Time slowed down, and Rafael knew Ezekiel needed to remain by Grizzizzik’s side. If there was a chance the rogue could pierce the armor, he could get excellent damage with that sneak attack.

Rafael chose his mace again and got a seven. The bonus gave him eleven, but it looked like it wasn’t enough.

No extra dice appeared, and time resumed. Ezekiel tried to hit Phantom, but it was too wide, and Phantom was too quick. The most important thing, though, was Ezekiel remained by Grizzizzik’s side.

Clarissa slammed her scimitar into the weak shoulder area of the hobgoblin armor. The creature shrieked, dropping to the ground, dead. There weren’t many left. They had to be almost done. Phantom tried again to strike at Grizzizzik, but the rogue was too fast, blocking his blow. They were having a full-blown sword fight at this point.

The ogre shrieked, then slammed his javelin into Hraktar’s gut. Alejandra gasped as Hraktar’s hit points plummeted to zero, then went back to one. The fighter stumbled back, then shook his head, gripping his stomach.

“Hraktar!” Milo said.

Phantom smirked. “Your fighter will go down soon. Everyone knows he’s half your army.” Grizzizzik started growling. He went with a wild swipe, but Phantom blocked it again, laughing. “You really care about these people, don’t you?”

Grizzizzik’s teeth lengthened. “How painful do you think it’ll be when I cut your tongue out?”

The remaining hobgoblins turned toward Clarissa, letting loose a lot of arrows. Clarissa tried to dodge them, but two hit each arm, and another grazed her side. She groaned, backing away as her hit points trickled from thirty-one to twenty-one.

Milo ran in front of Hraktar, pointing both the flamethrower and the crossbow right at the ogre. “My turn to protect you, my friend.”

The ice bolt smacked the ogre in the throat, and the flames blasted his body. The ogre shrieked, then stopped. Its eyes rolled up into his head as he collapsed, dead.

Alejandra wrapped a hand around Derek’s side. “Thank you.”

He patted her shoulder. “Milo hasn’t prepared cure wounds for a while now, or else he would have used that on him.”

“Hraktar will be fine. There’s no way Phantom can hold on much longer,” Alejandra said.

“Ezekiel’s got this.” Rafael wasn’t sure if they heard. Either way, Rafael was next and chose preserve life.

Time resumed, and Ezekiel turned his head, staying beside Grizzizzik. He clasped his medallion and whispered a prayer to the Great Lady, holding out his hand toward the fallen form. White mana shot from his hand and entered Hraktar’s body. The fighter gasped, sitting up as ten hit points tumbled into his bar.

“God, I’ve missed Ezekiel,” Derek said.

Alejandra smiled at Rafael. “And we’ve missed you, too.”

Rafael smiled as he tried to believe the compliment.

Clarissa ran into the small gathering of hobgoblins, slashing one with her scimitar. It dropped, leaving two left.

“Give up, Phantom. Akshi will never accept this army now,” Grizzizzik said.

The bandit shouted as the rogue stopped the scimitar with his rapier. He pushed the scimitar away before slicing Phantom across the gut. With a shout of pain, Phantom grabbed his stomach and backed away.

Hraktar walked forward. With a wide movement, he beheaded the remaining hobgoblins. Rafael raised an eyebrow. “Nice.”

Milo walked to the other side of Ezekiel, holding up his cannon and crossbow. Phantom’s eyes went wide. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Okay. Let’s… let’s not do anything too hasty.”

“There it is.” Grizzizzik sheathed his rapier.

The mana fusor kept his weapons up. “Drop your scimitar.”

“Yes, yes, alright.” Phantom slowly lowered his weapon.

Clarissa healed herself as she limped over to the rest of the group. Her limp became less noticeable as golden mana weaved itself throughout her body. She reached Ezekiel’s side as her health bar filled all the way to twenty-four. Rafael took that as a hint. He walked closer to the now dead battlefield, passing the creatures corpses.

“Honestly, Phantom, haven’t you learned your lesson?” Grizzizzik folded his arms. “There’s no point betraying us.”

“You’re right, but it could be worse. I could end up your friend,” Phantom said.

Faster than anyone could react, Grizzizzik had Phantom by the throat and up against the tree.

“Grizzizzik!” Ezekiel said.

“Give me three reasons to not snap your neck right now.” Grizzizzik’s voice was dark. “They better be good.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“I’ll give you one.” Ezekiel placed a hand on his shoulder. “You would regret killing a man who had already surrendered. It’s not a fair fight.”

Grizzizzik’s fingers trembled as he closed his eyes. “Damn you, Ezekiel.” He let Phantom go, and the bandit backed away.

“Not too far, Phantom. We still have some questions.” Hraktar leaned on his great sword covered in blood. Tyler went back to rubbing his wrist, and Rafael glanced at him.

“I’m fine,” Tyler said to the unasked questions. Rafael’s eyes lingered on the thin gray mark on his throat before pulling out a water bottle from his pack and handing it to him. Tyler thanked him as he took it, draining half of it in one gulp.

“I know you’re an ass kisser, but you’re usually not this proactive unless you were given an order. Gathering an army? The mental load of keeping goblins, hobgoblins, and ogres from killing each other? You’ve already met Akshi, haven’t you? He’s already given you an order,” Grizzizzik said.

Phantom’s jaw started working like he was having a conversation, even as his lips were pursed tight. They barely cracked open for him to let out a single word. “Possibly.”

Time came to a standstill.

Roll for insight.

Rafael grabbed the d20 and gave it a good shake, hoping that between the five of them, someone could roll high.

The die landed on a sixteen. With his +4 modifier, that gave a dirty twenty. That was good.

Grizzizzik grabbed the front of Phantom’s shirt and pinned him against the tree, then grabbed the arrow still sticking out of Phantom’s arm.

“This is how it’ll go, betrayer,” Grizzizzik hissed. “You will tell me everything you told Akshi, or I will make your life hell.”

Color drained from Phantom’s face.

“Grizzizzik, stand down,” Ezekiel said.

The rogue’s nostrils flared. “Stay out of this, cleric.”

“This isn’t you.”

“This has always been me.” Grizzizzik grabbed the arrow and gave it a twist. Rafael winced as Phantom screamed, his knees buckling. “Did you tell Akshi about the humans who are with us?”

“No!” Phantom’s eyes shoot toward Rafael, Derek, Alejandra, and Tyler. “No, I swear I didn’t!”

“Why are you growing an army for him!” Grizzizzik shouted.

Rafael glanced at Ezekiel, who looked like he was about to march forward to stop it, but Milo grabbed his shoulder. Ezekiel gave his friend a surprised look.

Phantom panted. “He’s figuring out how to be king of this world. He’s already got minions helping him.”

“How many?” Grizzizzik twisted the arrow again. Rafael couldn’t watch. Ezekiel threw off Milo’s hand and marched forward, grabbing Phantom’s shoulder and placing a hand on Grizzizzik’s wrist.

“Let go,” Ezekiel said.

“This is the only way we’re getting information out of this man. All thieves know it. It’s why no one wants Phantom on their team. Because he squeals at the slightest amount of pain,” Grizzizzik said.

The bandit captain was panting, but chuckled. “How does it feel, Cleric? To destroy an entire army of evil creatures. Doesn’t your Great Lady of Light frown on this sort of thing? The value of life, that’s what you believe. Didn’t those goblins have value? That ogre?”

Grizzizzik sneered. “Leave Ezekiel alone.”

“I’m simply concerned about his spiritual wellbeing. I know it’s tied to his use of magic. It would be a pity if he lost it.” Phantom’s tone held none of the sympathy one would expect with those words.

Time held still, and the words prompted Rafael to roll a d8 for cure wounds. This was all Ezekiel’s doing, but Rafael went along with it. He rolled a four, and with the modifier he wasn’t even sure how this would help Phantom, but it was something.

With time resuming, he watched Grizzizzik try to twist the arrow, but Ezekiel grabbed the arrow and ripped it out of Phantom’s shoulder. The bandit bellowed with pain, collapsing on the ground as golden mana weaved their way into his shoulder.

Grizzizzik shot Ezekiel a glare. “Seriously? You waste some mana on this worthless sack of flesh?”

Ezekiel said nothing, and didn’t have to. Instead, Clarissa gave the rogue a chastising look as Ezekiel finished healing his shoulder. “You make no sense. You kill my army, yet spare me,” Phantom said.

“The goblins, hobgoblins, and ogres have my sympathy. But they chose a side that would continue to devalue the lives of those here. They have no qualms in destroying life, and therefore I must send them back to the realm of deities, where they will receive true justice and mercy.”

“It’s hypocritical, is what it is. You kill and destroy with mana. Your Great Lady would be disappointed in you,” Phantom said.

Ezekiel shrugged. “‘War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.’”

Phantom frowned. Rafael raised an eyebrow.

“You’re quoting from something, aren’t you?” Milo asked.

“Someone,” Ezekiel said. “His name is Faramir. Great guy.” It made sense, of course. Ezekiel had probably read Lord of the Rings multiple times since he arrived.

“Is Faramir real?” Milo asked.

“Does it matter?” The cleric sat down next to Phantom, folding his arms. “You’ve been trying to gain Akshi’s favor for years. He is no doubt a powerful mana enchanter, but his ways are evil and twisted. This is a wonderful realm. It’s people kind and caring.” Rafael’s face twisted, then he glanced at Derek and Alejandra. Was he talking about everyone on earth? Or just the people of Elmwood. Even some people in Elmwood were pretty awful. “They are ill-equipped to handle someone like Akshi taking over. It would ruin them.”

“Which is why we join Akshi. Once he has the full extent of his abilities, he will become the most powerful being in this realm, and we would be stupid to fight him.”

Ezekiel studied Phantom before his face relaxed. “Actually, it reminds me of a story.”

Grizzizzik rolled his eyes, groaning as he walked toward the shade of a tree. Rafael watched, amused, as Ezekiel started explaining the ending of the Lord of the Rings, specifically the scouring of the Shire. Rafael didn’t know what it had to do with anything, but it definitely turned the tension of the group from high alert to almost respectfully bored. Milo wandered over to the ogres and started pulling out beakers and a small carving knife. Derek went to join him, offering to hold the filled containers. Grizzizzik flitted through the bodies, finding teeth and money, no doubt.

Ezekiel finished talking about the heroic push from the hobbits, people who were generally opposed to fighting and adventuring, who confronted what was evil in their hometown.

“Then Wormtongue, who was always at Saruman’s side because he had nowhere else to go, ended up killing his master.” Ezekiel let out a sigh as he looked out on the desert. “A fascinating ending to the adventures of the Shirefolk.”

“What happened to Wormtongue?” Phantom asked.

“Oh. He got shot by a hobbit.”

“So…” Phantom started to say. “Don’t be Wormtongue?”

Ezekiel gave the bandit a strange look, then his face relaxed. “Oh, right. Yeah. Yeah, that’s a great lesson to take from that!”

Phantom shook his head, then got to his feet, still holding his tender shoulder. “I’ll think about it.” He started to leave. Grizzizzik, who finished gathering what he needed to and went back to watching them, shot Ezekiel a look. Milo, Hraktar, and Clarissa, too, divided their gazes from Phantom and Ezekiel. Derek and Alejandra both looked at Rafael, but he had no answer. Well, he did, but he doubted they would like it. Ezekiel was absolutely going to let Phantom walk away.