We left Kadir and Deja to assist the others. Greenspring, Nia, Arienne, and I waved goodbye before running through the door we came from. Like a dog who had caught the scent of its target, Arienne raced through the fortress. I had been to the throne room before, but I only knew how to get there from my room. My heart swelled with pride as I watched Arienne lead us down the empty halls.

For some time we passed the aftermath of Nia’s rampage. Slumped bodies and broken weapons littered the ground. Arienne didn’t seem fazed, every time she turned I could see the concentration on her face. Like the rest of us, she was working hard to finish the job. Finally, we turned down a new hall and jumped down some stairs. It was difficult keeping pace but I managed.

Nia and Greenspring were starting to slow down. Their muscles regressed to their normal state, which was still larger than average. Instead of running like a wolf, Greenspring began walking upright. His back and leg muscles creaked as he did. They both began breathing heavily. Even in the dim light coming from my boots, I could see sweat forming on their faces.

“Are you okay?” I asked. 

Before Nia could answer, she collapsed onto the wall. Greenspring soon followed, falling onto the floor. Arienne, who was a ways ahead of us, turned around and sprinted back. We lifted both of them onto our shoulders as best we could. I could feel my spine tear as I balanced Nia on my back. Greenspring was conscious, but only barely.

“Sorry,” he whispered. “I thought we would have… more… time…” His head bobbed as he tried to stay awake.

I slapped his face, trying to wake him, but it was pointless, both of them were unconscious. I tried to think of what to do, but nothing came to mind. We were in an unknown part of the fortress. The druids, bandits, and harska were fighting somewhere above us. Gunner’s location was unknown. Our strongest fighters were out of the fight. Arienne couldn’t fight, she was just a child.

My heart rate quickened, and my muscles ached. I couldn’t hold Nia anymore. We collapsed onto the floor. Arienne gently placed Greenspring on the ground and tried to help me up, but I felt myself drifting away. All I felt was the cool floor, the heat from Nia’s body, and my mandolin sticking uncomfortably in my side.

Reaching around, I grabbed my mandolin. It wasn’t tuned, and I couldn’t feel my fingers, but I strummed the strings anyway. There was a song that Piopus had taught me, a song I now remembered clearly. I had used it once before when the harska attacked Tamara. It was risky, but if we could get ten more minutes, then it would have been worth it.

There were no lyrics, no steady rhythm or melody. To most, it sounded like discordant notes and random chords. Piopus called it the music of the mind. The mind controls every part of the body. If you could target the mind, you could make someone do anything. My fingers played each note carefully. Everything had to be right, every part unique.

While I played, I saw Nia’s eyes open. Her pupils were huge. It seemed to dwarf the rest of her eye. Greenspring was much the same. Arienne also seemed to feel the effects of the song. She flexed her fingers, staring at them in amazement.

“Wonderful playing, my boy,” said Greenspring, tears welling in his eyes.

“Sounds like crap to me,” said Nia, still laying on my back. “But whatever keeps me awake.”

“We have ten minutes,” I replied, pushing Nia off me. “Ten minutes to find Gunner and take him down.”

Arienne stood up, brushing the dirt from her clothes. Which were still caked in dirt from the pit, so it didn’t do much. “We’re almost there, I think. We’ll have plenty of time!”

Once everyone was ready, we set off again. We ran past broken doors and fallen harska. Some of the druids had already reached our part of the fortress. They waved to Greenspring as we ran past them, shouting words of encouragement. None of us looked at them, our eyes were focused on Arienne.

She made a sharp turn, crashing through a stone wall. It collapsed, dust falling like snow. Shocked, we followed Arienne into the cloud of dust. Even the light coming from my boots wasn’t enough to pierce through it. Before I could call out for her, I lost my balance as my feet hit nothing. Greenspring, who had been running behind me, smashed into my back. I fell through the air for a few seconds before I landed in a pile of hay.

I coughed, waving the dust away until I could see. Instead of the stone walls of the fortress, I was inside my barn. The wooden walls, peeling paint, and smell of cow dung convinced me of that. Even though it looked, smelt, and felt real, I knew it wasn’t. The music I had played still rang in my ears, cutting through the illusion.

Behind me, I heard laughter. “You are something special, a shame you’re a traitor.”

“Like you,” I replied.

Gunner stepped through the barn door like it wasn’t even there. “Like me.”

Jumping to my feet, I pulled out my knife and held it at arm’s reach. “It’s time to end this, Gunner. I want my family back.”

His grey fur moved like waves of grain blowing in an invisible wind. “I really was going to give them back. Your brother isn’t far from here.”

“Liar!”

“I gave you your friends, didn’t I? Your daughter? Honestly, Norman, when did I ever lie to you? We were a team. Have I not helped you every step of the way?”

“If you wanted to help me,” I said, my voice wavering. “You would have let us go from the start.”

He clicked his tongue. “As much as it pains me to say it, I need you Norman. You’re exactly what my people need. They don’t need armor or weapons made of steel, even a king. They need a leader. A man like he was—is. You were supposed to be that leader.” Gunner paced around the outside of the barn.

“That was your mistake.”

“Was it?” he asked, taking a step toward me. “Look at what you’ve done in a few days. You raised an army of druids. Druids! They couldn’t be bothered to leave their homes for food, let alone war. Sure, they came for your druid friend, but they agreed to help you. That alone was a monumental task.”

I shrugged. “I got lucky.”

“Lucky doesn’t describe it. Sure, that opoamer helped you out, but who chose to talk to him? Who waited for the best time to call the druids? Who convinced one of my own kin to turn against me? You.”

“Whatever twisted idea of me you have in your head, it isn’t real. I’m not a leader, I’m a father, a brother, and a bard. If you tell me where Henry is, I’ll make sure they keep you alive.”

Gunner’s eyes weren’t focused on me, they stared down at his feet. “I really was going to give you back your brother. He’s a good blacksmith, but you were the real prize of the Benson family.” He looked up at me. “A needle in the haystack.”

I could feel my blood pumping through my veins. Gritting my teeth, I started to walk toward him. “You know nothing.”

He shook his head. “I know you. You’re like me, someone who dreamed of something greater.”

I stopped. “More lies! I’m nothing like you.”

“I told you. I never lied to you.”

“You have one more chance, tell me where my brother is!” I yelled. The barn started to shake, dust coming off the rafters.

“No, I think I’ll keep him. I’m sure he would appreciate my generosity.”

“Generosity? I–”

Whatever I wanted to say never came out. We were both knocked off our feet as the ground shook. Pieces of wood from the rafters became blocks of stone landing near us. Falling from the ceiling, Nia landed on the balls of her feet. In both hands, she held the same wooden spears we had seen the guards use. They looked tiny compared to Nia.

Greenspring was next. Instead of falling straight down, he climbed down using broken bits of stone as handholds. Each time his hands touched the barn, the illusion started to fade away. No longer were we in my old barn. Instead, we were in a round caved-out room. The ground changed from hay and dirt to just dirt.

“Arienne is safe,” said Greenspring. “Don’t let him get away!”

Gunner was on his feet before we could react. Moving faster than comprehension, he clawed Nia in the chest. She doubled over in pain for half a second, before Gunner hit her again in the arm. I watched in horror as she dropped one of the spears. Using the other spear, she managed to smack Gunner in the head before he attacked the other arm.

He slid backward. Greenspring glanced at me before joining the fight. Holding onto his wolf totem, he drew a circle in the air with his other arm. Gunner’s head snapped toward Greenspring. Running on all fours, he sprinted toward the druid. Nia dove in the way, barely managing to block Greenspring with her body. The two collided, the force of Gunner’s body causing Nia to cry out in pain.

Not wanting to be a burden, I ran toward Greenspring. With his finger, he carefully drew runes in the circle. The complex symbols made little sense to me, but I knew what he was trying to do. He was summoning his animal spirit. Like the druids fighting above us, Greenspring could summon his own animal companion. The wolf spirit he had been granted as a child.

I stood in front of him, mandolin in hand. One of the strings had snapped during my earlier fall, and the wood was cracked in places. Unsure if it still worked, I wracked my brain for any song that didn’t use every string. Nothing seemed relevant. I knew of instruments that didn’t have eight strings, but I never bothered to learn them. Even then, it was possible those songs wouldn’t work.

Nia grabbed onto Gunner’s fur. She held him in place as he used his claws to scratch everything near him. With his legs, he pushed against Nia’s stomach. I knew Nia couldn’t hold him for long, and Greenspring was still summoning his wolf. We didn’t have a lot of time to fight Gunner, only a couple of minutes. After that, all of us would pass out.

I looked down at my mandolin. I couldn’t use that same spell to boost Nia and Greenspring again, but there was someone else I could use it on. The song of strength that gave us our energy earlier, if I played it faster, would fizzle out faster. However, it would also increase the boost in strength. If we gave Gunner the chance to get away, none of this would end. More families would be torn apart. I would never see my family again.

Readying my fingers on the appropriate strings, I made a decision. “We’ll have to hold him off for two minutes.” I was unsure exactly how long we had. It was possible we had less than that.

The circle Greenspring drew made its way up his arm. It twisted and turned as it enveloped his entire body. Once it reached his foot, it moved across the floor until it stopped a foot away from the druid. As it moved upward, I could see paws and a tail starting to form underneath it.

Greenspring looked toward me, smiling. “Let us give the king a show he will never forget.”

My fingers dashed across the strings. Even though I was missing one, that didn’t stop me from moving like it was still there. Missing a note, playing the wrong note, I felt despair start to creep up my spine. The same despair I felt when my family was taken, so long ago.

But I was different. As I played, I imagined I was playing every note correctly. Every part of the song was as perfect as the last. Even though it was a higher tempo, I could hear the music slow down. It felt like I was playing for days, years. As if this was the last song I would ever play. An eternal song.

While I focused on Gunner, he started to get faster and stronger. He grabbed Nia’s arms and pulled them off his back. Wads of fur stuck to her hands, but he didn’t even whimper. Twisting his body on the ground, he kicked Nia in the head. She recoiled back, allowing Gunner to be free.

Before Nia could recover, Gunner was already sprinting toward Greenspring. His eyes were black as a starless sky. Spit flew from his mouth as he ran wildly toward the druid. In a second he had crossed the entire room. Only an inch from Greenspring’s face, Gunner flexed his claws. But he would never reach the druid.

Greenspring’s wolf, fully formed and eager to protect its master, grabbed onto Gunner with its jaw. It threw the harska toward the wall. The wolf jumped into the air toward Gunner. Rolling out of the way, the rebel king slashed his claws across the wolf’s underside. A loud cry echoed around the room.

Black, frenzied eyes turned back toward Greenspring, who was recovering from his spell. Gunner stood up, staying low. A spear flew over his head. Had he stood up fully, he would have been dead. I turned toward Nia, who was running toward her target. She picked up her other spear from the ground and threw it like a javelin at Gunner.

He grabbed it out of the air. Twisting his arm, he stabbed the wolf. As the wolf cried out in pain again, Nia gave her own battle cry. Finally reaching Gunner, her fist made contact with the harska’s face. It didn’t seem to hurt, instead, he leaned into the blow and followed up with his own punch. Nia recoiled back, but only for a moment.

From behind, Greenspring grabbed Gunner and held his head. Gunner scratched at anything he could reach, trying to break out of the headlock. Greenspring struggled to hold on. He was feeling both the pain of Gunner’s escape attempts and also the force of Nia’s punches. Blow after blow, she pounded Gunner’s chest. Even over the sound of my song, I could hear bone cracking.

Finally, Gunner grabbed onto’s Greenspring’s head. Using it for balance, he jumped up and kicked Nia in the chest. Then he dug his claws into the side of Greenspring’s head. Both of them fell to the ground. Gunner landed on his feet, his head swerving to glare at me. With one final note, I had finished my song. One minute left to go.

One minute wasn’t enough time to take all of us out and escape. Even if Gunner didn’t know that, I assumed he knew his time was running out. The song did more than make you stronger, faster, and sturdy. It increased your heart rate, gave you a horrible headache, and blurred your vision. As the positive effects wore off, you could feel your body giving out. That was how it worked when played at a normal speed. I couldn’t imagine how Gunner was feeling.

He looked up toward the ceiling, the chance for his escape. My eyes followed his. Throwing my mandolin to the ground, I ran forward. My knife was in my hand before I realized it. I didn’t want to kill Gunner, but I couldn’t let him leave. He had to pay for what he’d done to my family and my friends.

Gunner ran toward the wall. His claws, their strength boosted by my song, could cut through stone. With that, he could scale the wall and escape. Unfortunately for him, he had forgotten about Greenspring’s wolf. It charged at Gunner. Teeth like steel cut through Gunner’s fur. Watching the wolf throw Gunner around reminded me of Scraps when she caught a rabbit. The wolf played with Gunner’s body like a toy.

But it was never going to be enough to stop Gunner. Strengthened by my song, Gunner overpowered the wolf and escaped from its jaws. His claws cut through the wolf’s flesh like butter. Falling to the ground, the wolf faded into the stone. As I watched its body fade away, I was reminded again of Scraps. What if he had done that to her? Gripping my knife, I ran.

“Gunner!” I yelled, my knife raised over my head. My neck burned as I aimed to kill.

But he was faster. Gunner grabbed my arm and pulled it to the ground. Squeezing my wrist, he looked into my eyes with blind fury. I dropped the knife and fell to my knees. Even if I hadn’t made Gunner stronger, I knew there was no way I could have escaped. All he had to do was cut through my chest. His claws were strong enough, and his desire to kill was overwhelming. I could see it in his eyes.

Suddenly, his pupils returned to their normal size. His breath became ragged and weak. I pulled my arm from his grip and protected it with my hand. Gunner’s body shook. Barely able to breathe, barely able to stand, he gave me one final look. A mixture of fear, pain, and anger showed through his yellow eyes.

“You... why?”

The Rebel King fell onto me. Panicking I pushed his limp body to the floor. I wanted to crawl away and hide from the world, but I couldn’t. Frozen in place, I stared at the lifeless body of my enemy. He was unconscious and would be for the next few days. We had barely survived two minutes, but we had won.