DAY SEVEN—THREE DAYS BEFORE EXECUTION

FORTY-EIGHT HOURS BEFORE THE INVASION

I blinked, bleary-eyed.

The sun was about halfway beneath the horizon, so I couldn’t enter the grounds just yet, but the ring of light was probably pretty close to spawning.

I yawned and went back to sleep, figuring that Ezzie would wake me up before the time came. Or at the very least, that the system would.

Ezzie said.

I groaned and spoke into the pillow:

in the bed, not on it, you animal.>

I sat up, shivering a little, but no more than usual. I yanked back on the fluffy cloth thing that covered the bed, and it peeled away, leaving more layers beneath.

I pulled, and the soft cloth peeled away again.

I did.

I winced. I was still half-asleep, obviously.

Ezzie said,

made the bed.>

I eyed the Constructor.

I was so comfortable. So warm.

I closed my eyes.

I grunted and threw the sheets aside.

I rubbed my eyes as I headed for the circle of light that had just appeared, and Ezzie printed my armor back on as I went. I rolled my shoulders as the epaulets formed.

Ezzie said.

I said.

I grabbed some fish stew for the ride then stepped into the circle of light. The cloud dipped down and picked me up. I yawned again. Couldn’t seem to stop doing that. I said, as a tremendous amount of force slammed into my forehead and knocked me back onto the ground.

Ezzie said.

I said.

Ezzie said.

I shrugged.

Ezzie said.

Ezzie said. She hesitated.

I said, pushing as much sarcasm through the link as I could manage.

The cloud dropped and settled into place, the now-familiar door opening in its side. I headed out and ran down into Rivercrest, then headed for the north gate.

We walked by Marcus, and he was back in his obviously irritated state, fidgeting and pacing around within his stall.

Ezzie said.

I made it to the east gate just as the first shout went up; the fastest of the miners had just crested a distant hill and popped into view. More people flooded out of the village until the majority of the town was packing the gatehouse.

And Faye was back, standing just behind the crowd, her eyes bright with hope.

I stepped up beside her and lightly bumped her shoulder with mine. I held a hand out at chest-level. “Your boy’s about this tall, right? Blond hair, blue eyes?”

Faye pulled a sharp breath through her teeth, her eyes wide.

“Husband’s a little taller than I am, short hair, also blond? The boy takes after you, though.”

Faye threw her arms around me and buried her face in my neck. Her shoulders were shaking, and I felt a hot tear drip onto my clavicle and run down beneath my armor.

“They might be a bit later than the rest,” I said, unsure what to do with my arms; the intensity of her emotion had caught me a little off-guard, but I wasn’t sure what else I’d been expecting. “But they are coming. They were just a little deeper inside than the most.”

Ezzie said,

I said. I hugged her back.

Faye pulled away a long moment later. She took a series of short, quick breaths, then wiped her eyes with both hands. “Thank you. You have no idea what this means to me.” She waved a hand at the assembled crowd, some of whom were just now breaking off and running through the gate. “To all of us.”

Ezzie said.

I winced.

That made me feel a little better about our prospects, and I’d obviously described Faye’s family pretty well. It was still pretty stressful though, watching all the filthy miners trickle in without an accompanying prompt.

A few of them glanced my way, and eventually one of them pointed at me and mumbled something like “that’s the teapot guy,” which made Ezzie lose her shit all over again.

She laughed for a solid ten seconds before she pulled it together. she said,

I said.

I opened my mouth, closed it.

“Oh my lord,” Faye said, just before she bolted out of the gatehouse, her black dress flashing about her knees. Her boy ran to meet her, the father just a little bit behind.