The year began in silence.
King John had vanished. The Great Harmony Stone, taken from its altar in the cathedral at Knighton months earlier, was already gone — only the pedestal remained, cold and untouched. Lord Bronston had been across the Great Sea for nearly a year, last known to be on royal business near the cliffs of Storm Gate. He had not come home. Lord Carlton held the throne alone, sitting in a room that had been built for two.
Across the realm, the portal still opened. New souls stepped through into Knighton's streets — strangers blinking in the late-afternoon sun, carrying nothing, knowing no one. The realm had a way of choosing its own.
Some found their way to the Royal Armory, where a blacksmith named Gordon greeted them: a leather belt with three pouches, four gold pieces, a firm grip and a steady welcome. From his shop, the trail led elsewhere. A delivery here. A name dropped there. Gordon's recommendations had a way of pointing west.
West of Knighton, the Great River ran inland past Rock Ridge and the western mountains. Beyond the river lay the Enchanted Forest — said by many to be the most beautiful of the realm's wooded regions, and even believed to be magical. Three days' ride along the forest trail brought a traveler deep into its heart, where the elven settlement of Tanglewood was founded in honor of Tendimos Tangle. The town's location was not known by many, and could be hidden with magic if it chose. Secret tunnels and passageways ran beneath it.
The Arena Schools trained the realm's bravest in twenty-four disciplines. Big Nast taught Swords and Shields. Artimus taught Horsemanship. Master Su Lei taught Hands and Feet, the hardest path of all. Kandie taught the bow she had inherited from her father Penic. Rooter kept the arena's books and ran the bookmaking. Smitty hammered elvin steel in a shop with no sign. Granny fed every adventurer who came through her door. The Elfin Ruling Council met beneath the elven oak — six of them around a table that had stood since Tendimos Tangle's time.
And in a building with no sign, behind a door no one outside opened, was Talon.
Cowbird sat with a pipe burning slowly, reading contracts faster than he could close them. Lord Carlton needed jobs done. Hawk briefed missions in the back room. Jannek moved silently through the long basement tunnels that nobody outside Talon had ever seen. The Cambion Tribe was operating out of the thieves' guild, and word had come down: they were dangerous, organized, and patient.
It was a realm at the edge of itself — politically uncertain, militarily strained, leadership thin. But it was still standing.
That, at the start of 1999, was where everything began.
In February, scrolls began moving between Knighton and Southpoint. The carriers did not always know what they carried, and some of them did not arrive. The Cambion Tribe took what it wanted and left what it didn't. Talon began assembling a list.
In April, on a routine errand for Gordon, an old key surfaced in Knighton — heavy, marked with King John's royal symbol. The Lords had since adopted a new symbol, but this one was older, and the door it opened was the Royal Equipment Room of the army. Quiet investigations began.
Spring brought a carnival to Knighton, and the carnival was not a carnival.
In May, an old name resurfaced: Isaiah, a stone shaper, living alone in an abandoned ghost town up the river, days away from any other soul. Gray-robed, gray-skinned, no toes, no fingers, no expression, no age — a man who had not been seen in years. Cowbird went to find him. They had been friends once. By June, Isaiah had moved into the basement at Talon in Tanglewood and begun building teleport stations — ten in total — connecting the office to safe houses across the realm. Northshire would be the first to test. Tunnels were dug. Operatives could move on a moment's notice.
That same month, the Cambion Tribe took two prisoners on the road outside Knighton — a young Talon thief and a woman from the trail. They were beaten, robbed, and released into the night. The great wizard Cambion has ordered me to turn you both lose, the captain told them. Do not come back into this area again.
When Talon followed up, Cambion had already crossed the sea. The hunt for Scarface began as a way to find him — a snitch named Fox, working the bars in the lower harbor towns, was rumored to know Scarface's whereabouts. Contracts piled up. Hawk briefed. Cowbird traveled. Iron Claw, the powerful fighter from Storm Gate, came in for the heavy work.
Through the summer, the realm trained. A young Talon thief took the hardest path — Master Su Lei's hands-and-feet fighting at the Tanglewood arena, mountain survival in the high reaches, days of sand-climbing and plant survival in the Great Desert — and earned the Golden Acorn, one of ten crystals representing the realm's highest honor of inner strength. Few who attempted it succeeded. Master Su Lei wore his at the ceremony, in his finest robes, when the new crystal was conferred.
By August, every Talon operative had a teleport in their home. Isaiah had earned his place. The office was a different operation than the one that had begun the year.
And then, in September, the news came from Storm Gate.
Lord Bronston had been a hostage for nearly a year — held by forces commanded by a man named Kwahadi, the evil Grand Master Thief who had built a fortified compound across the sea. Bronston had been close to finding the truth of King John before he was captured. Mangar, one of his lieutenants from Three Peaks, had escaped and made his way back to the realm. Bronston himself had been killed.
At court in Knighton, Kayleel rose to brief Talon on behalf of the lords. Cowbird sighed audibly.
Sir Cowbird, is there a problem?
Yes, there's a problem. Cowbird, on a bench in the back: One, you don't control this group. Two, you don't ever give me orders. You've sat in that castle for years.
Talon went, but on its own terms.
The crossing took weeks. By early October, the assault on Kwahadi's fortress was prepared. Big Nast led the fighters. Cowbird, Iron Claw, Cambion himself — present that day for reasons known only to him — and a man named Tar moved with the operatives. The castle stood on broken stone, with a small pond inside the compound that no one understood.
The assault began at dawn.
In the smoke and confusion of the lower courtyard, Iron Claw struck down a figure he had taken for an enemy. It was Tar. He had not known.
Cowbird climbed to the top of the castle alone and found Kwahadi waiting for him. They fought through the upper chambers and out onto the high battlements. Bandit, the great owl, circled overhead. Kandie watched from below as they grappled, both already badly hurt, and the middle section of the castle collapsed beneath them.
The pond, it turned out, had been linked to an underground water system. The collapse ruptured it. Water poured into the foundation faster than anyone could believe. By the time the dust cleared, where the castle had stood there was now a lake.
Cowbird emerged covered in stone-dust, glazed-eyed, missing a sword. Bandit flew down to his shoulder. He walked to Big Nast and said, simply: That trash back there is Kwahadi. I killed him.
He turned to Kayleel and pressed a leather pouch into his hand. Get this to Carlton. It's Bronson's ring of the guild — and a missing stone.
When Kayleel opened the pouch, the Great Harmony Stone glowed in many colors at once, in his palm, for the first time in over a year.
Cowbird looked at Hawk. I'm ready to go home.
The clerics took him.
Big Nast looked at the new lake. Let's call it Bronson Lake. The name stuck.
Of Cambion, there was no sign. A teleport, witnesses said. He was still out there.
The prisoners were sent to the Isle of Justice. The wounded were taken across the sea by ship.
Two weeks later, on October 18th, Talon was summoned to Knighton's cathedral.
The bishop spoke first. With Lord Bronston dead and King John still missing, the realm needed a king. By the authority of the throne and the support of the surviving lords, Lord Carlton would be crowned.
A purple robe was placed on his shoulders. A crown was placed on his head. The throne, which had been built for two, was reconfigured for one. The bishop called for a show of support. Everyone bowed on one knee.
A new coat of arms was unveiled — the symbols of the two lords combined, with a piece of King John's old crest woven in, so that nothing of the old realm would be lost.
King Carlton spoke. New titles were given. Sir Freddrick took over the Royal Guard from Kayleel. Awards of merit went to those who had fought in the war. New knights were named, and Talon's banner was raised. And the highest award a king could bestow — the King's Medal of Honor, not given in years — was placed around the neck of Sir Cowbird, who shook his head, smiled a little, and walked to the front to kneel.
The Fighters Guild made most of the noise.
Cambion was still out there. King John had not returned. The Royal Equipment Room had not yet given up its secrets. The realm did not know yet what 2000 would bring — or that a name not yet spoken, an old wizard called Stryker, was waiting in the deep places of memory.
But for now, the Harmony Stone was home. The throne had a king. Talon had its honor. And somewhere beneath the offices in Tanglewood, a stone shaper was finishing the last of ten teleport stations, getting ready for whatever came next.