The sun’s feeble light gradually strengthened over the weeks until it finally warmed the skin and began chasing back the bitter, chill winds. Returning birds began filling the skies, and the occasional dark cloud threatened the first rains of the season, though they never truly delivered. An earlier sunrise also meant more of their combat training was done in the full light of day, and without the encumbrance of thick winter cloaks.
That was particularly useful with their new lesson on unit tactics.
“Don’t just cover your friends; keep behind cover as well!” Hiawatha shouted. “You can’t defend anyone if you’re dead!”
Close-range ambushes had been drilled relentlessly, until the four of them felt like they could read each other’s minds. Shifting to defending a camp had been a bit of a shock after that, as they discovered they were barely covering the basics before. It wasn’t technically necessary for students their age, but they didn’t stick to jobs considered appropriate for their age either.
Now they were required to not only prepare camps with good sight lines, or find defensible locations, but also plan fallback positions and lines of retreat. As Ivan pointed out during their first lesson with him, how could you defend a campsite from fifty people? The only reasonable reaction would be to retreat, perhaps in the dark, while taking the essential items with you if possible.
Their current lessons were on ambushes once again, though this time at longer ranges. And Yaric was loving it.
“Cover Sven’s rear!” Yaric shouted, throwing a fireball at a dummy as he did. Hiawatha created the illusion of a return fireball, making the hair on Yaric’s arms stand on end, but the sight of the massive ball of flames falling his way gave him a thrill. He somehow doubted he’d feel the same way in an actual situation like this.
Each of them sat as close to cover as they could, with illusory arrows and the occasional fake spell falling all around them. Their goal here was to take cover in place and return fire before deciding on the best course of action. That often meant simply staying where they were and fighting the ambush off until help could arrive.
Not that Yaric cared. None of these lessons involved his bow, which meant that ‘returning fire’ was nothing more than a barrage of spells aimed at the dummies simulating ambushers.
They all sat with their backs against their cover, facing away from the nearest ambushers and throwing spells uphill at the dummies on the far side. Yaric had long ago noticed that when he ambushed someone from a higher position, it was the targets on the far side that were visible first, and he could fire on them while still behind cover from the perspective of those nearest. That meant that the most effective counterfire was across their position and at those furthest away, with the people opposite you throwing spells over your head to engage the ambushers behind you.
“That one’s on fire!” Li Na called, shifting targets as she did. Lauren had been holding back for a surprisingly long time, and it quickly became apparent why when a lightning bolt flashed out with a crack, striking another dummy square in its wooden head.
Yaric and the others were taking a different approach and focusing on the volume of fire. Endless streams of wind blades and fireballs arced up the hill at the edge of the training fields, creating swirls in the air that was already carrying the smell of burning wood and ozone.
Li Na’s earlier actions stopped the simulated arrows that were getting close to Sven, and she started sending fireballs up the slope in a wild pattern, a feral grin plastered on her face.
She had initially been their designated heavy hitter in an attempt to take advantage of her higher power level. The difference wasn’t much, but she was slightly faster at charging spells like the lightning spell, giving them more frequent and more significant strikes over any period of time.
Hiawatha put a stop to that, however, insisting that they all learn the role. It technically wasn’t even a real role, but something Yaric had thought of on the fly. The impact was undeniable though.
Sven and Yaric still had to have their own turns casting big spells, but they had already decided that Li Na would take the role in a real-world situation, unless something specifically prevented her.
“Yaric!”
Lauren had barely finished shouting when he glanced up at her, and following her eyes he saw a massive ball of pulsating flames bearing down on him. There was just enough time to see a fleeting figure disappear behind a rock, obviously having cast the spell while running from cover to cover, before Yaric shifted to the side and jumped.
He had no idea if the fireball was simple flame, explosive, or incendiary, and neither did he know the blast radius in the case of the last two options, so he quickly raised a shield between himself and where he had just been crouched.
“Cover!” he shouted. The others raised their own shields at the same instant that the fireball struck, splashing harmlessly over the rock as a simple ball of flames.
“Spread out further!” he instructed, hoping to get enough space that no single attack could threaten more than one of them at a time. They needed to keep up the volume of fire, and it needed to be accurate, or Hiawatha wouldn’t be happy.
“Enough! You’re relieved!”
Hiawatha’s booming shout was a welcome respite. It didn’t matter how hard they pushed or how many different training methods they came up with; nothing had ever pushed them in the same way before. Fighting off the ambush was brutal, and doing so while watching projectiles rain down on you was even more challenging, but the sheer stress of casting so many spells was utterly different from anything else they had tried before.
There were many times that they had cast volleys of spells on the firing range, even switching to different spells as quickly as they could. But the stress of picking out targets, aiming, covering friends, and covering such larger areas was enough to make creating spell forms very difficult, very quickly. Yaric suspected that it was Hiawatha’s actual criteria for calling time; he didn’t want them to push so hard that they started messing up their spells. That could be dangerous.
“Good! You did well. I’m glad to see you four leaning on each other’s strength as well; that’s what you would need to do in battle. Leverage every advantage you can get. You’re also disturbingly proficient with combat magic; I’m not sure students as young as yourselves should already be so comfortable with throwing large spells around while under fire. Not that I’m complaining.
“Now tomorrow I’m going to be placing these halfway up each side of the small hill, and you’re going to be defending from the top. Sounds good, right? Let’s see how you feel when you’re getting attacked from both sides, and you only have a narrow strip to take cover on. Taking cover from one side will entirely expose you to the other,” Hiawatha laughed. “Think it over. Until then, you’re dismissed.”
All four of them immediately began jogging back to their rooms to shower and change. The longer day meant they were all hungry, and everyone wanted to get to the food hall as soon as possible.
“This one will be easy,” Sven said.
“Yeah, we split up.”
“There’s no need to stay on the peak,” Lauren added.
Everyone had already figured out how they would handle it. Two would move a couple of meters down one side, completely shielding them from the opposite slope, while two would mirror their actions to cover the other side. Then they would have the height advantage, with taking on no real disadvantages.
“Wait until Hiawatha starts using some kind of artillery spell,” Yaric said, imagining massive balls of flame arcing over the hill as he did. It would be just like him to force everyone to work out a warning system or something similar on the fly.
So much had changed over the last three months that it was difficult to imagine how things were before, yet so much seemed the same. Things between Yaric and Lauren had obviously changed, but the most significant difference was simply not dancing around the issue, and that made Yaric feel like a weight had been lifted. They were already very close even before the events at the bandit camp.
Their new lessons were also entirely new to them, and no one else had anything remotely similar. Even their healing class was different, with the regular class focused on training actual healers and not combat medics.
Unfortunately, there was also a limit to just how much he could do day after day, and he’d now found it. It might creep very slowly, and time off certainly helped, but Yaric was gradually starting to feel more and more drained. And it wasn’t just physical either.
Sometimes finding the motivation to practice in the evenings was hard, even if everyone was working together. Time off became incredibly short periods to recover, leaving him just fresh enough to continue.
It also didn’t help that they’d only been given one appeal since he’d been shot, and it wasn’t much of an appeal either. Two fishermen had got their nets crossed when they weren’t paying attention, with both claiming the net with fish was theirs. They weren’t both claiming ownership of the net itself, but since the net filled with fish had been caught in the empty one, that fisherman had claimed that his net would have scooped up the fish if the other hadn’t been in his way.
The entire ordeal was ridiculous, and frankly embarrassing. Two grown men arguing over a relatively small value, and going so far as to send an appeal to the Academy when they felt the court process would be too slow for the perishable goods. Both were simply being stubborn.
Luckily Li Na had managed to get them to confirm that neither had seen their nets cross, and since no one was paying attention, no one could know when the net filled up. And while there were no laws governing such a situation, their word was final.
So they split everything in half and went back home.
Sven went so far as to put a complaint in their report, arguing that such petty conflicts were a waste of Academy resources, though they were reminded in turn that they served as a final buffer in any dispute. The reminder was very softly worded, however.
Still, dinner was probably the best time of the day, and Yaric planned to broach the subject of taking some time off once they were done. He just needed a few days to clear his head.
All his plans flew out the window when a messenger approached them.
“Novice Yaric Miller?” the young woman asked.
“Yes?”
“This is for you.”
Yaric recognized the envelope immediately, as Lloyd always used the same type.
Come to the usual spot tomorrow evening, after your classes. Bring the others. We have a few things to discuss over dinner. Good things.
Lloyd hadn’t given them much to go on, as usual, but all thoughts of practice disappeared without Yaric saying anything.
“I hope it’s not new lessons,” Lauren said, shocking everyone. “What?” she asked, looking from one to the other. “I can’t be the only one struggling to keep up.”
“I was planning to say something when we got back,” Yaric admitted.
“You guys want to slow down with the training?” Li Na asked casually, though her face looked hopeful.
Yaric wasn’t exactly sure what he wanted. “I don’t know. Maybe. Or we could pause for a bit and recover properly, then carry on again. And start taking more breaks in the future?” he added, looking questioningly at the others.
“Don’t you think it would be better to slow down until it’s sustainable?” Sven asked.
“I don’t know. It feels like half the problem is the constant repetition. I think I’d feel better if we took complete breaks.”
“We could try both?” Lauren suggested.
“But sitting in the common room isn’t a proper break,” Li Na said immediately. “We should do stuff.”
“Like?”
“I don’t know. Go out somewhere? We can leave the campus in the evenings, remember? I just don’t want to sit around listening to other people talk about training, not when we’re meant to be on a break.”
Sven chuckled quietly to himself.
“What?” Li Na asked, raising her eyebrow.
“We’ve just got a note from Lloyd, and you know the kind of things that those usually lead to. It took us less than five minutes to completely forget about it and start discussing how we’re going to take it easier for a bit.”
Sven looked amused, but he had dark bags under his eyes.
“So, no practice tonight,” Lauren declared. “We take it easy, and tomorrow evening we go and see what Lloyd has to say.”
No one argued, and Li Na seemed secretly pleased with the turn of events, even if they couldn’t go anywhere that night. Even Sven looked relieved.
‘I hope we don’t need the break to do whatever it is Lloyd wants.’
----------------------------------------
The next day saw a sudden change in the weather, with heavy, dark clouds roiling overhead, and another chill wind, just when everyone thought spring was in full swing. Everything felt dim and dreary. Dust and leaves were constantly being blown into their faces by the unrelenting wind, but even one night off to just to decompress and talk had left everyone feeling better than they had in the bright sunshine the day before.
“Did you solve your problem with the force spell?” Emil asked, standing expectantly in front of their desk.
“Yes, I think so,” Yaric replied. He hadn’t had a problem with the spell itself but with one of the components, which simply wouldn’t connect very efficiently. Emil had refused to answer right away, suggesting that he first work on it himself.
“And?”
“The problem was the direction component, not the conversion component. I had to shift it to fit better, and that gave me the space to properly align the conversion component as well.”
“How do you think that happened in a spell we gave you to learn?” Emil asked with a knowing smile.
“It was a test?” Yaric asked uncertainly.
“No, it was perfect as it was. You just increased the input channels, forcing everything else to widen to compensate. If you’d tried the spell with its intended power level you wouldn’t have had any problem at all. But this is a good lesson; some spells need to be slightly restructured if you want to do things like increase their power. Learning now will serve you well later.”
Yaric turned hesitantly to Lauren when Emil moved on.
“Can we afford to start taking breaks?” he asked. “We’ve only just finished learning all the new spell components, and it took us almost three months. There’s still the actual spells to learn as well.”
“We can’t keep up if we burn out,” Lauren replied, though she looked concerned as well.
“How about we see what happens before we make decisions,” Li Na whispered loudly, leaning over the desk behind them.
“But we could waste so much time if we’re wrong,” Yaric complained.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“We’re going to see Lloyd tonight, right? Just ask him.”
Yaric and Lauren glanced at each other in surprise.
“Professor Lina is always happy to help,” she declared quietly, though she quickly leaned back before anyone could reply.
The rest of the day went surprisingly quickly.
Law was surprisingly straightforward, Yaric’s investigative lessons covered the same topics as the previous one, only in a bit more detail, and horse-riding lessons left everyone with things in their hair, even Yaric, who kept his hair relatively short.
The wind had picked up even more by the time Yaric and the others rushed to meet Lloyd, the paths under the wildly swaying trees already dark, with the ground lit up by the occasional flashes of lightning. Li Na had confidently declared that it wouldn’t rain, so everyone else had umbrellas tucked securely under their cloaks. Not that they’d be able to use them if the wind didn’t die down.
“Good evening,” the startled employee said at the door. They’d rushed in as quickly as they could, but the driving wind had still followed them in.
“We’re here to see High Wizard Chen,” Yaric said.
“I believe he is already waiting.”
Their coats and jackets were taken before they were led to Lloyd’s favorite room, though Lloyd wasn’t waiting at a table like usual.
A large fire was crackling in the fireplace, and Lloyd had taken a prime seat just to the side. Four more chairs had already been set opposite him.
Yaric and Sven both hung back to take the chairs furthest from the fire, while the other two seated themselves inside the welcoming glow.
“You four look like you’ve just escaped the Abyssal Fields,” Lloyd said, looking each of them over in turn.
“The weather isn’t exactly great out there,” Yaric replied. Gusting winds were howling past the windows and whistling over the roof even now.
“That’s not what I mean.”
“Oh… we’re just tired. The extra workload has been a bit much.”
“But you’ve eased up on all that extra work you do, right? Just until these temporary lessons are finished?”
Yaric glanced at the others, and Lloyd immediately sighed.
Everyone was silent for a moment. No sound was heard besides the howling wind outside and the popping of the fire. The wind outside was having the unexpected side effect of making the fire crackle and jump merrily as the draughts down the chimney pushed and pulled, its light being the only source of illumination on this side of the room. Yellows and golds played across the floor between them as the flickering flames reflected in the amber liquid beside Lloyd, its light refracting through the bumps and grooves of his glass in a constantly shifting dance.
“How long?” Lloyd finally asked.
“About three weeks,” Yaric replied, though he also looked across everyone else. They hadn’t actually discussed how long each of them had been feeling so tired.
“Four weeks,” Li Na admitted, inadvertently answering Yaric’s question.
“Somewhere around there,” Lauren said.
“I don’t know, it snuck up on me.”
Lloyd was the one looking tired now.
“You four do know that working past a certain point isn’t constructive, right?”
Yaric immediately remembered how he’d felt when looking through his lesson plan earlier that day. “There’s too much to do. Everything is harder this year. We’ve only just finished learning all the new spell components, and we’ve barely started on the actual spells.”
Lloyd leaned forward with an exasperated expression. “And when did it start getting so hard?”
“I don’t know, sometime after we returned from Fools Forest.”
“Was it perhaps around three weeks ago?” Lloyd asked, his voice lilting at the end.
“Ummm… I don’t know.”
“Taking time off doesn’t slow you down; not taking time off does. You can’t learn anything when you’re fatigued. Why do you think everything has been so difficult lately? One or two days here and there will mean you work much better the rest of the time, and you’ll more than makeup for the time you took off.”
“We were discussing this last night,” Yaric admitted. “We actually planned to ask you today.”
“Yeah.”
“Are you at least putting the extra work you do to one side when you have days off from class?” Lloyd asked. The guilty looks the students flashed told him everything he needed to know.
“And I thought you might start slacking after I heard about you two,” Lloyd admitted, gesturing to Yaric and Lauren. “Instead, I find that you’re working harder. What’s wrong with you?” Lloyd asked, now looking squarely at Yaric. “Don’t you want to spend some time off with Lauren?”
“I do, we’re helping each –.” Yaric started.
“We’re always together when -,” Lauren said at the same time, jumping to his defense before Lloyd cut them both off with a shake of his head.
“I’m joking. But you do need to spend more time doing other things. It isn’t healthy to focus exclusively on your studies, and it’s going to hold you back. Luckily for you, I have a short-term solution,” he said while whipping out a folder with a flourish.
“That looks like an appeal.” Yaric hadn’t meant to sound so negative, but Lloyd had just been talking about how they needed to take time off.
“Exactly! Get out of Lekton and explore a little! You can see new towns, meet new people, train a ragtag militia to clear goblins from their area, that kind of thing!”
“Wait, what?” Surprisingly, it was Li Na who sounded shocked, though she had a slight grin on her face at the thought of doing more than counting fish. She also somehow had her own glass of whiskey, despite the fact that Yaric hadn’t seen anyone come anywhere near them.
“Nothing much. It’s just the appeal I have for you. All jokes aside, it’s actually a very delicate situation, and sending you four is the best response we can come up with.”
“We’re the best response,” Yaric repeated dubiously.
“Yes. The local Baron has heard about some changes happening in the military, and he’s decided to preempt things and get started with a specialized unit for clearing pest-level species from his lands. The only problem is he doesn’t have the money for a full-time unit, so he’s decided to raise a militia to do the job. Oh, and he also doesn’t really know how. These people aren’t exactly going to be the best trained militia in Malvec.”
“Then why is he being allowed to do it?” Lauren asked.
“It’s his lands,” Lloyd shrugged. “He’d claim we’re interfering if we, well, interfere. So we’re sending you four to help as a temporary mage unit.”
“We’re just Novices,” Sven objected. “And you can’t interfere, but the local Duke can.”
Lloyd didn’t look too happy at the mention of the Duke. “I don’t know if he holds too much trust in the man, or if he’s trying to give the Baron enough rope to hang himself, but he’s been very explicit in allowing the Baron to do as he sees fit.”
“Goblins form tribes like the kobolds we fought. Four of us isn’t nearly enough,” Lauren pointed out.
“Exactly. We’re not interfering; we’re sending a small amount of assistance. Not even Apprentices. But, if you were to spend some of your downtime, I don’t know, training those men? Giving them some basic lessons and running through a few drills, you know, to get acquainted with the militia you’ll be helping, I bet you would save quite a few lives. Not to mention the impact you could have if you let loose with your spells when they move to clear the goblins. I’ve heard all about your new lessons with Hiawatha.”
“There’s no way we could cover a militia large enough to clear goblin tribes,” Yaric said firmly, repeating Lauren’s earlier assertion.
“No, you can’t. And the Baron wouldn’t accept your help if you could. He seems dead set on sorting out his infestation himself. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a large impact on the men and women who make up the militia. We’ve even arranged for a roaming healer who will make a detour to the region to help the wounded.”
“Lloyd, people are going to die,” Yaric said. “We won’t be able to save everyone.”
“I know,” Lloyd replied, speaking far more softly than he had been up till that moment. “And we don’t expect you to. You’re not there to save everyone, you’re there to save whoever you can. Best case scenario, you manage to get their abilities as a unit to a high enough level that they don’t suffer anything worse than a few wounded members.”
“We can’t be responsible for these people’s lives,” Yaric persisted.
“And you’re not. The Baron is. You’re responsible for doing what you can to help them. That’s all.” Lloyd paused to look at each of them in turn. “None of you are expected to save everyone, and you aren’t responsible for doing anything other than your best.”
“I understand,” Sven said quietly.
“Yes, but not all of you do,” Lloyd replied. “Some take everything upon their own shoulders.”
Lloyd turned to look at Yaric, and when Yaric glanced across at Lauren, he found that everyone else was looking at him as well. “Yaric, look at me,” Lloyd said firmly. He was leaning forward now with his elbows on his knees and his head level with Yaric’s. “If we try to send more than four Novices, the Baron will reject our help. What will happen if we send no one?”
“A lot of them might die,” Yaric replied reluctantly.
“And compared to what would happen if you four go to help?”
“Less.”
“You, are, not, responsible for any casualties. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
Lloyd sank back into his chair. “This is something you need to learn anyway. I know these are just civilians trying to protect their homes, but how are soldiers really any different? All battles have casualties. You four are likely to lead military units in the future, do you think you’ll somehow achieve your objectives without anyone ever dying? These people are fighting vicious creatures, and there will be casualties. Never lose sight of the people who weren’t casualties because of your help. And those that were? It’s unfortunate, and I’m not downplaying the loss, but if someone doesn’t survive even with you four helping, they also wouldn’t have survived if you weren’t there.”
“Can’t you go over the local Duke?” Yaric asked, trying one last time.
“You mean go to the King?” Lloyd smirked. “That’s the only other option, and no, I can’t. This is between the Baron and the Duke, and they’ve made their decision. I doubt the Baron really understands the real danger here. Goblins are barely three feet tall and wield stone and wood weapons; they’re diminutive and poorly armed. The militia aren’t likely to fully understand the danger either, but that’s where you four come in. Train them, teach them, and assist them when they move out. Goblins tend to inflict a higher ratio of wounded to dead, but that doesn’t mean this will be easier. Do whatever you can.”
“Then shouldn’t we leave as soon as possible?” Sven asked, his voice serious.
“Usually. The militia hasn’t been collected together yet, so you have some time. You’ll go on horseback to Caelfall and meet up with them there. The last we heard, they were waiting for the weather to get warmer before calling everyone to muster.”
“They want to plant their crops first,” Sven said knowingly.
“Actually, no,” Lloyd sighed. “They aren’t sending farmers. The Baron has pulled people from larger towns for his force. He claims that training a unit using people from large population centers will allow him to summon them more quickly in the future.” Lloyd laughed darkly and stared into the fire. “Unfortunately, he’s not wrong.
“You do have one other job while you’re there,” Lloyd added.
“What’s that?” Yaric asked, though he suspected he already knew.
“We need an eyewitness report of how things go. These nobles aren’t being callous with their people’s lives; they really believe this is the best course of action. Or at least the local Baron does, even if success would also add a lot of prestige to his barony. But either way, they are confident in their decisions, and they aren’t going to be easily swayed. We want you four to report on the effectiveness of the militia, and we need an accurate accounting of your own contributions. It’s the only way we can keep this from happening again without causing a lot of hostility between ourselves and the nobility.”
“So give extra training to the militia, help them fight goblins, then come back to report on the success of the system?” Sven asked, giving a quick summary of everything Lloyd had said.
Lloyd didn’t reply, instead choosing to lean over and simply hand Sven the appeal.
“It looks like a four- or five-day journey,” Sven observed.
“I expect you four to take your time and explore the places you pass through,” Lloyd said. The firelight was flickering across his eyes almost as much as it flickered through his glass. “Particularly on your way back. Take tomorrow to prepare, then head to Caelfall. You can start with anyone who’s ready. It will help a lot if you have a few militia members with additional training; they can function as officers and help keep everyone under control. I don’t need to tell you that the biggest danger is going to be the collapse of their lines. If people break and run, the entire militia could be routed.”
“We’ll make the arrangements,” Yaric promised.
Just then a bell rang behind them, signaling the arrival of their food.
“Ah,” Lloyd said, his grin growing wider as he stood up. “We’re starting with soup tonight.”
----------------------------------------
The wind had died down by the following morning, though there were still heavy clouds hanging low over their heads. It had also rained at some point, leaving the ground damp and giving everything a dark, wet feel.
“Look, it did rain,” Yaric said, pointing to the wet ground the moment they stepped outside.
“I didn’t say it would never rain,” Li Na countered. “Did you need your umbrellas last night?”
“No, you got lucky.”
“Nope, I got skills.” Li Na paused to look up at the dark clouds overhead. “And my skills are telling me that it isn’t going to rain today either.”
Yaric and the others turned on their heels to fetch their cloaks and umbrellas before leaving once again, this time trailed by a grumbling blond goblin.
Horses were arranged first, which was a reasonably straightforward affair despite the time it took.
“Hey, isn’t that Jelly?” Li Na asked, pointing to a paddock behind them.
Lloyd’s giant horse practically pranced across the field, followed closely by several others. They followed Jelly everywhere, and Jelly certainly enjoyed the attention if the constant snorting and mane tossing were anything to go by.
“Since when does Lloyd keep Jelly here? He has his own stables,” Li Na said, watching with a concerned scowl on her face as the horse pranced by once again.
“We can ask him when we get back,” Yaric pointed out.
They went to collect weapons next, though they only took a couple of quivers with them. Yaric was concerned after his experience with the kobolds, but Lauren reassured him that it would be better to have his bow ready if they needed it.
Other than that, they already had everything else they needed. Yaric packed his sword, shield, and spear, while also making sure to take more sets of clothes than he thought he would need. He still remembered how torn his clothes had been after their expedition.
His repaired armor was also packed away and ready to go. The armorer had been surprised at the damage, insisting that even a crossbow should have been stopped, but he did acknowledge that the short range likely played a role. There was also the issue of the weapon, as not all crossbows were equal, and no material was impervious to everything, no matter what creature it came from.
Still, everything was prepared by early afternoon, so Yaric took Lloyd’s advice and pulled Lauren away from their dorm building while she laughed. They didn’t do much, choosing to just walk around the more distant parts of the campus, but they really did need the break, and Lloyd had been right about how much of the time they spent talking revolved around their studies.
Li Na and Sven had disappeared when they got back, but they didn’t go out to look for them. Lauren told Yaric about her sister’s issues with young children talking circles around her while every parent insisted their children were angels. They both picked up books to read after Lauren was done and climbed under a large, thick blanket.
Sven and Li Na surprised them by returning for dinner, so they all ate together before going to bed. Lauren stopped Yaric just before he turned to go to his room.
“Remember what Lloyd said,” she whispered, her eyes searching his.
“Yes. They aren’t our responsibility.”
Lauren looked caught between a smile and a frown. “No, he said they’re not your responsibility. But yes, we’re doing this together.”
She gave him a quick hug and turned around, leaving Yaric in the common room.
‘Why is everyone worried about that? I know that.’
----------------------------------------
The weather the next morning was fantastic. Yaric rode out behind Sven and Li Na, with Lauren riding beside him, while they all watched the spectacular sunrise fill the sky with pinks, reds, and oranges. The sky was perfectly clear, and the air was already starting to lose the chill that had once again fallen over the campus.
A gentle breeze carried the scents of baking bread and cooking sausages on the air, along with the faint susurrus of people already starting work inside the stores lining the road. Just knowing that they weren’t going to be pushing to master another spell was already a weight off Yaric’s shoulders. Four or five days on the road, depending on how hard they pushed.
No one was particularly keen to push hard, but while an extra day riding back would have no consequences, they were all keenly aware that arriving earlier could make all the difference for one or two of the militiamen. Everyone rode through the day by unspoken agreement, stopping only to rest the horses and no more.
They did take the time to practice their camp-making skills, however.
“Are we really supposed to cut these trees down?” Li Na asked in a pleading tone.
The trees in question had bright pink and red flowers blossoming throughout their branches, still small and compact, but already filling the entire tree with color. They could all imagine what it would look like once the flowers were in full bloom.
“They’re blocking the sightlines,” Yaric pointed out rather weakly.
Lauren walked up behind them and wrapped her arms around Yaric, her jaw resting on his shoulder. “Well, we’re not exactly in a combat situation.”
“Yeah!”
“And the trees do provide shade for weary travelers,” Yaric pointed out.
“Yeah, they do,” Li Na said, nodding sagely.
“So cutting them down would be a disservice to the people of Malvec,” Lauren concluded.
“Yeah, a crime really.”
They finished setting up the camp, trees still intact, and got their food going over a fire. It was only at that point that Yaric realized just how much time they spent pushing themselves. They’d pretty much never done anything other than study or practice when camping out on their way to answer an appeal.
There were several seconds of awkward silence before Lauren’s mouth started to twitch, followed soon after by everyone else, and then they were all laughing at how ridiculous they were.
“I know!” Li Na said brightly, hopping up from the stump she was sitting on. She skipped across the camp and down to the road, where she promptly disappeared up one of the flowering trees. No one was surprised to see Li Na sprawled across a branch, looking around at the flowers blooming around her, but Yaric and Lauren were practically speechless when Sven promptly followed her.
“Is Sven, up a tree?” Yaric whispered loudly, his voice easily carrying over to the tree while Lauren laughed.
“Shoosh, you,” Li Na called back. “You’re just jealous because I’m taller than you now!”
“What’s that like?” Yaric called back teasingly. “Being taller than someone.”
“Shoosh!”
This time no one pulled out lighting stones to continue going through lesson plans after the sun set and darkness descended, and no one started studying Law or anything else even remotely similar. Instead, for the first time ever, they huddled together on opposite ends of the fire and started telling ghost stories, each more outlandish than the last.
They still setup up a proper watch, and they still kept their weapons ready, but outside of general security, they simply enjoyed each other’s company.
There were smiles all over the place the next morning, and all through the day as well. Every day of their journey was much the same, filled with songs and random conversations on the road, and stories about their past at night. Li Na insisted they finish with ghost stories before bed, though why a walking fish that entered people’s bedrooms was scary, Yaric had no idea, and Li Na didn’t seem to be able to explain.
It only took four days to reach their destination. Caelfall sat on top of a large hill, surrounded by a small wall and featuring a long uphill road that led to the main gates. The town was very large for a settlement that was walled off, though it was clear that it had also extended beyond the walls on the far side. Wisps of smoke already trailed up from household fires, creating shafts of clear light in the midafternoon sun.
It didn’t take long to determine that the local authorities had already called it a day, nor was it any big secret where they could find the members of the militia that had arrived early.
Yaric stabled his horse with the others, strapped on his sword, and walked quickly through the town to the empty warehouse serving as temporary quarters.
All four of them froze in the doorway.
Sixteen civilians were intently focused on their activities in the dimly lit center of the warehouse, surrounded by bundles of straw that served as bedding. Some looked younger than they did, and Yaric was acutely aware of just how young he still looked. Another looked to be over sixty, and one of the human women kept pausing to cough violently into her elbow. There were only two dwarves present, but the closest of them had a painful looking limp.
Yaric felt torn as he watched them. On the one hand, they showed admirable initiative for a ragtag group of civilians who had no idea what they were doing. On the other hand, they were standing less than two meters apart, armed with two and a half meter long halberds instead of spears. Halberds that they all held up at sixty degrees from the ground, clacking them uselessly against their opponent's halberd in a rhythmic side-to-side motion, the most intense looks of concentration etched across their faces.
All four of the students groaned quietly from the oversized doorway.
They shared a look, though Lauren’s gaze lingered for a moment when her eyes met Yaric's. She placed her hand reassuringly on his shoulder, but for the first time, it didn’t work. Or at least, it didn’t work the way he thought she’d intended, because now he was somehow even more determined.
‘Screw Lloyd. Every single one of these people are going home when this is done.’