I ground my teeth as I watched the pair swaying from side to side atop the flaming horse a few meters in front of us. They were whispering amongst themselves and occasionally laughing. Frank sat with them, his head lifted high and his plumage thick and glossy like he was trying to appear regal atop the horse's head. A breeze bringing with it the chill off the mountains far away swept over us, tussling our hair and kicking up flurries of dust wherever it passed. The sun had barely topped the horizon, painting the landscape in a warm honey glow that was at odds with my mood.

“I still don’t see why they get to ride Sob the whole way back, he is my horse you know?” I grumbled.

Nora groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose with one hand while she pushed a stray tentacle away with the other. “Joe, we’re not going through this again.”

“But he is my horse,” I said.

“No, he’s not. He never was. It doesn’t matter if he chooses to let them ride him or not. It’s not like your legs are broken, geez.”

“But, it’s just…”

“Please, for the love of whatever vile Goddess you worship, would you please shut up?” Nora snapped giving me a little shove that had my step faltering.

I hissed through my teeth as I got my feet back under me properly. I shook my head and through a bunch of tutting I said, “You’re in trouble now, no one insults my Goddess and gets away with it.”

Nora shoved away another searching tentacle that Boopzy was determined to shove into her face and turned her eyes up to the sky. “Doesn’t look like any lightning bolts are coming my way.”

“She’s not Zeus you weirdo,” I grumbled still glaring at the pair up ahead of us. “She’s more likely to send a Shadow Stalker after you or something.”

“What’s a Shadow Stalker?”

I rubbed at my balding head and looked away so she wouldn’t see the desperate fumbling playing out on my face. I don’t know if a Shadow Stalker is an actual thing but it sounded cool. I’d be seriously disappointed if it wasn’t real. I pictured it being something like my little shadow glob friend only much bigger and with more teeth; the perfect assassin stalking its prey from the darkness.

“You don’t want to know,” I said as my imagination ran wild.

Stella’s harsh growl brought me back to reality more sharply than a snarky word from Nora could have. I blinked and focused on the overlarge cattle dog as she charged away from us with glowing paws. My hand was on the grip of my blade before I’d even thought to put it there. Then I saw the flashing of amber scales lit by the sun and my hand dropped as a smile crossed my face. Stella had become obsessed with Sizzling Lizards.

“Shouldn’t we go after her?” Nora asked.

“Nah, she’ll come back with a nice stash of meat for us to cook up later.”

Nora pulled a face. “Gross.”

“Wait ‘til you try it, you’ll never go back,” I said. “Now, can we finally talk about that so-called army you’ve somehow filled Stanthorpe with? What the hell is that? Did you really abandon us just to go collect a bunch of strangers?”

“You know that’s not why I had to run off,” Nora said, the playful anger that filled her voice earlier replaced with something akin to remorse. “It was a quest I had to do. It’s just that simple. Finding all of the leftover Outsiders was just a happy accident. One that kept me from catching up with you guys for a little while.”

The sound of Stella viciously murdering lizards filled my ears in the silence that followed Nora’s little speech. It wasn’t the gruesome deaths that had all my muscles tensing, it was the fact that Nora still refused to discuss that little sidequest with me. I knew it had to be bad. Nothing else would have seen her panicking and running off the way she had. Remembering that moment brought back the bubble of pain I’d felt when it had happened. No matter how I shoved the damn emotion down it did so love to kick and claw its way back to the surface. My gloved fingers pulled into tight fists as I clamped my jaw. Nora was eyeing me which made it all the harder to keep the burst of anger from letting loose. It did no good to unleash that in her direction though. If I did she was likely to arc up in return and in a battle between my sword and her axe I knew what I’d be betting my money on.

I took a long and unsteady breath to cool the raging inferno before I looked back at her. She wasn’t hiding her concern very well.

“Why’d you bring them all back to Stanthorpe,” I asked.

“You said you needed help to build our safe house. Robbie and his team of Crafters are even better than the crew in Oliver's Rest.”

Stella came trotting back to us with a mouth full of still-dripping Sizzling Lizard steaks hanging from her mouth. She sat at my feet and wagged her tail so hard she kicked up a cloud of dust. I smiled and stroked her fluffy head as I took the chunks of meat and stuffed them in my bum bag for safekeeping. The new item notification popped up but I ignored it, not interested in reading a line about spicy meat I was already familiar with.

I know what you’re thinking, it’s foul that I’ll take a bunch of meat from a dog's mouth, cook it, and eat it. Maybe it would have been before the game began but now, unless a food item literally had the word ‘spoiled’ in the description it was good to go.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Stella’s distraction gave me enough time to pull my thoughts together. I liked the idea of our safe house being built by people who actually knew what they were doing but the idea of trusting strangers didn’t sit well with me.

“This won’t end up like it did at Oliver’s Rest or the Outsiders hideout, will it? It’s supposed to be a sanctuary. A place we can all go between quests to stash some goods or recuperate or just avoid the damn Toilet Crocs. Not someplace built around arbitrary rules decided by some corrupted asshat who thinks he’s important.”

Nora snorted. “Well, they will be kinda led by an asshat considering they think you’re in charge.”

“Me? Why me?”

“I don’t know, there’s just something about you that screams leader. Granted, not the best kind of leader but leader all the same.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence I guess,” I snapped. “I’m a team player, not a leader. You’re bossy as hell and people are terrified of you, maybe you should take charge.”

She laughed and punched my arm again drawing out a string of swear words from my lips. A small chunk of my health flickered and disappeared even as I rubbed desperately at the already bruising spot.

“Sorry,” she said.

“You’re a warrior. Surely you know your own strength by now,” I barked.

She held out her hands in front of her, turning them over and back again. “You’d think so, wouldn’t you, but sometimes I forget that this is all real. I walk around feeling like the same old accountant I was before all this happened. Don’t you sometimes forget that you’re so different from before?”

Skipping over the fact that the brutal and scary as hell Nora Nightingale was once an accountant I said, “Not really. I mean sometimes it hits me just how different everything is, but I don’t really feel like the simple farmhand I was before. I can slow time and climb almost vertical walls. I have a damn sword strapped to my back at all times and have a ridiculous amount of aminal friends. There’s no feeling like yourself when every moment of every day is filled with literal magic.”

Nora sighed. “I guess it’s just me then. The power is incredible but every so often I miss my old life.” Her fuzzy brows pulled together and the sadness in her eyes vanished as she looked desperately around, her hand floating beside the haft of her axe. “Do you hear that?”

I frowned and quieted myself, pausing my forward rush as I eyed the near-empty landscape we were trudging through to get back to Stanthorpe. A few of the outer buildings were visible but the main cluster of the town was hazy from sheer distance. At first, all I heard was the rush of the wind and then it hit me; a dull hum.

“What is that?” I asked.

“I think it’s coming from you,” Nora said, her eyes landing on the bright pink brilliance of my trusty bum bag.

I blinked and stared down at the thing protruding from my lower abdomen like it was a snake rearing back to bite me.

“It’s never done that before,” I mumbled.

“Maybe you should open it. Or, better yet, just throw the damn thing away, it’s not like you need it anymore with all the satchels you have.”

I gasped and snatched at the slightly frayed canvas sack. “How dare you, do you know how long I’ve had this thing?”

Whatever answer she threw back at me was lost to the breeze. My focus was locked on the bum bag and the way it was vibrating in my hands. There was a warmth as well, one that wasn’t uncomfortable but still shouldn’t have existed at all. Gingerly I unzipped the bum bag and stuck my hand into it, searching for whatever inventory item was causing this nonsense. The buzzing intensified as I drew my hand out, holding the tiny shard of mirror wrapped in fabric.

“What is that?” Nora asked.

“Something an old friend gifted me,” I replied.

Folding back the scraps of fabric I looked at the reflection of my own eyeball. The shard was vibrating so much that the sharp edges of it were slicing through the fabric wrap.

“Sweetpea,” a familiar voice echoed from the shard, the lilt of her words distorted a little like the static of a radio. “The time of the Shift is nearing and you still haven’t come to visit me. I thought we had an understanding.”

“Is… Is that the Witch of Evermore?” Nora asked.

“Oh, Nora,” the voice from the shard practically bellowed. “It’s so nice to hear your voice again. This goes for you as well I’m afraid. You both have been avoiding me.”

“We haven’t been avoiding you,” Nora said, stepping up close to stare at the shard in a failed attempt to see Cassie’s face. “We’ve been busy.”

“Too busy to stop the end of your world?” the Witch of Evermore snapped.

“Come on, it can’t be that bad. After we finish setting up our safe house and gathering some better equipment, we’ll start looking for Nigel the Sentinel,” I said.

The static screeched when the witch let out a hearty sigh. “Both of you and all your little friends that you are no doubt travelling with, need to come see me right now.”

“We can’t…”

“Now!”

The warm vibrating sensation vanished and the shard went silent.

“Well,” Nora said fingering her axe. “I guess we’ll be postponing your grand introduction to the Crafter crew, huh?”

“I’m sure the witch can wait,” I said.

Frank shot into the air like an inky black ball fired from a cannon. Sob was unbothered, wandering far ahead on his way back toward the town with Gabby and Theo sitting comfortably on his back. Nora stiffened beside me as the raven circled close over our heads screaming at the top of his lungs.

“Frank shut the hell up!”

Stella whined and butted her head against my leg as the damn bird continued to shriek.

Nora leaned in close and shouted so I could hear her over the bird’s noise, “I don’t think he’s going to stop unless we head for the swamp.”

“Shut the hell up!”

I ground my teeth and closed my eyes as the reality of the situation sunk in. Sometimes I forgot that Frank and the Witch of Evermore were friends of some kind.

I plucked a bolt from my bum bag and loaded it into my crossbow, following the bird with the contraption as he continued to circle overhead. “Say goodbye to Frank.”