14 years earlier

"Crows, Max!" Uli exclaimed. "Why didn't any 'a you tell me Garius was Placida's son?"

Max laughed. "You should have seen the look on your face!"

Earlier that day, Lady Placida had come to camp. She had wanted to thank Max personally for saving her son's life on the Shieldwall. Uli had made an idiot of himself, going from quiet politeness when had entered their tent and introduced herself as Garuis's mother to full-on stuttering when he figured out that she was Lady Placida to complete astonishment at the way Max had loudly and casually addressed her. Max and Garius had lunch with her and Lord Cereus.

"Crows," said Uli. "I fed him barley swill, Max."

Max just kept laughing. "It was good for him. He didn't want to be treated differently."

"Hm," Uli responded. It was easy for noble types to say that, but truth is that it rarely works that was in real life. Neither Garius nor even Max could ever know what it was like to have to scurry off the road because some lords decided to go for a race or worry whether or nor the count was going to make an incredibly stupid decision because you knew that you and the people you knew would be the one who would pay for it. They never knew what it was like to have their lives completely in someone else's hands.

Still, Uli had to give credit to Garius and Lady Placida. They didn't seem anything like Count Otho. Lord and Lady Placida were willing to send their own son to fight Icemen right alongside their troops. Not many people would be willing to do that.

Max sighed.

"What's wrong?" asked Uli.

"Lord Cereus was with us at lunch today," said Max. "And his granddaughter, Veradis, was with us."

"Yeah?" Uli had caught a glimpse of the two when they came into the camp. Veradis was very lovely in an understated kind of way. Though the young lady could never match the obvious and bold beauty of Lady Placida, with her fine, cob-web thin blonde hair; her fair, blue eyes; her simple, but well-made fine dress; and her overall delicate appearance, Cereus Veradis just seemed more approachable.

"She turned me down," said Max. "Again."

"No really?" Uli asked with mock incredulousness.

Max scoffed. "Jealousy is a trait of lesser men."

"An' good taste is a trait of intelligent women," said Uli.

"I just don't get it, Uli." Max shook his head. "Let's go get a drink. A real beer this time, none of that gargant piss that passes for alcohol where you come from."

Throughout the evening, especially after Max had a few drinks, the Antillan would not stop talking about Cereus Veradis. At first, Uli had fun poking fun at his friend, but Max got more and more moody about it the more time had passed, and it got to a point where Uli just wished that he would stop.

"You don't think there's something wrong with me, do you?" asked Max with a slight slur in his speech.

"Plenty," said Uli.

"Shut up, Uli," said Max. "You don't think that maybe if I wasn't a bastard, if I wasn't some mistake of birth, she would say yes?"

"You don't know that." Uli put his hand on Max's shoulder. "'Sides, if it were true, then she doesn't deserve you. Max, you're one 'a the greatest men I've ever known. I knew it from the moment you helped me with Bortus and Nonus, an' again when you saved Garius from that Iceman. You're strong, but you only ever use it for good. That's what puts you above most men I know, noble or no."

Max looked into Uli's eyes, his expression as hard to read as it ever was when he decided to be serious, and Uli suddenly became very aware that he had meant every word he said. Crows, anyone would be lucky to have Max. Max was not what anyone would consider conventionally handsome, but the way he carried himself made Uli want to let down his guard and just relax. That, coupled with his fun and kind nature, would make anyone fall for Max.

I would make Uli fall for Max.

"Uli," said Max. "Have you ever wished that things had been different? That there was some part of you that you really wanted to change."

"Actually," said Uli, "yeah, I do."

"Really?" asked Max. "What happened?"

Uli was so tempted to just tell Max. He knew that Max would understand. It wasn't anything bad at all, but Uli knew that it would completely change the way Max saw him. His heart raced. "Umm…" he said.

"It's all right," said Max. "You don't have to tell me." He backed away from Uli's touch to take another swig from his beer. When he faced Uli again, his eyes were alight, and there was a smile on his face.

He stood up from the bar stool and looked towards the exit. The tent that served as the camp brothel stood right across. "Good talk. I'll just spend the rest of the evening by myself, if you don't mind?"

"Seriously?" Uli couldn't help the incredulousness and bitterness in his tone.

"What?" said Max. "I can't mope about her forever, can I?"

"You're…really somethin'," said Uli.

Max just smiled and winked at him before walking out of the tent.

Uli walked back to his bed nursing his jealousy. He was jealous, jealous of the girl Max was spending the night with and jealous of Cereus Veradis. He tried imagining what it would feel like if Max spoke about him the way he spoke about Veradis or tumbling into bed with the Antillan. The thoughts felt good at first, but they also brought a shiver down Uli's spine. He wanted Max's love, but he also wanted Max to see him as his brother in arms. He didn't want to be seen as a girl.

Uli went to bed cursing the world.

The outlaws that Max and his men had captured were bound up in metal chains and kept in the prisoners' tent for interrogation. So far, they have refused to answer any questions the interrogator had asked of them.

"Interesting," said the interrogator. The man was a veteran with lines on his face, and his short, dark hair was peppered with silver. "Men that young usually realize at this point that they are in way over their heads and just give up for a lighter sentence. A bandit group doesn't usually inspire this much loyalty in people."

"Send them back to Appia, then," said Max. "Maybe a few days in a cell will make them see sense."

The interrogator saluted and walked away. Max walked to the scout's tent, where Schultz was waiting for him.

"Any word from our scouts?" asked Max.

"No, Tribune," said Schultz. "There's a huge patch of land in the mountains that is completely covered in croach. We stopped sending our Knights Aeris over that land, because none that we have sent there have ever come back.

"Our men have had a few scuffles with the outlaws, sir," Schultz continued. "For the most part, they've left our men alone; we only really see them when we catch them trying to rob someone, but the almost always disappear as soon as our legionares get involved."

Max nodded. "They would be stupid to face trained legionares in a fair fight. Any crafters among them?"

"Sadly, it is impossible to tell what craftings the group has as a whole, but we've seen some woodcrafting, and maybe an earthcrafter or two, nothing impressive. I'd guess that our men have more in the way of crafting than they do."

"That doesn't mean anything," said Max. "His Royal Majesty came from a backwater country like this. If the Redhill Heights are anything like Calderon, then the locals will have a better handle on the furies here, regardless of raw power."

Schultz nodded. "We noticed the furies out here are unlike any you'd see in the cities. In addition to the vord, we've also had to deal with feral furies."

"Speaking of the locals," said Max. "Have any of the steadholders talked to us?"

"They seem hospitable enough, if a little cautious," said Schultz. "But none of the freeman can tell us anything about the bandits, which means that either they really don't know or…"

"Or they're helping them," said Max.

"There's more," said Schultz. "It seems Count Otho is very unpopular with the freemen. They cannot stand Senator Valerius, but every time one of them challenges him, the count would intimidate the contender into stepping down. There's been talk of beatings, stalking, even assaults and killings."

Max smiled savagely. "Now that's interesting. Tavi won't be happy to hear about that."

"Unfortunately, even he won't be able to do anything without proof," said Schultz.

"That's always the hard part," said Max. He clapped Schultz on the shoulder. "Good work. At least now we have something to work with."

Max pondered as he walked to the latrine. Between the bandits still at large, knights going missing, and now these rumors regarding the count, a lot of things were going on. Max walked into the latrine, the wooden door closing noisily behind him. He pulled his trousers down to relieve himself.

Suddenly there was a noise outside. Max cursed as he pulled up his trousers. He tried to open the door, but the door was stuck. Even when he used earthcrafted strength, the door was surprisingly resistant. Upon closer inspection, Max could see branch or root-like protrusions from the sides of the door drilling into the doorframe. With a roar, Max shattered the door and ran out of the latrine.

Max ran headfirst into a web-like net made of hemp rope. The net clung to him as if it had a mind of its own. A javelin struck him in the shoulder from behind with a loud crack. Max turned around and saw a flicker of an arm on top of the latrine before the arm turned invisible. Max conjured a ball of fire and launched it at the roof of the latrine. He saw a masked figure leap from the roof onto the wooden wall behind it. Max saw the figure stick to the wall before disappearing again. Max set fire to the net with his fury, the flames instantly consuming the rope without damaging him or his clothes. He tried to pull the javelin out his shoulder, but the haft simply snapped off, leaving the head buried uncomfortably in his shoulder.

Another javelin found its way to his knee. Since the javelins were made of wood, metalcrafting would be useless to dull the pain. Max cried out. He looked up and saw a flicker of the masked figure clinging to the wall with his feet and free hand like a spider. Max roared in fury and directed an intense fire blast to the wall; the woodcraftings the men used to build it would keep it resistant to fire.

Max turned to see what the commotion was about. He could see legionares running to where an alarm had been raised.

Two wooden darts hit and embedded themselves in his wrists. Max turned and saw the masked outlaw peeking out over the wall. Max cursed and launched himself at his attacker. The outlaw threw a handful of rock salt at him, obliviating his wind fury but not in time to stop Max from making it over the wall. Max grabbed the outlaw, and both of them went falling down the other side of the wall. Max pinned him down easily and earthcrafted the dirt to bind the outlaw's wrists.

"Not man enough to show your face, you slive?" Max tore the bandit's mask off. What he saw made him pause.

When Max and Uli had been young lads in the legion, Uli had a reputation for being pretty for a boy. Even now, as a thirty-year-old man, Uli had a mildly androgynous face. He was of average height for a man, but well-muscled. His hair was the color of dark honey and cut into the style of the legions, and his eyes were a dark blue.

Uli's eyes shifted, and Max suddenly found himself in horrible pain in the places where he had been pierced by javelins and darts. The wood felt as if it were expanding inside him, and his wrists, knee, and shoulder stiffened. He was tossed into the air and found himself pinned to the wooden camp wall behind him. He was seeing white dots. Below him, Uli was freeing himself from the bindings, using the grass to cut away at the dirt.

Max tried to break free, but the way he was pinned to the wall by most of his joints made even the smallest movements agonizing. He was cut off from the earth, so he couldn't earthcraft his way out of it, and his wind furies were still smarting from the rock salt Uli had thrown at him. If only he could get a hold of his sword, he could metalcraft his way through it.

Using his own strength, which was considerable, Max cracked his wrist as he tore his hand away from the wall. It hurt like hell, but once he got his hand free, he immediately grabbed hold of the gladius on his belt, whipping it out and drawing upon the furies in his weapon to undo the hold Uli had on him only moments before Uli freed himself and stood back up.

Max charged at Uli with his gladius. Uli reached out to the tree next to him. A branch came down and tried to hit Max, but Max sliced through it. Uli grabbed hold of another branch that came down and used it to launch himself into the canopy of the woods. Uli swung from the branch into the next tree before disappearing into the leaves.

Max cursed and made a move to try to follow him, but he heard a cry come from the camp behind him. He saw a pillar of smoke rise to the sky. Seeing no choice, he ran back to help.