Arc watched and waited with his spellcaster drawn, ready to unleash a barrage of Arcane Shots at his foes who haplessly wandered along below. Oh, they were in for quite the surprise. Jack and Julie were squatting on a lower ledge of the chasm, each holding their guns at the ready as the men with hyena heads walked along with halberds in their hands and dead coyotes slung over their shoulders. Little did they know, they had already eaten their last meal.

“Almost in range,” Arc said under his breath, hoping that Jack and Julie could do as they were ordered. He squinted at the cackle of gnolls and spotted a long bar of metal on the back of one of the hairier members of the pack. “That’s not good.”

He had never seen a gnoll with a gun before and a hunting rifle was more than he had bargained for, but there was always a first time for everything. As long as Jack and Julie took that hairy bastard out first then he wouldn’t pose a threat.

Was he expecting too much from them? Maybe so, especially considering that Jack wasn’t a great shot compared to his sister as target practice the previous evening had demonstrated. To be fair to the young man, Julie had the opportunity to practice on the way to Colt’s base and during the skirmish on the factory roof. In any case, if the twins passed this test, then Arc would be assured that they were capable of being on the road with him while not being too great a liability.

The spellslinger watched with bated breath as Julie turned her head to the armed gnoll and nudged Jack, startling him. He immediately squeezed the trigger and shot the opposite canyon wall, bringing the gnolls swiftly to high alert. The hyena men dropped the bloody spoils of their hunt onto the ground and looked up to face the predators on the ledge.

“Shit,” said Arc, massaging his temples with his index finger and thumb. He drew his revolver with his free hand in case he needed a quicker shot than his spellslinger could provide.

The gnoll rifleman retrieved his weapon and took aim at Jack, who was shooting like a maniac into the pack. It wasn’t a wholly ineffective strategy as he wasn’t missing many of his shots, but he also wasn’t hitting vital areas or the most important target of all. It wasn’t long before his magazine was empty and the gnoll was on the verge of pressing the trigger.

There came a bang followed by a more thundering bang as the gnoll’s arm slumped before letting loose his shot.

Arc lowered his revolver arm as he watched Julie fire her second shot at the armed beastman, pleased that she had covered her brother before he needed to step in. The bullet landed in the ferocious gnoll’s forehead, taking him down and sending his hunting rifle spinning across the dirt.

“That’s my girl,” said Arc quietly. “Let loose the fury of hell on these abominations.”

Julie emptied her magazine while Jack shakily reloaded. The adrenaline was pumping through him and his fine motor skills had sharply declined. When it was Julie’s turn to reload, Jack felled the last of the dozen hunters using twice as many rounds as he needed to, leaving a red-stained pile of gnolls and coyotes in the middle of what was once a road many decades ago. The twins breathed a sigh of relief as Jack removed his magazine and refilled it with loose rounds he had stashed in his pack.

Arc looked up and down the chasm floor from his perch to ensure the coast was clear. He watched for the slightest twitch from the bodies below, half expecting there to be a single gnoll clinging to its last vestiges of life. Once he was certain there were no hairy reinforcements nearby and no survivors, he stashed his revolver in its holster and slid down the rope he had previously fixed to a rock. He landed with a thud behind the two teenagers who jumped, thinking they’d been beset upon again.

“Easy there,” said Arc, spinning his spellcaster on his finger and then holstering it, leading the twins to do the same with their guns. “Good job on the successful kills, you two.”

“I can’t believe we did it,” said Jack, lying down and wiping away his sweat with the sleeve of his jacket.

“What’s the verdict?” Julie asked Arc hopefully.

“Well, I’ll start with you, Julie,” he replied. “You were a little slow off the mark, but you caught that one of your targets was armed and took out the arm before he pierced a hole in your brother’s skull. I was a split second from pulling the trigger myself, but you came through in time. Overall, your accuracy was good but there were a couple of misses in there. Ultimately, they were inconsequential and you definitely passed the test.”

“And me?” asked Jack, sitting up nervously.

“Sloppy,” said Arc and Jack’s face immediately fell. “Firstly, you leapt out of your skin and shot the far wall, you loon. That was a big mistake because you alerted every single one of your enemies. In a scenario where they were all armed, you and Julie would both be dead. When it came to shooting the gnolls themselves, you were firing with no precision. You shot into the crowd and hoped for the best which is not the way of a good marksman.”

“I killed my targets!”

“And if you only had one target? Think of a standoff scenario where you have to aim at one opponent while he aims back at you. Or worse, what if he was aiming at Julie who was sitting on the sidelines? Could you live with yourself if you shot inaccurately thrice and missed each shot, letting your enemy kill her? A single precise shot could save her.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Jack said nothing and tucked his head between his knees. He audibly sighed before looking up and blowing upwards, flicking his hair away from his eyes. He looked like he wanted to say something and Arc decided to prod him on it.

“No comments? No backchat? I’m all ears if you want to launch a tirade.”

“Nope,” said Jack. “I told you before I’m trying to tone down the backchat. You’re right and there’s nothing else to say about it. I’ll strive to improve next time.”

“Good,” said Arc, impressed that the young man was trying hard to learn a few lessons. He held out his hands and helped the twins to their feet. “Now comes the second round of the test.”

“There’s a second round?” asked Julie.

“There is if you want the full benefit of this training,” said Arc. “I kept this part a surprise so you didn’t have a full day to stress about it.”

“Alright, hit us with it,” said Jack, slapping his knee. “Is there another hunting party out there somewhere?”

“Where do you suppose the hunting party was going?” asked Arc, tapping the side of his head. “Think it through, Jacky Boy.”

“Back to a camp?”

“Back to a camp.”

“And we’re going to wipe out the camp?”

“Now you’re getting it, my wild-shooting apprentice,” chuckled Arc. “The gnolls have themselves a stronghold along the western road. If we follow the cliffs, we’ll reach it before too long. I’m not sure how many of them to expect, but taking out the twelve below will have thinned their manpower somewhat and one less firearm in their arsenal will only serve to benefit us.”

“Do you think they’ll have more guns at the stronghold?” asked Julie.

“Good question, my precise apprentice,” said Arc proudly while Jack scowled at getting the worst of the two apprentice titles. “I didn’t expect any of these ugly mutts to have guns so we go in under the assumption that they do. And for that reason, I’ll be helping out as much as I can so that things go smoothly. Once we’re done here, we loot what we can and then move on to our bounty.”

“This isn’t the bounty?”

“No, this is training for you and an opportunity to do some Nuvarian wasteland cleanup. We’ll be heading up to Cliff Town a few days to the north, right on the border between Nuvaria and Auriga. Remember that shifty guy I was talking to back in Pembroke?”

“Yes,” said Julie, biting the inside of her cheek. “I didn’t much like the look of him.”

“He’s the guy who’s giving paying us to go to Cliff Town and do a little job for him. I’ll explain more about that after we wrap up this little detour so you can focus on the task at hand.”

“Then let’s stop wasting time,” said Jack, determined to prove he could do more than shoot randomly into a crowd.

Arc, followed by the twins, climbed back up his rope, untied it and stashed it back into his pack before following along the edge of the cliff. He kept a keen eye on the path at the bottom to make sure there were no unexpected divergences and any time there were, he found a way to slip down to a lower level of the jutting cliff that would let him keep as close to the road as possible without losing the advantage of the high ground.

Eventually, the path forward was halted by a rapid river. The road had once crossed over this, indicated by the uneven broken edges. A rickety rope bridge now hung over the river, providing a means of crossing. The workmanship of the bridge was so shoddy that Arc was confident it was the gnolls themselves who had built it, but what was of greater concern than bad carpentry skills was a brick tower built into the cliffs at the other side of the river. It crept out from the jagged stone with a single barely visible gnoll standing on watch with a clear view of the bridge below. There was no easy way to approach the obscured stronghold without being seen.

“We’re pulling out, right?” asked Jack as Arc fetched his rope again.

“Why would we?” asked the bounty hunter.

“Because we’re sitting ducks if we move across that bridge.”

“Jacky Boy, Jacky Boy, Jacky Boy,” sighed Arc. “Have you not seen the tall odds we’ve been stacked against before? Have a little faith. We’re only sitting ducks if we’re seen.”

“And why wouldn’t we be seen? Do you think that joker is sleeping up there? I’m pretty sure he just scratched his nose.”

Arc reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a purple spell capsule. “Allow me to introduce you to my good friend, Mr Haze. You want to approach unseen? He’ll see to that for you. We won’t be invisible, but we’ll be a distorted blur and, from the distance he’s watching, he’ll think it’s a trick of the light; a mirage. Gnolls are idiots, Jack, I assure you. I’ve had the displeasure of a conversation with one.”

“Alright,” said Jack, wanting to keep his vow to question Arc’s decisions less. “Tell us what the plan is and we’ll do it.”

Arc grinned. “I shoot the spell, we sprint across the bridge before the effect fades away, and then we keep close to the rockface as we enter the stronghold. Simple, right?”

“Right,” agreed Julie.

“Right,” said Jack more reluctantly.

Arc secured the rope to another rock and climbed down onto the path below, ensuring that he was blocked by the cliff the entire way down. Once he had the rope held firmly at the bottom, he signalled for Jack and Julie to make their descent. Now safely on the ground, the trio moved towards a cluster of jutting stones and kept behind them in case any gnolls wandered along the path from the stronghold.

“Alright,” said Arc, loading the Haze bullet into his spellcaster. “You both ready for this?”

“Ready,” the twins said.

“Beautiful,” said Arc, taking careful aim at the centre of the bridge.

Once he lined up the shot, he pulled the trigger. The spellcaster cylinder rotated while glowing blue and launched a thin wisp of pale light towards the bridge. It stopped dead in mid-air before spreading into a distorted cloud with a fifteen-foot radius that caused the bridge to become a shifting blur. It did not look like smoke or fog, more like water sloshing silently around.

Without hesitation, the trio ran from their hiding place and into the haze. The bridge rocked back and forth as they moved and the three were unable to see their footing clearly. Arc, being the most dextrous of the group, grabbed the twins by the hands and guided them to the other side. Once they were clear of the bridge, they pressed themselves against the cliff and watched as the haze vanished, leaving the bridge exactly as it was before.

“That imbecile up there will think it’s just his eyes playing tricks on him,” said Arc confidently before cocking his head to the side. “In theory, anyway.”

“You’re only saying that it’s a theory now?” asked Jack in a hushed voice, unable to contain himself.

“I’m ninety percent certain we’re in the clear. Maybe even ninety-five.”

“Ninety-five is good,” muttered Julie while nodding. “I can live with ninety-five.”

“Exactly,” said Arc as he drew four spell cartridges—two red, one blue and one green—from his pocket and loaded them into his spellcaster.

Once he had finished, he tossed his golden gun into his left hand and drew his revolver with his right. At the same time, the twins grabbed their own guns from their belts and double-checked that they had full magazines and bullets in the chamber.

“Let’s go slaughter some hyenas,” said Arc with a devilish grin.