From the sticks and stones of a forest of fire...

~

Sage

Lydia fell asleep on my shoulder, and I have to admit, I'm jealous of the dress I gave her. I could feel its coziness through my own clothes.

The ride itself was pretty uneventful. Lasory would periodically check in on me to make sure I was doing okay, and then he'd smile every time he saw Lydia.

If only honest men like him were everywhere. The world would be a much better place.

We stopped for a little for the horses to rest, then continued on, but this didn't last long. There was some shouting and we stopped again, and I heard someone stand up from our carriage. I gently stood, taking off my coat and laying Lydia's head on it, then opening the drapes to where Lasory and Fezege sat at the reins.

Neither were in the seat.

Fezege stood in front of the Trainees, who were in a defensive formation before two hooded figures. One wore a very thick fur cloak that left everything to the imagination, and the other wore a hip-cut open jacket and basically a wrap around her breasts that left her entire torso exposed in the early-morning winter weather, yet she didn't seem bothered.

The latter of the two, a woman with silvery hair and a smug, determined grin, took a step forward, to which everyone tensed further.

She steeled her grin and raised her hand dramatically, pointing at... me.

"We're looking for you."

I stood there, blank-faced.

"For what?" Fezege demanded, unblinking.

She chuckled, confidence and self-absorption oozing from her pores.

"That's not really important. We'll do no harm to her, that much is for sure."

"And why should I trust the word of a filthy outlaw such as yourself?" Fezege stood her ground.

This seemed personal to her. Whoever these people are, however they know me, whatever they want me for, went deeper than me being her pupil.

The woman snickered. Her tail swung across the snow in a back-and-forth motion, and somehow even that seemed prideful. Wait a minute... tail?? Taking a closer look, her head had two wolf-like ears atop her scruffy hair, and an equally scruffy tail that just reached the ground.

Fezege never mentioned anything about animal-people. But nevermind that, this isn't relevant.

Keith stepped off his horse and before he could even take a step, Fezege snapped at him, demanding he stay still.

"Just hand her over and we'll be gone," the woman said.

"I'll hand over nothing to you, you filthy outlaw!" Fezege shouted as she took a firm step forward, now only a foot or two away from the two intruders.

The woman only chuckled.

"I can pay you. Consider it me buying a service."

The "service" being me. Sounds rape-y. Not my cup of tea.

The hooded man, who had been still and silent during this exchange, turned to the side and raised his arm, blocking the attack of a smaller man in a brown cloak. Edgar.

He was trained as a stealth man, an assassin. Not even Fezege can tell where his attacks will come from once he's hidden.

The man grabbed Edgar by the throat and raised him up with one arm. He had nothing but shock and terror in his eyes as he struggled to breathe and kicked his legs about.

I had to figure out how to even stay standing. I wanted to crumple to the ground. We were certainly no match for these two.

At that point, Fezege charged a magical attack in her hand, and with that signal, the students all began to charge at the two. The man whipped Edgar to the ground and he tumbled a little, groaning in pain as he did so, then falling limp.

There was shouting all around as my classmates all called out to each other and tried to attack the two.

Neither drew a weapon. They hardly had to flinch.

It was then that I realized I was supposed to be there at the front, leading.

So, I gritted my teeth and swiped my sword from the inside of the carriage, unsheathing it as I charged toward the small cluster of people.

It was disorganized and chaotic at best. I don't think they paid attention when Fezege spent days talking about how not to die.

The two outlaws, as Fezge called them, had no weapons drawn, and effortlessly blocked each attack thrown at them.

My goal was to first get to Edgar. I'm a healer before a fighter. Then I can worry about pulling everyone off so I can talk with these two and find out what they want in particular.

However, as soon as the hooded man saw me kneeling down to heal Edgar, he took a few steps closer and grabbed me by the arm.

I'd made the mistake of dropping my sword to heal Edgar, but I was able to pick it up and give my best swing at the guy.

The others were focused now on me, but it didn't matter.

In the blink of an eye, I saw a flash of what looked like a huge, fluffy tail, then the man completely disappeared, and so did the woman.

Everyone was blatantly confused, but then the attention shifted to me. Keith himself looked shocked when he saw me, and nobody could say a word. I wanted to ask what they were staring at, but then I felt it.

I screamed out in pain as I clutched my face, a searing burn ripping into me. There was a deep gash down the left side of my face and across my eye, but it hurt so much worse than it should.

This felt like half my face had been ripped off, like it was truly burning.

I looked down at my now blood-soaked hand, and seeing it only made the pain worse.

Five minutes ago, I was just laying in a cushy carriage with Lydia.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Oh my God... Lydia...

~

After the ordeal with the intruders, I patched myself up as best I could and Fezege had us continue on until nightfall, where we would then really be able to discuss what happened in front of a fire with some food.

I had to explain things to Lydia, who was terrified and confused.

I had to explain things to myself. Who was also... terrified and confused. Our whole trip got turned upside down in the blink of an eye, only for the people responsible to disappear just as quickly as they appeared.

Speaking of blinking and eyes, mine was certainly not faring well. The gash was deep and went across my eyelid, so blinking or being expressive at all hurt and probably will for a long while.

Lydia was nice and talked me through things to cheer me up. We chattered about her past and my time as a Trainee, then eventually I took a nap once my wound calmed down and the stinging subsided some.

That night, we sat before a tall, hot flame, grim-faced, but still trying to talk and forget about earlier.

Fezege was out with Lydia and Lasory, and she was teaching Lydia some basic self-defense so she would have at least a chance if it ever came down to it.

The topic drifted towards earlier, and Edgar tensed up, while the others got noticeably bitter.

"Things might have gone differently if you weren't fucking around in that cushy carriage with your girlfriend," Keith prodded at me.

I glared at him in anger.

"Where was our fearless leader when we needed her most?" Angelina, his girlfriend, backed him up mockingly.

I stomped my foot and stood, which some people weren't expecting.

"What is your deal? Ever since we've gotten here you've been a prick to me and it's not fair."

Keith was surprisingly silent.

"We're all in this together," I began firmly as those that weren't paying attention looked up at me. "This is what we signed up for, and I won't stand for this petty bullshit between us!"

Both Keith and his girlfriend sealed their lips. I don't usually cuss, at least out loud.

Shouting was cracking the scab that my wound from earlier had started to form, and now it was starting to bleed down my face, making it hurt all over again.

"This wound is a testament to the fact that if we don't work together, myself included, we will die. There will only be stronger and tougher people in front of us."

Yoru stood and ran to hug me, then stood beside me.

"I agree with Sage. We didn't work together, and she suffered as a cost. So did Edgar."

The attention shifted to him, and he looked down. I don't imagine the events of today aging well with him.

Gradually, a handful more Trainees pitched in their agreement, and we all agreed that we'd work on teamwork tomorrow, because today was not an example of that.

To be fair though, I'm not sure if anyone at all was expecting a pair of bandit outlaws to show up and wreak having on our day and shit in our cereal.

After that, things settled down. As for my face, I guess I'll just have to pray this heals well. And if it doesn't, then oh well. This will serve as a reminder to both myself and the team that leading is hard, and so is being in a team.

This world we're in isn't a joke. Keith and Angelina don't entirely agree, and I don't think it's quite set in for Edgar and Yoru.

In all reality, I doubt it really has for me, either.

I can't help but think about the slightest glimpse of that man's face I got.

It was well-shadowed by his hood, but I could see his eyes. They were full of intrigue and almost a certain smugness. He was looking at the cut he'd just given me.

Which means either those two really are just filthy outlaws, as Fezege puts it, or there's something much deeper to this story. Knowing what I know about Donthaar's attack on Sakari, my money's on the latter of the two for sure.

All I know is, we will definitely be seeing them again. I don't know what they want with me, and it kind of makes my stomach churn.

I was drawn from my thoughts by a light hand on my shoulder, and looked over to see Edgar.

"You okay, Sage?"

"Yeah," I said honestly with a wink. "I should be asking you that, though."

He sighed. "I'll be alright. Just a little shaken up is all. Do you think I should be alright?"

Edgar recognized me the most out of everyone as a leader.

I laughed a little. "I think you just have to take it as a lesson and train harder. I'm going to do the same."

"I will, then." He looked off in thought for a moment. "Who's that little girl you've been talking with?"

"Her name is Lydia."

"Well I know that," he chuckled. "But like... who is she? You two seem to get along well."

"Eh, just someone who really needs a friend. She's kinda shy but a fun character when you get to know her."

He gave me a doubtful but proud grin. "I think it goes a little deeper than that. I mean you bought her that nice dress."

"Am I not allowed to be nice?" I argued.

"Of course, but again I think it goes a little deeper than that."

I was silent for a second. "Talk to her a little. You might find out."

"Ehe," he nervously chuckled while scratching his head. "That's the hard part."

"You'll live," I said as I pat him on the back.

A few of the Trainees began to stir, and I looked out to see Fezege, Lydia, and Lasory returning. Lydia had a tiny little spark in her eyes. Despite everything that happened, she was staying strong and looked a little determined.

Learning to fight is probably the best thing for her right now, because this world is not going to be forgiving to her. When the day comes that she can rise to be a better Queen than any ruler of this shitty place, and any ruler of the place we came from, I hope I can be there to serve under her rather than these rotten people.

Politics aren't my forte for sure.

Fezege stood at the center of us as Lydia came and sat beside me, and all of us stiffened. Our teacher had a serious look on her face.

We resolved this whole thing on our own, but something tells me we're not gonna walk out of tonight without hearing it from her.

Fezege sighed.

"I'm sure you guys already know where this is headed, but boy am I not pleased with earlier."

I nodded, as did a handful of the others.

"Did you not pay attention at all when I was teaching you about any kind of tactics or strategy or teamwork or common fricking sense??"

Her anger took only a few short seconds to come out, but I guess that's to be expected.

"The two we ran into earlier were high-class outlaws wanted in multiple countries, including ours. They are extremely dangerous and unpredictable, and a pain in our ass. My ass. You guys should have recognized that they were way out of your class and backed out of there."

I stood before she really blew a gasket on the whole of the group, and bowed before her.

"Lady Fezege, I take the blame for our failure today. I was unalert and hesitated to lead my team, and as a result risked the lives of all of us. We have all learned our lesson, and intend to double down on training and teamwork in the coming days to prevent something like this from happening again."

She stomped forward and got directly in my face.

Fezege's anger was motherly. She cared about her children, and they messed up horribly, and she wants them to know she's upset, but because she cares about them so much.

I understood this, which should make me feel better about the murderous intent in her eyes, but it absolutely did not.

The teacher huffed right in my face, staring me down the soul, unblinking. I could hear even Lydia's breath next to me grow shallow, and she had nothing to do with this.

"You are a leader, Sage. I thought I taught you better than that."

I nodded slowly.

I fucked up today. I'm lucky that nobody died or was seriously injured.

She sighed yet again and backed off a little. "I know you well enough to know that you're well aware of your mistakes. As punishment, I will not be healing that cut on your face. A leader has her team in her hands. If you fail, you pay. If your team fails, you pay. And I don't mean by me."

"That's fair," I reasoned.

Fezege stepped back and gave a light smile.

"I've been hard enough on you all. We'll talk more tomorrow, but for now, just get some good rest. Sir Lasory and I can keep watch tonight. We get up early, so make sure you've eaten and you're warm."

The group let out some timid "okay"s.

"I'm glad you guys are okay," she concluded earnestly.

The rest of the night went much more smoothly. Lydia tapped me on the shoulder at some point and brought me out near a very small clearing in the woods, maybe only a few feet, but the stars were out and bright tonight.

She didn't really say anything, just brought some cover to sleep on and an extra one since we weren't near the big fire, and layed down without taking off anything, just slid straight into the sleeping-bag-like cover and stared up at the sky.

Out here and in this world where there's no pollution or lights to worry about, you could see everything. The shadow of the day embraced the forest with the many many colors of the night sky and the galaxy, and the two moons, who painted a breathtaking picture that looked like watercolors almost.

I ended up building the two of us a small fire so we wouldn't freeze, and then eventually went to bed.

What a big, scary world. I'm going to need to step up my game as a leader and hark on these people until the day we can call ourselves Knights. We're rolling around in a pit, surrounded by wolves and practically waving around fresh meat... and the wolves are hungry.

Whatever, at this point. Throw me to the wolves for all I care. I'm just gonna have to figure my way out.

I was sharing a cover with Lydia since they were designed for two people to preserve heat. She put her arm around me in her sleep, which seemed turbulent and troubled by bad dreams. I woke her once it was stopping me from being able to sleep, and she said something in her groggy half-awake state, then rolled over into a more peaceful rest.

~

One day until the cave...