I opened my eyes and looked up. The top of the tent is what I saw. Against my back, I could feel Crue breathing. Slow and even with a slight wheeze. He was sleeping heavily. Ave was on her way I should wake him up.

I rolled over and sat up hoping that would wake him. Nothing. So I shook him by the shoulder. He rolled away from me and snuggled deeper into the blankets. I smacked him with the flat of my palm on the side.

"Get up we've got company." Then I hit him again for good measure, not because he made me the little spoon.

"Huh? Wha?" He mumbled looking around. Seeing me hopping on one foot trying to get my boot on he sat up. The blankets fell off him. "Eri?"

"Company," I said again and left the tent. That ass, what was with him and not wearing pants to bed? I'd have to hit him again later.

Amisi found me first. She came up and did a happy bee dance in the air. She sent me all sorts of images that were hard to figure out, but I could guess what she wanted to know.

"I'm fine, I had a talk with Edomael." I left it at that. No need to get into detail when the others would be asking the same questions.

I strode past where Lotte was sitting and ignored her when she jumped up. Had she been daydreaming? How did she not hear me coming? She called to me, but I was focused on getting to the point in the rocks where Ave was waiting.

She was waiting. Was she scouting the situation or was she waiting for someone to notice her? She could have just walked up to Lotte but she hadn't. She'd chosen to stay out of sight. Why?

I rounded the corner and there she was standing by a tree. When she saw me she waved. I waved back. I mean it was the only polite thing to do when someone waves at you.

"Hey," I called.

"Who is that?" Lotte had come up behind me and had finally spotted the newcomer.

"I think the real question is how did I sneak up behind you and how did she get so close to camp without you noticing." Ok, it may have been a dick move, but she had punched me into unconsciousness. Just because I'd been mental at the time didn't mean I'd forgotten that part.

"Hey yourself, you look a bit banged up. How'd you get that huge bruise on your face." Ave came up to us and smiled.

"Friendly fire," I told her. I peeked at Lotte she was all sorts of shades of red. She had also begun coughing. It was embarrassment and chagrin. She knew I knew about the punch and she also knew I'd been right about her keeping watch. She could have killed me knocking me out when I was unstable and sending my soul out of my body. She didn't know that though so I couldn't hold a grudge for that.

Her turn on watch though was another pressing issue. I wasn't certain how long Ave had been standing around the corner, but it was certainly enough time for her to launch an attack and kill Lotte without anyone being the wiser. She probably knew that better than me, so I'd let her squirm a bit more about it.

"Captain Richard has been killed. I've been sent by Commander Tagert to bring back Captain Sturgis," Ave told both of us at the same time. She must have known Lotte was a guard by her clothes so it made sense to report the situation to the first guard she saw, but why had she waited and not approached Lotte earlier?

"Killed? Captain Richard?" Lotted went from being all over red to having the blood drain from her face. For a second I thought she might actually pass out from fluctuation of blood pressure.

"Murdered. The guard is having a hell of a time right now. They need the other captain now." Ave nodded in the direction of camp as if she knew Sturgis was in there somewhere. Well, that was logical seeing as it was our camp.

"Murdered... what?" Lotte's voice fell to a whisper. I still hadn't ruled out her passing out. I placed my hand on her back and activated Healing Hands. We didn't have time for another hysterical episode. Mine had been enough for the day.

How close had Lotte been to the other captain? Now I felt really bad for being a dick to her and embarrassing her in front of Ave. Guilt worked its way up my core. Shit.

"Sorry," I murmured to her. "Is Sturgis still...you know..." I trailed off the question.

"He hasn't woken up yet and Crue keeps having to heal him. I..."

"Heal him? What happened?" Ave asked interrupting Lotte.

"Our big bad monster was a giant King Cave Bear. It attacked Sturgis," I told Ave. "He won't be of any use to anyone for a while.

"No offense," I added for Lotte's sake. She just shook her head.

"We do have to get him back though. Illia and I made a stretcher, but with you out to we couldn't carry two people." She gave me a look like she blamed me for losing my shit and leaving Sturgis to fight for his life out in the woods. Ok, so I may have picked a shitty time to lose it.

"A King Cave Bear? So close to Yellow Springs? How did that happen?" Ave asked.

"We think it must have leveled up in the cave system and that's why everyone missed it," I told her.

"It's dead?" Ave looked around as if searching for a giant Cave Bear.

"Thanks to my new pet. Don't freak out when you see her. She's friendly and vouched for by Amoris." I told her waving her into camp. Crue was probably checking on his brother. I didn't know where Illia was, but we might as well finish the conversation with everyone present.

"Gods above, you have been busy," Ave muttered as Amisi took that moment to buzz around the corner.

Amisi did a bob at Ave. Ave gave Amisi some hard eye contact then nodded back. Amisi sent me a mental image of Amoris for some reason.

"Huh?" I asked her.

She sent the image again and bobbed in front of Ave. I still didn't get it.

"Oh, she can communicate?" Ave asked. Amisi must have sent the image to her too.

"Yes, a Blessing from Amoris." Oh, had that been what Amisi was trying to tell me? She wanted Ave to know she could talk to her.

"Who's this?" Crue asked as we neared the tents. He'd just popped out of the second tent. Sturgis was probably in it.

"Ave," I answered him. "Illia?" I asked.

"Sleeping, I just woke her up." He nodded to the third tent where there was some rustling inside. So Lotte had been the only one awake and on watch? Well, with two people down and another using all his energy to heal I guess the majority of the watches would have been on the girls and a baby bee.

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Crue looked at my hand and noticed I was still healing Lotte. The glow was a telltale sign so it's not like I was trying to hide it.

"What's wrong?" He came up to Lotte. I could feel his healing magic brush mine as he checked her over. I was just keeping her blood pressure from changing so it's not like she was in dire straights. He finished his checkup and left the rest to me.

"Captain Richard, he's been murdered," Lotte told him looking at the ground. She brought her hand to her face and her shoulders began to shake.

Was she crying? I peeked at her face. Oh shit, she was crying. I rubbed my hand on her back. It was the only thing I could think of to do. I knew better than to pat her head and say 'there there', but other than that I was a bit lost. I didn't know Lotte that well. I didn't know what to do to comfort her.

"Shit," Crue swore. He looked a bit stunned when Lotte started to cry. Then he hunched in on himself, his expression changing, and dropped down to his haunches. Crue knew Captain Richard? Right, Crue had been in the guard at one point so he probably would know him.

I was feeling like a shitty friend for not considering the emotional impact this random man's death had on my friends. I didn't know him, I'd only seen him once. So when I saw that image of him all cut up it hadn't really hit me that this was a real person. It seemed more like watching a horror movie than facing reality. Well, the reality of the situation was showing itself now in the grief they were showing. This man would be missed. Not by me, but by people I cared about.

"SHIT!" Crue smashed his hand into the dirt. "Shit."

Illia stepped out of the tent and went to Crue.

"It's not like the tent is soundproof," she said when I gave her a questioning look. I had wondered how she'd known to go to Crue. Leave it to her to point out the obvious.

"We need to get Captain Sturgis into town. Even if he can't do much at least in town he'll be better off," Ave said looking around the camp.

Crue just sat there. Lotte was still crying. We needed to get things done. What first? My stomach gave a loud growl. Lotte paused in her sobs and looked at me. Illia and Ave gave me a look too. Guess that answered that question. We ate first.

How had they been feeding themselves while I was out? I had most of the stuff in storage. I hadn't gathered the stuff up from when we woke up to the bear attack. All the camping gear had been left out, but the food had been in storage. Had they been hunting for food or did they have ration cakes packed away somewhere? Probably a smart thing to do since they couldn't access my inventory without my being alive, awake, and well.

I could do a bit better than ration cakes, though I had a decent stock of those. I had fresh fruit and some cheese. I also had stuff we could cook if we had time.

I was told the cold food would be fine. I passed it around. Apples, strawberries, chocolate, and cheese. I also offered some of the dried meat. Ave and Lotte both accepted.

Ave hadn't even questioned my storage so word must have gone around. I didn't recall telling her about it, but she didn't seem surprised at the handfuls of goods I produced. I hadn't been very cautious when I came into town. It seemed like I had told everyone about it willy-nilly. So it wasn't unsurprising that she hadn't reacted.

Amisi hadn't had any honey since I was knocked out. I made sure she got a full belly of it before I gave her a few berries. Had she eaten ration cakes too? She certainly seemed grateful for the honey. I probably should put aside a jar of it for Crue or Illia to handle in case I get knocked out again.

Ave gave us more details on the murders in Yellow Springs. She left out the part where she had a suspect. Perhaps she wanted to wait until we were alone before asking me whatever it was she needed my help with?

The second guard didn't get as much of a reaction out of Illia and Crue as Captain Richard did. Either they were both in shock or they hadn't known the man well. The woman that had been killed was also a guard, but she'd been off duty at the time she'd been killed. Someone was out there killing guards and they must have known something about the victims or how else did they know the first woman was also a guard? I would have guessed prostitute considering the area she'd been found in.

We caught Ave up on the events leading up to the killing of the Cave Bear. She seemed surprised that we'd been able to kill it at all. I left out the part about Edomael's arrows and made it seem like they were just everyday run of the mill arrows we'd been shooting. She praised Amisi when I got to that part. Amisi buzzed in delight.

After eating we packed up camp, loaded Sturgis onto the stretcher, and started the trip home. Each of us had a corner of the stretcher since Sturgis was a big man. Ave took the front position since there were still a bunch of Red Wolves running about. They were mostly near the town, but there were a few stragglers who'd gotten turned around.

They mostly avoided us, which was a good thing since I didn't know our odds if we had to fight against a large pack while protecting a wounded man. I also didn't know how good Ave was. Just that she was in the Guild and had managed to get to us through the crowd of wolves without getting herself killed. That took some skill.

Our pace had been slowed considerably by carrying Sturgis. Since we were going at a slower pace we decided to travel during the part of the night. The moon was out and once it was higher in the sky we should be able to see enough to walk in the woods. Running was certainly out because shadows played hell with the depth perception and you'd just end up falling into a ditch. Not that we could run carrying the big man.

We all took the chance to nap a bit after dinner. Since I'd gotten the most sleep recently and because I had my map. I got to sit watch over everyone while they dozed. Even Amisi curled up with Illia. I kept an eye on Sturgis, and another on the map. Other than that, I let my mind wander. I didn't want to think much. I just couldn't work up the energy to have a panic attack over all the shit going on. Exhaustion was both my friend and my enemy.

The trip back was hell. It had only taken us two days of running to get to the Cave Bear. It was a much longer trip walking, carrying a large man, and not getting enough rest. Everyone was grumpy and on edge.

Illia got to take her frustration out on three Red Wolves during her watch on the second day of travel. I'd woken up to more barbecued wolves and a very grumpy Illia. On the third day, Crue had piled up two more wolves for me. Their skulls had been bashed in. In comparison, my two kills were rather neat little arrow wounds. Lotte and Ave had yet to leave me with a pile of mutilated wolves, so there was that. Count the little blessings.

Lotte wasn't really talking to anyone. She began to communicate with us through a series of grunts and head nods. I could hear her crying before she went to sleep so I did my best to give her some consideration. She really seemed devastated over the other captain. Some of it was probably Sturgis' unknown fate. She had a lot on her emotional plate.

The same went for Crue. Crue put most of his excess energy into keeping Sturgis stable. There was obviously something else at play other than just the physical cuts and punctures. Those had been healed up mostly in the first few rounds of healing. Yet, something kept Sturgis down. He kept developing a high fever and his skin around his arm would turn ugly shades of purple at really random moments.

I didn't want to bring it up since Crue was trying his best, but it might come down to us having to cut off Sturgis' arm in order to save the rest of his body from whatever it was keeping him sick. I would periodically check on him when Crue was sleeping. I couldn't figure out what the problem was either. I had a more modern idea of how the body worked thanks to mandatory health classes, but I was still lost on how to help Sturgis. He couldn't go much longer without any fluids or food.

On day four, Crue showed me that he really was medically trained and it wasn't just healing magic that made a healer. He'd had a length of rubber tubing in his pack. I had thought it was for tourniquet use, but it was more than that.

He had me tilt Sturgis' head back and he worked the tube down his throat and into his stomach. I was impressed. Very impressed. I'd only seen something like that done on medical shows. For Crue to be able to do it out in the middle of the woods and get the tube down the right pipe on the first try was just as cool as magic to me. He had used magic to 'feel' for the guidance of the tubing as it entered, but still really damned cool.

Lotte had caught a Ring Rabbit and we'd cooked him up. We made a broth out of boiling some of the bones. After it cooled Crue force-fed Sturgis the broth through the tube. He'd take mouth fulls of the broth and sort of blew it through the tube and into Sturgis. He took great care that he didn't have many air bubbles in the tube. Once Sturgis had 'eaten' a bowl of soup, Crue took the tubing out. Had he fed him like this before when I'd been passed out?

On day five, he did it again with the leftover broth. We were actually attacked during the middle of the feeding by a pack of Red Wolves. We were closer to the town and should reach it by tomorrow if we walked all night. Being so close we were elbows to asses surrounded by wolves. Most of them kept away from a large party but smelling the broth lured them in. Ave and Lotte finally got their chance to do some skull bashing.

We guarded Crue and Sturgis as Crue finished the feeding. He had absolute trust that we wouldn't let the pack close. I don't know if I'd have been able to keep blowing food into someone when there was a pack of wolves running around doing their best to eat me.

On day six, we finally made it to town. Soggy from a sudden rainstorm, tired from all the walking, mentally exhausted, we arrived at the gate. Only to be met with more bad news.