We rode into Crylus as the sun was going down.

  With only George to help us, we’d each had to drive a wagon. The horse refused to obey my brother, so Nipper had been lashed to one of the wagon pairs. The drake proved smart enough to know what it was supposed to be doing and strong enough to pull a pair of wagons by itself.

  We’d doubled up all the wagons and thankfully the two without drivers were trained enough that they stayed on the road. We had three extra horses, nine of them had either run away or been killed by wolves.

  Guards in golden armor ran out to meet us, pikes at the ready as we approached the main gate.

  “What is the meaning of this?” A decorated Elf with a sword at his hip pushed his way through the semi-circle to address us.

  I hopped off the wagon I was on and ran up to the lead wagon. George was in front with an empty wagon between him and Starna. There was a wagon between me and Starna and then Vin had been behind me.

  “I am ambassador Starna Shellock of the Malus Kingdom.” The brunette pulled a pendant of a golden hand out of her shirt. “Crylus is still part of the Malus Kingdom, is it not?”

  The golden Elf’s white eyes narrowed. An Elf’s eyes proclaimed what power they held and white eyes meant he had none.

  “Crylus is ruled by the Golden Senate.” The Captain looked at me. “And this looks like bandits to me.” He turned back to Starna. “How do I know you didn’t kill the ambassador?”

  I shook my head. “Look, we can play the ‘I don’t know who you are’ game all night, but I’m tired and we’ve got criminals here that need to be processed.” I nodded at the Goblin and Sively. “Those two were smuggling gold out of Bollilundr.” I turned to the wagon where the Ogre and Centaur were. “Those two are working for the Twelve and tried to kill us while robbing Quiggly.”

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  The Captain eyed me. “When has working for the Twelve been a crime?” He ground his teeth. “Without them we wouldn’t have the little civility that we have now.”

  “The Twelve tried to assassinate Queen Alessa and have openly waged a war against the Sineaters. That makes them the enemy of the Malus Empire.” I leaned against the wagon. “Last I checked, none of the Senates swore allegiance to the Twelve.” I looked around at the guards. “Has that changed?”

  The Captain chewed on his cheek for a moment, then walked right up to my face. “Why are you speaking for the ambassador?”

  I grinned and held up my hands in surrender. “Sorry, I was just trying to help.”

  The Captain grabbed my arm as I started to back up. “I asked you a question. Who are you?”

  I thought about draining him, but there was enough tension already. I pulled out my own pendant, except mine was set with a ruby. The gaudy thing was only two inches tall, but it was recognizable enough that all the soldiers snapped to attention.

  “Prince Sectum Malus Irongut.”

  I smiled as the Captain backed up and slammed his fist on his chest to salute.

  “It’s too late for formality.” I waved for him to stop. “Just help me get this taken care of.”

  The Elf snapped and motioned for the soldiers to take the wagons. They froze when my brother hopped down and started untying Nipper.

  “He’s with us.” I glared at my brother, who was making menacing looks at the soldiers.

  “Ignore him.” Starna agreed as she threw her own glare at my brother. The beautiful Elf started to say something else, but stopped herself.

  The Captain nodded slowly and motioned for the soldiers to continue. “Captain Aegos Lungali of the Golden Guard.” He took off his helmet, letting his short green hair be seen. “I can book the pig and horse for an attack on the crown, but it is not illegal for them to be part of the Twelve.” He sighed. “And as they are not a public group, we are not at war with them.”

  I shrugged. “Works for me.” I turned around and reached for the Succubus.

  “Was she with them?” The Captain took a step back as my brother walked up beside his drake.

  I glanced over at Starna, concern all over her face, but her obvious opinion didn’t change my own.

  “No.” I picked up the unconscious woman and threw her over my shoulder like a bag of grain. “She’s with us.”

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