Mina’s muscles ached and walking wasn’t pleasant, but something she could deal with. It was no different than fighting orcs and then walking all day immediately after. She’d be able to do this without issue.

The sky was a dreary, miserable grey. She glanced up when something cold landed on her nose. Small, white flecks descended from the sky and disappeared the moment it hit the ground. She wrapped William’s cloak even tighter around her body and shivered.

“Are you okay?” William asked, glancing over at her. Renault walked slightly behind the two of them.

“I’ve never seen snow before,” she said. She’d never had a reason to travel this far south. She’d planned on doing it eventually, but she’d been so busy taking care of all the orcs near Brisol that she’d just never had the chance. She held her hand out and one of the white flakes landed on her skin and dissolved.

“Really? You’ve never been this far south?” Renault lengthened his stride until he was walking next to her.

“Never had a reason to. I was too busy dealing with orcs near Brisol.” She shrugged and tucked a her hand back into the cloak. “Don’t really do well with the cold either,” she muttered under her breath.

“I thought you didn’t feel the cold?” Renault asked, his brow arched.

Mina frowned and sent a glare at him. There wasn’t a point in replying to him. It would just end up in some sort of argument or him teasing her again. She didn’t have the energy for it.

“Just ignoring me? That’s a wee bit rude.” He smirked over at her.

She just rolled her eyes. If she’d known he was like this she’d never have invited him. They could leave him at the village, right? Her and William would be fine together. Except, she’d miss the banter, and he was useful. She hadn’t actually seen him fight in a life-or-death situation, but just from their training and watching him move, he could fight.

Her eyes slid over to him. Why had he come with her, anyways? She still hadn’t paid him, and probably wouldn’t be able to for a while. She’d never ask payment for getting rid of orcs, and she doubted that the villages they came across would have any jobs that paid any kind of decent. He had to know that. He wasn’t stupid.

“Why did you come with me?” She asked.

“Oh, now you want to talk to me? Imagine that! She speaks!” Renault held his hand to his chest dramatically.

“Never mind, forget I asked,” she muttered.

“Stop fighting,” William sighed.

“We’re not fighting,” Renault said with a grin.

“Fighting implies that there was a chance he could win,” Mina said at the same time.

“Oh? You’ve yet to best me in a fight of any sort, physical or verbal. I think you’re talking a big game and can’t back it up.” The swordsman flicked at a his shirt.

Mina started to respond, but a large shadow fell across the ground in front of her. Both Renault and William were next to her.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

She didn’t have time to react before Renault darted behind them, his sword in his hand. She hadn’t even seen him draw it. Hot liquid splattered across her back and onto the ground in front of her. The black blood was a stark contrast against the snow that had begun to stick to the earth.

She whirled around, butterflies flickering into existence around her, steam hissing where the snow hit them.

An orc lay at Renault’s feet, it’s throat slit open and that same dark blood dripping from the swordsman’s blade. Six more of the creatures spanned the area behind the dead one.

Where had they come from? There hadn’t been any sort of indication of their presence.

William didn’t hesitate. He swung his warhammer at the orc closest to him. It held up its arm to block the hammer, and was thrown several feet to the side. She didn’t have time to survey the scene any further as the smallest of them charged at her, screaming as it advanced.

It may be the smallest, but it was still large enough to crush her if it got its hands on her.

Her butterflies acted on their own and swarmed it, the battle cry devolved into screams of pain as its skin burned black and blistered.

Pain exploded across her back and she dropped to her knees with a yelp. What had hit her? More butterflies appeared as she turned, but nothing was there.

The small orc charged her again, the pain having distracted her from finishing it off. It swung its club towards her head, and she barely moved out of the way. The force of impact left a small crater in the ground.

Her eyes didn’t leave it as it circled her, and she kept her front to it. She called on more of her power and the fluttering insects converged on the beast. It didn’t even have time to scream.

She turned to find her next target and blinked. The other five orcs were already dead. Renault and William had taken them out in the time that it had taken her to take care of one. What the fuck? How had they done that?

“Behind you!” A voice rang out in her head.

She jumped and flipped around, only to see nothing once more. That didn’t stop her from flying backwards and hitting a tree, though. Something slammed into her stomach and she doubled over in pain.

“What happened? Are you okay?” William asked.

“I…I don’t know. I didn’t see anything.” Mina coughed and stared in shock at the blood that was splattered against the ground.

More pain erupted, this time across her chest, and blood began to pour from a gash that hadn’t been there before.

Renault froze and shut his eyes.

How the fuck was he so calm? Invisible orcs were a bit of a problem. That was the only explanation she could think of for what was happening.

His eyes flew open and he moved faster than her eyes could follow with how much her body hurt. His sword struck mere breaths from William, the middle of his blade gone and black blood dripped from either side.

She hadn’t known orcs could be the size of humans, but this one was as it appeared out of thin air.

Renault glanced around and took a deep breath, closing his eyes once more. “That was the last of them,” he muttered and opened his eyes. He pulled a cloth from the folds of his clothing and wiped the blood from his blade before he sheathed it.

“How do you know for sure?” She asked, gritting her teeth against the pain, and the light-headed feeling.

She took a deep breath and summoned a butterfly. It landed gently on her chest and she allowed it to burn the injury. Her teeth nearly bit through her lip to keep her from screaming.

As the pain began to recede she looked up, sweat coating her entire body despite the cold. Renault and William were both staring at her. She imagined William’s eyes were just as wide as Renault’s.

“What?”

“You just…cauterized your own wound,” William muttered.

“At least you’re not completely useless.” Renault winked at her.

She ignored both of them and started to walk, slow and steady. Each movement eliciting a sharp hiss through her teeth.

A healer would be good, but there was no way she was going to turn around and go back to Lynden. She didn’t have the money for one anyway and she doubted the Crown would pay for this anyways.