Two pairs of hands hauled Yaric to his feet. The shield he had discarded when bandaging his leg was ignored, but luckily he had sheathed his sword reflexively, securing the sharp blade while he was on the ground. Yaric limped back as best he could, but he was still half carried in the rush to get behind the defensive line. The simulated wound only partially paralyzed his leg, leaving him more than capable of making his own way, but Sven never gave him the chance.
Lauren and Sven dragged Yaric through the hastily assembled line, and straight to a small group hiding behind.
“There’s no time to explain fully, just listen,” Lauren panted. “We never got the chance to inform anyone, but we made a plan after the last fight, just for situations where we get ambushed. It will work for this too.”
“Yes,” Sven added, taking over.
The trio pulled up in front of the small group, which included Li Na and Anton. Li Na immediately stepped forward and shoved a bow into his hands, followed by a full quiver.
“You guys are each going to take one of the flags, and you’re all going to run and hide separately. We will hold them off for as long as we can. I don’t know how much time we can give you,” Sven said.
“But my leg! There must be someone else who’d be faster!”
“You’re one of our scouts, we’re expecting your training to more than make up for it,” Lauren answered soothingly. “You only need to hold out for four days, then we’ll all be back to help, and we can start again.”
“So you’re coming as well? You’re also a scout,” Yaric pointed out.
Lauren shook her head firmly. “This is my team. I’m not leaving them to sacrifice themselves…”
Just at that moment, the sound of shields clashing behind them punctuated her point. The Dragons had made contact with their defensive line.
“Hurry!” Sven urged, shoving a flag into each person’s hand. “Run! Keep these away from Andrew’s team – no matter what! We’re relying on you! Make sure you split up! If someone is found, they’ll only get one flag. Now go! Run!”
Everyone still had questions, but the situation clearly wouldn’t allow them to wait around and ask. Besides, it wasn’t very hard to understand.
Yaric started running as fast as he could, hopping slightly to compensate for his ‘injured’ leg. Looking back over his shoulder, Yaric spotted both Sven and Lauren rejoining their line and throwing themselves into the fight.
“Hurry up hop along!” Li Na shouted, running up beside him on his other side.
“Lina! You can run faster; you should be far ahead by now!”
“And leave you behind for them to take your flag?” she somehow smirked, despite the situation.
“We’re supposed to split up!”
Li Na looked away quickly, trying to hide the hurt look in her eyes. “Yeah, well, you can’t run as fast as the others, and I can’t hide well enough. But I can help you escape, and you can help me hide. We have a better chance if we stay together.”
More shouting started up behind them, audible even over the din created by three teams fighting.
“They’re escaping with the flags! Push through!”
Yaric continued running awkwardly next to Li Na, moving deeper into the forest. She sounded much more subdued, and she didn’t look at him while they carried on running in silence. The sounds of the battle behind them were beginning to fade, but Yaric had no idea if that was due to distance or due to his team falling. Either way, they wouldn’t have much more time.
“Fine. We join forces.”
Li Na continued to look straight ahead while they ran, but Yaric noticed the smile teasing at the edges of her mouth. Then the distant sounds of battle suddenly went quiet.
“Where are we going?” Li Na asked, slightly panicked.
“I was making for your camp, to pick up supplies.”
“Isn’t yours closer?”
“No, and we don’t have a proper camp. It would be easier to get what we need from yours.”
“Ok,” Li Na replied, speeding up slightly to lead the way. “There’s a few other things we can pick up while we’re there.”
They made good time, despite Yaric’s simulated injury. The only scare came when a small group crashed through the undergrowth further down the hill they were running along. People were obviously looking for them, but the area they needed to search was very large. It only took two hours to get to Li Na’s base camp.
Unfortunately, they wouldn’t be taking any supplies.
Smoke still rose from black pieces of wood that once formed a wall. Mounds of ash indicated where supplies had been piled up, and a faint white haze hung over everything.
“Motherf…” Yaric quickly silenced Li Na’s outburst, clapping his hand over her mouth before she made any more noise. Who knew how many people were watching?
Luckily, nothing stirred, so Yaric slowly lowered his hand.
“They must have destroyed your camp before they found us. There won’t be anything left.”
“There’s still my stuff inside!”
Yaric looked at the haze of smoke still drifting out of the narrow windows.
“Li Na, I don’t think there’s anything left.”
Li Na looked like she wanted to hunt down the Dragons herself, but she soon froze in place. “Their camp! Let’s get our supplies from there!”
Her eyes were glinting maliciously when she turned to run, forcing Yaric to chase after her.
“Lina! Wait! We attacked them once already, and they had left guards behind!”
Li Na ignored his protests and continued to run. Yaric’s right leg was aching by the time they arrived at the Mighty Dragon base camp, after being forced to compensate for the weaker one. They weren’t disappointed though.
“There’s no one here!” Li Na laughed. “They must have had everyone join the ambush!”
“Yeah, well, they also knew that everyone else was hunting or being hunted. They probably didn’t feel the need to leave guards behind this time.”
“Who cares? They left everything here for us to browse, that’s all the matters!”
Li Na leaped to the top of the wall and pulled herself over. Yaric tried to follow, but augmentation boosts whatever you currently have, and Yaric currently had one leg that was twice as strong as the other.
Li Na laughed for a full minute, trying to get Yaric to try again, before she finally tossed him a rope. Climbing a rope with a flag in your arms and one weakened leg turned into further entertainment for Li Na, but Yaric wasn’t upset, as his pitiful display had finally lifted Li Na’s mood.
There was a sense of urgency while they raided the camp.
Rations and filled canteens were bundled for travel and put aside, while Yaric secured a new shield for himself.
Li Na meanwhile had spread out their pile of firewood, and was currently hauling the Dragon’s belongings out of the building and scattering everything over the dry wood.
“Uhhh… Li Na?” Yaric asked tentatively. “Shouldn’t we destroy the weapons and tools first? Or at least the rest of their food?”
“Already did their food,” she grunted, barely acknowledging him as she went back for more things. She completely ignored the first question.
Yaric followed her in, nervous about what he might find. All the rations had been stored in the furthest room on the ground floor, and they were still there. Only this time, Yaric found everything scattered across the floor. Li Na and ripped every bag open and smashed every container. It looked like she had spent some time sliding across the floor as well, thoroughly mixing everything into a paste across the floor.
No one would be eating anything in there.
“Actually, no one can store anything in here now. We’ve been burning everything outside, but how do you even clean this up? It’s going to stink!” Yaric smiled to himself, making a note to never piss Li Na off.
Li Na quickly covered all of the wood, so Yaric helped her to drag out all of the bedding for a 2nd pile. She was in a much better mood now that she was emptying bags out to form a pyre.
The tools soon followed, and they had just started throwing spare weapons when they heard the sound of loud voices approaching the wall. Yaric ran for the nearest ladder, wanting to see how far away they were. The last thing they needed was to be trapped inside an enemy camp. With two flags!
Li Na started to hurry as well, but she was lighting a fire next to a pile of torches, intent on leaving a blazing inferno behind them.
There were only eleven students coming in, all of whom were limping or in some way injured. Asshole had obviously decided that they wouldn’t be much help in the search and sent them back. All of them were returning in one big group, coming in through one of the two gaps between the hills that flanked their base camp.
Yaric quickly ran back.
“We should’ve taken the food and left! We’re supposed to be hiding, not delivering the flags to their doorstep!” Yaric hissed, rushing for their bundles.
“Relax,” Li Na answered, “we’re almost done. How many are there?”
“Eleven!”
“We can outrun eleven. We just need to go over the wall on the other side of the camp.”
“We can’t outrun them! My leg, remember?”
“You can be so blind sometimes,” Li Na said, glancing at him with a smirk.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“We can outrun them, because they won’t be chasing us. They’ll be trying to save their things.” Li Na had been pushing bundles of torches into the flames while they spoke, and now proceeded to toss them over her shoulder. The pile with the firewood as the base had most of the remaining torches pushed underneath, spread evenly all around.
Then Li Na cheerfully skipped over to her own pack, with one last torch still in hand. Once she had her flag secured with everything else, Li Na moved over to a basket sitting against the wall of the building.
“Come help me with this,” she said, pointing at the basket.
Yaric was intrigued; he hadn’t seen the basket before.
Flames started dancing merrily along the pyres behind him as Yaric limped over to Li Na. “What is it?”
“Their lighting oil,” Li Na shrugged, her tone sounding like she was discussing the weather. “Those walls look like they would need some help to get going, and I used all the firewood.”
The voices were right outside by now, pushing them to move quickly despite Li Na’s unconcerned appearance. They made it to the wall nearest the gap opposite the returning Dragons, and Li Na quickly jumped up.
“Shit!” she swore, jumping back down and running back, leaving Yaric standing with the basket, confused and unsure of what Li Na was doing.
She was back before the Dragons had entered the camp, carrying a length of rope.
“I put this aside for the maimed weakling I have to drag around, but almost left it behind!” she said seriously, rushing past Yaric and tying one end to the basket. Yaric was still speechless when she leaped up to the top of the wall again, taking the other end of the rope with her.
She hauled the basked up, then untied the end and dropped it for Yaric, just as shouts were heard from the other side.
“All our things!”
“Get some buckets!”
“The buckets are IN the fire, idiot!”
“Find some blankets! Pull out anything that isn’t burning!”
Yaric thought that the reaction seemed very chaotic, with each person in the group sounding like they were trying to take charge. Li Na just smiled gently, humming to herself while she started pouring jars of lighting fluid down the side of wall.
The second time climbing the rope went far more smoothly, and Yaric soon found himself standing at the top of the wall. Smoke from the fires obscured the other team, but their panicked shouts were easy to hear.
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“Hurry up, will you?” Li Na said calmly, gesturing to the remaining jars in the basket.
Li Na was taking too long, so Yaric started leaning over to smash the jars against the wall. He threw them down the side, hitting the wall near the ground, and the few jars that bounced off broke on the ground.
“Spoil sport,” Li Na grumbled, grudgingly watching as the torch she’d left on the ground caught some of the oil, quickly spreading the flames along the wall.
Job done, they jumped down the other side, running for the gap between the hills. More cries soon rose behind them, causing both Li Na and Yaric to first grin, then laugh.
They were still laughing as they made their way back into the forest, heading deeper.
It took almost an hour to find a good spot to hide, and another ten minutes to convince Li Na that it was exactly that.
There were fewer trees in this area, but the ground here was very rocky, making it difficult to move through. Two fallen trees caught anything that washed down the hill, and thick brambles covered the open ground. It was exactly the kind of terrain that people instinctively went around.
“We teamed up so I could help you hide, remember? Well, this is where we are hiding.”
“But you were supposed to be good at it! What the hell is this? I don’t want to go in there!”
“Exactly!” Yaric exclaimed, exasperated. “No one would want to go in there! That’s the point!”
“Then why would I want to be the only dumbass stupid enough to crawl through that?” she asked, pointing at the dense brambles.
“Because you’re the only dumbass hiding from an entire team that is actively searching for you!”
“They’re searching for you too!”
“But you’re the only dumbass!”
Li Na only gave in when Yaric pointed out that they would be leaving after nightfall, reluctantly following Yaric deep into the undergrowth. They both made themselves as comfortable as they could and tried their best to get some sleep.
There was a lot of daylight left, but they were still somewhat successful, managing to doze off several times. Night finally fell, finding them ready and eager to get moving.
“We’ll pick up a few things from my camp, then find a new place to hide. Somewhere that the delicate princess finds acceptable…” Yaric cut off when Li Na shoved him, leaving him struggling to keep from laughing and making it worse.
“We’re most exposed when we’re moving, so the plan is to hide during the day and only move at night. So far, I’ve only ever seen people moving around during the day, so we probably won’t even have people looking for us in the dark.”
Travelling at night was slower. Worse, it was also louder. The night was full of sound, with insects chirping and clicking all around them, and the occasional owl hooting from somewhere in the trees. Still, the forest floor was covered in leaf litter, dead branches, and low-lying bushes. The duo froze frequently, startled by the noise they made when they blundered into something hidden in the dark.
Finding the campsite in the dark was easier said than done, but Yaric quickly discovered that they’d stumbled right in.
The sword that thrust at his neck fell short by the barest margin, but he still stumbled back and fell to the ground. Li Na already had her mace in her hands before Yaric hit the ground.
“Wait!” someone hissed in the darkness.
It was Anton, followed soon after by Vano.
“What are you guys doing here?” Yaric asked, his adrenaline still pumping.
“We came here to hide with our flags,” Anton replied, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“In our camp?!” Yaric exclaimed, trying to keep his voice down. “They know what area we were in! They were searching for us, remember? And we are supposed to split up, so it’s harder to get the flags!”
“The Dragons don’t, they weren’t part of the search. And what are you talking about? You’re with her, and she was on the other team!”
“I am on the other team!” Li Na interjected.
Yaric paused for a moment, realizing how his own situation was so similar. He had an answer ready a second later.
"I'm injured, Lina is covering for me until the paralysis wears off!”
“Well, I didn’t join up with Vano, he just came back to the camp as well. I’m not going to kick him out.”
“But no one should be hiding here… it isn’t that hard to find when people are actually looking! Look how big this place is. We’re supposed to be in places that no one would ever come across. Lina and I just came to pick up some things, then we’re going back.”
“Pick up what things?” Vano asked, clearly keen to find somewhere better to hide as well.
“I wanted some of the camouflage nets, to set up a proper hide. And we need to get bedrolls.”
Li Na perked up at the mention of bedrolls.
“Come and get them then, though someone will be upset when they come back to find that Lina has taken their bedroll,” Anton whispered.
Yaric picked up two of the nets and grabbed his bedroll, before helping Li Na to find one for herself. They were ready to go in minutes.
“You guys should leave soon as well, while you still have time. It will be much harder to get away from here after sunup.”
“How do you expect us to find a good hiding spot in the dark?” Anton asked.
“Doesn’t matter what you find, just do the best you can. You can always move a short distance when you can see better, or move things to camoflage your hiding spot. But you need to already be close by, you can’t be leaving here when the sun comes up. They’ll find you easily.”
“I’ll take my chances,” Anton laughed.
Vano, meanwhile, had already started packing his own things. Yaric and Li Na said a quick goodbye, then moved back into the darkness of the forest.
“Where to?” Li Na whispered.
“Don’t know yet. I just want to cover some ground while I decide.”
“Well, I want to go back to the Dragon’s camp,” Li Na announced.
“What?! Are you crazy?”
“I don’t want to go inside their camp. There’s nothing in there anyway…” Yaric thought he could see the smirk on her face even through the darkness.
“Then why would you want to go back there?”
“To hide! They leave from there when they look for us, and only go back when they stop. So that’s the only place where they aren’t looking for us!”
“That’s… ok, that kind of makes sense. But we will need to be very quiet, they’re going to be moving around in that area. We can’t get too close!”
“No problem, I just want to be close enough that they still feel like they’re on home ground.”
“Fine,” Yaric cautiously answered. “Just as long as you aren’t planning to launch some kind of attack.”
“Of course not!” Li Na snorted.
They managed to make it all the way back to the Dragon’s sector and find a new hiding place before the first light of dawn cast its grey light over the horizon. Their hiding spot didn’t look all that great, it actually looked fairly exposed, being a very large, elevated piece of ground that stood out from the rest of the area. But as Yaric explained, it was impossible to see someone lying on top, even without the thick bushes, but at the same time, it appeared to be easy to see over.
Yaric added the nets to make the bushes seem even more impenetrable, after which the two of them lay back and watched the stars slowly disappear as the sky went through a range of colors. Birds started moving through the trees, calling out to one another and announcing their presence, while Yaric and Li Na both fell asleep. It had been a long day, full of ups and downs, but they could finally stop and catch their breath.
The first day went by without much happening. They were both sleeping for much of the time, guard shifts and lookouts entirely forgotten. No one kept watch until nightfall, at which point Yaric was sure that there wouldn’t be anyone out in the forest anyway.
The 2nd day saw a big change.
The Dragons were searching the area around their camp.
Five Dragons came through the forest, thrusting spears into anything they couldn’t see through, probing for hidden Flag Storm members and the flags they carried.
Li Na spotted them long before they got close enough to be a danger, but they found themselves stuck. Their hiding spot made them hard to find, but it would be impossible to run without being seen. Neither Yaric nor Li Na fancied their chances with five 6th years chasing them.
Instead, Yaric readied his bow, while Li Na had her shield and mace ready. Both hoped that the group would go past without finding them, but they were ready to spring their own ambush if necessary.
Luck wasn’t on their side.
All five made their way straight for the raised piece of ground, making Yaric blush when Li Na turned to glare at him. Turning away, she crouched low and started crawling forward.
As soon as the Dragons hopped up onto the raised piece of ground, Yaric stood, drawing and aiming as he went. He caught them perfectly, just 10 meters away and still in the air.
TWANG!
The leader went down with a glowing red shield covering him, while Yaric readied a 2nd shot. Another shield flashed as they charged, cutting the distance in half by the time Yaric got his 2nd shot off.
Then Li Na burst out of the brush, leaping up from where she crouched and bashing her shield into the side of the closest Dragon, pushing him into the other two.
TWANG!
Yaric got a 3rd, this one only flashing amber, but still out of the fight. By now, the last two had already turned and pounced on Li Na, thrusting their spears from different directions. The angle made it impossible for Yaric to safely fire again.
He dropped his bow, picked up his shield and drew his sword, watching as one of their two remaining attackers went flying through the air, a glowing missile bathed in red. She crashed into the bushes behind her, disappearing almost instantly.
Li Na doubled over as the last one put his spear into her side.
Yaric jumped forward, just in time to take the butt of the spear in his face. His head was rocked back, despite the mage shield that briefly flared to block the blow, but he still didn’t lose sight of the spearman. The Dragon team member swung his spear around, bringing the spearhead into action and aiming for Yaric’s right, choosing to avoid his shield arm.
Yaric barely managed to get his sword into position to block, taking the force directly on the blade. Then Li Na drove her mace into his back, thrusting it forward like a blade and knocking him forward. Yaric easily stepped around the spearhead and inside his opponents reach, stabbing him in the throat. The mage shield was only amber for three seconds before turning red.
“Are you ok?” Yaric called, rushing to Li Na’s side.
“Yeah, it’s nothing major. Just hurts,” she grunted, pushing herself to her feet. “I can’t believe we took all five of them,” Li Na added, looking around. “Are you sure we should be hiding?”
“Yesss…” Yaric answered, looking pointedly at her side. “We got the drop on them and still almost lost. You’re going to need to get bandaged, and I’m going to have a headache. We probably won’t survive another fight like that.”
“Still,” Li Na smiled, raising her voice slightly to ensure that the fallen Dragons could hear her, “I bet they weren’t expecting that! What happened to being mighty dragons?”
Despite her jokes, Li Na was mad. They got her bandaged up quickly, then picked up their things and left, forced to look for a new spot during the day.
“It’s the perfect hiding place,” Li Na said sarcastically, imitating Yaric’s voice, “no one will ever realize they can’t actually see what’s up here. No one will find us!”
“Oh? I’m just glad that these guys will never search close to their camp! We should stay close by!”
“We must’ve been very unlucky!” Li Na hurriedly replied, sounding earnest. “We had such a great location, and the perfect hiding place!”
They continued to joke quietly, until they had to cross the small stream that flowed down to the Dragons base camp. Rivers and streams often created long sight lines, making it dangerous to cross. Just as they were about to make a dash to the other side, Li Na grabbed Yaric’s arm and pulled him back.
“What? Did you see someone?” he whispered urgently.
“No. Look!” Li Na pointed excitedly at a group of small white flowers growing next to the steam.
“Wow…” Yaric whispered, sounding awestruck. “Flowers!”
“Don’t be a dumbass!” she laughed, hitting his shoulder. “That’s water hemlock. We use it to treat leather in my parents’ tannery!”
“Ok…”
“You have to be so careful with it, it’s very poisonous,” she smiled innocently. “If some were to be crushed and anchored underwater, in a stream that supplies your drinking water, well, you would have a very upset stomach. Totally random example, of course,” Li Na added, already wrapping her hands with the packaging her lunch rations had come in.
“High concentrations are worse, but even this much would make it difficult to do strenuous activity,” she smirked, acting like she was teaching one of their classes. “Activities like building bridges, chopping wood, or hunting down the rightful owners of honestly earned flags…”
Three bundles were placed under rocks, all across the stream, before they carried on, looking for a temporary hiding place. Two more groups came close by that day, though not close enough to have any chance of finding them.
No one was seen the next day.
It was also the last day on their own, as it was the day before their next supply drop, when their teams would be rejoining them. Despite being the last chance for the Dragons to search unopposed, no one was seen or heard.
Neither Li Na nor Yaric had any idea why…
It was still dark when they left on the morning of the supply drop. Both were eager to reunite with their teams, but they had agreed to go and pick up Team Flagbearer first, before moving as a group to join up with Team Thunderstorm.
They found the path very quickly, but moved a safe distance away. There were only two of them, and they had to protect two flags. The last thing they wanted was to be ambushed on a clear trail.
Yaric and Li Na waited until the sun was overhead, ate a quick lunch, then started moving toward the boundary, wanting to meet up with the team as soon as possible. It wasn’t long before they heard quiet voices up ahead.
Quickly weaving their way through the trees, the duo rushed back to the path. There they waited, listening as the large group marched down toward them.
The path here was fairly straight, giving Yaric a clear view for at least 50 meters. The path was also flanked by two very low hills, improving the visibility even further.
Finally, Yaric saw Sven march around the corner, followed closely by almost fifty more students. Yaric turned to smile at Li Na, then stepped forward, looking up just in time.
Just in time to see a volley of arrows raining down on his team…
----------------------------------------
Lloyd leaned back into the comfortable armchair with a deep sigh. The glass of whiskey in his hand swirled with the movement, catching the light of the dancing fire in a shimmering kaleidoscope of reds, oranges and golds. Placing his feet on the footrest, Lloyd raised his glass toward his host and inclined his head.
“Ha! You look like you’re going to need another one!” the man laughed, waving to the waiting servant who was standing quietly in a corner. The boy jumped forward immediately, fetching the bottle and bringing it over to the fireplace. He placed it carefully on the small table that sat between the two men and quietly stepped back into his corner, fading into the shadows.
Lloyd savored his first sip, staring into the glass, before lifting his eyes once again. Duke Bartholomew Kyrylo sat opposite him, holding his own glass of golden nectar.
“I’m sure I will,” Lloyd sighed.
“Anything that I should be concerned about?” Bartholomew prodded, feeling slightly anxious.
Lloyd paused, thinking for a moment, before nodding briefly and taking another sip.
“I found a large nest of Fengári Spiders in the ravines, throughout the Smoking Forest. There are already thousands of them. Damn things breed even faster than kobolds.”
“Fengári Spiders?” Bartholomew asked, concern etched across his face.
“Large spiders, about the size of a big dog. They create massive webs that look like sheets of silk, and the queens lay thousands of eggs each year. Your men will need to use fire. You should probably just burn that damn forest down.”
“I can’t do that! Do you have any idea how much trade the resources in that forest generates? Or how many people it employs?”
“Barry, those aren’t the things in that forest that I’m concerned about right now,” Lloyd shrugged, taking another sip.
“And did you find out how they got there? Was it the same as the kobolds at Dragon’s Fang?”
Lloyd sighed deeply. “I found a hidden room, same as the other one. It hadn’t been used in a while though. Not that you need to send many spiders through to create a large infestation.”
“We’ve never had those spiders here before though,” Bartholomew pointed out.
“Of course not, they’re only found in the northeast of the continent. The Abyssal Fields keep them contained there.”
“Wait, the creatures in the fields prey on them?”
“Oh no, they are monsters just like the others. The fields are just too different to their natural habitat - they can’t survive the environment.”
“Ah…” Bartholomew sighed, leaning back into his own chair. “That would indicate that this is also a deliberate attack then.”
“I’m afraid so.”
“And have you worked out why I’m being targeted?”
“I’m not sure that you are,” Lloyd mused. “The two largest wilderness areas in your lands both had dangerous creatures brought in magically, but I have no reason to think it’s only your lands that have been attacked. I need to arrange for all areas of the Kingdom to be surveyed. We’ll have to go from there.”
“What about right now? How many men would I need to eradicate these Fengári Spiders?”
Lloyd shrugged again, staring into the fire. “As many as you can. These will be far more dangerous to your soldiers than the kobolds were. Actually…” Lloyd paused, turning away from the fire to look Bartholomew in the eyes. “Don’t send anyone yet. You’ll take a lot of casualties if you send your soldiers into that forest. I’ll petition the Council when I get back to Lekton, and you will receive mages to assist you. Do nothing until they arrive.”
“Will High Wizard Gardener be staying with us until then?” the Duke asked, knowing that she was still at Dragon’s Fang, investigating the transporter.
“No, I’ll fetch her before we head back. Her report will be crucial. Thank you for leaving that battalion behind to protect her, by the way,” Lloyd added, raising his glass once again.
Bartholomew smiled. “Of course, think nothing of it. I take it you are planning to stay for the night?”
“It seems unlikely that the world will end if I wait until morning.”
“Ha, I wouldn’t be so sure!”
“Well, is tomorrow a Tuesday?” Lloyd asked, sounding serious.
“No…”
“Then we will be fine.”
Lloyd continued staring into the fire, while the Duke observed him silently, not quite certain as to whether the High Wizard was joking or not.
“Then I shall arrange a large feast for tonight, to see you off properly!” he eventually announced, deciding to trust Lloyd’s judgement.
“I would appreciate that. It will be another long journey back.”
“Hmmm… It seems like we might be facing some difficult times. It’s likely that I won’t be holding many feasts in the near future. Especially if there are more of those transporters hiding out there.”
“There aren’t. Not in your lands at least.”
“But how can you be so sure?” Bartholomew asked, desperate for reassurance.
Lloyd turned to face him once again, an incredulous expression on his face.
“I’m a wizard, Barry!”