The journey out of the Halls and mines was considerably easier than coming in. Back in the throne room, the second pair of stairs leading up, went up a tower that peaked at the top of a hill overlooking the fade village.

We exited the small door that was barely above ground level, and once it shut, I couldn’t see a way to open it again.

Daisy squealed suddenly. I spun, reaching for my sword and taking a defensive crouch. She dropped to her knees, discarding her shield as she knelt over a softly glowing blue plant. It looked like something out of a nuclear horror movie.

“Daisy, what is that?” I asked. I was still debating drawing my sword and cutting the two-foot-tall plant from Day of the Triffids in half.

“It’s a Fade Root, silly. This little plant is the reason why I came. With it I can save anyone who’s infected by fade rot.”

Lexi buzzed around the plant, a big smile on her face. “You know, if your careful, you could uproot the whole thing and transplant it back to your carriage. Then you would have an infinite amount of them... as long as you didn’t let people eat the root raw,” she added.

“Is that how—” Alissa finished with a wave of her hand.

“Mhmm. They were tricked. You see, the pedals are quite delicious, but if they’re not prepared correctly, they infect living things with the fade rot, not cure it. However, one of the things we learned at the academy is how to neutralize the disease but keep the healing properties of the plant. I need a minute to uproot it.”

I shrugged, not really knowing enough about plants to have an opinion. Instead, I wandered down the hill a bit and had a look around.

The hill was over the top of the mine, and I could see the haunted town from here, it was only a few hundred feet away, but it seemed much farther because of the distance we traveled underground.

“El Alfie,” Briana whispered next to me. I turned and gave the pretty elf a smile.

“Brie,” I countered with the shortened version of her name. She... blushed. Casting her eyes down and looking away while breathing deep. Her perfectly rounded breasts strained against her armored leather vest. The lacing that held it in place showed delicious bits of fair skin. Not to mention her taught stomach.

She reached up and pushed her hair behind one delicate ear as she composed her thoughts.

“I just wanted to say, thank you, for what you did and said in there. I doubted you, and I was wrong.”

Wow, that took a ton of courage to say, and I wasn’t about to miss the chance to reward her for it.

“Brie, you really do have nothing to apologize for. You acted to the best of your knowledge. You had no reason to believe I was some savior. Heck, I’m the guy, and I’m not sure I believe. Adora... she didn’t exactly leave me a user manual. Just a, Hey Nick come to Mystaria and save it from a mad man and then, bam— I’m in a fantasy world where I’m practically useless...” I sighed. I didn’t mean to sound so self-pitying, it was just... I looked behind us at Daisy digging the plant up while Alissa and Lexi stood guard.

“Nick,” Briana put her hand on my arm and my heart leaped into my throat, my mouth going instantly dry as she turned to face me. She leaned in close to me, or was that my imagination? “Maybe your strength isn’t your sword arm... but you’re not useless,” she said. Her warm breath spread across my face. Goosebumps flushed my skin.

She drifted closer to me, her other hand reaching out to rest on my hip as she leaned in...

“All done,” Daisy proclaimed. Whatever spell had come over Briana, the interruption stopped her cold, she dropped her hands, her face turned several shades of red as she walked away.

“Good, Daisy, well done,” I said to cover my own blush. I needed to clear my head. These women were ridiculous awesome, and it was starting to cloud my judgment. Not only were they exceedingly beautiful, and oh my god were they hot, they were some of the most skilled fighters I had ever met. I knew drill sergeants who couldn’t keep up with them.

It wasn’t just lust, or an infatuation growing in my heart, it was respect and admiration. I was proud to be among them, proud to help them. I just wished I could also hold my own.

Once Daisy had the plant bound inside a large bag she’d brought, we headed down the hill at a right angle to the town. The hilltop was layered. Where we came out was at an angle facing away from the town, and the mine entrance where we entered.

Briana signaled us to wait while she moved stealthily down the hill toward the mine entrance. She vanished from sight after a few minutes. The hill was really no protection with its tall grass and sparse deciduous trees. The only defense would be the narrow path leading to where we were.

Five minutes later she returned with her deerskin pack over one shoulder and Daisy’s enormous hikers backpack under her other arm like a piece of awkward luggage.

“Yay!” Daisy exclaimed, running over to take her pack and heft it on her back.

“How you carry such a thing is beyond me,” Briana muttered. She shifted her own bag to both shoulders. When Daisy was ready, we headed for the forest.

Briana led the way, since this really was her domain. She guided us around the town and then into the forest heading back to the small road, that was little more than a semi-traveled trail, that led from the Hall’s to Griffindale.

We’d entered the Hall’s in the morning and as we exited the sun was low in the Western sky.

“Alissa, how long until the sun goes down?” I asked her. Briana may be our woodcraft expert, but Alissa lived in this area her whole life.

She glanced up at the sky then held up her hand with her fingers close together and put them under the sun on the horizon. After a few seconds she spoke. “An hour.”

“Impressive!” I said. I had no idea that could be done.

She shrugged. “The world is dangerous, more so at night.”

“Brie, you wanna start looking for a good campsite? Since we’re going to be spending the night out here.”

She nodded. “I know a place not far from here. It’s a hot spring.”

We followed her in silence, trudging along as the sun continued to fall and increase the shadows of the place.

“Nick,” Lexi said as she landed on my shoulder. “Are you okay?”

“Hmm?” I asked not really thinking about what she said.

“You seem... quieter than usual?”

Was I? I thought about it for a moment. I should be freaking out, to be honest. I’m in a hostile alien world filled with things that could snuff my life out in a heartbeat, but here I am trudging along... no, that wasn’t really what was bothering me.

“I... Yeah, I’m fine. Just tired,” I said to her, it was partially true.

She smiled at me, her little mouth turning up in a contagious grin that I couldn’t help but mimic.

“If you want to talk, I’m here for you,” she said. When I didn’t reply,she leaped off my shoulder in a spectacular swan dive before unfolding her wings and tearing away in a blink. I imagined what she would be like once we got her speed up, and I had to smile again, because it was going to be awesome.

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Brie led us into a dense part of the forest. If it were me, I’d have to hack away at things with a machete, but she gracefully stepped around trees, ducked under limbs, and softly pushed branches out of the way, leaving no trace of her passing. If she were to get more than ten feet away, we’d lose sight of her and never find her.

The air cooled as we traveled farther into the woods. I started shivering as the girls pulled out cloaks from their packs and wrapped them around their shoulders. I was woefully unprepared for any kind of long journey. At least I had the food Camilla packed me.

“Don’t worry, we’re almost there,” Brie said over her shoulder as if she knew I was uncomfortable. I nodded, then stumbled when my foot caught on a root. She was there in a flash, catching me from the front and keeping me upright.

“Thanks,” I said with a weak smile. “I guess I’m more tired than I thought.”

Her eyes danced in the light, the amethyst taking on an almost glow as she examined me.

“We’re all tired, hang in there,” she whispered. Her warm breath spread across my face, and it stirred things deep within me.

“Right,” I said standing up. She patted my chest before turning around and resuming the trip.

As she walked away, I could hear rushing water in the distance, we had to be close, thankfully.

This was just too weird. Alissa was beautiful, sexy, and amazing, and she seemed to really like me. And now... Briana did too... what? I couldn’t let this interfere with the mission, though. The last thing we needed were hurt feelings if I started something with one and left the other out in the cold. Seriously, how could I ever choose one over the other? No, I just had to man-up and bury my feelings. Maybe when the war was over... but that wasn’t worth thinking about right then. Or maybe even ever.

Just my luck I go from no girlfriend to several beautiful women showing signs they liked me. Even if one of them was the goddess of death.

That’s what had me so glum on our walk. The future. Forget about Kojiman, one day I would leave, and all of this would be just a memory... I couldn’t do that to these girls, they were too amazing to let them fall for me knowing I would abandon them at some point.

After all, I had to go home eventually, right?

Briana froze, holding up her hand to stop us all. A surge of fear snapped me into full awareness, and I grasped the hilt of my sword, ready to defend myself, and them, with everything I had.

She slowly removed her bow and strung it, all the while not making a sound. Once she had, she whipped out an arrow, knocked it and fired. The twang of her bow was punctuated by the sudden cry of a deer as it died almost instantly.

Briana grinned, looking back at us. “Dinner,” she said.

Relief flooded me. I was on edge, too much on edge. I needed to unwind and let some of the anxiety of combat go. It was always a problem. Yet, these three beautiful women, didn’t seem to have any problem at all.

“I’ll clean it,” Alissa said trudging through the underbrush.

“I’ll get a fire going,” Daisy chimed in.

“I’ll help!” Lexi added following after Daisy as the cleric started gathering wood.

“Don’t we still have to get to the campsite?” I asked Briana.

She smiled at me, pulled a branch aside and waved me through. On the other side was a magnificent pool, thirty feet in diameter with a waterfall on the far end. As soon as I stepped through, I heard the water rushing over the cliff side far above. The acoustics were such that, even from twenty feet away, I hadn’t noticed the sound. It was more of a defused echo coming from all directions.

Soft tendrils of steam drifted off the pool. Walking near it I could feel the heat coming off the water. Deciding to make myself useful, I found a good spot for the camp. The pool had a sandy bottom, and the water was incredibly clear, which made it easy to see all the way in. No rocks were suitable for the fire in there. I went over to the mossy covered cliff side and sure enough, found a dozen fist sized rocks that would do the job.

The pool’s beach stretched six feet from the edge of the water to the forest start. Which was odd, I would’ve thought the forest would go right up to the water. While I placed the rocks, I dipped a finger in the water and licked it. A strong taste of salt met my tongue. That’s why. It also meant the water wasn’t likely to have any harmful bacteria in it.

Daisy and Lexi returned ten minutes later after I had dug the pit down a few inches and lined it with rocks. Daisy had the kindling, and Lexi the tinder. The red head knelt down next to the pit and gave it an appraising whistle.

“Not bad,” she said to me.

“I have skills,” I replied with a smile.

“I bet you do,” she said as she started placing the kindling in the makeshift fire pit. Her words surprised her, and she blushed a little as she placed the wood. I quirked an eyebrow, wondering what that was about.

Once the fire was going, it was just a matter of waiting for food. Lexi helped us construct a makeshift spit, showing us which wide sticks would hold up the best.

When Alissa and Briana returned with handfuls of deer meat each, we were ready. It wasn’t long before strips of venison were roasting on the rocks and a large chunk was impaled on the spit.

“All this fighting and blood has me feeling grimy, I’m going to take a bath!” Lexi said in her sweet voice. She darted out into the forest and came back a second later with a wide brimmed leaf. It was easy for her to skim the water out to the center of the pool where she plopped the leaf down like a lily-pad. Though far away, I realized she'd left her dress behind and was completely naked. Her glittery scaled sparkled in the light then her wings stopped beating and she fell in the water.

Her sudden disappearance startled me, and I jerked to stand up when Briana put a hand on my arm. “She’s fine,” the elf assured me.

Sure enough a few seconds later, she popped out of the water, climbing on to her lily-pad like it was the side of a pool. Even from fifteen feet away I could hear her contented sigh.

“That... a really good idea. Twenty-four hours in this armor and I have to stink,” Daisy said. “Alissa, would you unbuckle me?”

“Of course,” Alissa said. She moved behind Daisy who leaned her head forward and started undoing her braid to let it fall down around her while the half-orc went about undoing the buckles that held the banded mail in place. Once undone, Alissa pealed the armor open like a clam shell and pulled it over Daisy’s head.

“I’m going to go gather enough wood for the night,” Briana said from where she stood watching the faerie-dragon in the distance. She padded silently into the woods, vanishing the moment she entered the shadows.

The cleric sighed as the armor came off. Underneath she wore a pleated padded vest that protected her from the armor. It was far stiffer than a shirt and while it wouldn’t offer any protection against a bladed weapon, would certainly protect her from blows that didn’t penetrate the armor. It was laced on the side which she started undoing.

“You wear to much armor,” Alissa said. “It slows you down.”

“That’s easy for you to say, big girl, you’ve got your orcish magic to protect you when things go south. I’m a watermelon, split me open and I’m done,” Daisy said. She finished unlacing the pad and pulled it off over her head.

Underneath she had a sweat-soaked white gauss top that, in the firelight, wasn’t very concealing.

I coughed, turning my head away to stare at the fire while she finished, not wanting to invade her privacy and getting up and leaving would be too obvious.

Alissa laughed at Daisy’s argument. “If you moved faster, and stayed behind me, you wouldn’t get hit.”

“That isn’t always an option... besides, I’ve known you for two days and I’ve spent most of my magic healing you. I don’t think your ‘don’t get hit’ philosophy is really working out,” she said with a grin.

Alissa stopped for a moment, looking down a the ground then back at Daisy while she processed what the redhead had said,

“You might be right,” she said. Daisy had joked, but Alissa was speaking seriously. “Maybe I do need some more armor.”

“We have some back at Griffondale for you, that should help,” I said.

She sat down next to Daisy, starring at the fire while the cleric attempted to fully undo her braid. Her fiery red hair refused to cooperate and after a moment she gave up, occasionally glancing at the pool of warm water a few feet away.

Tired as we were, we dissolved into silence after a few moments, only interrupted by the occasional splash of water as Lexi went swimming.

Briana was characteristically silent as she came back from gathering and dumped an armful of dead branches next to the fire. The last rays of the sun vanished as she sat down next to me. We were hunkered in the soft sand in a semi-circle around the fire. Daisy and Alissa to my right and Briana on my left.

The air temperature dropped suddenly, causing even more steam to rise up from the hot springs, like someone just turned the switch to high and let it run. I ended up shivering a bit since the tunic I wore wasn’t really cut out for overnighting. Not to mention the several gashes in it let the cold breeze in.

Daisy noticed and crawled over to where her pack was, digging out the ten by twelve bearskin blanket she somehow managed to fold tight enough to fit in her pack. She unwrapped it and crawled back to me but stopped just as she was about to put it around my shoulders.

“Uh, Nick?” she said from behind me.

“Hmm?”

“I don’t know how to tell you this... but, Uh...”

“You stink, and she doesn’t want to transfer that smell to her perfumed bearskin blanket,” Alissa finished for her.

“Yeah, I suppose I do, being covered in dried blood and all,” I said looking down at my dirty body.

“We could all use a bath,” Briana added. The beautiful golden-haired elf stood up and began unlacing her leather vest. Her fingers moved with practiced ease as they unwound the leather ties used to hold it on her. Each tie she unwound revealed more creamy skin as she moved from the bottom up toward her breasts...

“Uh, why don’t you girls bathe first, and I’ll keep a watch, don’t want any critters sneaking up on us during the night!” I pushed the exhaustion I was feeling aside and jumped up, grabbing the hilt of my sword to keep it steady while I stumbled out of the camp.

“What was that about?” I heard Alissa ask.

“He’s from another world, who knows?” Daisy replied. “I want out of these clothes and in that hot water. My under boobs are caked in sweat!”

The sound of their laughter as I walked away made me smile. I was thrilled they were getting along, and even more thrilled to have such awesome companions. This was like the best game of D&D ever... except I could die.

That thought sobered my mind up. I didn’t fancy dying, but none ever did. I focused my mind on the task. I was serious about watching for threats. There was no way I was going to let anyone sneak up on us. Though the biggest threat we were likely to face here in the woods would be wild predators.

Like the dire wolf...oh boy.