Night lay across Cemfyllen like a corpse shroud. Over the last few hours, I’d worked up a sweat simply walking the maze of streets. In that time, the crowds had gone from being overwhelming to just a handful of people roaming about. Firelight from inside buildings gave a dull glow to the edges of the street I was currently on, its ambience accented by braziers on top of poles at regular intervals, which burned with white flame.

  Cemfyllen was a strange city. I’d only ever been in one other city, of course, my home of Avandun, which seemed to pale in comparison to Cemfyllen. There were people whose job it was to just walk the streets with a lantern on a pole and light the braziers. They made the main streets bright, but the alleyways in between them darker in comparison.

  I’d been walking in circles, gradually making them larger and larger so I could build up a decent knowledge of our immediate area. I’d found the butchers' shop Merrick’s Butchery, and its adjoining warehouse not far from the Mummer’s Stage, as well as a small temple to the Godbody and the Physic. Huge piles of flowers in colours of red, blue and yellow had been left by the Physic’s offering shelf.

  It was the usual offering of thanks from fathers to God for the safe birth of children and the continued survival of mothers. The scent of pollen was strong, and I was amazed by the number of flowers. It looked like a meadow. It seemed many children were blessed in Cemfyllen. I’d seen enough in the crowds, and if the rest of the populace was anything to go by, they’d been blessed by the Physic for a long time. I didn’t know it was possible to even have so many people in one city.

  Maybe that’s why Stallivindium had declared war. If people were too busy rearing or making children to be self-sufficient, they would have to turn against their fellow humans for resources, especially with such a large population. Frankly, it amazed me that Li’ards hadn’t thrown themselves against the walls to get to the meat within.

  I was beginning to feel the fatigue set in, and I started thinking of the luxury awaiting me back at the tavern. A bed, with a pillow and a blanket. The warmth of not sleeping on the bare ground, but like some kind of noble. I smiled. It was more than I deserved, probably, but I could deal with that. I was halfway down the street when a large colourful notice hung on the wall, just a step or two down an alleyway, drew my eye.

  I was the only person around, so I thought nothing of taking a slight detour. The alley had crates and sacks scattered about; it reeked of congealed piss and refuse. I snorted, amused that such a smell would make me think of home. The notice was a large piece of yellow wood, with blue and red alternating lines of letters.

  CEMFYLLIAN MINISTRY FOR HARMONY - TWENTIETH BOUNTY ANNIVERSARY

  GROW YOUR BLOODLINK - FOR TODAY’S CHILDREN ARE TOMORROW’S HEROES

  CLAIM YOUR BIRTH BOUNTY AT YOUR NEAREST MINISTERIAL OFFICE

  TWO HUNDRED GRAMS OF GOLD FOR THE FIRST CHILD PLEDGED IN SERVICE

  ONE HUNDRED FOR EACH SUBSEQUENT CHILD

  PRAISE BE TO THE PHYSIC, ALL HAIL STALLIVINDIUM!

  I grasped the medallion containing Eggs in horror. What the fuck? People being paid bounties to have children to turn into soldiers? Childbirth was risky enough, let alone raising them in a world like this with a preplanned future of being a warrior. The thought sickened me to my stomach. I knew firsthand what it was to be a child, forced into a specific way of being. A hot anger rose in my chest, and I lashed out at a sack with my foot. More notices lined the alleyway. I prowled down toward the next one, the medallion swinging forward with my movement and hitting against my sternum, but I paid it no mind. I was focused on learning more.

  LIZARD SLAYERS WANTED! WYRM, DRAKE AND DRAGON FLESH.

  GRAM PAYMENT DISCUSSED ON DELIVERY.

  DELIVER TO MERRICK’S BUTCHERY FOR SAME DAY REWARD!

  The rest of the notices in the alley were your standard recruitment notices for the guard and general local news. Unless the others wanted to go see a play, there was nothing else of note here. Bounties for children and payment for Li’ard flesh? These people were out of their bloody minds. A nation of warriors, actively pointing at those bastard lizards and their fellow humans. I had no loyalty to that dog, Perek, but Avandun didn’t stand a chance. If the other nations witnessed the army we’d seen through the Glance Glass, they would either join Cemfyllen or perish.

  This entire situation was fucked, no other word for it.

  I needed to get back to the Mummer’s stage and report what I’d found. It was even more important that we get inside the palace and find out what was going on for definite. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d have to do more than merely find things out. Stallivindium was dangerous, and if the notices were true and this child bounty had gone on for twenty years, then he had a force larger than any, apart from maybe the old times. Whatever his long plan was, I reckoned it’d be pretty difficult to watch it come to fruition with my blade rammed through his throat.

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  I’d already gained the mark of the Black Wyvern for killing a common person. What would I gain for killing a King?

  I was broken out of my trail of thought by the sound of footsteps echoing down the alley. They were coming from the opposite direction from which I’d entered. Three men, walking with the confident swagger of those deeply familiar and secure in their surroundings. Judging by the poor state of clothing, worn axes at belts and cudgels rested on shoulders. They were the rough sort, used to hard, bloody work. And that many men together down an alleyway at night usually meant only one thing. Trouble.

  I tightened my hand around the grip of my sword stick and turned in the opposite direction, walking in the direction I’d entered the alley. It was always best to avoid a fight, especially one with multiple opponents, if you could.

  “You alright there, mate? These streets can be dangerous at night.” One of the men, I presumed to be the leader, called out.

  I looked over my shoulder. He had a long scar down the side of his face and neck, a talon mark I’d wager. He was completely bald except for a strip of hair that ran down the middle of his head. The two on his right could have been twins and probably were. With shoulder-length dark hair and beardless faces, except the one on the right, who had a broken nose that never set right.

  “I’m just fine, pal, was having a read of the notice, is all,” I said, plastering my voice with the jovial cheer of a drunk who was starting to sober up.

  I turned to walk down further when two more figures appeared from the opposite end of the alley. One was tall and thin like a sapling, but he carried a long knife in his hand. The other was fat as a spoiled child but a good head taller than me. He bore a hammer.

  Mummer’s taint, I was stuck between the two groups now.

  “You can read, can you?” The lead man said, “We never learned. Perhaps you could help us out by reading us the notice?”

  “Ah, it’s just the usual rubbish, I have to get home to the kids,” I said. Perhaps they had children of their own and would leave a father alone. I hoped they would buy the lie.

  “Family man, yeah? You got at least a couple of hundred grams for a couple of minutes' work. Did they pay for that pretty medallion?” He leered at me, stepping closer. He was several steps away and had his cudgel held at his side; no doubt, he was itching to swing it at me.

  I said nothing, instead appraising the twins beside him; they followed about two steps behind, giving him space to posture but close enough to help if needed. The two behind me were further away, silhouetted against the light of the street.

  There was no way I was letting any of them get their hands on my medallion, on Eggs.

  I was at a huge disadvantage, but I had a trick up my sleeve, two actually.

  One, my stick, a simple walking aid, contained a blade.

  Two? Nobody expects a man to jump at five opponents.

  “You’re being rude now, mate. If you won’t read us the notice, then maybe you can give me that pretty medallion to make amends. Maybe then we don’t stomp you silly, and your children don’t cry when they look at your broken fucking face.” The man snarled.

  “What’s your name?” I asked the lead man.

  “Horulk.” He spat, “Hand it over, then piss off.”

  “Go fuck yourself, Horulk.” I tucked my medallion inside my shirt, then pointed my stick toward him, the tip at nose height.

  Horulk laughed, then, as quick as a blink, grabbed the stick with his off hand, holding it firmly in place.

  I twisted and pulled back the stick in one motion, releasing my blade from its hidden sheath. I dropped my stance, darted forward and whirled the blade around my head in one movement as Horulk’s eyes widened in surprise, the sudden release putting him off balance as he leaned back. The opening was miniscule but all I needed as my blade cut a red line across his throat. I heard the clatter of the other half of my stick hit the floor, quickly followed by the cudgel, but Horulk was already history to me.

  Broken nose was next. I rammed the tip of my blade through his gut, feeling it scrape against his spine. He didn’t even have time to fight back, the smell of emptying bowels his last conscious act alive. I pulled my blade free with a twist, a cruel move and leapt back, anticipating the axe swing of his twin as he bellowed in rage. Broken nose fell down, their hands barely covering the wound as blood and meat sloughed out of them.

  I couldn’t risk looking behind me yet at the fat and thin ones, but I could hear their feet pounding the stone as they ran at me from the other end of the alley. The twinless twin let rage carry him forward, and he attacked with a vicious swing that would have taken my head off if I hadn’t jumped backwards.

  He’d overswung, and his axe blade crashed into the wall, sending out shards and bits of stone. The chips bounced harmlessly off my chest as I ran forward, raising my blade to intercept his backswing. His swing hadn’t hit the apex as I parried it, but my arm still shuddered with the impact. I launched my offhand out in a punch aimed squarely at his nose, it crunched with a satisfying squelch of blood, causing him to howl in pain as he dropped his axe. I drew my off hand back, as my blade darted forward, puncturing his eye, and the new broken nose fell limp. The entire exchange had been, at best, moments.

  I had no time to celebrate my triple kill, instead I ran down the alley several paces before turning to face my other two opponents, my body racked with sweat and my chest heaving from my sudden explosion of movement. I was ready to fight, to kill. These idiots were child's play to me.

  But my heart sank as I only saw the backs of them as they sprinted in the opposite direction.

  “Oh fuck.” I gasped.

  There went two witnesses to my art, splitting off into opposite directions as they exited the alley.

  I paused briefly to pick up my discarded stick sheath and set after them.

  Nobody could know another blademaster was in Cemfyllen.