. With a small plop in the shallow water below, Daniel had survived first contact.

Orrin tried to [Teleport] but felt the growingly-familiar sense of a ward. He stepped lightly on the drawbridge and crossed slowly, watching Daniel bat the first guard’s mace out of his hand. Daniel followed up with a flat edge love tap to the man’s helmet. His bell rung, the first guard went down in a slump of limps.

Another bolt leapt at Daniel but he slapped it away. The increased [Dexterity] and [Strength] made him into a one-man wrecking crew. Two swings and the guard’s crossbow was in pieces at his feet and his arms were in the air.

“Open the gate,” Daniel growled.

“It only opens from the inside,” the man said with a far calmer voice than Orrin would have expected. He was near enough to see the man’s green eyes under his helmet. “You’re not getting in and you obviously aren’t going to kill us. You could have taken Jorgen’s head off but knocked him unconscious. Who are you and what do you want?”

Daniel also seemed to be taken aback by the composure of the guard. “I’m here to get revenge. Lord Wendeln had me kidnapped and I’m here to even the score. He’ll beg for mercy before I kill him.”

Orrin cringed at Daniel’s hooky speech.

The guard shrugged. “Like I said, the gate only opens from the inside. Guard change is in two hours if you want to wait. Although if Jorgen wakes up, he’s going to be mighty pissed.”

“I’m not waiting,” Daniel announced. “I’ll just break it down.

“It’ll take you all day and you’ll blunt your blade.”

Daniel pushed the guard to the side with the flat of Gertrude and then held his sword over his head. He glanced at the hefty crossbeams of wood with panels of darker wood behind and then at the small door. Daniel took two deep breaths and jumped forward, bringing his oversized sword down at an angle in a two-handed chop.

The blade struck the door just a few inches inside the gate proper. Gertrude punched the thick wood and knocked a hole a few inches thick and a foot long through the door. Daniel backed up to do it again.

The guard pulled a knife and rushed forward to stab Daniel in the back. Orrin raced to stop him but didn’t need to bother. Daniel had sensed the movement and twisted, letting the man lunge by him. He swung Gerty in a full arc, slapping the man in his ass and accelerating his forward dive. The guard bounced hard off the gate and fell unconscious at Daniel’s feet.

“Nice one,” Orrin whispered.

“Fuck. Don’t do that.”

Daniel had to hit the door five more times before the wood cracked enough that he could kick the wood in half. He stepped through the gate.

Orrin made to follow but heard Daniel mutter. “Oh, fuck.”

The sudden flurry of metal on metal from the other side of the busted door let Orrin know that backup had arrived. He gingerly stepped through the broken door. His jaw dropped.

Daniel was facing off against three knights in full plate waving about swords, three more guards with swords or axes, and six guards with pikes or spears. I can never tell the difference between a pike or a spear. One is longer, right?

Directly inside the gate was a small courtyard. Grotesque monster statues lined a dozen stairs leading up to a double arched door to the main house.

The guards were not playing nice. Instead of attacking once at a time, they attacked as one. Two went in from different directions, while a few spears pierced Daniel’s legs. When he stumbled backward, another pushed him into the circle again. Despite all his increased stats, Daniel was losing terribly. Orrin checked his friend’s health and saw it was already halfway down.

This is not the plan, this is not the plan, this is not the plan. Orrin chanted in his head as he ran forward. One of the pike men had stood slightly back from the group. Orrin put a sword into the man’s back and pushed.

His sword must have nicked the man’s kidney because his scream of pain stopped most of the other guards from attacking. The wound gushed as the man tried to grab his back. He quickly turned to find his attacker but saw no one there. In his haste to turn, he hadn’t lowered his spear (pike?) and it slashed against one of the other guard’s legs.

In the confusion, Daniel struck back. His [Shooting Star] activated and Orrin tried to keep an eye on his friend as he became a human pinball, bouncing between guards. Daniel had played nice with the guards outside the gate but these men had tried to hurt him.

The guards not wearing plate were in pieces within seconds. Arms and legs were strewn across the small courtyard. Some men went down in shock, passing out quickly. Others were screaming.

“Why is that door still closed?” Daniel yelled as he blocked a strike from a still-standing guard. “Shouldn’t Lord Wendeln come out for a chat?”

None of the guards seemed up for chatting. One guard who had only lost a hand raced away, slamming the door open as he ran for help.

Orrin knew the words were for him, though. Get going, numbskull. Daniel can handle it from here.

Orrin took the steps two at a time and made it through the rebounding door just in time. As he slipped through the door, he saw people coming from down the hall. He threw himself to the side and stood behind a banner, holding his body flat against the wall.

“What do you mean a single man? You need me for this?” A rush of bodies funneled toward the door from the long hallway leading further inside. In the center of the group walked a man dressed in rich clothes with a chain shirt of some metal that glimmered like an opal underneath. He complained and gave orders as he strapped a dagger to one side and buckled a sword to his other hip. Lord Wendeln.

He was shorter than Orrin would have thought, barely taller than Madi and well under Daniel’s height. His silver hair was short and his beard was trimmed and oiled. Despite his well-manicured appearance, Orrin felt the power and danger flowing off the man in waves. He didn’t dare to use [Identify].

“I think it’s the [Hero], sire,” the man holding a stump of an arm said, looking as if he’d pass out any second. “He’s taken down most of us. I had to come for rein-“

“Enough,” Lord Wendeln ordered. “If it’s just him, we can capture him again. I thought we’d gotten word he’d been lost.”

“We must have been fed a lie.” The man who responded looked like he should be in armor, wielding a great axe. Instead, he wore the robes of a mage and held a small book in his hand. “I’m getting word that Lord Catanzano is out on patrol nearby. This may all be a ruse. We should send someone to take care of the guests. If the other Lords were to-“

“Hold your tongue, Nicholas. You can go take care of the problem yourself. The rest of you, strike to wound, not to kill. We must take him alive but quickly. Rodney and Winston, go secure the bridge and raise it. Do not let Silas in my home. Go.”

The men funneled out, with the buff mage turning and sweeping back up the hall. Orrin waited for the door to slam shut and followed.

Nicholas strolled unhurriedly down the hallways, with Orrin shadowing him the entire way. After two turns, he opened a door and stepped inside.

Orrin waited for a few seconds before he cracked the door open. Stairs led down into darkness, with only a flickering light at the bottom. He braced himself and crept down the stairs, listening for any noise.

“Please, you don’t have to do this. Just let us go and we’ll stay quiet. We can move away. My brother-in-law is a guard as well. He’ll pay you.”

“Shut up,” Nicholas’ voice drifted up the stairs. As well as the sound of somebody being hit.

“Don’t you hit her! Uncle Jude is going to kill you dead.”

Orrin’s heart dropped. Jude’s niece sounded much younger than he’d imagined. He crept as quickly as he could down the stairs. The basement opened up into a long storage area, with multiple pillars supporting the weight of the house above. One wall had rows of weapons, while another had sacks of some sort of food and barrels that Orrin didn’t have time to investigate. Because in the far corner, a young woman was chained to a wall. Both her wrists were manacled above her head and her head lolled from the blow she’d just received. An even younger girl, maybe seven or eight, was pulling on the long chain tied to her ankle, trying to get at Nicholas. The mage held his small book in front of him and began to mutter gibberish. He held his hand outstretched pointing toward Jude’s sister-in-law.

Orrin chanced [Identify] and scanned the man’s status quickly. He let out a sigh of relief. Nicholas was only a few levels higher than Brandt. His class of [Beastmaster] also made Orrin feel more at ease. He saw no beasts in the room. Nicholas might be an easy mark.

He crept forward and prepared to strike. He needed to save his mana to be able to [Teleport] everyone out. I hope Brandt gets to Daniel in time.

Orrin raised his sword to swing. However, he’d misjudged a nearby pillar and his sword clanged against the stone before he started his down stroke.

Nicholas reacted quickly, ducking and rolling backward. His head darted back and forth, looking for an enemy but he saw no one. He turned a few pages in his book and pointed at a spot a few feet from Orrin, muttering his gibberish again.

Orrin kept his sword down and close as he circled to get on the other side of Nicholas.

“I know you’re in here,” Nicholas spat out quickly and then continued his mutters. “You should leave now, while you still can.”

Orrin didn’t answer but ran forward and struck. His sword hit the man’s chest but the robes hid high-quality chainmail underneath. Chainmail that looked similar to Lord Wendeln’s. It turned Orrin’s blade to the side.

Orrin glanced at the man’s status with more care.

Nicholas Wendeln

Damn it.