“EGEN!” Bhufo yelled. I turned, caught. I quickly wiped my foot on the ground, trailing a stain of blood from Ghala’s nose. Ghala was crying on the ground. Bhufo looked furious. His face was puffing. How much did he see?

“Kicking one of your fellow cadets while he’s down on the ground. That is unbecoming of your position as a Junior Paladin.”

Everything. He saw everything. “You should have seen the way he talked about-”

He pushed me out of the way and helped Ghala up. Ghala continued crying, holding his bleeding nose while pointing at me, “He attacked me! He attacked me out of nowhere! He shouldn’t even be here! Is he even still a paladin anymore?!”

“What are you doing here, Cadet?”

“I’m on my god’s mission,” I said.

“Your god’s mission is to kick a fellow paladin in the face?”

“No.” I said, “I need Ynec. Where is he?”

“You’re looking for the animal?! He’s not here!” Ghala asked, still gripping his nose.

I tried to run up on him and punch him but the other cadets grabbed me and held me in place.

“Your fellow cadets are smarter than you are, Egen,” Bhufo said, “Had you hit Ghala again, you’d be banned from the paladins permanently. A paladin is not just about someone who gets cool powers from a god. A paladin is the signal of nobility and civility in the face of unrest. Right now, you’re the unrest.”

“Where’s Ynec?”

“Ghala is right. We didn’t take in a noncitizen Chacali from the wild. I have no clue where he is.”

“You kicked him out?!” I yelled, “He helped us. We would have died without him!”

“Not my priority,” Bhufo said, “Now, go cool off. And think about what it means to become a paladin while you’re on your god’s mission. What the hell even is it anyway?”

The cadets looked around, like they awkwardly waited for me to explain, I pulled the cadet’s hands off of me and waved them and said, “Nobody tell him!” I straightened my shirt and said, “Does anyone know where Ynec is?”

Kaavi spoke up, “I brought him to the Sisters of Hestia. They’re looking after him right now.”

“Thank you, Kaavi.” I said, “I’ll see you all when I return.”

“I meant what I said. Don’t just get a contract. Be a paladin,” Bhufo said, “Or do something else.”

I glanced at Ghala one last time. He had a sinister smile as he held his bleeding nose. I rolled my eyes and walked out of there, grabbing a sword and shield before I left.

I walked over to the Sisters of Hesita where a kind lady of worship offered me some dried fruit snacks and pointed me to Ynec’s chambers. They wagged their wrinkly finger at me and said he had not been a good guest. No tableside manner. Didn’t know how to do his laundry. I told them that he was from a nomadic tribe and had different values, but they didn’t seem to care. One of the nuns pulled me aside and asked me if I was taking them for good.

I walked over to the back and found Ynec in his room, playing with his runty jackal.

“Hey, we’ve got a new mission.” I said.

“Mission?” Ynec asked, “What mission?”

“My goddess has tasked me with something. This is the entrée into me becoming a full paladin. I can’t bring too many people because we’ve got to be discreet. Are you in?”

He looked at his little jackal.

“What have you named that thing?” I asked.

“A Chacali word meaning friend. It is named ‘Dahc.’”

“You named your dog ‘dog’?”

“It is jackal.”

“Are you coming or what?”

“Need to keep Dahc here. Does not yet listen. But yes,” Ynec said, “The sisters, they don’t like Ynec.”

I patted him on the shoulder, “Fuck’em. Come on, I’ll explain the details on the way.”

We hopped out and I looked at him and said, “Look, One of my old friends, Clary, was training to be a rogue. I’m sure she’ll be able to help us along the way. We’ve got to get to her house first and then pick her up.

“Your dad guard?”

“Just for the south gate. We’ll still be fine if… Damn,” I just realized. We would need to either go from the north gate all the way down, and pick up Clary or be on our way. That would be a lot of traversal and we would basically lose the day. I had to make it before Dale had his meetup. The other option was to sneak through my dad’s gate to get to Clary. Meanwhile, I didn’t even know if Clary was down.

“Okay,” I said, “We’re not going to get Clary. The less the merrier. Sounds good?” I asked.

“Sounds good.” Ynec said to me.

“Do you think we might encounter some Chacali?” I asked Ynec as we walked through Mhw, the gate of the North.

“Not likely.” Jackal said, “Chacali live in deserts. Not mountains.”

“Okay,” I said as we walked through the copper ring, “That’s good. Not sure we could survive another encounter with those guys. I mean, they’re real kille-.”

I saw a look of anguish on Ynec's face.

“Sorry,” I said, “It’s not that you’re all killers.”

“Not many tribes are,” Ynec said, “Only the ones who worship Duamutef. God of Stomach.”

We looked around the carriage port of Mhw. I told Ynec, “We have to hitch a ride on somewhere.”

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“We hitch ride?” Ynec asked.

“Yes, we’ll never get there in time by foot. Look out for any carriages.”

Just as I was saying that, Ynec pointed at a farmer. His hay cart being pulled by two donkeys heading north. He wasn’t dressed like we were. He had on thicker material that covered his arms. He had a hat that covered his ears. It was clear he was going into the mountains.

“Great find, Ynec. Let’s go talk to him!”

“Egen…” Ynec said softly.

“What?” I asked.

“He might not let… me on.” Ynec paused before he said it.

I nodded and saw that the cart guy was about to leave the town limits, “Then let’s jump!”

We ran up to it, keeping ourselves hidden from the farmer. I leapt up but missed it, dropping and scuffing my knee. Ynec breezed inside, running on all fours and then leaping in. He reached out, his clawed hand offering me a chance to grab his hand. I stretched out and missed. Then he grabbed the frame of the hay cart and pulled me inside. We nestled ourselves inside the hay and waited.

“Do you think we’ll encounter any monsters on our way?” I whispered.

“Not sure.” Ynec said, “Never been North before.”

We both giggled, giddy at what we might find. The farmer stopped about twice a day to have a meal. Mostly just some lentil soup. He’d set up a blanket on the floor and heat up the soup and bread. He sang most of the way. Songs we didn’t know. Ynec and I got some chance to rest, but the hay would often prick through our clothes or the sun from outside would get in our eyes. The farmer never did notice us. Too in his own world. When he stopped for lunch, Ynec would jump out from the other side and go forage for us. No meats. Berries, roots, and tubers that he found in the ground. I ate a bug he brought back once. I’m not ready to unpack that. That large mountain that hung north of Skorwind got closer and closer every day. Six days later, the mountain was right and we turned left. I poked my head out and saw a sign.

Baldat ← Jabali →

I tapped Ynec and told him it was time to make our escape. We rolled out of the cart and got to walking. We went on for several hours. I got worried we’d miss the big day. If we did that, we’d have to wait a week in Jabali. We walked at an accelerated pace but the road became steeper. We were getting gassed quicker and we were still operating off an empty stomach. Not to mention, the mountain breeze started prickling.

I said to Ynec, “We should eat.”

We began looking for food. Ynec found a big spider that he said would be good but I told him to leave it there. I found some bushels of strawberries. Ynec expertly guessed through terrain and through neighboring plants where we could find water, and most importantly, a big pear tree.

Ynec climbed up first, then I joined him. We picked some pears from the branch, sat down on the limbs and chewed into them. They burst with flavor. My blood had been craving sugar. As we ate the delicious pears, I said, “You’re insanely good at finding food.”

Ynec flashed me a crooked smile and bit into his pear. He bit into it like it was a rabbit trying to escape. Juices flew everywhere from his massive canines digging into them. He even growled as he ate. I thought about what the Sister of Hestia said to me.

“I’m sorry, by the way. I really thought if they found out how you helped us, they’d make you a Junior Paladin. I should have been there. I could have convinced them.”

“Just happy to be here.” Ynec chose his words carefully, before attacking another pear. We both hung out in the tree next to the river. Just near the main road, a group of human bandits hid behind some bushes. I pointed at them, “Look at those jackanapes. If we had taken the main road instead of veered off, we’d be their lunch right now.”

Ynec smiled, then looked around, he pointed at a person in between us and the bandits, perched on the limb of a different tree, “Archer.”

“Geez, I’d hate to be whoever fell for these buffoons’ trap.”

“We help?”

I sighed, got up and scaled higher. They had begun to thin as I climbed. I peeked down the road. There was a traveler coming. They were shrouded in a cloak with a hood.

“Yikes. A sneak attack?. Let’s think. We’re badly outnumbered,” I said, “If that guy doesn’t know how to fight, we’re done for.”

“We help, Egen,” Ynec insisted.

I sighed, “I am a paladin after all. I suppose I have to follow a strict code of ethics.” I mulled it over and said, “Fine, but let’s play dirty.”

Ynec and I slid down the tree. I approached one side of the tree and cupped my hands around my mouth, shouting down the archer in the tree.

“Hey!” I called. He looked around as if the last thing he was expecting was someone to talk to him. Illogically, it did not occur to him to check the ground. I said again, “Hey!”

He finally ascertained where the voice was coming from and looked down at me.

“Where is the nearest bathhouse?” I asked.

“What?” He said.

“My wife and I and the kids were hoping to check out the local bathhouse. Could you point me to the nearest one?”

“W-what?”

And with that, my dear comrade climbed from the other side of the tree. The blindspot. As the archer started to say, “You shouldn’t be here,” Ynec leapt up and pushed the archer with all his might. With a swift kick to the back, the archer fell out of the branch and onto the ground, where he landed with a thud. Ynec grabbed a branch so as to not fall down with him.

I examined his body as Ynec climbed down. He was still breathing, but he had probably broken something, “Pretty minimal noise,” I said, “you’d think he’d yell coming down.”

Ynec examined him too. We cleared his pockets. There were about five deben. Small copper rings used for currency. Not much change but enough to feed us. Ynec looked at the archer’s bow.

“You like what you see?” I asked.

“It looks good,” Ynec said as he pulled it from the archer’s unconscious grip, “I shot bow back in pack.”

He unbuckled the quiver of the archer as well, “Honestly lucky running into him,” I said, “we could use a ranged weapon.”

We saw that the hooded figure was walking up the curve of the knotted mountain tree that would lead them right into the bandit’s trap.

“Once they strike, we strike them. Can you lay down some fire from over here? I asked.

“Yes, Egen. I climb same tree,”

“Well, if any little kid asks where the bathhouse is, be careful.”

Ynec suppressed a little laugh and made his way back up. He notched his arrow as I tied the archer’s arms and stuffed his mouth with cloth. I approached as silently as I could. Unfortunately for me, that meant it would take half as long. I stayed at an angle they would not see me at. I bounded from one tree to the next as the hooded man turned the bend in the road.

The bandits made themselves known and stuck their cutlasses out. I held out my hand to tell Ynec not to shoot. I needed to close the gap more.

I stepped just a hair closer, but the bandits were already speaking to the person.

“Your money not your life, stranger,” Growled the bandit leader.

I tried to speed up the pace while keeping myself silent. I bounced through the forest, and snow began to fall. It began to cover the ground and provide some insulation from my footsteps.

“You are surrounded,” The bandit leader explained as he menaced the hooded figure with his sword.

I stepped on a log by accident. It was a mushy old one. My leg went right through it and caught my ankle. I tripped and landed on the ground.

“Ow.” I whispered.

“Infidels,” the words came from the hooded figure. I stuck my hand up and waved it frantically from my position on the ground. Alerting Ynec not to shoot yet and I tried to get up but my foot was still caught in the log and I fell down.

“You asked for it.”

“This could have gone smoothly,” the bandit leader said.

“Heavenfire,” cast the hooded man. I looked up as a halo of white fire radiated from the man’s body, pushing out and engulfing all the man in a ring of flame. My eyes reflected the blinding light as the ring went over my head, streaking the trees around me with a black char.

I looked back at Ynec. he was staring right back at me. Horrified expressions on both of our faces. I rolled to the right to hide within a berry bush. Ynec looked down and the unconscious archer was getting up. He stared up at Ynec with the rag still in his mouth, then took the rag out before Ynec shakily pointed in the direction of the carnage. The archer brought his head down, looking at all of his mates having been burned to a crisp, and yelled. The hooded man stared at him and the archer turned to flee. Ynec tucked himself away in the top of the tree, hiding behind its trunk. I stayed hidden. The hooded man’s feet stepped down next to the bush, about three inches away. I could see his shoes peeking out of the robe. Bronze armored boots. It’s clinking rang out as he took steps further away from me.

“Fear not. I have saved you.”

Saved him? I thought. Then it clicked. The hooded man thought the archer was a hostage. He thought he was innocent. If the bandit played this correctly, they could get out with their life intact.

“TH-thank you.” The robber said. He approached the hooded man and fell to his knees, “Thank you so much. Please, allow me to kiss your ring.”

The man did not get a chance. The hooded figure revealed under his cloak and I could tell by the man’s eyes that something was wrong. Then, in a swift motion, the hooded figure slammed his weapon into the man’s skull. The archer was dead before he his body hit the ground.