Baits gun rang out a few times before he began to scream for help. Worse, the sloshing suddenly seemed to become more distant. Sarbies nails dug into the wooden handle of her crossbow. Had something swallowed Bait? Or dragged him off into the night to eat him? Only the occasional burst of gunfire assured her he was still alive somewhere out into the night. Electricity arcing through the air was punctuated by Mavec screaming for help, too. Just as she started moving towards the rest of the group, Alvec grabbed her arm and pulled her back. A giant bright pink Newt’s head popped around the wagon's south eastern edge. It saw the unmoving people on the ground and its jaws opened wide before it lunged for them. Alvec responded, encasing the creature in a dome of ice further isolating them from the eastern edge of the combat.

The giant newt thrashed around violently, struggling to break free. The ice wasn’t thick enough to hold it for long, but when it busted out of its icy prison, Alvec met it with a blast of shards of diamond to the face. It howled, and Sarbie took a risk firing off a crossbow bolt. The bolt glanced off its rubbery skin. She shot a look at the people behind her and shook as the cries of her allies rang out from the darkness beyond the wagon. She wanted to hop into the wagon and hide just as much as she wanted to pierce the night and see if her new friends were dead.

“We stand our ground.” Alvec said firmly, “If we don’t hold the line, these people die.”

“Right, of course.” She said as she began to reload. The giant newt bit at Alvec, who managed to give it a mouth full of buckler, followed by a solid dose of electricity. It was hard to aim past him. One wrong move and she could just as easily bury a bolt into Alvec’s back as she could place the shot into the newt.

“Don’t worry about shooting me; I’ve got a spell active; you won’t hurt me,” he assured her before jolting it again. She took his word and fired again. This time, her bolt found purchase into one of the arms of the creature. A deafening roar made her nearly jump out of her skin before realizing it was a wolf's howl. The depth of it, after the realization occurred to her, brought comfort. Echo was here and no doubt enlarged. She was sure that if she peeked around the corner, she’d find his massive form wrestling with a giant newt now smaller than he was.

These things were tough. Even after having been pelted with lots of magic, it was still holding steady. She watched Alvec grudgingly traced red hot runes into the air before him. An arc of red hot fire sprang forward and slammed into its head, leaving a massive singe mark as the creature collapsed before him. A ruckus to their left drew their attention. Another newt had a man's foot in its mouth. She took the shot on reflex, not even thinking about it. She couldn’t let this be the end for this man. Her bolt connected, but the creature shrugged it off as it continued to drag this older man fully into its mouth. Illaria and the Lochmaster both dashed into view and brought their blades to bare against the creature. Illaria went high, her blade raking across the newts eyes. The Lochmaster drove his blade into its side and pushed forward leaving a long gash on its side.

The creature recoiled from the attack, dropping its would-be victim. Neither of the swordsmen gave the newt time to retreat. They continued their attack until the beast fell dead on the ground before them. Sarbie’s heart was hammering in her chest. “All clear on this side, Alvec, you alive?” Came Mavec’s voice from the other side of the ice dome.

“Thank you for the assistance.” The Lochmaster said to Illaria. “That one almost snuck by me entirely.” He said.

“Aye, you look to have been having your hands full. You took down another on on your own by the looks of it.” Illaria said motioning off towards the edge of the hill.

“Yeah, we’re alive. How’s everyone else” Alvec asked.

“Naya and I are untouched,” Illaria stated as she cleaned her blade off before sheathing it.

“Bait and I, on the other hand, aren’t hurt all that badly... but I need a bath after that.”

“Newt slime great! Bait would do again if it didn’t mean getting eat.”

“Well, you can take watch then, Bait, while I get cleaned up,” Mavec said as he finally passed into view. He was covered in a thick, viscous slime and looked less than thrilled by it, his hair standing up at odd angles. He wandered over to the fire and began to strip off his clothing and place it near the fire to dry out.

Her heart was still hammering in her chest, even knowing that they had successfully repelled the attack and no one had been hurt. A wave of nausea swept through her and brought her to her knees. She couldn’t keep it in and began to throw up. A warm hand quickly found its way to her back, pressing down gently as fingers brushed her neck and swept her hair away from her face.

“It's ok,” Alvec whispered. “This is normal. Lots of people feel sick after their first life-or-death encounter. Adrenaline dump is a thing. Once you’re good, we should get you some water and bread to settle your stomach.”

“Is it always like this?” She asked.

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

“You get used to it. Some people even seek out that feeling after a while.”

“Some psychos,” she said. “Help me up, please.” Alvec held his hands out, and she grabbed on; a moment later, she stood up. She still felt queasy and could feel a headache coming on.

“Any of the villagers hurt?” Illaria asked.

“No, but that guy's shoe is slobbered, and unlike me, he doesn’t have a change of clothing. Maybe we let him ride in the wagon when they wake up. We are escorting them back to town, right? One sword isn’t enough to protect a whole village,” Mavec replied.

“Of course we are,” Naya confirmed.

“Aye, as much as I want to get to Ac-Aziza, I can’t in good conscience leave these people here. We get them home and head toward the sea as fast as possible. We’ve got an appointment to keep with that right bastard.” Illaria said, making a fist and shaking it to the east.

Alvec produced a water flask. “Would you like it cold or room temperature?” He asked.

“Which do you recommend?” she asked. He pursed his lips for a moment.

“I like mine ice cold, but I think, since you need to drink a lot, lightly chilled is the best.” He worked a small amount of magic on the flask before handing it to her. “Small sips. Don’t try to down it, or else you’ll just vomit again,” she nodded in agreement and took a few soothing sips from it. “Alright, let's get you to bed,” he said, gesturing to the wagon.

“You expect me to sleep after that?!” She asked.

“Would you like me to stay and keep you company?” It sounded nice, even if she was sure she couldn’t sleep for an age after the chaos of the last few minutes, and even more certain, she couldn’t find an unawkward way to say yes. “Or, if that's too embarrassing, I could have Rem stay with you.”

“Both of you, please.” She muttered as she took his advice and headed for her bed. She tucked herself in, and Rem joined her, cuddling beside her. Alvec sat on the floor, leaning against the bed with his back and head resting gently against it.

“So tell me, so I stop feeling so foolish, what was your first time like? Did you get sick too?” she asked.

“Not as sick as you did, but I did end up with a pretty bad headache and feeling as if I'd just run a marathon.” He admitted. “The first life or death fight I was in was just after graduation at Jai *name* traveling alone for a Tiefling isn’t safe... and two ruffians on the road decided I’d be an easy mark. I can’t blame them. I don’t look like all that much of a fighter. When I refused to give them everything of value on me, they pulled knives on me and tried to kill me. I don’t think they expected me to fight back. I tried to offer them a chance to retreat, but they kept coming after me. The thing about my fighting... it's limited. I’ve only got so long before I run out of magical power. So when they wouldn’t stop... it made me choose between myself and them. I chose myself. It wasn’t fun or glorious. I set their bodies on fire before I left. Leaving behind nothing but charred bones. I figured it was a kinder death than being picked apart by scavengers. I wasn’t well after that fight. I couldn't sleep for days and spent about a week holed up in the nearest city. I thought a lot about turning around and just going home. There were plenty of jobs a wizard could qualify for that wouldn’t have me in life-or-death situations.”

“What made you decide to keep doing this?” He paused for a moment before replying.

“At first? Selfishness, I think. If I chose a safer path, if I leaned on my family’s name and reputation, I would surely live a modest life. One in which I could have a reasonable standard of living... but I dreamed bigger than that. I want to have my own business; I want to be viewed as a trusted member of a community. Just being “situated” would never make me feel that way.”

“And now?”

“Now I think about Rust Hill. If I’d given up on my adventuring. If I’d gone home and lived a comfortable, quiet life. That child would have been burned to death. There would be a hole in the life of her parents that could never be filled. How do I hang up my shield, knowing there are more lives out there that are in danger? How do I put away my spellbook when it's all too easy to imagine her curly blonde locks of hair burning to a crisp.”

“I think you might be a better person than me. All I can think of right now is running home.” She said, petting Rem.

“I spent a week questioning if I should quit. Believe me, this is fine and normal. It doesn’t make you a bad person for being afraid and feeling in over your head.”

She reached over and ruffled his hair instead. “I’ll take your word for it.” Eventually, through no small effort, Sarbie faded into sleep. Alvec headed back out onto the hilltop.

“Is it my turn to watch yet?” He asked. Illaria waved him over.

“No, you still get the night off. I know you’ve been burning the candle at both ends, on my behalf, no less. You be resting up one more night.”

“Fair enough. We learn anything new?” He asked, looking over the sleeping figures on the grassy hilltop.

“No, Mavec did more magical detective work while waiting for his clothes to dry, but he said it was inconclusive.”

“Bait, learn that giant lizard meat taste good when cooked! Like tougher chicken!” Bait shouted as he had a piece of barely cooked meat on a plate, large bites already taken out of it.

“Yeah, I’ve not been interested in testing his claims,” Illaria said, shaking her head. “How be our cleric doing?” Alvec ran a hand over his hair, giving himself the chills momentarily.

“She’s going to be alright. This was a rather rough first encounter for her. They say there's this trick to scary stories. You don’t describe the monster. Nothing is scarier than what you can imagine, and scary is deeply subjective. With the wagon and the ice dome in the way, all she could hear was the screaming. Is it any wonder she worked herself up so much?” Illaria nodded along to Alvec’s explanation.

“Makes sense. We’ll be taking a small detour when they wake to escort them home. You and Mavec go get some sleep; the rest of us can keep watch for the remainder of the night.” Illaria insisted.

Alvec took the cue and excused himself, heading straight to bed. Mavec, now fully clothed again, followed suit.