112 Rivals (2/2)

I asked Luca to guide them in to see if he'd get charmed by her too. As they walked up the steps, I saw the hop in his step and the redness in his cheeks and felt a satisfying feeling settle in my stomach.

Ha! As if you weren't charmed too. Wait until Pike sees you like that, Luca, I thought happily.

\”Heads up, Commander\” Varda announced, pointing one of her stubby fingers eastward. \”Here comes the next group.\”

Although they were about equal in size, the second unit to arrive wasn't nearly as flashy as the first. They'd strolled into the ground leisurely while Edo's Bastards walked alongside them as their escorts.

The leader, a tall, lean young man with messy, sandy-brown hair had gotten off his mount and led it by the straps while he walked alongside Edo, chatting merrily as he did.

Edo didn't look like he was answering the man with anything more than a grunt, but he didn't seem annoyed by the new arrival, not like he usually was with me.

Once they were close enough, the young man glanced over in my direction and raised his hand in greeting.

Instinctively, I raised my hand as well.

Smiling, he left his brown swifthart with Edo and took the grounds two steps at a time until we were face to face. Then he wiped his left hand on his elven-designed leather vest and offered it to me.

I shook it, immediately thinking he wasn't so bad.

\”No need for us not to be friends,\” he said happily. \”We shed the same blood on the same war after all.\”

\”We have?\” I asked, uncertainly.

I looked up at the smiling face—possibly the one bad thing about him, being tall and all—and saw the piercing green eyes appraising me just as I was appraising him.

He had a handsome rugged face with a small pointy nose and a light fringe covering his square jaw, which at first didn't make sense to me, as his knife ears were a clear sign he was an elf. But elves can't grow beards which led me to the obvious fact that I was staring at a half-elf.

The half-elf introduced himself as, \”Albert Sheridan, Five-Hundred Man Commander of the Millennium Hawks. But you can call me Al.\”

We shook hands.

\”Millennium Hawks… the name sounds familiar…\” I said.

\”You might have heard of our independent unit from General Thors,\” Albert said. \”We used to work for him.\”

A light bulb turned on in my head. \”Ah, you're the hundred-man commander that took out the Magesong's spell cannons.\”

\”A meager accomplishment compared to yours.\” Albert's eyes trailed over to Azuma who was yawning in front of his troops. \”Still, my Hawks will overshadow your Foolhardies in the next war.\”

I raised an eyebrow. \”The next war?\”

Albert chuckled. \”Isn't that why we're all in the west now?\”

\”All of us?\” I asked. \”There are more of us?\”

\”Verania's already here right? She's a fire cracker, that one.\” He nodded toward the tower's entry way. \”There are a few others, but the one you really have to watch out for is that pompous git, Dain Hammerhand.\”

\”Dain… Hammerhand?\” I repeated. \”Never heard of him.\”

\”Genius scion of House Hammerhand, the biggest of the dwarven houses under the Trickster Pavilion, Commander,\” Varda piped in.

\”Genius is right,\” Albert chuckled. Then he patted me on the arm. \”But you and I can take him. Show these purebloods what scrappers from Mudgard can do, yeah?\”

Albert started walking up the steps like he wasn't the guest, and I hurried to follow him so as not to look like I wasn't in charge.

\”You're from Mudgard?\” I clarified.

He nodded.

\”Born here but raised over there. Brooklyn,\” he answered assuredly.

\”Cool,\” I replied.

We'd reached the open doors.

\”Well, aren't you going to invite me in?\” he asked wryly.

I chuckled. As if I had a choice. So I raised a hand in welcome.

\”Welcome to Hoodwink Tower,\” I said, the name coming to me at that exact moment like it had been waiting for me to say it all along.

\”Cool name,\” Albert said right before stepping over the threshold.

I was about to follow him in when a winged shadow blocked the light of Idunn momentarily, forcing me to look up. A wide smile appeared on my face afterward. I may be out of my league here with these two new guests but at least Aura was back to help me through it.