Blood from the archer’s head splattered over the trees and the fallen snow. Ynec sat on the limb directly above this murderer. I could see Ynec trembling through the leaves of my hiding spot. The hooded man cleaned his mace and hid it back in his cloak. He turned around, and walked away from the body. I dug myself farther into my bush, praying he did not notice me.

What was that?! I thought, He thought that guy was innocent, right? Could he have known the archer was part of the crew? More importantly, what would he think if he found us?

He stepped on a branch two inches from my face. He was right next to my bush. I covered my breath to keep myself silent. He took another step. Ynec was shaking so bad from his spot in the tree, that he knocked the arrow he had notched off the tree. I watched as it fell down the tree. It sailed nearly silently downward and plunked into the soft snowy earth. Nearly silently. The hooded figure turned around.

“Who’s there?” The man demanded. He walked past me, back toward the spot, where he noticed the arrow plunked neatly into the ground. He looked up. Any adult up on that tree would have been seen. It was thick of limb but the leaves had fallen off for winter. When the killer walked back to the spot, Ynec had chosen to stand straight on the limb he had been resting on. His thin body was blocked by anyone directly under him. He held his tail in his hands to hide it.

I shook my head and begged him to stay silent with my eyes. He pleaded with his eyes for all this to be over. The man dropped the arrow on the ground, uninterested, and walked back toward the trail. Ynec climbed the tree so that his body was now hidden to the man by the trunk. The man did not look back. He walked past me, kept going until he reached the road and went up the trail..

Even as his steps faded away, Ynec and I did not move from our spots for a long while. We stayed in the same position, both staring at each other. Shaking at what we just saw. One man had just taken down an entire troupe of bandits with one spell.

Ynec dropped down, got on all fours and crawled. We reunited.

“What the fuck was that?” I said.

“Was… was that Dale?”

“DALE?!” I asked, “You think Anubis wouldn't mention that Dale could kill an entire group of people with his mind?! No, that was not Dale. That was some crazy monster!”

“Egen… he is going to the village,” Ynec said, “We have to warn the villagers.”

“I don’t think he’s going to kill the village willy-nilly, Ynec. I think killing the bandits was… at least in his mind, self-defense.”

“But that last man. He was tied up.”

I shook my head, “He hid himself in a cloak. I don’t think he wanted that guy seeing him. Thank the gods he didn’t notice us. Let’s just try to avoid him if we can.”

We heard someone singing coming up the main road, as well as the clicking of hooves on the bricked road. Ynec and I were on edge. We hid again, silently praying that it wasn’t another lunatic who would kill us on sight. It was not. It was a goofy looking man wearing a tunic. Wearing ill-fitting robes, he had hooves for legs and cow horns on his head.

“Okay,” I said, “Get down. I think that’s Dale.”

We waited behind some bushes but it didn’t seem like it was that necessary. Dale was singing a song to himself too loud to hear anything that was going on. He clomped through the forest without any care in the world. He didn’t even notice the char marks from the man’s bodies. Ynec and I tailed him up the remainder of the road as we entered Jabali. Once he entered the town, I told Ynec, “We know what bar he’s going to. So let’s let him get some distance and we’ll join him in about five minutes.”

Jabali was a tiny mountain town. The snow had started up but everyone walked around covered in furs. The houses were made from timber, as opposed to our houses made of packed clay. The cold air nipped us. We had not dressed for the occasion.

“You’re covered in fur,” I told Ynec, “Why are you shaking?”

“Short fur. Not meant for cold.”

I saw an old man walking into his house. I figured it would be best to ask. I approached him and said, “Uhm, sir?” I shivered, “We’re not from here. Would you be able to help me and my… brother?”

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He looked over at Ynec, who waited bashfully for vitriol or anger or judgment. Instead, the man said, “You must be from down the way! Don’t tell me you’re from Bemuhtjer?”

“As far down as Skorwind actually.” I said, “We both are.”

“Skorwind!” Another woman popped her head out of the building and looked at us, “Skorwind. I’ve never been as far as down there. I imagine it’s hot?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said, “Very hot. We don’t have the appropriate clothes and-”

“Moswen!” The old man said, “Moswen, honey, let’s get these poor kids some clothes. You both must be halfway dead. Where are your parents? We’ll give you and them some mountain clothes you can borrow.”

Moswen came out with big heaps of clothes meant for young children. Ynec and I thanked her as she fitted the clothes on us. Layering us with too many clothes, “I can’t believe your parents are letting you run around like this. Where are they, anyway?” Then Moswen looked at her husband and said, “Did you ask them where their parents are, Nkuku?”

“I asked them,” Then looking at us again, “Where are your parents, young ones?”

“They’re in the bar, the Slumbering Lumberer,” I said, “Thank you for the clothes. We’ll return them to you when we finish up here!”

“You get that back to me whenever,” Moswen said, “And tell your parents if they want a good meal after a long trek, we’re making stew for supper.”

Ynec and I thanked them again before walking off. We got to the Slumbering Lumberer. I looked at Ynec, he had a hat they had given him that covered his ears and the longsleeve. I took the strings of his hat and pulled it farther over his head, then I gave the scarf I was given and wrapped it around his maw.

“This is just so that no one asks about the Chacali. Understand?”

He nodded his head, “Yes Egen. Understand. Egen, Moswen and Nkuku were nice.”

“I wish they were all like that, buddy.”

We walked into the bar. There was a jingle from some tinsel on top of the door. I saw on the other side of the table that Dale had sat down at a booth. I sidled up to the bar. The man from my vision was there.

“You want some wine?” he asked. Mind you we were 9. He poured my cup half with water and half with red wine. I thanked him and handed him some of the deben we’d picked up from the now headless archer.

The tinsel on the door rang again. I looked over at Dale, he was still alone at the booth. We were on the other side of the crowded bar. My face went pale. I turned back so that he could not possibly see me. I stared into my cup of kiddie wine.

“Ynec,” I whispered, “It’s the guy.” The hooded figure from earlier cozied up next to him at the bar. with the hooded figure that had massacred the bandits earlier.

Ynec turned and his yellow eyes poked through his abundant clothing, “I see.” Was all he said, “I can not hear though. The clothes makes it hard.”

“That’s alright. I’ve got the half-elf thing going on.” I pointed at my ear. Although, with all the conversation happening at once, it was difficult to understand what was being said. I tweaked my ear up and down, side to side, trying to point in the direction of Dale and his mysterious friend. Tuning my hearing like a HAM radio.

“We looking for Dale cheating, right?” Ynec asked, “Hood is man.”

“A man can be with another man,” I said.

“Can?”

“Can. And if Dale’s even the slightest bit of a greek god, I can almost guarantee you they’re schtupping.”

“Man and man.”

“I’m a little disappointed in you, Ynec. You should try to keep an open mind.”

Egen quickly put his hands up and waved them apologetically, “So sorry, Egen. Next time I see two men, I will think they mate with each other.”

“That’s all I ask,” My ear kept tweaking in different directions, trying to find the source of their conversation.

“The cousin tribe of Chacali, the Gnoll. They are West, past the deserts. The jungles. They are matriarchy. The leader has pseudopenis and mates with males.”

I stopped sipping my kiddy wine and held the liquid in my mouth. Then I slowly swallowed it. I turned to Ynec and said, “Why did you feel the need to bring that up?”

“You say male can mate with male. I tell you that Gnoll female can mate with male like male can mate with female. Similar.”

“Actually not similar. That one doesn’t sound consensual.”

“Con-sexual?” Ynec repeated.

“Sorry, Ynec, I’m trying to listen. So would you please shut the fuck up? Shockingly, I do not need to hear about a Gnoll’s pseudopenis. That sucked to hear about.”

“Gnolls cool.”

“No they’re not,” I said, “Stop talking about them. Also, english… tethran’s not even your first language, how the hell do you know the word ‘pseudopenis?’

“Gnolls tell me.”

The hooded figure raised his voice, but I didn’t catch what he said. He slammed his bare fist down. Not loud enough to catch the attention of the bar, but these two were not friends. Dale had a self-assured smile as his arms crossed. Slam his fist down. His cloak furled up his arm for a second before he retracted it. That was when I saw it.

They went back to mumbling. I twisted my ear and then my body so that I could get a better peek into their conversation.

“Egen, you think gnolls-”

“I’m trying to listen, Ynec. Please for the love of god stop talking about gnolls.”

“But Egen!” He chided.

“What?”

“You think gnolls could beat up cyclops?”

I thought about it, “Depends. How many are there?”

“Six.”

“Magic users?”

“One.”

“Mmmmmm. Cyclops, easy. Cyclops regenerate from nonmagical attacks. They’re taking down a band of Gnolls no problem.”

“I think Gnolls win.”

Suddenly I heard Dale’s voice. The same voice that was singing earlier. He said four words, “Take it or leave it.”

“Of course you think Gnolls would win. You’re obsessed with them,” I told Ynec.

Just then, the hooded figure stormed out. The tinsel on the door jingled again and the door closed. I was buzzed from my kiddy wine but still asked the bartender for another. Once the man was away, I leaned into Ynec.

“Buddy, this guy. Did you see it? When he slammed his fist the table. It was only there for a second but I caught it.

"What, bu-ddy?” Ynec asked.

“The Eye of Ra tattoo on his wrist. This guy that Dale’s talking to… he’s a Sun Thrower.”