The day was hot, but Tommen was hotter. Indeed, he was steaming, he was fuming with rage and the tall lad had taken to walking around red in the face muttering curses and expletives. After all, the little rat Harlow had robbed them!

Brand felt much the same, though his anger was much colder and more composed. He knew deep in his heart that he’d get Harlow and the Guard Captain for this. Hell, the whole of Cabletown was responsible as far as he was concerned, especially the draconian Mayor whose word had been enough to shut down Brand’s exit of the town in an attempt to separate him from excursion, the practice of his ancestors that had been passed down to him. That Cabletown had sent people to bring them back had cemented Brand’s wrath deeply in his heart, and that they had then robbed him of a hard-won and fateful prize had only affirmed that he was correct.

He didn’t know when, but he would see those running Cabletown suffer for this.

For her part, Rosie was glumly back to performing her chores at the inn. None of them had ventured out of Quartz Creek for fear that the guard duo would attack them. At least today.

Yesterday they’d been on the hunt with Marius beside them, desperately searching for the guards and the stolen Databeast egg.

By now they’d accepted that if they hadn’t found the two guards, they never would in time. So they could do nothing but stew over the fact that their Databeast egg was taken from them.

So what could they do? Brand wracked his brains but could only come up with a single, simple solution. He needed to train and get stronger. Their levelling speed had been extremely rapid, though they’d put themselves in life and death situations to do so.

So that’s what they needed. Risking life and limb. But that still hadn’t been enough to stop Cabletown from seizing them. Only the timely intervention of another person had saved him and Tommen.

Marius had agreed to take the three to Shingle City, and to get their element stones attuned at the lab there. That would happen tomorrow though. For now they had time to think.

Brand stood in the training yard with his buckler and short sword, practising over and over again what he’d done against the guard captain. How he’d lost. What he’d have to do better.

He stayed like that for a long time. He was seething with rage that had crystallised into a certain type of highly focused calmness. He was completely locked in, concentrating on nothing but the vision in his mind of the guard captain swinging with his staff. But this time it didn’t hit him. He slipped under, or stepped back, or blocked it. This time when he slashed with his sword and the guard captain blocked it, Brand had a follow up. A punch. A trip. A step off that allowed him to chain another attack after it and keep the captain on the back foot.

Anything.

And soon enough all that had begun to flow. Again and again he went over every interaction in his mind, drilling himself against them until he’d created something seamless. His shoulders burned. His wrists ached. He didn’t let the form get sloppy and so Brand just kept moving until the pain became a dull background sensation. There was only one thing on his mind, in his eyes. He saw it again and again. The last moment, the perfect moment of the flow. Where he ran Captain Rizzo through with his bronze shortsword.

No matter which sequence of events he did to avoid getting hit and to hit his visualised opponent, it always ended with a sword through the belly.

And then, all of a sudden, Brand stopped.

Sweat covered him. His right hand was bleeding where callouses had torn open. His shoulders and upper back burned on both a muscular level and deeper. He moved his shoulders forwards and backwards but no matter which position they were in they hurt.

He sheathed the shortsword, resolving to clean the handle later and took off his shirt, which was now absolutely drenched in the exertions of his labour. He threw it on the ground beside him and it made a hard slapping smacking sound on the floor.

“And just when you thought the show couldn’t get any better.” Joked Tommen. Brand whirled around upon realising he had an audience. Rosie was there being nudged by Tommen in a comical fashion, and joining them was the mysterious other adventurer Ravena.

Brand immediately felt embarrassed and picked his shirt up, which hurt everywhere. Upon realising once more how soaked it was, he didn’t put it on and decided to face the three bare-chested. He also noticed that the sky was darker than when he started.

“You guys were just standing there watching me?”

“Yeah. We've been talking too. I honestly thought you knew and just didn't want to let yourself get distracted.” Tommen helpfully filled him in.

“We've been here for so long, how could you not have realised?” Rosie asked, shocked.

“Are you okay?” Said Ravena. “Maybe you should rest a little.”

“I’m fine. What’s going on? And what time is it?” Brand said, dismissing their concerns.

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“We were discussing our next moves now when Ravena joined, and decided we’d need your input before we got too off the rails.” Tommen explained. “Then we found you in your training trance thing. And decided to wait it out, and that you’d talk to us when you were done.”

“Right.” Said Brand, once more feeling a little self-conscious. “So what did you decide?”

“Ravena has some business in Shingle City. She’s offered to go with us to Shingle City with Marius and then escort us back here if we need it.”

“Escort us back here? Do we want to?” Brand asked. Then quickly followed up with “not that there’s anything wrong with here” after seeing Rosie’s taken aback expression.

“Well I figured you’d want to. Your friends were looking for something around here.” Tommen told him.

“And you?” Brand asked.

“I wouldn’t mind some extra training before visiting the Fool’s Mountains.” Tommen said.

“And I wouldn’t mind visiting back to see my mum.” Rosie added.

“Those two guards know we’re here now. Might be daft to come back so soon.” Said Brand.

“I could take them.” Ravena told him confidently.

“You sure? One of them was real strong. Likely has a Databeast now too.” Brand muttered, annoyed.

“I heard about that. I’m sorry they stole from you. But yeah I reckon I could take him. At the very least he’d be putting himself in danger. I’ve fought Databeasts stronger than him.” She confirmed.

“Well that’s good enough for me.” He told her. “I’ve gotta say though, I really hate the idea that we need an armed guard. What’s the point of leaving Cabletown if it manages to keep us boxed in anyway? What if those guards chase us all the way to Fool’s Mountain?”

“We’ll just have to get stronger then.” Tommen told him.

“From what I’ve heard you’ve been doing that pretty well so far.” Ravena said. “An Anugent one day and then a Flungeon the day after? That’s no joke.”

“And then we got our arses kicked by some small town guards.” Brand said.

“Cabletown’s no joke either, it seems. What did you do to rile them up?”

“Just left. They didn’t like it.” Tommen told her.

“I see. You’re sure that’s all? If I’m sticking my neck out protecting you I want to be sure they aren’t going to send a proper fighting force after you.” Ravena looked him in the eyes.

“Well… we may have got in a scrap with one of the guards as we left. He was there yesterday, the one keeping Rosie out of it.” Tommen shrugged in a noncommittal manner.

“You didn’t tell me that!” Rosie exclaimed.

“Sorry.” Brand interrupted. “We were going to, honest. Especially after they attacked us. Never expected to see him there, didn’t recognise him for a second.”

“Oh you didn’t recognise the guy with the one giant exoskeleton on his leg? Pretty memorable feature you’d think. Or is everyone walking around with just one? All the rage in Cabletown are they? The trend must not have hit dinky little Quartz Creek yet.” Rosie sounded genuinely annoyed.

“Actually he didn’t have it before… that might have been our fault.” Said Brand, looking at Tommen a little guiltily. Tommen shrugged again.

“Oh of course it was. Brilliant.” Scowled Rosie.

“What’s got you so worked up? You don’t have to wear one if you don’t want to.” Tommen joked.

“I’m annoyed because if I’d realised you two were going around assaulting town guards, I might not have made a pact that’s gonna bind me to you!” She pointed at them angrily.

Brand was a little taken aback, but he tried not to feel too hurt. She was being reasonable. “We just didn’t know at the time what the situation with Cabletown was and wanted to say as little as possible. I didn’t think of it at all when we made the pact. If we knew you’d be this put off by it we definitely would have mentioned it.”

“Yeah I thought you liked our daring escape from Cabletown?” Tommen preened.

“I liked you two escaping for your freedom, not being a couple of violent thugs.” She told them.

“Freedom fighters is a nice middle ground, I’d say.” Tommen shot back.

“Ruffians.” She replied.

Brand was a little conflicted. You didn’t just break a pact. Pacts were what had kept their people going through some of the darkest times in their history. Hell, much of their legal system was based on pacts. Not to mention the honour behind them. When it was just you and another adventurer out in the wilderness, one’s word meant everything. A pact meant everything.

But if Rosie wanted out then he did feel obligated to let her loose from any requirements. There was precedent - if there was trickery behind the pact then it was really no pact at all. At the very least he would uphold his side, and help her get a Databeast egg if he got one before her. “If you really want out…” He began, before he was interrupted.

“I do not want to break the pact!” Her voice rose half an octave before she composed herself a little more. “I just would have liked to know all the information beforehand!” And with that Rosie turned on her heel and stormed off.

“You handled that well.” Tommen deadpanned to Brand, who rolled his eyes in response.

Ravena, who had been quietly watching the whole scene, raised an eyebrow. “A pact..?”

Brand then realised that the whole thing must have seemed strange to her. Pacts weren’t normally so quickly sworn between people.

Tommen was the one that responded. “When we found the Databeast egg, we made a pact that whoever first tamed a Databeast would help the other two get theirs.”

“I see.” Ravena told them. “Bold. Even worse that you got your Databeast egg stolen from you then.”

“We’ll find more. At least three more.” Tommen said brightly. “And when we do, we’ll find the two that stole ours and let them know why they shouldn’t mess with us. See who the real Databeast tamers are.”

“Even bolder. Well I wouldn’t mind it if you find some whilst we’re adventuring together. I need first dibs though.” Ravena laughed.

“Well if you’re not averse to making a pact with two ruffians…” Brand joked.

“Too bold by far.” She joked back and Tommen laughed along.

“Come on now.” Said the tall dirty blond lad. “Lets get some food in us. It’s starting to get late.”

At the mention of food, Brand’s stomach made a noise like a drowning whale and he bent forward in pain. He hadn't realised that he was absolutely starving!

They headed off into the inn whilst talking, while Brand wondered once more just how long he’d spent training.