"Doom Slayer!" Claw greeted me with greater familiarity and enthusiasm than I had honestly expected.

"Claw," I returned the greeting, genuinely warmed by his pleasure at meeting me. But I had to ask, "Doom Slayer?"

He spread his arms expansively. "Yinz slew Doom, didn't yinz?"

I said, "I've got a few nicknames already…"

Claw fixed me with a firm stare. "And a great man needs many great names! Add Doom Slayer to the roster along with Blood Prince and Butcher! May you have many more!"

My mind was filled with the echoes of Rosegol's cries as she contorted with her madness. Bringer of the Inferno! Worse than Thrax!

I felt I had quite enough names to last me.

We stood in the yard of Fort Jaxwulf. Far below and far away, Pittsburgh itself bustled. A new train was forming for me already. This one would take me directly back to Boston. There, I would discover what had become of the envoys who had travelled to claim Perdinger as a prisoner.

Claw said, "This is no doubt what yinz came for."

He held another journal in his hands. When I reached out for it, he snapped it back. "Ah, ah!"

I smirked with chagrin and reached to my thigh, retrieving the last journal. I had a momentary thought. Only two weeks ago, a lance had seared through my armor and into my chest. The journal had been with me there too. I thought of it as completely safe, melded into the fold of my suit… but if the lance had struck a little lower… I did not relish the imagined greeting Claw may have given me if I had returned with a paper doughnut rather than a precious relic from his clan's history.

With our exchange made, he tossed his chin toward the city below. "Yinz have another convoy to lead? Yinz came in from the West. Been a while away, have we?"

I nodded. "I led a train to the West Coast. It's been nearly two weeks."

He said, "Bad business with Buffalo. Odd to me that they'd send their Griidlords so far."

I said nothing. It was not my place to share the plans for a potential war.

Claw filled my silence, surprising me with his insight. "Course, if there's battles to be had soon, Griidlords'd be needed then. Makes sense to send off to get as many errands done as they can get done. When fighting time comes, there'll be no room for merchant business. And merchant business is the real blood that keeps the swords swinging."

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I shifted. "It won't come to that…"

He said, "Oh, I dunno. Happenings in Buffalo have gone dark. Very dark. I could see it happening. Reckon I see yinz know it too. It'll make for trouble."

I scoffed. "Trouble? I would say so."

He slapped my shoulder. "Not the war! Trouble's not the word for that. I mean with yinz neighbors. Other Towers won't sit well with a war of conquest."

I said, "Who said anything about conquest?"

He spat on the ground. "Buffalo's a swollen boil. It needs popping. If you go to battles with them, it will end with one Tower signing a contract with the other. It's the only way it can go. May be that they want it. So many fucking Green Men in there, only way to feed them might be to pour over the walls of another city. Your fat cat supreme is likely to want to do the same to them."

I said, "What will our neighbors have to say about that?"

He said, "Ain't been an empire in the East since Thrax. Not a real one. Other Towers won't like the whiff of one. The New Yorks, Indy, Cleveland, they'll get their backs up. Yinz want to watch it."

I said, "What can I do about it?"

He laughed at that, insincerely and roughly. "What can yinz do?"

I stood in the gathering field as my Griid-train began to form up. I was heavy with thoughts. I had a gift for Katya, a new mystery that might draw her attention, distract her from her bleak new reality. But it felt lame, and it was lame, after I disappeared from Boston so suddenly after Lauren's death.

"The fuck happened to you?"

I turned on my heel to see Magneblade stalking toward me. "Magneblade."

I never called him Wilric. It didn't seem to suit him. Only Alya ever seemed to call him that.

He pointed at my face. "Get tired of being the prettiest boy in Boston? Tryin' to rough up your image? Can't say it's working!"

My hand went to the side of my face. The terrible wound I had received from the assassin's knife was far from well-healed. I hadn't thought much of it, treating it only enough to ensure it didn't become infected. Time in the pod would heal it mostly. I would have a scar, but nothing so ugly or glaring as the chasm of flesh the blade had carved on the side of my skull.

I wasted no time with pleasantries. I was intrigued by Magneblade's unusual boisterousness. He was far less silent and brooding than usual. "What news? Did the delegation succeed?"

He was far too cheery in his response. "They did not!"

I gaped. "What? They refused to give him over? And the relic?"

He nodded with vigor. "The same. They said a son of Buffalo and veteran of many Fallings had done too much for the city for them to abandon him so easily. They deny possessing the Penaculum."

"Don't they know what this will mean?"

Magneblade grinned savagely. "No doubt they do. It seems we have a dancing partner."

I felt a little cold at the prospect. I had considered the idea of war with practical detachment. Yes, I had been aware it was a realistic outcome, but in a hypothetical sense. "Have… has Baltazar declared?"

Magneblade shook his head. "Not yet. He sent more delegations after the first. Went to parley himself. Sent Darkwater and company as well. There's a soup brewing up in the Lords' Chamber. I think he's waiting for you to be back in case it comes down to a casting vote."

I said, "A casting vote? But I…"

He eyed me cautiously, sensing my hesitation. "They're hiding the man who killed your friend and made a widow of your other friend. I heard a story about a score of Buffalo knights getting shredded into mincemeat outside the walls. Your passion cooling? Buffalo needs to be reined in and that cunt needs to hang."

I said, "I don't want to be the one to make the choice."

He said, "Maybe you won't have to. But if the time comes, and it comes down to you, there's only one choice you can make."

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