"Do I look ok?"

  Ludd scooped another dab of wax and rubbed it into his hair.

  "Ludd you look amazing."

  "Best looking noble in all of Liston."

  Ludd shook his head. His friends' comments were completely meaningless. If they had any sense of style, they wouldn't be looking like that. Ludd sighed. He checked himself in the mirror one more time. Deep breaths. He walked around the corner and "accidentally" came across Lucille sitting by a fountain in the academy courtyard. Ludd walked up with a swagger. He knew the ladies liked a good swagger. The trick was not to swing the hips too much. He'd learned that lesson the hard way.

  "Oh hey, Lucille, fancy seeing you here."

  Lucille rolled her eyes and half-turned away. Ludd smiled. She was playing hard to get. Always a good sign.

  "Hey Ludd, been playing with that sword of yours again?"

  Ludd touched the hilt of his very ornate, very expensive dueling sword.

  "Always, Lucille, you know it's my passion."

  Ludd remembered that it wasn't good to talk about his sword too long. He'd learned that the hard way too. Oh, and always ask questions, that way they have to keep talking.

  "You doing water stuff?"

  Phew. Crushed it.

  "Yes, Ludd. I'm at Liston's academy, a school of water magic. I am doing water stuff."

  Now to slip in the main topic...

  "I hear there's a ball coming up. You know, the usual."

  Lucille perked up a little at that.

  "Oh yea, I heard that too. I hear a bunch of nobles are coming, not just students."

  Ludd couldn't believe it. True, she was still half turned away, not facing him directly. But she was smiling. She looked excited. Ludd brought out his final move.

  "It's nothing too special. Still. Ah. I was wondering. Would you like to go? With me I mean. Would you like to go to the ball with me?"

  Ludd, you smooth fox. He added a wink for good measure. Lucille giggled. That was a good sign.

  "I'm flattered Ludd, but I'm actually going with someone else. Well, I haven't asked him yet, but it shouldn't be a problem. He's been drooling over me ever since he joined the academy."

  "You—what? Oh. Who?"

  Lucille leaned forward and fluttered her eyelids, finally turning to face Ludd directly. She put a delicate finger over her lips, and whispered loudly for anyone to hear.

  "It's a secret."

  "Being a noble is about ten percent owning land, thirty percent being rich, and sixty percent looking, smelling, sounding like a noble. It really is all in the appearance."

  Gutters nodded along, trying to memorize every word. If he could read and write, he'd be taking notes. He put up his hand.

  "Should a noble know how to read and write?"

  "Yes! Absolutely. Hmm, maybe we should make a kind of schedule for you?"

  Gutters was perched on the edge of a very golden bed. His new room in the academy. It had taken a lot of arguing with the receptionist, and Gutters ended up paying double the entrance fee, but eventually they had let him in. The fancy clothes had helped. So had the brand new, brightly polished rapier hanging from Gutters' belt. Silver and gold intwined on the handle and the cage. The crossguard was silver with images of Teeth engraved. He'd had it custom made.

  Now that Gutters was in, Jane finally had something to do. There was only so much training and meditating she could do in a day. The other nobles were more interested in dancing and drinking than learning magic skills. But here was something she could sink her teeth into. She took to the new role with enthusiasm.

  "So, lets make a list. Firstly, fashion. Your clothes look great, by the way, but do you know why? Could you make an equally great outfit? You can always go to the best tailors and get them to bother. Many nobles do. Still, some basic instruction would come in handy."

  "Hmm, what else? Oh, your posture! Always have a straight back. You grew up hunched over, this'll be a big thing for you. Oh wow, you're actually taller than I thought. You should always have a straight spine, shoulders back. Some nobles also tilt their head, so they're constantly looking down at whoever they speak. I think that's stupid, but maybe worth learning just in case? We can do some lessons on that. Hmm."

  Jane tapped the quill against her chin, thinking about all the things she grew up knowing.

  "Horseback riding, though we'll have to find another horse. I wouldn't dare try with Teeth. Oh, eating! Gutters there are three kinds of fork, two knives, two spoons, and three, no four kinds of cups to drink from. You'll need to learn each one. Drinking from the wrong cup would rob you of any kind of standing you'd earned up to that moment."

  Gutters wondered how many hands nobles had.

  "And that just leaves conversation, some basic political knowledge, history, maybe a few old tongue phrases? Not required, but makes you seem very well-educated. Oh, and the final thing,"

  Gutters gulped at the mountain of things he needed to be like a noble. Was this really what he wanted? Yes. Yes it was.

  "What's that?"

  Jane went to the bath corner of the room, and gathered all the soaps and bottles in her arms. She turned back to Gutters with an almost wild look in her eyes.

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  "You're going to learn how to use each and every one of these."

  "Lift! Lift! Lift! Lift!"

  In the Red Mine dugout, Hepp, Gretta, and Knob were chanting while Zig found larger and larger things to lift into the air. Eventually he settled on the dining table. Knob had made it out of wood from the fallen trees. It was a rough design, and had benches attached, so when Zig jumped under it and heaved, all three spectators were lifted into the air, along with their seat, their table, and their dinner.

  "Woooooo!"

  Hepp shouted, throwing his fist in the air. Zig was fine with the weight, in terms of strength. The moving bodies were a different story. The weight shifted, and suddenly Zig was no longer under the center of balance.

  "Watch out!"

  "Woohooo—woah!"

  "Ahh!"

  The table went down with a crash, dinner sliding all over the Red Daggers. Zig felt sheepish but Hepp was still whooping, elated at Zig finally getting out of his rut and picking up a new skill. Knob was checking the table for damage, and Gretta was stroking her goatee thoughtfully.

  "So there are limits."

  "There are always limits, Gretta. Is everyone ready?"

  Zig carefully picked the table back up, friends included, and set it all back down the right way up. He looked around for something else to try his strength on.

  "Oh! Check this out!"

  Zig ran over to the far wall, where the rocky surface was, and picked up Gretta's giant pickaxe. He twirled the heavy tool in one hand, then swung hard at the wall.

  Boom.

  "Zig! You're gonna get dust on the food!"

  A mini avalanche of broken rock tumbled around Zig's ankles, and billowing clouds of dust blew past him.

  "Ah. Gotta admit, it's cool though."

  "Sure is, Zig!"

  "Thanks, Hepp. And you know what else is cool?"

  Zig gestured as he turned in a circle, taking in the spacious cavern that Hepp had dug out. There was a cozy fire burning away in the corner, the smoking going up a cleverly hidden chimney. Along one side was a wooden bench that Knob had built, filled with tools on one side, and food on the other. The dining table was near the food side, and Jints had even brought a rug to go under it, in one of his visits from the town. Even though "the Alchemist" was on a break, Jints continued to do business in Liston. The mining life wasn't for him.

  "Tomorrow I'll finish pulling out the stumps. We'll start pulling all the stuff we mined to Liston. Jints has a few buyers lined up for us, and we're gonna get big money."

  "To big money!" Hepp toasted and everyone cheered.

  "You know what we need to do?" Zig asked.

  The room faded to thoughtful silence as everyone considered the future.

  "Build a bigger base?"

  "Hepp it's already three levels."

  "Yea?"

  "With a fort on top."

  "And?"

  "The fort has a tower."

  "...I'm starting to see your point. What else do we do?"

  "Well, I still want to get to Northsong. I'm hoping my friends are there, and that they're doing alright. But I was thinking of something before that."

  "We decided to stay here and get stronger, right?"

  "Right you are, Gretta! So one big thing is getting our hands on some spells. It's always been out of reach because of how much they cost."

  "...And we're about to open a path to bring a whole bunch of gold and iron into Liston." Gretta said with a smile spreading over her face.

  "Exactly! I think this might not take long at all. But spells aside, there's one more thing on my mind."

  "What's that?"

  "You, Knob. And Gutters. If you are Red Daggers, then you need to be strong. We tend to attract trouble, and I want to make sure we all make it through whatever comes our way. I'm blown away by how many skills you two have been picking up, but... You're still Basic. Both of you."

  Zig turned to face Knob.

  "You need a landslide moment."

  While the Red Daggers were celebrating in their dugout, two dozen men crept through the woods. Their boots were soft and silent on the forest floor. Their blades didn't rattle in their scabbards, and they were careful not to stand on twigs or startle the wildlife.

  They'd done this before.

  Blackhook was surprisingly silent as he snuck through the undergrowth. The man was a giant. He barely fit through doorways. Even when a doorway was big enough for him to comfortably walk through, he often hired builders to resize it so he had to squeeze. Yet, when the moment called for it, the man became a ghost. Even his breathing couldn't be heard, panting as he was.

  Bell, next to him, tried to keep his own breathing silent. It was hard, being next to Blackhook. Bell felt like he was a little sailor boy all over again, looking at the man he wanted to be when he grew up. Bell thought he already had grown up. He spat on the ground in frustration, and the sound caused a single bird to fly out of a nearby tree. The men all stopped where there were, freezing in place. Blackhook turned to look at Bell, held his gaze for a while, then slightly shook his head in disappointment. Bell felt miserable.

  Ironbeard Junior was hiking through the woods with them. It was weird on many counts. Firstly, the sailors all struggled to call the boy "Ironbeard" when his face was as smooth as a glass of milk. Secondly, he didn't have a single stealth skill. Not a one. They kept him at the back of the group, and there was a trail of leaves crunching, sticks breaking, and the occasional soft cursing following the group. Bell shook his head. He missed Ironbeard Senior.

  Two shadows came from further up ahead, joining the larger group. They immediately headed for Blackhook and started talking to him in the lowest of whispers. Bell tried to join the circle of conversation, but as he took a step one of the scouts naturally shifted so that his back was to Bell, keeping the circle private.

  "Hey," Bell whispered, "what's happening?"

  There was a chorus of "shh" from the newer troops. The older ones just frowned at Bell with silent fury. Bell folded his arms.

  "Come on," he whispered. "We're not that close yet, they're obviously in that hill, there's a straight line cut through the whole forest leading up to it. What are you two whispering about?"

  "None of your business." One of the scouts finally broke his silence and whispered back.

  "What's ahead is none of my business?"

  Blackhook sighed.

  "The Alchemist has a pet. Guard dog of sorts. We're trying to see how big of a problem it is." The giant captain said.

  "Is that the horse that took out the assassins?" Ironbeard junior asked loudly. Everybody winced.

  "Yes, young captain." Blackhook replied softly. "It seems pretty strong, although I don't know how much of a yardstick 'Liston's assassins' could be."

  "How will we know until we fight it?" The boy asked again, his voice at completely normal volume. A few birds and squirrels scrambled away. The sailors started shaking their heads. They braced themselves, looking for an attack. Nothing came.

  "One of my scouts can identify the class of people and beasts," Blackhook responded, also at a normal voice now. There was no longer any use being sneaky. "Binky here," he nodded at one of the scouts. "Binky says there's a fanged horse up ahead. Extreme class."

  There weren't gasps. Grown men, sailors of the sea, didn't gasp. There were, however, a few quick intakes of breath.

  "Do we have enough men, captain?" One of the sailors asked Blackhook. The captain looked around, doing a headcount.

  "We didn't bring any cannons. Too hard to move them through the woods. Who's got enchanted weapons here?"

  Four men slowly raised their hands.

  "Ok, so including the ones smart enough to not tell everyone, that makes about eight. Hmph. Not enough for my liking."

  "What? It's just one horse!" Ironbeard exclaimed, causing more wildlife to scatter. Blackhook casually walked away from the front edge of the group. If that damned horse came, someone else would pay the price for the rest to run away.

  "Keep your voice down, son. Do you realize how strong Extreme is?"

  "My father was Extreme. Aren't you Extreme? It doesn't seem that scary. There's over twenty of us!"

  "Aye, lad. I'm Extreme. But I'm also a man. Now imagine the difference between me and you." Blackhook leaned down toward the boy, giving his classic leather-creaking move. "But imagine that difference between an Extreme fanged horse, and a regular fanged horse. How many men do you think it takes to kill a regular fanged horse?"

  There was a light in Blackhook's eyes that wasn't entirely natural. Ironbeard gulped.

  "So what do we do?" The boy said, finally whispering.

  "We go back to the docks, have a nice little sleep, and come up with a plan. You don't get this old being reckless. Come on."

  The night became quiet once again, as two dozen men retreated silently through the forest. Their footsteps made no noise—except for a couple—and even the birds didn't notice their passing. Most of them.

  Walking through a little glade, Teeth thought she'd heard something, but it was just the normal sounds of the forest. She huffed. She missed the poison those men had been carrying. She wondered when she might taste something that potent again. Hopefully soon.