As they continued to walk, Tirian heard some shouts from the direction of Master Voluntu. He couldn't see it anymore due to just passing over another hill.

"Something's happening back there," Tirian said, stopping.

"I'm sure he's fine," Kal said, "it's none of our business."

Tirian turned to run, but Kal grabbed his wrist again in that vise grip. “I have my orders.”

“If you’re the kind of man who can live with himself, knowing he could have helped someone else, then I’m going to fight you every step of the way. You may be a good corpist, but do you really want to see who’d win in a fight?” Tirian said. “Do you really want to return to your God without me? Or, even worse, with a corpse?”

Kal sighed. “Fine. Let’s go.”

They ran up and over the hill. Five gruff and ugly men were there. They waived their weapons in the air, taunting Master Volunto.

"Old man!" they laughed.

Then one lifted a bow.

Tirian gasped.

The bowman released an arrow.

Tirian sent out a nudge of kinetic energy to the arrow, causing it to miss Voluntu by mere inches.

Voluntu looked like he had been concentrating. Why didn't the arrow move for him?

Tirian realized that the men's weapons were wood and bone.

The men were looking away from Kal and Tirian as they approached the low wall that surrounded Voluntu's yard.

"Hey, shit-face!"

One of the men turned around with a look of surprise. Tirian swung his fist for effect, but just before the punch connected he exerted kinetic energy.

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The man tumbled over from the impact and landed on the ground. He turned to the others, but most had already hopped the low wall and had closed in on the old man, one held a spear. Voluntu looked angry and stood in a battle stance.

Kal jumped the other man still standing by the low wall and punched him. It looked like a weak punch for a corpist. Kal was probably trying to hide his power…

Tirian looked back to Voluntu and saw a man jump in from the other side of the wall, sneaking up on Voluntu from behind.

"Behind you!" Tirian shouted.

Without looking, Voluntu caused his sculpture to twist and bend around, the jagged edge meeting the would-be assassin behind him.

Tirian looked away from the sight but heard the cut-off scream as the man saw his doom approaching.

Tirian hopped the wall, grabbing a log from a pile of firewood. The three remaining men made fierce faces, but now they hesitated after watching what happened to their comrade.

Tirian tossed his piece of firewood at one of the men, knocking him down and causing him to drop his weapon. As Tirian approached the last he saw Kal swing low, tripping the other man.

The last man gasped in surprise as his friends fell. Then Tirian saw Voluntu take his chance and a chunk of metal flew from the ground and struck the man in the face. The attacker fell to the ground.

Voluntu turned to them. His firm demeanor melting away into an exasperated smile.

"Thank you!" He ran forward and shook Tirian's hand. "I don't know if I would have beaten them if it weren't for you."

"It was no problem at all," Tirian said. "You were in trouble."

"You can bet I was, tropping bone-thieves."

Tirian cocked his head, "bone-thieves?"

Voluntu shook his head when he understood Tirian's confusion. "You haven't heard of bone-thieves?"

"That never came up in training," Tirian said.

"They're called bone-thieves because they use bone-weapons to rob and kill magnetist priests."

He looked to the men. Some of them struggled on the ground, groaning in pain.

"I truly would have been dead without you, I owe you my life."

He looked up at his metal sculpture, tore several long shards off of it with his powers, and looked at the thieves.

Before anyone said a word, and before Tirian could tell what was going on, a shard landed in the heart of each man. Some of the thugs were even conscious of seeing it. Eyes widening even as they died.

Tirian gasped at the violence. "Why did you do that?"

"It's the law," he said. “Attacking a high priest of Elmarad is a crime worthy of death.”

"What gives you the right?"

"I am a high priest.”

Tirian did not gulp, but inside he was nervous.

Voluntu looked confused. "I didn't think I'd been on vacation that long, you never heard of me?"

"I'm very new," Tirian said.

Voluntu nodded. "I will have other priests come and dispose of them. Thank you again for your help. If you are ever in need of aid, you can call on me."