The first thing Eres noticed was that he couldn't feel the intense throbbing from his arm anymore. The pain that had pulsed through the wound with every heartbeat was gone, replaced now by only a slight ache. The second thing he noticed was that he could feel anything at all.

Wait, how can I feel anything? His mind raced as he tried to process his situation through his sluggish mind. His thoughts felt like they were fighting through tar, slow and struggling. The last thing I remember was that Goblin rushing at me with its blade drawn. I was sure I was going to die but then...

As understanding began to dawn on him, Eres slowly began to try to force his eyes open. Sounds bounced around him, but they were muffled and echoey. His eyes couldn't focus and squinted against the bright light above him, and his arms came up to cover his face.

My arms? His thoughts started to pick their pace up, struggling to reach a conclusion, I remember I was saved… I think it was Myla? Maybe I got healed afterwards? Gods this is going to be so hard to explain.

Blinking against the light, he saw a pale blue sky stretching above him, dotted with the occasional cloud. He also saw a pale and very concerned face staring down at him, so creased in worry that it very nearly hid her freckles.

“Hey Freya,” Eres croaked out, “What brings you here?”. He coughed a little around the laughter as her face swapped between exasperation, rage and amusement, before settling on worry and relief.

“Eres…” she mumbled, before strength came to her voice, “What were you thinking? You are just a child! How could you get that injured, there was so much blood and then it was going to kill you… If Myla hadn’t stepped in, you would have died! What the fuck were you thinking!”

Freya’s voice was choked, and her eyes full of tears.

Damn… Eres thought, I made my only friend cry. I’m glad they are both okay, but still, I wish she wasn’t this upset.

“Come on Freya,” Eres wiped the tears from her eyes, giving her a smile, “I know it was dangerous, and I am really sorry I worried you. So don’t cry, okay? Please? I just couldn’t stand there and let it happen, I needed to do something. I know it was dangerous, and I know that I probably have you to thank for the fact that my arm is still attached, and that I have Myla to thank for my life.

“I just need to get stronger so it doesn’t happen again. I just wanted to protect my friends. Is that so wrong?”

Freya let out a long sigh as her shoulders slumped.

“No, it isn’t wrong, Eres… Just scary,” She mumbled.

Eres sat up slowly, realising she had been cradling his head in her lap. He was a little embarrassed about the fact he had clearly been resting there for a little while at least. Looking around he saw a few guards standing around what looked to be a corpse. All he could see was some blood and a cloth covering, with the guards standing around and whispering. Eres felt his blood freeze into ice.

No. Please don’t let it be Myla. I thought I saw her kill it, but what if it ended up just like that flash I saw, where she needed to die for me to escape. Please don’t let it be true, I don’t want her to have died, not for me, Eres' thoughts tumbled together in a whirl, as his mouth went dry and his eyes widened, I wanted to save them both!

He felt rage then. Rage at himself for not saving her, rage at the world for letting it happen, rage at the guards for not being faster. His Mana began to swirl, no longer sluggish it began to roar around in his Core like the deep sea in a storm.

His rage was stopped quickly though, as a small blonde cannonball slammed into his side and knocked him over, back onto the grass. Gasping for air he looked down to see Myla’s tear stained face.

“Eres!” She cried, wiping her tears on his shirt, “Stupid! Idiot! Moron! What were you thinking!”

Eres laughed a little at the similarities between his two friends, but then had to spend a few minutes calming Myla down after she thought he was laughing at her crying. As he climbed off the floor, he realised that not much time must have passed. The sun seemed to have barely moved, and it was only the four guards, surrounding the corpse he now assumed was the goblin, that had joined them beyond the walls. He looked at Freya, still sat and pale faced, and grimaced.

“You used too much to heal me, didn’t you?” His voice was low, but it was barely a question, “How long before you are okay? And how much does everyone here know?”

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He noticed the puzzled expression on Myla’s face and gave her a quick smile of reassurance.

“Just an hour or so until my body is back on its feet, but another day or more until I can cast another miracle,” Freya sighed as she spoke, her hands bunching into her skirt, “So don’t do anything stupid like charging a Goblin.

“As for how much everyone knows… They were playing cards when Myla and I found them, so are probably trying to work out how to get out of trouble or make us keep our mouths shut. They were slow, Eres, and it's only thanks to Myla that you are still living, not them.”

Freya’s voice was cold as she talked about the guards, but she reached out and grabbed Myla’s hand as she spoke about her.

Eres let out a long sigh, looked at the guards and touched the ring underneath his shirt. It was still there, hanging from the thin chain. As he was wondering how he could deal with this, he remembered that flash he had seen. The future, maybe? Where he was sure he shouldn’t show his abilities, where he was scared of them, and Myla died because of it.

“Oh fuck it all,” he spat, before pulling his hair back into it's usual style, “Myla, things are about to get real weird for you. Just follow me and Freya for now, and we can have a proper conversation, but I want to jump in before these assholes start trying to throw blame around, okay?”

Myla nodded slowly, and stuck a hand out. Eres helped her, and then Freya to their feet, though the latter swayed slightly, so he had to let Myla steady her. He might have been older in his head, but a 10 year old boy doesn’t make a great support. Then, with one final sigh of sheer exasperation, he started walking towards the guards.

They were still whispering and mumbling to each other, gathered around the corpse and gesturing wildly. Eventually one of those gestures turned to point back at where the children had been laying in the grass, but now Eres was standing only a few feet away, giving his best attempt at looking imperious.

The guard who had turned around immediately looked like he had sucked on a lemon, and turned his whole body to loom over the newcomers.

“Boy, we are having a conversation. You go and wait over where you were, and we will deal with you shortly,” his words were clipped, and it seemed the worry of the situation was coming out in anger. Well, that was about to get a whole lot worse.

“Well of course, Sir, you are having a conversation,” Eres let his tone become as clipped as the mans, as his hand fished into the front of his shirt and pulled out the ring, dangling it in front of their eyes, “and considering as I am Eres von Hytheiem, the son of the Baron, and I was harmed on your watch, I feel I should be a part of this conversation too, don’t you?”

The guard's eyes went wide and his mouth started opening and closing like a fish out of water. The other guards had taken two big steps back, clearly letting this man deal with whatever this problem was turning out to be, but they had similarly stupid expressions on their faces. A quick glance over his shoulder confirmed that Myla looked nearly as surprised, but she had managed to keep her mouth closed at least.

“Oh, um, ah, Sir, I mean Eres, I mean Lord Eres, Sir, um” the front guard started to sputter, falling to one knee in front of the young boy. How quickly his attitude changed.

“Master Eres will be fine, Guardsman,” Eres tutted as he looked over the situation, “Now my companion here tells me that you were perhaps not minding the wall as well as you should have been, and that it was a young girl who slew this creature, and not yourselves? I believe this to be true, but I would like your confirmation.”

The man, who Eres had now named Guardsman in his head, cast his eyes around, seemingly searching for something before his shoulders slumped once more.

“That is… That is correct, Master Eres,” he sighed, before straightening his back and looking Eres in the eye, “However as captain of this squad, this is my fault. I should have been keeping my men in line, not leading them in acts of indulgence. I apologise for my disrespect, but I ask that any punishment finds its way to me, and not my squad members, even if the cost is my life.”

Eres peered at him, surprised at the man. I figured he was just a sack of shit, intimidating kids and slacking off, but at least he seems to care about his men, Eres thought, We can use this… as long as Freya doesn’t insist on a punishment anyway.

Eres let his face soften slightly and looked around the man at the corpse on the ground. Monsters were rare near here,but not unheard of. He at least had to make sure the guards stepped their game up.

“Look, Guardsman, on any other day I would have you brought up on charges, and flogged at the very least,” Eres felt Freya bristle behind him, but pushed on, “however, I have a vested interest in my family not finding out about this. They would likely never want me to step outside the walls again, and that just won’t do. So why don’t we make a deal?

“As far as anyone is aware, a lone goblin wandered up to the walls, and you and your men dispatched it with ease. So much ease in fact that I doubt it warrants more than a passing mention in any report you might have to give for the day. Of course, that means we were never here.

“However if I find you or your squad to be slacking off again not only will I personally see to it that you are each punished, I will make sure even your descendants can't settle in this lovely little town. Am I clear?”

“Yes, Master Eres,” the Guardsman hurried his words out, nearly choking on his tongue in surprise, “You were never here, and the goblin is a footnote on a report somewhere. That, and we will be far more attentive to the wall.

“Truth be told, even if you hadn’t said anything… the thought of someone dying on my watch doesn’t sit well, so you can be sure I will hold that end of our bargain.”

“Very well, I will leave you to deal with the corpse, and we will return to town,” Eres turned to the two girl's behind him, both looking more than a little baffled, “because we need to have a nice long talk somewhere. Not least about the fact that I am pretty sure I heard you swear at some point in there Freya.”

With the flustered maid supported on both of their shoulders, they headed back into town, leaving the goblin, and its danger, behind them.