"Tree doesn't stand far from the apple," Pierce said. He grinned, hoping he looked trustworthy and not stupid.
"Saved my life once," Axebourne said. "He tell you that?"
Now it was Pierce's turn to look surprised. "No! Figures though. It was like pulling teeth just to get ahold of the fact he served under you at all. Not a big one for stories, dad."
"Well maybe I'll tell you sometime," Axebourne said. He mused, "The land is in peril, probably. The kid's dad saved my life."
"I call him Father," Pierce said.
He seemed to confer with Scythia silently, a question on his face. "What do you think, love?" Axebourne finally asked his wife. She looked at Pierce intently, and the gems on her circlet glowed again. Pierce wondered what magic they were working.
"I think..." she said, "we follow him to Grondell."
CHAPTER THREE
A Late Night
Scythia lay next to her husband in bed that night. Pale moonlight waltzed into the room, illuminating his feet sticking out from under the covers. She'd never understand how he could sleep that way - her feet were always cold at night.
"Do you think it's really that serious?" she asked him. "This business with Kash, after all this time?" His eyes were closed, but he was still awake. He took a long time to answer.
"Somehow, I do," he said. "I don't know where that kid got so strong, so I didn't want to believe him at first, but your Circlet of Knowing would have told us, right?"
"Yes," she said lowly, still unsure, and that quite against her will. She was normally sure of everything. "Unless he had some kind of counter-enchantment. But look at him. He's like some kind of lost puppy. It's almost like his dumb luck and animal cuteness conspire to keep him out of trouble."
Axie opened his eyes and they glimmered in the dark. "Animal cuteness huh?"
Scythia rolled her eyes. "The point is, he's too earnest to be lying. And if he is lying, then he's really good at it - the epitome of evil, and even more powerful than what we've of him seen so far."
"Dumb luck," Axie mused. "No. It does look that way, but swimming the Murkfathom? Slaying a dogran? Lifting a forgemaster bodily off the ground? If it's all true, I haven't seen anyone like him since..."
"Since Agrathor," Scythia finished.
Agrathor was one of the original members of Gorgonbane, and probably the most powerful. A shame, what happened to his body.
"Speaking of," said Scythia, turning her head toward Axie. "Do you think we should go get him?"
"Aggie?" he said, pursing his big lips. "Hmm. I don't know if he'd be angrier if we did than if we didn't."
"You never know till you try with him."
"True. I guess we might as well. You think he'll get along with the kid?" Axie asked.
"I think the kid'll get along with him." Scythia replied.
"Seems like that type, doesn't he?" Axie smiled. "Curse him, I already like the lad."
Axie turned to face her. She twirled a long finger in his fiery beard and he purred.
"You ever wonder what our kids would have looked like?" he asked. He asked her this exactly once every year, and never remembered it. She hid her chuckle.
"You ask me that every year," she said.
"I don't think so." He closed his eyes again. "I'd remember your answer."
"But yes. Of course I have," she said. "Stunning. Mighty. My yellow eyes, your red hair. My height."
"My sense of humor?"
"Yes love. But that you can teach. My darker skin, your big lips."
"By the Blacksmith, but not my face!"
"Oh love," said Scythia. "Why do you say that? I think you're beautiful."
Axie laughed, low and rumbling. "You have to say that - you're my wife."
"I've heard plenty of wives that admit to their husband's lack of... a charming facade. It doesn't mean they love them less."
"See, you admit it," Axie said. "It's okay. I came to terms with it long ago. Scares away the trolls, even. Besides, why be pretty, when it'll all just melt away anyhow?"
Scythia cleared her throat. Axie laughed again.
"Well not you, of course." He reached up and caressed her cheek. "Lovely as the day we met."
"You have to say that because you're my husband."
"Yes, love. I do. Doesn't mean it's not true."
Scythia's long dark hair had spilled across his chest. Axie kept curling it around his wrist like a bracelet.
"Baby would have been the kid's age," he said softly.
"I thought that too," she said.
Scythia pictured the grown baby in her mind. It was hard not to see Pierce, armor and all. Had it really been that long ago?
Axie's stomach growled mightily and his eyes got big. Scythia smirked.
"Always the same time of night," she teased. "Want me to go get you something?"
Axie moved to get up, but she pushed him back down.
"I can do it, darling," he protested.
"No," she said. "I get your snack, you rub my feet. Good?"
"Deal," he said, and relaxed. She'd probably have to wake him up when she returned.
Scythia wrapped herself in a plush night robe and stepped out into the hall. They'd put Pierce up in their guest room, and she peeked in the open door. The big kid sprawled on a bed too short for him, looking like he'd plopped right down on it after washing up. He looked thin out of his armor, tan skin gleaming in a bit of moonlight. Even in sleep, he seemed coiled to spring up at a moment's notice, yet he snored lightly.
Would her child have been a warrior? Most in Overland were, at least for a time. The world was just too dangerous not to train them. She'd never told Axie that she'd meant to discourage it, though. Something else would have been nice - an artist, or a baker like Axie's sister. Even a librarian-mage in Grondell.
Pierce's sword hand twitched and he bared his teeth soundlessly. Scythia smiled. This one was a warrior to the core.
"Blacksmith keep him," she prayed softly. "What
