According to Val, we had followed the hawk for nearly three miles and were well away from where Prajio and I had camped after taking down Deek. I wondered what Deek’s men were up to now that their brave leader was dead. I hoped they had decided to call it quits and go live a normal life, but my doubts outweighed my hopes in that regard.

The hawk would fly forward fifty or so yards, land, wait for us to catch up, and then repeat the process. But now, the hawk was nearly two hundred yards away, circling high in the sky above a section of pine forest.

I didn’t know what we were about to walk into, but I would soon find out. I held out hope that Kitz was safe and just needed to talk, but I knew that was unlikely. My gut told me he was in danger. I was sure of it.

For their part, the women were all on board for this side quest. In fact, despite her prejudice, Tara seemed more gung-ho than even Ersabet. But to be fair, the Dalari was hard to read.

I still wasn’t sure why she was helping me. She seemed to think that carrying me through would lead her to instant fame and fortune, but from what I knew of the Triarchy, odds were that they would lock her up and throw away the key. After all, what worse crime was there than helping an unsanctioned human Player rise to the top by killing other members of the Triarchy?

I pointed out the hawk. “Looks like we're close. I don’t know what to expect, but I assume this will be dangerous.” I looked at Tara. “You’ll be safe if you wait here.”

She straightened her back and met my eye. “I’m coming with you. If I have to fight, I will.”

I raised an eyebrow. Tara was always tenacious, but she’d never been in a fight, at least as far as I knew. She hadn’t fought back after I had crushed her master’s face in.

“What magic do you know?” I asked.

“Nothing useful,” she said bitterly. “Sabbatha kept promising she would teach me, but it was just a carrot on a stick.”

“What’s this?” Ersabet asked. “The girl has magic?”

I nodded. “A minor affinity. Do you know if there’s a way we can teach her spells?”

Ersabet nodded. “The channeling of magic works the same among both Players and NPCs. The only difference is that Players are awarded new spells from the system, while NPCs can know them inherently and learn from a teacher.”

“Can you teach her?” I asked.

The tall Dalari looked down on the shorter woman. “Perhaps, but it cannot be done in a day.” Her purple eyes flicked back to the distant circling hawk. “It will have to wait, as we have business to attend to.”

A bow and arrows popped into existence on a rock next to Ersabet. The bow rested like it had always been there while the arrows rolled off the rock. Ersabet had pulled them from her inventory and apparently didn’t have an appropriate attachment for them to materialize on her. I had yet to see her carry a weapon of any kind.

“What else do you have in your inventory?” I asked.

Ersabet handed the bow to a wide-eyed Tara, who took it cautiously. “Not much in the way of weaponry.” She looked down at her mostly bare body. “Or clothes, unfortunately. The Kurskins stripped me of nearly everything I was physically carrying, and I find little value in non-magical loot.”

“You don’t have anything that can help?”

“I just gave it to Tara,” Ersabet said. “Can you shoot?” She was looking at me.

I nodded, having done my fair share of bow hunting back on the farm.

“Teach her then. Be quick about it.”

I spent about fifteen minutes teaching Tara the basics. She wasn’t strong enough to draw the bow to its full power but could shoot it well enough to at least bother her target. I wanted to give her more time practicing, but we only had a few arrows and little time to waste.

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As a group, we made our way towards the hawk. The density of the forest increased the further we walked, but I could still see the hawk flickering above through the occasional gap in the canopy. No one said a word as we snuck quietly forward, doing our best to stay behind the biggest of the trees.

The smell of smoke told me we were close. The smoke carried the scent of meat with it, and my mouth watered.

I signaled for us to stop and whispered that I would go alone to check it out. Thankfully, no one protested.

With delicate steps, I followed the smoke until I could hear their chatter. I hid behind a thick trunk and peeked around.

There were three of them: two humans and a Kurskin. Both humans were clean-shaven and wore rather nice sets of cured leather armor. The Kurskin wore a padded gambeson and had a dark, yellow tint to his scaly skin. All three carried swords.

They sat around a campfire, roasting something on a spit. Beyond the fire was a small cage with two poles slitted through the top so it could be carried. One of the humans blocked my view of its contents, but I knew Kitz was in there.

I ex-filled my position and reported what I had seen.

“I will subdue the Kurskin,” Ersabet said. “Once that is done, we will take care of the humans. Tara, you will remain hidden unless we need help. Please do not shoot us.”

Tara put on a brave face and nodded once.

“I don’t want to be a backseat driver, but can’t you just take over the Kurskin’s mind and make him do the work for us?”

Ersabet cocked her head. “What is a backseat driver?”

“Can you do it?”

“No. Not yet.”

Damn. That would have made things much easier.

“Okay, I’ll follow your lead.”

We snuck as near to their camp as we could. Tara stayed about thirty paces behind me, arrow knocked and ready. Ersabet took a wider path so we wouldn’t attack from the same direction.

I found a tree to hide behind and finally caught sight of Kitz. He was curled into a ball and barely fit in the tight cage. I gritted my teeth and waited for Ersabet to make her move.

It didn’t take long. She slipped around the trunk and marched forward, an open palm leveled at the Kurskin. He looked up just as she closed her palm and made a tight fist. The ground beneath the Kurskin vibrated, and he began to sink into the earth.

The Kurskin, who had been sitting cross-legged, tried to stand, but his feet found no purchase. It was like the ground beneath him had been turned into quicksand. Ersabet flicked her hand to the side, and the earth returned to normal, trapping the helpless lizard up to his chest.

After activating Silent But Deadly, I sprinted toward the nearest human who had pulled his sword and had his attention focused solely on Ersabet. Unfortunately, the three seconds of muffled sound wasn’t enough, and he heard my heavy footfalls when I was still a few yards away and managed to bring his sword up just in time.

Metal on metal clashed as he deflected my blow. His reflexes surprised me, and so did the boot he sent into my gut. I stumbled backward, gasping for breath.

He lunged at me, and I managed to parry the blow. He followed up the attack with another smooth slice and I had to scramble backward to stay out of his reach.

Behind him, I saw the other human approaching, apparently deciding that I was easier prey than the Dalari. After a couple of steps, he was forced to stop and shield his eyes as a whirlwind of dirt and pine needles erupted around him. I didn’t have time to watch what happened next as I was severely outmatched by the man before me.

He continued his assault, and I could barely keep up. A few more combos, and he would break through my defense. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. I was a Player. I was supposed to be stronger than him, faster than him. I was wrong.

An arrow skittered on the ground next to him. The distraction gave me a brief moment of reprieve, and I tried to follow it up with a Simple Distraction of my own. I heard a thud like a rock hitting the ground. I’m sure he heard it, too, but it wasn’t enough to get him to turn his head.

With no other options on the table, I played my trump card. I activated Devastating Strike and swung my sword laterally at his head as hard as I could. He moved to block it easily but was unprepared for the force behind it. My sword bit into his, and the flat of his own blade smacked him in the side of the head.

He fell to a knee. I pulled my weapon back for another swing, and it wrenched the sword out of his hand. Confused, it took me a second to realize I had embedded my sword into his blade, and they were now stuck together. Unsure of how to wield this metal cross, I tossed my sword aside and tried to punch him in the face.

Even though he was dazed, he managed to duck the blow and shot forward, tackling me to the ground. We wrestled, but he was the better fighter and knew what he was doing. In no time, he had me mounted and punched me hard in the face.

His second punch was halted as an arrow took him in the shoulder. With an annoyed scowl, he ripped it out and lifted it into the air, ready to drive it into my heart.

Through my teary eyes, I saw blue fingers reach around both sides of his face. His head turned violently to the right, accompanied by a loud snap, and he toppled to the side.

I wriggled my way out from under him and accepted Ersabet’s hand as she helped me to my feet.

“If that fight is a testament to your skill,” she said. “This is going to be a long journey.” With her head, she gestured behind her. “Go kill the Kurskin. You need the experience.”

Ashamed, I walked past her toward the sunken Kurskin who was still struggling to free himself from the ground. I was out of combat and summoned my dagger to my hip, mentally preparing myself to take the life of this helpless person. As I was reaching for my dagger, Tara spoke.

“Help,” she said.

I turned to my right and saw a man holding Tara from behind. He had a knife to her throat and pure hatred in his eyes.

Apparently, this was a crew of four.