Nami stepped through the doors of the fort, her heart was pumping in anticipation. In some corner of her mind, she had expected to see a battle on the other side when they opened. She had been ready to jump in to save their allies from a fierce battle with bandits. But to her surprise, there was no one on the other side of the door. Disappointment welled up inside her, she had hoped Kin would have been waiting for her on this side of the door. She saw Simeon scoop up a sword from a fallen bandit and sheathed it.

She and Simeon stepped in, followed by Dyric and the rest of their squad, and looked around. The floor was filthy and she could see a single set of prints heading to the door and leading away from it. Now fear gripped at her heart. Why had only one person made it to open the door? A hand pressed to her shoulder and she glanced over to see the kind captain looking her in the eyes.

"I'm sure the others are alright. They had Hugh and Kin with them, and over the last few days, I have come to respect your partner's strength. Just breathe, Nami. We have to have faith in them."

She smiled, grateful for his words, and looked at the hall. "Right, sorry for my space out there. I'm gonna go see if I can't find that bandit archer. That's twice he's escaped me and it's time to even the score."

Simeon was marshaling the militia into a group to head further into the fort. Dyric glanced towards the swordsman.

"Simeon, lead them to look for the others. I'm going with Nami to see if we can capture that man that unleashed the Shadow Wolf on us."

Simeon nodded and drew his new sword, uncomfortable with this weapon. "Very well, Captain. Make sure you both come back safe."

Dyric put his fist to his chest in a salute and Nami couldn't help but follow suit. Then the two of them were off and looking for a staircase. The archer had climbed through a second-story window. A quite impressive feat when she thought about it. They found a small spiral staircase one door down from the entrance hall. The stairs were wooden and didn't look very sturdy. The Dove was about to step on one when Nami pulled on his sleeve.

"Hold up there, Captain. I'm way lighter than you, let me try first. If it can't hold my weight, we know to try somewhere else."

Dyric looked sheepish as he stepped back. "Right, sorry about that. You would think the bandits would have done some maintenance."

Nami scoffed as she set one foot onto the staircase. "With all the Shades they have been making, they had other things on their minds."

The stair held out so Nami took out a length of rope she had stashed away in her pouch and untangled it. She tied one end to an arrow and then handed the other end to Dyric.

"Here, hold onto this. If you fall, I should be able to help pull you up with this."

The captain gave her a warm smile as he accepted the arrow. Not waiting for a response, she stepped up onto the next step. They took it slow, pausing whenever the wood trembled under their feet. Soon, her feet were on the hardwood of the second floor. As Dyric stepped off the staircase behind her, there was a crash as the stair gave way and fell. It took many of the steps below with it. She saw Dyric pale.

"That was closer than I'd have liked." He admitted as he looked around. "Look, over there."

She followed his pointing finger and saw a partly open window nearby. A rope was still hanging out from it and she could see a set of footprints in the dust heading away from it.

"Seriously though, would it have killed them to sweep a little?" She complained as they began to follow the footprints.

The hallway was long and had many doors along with it. Nami reached down and tried to open one of them but the door was either locked or stuck. She shrugged and continued down the hall.

"Any ideas what these rooms were for, Captain?"

The man in question took a glance around himself. "I'm not familiar with this kind of fort layout, mind you. But if I had to hazard a guess, they are barracks for Doves."

She laughed at the thought. "Even their beds were a chore to get to, having to climb upstairs and then walk a good distance to the room. Dove training sounds intense."

Dyric gave her a wink. "Aye, that it can be. Wonder what that archer wanted from down here though."

They kept walking for a while until they reached the end of this hall. The passage split off on the right with another long corridor of rooms and a final door at the end. The footprints stopped at the door, which was ajar. Nami notched an arrow as Dyric put his hand to the door.

"Ready?" He asked and she nodded, drawing her string. He tossed the door open and they both stepped in. The bandit archer was standing by a large window, a rope leading down into the forest below. He had a belt wrapped around the rope. Nami fired the arrow as he jumped through the window. The shaft missed his body, knocking off his cap as it whizzed past. What greeted her was a single glowing emerald eye. The bandit's other eye had a nasty scar where it should have been. The man had olive skin and black hair. He was quite handsome despite his life profession. The one-eyed man laughed as he slid away towards the forest.

"Until next time, girly. We'll meet again."

Nami drew an arrow and aimed at the man, determined to stop his escape but a hand pushed her bow towards the floor.

"Don't," Dyric's voice was firm.

"But, he's getting away! What if he hurts other people?"

Dyric turner her towards him, so he could look into his golden eyes. "Listen to me, from that height he would have died. No matter where you hit him, that fall to the ground would likely kill him. I would rather you not have to take that burden on yet."

Dyric then pulled out a knife and cut the rope. Nami blinked as she saw the rope head out the window and she headed over to watch. The archer let go of the belt and dropped towards a tree, which he disappeared into.

"We'll go look for him later." Dyric patted her on the shoulder.

"So, you wanted to kill him yourself?"

The captain shook his head as he walked towards the door. "Not really, but I would rather dirty my own hands than make someone else take a life. I've killed so many criminals over my career as a Dove already."

Nami rushed to catch up to him. "I… thank you Dyric." A tear escaped her eye at the thought of what she had almost done.

"It's no trouble, Nami. Let's go see if we cannot find the Bandit King before Hugh or Simeon does, eh?"

Stolen story; please report.

Nami giggled, Dyric was a good friend. She let her mind wander to her partner. She hoped her beloved was doing alright.

***

The two of them then heard an explosion down the hall from the end they had not explored. Without a word, both of them moved into a dash. Nami's heart pounded, while worry ate at her mind. There was only one person in their group capable of making that much of a ruckus.

"If he's unharmed, I'm gonna be very cross with him," Nami spoke as they ran.

"You think that was Kin's doing then?"

"Naturally."

The two of them arrive at an opening right as Hugh the Hermit began to clash with an unknown man. The man was devilish handsome with blazing red eyes and a sword in one hand. Then her eyes went to the bodies laying on the floor. First was a young man from Heartsville with his throat slit, laying in a pool of blood. A good distance away was another body in a leather coat very much like the one she wore. The blood in her veins froze when she realized who was lying there on the ground.

"Damn it, Kin," Dyric growled. "Why did you challenge Bjorg by yourself?"

Nami's eyes stung as the tears came. She started to rush forward to his side but a hand grabbed her shoulder. She whirled around to find Hillevi standing there. The young priestess shook her head.

"Don't move him yet, Nami. From the blood coming out of his mouth, I fear something is broken. If that's true and you move him, he could die."

"He's alive?" Nami asked, her fear reducing a little.

"Yes, I can use my magic to stabilize him. We will wait for the battle to end before I can assess the damage."

The priestess begins to chant as she casts spells over Kin. Nami gulped, some fear was still left and was eating away at her heart. She couldn't imagine a life without her best friend in it. "Oh Kin, why did you do it?"

The Bandit King jumped back from his fight with Hugh and looked at the gathered squad.

"So, I guess all my goons lost. Then I suppose it's time I go." He pulled something off his belt. It was an orb with swirling colors in it.

"What the Shadows is that?" Hugh asked as he readied his ax.

"Calm down, this is for me." He smashed the orb at his feet and the swirling colors covers him.

"This is farewell, servants of the light. Tell Kin that our fight was fun, and I look forward to round 2 someday. But this ends my involvement with the Trinity of Twilight and the Great Master."

The colors vanished and took the man with them. Hugh growled as he put his ax away. "A teleportation orb? He must have gotten that from Colburn."

Hillevi took her hand and walked over towards Kin. Nami knelt next to her partner as Hillevi's hands began to glow with white light. The healer ran them through the air over the fallen swordsman. She clasped her own hands, trying to keep herself from touching her partner yet and hurting him in some way. She saw Hugh heading for a large open room that looked like something had blown up in it.

"Here is the lad's sword." Hugh picked it up and brushed some dust off it. "Not a scratch on it again, despite it causing that explosion we heard."

"You think he threw his sword on purpose to trigger that reaction?" Dyric asked in concern.

Nami scoffed from where she knelt, watching Hillevi healing Kin with her magic. "Knowing him, he would do it in a heartbeat if he thought it was his only course."

Hugh reached down and scraped some dust off the ruins of the room. "The dust is similar in color to the Shade Shards. I suspect this room was full of the things. The lad would have seen them as a huge threat and then sacrificed himself to destroy them."

Nami's lips turned up into a smile at Hugh's insight. "Too right. He's always been like that. He was always trying to use his body to shield me from harm."

Hillevi coughed as she rose, wiping off her hands. "I've done as much as I can for now. He is safe to move for now."

Hugh handed Kin's sword to Nami. She clutched the familiar weight for comfort, being careful to not nick herself. The hermit scooped up the fallen boy and held him firm in his tree trunk-like arms. Dyric looked over at the dead townsfolk.

"I'll get some people with a make-shift stretcher to come and carry the fallen out of here."

As he finished speaking, there was a loud noise coming from the direction of the gate.

"What fresh nonsense is this?" The captain grumbled as he walked towards the window.

Nami followed him and what she saw made her freeze in place. Horses, over a dozen of them, had come riding in through the broken gate. Men and women in leather gear started climbing down.

"Well, look at that." The golden-eyed man smiled at the sight. "My patrollers have arrived. Wonder how they found us."

Nami laughed in relief. Trained Dove warriors were there and their little make-shift militia was still intact. For the most part, anyways.

"So, what do we do now?" Her voice finally managed to come to her as the laughter died.

"We go down and greet them, of course."

***

The Dove forces that arrived swept the fortress and in less than an hour. All the living bandits were bound and left under a pavilion set up for them. The dead bandits were set outside the gate and out of the way. The few townsfolk that had died were in shrouds and arrangements were being made to get a cart for them.

Nami had refused any magical healing for her leg, there were others that needed it. One of the Doves had wrapped it tight in a bandage with a foul-smelling paste. She had to walk with a stick for the day but the lady Dove had promised she would be walking by the next day. Most of the injured had also refused instant healing in favor of Hillevi using her powers on Kin. Nami sat next to him running her hand through his hair as he slept there.

"When will he wake up?" She asked Hillevi as the priestess checked the progress on Signe's injuries.

The emerald-eyed priestess looked up and glanced in his direction. "Likely the day after tomorrow. The worse the injury, the longer it takes for the magic to heal it. And since he was unconscious when I cast the spell, he won't be able to wake until the process is complete."

She sighed in relief as she looked down at her partner. At that moment, Dyric entered the medic tent. He waved at the girls and came to stand by them.

"Hello ladies, how is the patient?"

"He is sleeping off his injuries, Captain," Hillevi explained. "Hugh had a bit of infection from his fight with Colburn, but I sorted that out. I could've knocked his fool head for trying to self-treat his wounds." Her cheeks puffed up in frustration.

Nami couldn't help but giggle at the priestess' reaction. Looks like someone has a crush on the hermit. Dyric coughed and looked away.

"Well, that's good you got that sorted out. It will take about three days to get carts here so we can transport the dead and prisoners. After that, it will take some time to get them all to Heartsville. Are you and Kin coming with us Nami?"

Nami blinked. She had not thought about that. From where they were currently, it was only three days to Crater City.

"Well, we are very close to our destination right now, but it seems wrong to not see this through."

Dyric shook his head. "Don't think of it like that, it's gonna be some time to get things set up for funerals and a celebration of our victory. No one here will begrudge the two of you going to finish your Ordeal before coming back for the rest."

"Are you sure that would be alright?"

"Of course, we will do the trails for the prisoners first. We have enough witnesses here for convictions. By the time we're done with that, you guys should be arriving in the city and we can have the funerals."

Hillevi piped in. "Yeah, my magic will keep their bodies from decaying for some time. So if your worried about that, it's alright."

Nami nodded and looked away. "Alright, I'll ask Kin when he wakes up. If he is in favor of pressing on, we'll go. If not, we'll see this through to the end first."

"No pressure," Dyric remarked. "Do try to get some rest in the meantime. Fretting will not make him wake up faster."

She nodded and then watched as the captain left. She knew he was right as she pushed herself on her feet. She started to hobble towards the door to crash when Hillevi called after her.

"Wait a moment Nami." She got up and pulled an empty cot over next to Kin. "You can sleep on this."

She gave the priestess a grateful hug before she laid down on the soft fabric of the cot. Her eyes closed moments later and she let sleep drag her into its embrace.

***

The next day was full of discovery as the group scoured the fortress for anything dodgy. Before midday, Nami was with a group of three Doves that located the bandit's ill-gotten goods. It was in a barracks room much nicer than the others and had the most work done to refurbish it. Dyric suggested it was Bjorg's chambers after he got a look at it. What they pulled out of the five chests was mind-boggling. Lots of coins from the world outside the Dale. There were precious ores and gemstones in boxes marked for Crater City shops. Fine silks and furs as well that were a bit dusty but should be salvageable.

After she got over the shock of so many valuables in one place. She began to wonder how many people the bandits must have hurt obtaining these goods. After that though, their procedural search of the building yielded little else besides. They questioned the bandits but their boss had not trusted them. They did not have any important information.

In the afternoon, she and Dyric went to look for the archer that had fallen from the zip line. They searched the area under the line for over two hours without success. They found a pile of broken branches and leaves. There was an awful lot of blood too, but found nobody. They gave up and headed back to the camp.

"I don't like that he got away." Nami lamented as they approached the camp.

"I'm sorry, we should have gone after him right away. With everything that happened after, I completely forgot about him until now. Don't worry though, we'll put out wanted posters. If he shows his face in civilization again, the Doves will grab him."

She tried to find comfort in these words but worry still ate at her insides. As they arrived in the camp, Signe waved over to her to come and help with the meal.

The best part of the day was during dinner when Hillevi came out of the medical tent, followed by Kin. He was still a little dazed and not completely aware of his surroundings. He did grin when his eyes met hers and he made a beeline for her. Any remaining frustration at her partner vanished as he embraced her. There were giggles from the female members of the group but she didn't care and he was too far out of it to notice.

She went to bed that night in a state of bliss, knowing Kin was safe and sound and in her arms. She had wanted a chat but he was already sleeping so she followed suit.