I had to think. The screams from the mercs that had their legs cut off didn’t help me concentrate. I was afraid my wind blade wouldn’t penetrate their armor so had aimed for their legs instead. The sounds reminded me of what I had done and bile rose up in my throat. I forced it back down, it was them or me. I didn’t have time to feel bad for my enemies, not if I wanted to live. The first thing I did was make the walls higher to better shield us from the mage’s vision. I then called the family over for a quick planning session. Lin was up but still groggy.

“Anyone have any great ideas for how to handle that mage?” I asked hopefully. Just then the wall blew apart where Lux had been standing a minute ago, underscoring our problem. “I think I could take one of the blasts on my shield.” Lux said, not sounding too certain. “We need to do something before the archers Matt scared off get their courage back and start firing at us again.” Ann said worriedly.

“We need to make it to the trees if we are going to have a chance. Ann and I will follow behind Lux and make a dash for the jungle. If Lux can block at least one shot, then we will have enough time to make it before they can fire again. Lin, you stay here and guard our backs in case the archers come back.” I said, laying out the rough plan I had thought up.

I made an arrow slit in the wall for Lin to watch the other side while we concentrated on the mage. It sounded like everyone was ok with the plan. I could tell Lin would rather come with us, but she was still unsteady on her feet so didn’t argue. Before making our charge, Ann cast some spells on us to increase our speed and one on Lux to increase his defense.

Yellow light enveloped us and my skin tingled like it always did when Ann cast buffing spells. I removed the wall in front of us and Lux charged forward, holding his shield in front of him. Ann and I followed behind, trying to keep Lux between us and the trees in front of us. We knew the general area that the spells had come from so headed for it.

We didn’t get very far before a blast tore into Lux. He tried bracing himself but was still blown backwards, the shield dented and blown out of his hands. We avoided him as he tumbled on the ground, but it looked like he was ok. Ann and I put some space between us and raced for the jungle. We made it safely and ducked behind some trees to catch our breath.

Now that they were at the edge of the forest it was easy to see several paths of destruction from the spell. I unsheathed my sword and slowly crept toward the mage. Ann started to build up a spell as she followed me. Soon I could hear cursing. The vegetation in the surrounding area had been mangled from the fighting so I had a clear view of the mage and his two escorts standing on a small hill with a good view of the road.

He immediately pointed in my direction. “Get down!” I yelled to Ann as I dropped to the ground. The spell went over my head and hit the tree behind me which sent splinters everywhere. I grunted in pain as several pieces hit me. I got up again and charged forward. His two protectors already had their swords out, ready for me.

I could hear Ann following behind me. “I’ll handle these two, you take out the mage.” I said while shooting stone arrows at my opponents. One of them had a shield which he used to block my attacks but the other didn’t. He took several hits to his body and fell backwards. I could hear Ann release her spell but concentrated on the guard with the shield.

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I poured mana into the sword and swung it at him. The guard still had the shield up and expected to block the sword like he blocked the stone arrows. He didn’t anticipate me having a magical sword however. The sword sliced right through the shield and his arm with little resistance before going halfway through his chest. As I pulled the sword out, he crumpled to the ground spraying blood everywhere.

I almost puked but held on to check on the other guard and the mage. Luckily Ann’s spell had already fried him and the guard was definitely dead. With no more enemies in sight I bent over and emptied my stomach. Ann patted my back while keeping an eye out. I was a little embarrassed but didn’t think Ann would hold it against me.

She took a towel out of her bag and helped wipe some of the blood off me and pulled the splinters out of my back. She had some splinters in her legs as well which I helped her with. Lux came up to us not long after and surveyed the scene. “Good work.” Was all he said before heading back to Lin. I continued cleaning up while Ann checked the bodies. Once the splinters were out, I used healing on myself which made me feel a lot better.

Ann found a few coins but nothing else of interest. We then went back and checked the bodies on either side of the road. It seemed the legless soldiers had bled out before anyone got to them. I was hoping for some clue as to who was after us but no such luck. The leader had a little bag of coins and some rings that we helped ourselves to but that was it. None of them seemed to have magical equipment, not even the mage. He had a robe which had been ruined in the lightning blast but no wand or staff.

Lin and Lux went to chase down the remaining mercenaries so hopefully they would be able to capture one of them alive. I was relieved to see Shadow show herself after the fighting had died down. I didn’t know where she had been hiding but it didn’t look like she had even received a scratch. We went to check on the driver, but he had taken a couple of arrows to the chest and was already dead. I felt bad but there wasn’t anything we could do but report the incident when we reached Ashen.

Ann’s ears perked up and she looked down the road in the direction we had come from. I followed her gaze and could see dust in the distance and a few minutes later the passenger coach that had been at the rest stop sped by, slowing slightly to get around the wreck of our coach before speeding up again. I tried waving at the driver to get them to stop but was ignored.

“They probably wouldn’t have room for us anyway.” Ann remarked, sitting down on the grass. “It’s not that far to Ashen so we should be able to reach it before dark without too much trouble.” She continued. We waited a little while until Lux and Lin returned with frowns on their faces. “Did you find them?” I asked. “Of course we found them, but they refused to surrender and fought to the last man.” She sighed. “It can’t be helped.” Ann said, getting up.

We were about to start walking when more dust could be seen in the distance. It was the convoy of wagons which pulled up and stopped by the wrecked coach. “Looks like you found some trouble.” The driver said jovially while guards in the back of the wagon eyed us warily. “You could say that.” Lux replied. Some of the guards jumped down to inspect the bodies while we waited, trying to look nonthreatening.

“Looks like they are all from the Red Fang Mercenary Company.” One of the guards reported. I had noticed the men we killed all had red marks on their armor but I didn’t know what it signified. That seemed to mollify the guards who relaxed. The mercenaries must have a bad reputation or something. I would ask the girls if they knew anything later. “Well, I can give you a lift the rest of the way to Ashen for a few coins if you like.” The driver reported. We all looked at each other before Lux grunted and went to negotiate the fare. “Greedy merchants.” Lin growled under her breath. We weren’t exactly poor and it would beat walking so I didn’t mind.

With the deal worked out, we all found empty spots in one of the wagons. I grabbed Shadow to make sure she wasn’t left behind. As we started moving, I realized how wonderfully smooth the ride in our coach had been compared to the wagons. I immediately regretted our decision and thought a stroll through the woods would be a nice change of pace about now.