The many sets of glowing eyes showed plainly how outnumbered they were. There were four sets of eyes for each member of the group, and it was clear that another battle was about to start. They had been outnumbered before, but not to this degree. The only question remaining was who their opponents were.

“Seems like there are more who wish to sit in on the lecture,” Farrell said. “Sorry fellas, but the lesson just…ended!”

Farrell took the initiative and shot a lightning bolt straight into the middle of the group of eyes. The shot made the eyes scatter and revealed who they were up against.

“Dire wolves…” Violet said. “Don’t underestimate them! They’re quick and deadly!”

Kenrich ran over to his bag and grabbed his sword while Farrell continued his onslaught of lightning bolts. Violet ran straight into the area with the most red eyes trying to take the most out that she could as quickly as possible.

“Find the pack leader!” Violet yelled. “They’re nothing without their leader!”

Just then, the wolves finally revealed themselves and split into three groups that surrounded the three of them. Kenrich started shooting fireballs from his sword, but the wolves were too quick and coordinated and dodged easily. Farrell had managed to take out one of the wolves with his onslaught of lightning, but the wolves seemed to learn his patterns and dodged his next few sets of attacks. Seeing that, Farrell threw the light blue stone into his pocket and grabbed a green one to take its place. He shot a vortex of wind that swept up one of the wolves high into the air before it crashed onto the ground with a thud.

“Two wolves down!” Farrell yelled. “Don’t let up!”

Kenrich was still struggling to land blows, but he was able to dodge the claws and fangs of the four wolves that surrounded him. Violet was the aggressor in the group of wolves that she was confronting, but she also had some difficulty landing blows. She was distracted in her battle which made her less sharp than she could have been. She found herself glancing at Kenrich every few seconds as she fought. Even though Kenrich had come a long way, it was very difficult for Violet to accept that he could take care of himself. Kenrich was still in the middle of his stalemate, but the tides suddenly turned for the wolves as one managed to get behind him, grab the back of his shirt, and throw him to the ground. Violet saw this immediately and felt a cold sweat as she knew that she was too far away to get there in time. The wolves pounced on Kenrich who was helpless to fight them off by himself. He was about to get mauled.

FWOOOSH!

The wolves were forcibly thrusted off of Kenrich by a massive gust of wind. Farrell stood at the start of this gust and gave Kenrich a slight smile.

“Keep on your toes, Ken!” he said. “They’re always going to try and get behind you!”

“Th-thanks for the save!” Kenrich said as he got back to his feet.

Violet gave a sigh of relief, but she also was irritated for a reason that she could not place. She could admit to herself that it was nice to have someone else watching their backs though. Maybe she could go all out as long as Farrell was here. She decided to stop checking on Kenrich and focused on the opponents in front of her. One wolf tried to sidestep her, but she saw it immediately and swiped her sword straight at their neck. The blow connected and a third wolf fell. Another wolf took the opportunity to attack from the front while she swiped her sword, but she gave a massive downward kick that knocked the wolf to the grassy floor. She used her next opportunity to end this wolf’s life as it lay dazed. There were only two wolves left confronting her now, but it was clear to them that their advantage was gone so they went to meet up with the wolves that were attacking Kenrich. The two wolves that Farrell were facing also made their way to the same group. Violet and Farrell saw their intentions quickly though and ran to Kenrich’s aid as the eight remaining wolves grouped up around him. Farrell shot another gust of wind from one hand while shooting lighting into that vortex with the other, creating a terrible storm that went straight towards the pack which split the group down the middle. Kenrich managed to run out during the frenzy directly after this attack and was side-by-side with both Farrell and Violet who were ready to end this fight and get some sleep.

“That’s the pack leader!” Violet said, pointing to the largest wolf of the group which was in the center of the pack. “We’ll keep them busy, Ken, so take the shot!” Kenrich nodded.

Farrell and Violet did their best to keep the remaining wolves busy while Kenrich started lining up his shot at the large wolf in the center. For some reason, he was not nervous. He was sure he could make the shot. He pointed his sword at the large wolf who was distracted by Farrell’s vortexes and knew that it was time to end this. He closed one eye and lined the other up with the blade of the sword. He took the shot. The wolf was helpless to defend, and the fireball scattered the wolf amongst its followers. The pack looked on for a moment, before dispersing. After a minute, it was clear that they were not going to come back. Violet, who was covered in sweat even with the brisk fall weather, plopped down onto the forest floor with a sigh.

“We must have the worst luck in the world…” she said.

“It sure seems that way,” Kenrich said, panting.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Do you both get attacked often?”

“Yeah! Last time we camped out we were ambushed by so-” Violet clasped her dirty hand on Kenrich’s mouth.

“The wildlife usually does not seem to enjoy our camping in their territories…” she said. “We’ve had a few run-ins with…bears and stuff…”

“Bears, huh?” Farrell said.

“Y-yeah! Bears! Hate ‘em!” Kenrich said, realizing that the truth should not be told.

“Anyway…you did some nice work out there, green bean. Guess you’re not such a pushover after all.”

“I’m glad it was up to your standards! A good merchant should know how to take care of themselves after all. You two were quite good as well. That’s quite the sword you have there, Ken! I haven’t seen a magic-imbued sword in many, many years. It must’ve cost a fortune.”

“A blacksmith I knew owed us a favor, that’s all,” Violet said.

“He must have been very skilled. Most would never even think of attempting something like this and even fewer have access to stones large enough.”

“We were in the right place at the right time,” Kenrich said.

“I guess that’s why you have so much bad luck with…bears and stuff. You used up all of your luck on that!”

“I guess so! Now we should get some rest. We’ll need some when we reach Queen Puri if we want to explain ourselves properly. Violet, you did a lot of the heavy lifting, so I’ll take the first watch. You two should get some sleep.”

“Don’t mind if I do!” Farrell said. “I’m exhausted!”

“...Make sure to wake me in a few hours!” Violet said.

“I will! I will! Leave it to me.”

Kenrich felt bad about being carried by both of them on the battlefield, so he did no such thing. Violet and Farrell slept through the rest of the night without further incident other than Violet roughing Kenrich up after they awoke at dawn, for not letting her take watch. They packed up camp and started the final day of traveling needed to make it to the domain of Queen Puri in Paradise Falls. After a few hours of traveling, they made it to Ravine, where Farrell had said he needed to stop before they reached their destination.

Ravine was a lot like the cities that they had seen previously but there was a different aura that both Kenrich and Violet could feel almost immediately. The guards at the gate seemed nervous and the people seemed to look at their group with suspicion. The feeling of eyes on them did not dissipate as they went deeper into the city. They made their way to what looked to be a tavern.

“Alright, I’m going to finish this business quickly so there’s no need for you two to go anywhere,” Farrell said. “It should only take a few minutes.”

“You better not take your sweet time in there,” Violet said.

“I promise it’ll be prompt!”

Farrell made his way into the tavern. Outside, Violet and Kenrich waited.

“So, what’s the plan when we get to Paradise Falls?” Kenrich asked.

“We’ll have to do something to convince them to give us an audience with Queen Puri, then convince her to help us keep the ring out of Admian hands.”

“Well…yeah, but how?”

“I don’t know! We don’t have a choice though, so we’ll think of something. When we get there and gather some more info, we can create a plan then. According to that guard, regular citizens have audiences with Queen Puri all the time, so if we have to go in with some disguises or something then that’s what we’ll do.”

“I guess so. Farrell said he wanted an audience with her as well, so he might know what to do.”

“Maybe…”

Violet could not help but feel the daggers that were being stared at them as they sat outside the tavern. She got more and more worried that they somehow knew who they were. She knew that the news of them would spread throughout Admia, but the idea of the citizens of Aquarium knowing about them was not something she was worried about until now. She expected members of the Coalition or undercover Admian soldiers to possibly hunt them in the country, but how would the citizens know? She then assumed that it was only paranoia.

A few minutes had passed, and Farrell had still not shown himself. Violet was getting both antsy and irritated now.

“That jackass said it would only take a few minutes!”

“I mean it has only been like five minutes. He’s probably almost done.”

Violet noticed the eyes that were on them started to scatter. The citizens were making themselves scarce which was almost more unsettling than them constantly watching them. She was starting to get really nervous now. She did not know why, but she felt that something bad was about to happen.

“H-hey, Ken. Why don’t we just go ahead and make our way to the capital on our own? I’m sure we can get there pretty easily now that we’re so close.”

“We can’t do that! After we promised to help him move his stock to the capital and how he helped us fight the wolves…we can’t just leave him behind! Just wait a few more minutes, V. He’ll be out any second.”

A few moments later, they heard a large wooden object being pressed against the tavern door. They turned to look and heard some whispers on the other side.

“So that’s them, right?”

“Yes, now go upstairs. You don’t want to be close to the door when it happens…”

“Kenrich! We need to go!” Violet yelled.

But it was too late. Their fates had been set.