The wagon passes over a small bridge crossing the river, and they soon come to an open field, grass and occasional rocks or trees as far as the eye can see. Above their heads, the moon shines bright, creating an eerie glow to the world about them.

"It's getting late." Anna pipes up, snuggled up to Hope with a thick blanket as the night air closes around them, her breathing coming out as a light fog.

"Yeah. We should look for a spot to camp." Amadeo takes some phosphorous, rubbing it between his fingers and releasing four globes of light into the air. "Can you two see any good places ahead of us?"

The girls sit up, each looking further down the road. "Just more and more fields...Hold on, there's a place with some level ground and a tree we can tie the horses to." Hope points off to their left, and Amadeo follows her guidance before pulling the horses to a stop.

Tyrion hops out, setting a few fallen sticks and twigs together to start a small fire. "It's gonna be a cold night. There's not enough material here."

"I'll see if there's anything else to find. You guys stay here and huddle up, I won't be long." Hope hefts her pack onto her shoulders and wanders into the darkness.

Crickets chirp as Tyrion wraps the blanket around Anna despite shivering quite a bit himself. She opens the blanket and engulfs the halfling in it, Amadeo breathing into his hands and rubbing them together to keep warm. "Fall is approaching. We may want to look into cold weather gear."

"Th-Think they've got a-anything like that in M-Misery?" Tyrion asks, feeling himself beginning to warm up a bit.

"Mostly coats, and they're fairly affordable for us." Amadeo ignites a flaming orb and casts it into the small bundle of sticks and twigs, which blazes to life. "This won't last long, so hopefully she gets back soon."

"We just gonna sit under this thing together if she doesn't find anything?" Anna asks, scooching closer to the flames like a waddling lump of wool.

Amadeo shrugs. "We may have to. We can snuggle up in the wagon if need be. I remember a time-"

A roar cuts him off, coming from the direction Hope went. "Oh, you have got be-"

Hope crashes through the tall grass, coming to a panting halt by the fire. "Big! Ugly! Oh gods!"

"What? What is it?" Anna stands, undoing her rod from her belt.

"Ogre! And he is so not happy!" Hope responds, another roar piercing through the night as a lumbering mound of muscle charges into view.

Standing ten feet at least, the hulking monstrosity tightens the belt of fur holding up a pair of hide pants and snorts. Dragging a huge club of wood and spikes across the ground, it hefts it up, the head of the club landing on an outstretched hand. "Owwww!" The monster groans, pulling its hand away as bits of blood drip from its palm.

"Oh, so they're stupid." Anna can't help but giggle at the sight of the creature injuring itself with its own weapon.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Very, but they're also incredibly-" Hope ducks as the angry ogre swings the club, smashing a small crater in the dirt. "-strong!"

"Here we go, people. This oughta get our blood pumping." Amadeo lights a flame in his hand, the ogre holding the club at the ready to attack again.

Anna steps back a bit, pulling a glowworm from her pocket and creating four lighted globes of her own that circle the ogre. "Hey! Bright shinies!" The ogre exclaims, swatting at the globes in vain.

"That should make hitting him easier!" Anna lifts her rod to prepare her next spell as Amadeo unleashes his previously readied firebolt into the ogre's chest. It grunts and scratches the scorched flesh, snarling at the wizard.

Tyrion readies the Gust Shot and eyes his target carefully, the bolt letting fly into the monster's shoulder. The ogre snorts, seemingly unfazed by the splinter now sticking out of it.

Hope readies Valkyrie, the blade seeming to shine all the brighter in her hands. "Ok. Let's see how this works." Bringing the blade overhead, she swings in a wide arc, carving a slice cross the creature's belly as it howls in pain. The wound seems to boil, a white flame dancing across it for just a moment before flickering out. "You wanna hit somebody, hit me!"

The ogre snorts and hefts his club up. "Ok, tiny! You ask for it!" He swings the hunk of wood and spikes, Hope raising Valkyrie to block the blow. Though the momentum of it is greatly reduced, her shoulder is still pierced by a spike.

Anna raises two hands, one plunging a healing wave into Hope and the other sending a blast of multicolored force toward the ogre. Though the blast hits, it again seems barely fazed. "I don't think we're hitting him very hard!" She shouts.

"Then we'll just have to hit him harder!" Amadeo flicks butter from his thumb, the ground around the ogre becoming covered in grease.

As the ogre loses his footing and falls with a groan, Tyrion runs up and draws the bone handled dagger Hope used before, cutting the beast's stomach wound even wider. "And that's my cue!" He laughs, backing up as the ogre swings at him to no avail.

Hope plunges her blade downward, piercing deep into the ogre's hide as it howls in pain. "Now run. Run far away and never look back." She snarls at the beast, who snarls back and stands, drawing that club high overhead. "Me no run! Me smash you, tiny!" The club slams down, and Hope barely has time to try blocking it, the force of the blow crashing down harder than before.

The ogre laughs. "You so small! Me break you now!" As Amadeo readies another bolt, the ground around them begins to shake, stopping the beast's advance. The rumble circles them, and Hope shivers. "Land shark. Everyone stay still!"

The rumble circles again, then stops. The ogre looks down at the party and grins, taking another step. Instant regret fills his face as the ground rumbles again. A massive creature bursts from the earth in an arc, like a giant armadillo with a beak instead of a snout. It tears through the air, jaws clamping down on the ogre's midsection. Before he can scream, the upper body, deeply torn by the cuts and gouges he received, is separated from the lower half as the armored creature completes its arc, diving beneath the earth once more. The legs and hips continue to stand still, blood spurting and pooling around them along with a mostly detached spinal cord and bits of intestine.

Hope leaps into action, collecting everyone's packs. "Time to go before it finishes eating! Move it, people!" Anna coaxes the horses back to the wagon after untying them from the tree, and Tyrion bolts into the back. Amadeo hitches up the horses with Anna's help, and they all pile onto the wagon, the horses rushing into a gallop without much need for Amadeo holding the reins. He moves into the front seat and looks back, the lower body of the ogre dropping to the ground at last.

"What was that thing?" He calls out as they thunder down the road at top speed.

"A land shark. They hunt by feeling vibrations in the ground. Vicious, territorial, and always hungry. They'll even eat their own kind. We need to give that thing a very, very wide berth. Don't stop till we're at least a mile or more from it." Hope sits back, arms wrapping around herself as she shivers before a groan escapes her lips.

"What is it?" Anna asks, lighting four more globes and setting two at the back corners of the wagon, while the other two go in front of the horses to help guide Amadeo.

Hope shakes her head, letting off a little sneeze. "We left the blanket behind."