When the first of dawnval had arrived, with its cool winds blowing across, the businessfolk made their way to the fields, ready and eager for work. The end of the Twilight Month brought forth a fresho the world, the soil infused with life once more, and the farmers would o begin preparing the soil for the pnting of the seeds before the undead arose.

  The Iyrmen had already begun their scouting that m. Kamrot, who rubbed his freshly shaved bald head, still not used to the process, took charge as he always did. The younger Iyrmen, that was to say the Iyrmen who were anywhere betweey and fifty, each obeyed, cirg the nd around, cheg for tracks, speaking to the vilgers across the bridge, and as one might have expected, they also hunted.

  “Scouting?” Rick asked the pair as he made the rounds around the farms.

  “Demi o stretch his legs,” Lucy replied, ruffling the back of the wolf’s head, the wolf growling with delight at Lucy’s touch. The grey skinned woman then climbed on top of her wolf, while her panion did the same, climbing on top of Mighty, before they led the other wolves out.

  Rick watched as the Managers left, heading out upon their awakened wolves, and the dire wolves. He waved at Cloud, who bowed his head at the Lead, before drawing up the rear of the pack, bounding into the forest beyond the vilge, leaving the Iyr’s nd to the Iyrmen. The Lead tio make his rounds, cheg upon those who farmed the Iyr’s nd, before making his way back to the fort.

  As Rick made his way to the fort, to the rge walls whied over the nd, the gates opeo reveal three figures in full pte.

  “Lead Rick,” Trunted out, nodding his head to the man.

  “Tork,” Rick replied, his eyes darting towards Jeremiah and Jeremy, or Jeremy and Remy as they preferred, sing their pte mail. He slowly bowed his head towards the trio, and allowed them their peace, watg as they made their way out towards the vilge.

  “Thank you again for helping with the armour,” Jeremy said, feeling how the armour pressed upon his body. ‘It’s still heavy…’

  “It’s no issue,” Tork replied. “You will get used to it in time.”

  “I didn’t realise full pte was so much lighter than kurabara armour,” Remy admitted, though his body was still not used to the full form of the armour pressing upon his body.

  “Only mad men make armour from kurabaras,” Tork said, causing the cousins to exge a look, each smiling slightly.

  “There many kurabara up north?” Jeremy asked.

  “A few. We’ve more wolves than the south, and bears, and wraiths, and dragons, drakes, wyverns, all sortsa of meaures.”

  “Is that why northerners are so hardy?”

  “Aye, an’ because it’s cold.”

  “Does the ade you hardy?”

  “You don’t cool dowal to shape it,” Tork replied, grinning slightly.

  Jeremy raised his brows at the point, slowly nodding his head, sihe reasoning made so much sehe trio made their way across the rge stone bridge and onto the nd of the Aldish, approag the wooden walls of the vilge, calling out towards the figures he gates.

  “Nobby!” Remy almost excimed, hugging his nephew, built like an Iyrman’s dream. “Anne has been asking about you for the st week. Where’s Nobby? we py? Isn’t it dangerous? Why doesn’t Nobby go to school too? You could have at least e visit the business, it’s only fifty steps away.”

  “It’s best not to cause trouble iwilight Month,” Jeremy said, elbowing Remy gently, their arming lightly, causing the pair to gowards where the sound emanated from. “Besides, it wasn’t Nobby she was most excited about.”

  “Sorry,” Nobby replied in his quiet voibsp;

  “Make sure y your boy too. It’d be o see him in the fort, walking and talking with the other children. Otherwise, Rick might get the idea that his children-,”

  “Don’t speak like that this early in the year,” Remy s his cousin, reag out to pat Nobby’s shoulder. “At least not until the first rains, eh, Nobby?”

  “Yes.”

  Remy fshed a smile to the young man, before taking a go the nearby vilgers, nodding his head, before following Tork to greet Chief Merl to speak with her about her hat month. Meanwhile, the younger Merl, Nobby’s wife, and the future Chief, watched over as their small son ate his pe. Merry had dark hair and dark eyes, and while his father was the rge young man built like an auroch, the boy was small for his age, owed due to his early birth.

  “Manager Dunes has asked me ta… inform you he’ll soon e and check upon Merry,” Tork said, his voice low, gentle, doing his best to sound less like a northerner.

  “Please send Manager Dunes my regards for the care,” the younger Merl replied, with a smile almost as beautiful as her. She had slimmed down the previous year, but Tork noted she had begun to gai again. It had been nightval retly, but Tork wondered if there was more to it.

  “If you need of our assistance, please,” Tork said, bowing his head lightly, doing what Manager Dunes had asked of him.

  “How is Father Mork?” Merl asked, and the pair tio share pleasantries, until Tork excused himself, the others leaving the woman aloh her son.

  “I don’t know how you did it, d, but you’re living the dream,” Tork said, chug towards the younger Nobby.

  “Our Nobby here wooed her by winning a tour, and being almost as strong as Executive Jurot, it’s not hard,” Remy said.

  “I keep hearing you’re strong, haven’t had the ce ta see it,” Tork said, eyeing up the young man. “Say, it’s early in the day. The Iyr’s sing the nearby nd for problems. Your, our Managers, are riding with their wolves. You a stretch?” Tork’s eyes gleamed with a pyful joy.

  “Okay,” Nobby replied.

  The group made their way towards the forest, not too far away from the vilge, and Tork and Nobby began their small csh. While Nobby wielded his magical items, Tork also wielded a magical bde, lent to him through the business. Jeremy and Remy watched as the pair engaged in a battle, Tork in his full pte, Nobby with his shield and axe.

  “One gold on Nobby,” Remy said.

  “I was going to bet on Nobby.”

  “You don’t believe in Tork?”

  “No, you?”

  Remy shook his head. “He might have a nice on from the business, but our Nobby has a nice axe and a nice shield.”

  Jeremy nodded, letting out a noise of appreciation. “Full pte.”

  “Full pte,” Remy replied, still not believing it, even though he was wearing it. Something like full pte was for knights, nobles, members of various Orders, not a pair of porters.

  “Six years, eh?” Jeremy said.

  “Aye. Six years. So much has ged.”

  “My purse is full of gold. I’ve got full pte. A magical bde. You think we’ll get a fming on like that?”

  “Lent to us, aye. Given? I don’t think we’ve ear.”

  “We’ve worked hard.”

  “Aye, and our families will know the boon of the United Kindom. Boon’s the word, isn’t it?”

  “I think so. Might have to ask Rick.”

  “Lead Rick,” Remy corrected, while the csh between Nobby and Tork began t out further, each of them pushing themselves to their limits in the bout. The cousins remained silent as Tork began to push Nobby back, something they had thought impossible.

  “Reavers are ing.”

  “They say they’re like demons?”

  “I don’t know. Demons don’t seem so bad…” The words came out a whisper.

  Remy thought of the Managers who were most likely riding their wolves, scouting the nds. “Aye. Not so bad at all.”

  “I think they’ll led us something magical. Might ent our armour so we fight proper like.”

  “You want to fight in the front?”

  “Hannah’ll be behind me, so I’ll have to.”

  Remy’s eyes darted to the side for a moment, before his lips formed a small smile. “Suppose I’ll have to as well, what with Erin behind me.”

  “I wouldn’t mind one of the bdes,” Jeremy admitted, his eyes glued to the magical longsword within Tork’s hand, the very same which was glowing red as it pushed Nobby back, f the young man into a greater warrior.

  “Alright, alright!” Tork huffed, gring at the young man, trying to catch his breath. He exhaled and Nobby rexed, before the hrinned wide. “You’re not so bad, Nobby.” ‘I’d have killed a normal fellow twice over, even if he was Bronze.’

  “Thank you,” Nobby replied.

  “It’s scarier that you don’t talk much,” Tork admitted, before stretg out his body. Even with his magical bde, that which struck with a fiery might, he was uo defeat Nobby, when he surely would have defeated the likes of e Dancers. He had struck true several times, but the wall known as Nobby stood ever tall. ‘He learnt the same way as the Mad Dog? Diviake me.’

  It was on that day that Nobby gaihe respect he deserved from the northerners, and the northerners from the business.

  Jeremy was annoyed, for when Tork had stepped back from the fight, he had wao make a bet with his cousin, that they would receive a magical item that year, and not even that year, but during the season of dawnval. It was just a single gold, but that single gold would have been worth more thaher, for he ear with his wisdom. Losing it to the bad luck of fetting was bad, but the feeling of the shield within his grasp made it go away, because he hadn’t expected a Greater shield.

  He gnced aside to Remy, who stared down at his Greater shield. With full pte, they were hard to go down, but with full pte and a Greater shield, they would have been hard for all but the greatest of creatures to maim. Though the shields were merely lent to them, the fact that these shields, worth thousands of gold, had beeo them meant more than just thousands of gold.

  It also meant there was a threat that required them to wield such shields.

  Adam is Mr. Beast firmed?