The farther west they traveled, the more anxious Kanisa became. Even though they were surrounded by nothing but grassy plains, just on the horizon was the blurred image of hills. And on one of those hills, one of the tallest with its back against a small mountain range, sat the castle in the middle of the capital city. The city itself stretched in a heavy circle around the castle, reaching all the way to the ocean and far into the hills and surrounding lands.It was a perfect strategic location, as long as you were not coming at it from the east with the purpose of somehow getting inside to rescue a Knight of Earth.She thought about it and reworked the possibilities in her head. Dawn probably knew secret ways into the castle. Probably. But even if he did, they would be seen way before they even got close to the castle.The King and his army were on high alert, aware of their presence and mostly aware of their direction of travel. If the soldiers warned King Matthios that they were co

Kindle Lou smiled and said, “One moment.” She held out her hand and a tiny sliver of fog slipped into the room from under the door. The others inhaled in surprise, but no one said anything until Kindle Lou had manipulated the fog into words.Clouds are water.“That is so cool,” Key said and reached to touch it. He spun his fingers through the “w” and Kindle Lou laughed and let the fog encircle his wrist like one of the many bangles already there.“I think that will send a proper message,” Newt said. “The king will definitely hear of it, and then ... what?”Kanisa shrugged. “That is why we hope Sora has a plan.”“We will keep your secrets, if only because we trust Sora and want to help him,” Newt said. “Stay and relax. Sleep and bathe. Thud and Mintle will go to the market for more food.”“That will be wonderful,” Kanisa said and dug into her side pouch for money. “Please allow me to pay for it.”“He would not have it any other way,” Dawn said and got a slap to the back of the head fro

“You are dangerously close to losing your life, Master Kanisa.”Kanisa shrugged again. “But I do not understand why. Why are you doing this? We live in a prosperous country. And yet here you sit with a slave at your feet and people gossip mongering to gain your favors. Why?”“The elementals are a threat to our peace.”“What peace?”“You should read more novels, your highness,” Kanisa said. “The antagonist always explains his plans just before his demise.”“I am the bad guy? Are you not a traitor? Committing treason?”“There are worse things,” Kanisa replied. “Greed, for one. Arrogance.”The king smirked.“So you do not want to explain what happened to the Fire Knights Village--”The king’s eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.“--that is fine,” Kanisa said, “just tell me why.”“Why?”“Yes. Why are you doing this? We are a prosperous country. We live in fertile lands and have food to feed our poor. Why the armies? Why the taxes? The gold crown upon your head was not heavy enough with you

Kanisa smiled and laughed in delight. She stood up and moved to Sora, pulling Sora Gulden into a hug. She held on to him tightly, arms around her waist and was so happy that Sora was well.“Thank you for coming to get me,” Sora said, returning the hug with his arms around Kanisa’s shoulders. “There were moments when I thought you would stay in the Eastern Mountains and just wait for me.”“I am sure you had a plan for that, too.”Sora smirked. “Of course, but I am glad that you did not wait. You are pretty smart.”Kanisa chuckled.There was movement from the bed, and Kanisa spun around, smiling even wider as she made her way back to the bed. She climbed in carefully, settling next to her Knight of Fire.Conrad coughed, eyes shut tight. “Why do I feel like I got run over by a herd of horses? And why do I wake up to you in another man’s arms?”Kanisa chuckled. “You were stabbed, remember? You almost died. And Sora brought me flowers. You have never brought me flowers.”“Is your heart so

“Ciel Karhillaz!”Wimer Aslix went down the hallway and pounded on Ciel Karhillaz’s bedroom door.“Ciel Karhillaz, you stupid, walking corpse, you open this door right this instant!”The door flew open. Wimer Aslix glared up at him. Ciel Karhillaz scrunched his face. Not always the best idea since his skin was no longer as pretty as it was when he was alive. The crinkles tended to stay until he could get to a mirror and flatten them out.What did he do now?“What did I do?” Ciel Karhillaz asked.Wimer Aslix lifted up his foot. A slightly, smelly glob of fleshy, green goo was stuck to his $400 Guccis.“How many times have I told you to pick up after yourself?”“Sorry, sorry, . Sometimes I don’t notice.”“Don’t notice. You don’t notice? You leave a fucking chunk of your body and you don’t notice?”Ciel Karhillaz shrugged. “It comes with being a zombie, I guess. Don’t worry, . I’ll clean it up.”There was loud knocking from the door next to Ciel Karhillaz’s.“Shut the hell up,” Bosy shou