The girl was still drawing in deep gasps of air as her lungs tried to recover from nearly drowning. Her hair was soaked and plastered to her face. Thin streams of water ran down her face, but Elijah couldn’t tell if it was from tears or the sphere of water.

“Miss?” Elijah asked, frowning. It wouldn’t do if people showed up and she couldn’t speak in his favor. He had no desire to get run out of town by an angry mob. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I am,” she said, shaking her head as the dazed look faded from her expression. She grabbed her book, clutching it tightly to her chest. “I… thank you. You saved my life. Oh my god, they were going to kill me. I almost died. Again.”

The girl was starting to breathe heavily again. Elijah put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a soft smile.

“Relax, miss. They’re dead. They can’t hurt you anymore.” Elijah paused, considering her words. The dialect sounded remarkably familiar. “You say you almost died again. Would you happen to be from…?”

“Earth,” the girl finished, blinking at him. “Are you as well?”

“I am,” Elijah said. He knelt beside her and started to gather some of her scattered belongings and put them back into her pack. There were several books that appeared to be about magic, along with the one that he had seen her reading at the inn, a map of an area he was unsurprised to not recognize, and a fair bit of coin. The footsteps of the townsfolk were almost upon them, so Elijah refrained from liberating any of the money.

He packed it up, then quickly ran his hands along the fallen thugs’ bodies, their money bags disappearing under his nimble fingers. Elijah rose, then offered the girl her bag.

She took it with trembling fingers, then allowed him to pull her back to her feet.

“Did they hurt you? Aside from the whole drowning thing?” Elijah asked her.

“Nothing too bad,” she replied, hugging her extravagant robes tighter against herself. “I was taking Nelly,” she nodded in the direction of the horse, “for a walk before I went to bed and they jumped me. One of them punched me pretty hard in the stomach, but I’ll be okay. I think.”

Her words came out fast. She was clearly either completely untrained in combat or a very good actor, and Elijah was leaning towards the former.

“Well, it’s over now. You’re lucky that I happened to notice them follow you out of the inn,” Elijah said. “They didn’t see me coming, so I was able to pick them off before they could do much. If they’d been aware of me, it could have been a very difficult fight.”

She just nodded, still shivering from the experience. The town folks' footsteps finally reached the edge of the alley a short distance away from them. Elijah kept himself from turning as he heard nearly half a dozen people emerge from the town behind them.

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“What in the hells happened here?” A man exclaimed. Elijah turned, plastering a grim frown over his face. The crowd consisted of five men from the bar and Avery, who looked as expressionless as always.

“I came across these three men trying to kill and rob this woman,” Elijah said, sheathing his dagger and holding his hands up. “I managed to get the jump on them and finish them off before they could seriously injure her.”

“We heard the signs of a scuffle, but it’s been a long time since we had a man on man homicide,” the man who had spoken first said. Elijah mentally designated him as the leader. “Miss, is what this man says true?”

She gave him a jerky nod. “Yes. They were trying to drown me with a water spell. This man came out of nowhere and saved my life. He’s a hero.”

The townsfolk exchanged solemn glances.

“This is dire news indeed,” a new man said. “I didn’t recognize those three, but they’ve been quite rude to the waitresses.”

“I saw them leave the tavern as soon as the girl did,” Avery said. “My friend followed after them because he was worried about her. I told him there was nothing to worry about, but you can see how wrong I was. I never expected anyone would try to kill someone when it wasn’t even fully dark out yet.”

The leader approached the fallen men and knelt beside one of them. He rolled the corpse over and ruffled around his shirt. He pulled both sleeves back, searching for something. Then his eyes went cold.

“Bandits,” he announced with a grim frown. “Ralph’s crowd. They’ve got his symbol branded on them.”

A series of murmurs rose up amongst the townsfolk. Elijah shifted to get a better view of the brand. It was a small symbol of a badly stylized R with a jagged line going down the center. Hardly the most creative brand he’d ever seen.

“I should get…” Elijah trailed off and glanced at the girl.

“Kat.”

“Kat back to the inn. And get her something hot to drink,” Elijah said, putting an arm around her shoulders. “She shouldn’t have to see any more of this.”

“You’re right,” the lead man said, nodding. He shook his head in disgust. “May the gods witness your good deeds. We’re all lucky that no innocent blood was spilled today.”

“Lucky indeed,” Elijah said. “I’ll be at the inn if you feel that I can answer any questions, but I doubt there’s much I can elaborate on that you can’t tell from their bodies.”

The men nodded. Avery broke away from them as Elijah led Kat back through the town and towards the tavern while they stayed behind, discussing the bodies in muted tones.

“How did you know they were going to attack me?” Kat asked as they walked.

“I didn’t know for sure,” Elijah replied. “If I had, I would have been a little more urgent. I merely suspected it because they seemed to be watching you. Lucky for both of us.”

Kat nodded. Her skin was still pale, but some color seemed to be slowly returning to it.

“Could you tell me your name?” Kat asked.

“I’m Elijah. This is my assistant, Avery.”

Avery glared at him. “He thinks he’s funny. We’re partners. Strictly in the business sense.”

A small grin tugged at the corner of Kat’s mouth. It was weak, but it was better than nothing. “Thanks for saving me, Elijah.”