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"Would you hurry up, Josh?" An iron-clad woman shouted at her partner from the back of her trusty mount. It was important to get to the city, as the delivery was on a schedule, and they were late, at least late in getting there early as she liked to operate.

"Yeah, yeah, stop mothering me," the lanky, laid-back young man responded, shifting in his saddle. It was his first journey to Pandemonium, but he simply decided to take in the scenery one hoofprint at a time. He scratched the scruff that could only be called a disgrace of a beard, enjoying the tickling sensation on his fingers and cheeks. He never could grow a proper, manly man's beard, and his friends, female ones in particular, never let him forget it, always teasing about preferring ‘a real man’ as their travelling partner compared to ‘a kid playing dress-up and war'. His eyes slowly moved to gaze at her armour, leaving plenty to his imagination. The stirring in his pants reminded him of how long his urges were left unsatisfied, and taking this job immediately after coming back from Krutanis hadn't helped. He didn't even shower or sleep properly, the handler being quite adamant that this delivery was extremely time sensitive.

The payout was large enough for something that was so small, so there was no reason to deny the offer. If only he actually read the assignment closely, he would’ve realised what he was getting into.

Sandra was a slavedriver. The woman had no qualms about whipping you, both figuratively and literally, into doing what she considered you were supposed to do. The only reason anyone ever went along with her and her downright sadistic antics was because she was uniformly recognised as being one of the most skilled porters while being drop-dead gorgeous to boot. There was a rumour in his hometown about redheads, and Sandra certainly ticked every part of the list based on what he heard.

"You know, you could chill out sometimes, Sandra. It's not like we're going to be late. You always make sure to be early, so why not take it slow this time, take in the scenery, enjoy the wind against your face?" Josh quipped at the woman slowly gaining ground on him. He wasn't as good at horseback, and he never owned a mount, or at least bought one, Chestnut here borrowed from a friend. Zac surely wouldn't mind Josh taking her for a small walk, Pandemonium was only a week away at most. He made sure to leave a note this time as well.

Josh gazed at the scenery in front of him, the greenery much more pleasurable to the eyes compared to the endless sand of Mal'holog. He closed his eyes for a moment, the murmur of water drowning out the hoof stomps of their mounts and, hopefully, Sandra's curses and orders.

His meditation was cut short by something sharp grazing the top of his nose. The sudden sting of pain and itching made him almost leap off the horse, the timely realisation about his whereabout stopping him from what would be a face-first collision with the ground. He glanced at the direction the shot would be most likely to come from and Sandra was already barking orders at him.

"Goblins! Get going and get down!" She clasped the reins of her horse and lay into her saddle, both mounts gaining speed. Josh could only hold onto the reins and hope to not fall, Chestnut instinctively following the gallop of the larger stallion in front.

Projectiles flew through the air as Josh discerned some small arrows and pebbles being the weapons of choice for their would-be assassins. Goblins weren't actually assassins, the vermin being too loud as they fed on simply causing as much destruction of human property and lives as possible, but such minute details were of no importance at this moment.

The horses raced forwards, the gallop bringing them closer to the Upturned Mountain, as the large aberration of the ground in front of them was called. Josh could discern their destination but was dejected to realise they first needed to fight off their attackers. Goblins would eventually swarm and cause a lot more damage than seemed possible, so removing a smaller group on sight, or in many cases smell, was advisable.

Eventually, the barrage of small objects stopped as the pair turned a small hill, quickly abandoned their seats, and sent horses further away to not get in their way. It was difficult to fight goblins on horseback, as horses easily got spooked and the cretins were too short to get hurt by anything that wasn't a lance.

Sandra readied her twin swords and Josh holstered the small crossbow he took for the journey, starting the chants in his head. His skills as a close combat warrior were lacking, and his destructive magic was iffy at best, so he got used to fighting on the sidelines when he was actually forced to.

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Moments later, a small glittery arrow was nocked into the crossbow, the arcane mana glowing against the dull colours of the softwood, and many more could take its place as his repeater was getting slowly filled. Sure, the repeating crossbow had little of the range and a fraction of the power of a regular bow, but it was perfect for someone like Josh, a rank one arcanomage with no elemental affinities. Until he could learn to control the arrows with more finesse or perform bigger, more impactful magic, the small arcane projectiles were good fodder for the repeater, being able to dish out a barrage for lengths of time, or at least until the old thing got stuck or fell apart.

Josh grasped the crossbow with one hand and secured it close to his hip as he held the other hand on the lever, then shadowed Sandra as she slowly made way to where the enemies would be coming from.

Seconds passed with neither of them uttering a sound, as Josh gulped audibly, steeling himself for the ensuing bloodshed. Soon enough, the air in front of them reeked of the encroaching goblins, the stench preceding their ugly mugs. Trying not to gag or retch, Josh counted their attackers as they ran downhill. Quickly cementing himself, he pulled on the lever, targeting the abomination closest to him. The projectile lodged itself in the thing's leg and made it stutter, its inertia causing it to fall over, the other goblins nonchalantly stepping over their fallen comrade as they ran. A clumsier goblin would trip over the downed one, eventually slowing their race downhill.

Sandra stepped forward, decimating the goblins that reached the bottom of the hill. One goblin would have its head cleaved off its spindly neck, the other would lose a portion of the lanky limbs that were holding a makeshift spear or a club, and a third would simply get skewered and kicked off the sharp blade. To an observer, Sandra would move like a graceful dancer between her enemies, not letting anyone reach her. Her blades danced in accord, terminating anyone that stepped into her range.

Josh's job, on the other hand, was far simpler and cleaner. He'd casually pull the lever back and forth and an arcane arrow would slice through the air between him and the goblins. Some would get hit in a leg or an arm, which caused the small lanky goblin to simply become easier fodder for Sandra's blades, while the luckier ones would receive a bolt in the head or heart, the arcane magic rippling through the organs as they detonated the surrounding magical channels, ending their already fleeting lives instantly. Now and then, Josh would miss and curse, but the aim would be simply readjusted and another arrow would be flung not even a second later.

The battle, or more appropriately the slaughter, lasted until what little surviving goblins decided to scram, some holding their disabled limbs as they limped across the reddened grass.

Josh sat on the ground, exhaling loudly, the air gushing into his lungs as he could finally feel his heart racing. Goblins were one of the least dangerous enemies they could encounter on their journey, but without Sandra, he would've been hard-pressed to stay and fight a swarm of them.

He glanced at his companion, the redhead cleaning the goo off her blades, and sighed. She looked more ravishing with her armour bloodied, something that shouldn't have been possible. Another throb in his loins reminded him to take his eyes off her. He turned to taking care of the cut across his nose, taking a small gauze and peeling it on the skin, while chanting a small healing spell. It stung like all hell, but it would have to do.

Sandra watched the man applying the spell to his nose, the protruding feature bathed in light. She had to admit, he was useful in thinning the numbers, despite his non-existent discipline and easy-going attitude. She glanced at his dishevelled brown hair and caught herself smiling, then quickly got back to polishing her blades and armour.

"Not bad, Josh. Nice aim," she spoke while avoiding to look at the young man. "Well, mostly," she pointed at the patches of ground that got upturned from being hit by arcane blasts.

Josh simply scratched his head and smiled. "Yeah, I'm trying to get better at it." He then lost the grin, and for the first time during their travel, Sandra could actually feel him being serious. "Thank you, Sandra. I don't know what I'd do without you." She actually appreciated the sentiment. It felt empowering to be able to help and fight alongside someone, especially considering she was mostly mocked for 'trying to behave like a man'.

They started combing through the bodies but gave up after the first few remains gave nothing but a sour smell and dirty rags. They gathered the few outlining corpses towards the larger litter of bodies and set it ablaze, as the stench of the smoke stung their nostrils and watered their eyes.

A whistle caused the steeds to trot back to them, as they mounted up and got back to their journey. The city of Pandemonium was ahead, the storm clouds covering the Upturned Mountain sheltering it from view. The Mountain held not one, but two void-rifts, one on each of its sharp peaks. The city was frequently besieged by monstrosities but held nonetheless, standing as a paragon of human stubbornness against nature. The shining tower was said to occasionally light up, the burst of light dispersing the clouds, signalling the position of the city to the travellers.

Josh and Sandra regained their earlier tempo, a bit more eager to get to the city. Sandra looked back at the man that already took a slouch in the saddle. He appeared more confident or looked a bit stronger somehow. Maybe there was something more about him than what he showed so far.

"The first drink's on me," Sandra shouted, Josh only grinning in response. There was still a long way to Pandemonium, but the journey was at times more enjoyable than the destination.