Jax woke with wings in his face.
He wasn't entirely sure whose.
That narrowed the possibilities considerably, but not enough to make an immediate identification.
He opened one eye.
Pink hair.
That answered one question.
Pixelle.
She was sprawled across part of his chest, one translucent wing resting against his cheek. She had apparently not returned to her natural size, although Jax had absolutely no memory of when she passed out on him.
He carefully moved the wing.
Then stopped.
Something else caught his attention.
Bunny's bra was wrapped around Nyxian's eyes like a blindfold.
Jax stared at it.
He considered the possible sequence of events that might have resulted in that.
Then decided some mysteries were better left unsolved.
Nyxian was sleeping peacefully despite it.
Bunny had one leg thrown across his.
Zee's arm was somewhere beneath Llandra.
Lexi was curled against Pixelle's full-sized clothing.
There were arms.
Legs.
Wings.
And several other body parts Jax both appreciated and deliberately left unidentified.
He smiled.
Last night had been...
More than he expected.
The party had eventually ended.
At least, he assumed it had.
He remembered most of it.
Probably.
But the celebration itself had affected him more deeply than he had admitted.
One year.
Yesterday marked exactly one year since he had appeared in this world.
He didn't know when he had been born on Earth.
Maybe the information still existed somewhere inside him.
Maybe it didn't.
It didn't matter.
That life belonged to someone he could no longer remember.
One year ago, Jax Darquebane had opened his eyes in a forest with no idea where he was, who he had been, or what waited for him.
Everything he remembered about himself had happened since.
He had met Llandra.
Bunny.
Zee.
Nyxian.
He had found Solmere.
Built businesses.
Made friends.
Made enemies.
Created a kingdom without particularly intending to.
Married four women through three weddings.
Somehow become King of the Fairies.
That one still felt weird.
And yesterday, hundreds of people had gathered to celebrate the fact that he existed.
Thousands more had apparently wanted to.
Jax looked around the bed.
His first birthday.
At least the first one he remembered.
He liked that.
One year ago wasn't simply the day he'd arrived in this world.
As far as Jax was concerned, it was the day he'd been born into it.
That sounded better than any birthday he could think that someone could have.
He carefully extracted himself from the collection of women surrounding him.
Bunny made a quiet noise and stole his pillow.
Jax smiled.
Then headed downstairs.
Breakfast seemed appropriate.
Jax cut circles from the centers of several pieces of bread.
Butter melted across the large cooking surface.
The bread went down first.
Eggs followed into the holes.
One-Eyed Susans.
He wasn't entirely sure why that particular name had survived whatever had happened to his memories when so many other things hadn't.
But it had.
Jelly would go around the edges when they were finished.
Bacon sizzled nearby.
Coffee brewed.
Jax flipped the first piece of toast.
Perfect.
He reached for another egg.
Then stopped.
Something had changed.
It wasn't a sound.
Not exactly.
Most of his Shadows communicated through instinct, proximity or the strange connection that existed between them.
Warden was different.
The knight had somehow developed his own way of making Jax understand when he had information that required his attention.
Not an emergency.
Not danger.
Just—
My Liege.
Jax set down the egg.
"Come."
Darkness gathered across the kitchen floor.
A heavily armored figure rose from it.
Warden appeared beside the table and immediately lowered himself to one knee.
"My Liege."
Jax pointed toward him with the spatula.
"You don't have to kneel every time."
"Yes, My Liege."
Warden remained kneeling.
Jax sighed.
"Report."
Warden stood.
"The Empire has begun moving."
Jax's hand stopped.
The bacon continued sizzling.
"Which army?"
"All of them."
Jax turned toward him.
"Confirmed?"
"Yes, My Liege."
"Five?"
"Five."
Jax lowered the spatula.
"When?"
"The first columns departed during the night. The remaining forces began movement shortly afterward."
Jax looked toward the window.
Morning sunlight was only beginning to spread across Solmere.
"They weren't supposed to move for another two weeks."
"No, My Liege."
"Targets?"
"They have doubled their troop movement."
That was something unexpected.
Not enough to worry Jax.
But something of note.
"Targets?"
"Unchanged, My Liege."
"Numbers?"
"Increased. Approximately ten thousand soldiers assigned to each force."
Jax went still.
"Ten thousand each?"
"Yes, My Liege."
Fifty thousand.
Five armies.
Five directions.
Five targets.
Moving roughly fifteen days before Jax and the United Kingdoms expected them to.
Jax stared at nothing for several seconds.
Routes.
Distances.
Troop positions.
Supplies.
What had already been completed.
What hadn't.
What could move immediately.
What needed time.
What didn't have time anymore.
Something smelled wrong.
Jax blinked.
"Bacon."
He turned.
"Shit."
He grabbed the pan and pulled it away from the heat.
Too late.
Not ruined.
But definitely past where he would ever have served it intentionally.
Warden watched silently.
A door opened behind them.
Small footsteps crossed the floor.
Pixelle entered first.
Full-sized again.
Barefoot.
Wearing one of Jax's shirts.
And absolutely nothing visible beneath it except a pair of panties.
She yawned.
"Why does it smell like—"
She saw Warden.
Pixelle froze.
Warden turned his helmet toward her.
Pixelle immediately crossed both arms over her chest.
"Warden!"
The knight turned away so quickly his armor shifted.
"My Queen."
"Don't look!"
"I am not."
Lexi walked in behind her wearing almost exactly the same amount of clothing.
She nearly ran into Pixelle.
"What are you—"
She saw Warden.
"Oh."
Her hands immediately joined Pixelle's over her chest.
Warden remained facing the opposite wall.
"Good morning, Lady Lexi."
"Good morning."
Nyxian entered next.
Her hair was a disaster.
Bunny's bra was still wrapped around her head, although she had apparently pushed it upward enough to see.
She wore a long shirt and nobody was sure if she was even wearing panties or not.
She looked at Warden.
"Oh. Hi, Warden."
"My Lady."
Nyxian walked directly past him toward the coffee.
Pixelle stared at her.
Lexi stared at her.
Nyxian poured herself a cup.
"What?"
Pixelle gestured toward Warden.
Nyxian looked at him.
Then back at Pixelle.
"Trust me. He's caught me in worse situations than this."
Silence.
Pixelle looked at Nyxian.
Then Warden.
Then Nyxian again.
Lexi did the same.
Jax slowly turned toward Warden.
The knight remained rigidly focused on the wall.
Nobody asked.
Nobody wanted to know.
Llandra entered wearing a robe.
She surveyed the room.
Pixelle and Lexi covering themselves.
Nyxian drinking coffee with Bunny's bra around her forehead.
Warden staring intensely at a wall.
Jax standing beside overcooked bacon.
Llandra paused.
"Did I miss something?"
"Several things," Jax said.
Nyxian took another drink.
"Warden's embarrassed."
Llandra looked at the knight.
"You're facing the wall."
"Out of respect."
"For whom?"
Warden hesitated.
Nyxian smiled.
Llandra nodded.
"He's embarrassed by Nyxian."
Warden continued to stare at the wall or Jax.
"That's understandable," Llandra continued.
Nyxian looked offended.
"Excuse me?"
Zee entered.
She took one look around.
"No."
Then turned around and left.
Jax almost laughed.
Almost.
Then Llandra saw the bacon.
Her expression changed.
She looked at it.
Then at Jax.
"You burned the bacon."
Everyone went quiet.
Nyxian lowered her coffee.
Bunny appeared in the doorway.
"What happened to the bacon?"
Nobody answered her.
Llandra's eyes remained on Jax.
"You don't burn bacon."
Jax looked toward Warden.
Then back at them.
"They've mobilized."
The humor disappeared.
"All five?" Llandra asked.
"All five."
"When?"
"Last night."
Her face hardened.
"That's almost fifteen days early."
"Yeah."
Bunny stepped fully into the kitchen.
"So what do we do?"
Jax looked at Llandra.
"We need the War Council."
She nodded immediately.
"I'll get dressed."
"It'll take about two hours to get everyone to Solmere."
Llandra stopped.
Jax looked at the breakfast.
"Call first, Eat second."
Nobody moved.
He picked up the spatula.
"I think we're going to need our strength today."|
Two hours later, eighteen people surrounded the war table.
No one wasted time.
General Soren Nightclaw stood beside a map already covered in markers.
"Warden's intelligence is confirmed."
His finger moved across the map.
"Five armies. Current estimates place each at approximately ten thousand."
Jax looked around the table.
"Twice what we planned for."
Soren nodded. "And approximately fifteen days early."
Jax looked around the table.
Five Imperial markers rested along five separate routes.
"The first forces began moving during the night. Scouts confirmed the others shortly after dawn."
King Thalorien Silverthorne leaned over the table.
"Targets?"
"Unchanged."
"Routes?"
"Thus far, unchanged."
Llandra studied the markers.
"They're following the intelligence Yurina gave us."
"Exactly," Soren said.
Kaelor Fangmere crossed his arms.
"Except they're fifteen days early."
"Approximately."
One of the commanders frowned.
"Why?"
Several people began answering at once.
"They may suspect—"
"Perhaps their supplies—"
"Could be intended to—"
Jax listened for several seconds.
Then raised a hand.
The room quieted.
"Does knowing why change what we do?"
Silence.
Soren considered it.
"No."
"Then we'll figure out why later."
Jax looked around the table.
For the next several minutes, the War Council stopped discussing Imperial motivations and started discussing problems.
Two coalition units weren't fully assembled.
Three major supply caches were still being stocked.
Additional medical teams had been requested but hadn't arrived.
Several evacuation routes had been surveyed but not prepared.
Weapons were still moving out of Brannic's production network.
Some commanders had received preliminary deployment orders but not final ones.
Fairy reconnaissance teams weren't fully organized.
Fifteen days.
The Empire hadn't changed the plan.
It had changed the clock.
Jax looked at Kaelor.
"Release the quests."
Kaelor's ears shifted.
"All of them?"
"Everything tied to the five routes."
Kaelor nodded.
"How high do you want the rewards?"
Jax looked at him.
"We talked about this."
Kaelor smiled.
"I wanted to make sure you hadn't regained your senses."
"Nope."
"Good."
Thalorien looked between them.
"How much is he paying?"
Kaelor's smile widened.
"More than enough."
Jax pointed at him.
"My money."
"I know."
"I don't want anyone complaining to the Council about the cost."
"Believe me, nobody is going to complain about the cost."
Kaelor stood.
"I'll have every Guild hall posting within the hour."
Jax nodded.
The first boards changed before noon.
Adventurers gathered around the Solmere Guild Hall as attendants carried out new postings.
Then more.
Then more.
Someone near the back whistled.
"What the hell?"
A Human adventurer pushed closer.
"Move."
"Read the reward."
"I am reading it."
"Read it again."
The man did.
His eyebrows rose.
"They're paying that much?"
A Guild attendant continued pinning notices to the board.
One offered payment for confirmed identification of Imperial officers.
Another paid for verified troop counts.
Another offered rewards for identifying mage units.
Supply wagons.
Siege equipment.
Cavalry numbers.
Scouting parties.
Camp locations.
Messenger routes.
Then came the sabotage contracts.
An adventurer pointed.
"Fifty gold?"
The man beside him leaned closer.
"For disabling an Imperial supply wagon."
"One wagon?"
"One confirmed wagon."
"Destroyed?"
The second man read the wording.
"Disabled."
The first adventurer smiled.
"It doesn't say how."
"No."
"Doesn't say we have to fight anybody."
"No."
The smile grew.
"I have an idea."
Across the room, another party found a different posting.
"Two hundred?"
"For what?"
"Delay an Imperial supply convoy by at least one hour."
"That's it?"
"Verified delay."
A woman in leather armor stared at the notice.
"We don't even have to steal anything?"
"Apparently not."
She ripped the quest from the board.
"That's the easiest money I've ever made."
The Guild attendant watched her leave.
"No, it isn't."
She stopped.
"What?"
"Nothing."
At another board, a rogue read the reward offered for successfully intercepting Imperial military orders.
He looked at his party.
His party looked at him.
"Retirement money."
"Probably guarded."
"Definitely guarded."
"Still retirement money."
They took the quest.
Within hours, the same thing happened throughout the United Kingdoms.
Jax didn't draft them.
He didn't command them.
He didn't tell them how to do it.
He simply made the problems valuable enough to solve.
And adventurers were very, very good at solving problems when someone attached enough gold to them.
The rest began moving shortly afterward.
Orders traveled.
Weapons left warehouses.
Medical supplies were packed.
Fairies took to the skies.
Commanders received deployment instructions.
Mixed units of Humans, Elves, Beastkin, Wolfkin, Minotaurs and others began moving toward positions they had spent the previous two weeks studying.
Some were ready.
Others weren't.
It no longer mattered.
Ready enough would have to be enough.
The Empire had taken fifteen days away from them.
The United Kingdoms responded by compressing everything that remained.
Jax had one advantage the Empire didn't know how to measure.
He had already been preparing the roads.
Not with soldiers.
With Shadows.
For nearly two weeks, Jax had traveled the routes he and Llandra believed the Imperial armies would use.
Sometimes by horse.
Sometimes by carriage.
Usually much faster.
Shadow Swap allowed him to cross distances in ways conventional armies couldn't.
A Shadow went ahead.
Jax followed.
Another Shadow moved farther.
Jax switched again.
Route by route.
Town by town.
Position by position.
He had summoned Shadows, given them specific instructions and left them behind.
Most were simple orders.
Watch.
Wait.
Report.
Attack only under specific conditions.
Withdraw if necessary.
Jax trusted his Shadows completely.
That wasn't the same thing as trusting every one of them to independently command a battlefield.
Warden was different.
Warden understood armies.
More importantly, Warden understood Jax.
And several days earlier, another old Shadow had been given an assignment of her own.
Lucy.
The Crystal Locust Queen had been B-Rank when Jax first claimed her.
She wasn't anymore.
Years of battles compressed into a single strange year of Jax's life had strengthened his Shadows even though Jax himself stubbornly remained Level One.
Lucy had reached A-Rank.
She still wasn't Dante.
She wasn't Warden.
She wasn't one of the creatures people whispered about when they discussed Jax Darquebane's Shadow Army.
She didn't need to be.
Lucy produced locusts.
Thousands of them.
Small.
Fast.
Difficult to notice.
And very hungry.
Especially for mana.
Jax and Llandra had selected places along the five routes.
Lucy had visited them.
And left parts of her swarm behind.
Waiting.
The first Imperial column encountered trouble before sunset.
Nothing dramatic.
Nothing heroic.
A supply wagon broke an axle.
The driver cursed.
Soldiers lifted the wagon.
Someone examined the wheel.
"Cut."
The officer frowned.
"What?"
"The axle was cut."
"By whom?"
Nobody knew.
Two miles farther ahead, an Imperial scout returned without his horse.
His commander stared at him.
"Where is your mount?"
"Stolen."
"How?"
The scout looked furious.
"I don't know."
"You were riding it."
"I am aware."
Three miles beyond that, another scouting party found the road blocked by a fallen tree.
It took forty minutes to clear.
When they finally did, they discovered a second tree blocking the road half a mile farther ahead.
The Imperial captain stared at it.
"Someone is doing this deliberately."
A soldier beside him looked at the forest.
"Should we search?"
The captain looked at ten thousand soldiers waiting behind him.
"No."
The tree was removed.
The army continued.
Elsewhere, another Imperial force discovered that every directional marker at a crossroads had been turned.
They lost an hour before a local map corrected the mistake.
A third army's messengers began disappearing.
Not dying.
Disappearing.
Two eventually returned.
Neither had their horses.
One had lost his boots.
He refused to explain why.
The Imperial armies kept marching.
Jax arrived outside the first target shortly before dusk.
Llandra appeared beside him.
Bunny followed.
Then Zee.
Nyxian.
Pixelle.
Pixelle's staff looked almost comically small beside Bunny's World Breaker.
Bunny rested the massive hammer across one shoulder.
"So we're fighting?"
"We're annoying," Jax said.
Nyxian smiled.
"I'm very good at that."
"We know."
"I've trained for years."
Llandra ignored them.
"Objective?"
"Slow them. Learn what they've changed. Don't get committed."
"And the Shadows?"
Jax looked toward the road.
"First we get Warden."
He raised one hand.
Far away, the connection disappeared.
Warden's manifested form dissolved.
Jax immediately summoned him again.
Darkness gathered.
The knight rose.
"My Liege."
Jax pointed toward the terrain ahead.
"Organize them."
Warden looked toward the scattered Shadows Jax had left throughout the area during the previous days.
"Objective?"
"Buy us a few hours. Don't chase. Don't let them draw you into an open fight."
Warden drew his sword.
"As you command."
Jax looked at Llandra.
"Ready?"
She drew Starpiercer.
"Yes."
Bunny lowered World Breaker.
Zee gripped Sanctaris.
Nyxian uncoiled Lilith's Kiss.
Pixelle took a breath and tightened both hands around her staff.
She was nowhere near the fighter the others were.
Not yet.
But every day brought more iPoints.
More strength.
More magic.
More experience.
And Pixelle Starbloom, now Pixelle Darquebane had never been particularly good at accepting the word can't anyway.
Jax smiled.
"Let's go introduce ourselves."
The Imperial army was disciplined.
That became obvious immediately.
Ten thousand soldiers moved with the practiced precision of people who had done this many times before.
Cavalry screened the front.
Heavy infantry followed.
Archers protected the flanks.
Battle mages remained near the center, surrounded by soldiers whose entire purpose appeared to be keeping them alive.
Supply wagons followed behind.
Jax noticed that immediately.
The mages were better protected than they had been at Crescent Moon.
Interesting.
Llandra noticed too.
She looked at him.
Jax nodded.
They had learned.
Good.
That meant there was something to learn from them.
The first arrow arrived without warning.
An Imperial cavalry officer disappeared from his saddle.
Before the soldiers could react, a second arrow struck the ground directly in front of the lead formation.
It exploded with magical force.
"CONTACT!"
The valley erupted.
Bunny came down from above.
World Breaker struck the earth.
The ground cracked outward.
Imperial soldiers scattered.
"BUNNY SMASH!"
Jax appeared behind a Shadow stationed near the opposite flank.
Peacemaker flashed into his hands.
He struck once.
An Imperial shield split.
Twice.
A spear shattered.
He disappeared before the third soldier could reach him.
Nyxian's whip cracked across the battlefield.
Lilith's Kiss wrapped around an officer's weapon and ripped it from his hands.
"Mine."
She flicked it away.
"Actually, I don't want it."
Zee raised Sanctaris.
A barrier formed in front of an advancing line.
The soldiers slammed into it.
Then Zee pushed.
The barrier moved.
So did they.
Pixelle lifted her staff.
Roots burst from the ground.
Not enough to crush anyone.
Enough to catch ankles.
Trip horses.
Break formations.
Slow.
Annoy.
Exactly what Jax wanted.
Then the Shadows struck.
Not thousands.
Dozens.
Enough.
Shadow Wolves attacked the flanks.
Knights engaged infantry.
A massive serpent crashed through a cavalry formation.
Warden directed everything from the center.
The Imperial response came quickly.
"FORM!"
Shields locked.
Archers repositioned.
Cavalry withdrew instead of pursuing.
Mages moved forward.
Llandra saw them.
"Jax."
"I see them."
The first mage raised both hands.
Several others joined him.
Magic gathered.
Jax watched.
He knew what might be coming.
He needed to see it.
The mage pointed toward one of the Shadow Knights.
"DISPEL!"
Magic struck.
The Shadow Knight froze.
Its weapon vanished.
Then its hands.
Its arms.
Its body dissolved into black vapor.
Jax stared.
Llandra fired another arrow.
"Now we know."
"Yep."
Another group of mages moved forward.
Warden saw them.
His sword shifted.
The Shadows began withdrawing from their range.
The Imperial commander noticed.
"Again!"
More mages raised their hands.
Mana gathered.
Then flickered.
One mage frowned.
He tried again.
Nothing.
Another managed to form a spell.
It collapsed.
"What is happening?"
A third mage looked at his hands.
"My mana—"
Something crawled across his boot.
He looked down.
Tiny.
Dark.
Almost crystalline.
He crushed it.
Another appeared.
Then another.
His eyes followed the ground.
There were dozens.
No.
Hundreds.
Moving between boots.
Beneath armor.
Across rocks.
Through grass.
The mage's face changed.
"What are those?"
Jax watched from the ridge.
A familiar clicking sound began spreading through the Imperial formation.
Nyxian tilted her head.
"I remember that sound."
Jax smiled.
"You should."
Bunny stared toward the swarm.
"Lucy?"
"Lucy."
Pixelle looked between them.
"Who's Lucy?"
Bunny grinned.
"Old friend."
The Crystal Locust Queen had never been one of Jax's most intimidating Shadows.
That wasn't what she was for.
Her children fed on mana.
And the Imperial mages had just surrounded themselves with dinner for her children.
The first mage screamed as hundreds of crystalline locusts surged toward the magic gathering around him.
Spells collapsed.
Barriers flickered.
Mana disappeared almost as quickly as the mages could summon it.
Then the Empire adapted.
Fire erupted across the ground.
Locusts burned.
Wind magic blasted others away.
Soldiers stomped them.
A barrier formed around one group of mages.
Not every spell failed.
Not every locust survived.
Jax watched carefully.
Good.
Lucy wasn't an answer.
She was a problem.
And right now, the Empire had to solve her before it could solve his Shadows.
That was enough.
Llandra stepped beside him.
"They're reorganizing."
"I know."
"We've learned what we came to learn."
Jax looked toward Warden.
The knight was already pulling the Shadow forces away.
He didn't need to be told.
Jax smiled.
"Yeah."
He raised his hand.
"Pull back."
Bunny looked disappointed.
"Already?"
"We're not here to win."
She looked at the ten-thousand-man army below.
"Could we?"
Jax smiled.
"Probably."
Llandra looked at him.
"Jax."
"Leaving."
Nyxian laughed.
One by one, they disappeared.
Warden withdrew the remaining Shadows.
The locusts scattered.
The Imperial army remained.
Bloodied.
Delayed.
Angry.
But intact.
Night fell across five roads.
Reports moved faster than the armies.
A supply convoy was four hours behind schedule.
Two Imperial officers were missing.
Three bridges had been damaged.
Seventeen scouts had failed to report.
One Imperial cavalry unit had spent nearly an hour chasing adventurers who had apparently insulted their horses before fleeing into the forest.
Nobody was entirely sure why.
Kaelor read that report twice.
Then set it aside.
"Adventurers."
Another report arrived.
Then another.
The Imperial armies adjusted.
Scouts doubled.
Wagon guards increased.
Mages began traveling inside tighter defensive formations.
Engineers moved closer to the front.
Officers changed messenger routes.
Every obstacle cost time.
Every attack cost soldiers.
Every missing wagon cost supplies.
Every delay bought the United Kingdoms another hour.
And the United Kingdoms needed every one of them.
Because across five fronts, armies were still trying to reach positions they had expected another fifteen days to prepare.
Jax stood over the map in Solmere.
Five Imperial markers remained.
None had stopped.
He hadn't expected them to.
This wasn't Crescent Moon.
There would be no single canyon.
No single trap.
No single overwhelming strike that ended the battle before the Empire understood it had begun.
This time, they had come prepared for him.
And Jax had prepared for them.
The first blows had been struck.
The first blood spilled.
The first Imperial countermeasure revealed.
Fifty thousand soldiers had been slowed.
Harassed.
Bled.
But not stopped.
Five armies remained.
Five targets remained.
The War of Five Fronts had begun.
And still, the Imperial juggernaut marched on.