“Kaavi stop!” I swam to catch up with him.

The rest of the troupe joined us. We all got out of the water.

“What’s happening?” Barth inquired.

I took a minute to catch my breath, but Kaavi started walking back to the camp anyway. “Kaavi! What the hell?!”

“What are we?!” He yelled, as he trudged along.

“What do you mean?!” I said, “We’re-”

“We’re paladins.”

“Kaavi!” I finally caught up to him and held his arm back. He tried to break my grip but then turned around.

“We’re paladins. We save people.”

“We saved everyone in our troupe. If we go back that could put us all in danger.”

“One more save.” And with that he ripped his hand from my grasp and kept walking.

“You’ve got no weapons!” I said, “No people. No, nothing! And it’s dawn, which means they’re still active. Hell, they could be hunting for us right now!”

“Doesn’t matter. We still gotta try!”

And with that, Tuf walked past me and joined him.

“Tuf.”

Then Huy. Then more of the boys trickled past me, “All of you?!” I asked.

“He’s right,” Huy said, “We’re paladins.”

The duchess walked up to me and placed her hand on my shoulder. She was a good three inches taller than me so she crouched a little to make eye-contact, “Your friends want to do a brave thing, Egen. You should encourage them.

I looked and saw Ghala and Ruglio were still standing, not joining the other group of boys. “Ruglio, I get. Ghala, you’re not going?”

“I’m with you, Egen. We shouldn’t go just to save some mutt.”

I groaned. I was in agreement with GHALA?! I turned to Kaavi and said, “Hold on! Hold on! I’m coming.”

“We’ll come too.” The duchess said.

“No.” I countered. “Absolutely not. This whole thing is about your safety. I'm not going to endanger you,” Then I looked at the oft silent Porta, “Or you, Porta.”

“We must join you,” the duchess said.

Porta nodded at me, “I agree with Egen. We should stay here.”

“Ghala will protect you while we’re away. Barth too.”

“No, I’m coming with you all too,” Barth said, “And nothing you can say will stop me.”

“Sure. I don’t really have any problem with you dying.”

“Oh my,” Barth’s face went white, “I meant more as a support role. You will need my cheery song if you mean to fight Chacali.”

“Come on, we’ve got to catch up with the boys first. Then, we’ll come up with a plan.

Dawn turned to day. The Chacali camp tucked in after an eventful night. Like balls of shadows, we all approached the camp, skipping from bush to bush. We crawled up a hill to the outskirts of the camp to do recon. Huy watched the camp, laying prone. He watched for an hour. It was imperative we collect as much data as possible.

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“There are four guards covering different points of the camp, North, East, South, West. There are two guards patrolling the perimeter on opposite sides. There should be an opening in where both guards are far enough away but we won’t have much time to get into camp.”

“Okay.,” I thought, “The gap between this hill and camp is about sixty feet. Which means for a brief moment, we’re going to be running for sixty feet unprotected. None of us are rogues so we don't have anything to help sneak us in. That means we run as quickly as possible to the stable.”

“The stable has those big things!” One of the boys said.

“Yeah… but those big things aren’t likely to see us as enemies. We run into a Chacali, we’re done for. We run into a domesticated animal? We’ve got a much better shot. Everyone ready?”

“Yeah!” They all chanted.

“Okay. You all know what needs to be done.”

We waited for the perimeter guard to walk far enough away. We approached southeast of the camp, where the perimeter guard had just finished their walk. Once he was far enough away, I gave the signal.

“Go.”

We all ran toward the stable. There was a little flap in an unfastened part of the tent. That was where we’d enter. All of us were keeping steady except for Barth. He was falling behind.

Kaavi first, then the rest of them. I, being slightly slower, found a burst of speed and leapt under the awning. The only one left was Barth, who was still trodding along. We watched as the second perimeter guard rounded a tent. That tent was the only thing blocking the sight of Barth.

I whispered-screamed at Barth, “Move it!”

He panted, and said, “I’m trying!”

He crawled inside, once his upper torso was in, all of us pulled him. We were safe in the stall.

I whispered to the fellas, “Remember, guys. There are four spells. The ones we’re going to focus on are ‘“Second Wind,” and Stride. These will help us both get out of jams. We’re still going to try to avoid combat if necessary.”

They all understood. I thanked them for their patience, stood up, and was greeted with huge gnarled teeth. It was one of their mounts. It turned its head so that the side of the eye could get a better look at me.

The creature sniffed my face. Its exhale infested my nose with a wretched stench. I stuck my hands up and refused to look it in the eye, instead opting for the ground. That meant I did not see it when it reached its tongue out and licked my face.

“Blegh!” I said as it reached over and licked me again. Then it became bored with me, the creature turned around and found a pile of tubers waiting for it and it noshed. Huh. Those giant teeth were for mashing… root vegetables. Who would have thought. I turned and looked at my troops.

“Okay,” I said, “We’re not going to get to be very stealthy, so we have to play this smart.”

“What’s the next step?”

I took the hard sticks we had sharpened and stood behind the creature, “Everyone get behind a creature.

Soon, all the mounts exploded from the stables. The huge animals went off in different directions. It was a wave of chaos. It took some of the daytime guards a minute to understand what was happening. They probably thought it was an invading Chacali army at first. When they realized it was their own mounts, the soldiers stormed after them. In the mass of confusion, I saw the leader poke his head out. He was still wearing the giant skull as a headrest. He looked even more intimidating. I was filled with rage staring at him. He had killed Yed. I took a step forward but Kaavi held my arm.

“Remember what we’re here for.”

I gripped my weapon until my knuckles turned white. He was right. What the hell would I do with a sharpened branch anyway? The leader exited his tent to examine the chaos and as the breeze of the tent flapped in the wind… I saw them… Weapons.

“There!” I hissed from our hiding spot in the stables, “The armory! You boys get our things. I’m going to. Kaavi, let’s go get our man.”

Barth led the boys to the armory while Kaavi and I jogged to the prison. Only when we had a clear vision, we could see that he was there. Slumped in jail, wallowing.

“Ynec!” I hissed. He didn’t look up. Kaavi and I walked closer.

“Egen?” Ynec asked.

“That’s right, Ynec. We’re here to save you. Come on, I can make this magic work again.”

“You shouldn't have returned, Egen.”

“I know I shouldn’t have. It wasn’t my idea. Anyway, we’ve returned. Deal with it.”

“Your life is in danger.”

“So is yours.”

I grabbed the lock, made the same command and the lock came undone. I opened the door and gestured for him to get out.

“My family… might forgive.”

“Are they known to forgive in a situation like this?” I asked.

Ynec cast his eyes down and gave a shrunken head-shake.

“I know how you feel,” Kaavi said, “When the bandits came for my village, the only choice was to escape or die with them. I still wonder if dying with them would have been better than a life without a home. But… I’m glad I survived. I found a new home. With new friends. These people want to punish you for messing up… You’d be better off with people who tried to save you.”

Ynec looked back up at Kaavi. He stood up, “Thank you...”

“Kaavi.”

“Thank you, Kaavi.”

Ynec came down from the cage. The hairs on the back of his head stood on end and he jumped back into the cage. A smell imperceptible to humans wafted into his acute nose.

“What?!” I asked, “What is it?”

“You come back for worthless prisoner?” A raspy voice came from behind us. We turned and stared the leader of the pack, holding his cleave sword, his mouth drooling with hunger.