The "Needle's Eye" lived up to its name.
It was a jagged scar in the earth, a gorge three hundred feet deep where the mist swirled like trapped ghosts. The only way across was a suspension bridge that looked older than the monarchy itself—rotting planks held together by rusted iron chains and thick hemp ropes anchored to bedrock posts on either side.
"Stop the convoy," I ordered.
The lead wagon ground to a halt twenty yards from the bridge. The mist chilled the air.
Ser Kegan trotted up on his horse. He was trying to hide his excitement, but I saw the twitch in his jaw. This was his kill box.
"Why stop, My Lord?" Kegan asked, feigning concern. "The mist is thickening. We should cross before visibility drops."
"Structural assessment," I lied smoothly, hopping down from the wagon. "This bridge hasn't been serviced in a decade. I need to check the load-bearing capacity before I put the Princess on it."
Kegan smirked. "Of course. Safety first."
He exchanged a glance with two other knights—the "rowdies" from the camp. They drifted toward the rear, slipping off their horses. They were moving toward the anchor posts on the near side.
The plan: Wait until the wagon is midway. Cut the tension cables. Gravity does the rest.
I walked back to the main wagon. I rapped on the wood paneling three times.
"Status," I whispered.
Inside, Tessa was sitting cross-legged, her hands hovering over a massive coil of copper wire I had stripped from the carriage lamps and wound around the iron axle. Elara sat beside her, acting as a human clamp, holding the connection steady against the chassis.
"The potential is building," Tessa whispered back, her hair standing on end from the static. "I can't hold it long."
"Hold it until I give the signal," I ordered.
I turned to the twenty innocent knights. They looked nervous, eyeing the swaying bridge.
"Listen to me!" I shouted, my voice cutting through the wind. "We cross single file. The wood is wet. Do not touch the iron handrails—the rust is sharp. Keep your hands on your weapons and walk in the center of the planks. Understood?"
"Yes, My Lord!" they chorused.
I climbed back onto the driver's seat, taking the reins. "Giles, Lena—get in the back. Elara, Tessa—brace yourselves."
I snapped the reins. "Hyah!"
The heavy wagon rolled forward. The iron-rimmed wheels crunched on the gravel, then hit the wooden planks of the bridge.
Thump. Thump.
The bridge groaned. The chains pulled taut. We were suspended over the abyss.
I didn't look back, but I knew exactly what was happening behind me. Kegan and his two accomplices were lingering at the cliff's edge. They were waiting for us to reach the center—the point of maximum stress.
I counted the seconds. Calculated the velocity.
We reached the midpoint. The bridge swayed sickeningly under the weight.
"Now!" I screamed. "Tessa! Ground it!"
Inside the wagon, Tessa slammed her positive hand onto the copper coil wrapped around the iron axle.
The Physics: The iron axle was connected to the iron wheels. The iron wheels were sitting on the wet, iron-reinforced runners of the bridge. Those runners connected directly to the main suspension chains.
The entire bridge became a live circuit.
Behind us, at the cliff edge, Kegan and his men had just drawn their heavy serrated daggers. They grabbed the thick iron chains to saw through the hemp anchor ropes.
They completed the circuit.
ZZZZ-CRACK!
It wasn't a spark. It was a thunderclap.
The voltage Tessa had been building up dumped instantly into the path of least resistance: the three men gripping the grounded iron chains.
Kegan didn't even have time to scream. His back arched so violently I heard his spine pop from fifty yards away. The other two were thrown backward as if kicked by a mule, their daggers flying into the gorge.
Smoke curled from Kegan's gauntlets. He collapsed onto the mud, twitching uncontrollably.
On the bridge, the innocent knights—who had followed my orders to not touch the rails—jumped in terror as blue arcs of static electricity danced harmlessly along the chains on either side of them.
"Drive!" I shouted, whipping the horses.
The panicked beasts bolted. We thundered across the rest of the bridge, the wagon bouncing violently. We hit the solid ground on the far side and skidded to a halt.
I leaped down, my sword (which I barely knew how to use, but looked authoritative) in hand.
"Secure the bridge!" I roared at the confused knights. "Treason! They tried to sabotage the anchors!"
The knights on the far side looked back. They saw Kegan and his cronies lying in the mud, smoke rising from their armor. They saw the half-cut ropes. The realization hit them.
"They... they tried to kill us all," Ser Garrick stammered, looking at the drop. If the bridge had snapped, the knights on it would have fallen too.
I marched back across the bridge—safely de-energized now that Tessa had broken the connection.
I stood over Kegan. He was alive, but barely. His nerves were fried. He looked up at me with bloodshot, terrified eyes. He tried to speak, but only a drool of foam came out.
"You miscalculated," I said softly, crouching down so only he could hear. "Iron conducts. Flesh burns. Next time you try to cut my strings, make sure you're wearing rubber gloves."
I stood up and addressed the squad.
"These men are traitors!" I announced. "They were paid by the capital to ensure we never reached the North. They didn't care if you good men died with me."
The knights' shock turned to fury. They had been mocking me for days, but I had just saved their lives, and their own "comrades" had tried to murder them.
Ser Garrick walked up to the twitching Kegan. He spat on the ground next to him.
"Tie them up," Garrick ordered the others. "Throw them in the prisoner cart. If they survive the trip, the Duke can decide their fate."
Garrick turned to me. He didn't sneer. He didn't laugh. He looked at the smoking chains, then at the wagon where Tessa and Elara were peeking out.
He knelt.
"My Lord," Garrick said, his voice gruff but respectful. "We... we didn't know."
"Stand up, Ser Garrick," I said, clapping him on the shoulder. "The machine of state has many broken parts. We are just here to fix them."
I looked toward the North, the peaks of the mountains visible through the clearing mist.
"Let's move. We have a Kingdom to build."
As I walked back to the wagon, Elara pulled me inside. Her eyes were wild with adrenaline.
"Did you see?" she hissed, grabbing my collar and pulling me down for a fierce, clumsy kiss that tasted of ozone and victory. "We are the storm, Valian! We are the storm!"
"We are a circuit," I corrected, breathless, wiping lipstick from my mouth. "And the resistance just dropped to zero."