I woke with a sharp, throbbing pain radiating through my side. Groggy and disoriented, I tried to move, but the moment I shifted, a blinding jolt shot through my body. My hip—it felt wrong, like something inside had snapped. I again tried to lift my leg, but a hand was on my shoulder the next second.

"While I'm no doctor, clearly you have some broken bones." Alira said with a comforting tone despite the message.

"So I'm guessing your fight didn't go that great." Turning my head to get a better view the orc seemed very happy with himself, and I'm guessing he was waiting for some time to gloat.

"I was expecting strong and invincible, but not fast. Somehow you skipped that part." I responded, keeping eye contact with him.

"Hey, I told you to stand near me and you would have been fine. If you wanted to seek death, who was I to stop you?"

"You know what, Red? Just admit you were an asshole and withheld important info. If I could move I’d be showing you some of that mock execution you disliked so much" I said clearly angry. I almost got killed because of him.

Red started to say something, but Alira was first. "Ignore him," she said while looking at the orc for a second. "I saw the dragon leaving. How did you manage to make it leave? If it weren't for the Lightning Bolt I saw after it flew away I would have assumed the worst."

"Sorry for worrying you yet again." I responded , "And it left because I managed to injure it at the end. I’m guessing experiencing pain for the first time isn’t exactly enjoyable. "

"How?" Both Alira and Red spoke at the same time.

"New spell," I smiled.

Alira must have pieced together the general idea and didn't push the subject, but Red was clearly confused. "But it's immune to spells; how would a new spell help you?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Now it was my turn to rub it in.

With not much to do, we looked at each other with contempt visible on both sides.

In the meantime, Alira was checking my sides for internal injuries by basically applying pressure, starting with my leg.

After the third scream, I couldn't help myself. "Please promise you won't quit your day job; patients would run from you if you were a doctor."

"Since your making jokes, I must still be too gentle. If you think healing is all sunshine and rainbows, you clearly haven’t been to a field hospital" clearly she didn't appreciate my attempt at humor.

"Sorry for the joke; they can't be all winners. But really it's actually starting to hurt more," I said.

Even Alira looked worried. "Without a healer, you won't be able to walk anytime soon, if at all. To add to that, we don't have any food. I guess I can try to scout a little; maybe find some long-forgotten supplies." But she didn't look confident.

"Why would food be an issue? You are traveling with a mage." Red decided to chip in.

Seeing my silence, he continued, "If your conjured food is that unsustainable, I can conjure up some. It's more palatable than any magical food I've tasted. Should keep us healthy for a week with no issues."

"Well, at least your humble self will finally be of some use," I muttered.

He then waved his hand in essentially random directions, and some loaves of bread materialized. They did appear really appetizing, or perhaps my hunger was that great.

Looking at us expectingly, he gestured for us to give them a try. I strained to sit up, but before I could grab them, Alira spoke.

"Why not try them yourself first?" I guess you can never be too careful these days with genocidal orcs from another world.

"You think I would conjure up poisonous food?" He gave Alira a hopeful glance. "I mean, it's a very good idea, but I don't actually know how to do that."

"Is that an orc joke, or are you that unhinged?" I said while reaching for one of those loaves.

"I'm sitting here talking to humans I swore I'd never show mercy to. You tell me how sane I am?" he said before taking a bite from the bread.

Seeing him bite from it reminded me I was starving. With a little hesitation I took a bite.

My hunger dissipated the next second, the bread was actually disgusting; it was unsalted and dry with a foul taste I couldn't pinpoint at first.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Oh my god, it tastes like plastic," I said realizing the familiarity of the taste. "I think I'm going to be sick."

"For conjured food, it's not that bad," Alira responded.

"Are you telling me normal conjured food is worse than this?" That would explain why they didn't cure world hunger.

"Usually. It's why it's only used as a last resort," she finished.

Red shrugged, "Humans must be picky; for orcs, this is considered acceptable food."

"Remind me not to go to a restaurant with an orc chef." I quipped, but Red didn't seem that upset. Did they even have restaurants?

"How come you don't know the taste of conjured food? At least out of curiosity, you would have tasted it once," he said, looking at me suspiciously.

"Let's just say that spell is harder than it looks," I said, mostly muttering.

He exploded in laughter and only calmed down because of his injuries. "You can cast a portal by yourself, but can't conjure up a simple loaf of bread?" He was struggling not to laugh.

"I keep telling him he should get on that. Would have saved us a lot of carrying with all the walking through the wilderness we had to do." Alira added.

"You too, Alira?" I said, feigning a hurt tone. “ As I have said before it’s because you have no idea how dangerous that spell is," I said casually.

"It's a simple conjuring spell. First-year mages do it. How could it be dangerous?" Red asked.

"Maybe not for you casting it. But for me and what I imagine, it's just too risky. Maybe when I get a better handle on creating spells," I said.

With the food gone, we sat in silence for a while, maybe each thinking of a plan. Because once you stopped and thought about it, the situation was dire.

"So, Red, you should be the smartest one here. Have any ideas for us?" I said, breaking the silence.

"If I did, I wouldn't have been stuck here for you to find me," he responded.

"So, was the plan to just wait for your wounds to heal naturally, then try to find a way out of this place?" Alira asked.

"Pretty much, orcs heal faster, and in a week or two, I should be able to walk, maybe."

"I don't think there's a way out of here without defeating the dragon," I added.

"What about where you came from?" He asked.

"That cave takes you to a one-way portal we arrived at. Emphasis on one-way." Alira added.

"Then it's really bad; even at my best, I couldn’t take it down. Maybe you could teach me the spell you used to wound the dragon," he said, though clearly not expecting much.

"Even if I wanted to, which I don't, you couldn't learn it. It has some rather special prerequisites.” I responded.

"Then we’re stuck here eating my delicious food unless your mate here has some special skill as well."

Alira was visibly tensed at the remark. "My name is Alira."

"And my name is Zarnak, but he keeps calling me Red. What's your point?"

Noticing they were both a bit tense, I figured a bit of humor might lighten the mood. "Alright then, it's settled. Alira, you'll take on the dragon solo," I said, struggling to keep a straight face.

"I'll get right on that," she replied dryly. "Just need my god-slayer sword and flying sandals, and I'll be on my way."

That didn’t seem to have the desired effect, so I figured it was time to get serious. "So, are there really no ideas? They don’t even have to be good ones," I said, glancing at Alira.

"Great, you two are supposed to be the smartest people in the world, and I'm the one that has to come up with good ideas?"

"We're more knowledgeable, sure, but definitely not smarter." I responded.

Even Red felt the need to chip in, "I would normally disagree and say I am indeed the smartest, but currently I do not see any way out."

Alira crossed her arms, and her sight went slightly upwards, like she was deep in thought, but that lasted mere moments.

"Look, there's no point in making this more complicated than is has to be. The dragon has to be dealt with, and I'm way out of my league—I’d just be a liability," she said, pausing for a moment.

"For us to defeat it, we need both of you at full strength." I was about to jump in, but Alira continued, "No offense," she said, glancing at me, "but last time was way too close."

"Ok," I added while she took a short pause.

"Wait," Red spoke. "What do I get out of this if I help you?"

"You get to leave this place with your head attached to those big shoulders. How about that?" Damn, even Red seemed taken aback.

"Well then, how can I refuse that generous offer?" he finally said.

Alira ignored him and continued, "As to the ideas baring any miracle, we only have one option. One of you or maybe both working together has to come up with a healing spell."

I looked at Alira, then at Red, and for once I didn't know what to say.

Maybe Red could have more success; his world had magic, so he should be more well versed in magical theory.

"Healing spells are extremely difficult." Red started to say "They are given directly by the gods to faithful followers. And when I say directly, I mean that. There is no knowledge imparted. Just the spell as a whole." he did indeed seem knowledgeable on the subject. "Of course I tried to recreate one of the most simple healing spells, but while I succeeded in creating the spell, it had no noticeable effect."

Guess it was my turn to disappoint. "I also tried to dabble in healing spell creation when Malvina had her grave injury, and healers said they couldn't treat spine damage. Long story short, I couldn't even manage the most basic healing spell. I figured even if I did manage to create something, it might do more harm than good."

Silence descended again, this time with a sense of hopelessness to match.

"Wait," Alira said, her excitement growing. "So Red has the knowledge to create the spell but can't produce the effect." She then turned to me, adding, "Your world must have more medical knowledge, so you should know how the spell is supposed to work."

She might be on to something. "I guess, but how do we combine our resources, so to speak?" I said.

"I don’t know; you’re the mages. Maybe try holding hands like they do when multiple mages are creating a portal," she said, sounding slightly irritated.

I couldn't help but burst out laughing. "If you had told me one month ago that our only chance of survival would be holding hands with Red here, I would have thought you’d lost your mind. But now... here we are."

"Hey," Red added. "For the record, I'm not happy about this either. If orcs back home learn about this, I will be the laughing stock of the tribe."

"With that being said," he continued, "it's actually a very good plan."

I almost face-palmed, but I had to admit—it was actually a solid plan. "I can’t believe I’m about to say this... but, Red, can you give me your hand?"

Whether it was apprehension or shock at my attempt at humor, he seemed frozen in place. So, I added,

"Please!"