Before he got sucked into researching runes again, he released Freyja from her stall. The cat was still full from her meal last night, and lazily followed him about as he settled into a patch of grass, [Create]ing himself a small chair to relax in as he pulled out his notebook again and activated [Rune Master’s Library]. This time, the area of his focus was wider. Before, he’d been able to focus on runes that would create a damaging effect. This time, though, his desires were broader. He wanted ways to strengthen materials, ward off elements, reduce impacts – especially that, after his run in with that crossbow bolt, and anything else that could potentially make his armor more effective. Thus, the amount of runes that were pushed into his mind was significantly more than yesterday, almost overwhelming him with their volume. He quickly began scribbling them down with brief descriptions before dismissing them from the skill, to reduce the ache in his head that it was causing. By the time he was finished, he realized that he probably wouldn’t have time to actually do the rune work on his armor or shield unless he stayed up far too late to be rested for their trip the next day. But he would at least design the arrays for each armor piece so that he could begin the process tomorrow when the stopped for the night.

The end result of his time scribbling out the approximate shapes of his armor was a system of arrays that should provide better overall protection than what he currently had. He had also decided to create two additional plates that would cover his sides and remove the kidney plates in his plate carrier. That would give him greater overall protection as well as space for runes. The inside of each piece of armor would be absolutely filled with gathering arrays, as would the back of his shield. The outside would include the original runes he had used, strengthening, silencing, and the new personal gathering array, with the addition of a sequence of runes on each piece. that would reduce the momentum of any object that was coming at him too quickly. It wouldn’t stop them, but a lot of the oomph would be taken out of any blow that were to strike him. The arrays for elemental resistance seemed useful, but they took up large amounts of space, and Xander had yet to deal with an enemy that had used an element, so it seemed like a suboptimal use of his limited space.

The next morning, they were packed and ready to begin riding out. Gabrelle had purchased a rather sedate mare the previous day, a good mount for someone who had never owned a horse before. It was happy to plod alongside Graffus and Atrax’s horses, though it still shied away from Freyja if she drew too close. Frazay’s stag seemed to have finally gotten over its fear of Freyja as well, having spent enough time near her to realize she wasn’t going to eat it. Gabrelle, upon the advice of Frazay, had kept her purchases for traveling equipment light, so as to not weigh herself or her horse down any more than necessary.

As they were traveling through the town, following a road adjacent to the river that led Northward, Gabrelle began to look uncomfortable. Eventually, unable to keep it to herself any longer, she blurted out to the group, “We’re going to pass by my house… and I haven’t said goodbye to my parent.”

Xander turned in his saddle to look at her. “Do you want to?”

“I… well, yes. But, they were so angry with me when I told them I’d signed up with the guild and joined a team, and we haven’t spoken since. I don’t want to leave them in the dark about leaving town, but at the same time, I’m scared to go back and see them.”

Frazay replied next, saying “You should tell them. We’ve got your back.”

“You’re right,” Gabrelle said. “They deserve to know, and I don’t want to leave things off where they were. The house is just up there on the right.”

As they rode further down the road, Gabrelle stopped them, pointing out a nice-looking house to their left. Looking at the house, Xander assumed that Gabrelle’s parents were upper middle -class, considering the neighborhood, which was well kept, and the size of it compared to those in the slums, tenements, and poorer areas of the city. He was starting to realize now why Gabrelle’s parents had opposed the idea of her becoming a mercenary so vehemently. A poor family would likely be more supportive of the idea, as becoming a mercenary was one of the ways one could climb out of poverty, assuming you didn’t die first. But being in an already successful middle-class family, that pressure wasn’t there, and her parents likely wanted her to be able to choose a normal, safe occupation.

Drawing closer to the house, Gabrelle dismounted, Frazay holding the reins of her horse for her, and hesitantly walked up to the door. She paused in front of it, steeling herself, and took a deep breath. After her preparation, she used the small, brass knocker set into the door, and thumped it several times. About a minute later, a woman, who was obviously Gabrelle’s mother, considering the similarity of their faces, opened the door.

“Gabrelle! Oh, by the gods, it’s been days! And we haven’t heard a word from you, we were so worried! Are you okay? Is everything alright? Who are these… is this the team you mentioned?” The words all tumbled out of the woman before Gabrelle could even say a word, as her mother wrapped her tightly in a hug.

The strength of Gabrelle’s mother’s hug squeezed some air out of the young woman causing her to grunt. “Uff, uhm hi mom. Yes, I’m okay… and I’m sorry I didn’t come back or write or anything. But you two were just so angry! I didn’t want to face that again… and yes, these are my teammates.”

Xander awkwardly waved as Gabrelle’s mother looked them over, clearly assessing whether they were ‘worthy’ of being on a team with Gabrelle. She withheld any verbal judgement, for the time being, though.

“Please, do come in, all of you. I’ll put on some tea, and we can all talk things through,” Gabrelle’s mother invited. “Your father’s upstairs in his workshop, I’ll go fetch him. I think we both owe you an apology for… how we reacted. Not seeing you or knowing where you were or how you were faring for the past few days has given us time to see that we overreacted. I’d rather you be a mercenary and still speak with us or at least write, then have you in the city but hating us. Ah, I’ve forgotten to introduce myself to your friends, I apologize for my manners. I am Herria, and, as I expect you have guessed, I’m Gabrelle’s mother. Please, do come in.” Herria ushered them inside, where, after hitching the horses nearby and Xander asking Freyja to stay put in the yard behind the house, they were greeted with a modestly sized living room and dining area.

Looking about, Xander noticed that there were clothes of various styles and sizes folded or hanging on most of the available surfaces.

“Please excuse the mess,” Herria began explaining, “Gabrelle, your father, ah, his name is Roland,” she said for the benefit of Gabrelle’s teammates, “he’s thrown himself into his work ever since you left.”

“He’s a [Tailor],” Gabrelle said to the mercenaries.

“Oh, it’s no issue,” Atrax said, smoothly, “We all handle stress differently, and often in a less… productive manner than this.”

“Sit, sit,” Herria gestured at the dinner table, which was mostly free of clothes. “I’ll get your father from his workshop and start the tea, dear.”

Herria disappeared around the corner, but the sound of her hurrying up a set of stairs could still be heard. A short time later, two sets of footsteps coming down the stairs sounded out, and around the corner came Herria and Roland, whose hair was the same color as Gabrelle. He appeared somewhat disheveled, being unshaved, and his hair looked as if he’d been running his hands through it.

“Gabrelle!” He said as he rounded the corner. “Oh, my girl, I was worried we’d never see you again!” Gabrelle was swiftly dragged into another hug, this one even more crushing than her mothers. Instead of a grunt, this one allowed only a squeak from her.

“I’m sorry…” Gabrelle said guiltily. “I just didn’t know how to continue things after the way we left off.”

Gabrelle’s father released her from the hug, taking a seat at the table with the rest of the group. “I’m sorry for the way I reacted, Gabrelle. I just… I’m afraid for you. You’re our only child, and the thought of you going away from us, well, it hurts. Let alone the fact that this line of work is dangerous.” As he said ‘dangerous,’ his eyes flicked over to her teammates for a moment as if they were a physical representation of danger. Xander supposed they were, to the man. They were all of them armed and armored for their travels, in stark contrast to either of Gabrelle’s parents. “But… if the options are forcing you to do something you don’t want and ruining your relationship with us, or keeping you in our lives even in a small way, I know which one I’d rather have. Just… please write.” His last sentence was almost pleading.

“Father… We’ll be coming back. I’m not leaving forever!” Gabrelle explained, though she did shoot a questioning look at Atrax.

Atrax nodded at her, adding, “I expect we’ll be operating out of Anlet for a good while, there is a wealth of contracts that fit our dynamic fairly well here, though, I’ll admit, some of them may have us ranging farther than others.” He paused, before saying, “But I promise you, sir, we will take good care of your daughter. She has already proved herself to be a valuable teammate in the short time we’ve worked with her.”

Roland nodded uncertainly. “I… see. And what exactly has Gabrelle been doing with your, ah, team?” He asked awkwardly, less out of suspicion and more out of an attempt to connect with what his daughter had chosen for a profession.

“Dad, I’m a [Medic],” Gabrelle interjected. “What do you think I’m doing? I’m not on the front line of the fights, though Graffus here is finally giving me the lessons in combat I wanted so badly,” She added lightly. “Though, they aren’t nearly as fun as I thought they’d be…”

“Do you find yourself in need of a [Medic] often?” Roland asked, nervously.

“Not too often,” Xander chimed in, “Though, she did set my shoulder after, ah, an accident I had. Fell off my mount…” Xander realized halfway through that he probably shouldn’t say, ‘after I got shot with a crossbow.’ “Fixed me right up. I’d rather have her skills and not need them, than not have her and find myself in need of healing,” he explained.

Graffus nodded, “Yes indeed. If you find yourself in need of healing out on a contract, it can be quite difficult to get somewhere where you can get it if you don’t have a healer on the team. Of course, we split our pay equally, as just the ability to heal us when needed is vital. We aren’t expecting her to rush into the fight without a combat class,” he explained. “The lessons are to ensure that she is able to defend herself if she should need to.”

Gabrelle looked torn between assuaging her father’s fears, and being indignant that it was being implied that she’d be sitting on the backlines, even though that was her job for the most part, having no combat related skills, at least for now. It was not impossible for her to achieve a third class that would allow her these things, but it would take either a lot of training or some kind of achievement to do so. She opted to stay silent, simply nodding her head slightly at the explanation.

Roland seemed to relax somewhat with this explanation, no longer in as much fear of his daughter being in direct danger. “Ah, I see. We always told Gabrelle she could make a good career and living off of healing. I suppose… this is just one of the ways one can do that.”

Herria came back in with the tea, and the seven of them settled into a more comfortable routine of conversation. Xander and Roland spoke about Roland’s [Tailor] class, and Roland, once he learned that Xander had created the brigandine that Gabrelle was wearing, marveled at the seams and the lack of stitching on the coat. He even had some good advice for Xander on ensuring proper fitment, especially in the armpits, which Xander had struggled with. Gabrelle admitted that the coat did rub somewhat in the area, and under Roland’s guidance, Xander adjusted the coat to fit slightly better, much to Gabrelle’s delight.

“Do you think you could maybe… make her some more armor?” Roland asked politely.

“Oh, I’ve been meaning to ask you about that, actually, Xander!” Gabrelle exclaimed. “I’d really like to get some leg armor like you have… ever since I watched you sweep the legs out from under that woman that night… I’ve felt a little exposed without leg armor.”

Roland looked nervous again at Gabrelle’s mention of combat, but stayed quiet. Xander nodded, the explanation making sense to him. “Sure, I think that would be a good idea. Are you wanting to keep the brigandine, or go with a breastplate to go along with the leg plates? I suppose I ought to make you a helm, too. Gotta keep that noggin safe,” he said with a laugh. “If we stop by a smith on the way out of town to buy some steel, I can start working on it while we travel. I have to redo the runes on my armor, anyway. Ah, we should pick up some more brass too. I’ve found other things that work even better, but uhhh, it’s probably a bit too pricey to fill the runes on your armor with rubies or sapphires. Brass is a good, cheap option that still works well.”

Gabrelle nodded, and said “Thank you! Uhm, if it’s not too much trouble, I think I’d like a breastplate. Not that the coat you made me isn’t amazing, but I quite like the look of the steel armor I’ve seen people wear at the guild hall.”

Atrax, as well as the rest of the mercenaries, had been drawn to the conversation, interested in hearing about Xander’s rune work. “Wait,” Atrax said, “You’re filling runes with gemstones? By the gods, that would be expensive to have done.”

“It definitely would be, if I couldn’t use [Improved Creation] to make my own. But, it will only work for me… since they’ll decay in a day if they’re more than a few feet from me. Anything I make for ya’ll has to be from already existing materials, so it doesn’t turn to dust after a day.”

“Xander,” Frazay began, “do you think you’d be willing to also do some rune work for us on what we already have?”

“Of course!” Xander replied. “I’ve actually been wondering why no one’s asked until now.”

“Well, enchantments and runes are often pretty expensive affairs, and we didn’t want you to feel like we were taking advantage of our friendship with you, or anything like that…” Frazay explained.

“Ohhhhh… I think I see now. I get it, I do. But it’s really not that much trouble for me to do some simple engravings on your stuff! I’ve got the basic stuff down at this point, it’ll hardly take me any time at all. Besides, if it helps keep you safe, then by extension, it helps keep me safe!”

Atrax, Graffus, and Frazay breathed a collective sigh of relief. Clearly, this had been something they’d been nervous about asking.

“Then, I suppose we’ll all be buying some brass at a smith,” Atrax commented.

They spent about an hour at Gabrelle’s home, the young woman catching up with her parents, telling them about her first contract, though she omitted some of the gorier details. Eventually, though, they managed to extricate themselves from the building, Gabrelle’s parents waving at her from the doorstep. Gabrelle seemed much relieved now, having salvaged her relationship with her parents. The closest smithy, according to Roland, was the one that Xander and Gabrelle had visited the day that they’d been getting steel for Gabrelle’s coat.

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Stopping in front of the shop, the group elected Atrax, who grumbled about it but complied, to hold the reigns of the horses outside. Inside, they were greeted by the smith, who was, once again, sharpening a knife.

“Welcome! What can I do for you fine folk today?”

“Ah, we’re here to buy some steel and brass. Again,” Xander said.

“Oh! I remember you, now. Damn near cleaned me out of scrap metal, you did. How much are you looking for this time?”

“Just a few ingots worth of each, if you have it in stock.”

“Aye, I’ve enough of it still to sell you that.”

The four of them, Graffus having been given some coin from Atrax to purchase for him, paid for their metals. Gabrelle purchased the steel, while the rest of them split the amount of brass. Xander also purchased himself an ingot of steel, to have spare metal to work with. He also planned to update his armor somewhat, covering the joints that were exposed by his plate with chainmail. It would be interesting to practice on doing runework on something so small. He wasn’t sure he’d even be able to, though it would still be better than nothing, even without any runes. He’d incorporate the idea into Gabrelle’s armor, too.

The first day of their travel continued without impediment, once they left the city. The landscape slowly faded from densely packed city to farmland and vineyards, with the occasional mansion or noble’s summer home dotting the landscape outside the city. The party located an inn as the light was beginning to fade, which had space for them to stay at. Unfortunately, the proprietor was either unwilling or unable to facilitate a giant panther, turning Xander and his mount away. He could tell his group was upset with this, but stopped them from starting an argument with the innkeeper and getting all of them kicked out. He’d expected this kind of thing once he’d realized the reactions that Freyja would be getting from the average person. Besides, he would be plenty comfortable in his tent, especially with a giant, living furry pillow to use. The innkeeper at least agreed to allow him to camp out on the property as well as eat meals inside, as long as someone watched over Freyja.

Settling into his tent, glad that he’d had the inventory space to pack a large, spacious one, he decided to start his new runework on his armor, as well as experimenting with the chain mail idea he’d had. The runework was comfortable, rote work for him, as he densely etched mana gathering arrays, personal mana arrays, and then his defensive arrays and silencing runes all over the different pieces of his armor. Once he had finished that, he tested out using [Improved Creation] and [Improved Manipulate] to create a small section of chainmail. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried, he just was not capable of creating runes small enough for the small sections of wire. Thinking about the best way to handle the issue, he remembered the existence of scale mail. Each scale should have space for a small gathering array on one side and a hardening rune on the other, which would make it more effective than un-runed chainmail. Creating a pile of scales with runes, he began attaching them to leather sheets, which would wrap around his exposed elbows, neck portions, and knees. Satisfied with his work, he fell asleep, using Freyja, who had long since fallen asleep, as a pillow.

The next day of travel fared much the same as the previous, though this time, there was no inn to be found. As they set up camp, they were passed by a caravan of merchants, who briefly stopped to warn them of potential bandits if they were planning on continuing down the road for a few more days, before they continued on past the mercenaries. Xander showed off his new scale mail joint coverings to Gabrelle and Graffus, asking if it was something they would like to have with their own armor. Xander could reclaim the leather from Gabrelle’s coat to use for their wraps. They were both pleased with the idea.

After their dinner of preserved rations which they had bought in the city, Xander began his work on Gabrelle’s new armor, taking her coat to reclaim the steel, brass and leather he’d used for it originally. Soon, he had arm and leg armor for her that matched his own, as well as scale mail coverings for the joints. For her helm, he created what amounted to a kettle hat, with a wide brim to protect her face from overhead strikes. The breastplate was a simple affair, two places conforming to her front and back which would bind together with buckles on each side. He knew better than to create ‘boobplate’ as he thought of it, as the protrusions were nothing but another thing for weapons to gain purchase on. Instead, the armor came to a more traditional point, forcing weapons that stabbed it head on to skate to one side or the other. A gorget built into the front would prevent any stabs that slide upwards from making their way to the neck. Overall, Xander was quite pleased with his work. The runes went more quickly than they had on his first iteration on his armor, essentially being an exact copy of it. It looked quite fetching with the near gold runes covering every available surface, and due to the silencing runes in strategic points along the armor, the wearer would be almost completely silent. His teammates were suitably impressed with his work, especially Gabrelle.

“I always wanted to be a knight, going on adventures!” She said. “Now, I’ll finally look the piece, even if I’m not a [Knight]. And this armor is even magical! Even as a child I never dreamed I’d actually be able to get my hands on something like this.” She clasped her hands over one of Xander’s shaking it vigorously. “Thank you so much, Xander!”

“Uhm, of course, you’re welcome,” He said, taken aback once again by Gabrelle’s enthusiasm. The young woman really did have a deep passion for adventuring.

“I promise I’ll start work on you three’s armor next,” he said to Graffus, Atrax, and Frazay.

The next day, they passed another group of travelers, who similarly warned them to be on the lookout for bandits. They’d apparently come across several abandoned wagons and signs of a struggle, though there were no bodies.

“Seems like we’re on the right track,” Graffus commented, after the group had passed.

“Indeed,” Frazay said. “This group of bandits can’t have been operating for too long this near a city like Anlet. Otherwise, someone would have done something about them already. Either the city itself, or someone putting a contract out on them. My guess is they’re either a band of criminals from Anlet that got muscled out of their territory and turned to robbing travelers, or they from farther afield and set up shop near a well-traveled road to make some quick gold before returning to wherever their normal hunting grounds are. Hopefully they are still around, but as long as we can find the site of one of their raids, I should be able to track them down with my [Ranger] skills.”

Atrax nodded. “We should be on the lookout now, though. We’re getting close enough that we might run into an ambush ourselves. We should take up watch shifts through the night.” There was a collective groan, even though they all knew Atrax was right. Still, no one likes being woken up in the middle of the night to take a shift.

That evening, Xander etched his runework into Graffus’s armor, the dwarf appreciative of the extra protection the runes would offer his shield and armor. They both decided to hold off on etching his [Heaven’s Bounty] created hammer, though, as no one had any idea if runes would affect the already existing enchantment.

During his shift on watch, Xander decided he should experiment some more with his skills. He hadn’t been keeping up with them as much as he should, focusing almost entirely on his runic work. Most of his skills tended to produce a bit of a commotion, so he was limited in what he could practice without waking up his teammates. [Smoke Screen] was quiet, but, obviously, produced ten feet of smoke, so he’d need to step away from the ring of tents for that one. Making his way from his teammates, he activated the skill. Instantly, smoke began billowing from him, though to him, it was barely a light mist, filling a ten foot by ten foot sphere around him. It lingered, too, seeming to resist the slight wind that was blowing. After about ten minutes, though, it did slowly begin to disperse with the wind. It would be very handy in a sticky situation, Xander assessed.

The only other two skills he felt he could test without waking up his teammates were [Reactive Armor] and [Automaton]. Walking back to the tents, feeling his mana already filling due to his gathering arrays, he cast [Reactive Armor]. There was a slight glow around his armor for a moment, and then nothing. He supposed that there wasn’t much else to test about the skill without taking a hit. [Automaton] could only be cast once per day, so Xander spend some time pondering what he should create to test out. It should be something that would lend itself to utility and combat, he thought. He spent a good while coming up with just ideas, all of which would need to be tested at some point. A small, skittering spider-like automaton which he could attach a grenade to was one, though it would be destroyed after the grenade went off. Could be useful in certain situations, though. Perhaps it could also be used to scatter mines out in an area for him, though he’d probably make it larger in that case. He shied away from creating a typical, human shaped automaton. It simply didn’t seem like it would be able to keep up with a human in actual combat, as it had no skills it could use. Maybe something like one of those robot dogs he’d seen on the internet before being taken away, with a crossbow so that it could fire bolts, or maybe even grenades.

What was something that could work to increase his personal combat potential, as well as provide him some extra utility? Thinking it over, he had the idea for an automaton that, while it technically would be able to, was not designed to be mobile by itself. Instead, it would sit like a backpack on him, and it would have multiple limbs, which would be used for different purposes. Four long and spindly spider-like limbs would provide him a way to move over difficult terrain or climb without having to use his own limbs, a few ‘utility’ limbs with claw like ends could hold different things, keeping his hands free if he needed to work, and two articulated arms that ended in round shields could help defend him. He expected he’d have to mentally give directions to the automaton for movement, but hopefully, since the skill stated it could attack or defend, it would act on its own during combat to keep him from having to micromanage it. This one intrigued him the most, and he wondered what else he could create as personal devices. The only other thing that occurred to him was, perhaps, wings, but Xander felt that they might be too heavy to function. Perhaps they’d allow him to glide, though. For now, he wanted to test out the backpack, as it would be something he could continue getting used to working with while they rode the next day.

The backpack proved to be rather expensive, mana-wise, though it wasn’t much of an issue with his increased mana pool from his higher level and intelligence stat, and his new regeneration. He also had not considered how heavy that much steel, which was the material he’d opted to use for this iteration, would be. Fortunately, his advanced level of [Unstoppable Force] made it a non-issue for him to wear it. He would have to be self-aware of how top heavy it made him, though. Slowly he ordered the spider legs to unfold from their current position, which was slotted into the sides of the square backpack, making them hard to notice, and marveled at them as they did so. I’m a real techpriest, now, he joked to himself with a small chuckle. Directing the limbs down to the ground, he found that they were easily able to support his weight and lift him from the ground.

He experimented moving exclusively with the spider legs while dangling from the backpack, which strapped over his shoulders, as well as across the chest and his waist. It was awkward at first, but soon, he was able to easily move at a high speed with the legs, faster than he’d be able to run on his own. Stopping back in the center of the tents, he practiced other motions with his new toy, using the spider legs to stab at imaginary foes, and blocking their phantom counterstrikes with his automaton’s shield arms. Once he tired of that, he began using the two clawed armed he’d ended up creating to pick up and throw rocks. The strength behind the steel limbs was quite high, which meant Xander was unable to see where the rocks were landing once he’d thrown them. Overall, he was satisfied with this experiment. He’d probably keep it up for now, practicing with it so that he could be effective with it in combat by the time they found the bandits. The other automatons would have to wait until he had more downtime, as would his idea of wings, which he was realizing might be best as a combination of runic arrays that would flap a skeleton of lightweight metal and some kind of cloth or feathers rather than an automaton. Taking his new backpack automaton off and commanding it to fold its limbs back into itself, he then took off his armor as well. It was time for him to wake up Graffus for the next shift and go to sleep.

The next days passed much the same, Xander spending time off of Freyja walking on his spider legs, which creeped out Gabrelle to no end. Apparently she found the spider-like imagery somewhat disturbing. For Atrax’s and Frazay’s armor, Xander opted to instead turn the brass into thread and embroider the runes onto the leather and cloth. The magic still worked, fortunately, which lead him to some interesting ideas for a cloak, if he ever found the runes that would cause the cloth to mimic the terrain around it. That would be amazing for camouflage. Xander spent his free time learning new runes and trying to come up with various ways to implement them. He hadn’t made any progress on a camouflage cloak, but he did discover a lightness rune, which would be crucial to his eventual wing project. Xander checked his status sheet during this time, seeing that he had once again leveled up from creating so many runic arrays.

---You have created runic arrays---

---[Rune Lord] leveled to 4---

---[Rune Lord] level 4 skills---

[Reversal] – You may create runes that are the inverse of their original function

Xander knew this would open up even more options to him, though some of the runes seemed either redundant or downright useless. An inverse fire rune ended up functioning about the same as a frost rune did, and he couldn’t even begin figuring out what the inverse intelligence runes, which he’d started calling ‘dumb runes’ did.

On the sixth day since they set out from Anlet, the encountered a ragged group of travelers on the road. Apparently, they were the survivors of a recent ambush by the bandits that they were tracking down. They’d been walking all night and part of the day to try and distance themselves from the highwaymen, for fear that they’d attack them again. The women amongst the group had been especially fearful, and the things that were relayed to Xander and the other mercenaries about why the women were so fearful of the bandits finding them both sickened the mercenaries and hardened their hearts regarding committing violence against the bandits. Not only were this group raiders and thieves, they were murderers and rapists as well. Xander hardly even considered them human beings at this point. Gabrelle was particularly distraught upon hearing of the casual torture the raiders had inflicted upon the caravan they had ambushed. The young woman had never been confronted with just how cruel people could be to their peers. The mercenaries spent some time providing some food from their stores to the group, as they had little for themselves. Xander mended what little clothing they had, using up the rest of the leather that had been Gabrelle’s brigandine, while Gabrelle herself mended the wounds that many of the escapees carried. The tired, sad group thanked them profusely for their kindness, and kept moving towards Anlet, and the relative safety that the city would bring them. Before they left, they relayed to the mercenaries roughly where they’d been ambushed, a spot about six hours walk from their current position.

“We ought to be able to catch up with them by tonight and find their position,” Frazay practically growled. “I doubt they’ll be planning another ambush so soon, hot off the tail of their current spoils.”

Atrax nodded in agreement. “Tonight would be a good night to strike, depending on the number of them. They’ll likely be distracted and celebrating their victory. If that caravan had any stores of ale whatsoever, I can guarantee that they’ll be cracking it open tonight.”

The mercenaries all agreed that they would reach the site of the ambush and track down the raiders, continuing through the night if necessary. They rode for a couple more hours before reaching the ambush site, their mounted pace being significantly faster than the wounded group of survivors’.

Dismounting from Freyja, Xander observed the scene of carnage. Bodies were strewn about, and the remains of several burned wagons dotted the site. Several of the corpses were also incinerated. There were no intact wagons left, leading the group to assume that they’d been taken by the bandits. Frazay began sweeping the area, looking for tracks to follow, while Xander, Atrax, and Graffus were cautiously looking about, ensuring they were not taken unawares, in case the bandits were still in the direct vicinity. Gabrelle had vomited once she’d caught a whiff of one of the charred corpses and was currently catching her breath.

Frazay made her way back to the group, saying, “I found their trail. Look like they took the same way out of here as they did in. We should get a move on while we still have the light.”

“We should continue on foot, though,” Graffus suggested. Horses’ll make too much noise.”

“You’re right,” Atrax agreed. “We should tie the horses up nearby and track them on foot.”

The rest of the group agreed, and so, the mercenaries continued on foot. Xander walked alongside Freyja, who was stalking through the woods that bordered the road as they all followed Frazay. As darkness crept over them, Frazay continued tracking, though their pace slowed. Eventually, they began to hear the sounds of raucous laughter, and see the lights of campfires. The mercenaries moved even slower, being as silent as they could, though none of them quite matched the elegant grace with which Freyja crept silently through the darkened forest. As they neared the far border of the small patch of woods, they were able to observe the goings on of the marauders. There were about ten of them, by Xander’s count, and they were indeed celebrating. Cuts of meat and supplies from the raided caravan, including copious amounts of alcohol were being passed around. Disturbingly, a trio of women were also being passed around between the groups and campfires. Two of them were dressed in rags, which covered little, while the third had been stripped to complete nudity. They had the far-off gaze of someone who had seen and experienced much trauma and were unable to cope with it.

Xander gritted his teeth in anger, and he could practically hear Frazay vibrating in anger, though in actuality she was completely silent and still. He was sure his other teammates were as disgusted as he was, though he could not see their reactions in the dark from his position.

The five of them continued creeping closer to the edge of the forest, until they heard the muffled sound of a string snapping followed by the loud clattering of metal and a curse from Graffus. Evidently, he’d stepped on a well concealed tripwire, and a bundle of pots and pans fell to the forest floor near them.

Instantly, the laughter in the bandit camp shifted to cries of alarm. A man with wild, disheveled hair stood up and moved his hands in a patterned movement, raising them as a ball of fire raced from them, hanging in the sky over the edge of the forest and illuminating the area that the mercenaries had been creeping through.