Wisp cleared her throat. She looked down at the crowd gathered outside the gates, deliberately not looking at Ike. "What happens if I don''t bring the boss out?"


    "We''ll leave. And you wouldn''t want to miss out on us. We''re the most powerful mercenaries in this whole region. If you don''t recruit us, you''ll lose for sure!"


    Ike raised his brows. That''s pretty sketchy, even if I put aside this trial''s usual level of deceptiveness.


    He leaned in toward one of the so-called mercenaries. "What''s the n?"


    Too busy watching Wisp to nce over, the mercenary shook his head. "Same as it is every time. Get inside and take ''em for all they''re worth. Make this hellpit worth living in for another few days before we wear it all out and go back to the usual shit."


    "Neat." I respect the hustle, but I don''t want it in my castle. Ike leaned in. "You know, I saw another castle rise across that way, and the people in it looked way richer than these losers." He pointed back toward Rufus'' castle.


    "What, for real?"


    "Yeah. Just over there. They looked like, super ritzy. Look at these guys. They''re wearing rags, and they look like they''ve been through it. Their weapons are probably grungy and old. The guys over there, I bet they''ve got all kinds of neat enchantments and secret artifacts."


    The mercenary paused for a moment. He looked at Wisp again. Although she still wore the nice white-and-gold clothes from rina''s ce, her generalck of personal hygiene and the battles in the centipede tunnels had taken the clean white fabric from pristine to filthy. Strange brown, green, and red stains clung to the fabric all over, and it was worn and frayed from her general disinterest in caring for what she wore.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "You''ve got a point. I''ll go tell boss," the mercenary said, pinching his chin. He ran off toward one of his fellow mercenaries—the one wearing the nicest armor, with the gbearer standing nearby.


    Wisp raised her brows at Ike. He gave her a thumbs-up, then zipped his lips. I''ve got this handled. Don''t say anything.


    She nodded back and waited, resting against the ramparts.


    The two mercenaries conversed for a moment. Abruptly, the leader nodded. He turned up to the ramparts. "Last call! If you don''t let us in, we''ll go somewhere else!"


    Wisp shrugged. "Okay."


    The leader turned. "You heard her, boys. Let''s move out!" He jogged off into the forest, and the others followed him.


    All except for Ike, who stood there while they ran around him. As the mercenaries vanished, he walked forward, waving at Wisp. "Hi."


    "Hey there, stranger. Don''t tell me you want me to open the gates, too? It''s just one thing after another, today." Wisp said, shaking her head down at him.


    He shrugged. "You could just send down a thread. I wouldn''tin."


    There was a pause. A momentter, a white rope descended over the side of the wall. Chuckling, Ike grabbed on. Hauling himself up hand over hand, he reached the top in a few moments. Wisp flicked her wrist, recalling the spider thread to her hand. She collected it into a ball and swallowed it. "Were they bad news?"


    "Yeah. Just wanted to steal our shit and get out. I sent ''em at Rufus instead."


    She nced at him. "I take it the negotiations went poorly?"


    "Eh. We have Scar on board. Vi might change her mindter. Rufus said no—or, well, his master said no for him. Little prince doesn''t even speak for himself. What a loser, honestly."


    "Honestly," Wisp agreed.


    "So fuck him. But Scar is on board for sure, and like I said, pretty sure Vi was listening. Well, her underlings spoke for her, too, but I got more of an underlings vibe than a Master vibe from that guy."


    "Yeah. We need bosses on our side, not baby princelings," Wisp said, nodding. She paused. "We sure that we don''t just have to fight the others?"


    "Even if we do, better to have an ally," Ike pointed out.


    She nodded, pointing at Ike. "Good point."


    "How have defenses progressed while I was gone?"


    Wisp gestured. "Just take a look."


    Ike looked.


    The castle''s walls were reinforced. All the ces where the stone had begun to show wear and tear were reced with fresh stone, and in a few ces, buttresses helped hold the interior castle upright. The gemlike panels of spell formations stood along the wall, evenly spaced, and a few anti-siege weapons like ballistae and cannons had been set up along the battlements. Fresh weapons, cannonballs, and ballista arrows sat in piles along the wall.


    Ike raised his brows. When he''d left, he''d left a dpidated castle that stood, but not much else could be said about it. Now, he faced a battle-ready, fully defensible fortress, prepared to fend off whatever came its way.


    "Wow," he said, earnestly impressed.


    Wisp giggled proudly. "We weren''t just sitting around twiddling our thumbs while you negotiated."


    Ike nodded. "What''s Mag up to?"


    Wisp pointed up. He tipped his head back, further, further, further. Atst, he caught sight of therge bird, perched on top of the tallest tower. Mag shuffled his feathers and gazed out, his eyes fixed somewhere far away.


    "See anything, Mag?"


    "Something. It''sing closer," Mag replied, to Ike''s surprise.


    "Like what? More mercenaries?"


    Mag shook his head. "Monsters. From the center of the world."


    Ike and Wisp exchanged a look. "From the center of the valley?" Ike rified.


    Mag nodded, his whole body bobbing up and down.


    Ike turned to face the way he''de. He couldn''t see anything yet, but Mag was a bird, and birds had great eyesight. Plus, Mag had a better angle on the area.


    He lifted his fingers to his mouth and whistled. "Everyone, on alert. The monsters are here!"