Before Kit left to follow Crumpet he looked at the other targets in the distance. Kit felt his face droop at the sight. All the other targets had numerous arrows embedded in the white paper. Was he the last one to get the hang of using the crossbow?

Kit became disappointed in himself. The others seemed to have improved in leaps and bounds compared to him. He felt a rock form in his chest. He didn’t want to be a burden tomorrow. He knew how important the monster run was to Spartan Fire’s growth.

Tomorrow would have moving targets that would increase the difficulty of accurately landing a hit. He hoped he had learned enough today to still be useful tomorrow during the fight.

Kit made up his mind that if he couldn’t aim his crossbow properly tomorrow then he would step back and let the others shoot the arrows. He didn’t want to waste the exploding arrows if he couldn’t hit a trampling thick head.

He turned away from the wooden targets and walked over to the others gathered at the white blanket. Bundles of wooden arrows with glowing red tips were an eye catching contrast to the white background of the blanket.

“Looks like it’s time to give you a quick run down on the arrow bombs. These ones are fire bombs, you can tell by the glowing red tips. They are quite safe to handle they won’t activate until they are loosened from the crossbow.” To demonstrate how safe they were Crumpet flicked the tip of one of the arrows.

“See, no explosion.” Crumpet grinned at the crowd. “Each of you will take two bundles. These are all we have, so don’t waste them. Tomorrow you will all be stationed on the ridge overseeing the mountain pass. The trampling thick heads will come through there first before they reach the Spartan Fire plains.”

“Your job will be to fire these arrows into the horde and cause injury before they get to the rest of us waiting in the plains. Any questions?”

Silence filled the area after Crumpet spoke. Kit had become nervous about tomorrow after hearing Crumpet speak. The monster run had become very real in the space of the man’s few words. Kit felt the others must feel the same way he did. He could see nervous movement coming from all of them.

“Great, you all understand your job. There won’t be much to it, just aim and shoot. Good luck for tomorrow.”

Kit didn’t think it would be that easy, but he kept his mouth shut. He walked over to the exploding arrows and took two bundles, then waited for the others to retrieve theirs. Once all the arrows were gone all his employees’ eyes turned to him.

He could tell they were all waiting for him to say something. The pressure was immense, a feeling of suffocation spread up his neck from his chest. Kit felt his hands start to tremble. If this was about his restaurant, he wouldn’t be so panicked.

He could tell they were all looking at him, as if he was the leader of the group. In a fighting capacity Kit knew he couldn’t lead them. In all his experience so far, Mars had been the one to take charge in situations like this.

Kit decided to be honest with them. “We will need someone to lead the group tomorrow. I have barely any battle experience, I usually follow Mars’ instructions in a fight.” Kit turned his attention to Mars.

“Kit, I won’t be with you guys tomorrow, I’ll be helping Peaches. I’m out this time for the role.” Mars gave Kit an apologetic smile.

“Any volunteers then?” Kit turned back to the group.

“We can do it. I think it would be better to form two groups anyway. One on each side of the pass.” Dove pointed to himself and his brother.

“We also have experience participating in a monster run.” Cadbury added.

Kit felt some of his nerves about tomorrow settle at this news. One, he wouldn’t have to blindly lead the group. Two, he could follow someone who was experienced in this kind of thing.

“Thanks Cadbury and Dove. I’m sure we all feel a little more reassured following someone with experience.”

Agreement met Kit’s words. “With that settled let’s head back to camp before we can’t see in front of our faces.” Kit wanted to get back before the sun had fully set.

Snowball and the Midnight guardians were waiting for him on his return. Kit smiled at the furballs then pulled out a chunk of meat from his pouch for them all to chew on. He then went and found Pint to give him some alcohol.

When he was finished, he sat down next to Mars at the edge of the campfire Mud was trying to start. “What will you be doing tomorrow, Mars?”

“Trying to keep Peaches alive while he completes his spell for the resurrection of the dead trampling thick heads.” Mars was picking at his fingernails as he spoke.

“That’s a big task. Are you nervous?” Kit watched as Mars continued his anxious actions.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Mars lifted his eyes to meet Kit’s. “Yes, I won’t be alone though. There will be six of us guarding the necromancer. I just hope I can stay alive long enough for him to finish the job.”

Kit patted Mars shoulder. “Mars your skills are amazing. Even though you’re at a low swordsman level, I know you will be great at protecting him. Just focus on the experience points you will get at the end of the fight.” Mars stopped his destruction of his fingernails at Kit’s words.

“Yeah, I’m looking forward to that.” A smile bloomed on Mars’ face. Kit was glad he could distract his friend from his worries for a while. Plus, he knew some motivation in gathering more experience points would encourage Mars to go all out. The man was crazy when it came to increasing his experience points.

A warmth distracted Kit from his conversation with Mars. Mud had gotten the fire going, orange flames danced as they wrapped around the wooden sticks. Kit watched as his employees slowly ambled over to enjoy the campfire as well.

A silence fell over his small camp. All thoughts turned to tomorrow’s monster run. As time past Kit became tired, he decided to call it a night. He had a big day tomorrow. He bid everyone good night and took Snowball into his tent. Mars joined him not long after he had settled on his bed.

Kit woke to a lick to his face. He grabbed the little fluff ball on his chest and gave him a hug. “Good morning, Snowball. We have a big day ahead of us, I’m very nervous. I think I will need extra hugs today.”

Snowball gave Kit a soft yip in reply. Kit yawned and looked over to Mars’ sleeping pallet to see that his friend was missing. Kit became fully awake at his missing friend’s absence. Was he already late? Kit quickly placed Snowball aside and rushed to get ready.

When he emerged from the tent, the first rays of light were breaking across the sky. Kit looked around the camp to see the residents of Spartan Fire preparing themselves for the day ahead. Glistening armour was being donned and weapons were being sharpened everywhere he looked.

Kit could feel a nervous anticipation filling the air. His pulse leapt to join in the anxious atmosphere. He took some deep breaths to calm himself. Now was not the time to become a wreak, there was plenty of time for that later when they arrived at the battle grounds.

“Kit you’re awake, come and have some breakfast quickly. We must assemble in 20 minutes at the red flag.” Kit turned his head at the sound of his name being called. Bundt was motioning him to join the group on a blanket spread out on the ground.

He hadn’t even seen them all seated on the ground when he came out of his tent. He’d been too distracted looking out at the crowd in front of him. Kit sat down and was handed a plate of plain toast and butter from Mud. Kit was glad that today’s breakfast was plain he didn’t think he could stomach much else.

A sober atmosphere radiated from his employees. Kit felt like a weight was settling on his body and starting to crush his spirits. He needed to distract them and himself about the upcoming fight. “I hope you all didn’t fill up on breakfast. I have something extra special to feed you today.” Kit felt a perverse smile tug at his lips.

He was actually looking forwards to seeing his employees’ reactions to his high level creations. “Kit what is that look on your face. It is scaring me.” Mud shuddered when Kit turned his focus to him.

Kit’s creepy smile grew. “I’m glad you asked Mud.” Kit took out a bottle of the Spiritual Moon juice magic then filled paper cups and placed them in front of everyone including himself. “Everything I give you today will have to be taken in order. This lovely little baby is the first one. Bottoms up.”

Kit tilted his cup and swallowed the liquid in one go. As soon as the juice hit his stomach, he felt the familiar cramps start. Sweat beaded on his forehead as the pain increased. He pursed his lips to keep the pain off his face. “Ok, your turn now. Go, go, go.”

Cups lifted to lips and throats bobbed. Once he was sure they had all ingested the liquid, he gave in to the accumulating pain and groaned. Kit doubled over with the pain. Grunts and groans filled his ears. Crackers was even cursing him out loud.

After the 5 minutes was up pale angry faces stared at Kit. “Kit bad.” Cupcake glared hard at him. Kit swallowed when he felt killing intent directed his way. Nods from his other employees accompanied Cupcake’s words.

“Before you all get angry at me, please check your stats.” He knew once they saw the benefits, he would be forgiven for the 5 minute torture.

Chamomile laughed in delight suddenly. “This is amazing. I will be glad when you reach the chef level needed to take away the side effect though.” She smiled heartily at Kit. “This will become a best seller in the restaurant. I can’t wait to see how the restaurant will bloom after this goes on sale. What else do you have up your sleeves Kit?”

A chuckle left Kit’s mouth, he was pleased with her praise of the drink. “You already know my other creations that can’t be sold yet. Before we can eat the apple pies, I need to find Snickers, I think she will have a way to counteract the poisoning side effect of the pie.”

“Let’s head to the meeting point early. She will be assembling there at some point.” Charlette bounced to her feet as she spoke. The others followed her lead. Kit followed behind with Snowball and the Midnight guardians.

The meeting point was where Kit had first arrived at the campsite. The spot was already filled with around 150 people chatting amongst themselves. “Can anyone see Snickers?” Before they had a chance to respond Kit could see Leonards huge frame pushing through the crowd towards them. “Never mind, I think they found us first.”

Snickers small frame popped out from behind Leonard as they got closer. “Kit there you are. I tried to find your camp site this morning, but there were too many people. So, we came here first. Are you ready for the monster run?”

Excitement was clear as day radiating from Snickers. Leonard’s eyes were flickering between red and their normal colour. There was not an ounce of nervousness coming from the pair. Kit felt a wave of jealousy spread over him.

He knew soon he would turn into a nervous wreck. As much as he was looking forwards to firing some exploding arrows, there was too much weighing on his mind with the safety of his friends.

“Almost Snickers. Hopefully you can help me with the last thing before I’ll be ready.” Kit explained what he needed for the apple pies.

“Are you giving the pies to everyone involved today or just your friends? I’m just asking so I know how to help.” Snickers tilted her head in inquiry.

“If you can do something so that everyone involved can have a slice of apple pie that would be great. We can quickly whip up some more pies. I honestly didn’t think it would be possible for everyone to have some of the apple pies.” Kit felt a burst of happiness at the prospect of giving everyone involved a piece of his pie.

Snickers laughed at his reply. “Little kitty it’s no problem, just let me summon one of my cuties to help out.”