“Where to next?” I asked Professor Springston. He thought for a moment, looking up at the treetops. “There is a town, maybe a day's travel on foot from here. From there we can restock our supplies. Then we’ll get a ride to the border of Villain’s Country. There is a town just on the other side, called Hero’s Pride. It’ll take about 2-3 days to get there depending on our mounts.”

“Why are we going to this town? Going to the border seems dangerous. I’m not sure I’m ready.” The border was full of battles all the time. Any town near it would be hardened from violence, and be ready for defense. No wonder it was called ‘Hero’s Pride’. What could two men possibly do?

“Hero’s Pride is a strategic point on the border. A river that flows through Hero’s Country runs straight through it. If the Villain’s can take it, we’ll have access to the entirety of the continent. Of course, we won’t be able to take it. But we can scout it, and I’m sure there’s a few farms along the way that need pillaging.” He finished collecting what he believed to be the most valuable items from the pile the Heroes made, and put them in his inventory. “Last I heard, it’s been a while since anyone has scouted it,” he said thinking out loud. “If we scout this thing and bring the reports back to the AVS, you just might get that promotion you’re looking for.”

* * *

We arrived at the town Springston mentioned later that evening. He went to the market and sold the heroes’ gear he looted.

“I get a cut of that too, right?” I asked him.

“Did you loot it?” He countered.

“No.. I didn’t think about it.”

“Well then, maybe you’ll think about it next time. Think of it as another lesson I’m teaching you.” He wandered off to the stable master and I followed him.

“Hello there boys, what might you be looking for?” A man greeted us as we came in. He was human, and looked to be middle aged. His hair was graying. The stable master.

“Hello there. We’re looking for something strong, but quick. It needs to be able to take a couple hits, but get us out of a situation in a pinch.” Springston replied to the man.

“And why might you be needing something like that, for? You guys with the AVS or somethin’?”

“It’s none of your business old man. Do you have anything like that or not?” The stable master chuckled, “Spoken like a true villain, insulting someone you want to do business with. Yes I have something for ya, but it’ll cost you.”

He went into the stables and we followed. He showed us two Torrents. They were like horses, but golden, literally shining from their skin. They had no fur, but rough skin, like leather. “These boys can cross any terrain, even water. They are fast too, but they eat a lot.”

“How much?” Springston asked.

“Two hundred gold each.”

“Let’s do three-fifty for both of them, and you’ve got yourself a deal.”

“Sorry elf, but I don’t appreciate being called old. Two hundred each is firm.”

“Fine old man, two hundred. But this won’t go unpunished.” Springston dropped two hundred gold from his inventory on the ground. The stable master saddled the Torrents, and handed them to us, and off we went.

“You didn’t have to do him like that, you know.” I said to Springston. We were on the road. These torrents really were fast. “He’s a businessman trying to make a living.”

“We’re villain’s boy. The sooner you accept that the better off you’ll be.”

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“You can be evil without being mean to our own people.”

We rode off and back into the forest, but the same one we came from. There was a small campsite not two miles in. “We’ll spend the night here. I made this when I was younger and stay every now and then.” Springston told me. We unmounted our torrents, and within seconds they ran, disappearing from sight.

“Damned things!” Springston yelled after them.

“Probably trained to go back to the stable master. I’m burning his business down. We’ll have to go back to the town and retrieve them tomorrow.” He finished unpacking his things and went to bed angrily.

I stayed up watching the fire and thinking. My powers were cool, but something felt off. I was supposed to be a villain. That’s what everyone told me, and had been telling me my whole life. But I wasn’t sure that’s what I wanted. I didn’t mind killing heroes. Almost every one that I had met was worse than us. It’s like they said they were heroes, but burned towns of innocent people, and did terrible things to them. But that’s where I drew the line. Hurting innocent people was supposed to be my job, but even in training I could never do it. Anytime they had us publicly execute peasants, I failed the test.

About half way through the night, just as I was going to lay down my torrent came back. Its face was covered in blood, but from what I could tell it had no wounds. Then a few moments later, Springton’s torrent blurred into view as well, it too having blood on its face. They went hunting. “You silly things! We could have fed you if you had waited. What if we needed you while you were away?” I laughed and pet mine. “You need a name.” I looked it over. “How about Richy? You know, because you’re gold and gold makes people rich?” He licked my face, so I assumed that was a yes.

The next morning Springston and I set off an hour before sunrise. We traveled by road, as Springston insisted that until we got closer to Hero’s Pride we needed to instill fear into the common folk close to the border. I still didn’t understand why that meant being rude to our own people, but he was in charge.

The closer we got to the border, the more fearful I felt. “Professor, I only just got my powers. I still don’t know if I’m ready for something like this.”

“Relax child. It’s important to get out of your comfort level, especially at the start. And once again, us villains are naturally stronger than any hero, we’ll only be in trouble if we get caught in big numbers, and we’re scouts so that won’t be an issue.” Normally his responses were more like him snapping at me, but this one seemed oddly gentle. I didn’t trust it.

Around noon during the second day of travel we encountered a group of mercenaries. They were our kind, villains. Mostly orcs from what I could see of them.

“That’ll be ten gold coins to use this road.” The lead orc said. He was dressed in animal skins, and held an axe in his right hand. His skin was the typical green of an orc, and he had one long fang sticking out of his mouth.

“Get out of our way orc.” I was starting to think Springston was a tad racist. Elves were the most notorious out of all the races for it, even the hero elves. Something about the way he said orc made me think that maybe he’s the same way. That didn’t bid well for me, I’m a human!

“Sorry, no exceptions.” A lady orc stepped to his side. She looked much the same, just.. womanly. Springston gestured for me to follow him, and he just kept walking. One of the orcs raised his axe, but before he could do anything Springston had jumped off of his torrent and stabbed his dagger through the top of his head. Great. Now we were fighting orcs. They deserved it though.

Orcs had a particular fighting style, brute strength and ignorance. Seriously they just rammed you until you gave up. They were strong and moderately fast, and I was no match with my great sword. I had to rely on my magic. I casted a common strength debuff spell, hoping to take some of the pain out of their hits, and then blasted them with fireballs and ice. It wasn’t the best fight I’ve ever had, but I got the job done. Well more like I supported Springston in getting the job done.

This time I took it upon myself to loot the bodies. Springston complained, but I think he liked that I was learning his lessons. I found a lot of gold in their pockets, hero’s gold. They must have taken a road in Hero’s Country and were on their way back when we ran into them.

“Look at this,” I showed the gold to Springston.

“Hero’s gold. It’s worth a lot here. You should let me protect it for you.” He grinned at me.

“Like hell.” I said grinning back. I was getting the hang of this villain thing. I didn’t like it very much but I was getting the hang of it.

We set up camp a few miles from the border, this time in the ruins of an old farmhouse. It had been weathered for so long I couldn’t tell if it used to belong to a hero or a villain.

“We’ll scout the town tomorrow night. It’s right on the border, probably an hour's ride from here.” Springston announced as we laid down for the night.

“If we leave here before sunrise again, we can find a spot to watch it during the day.” I replied.

“Correct, and then we can scout it closer during the night and slip away before anyone’s the wiser.” The old elf rolled over in his bedroll.

I grinned, “Maybe you will get me that promotion yet.”