There was little talk between the group the next morning. Everyone except Sister Greta appeared tired from yesterday’s events. Daniel chalked it up to her being Iron and also the fact that she didn’t have to worry about wasting essence since she wasn’t wearing a bracelet.

The group packed up their things, watered the horses, and set back out on the road in the same formation as yesterday in a robotic fashion. It was only day two, and they were already sick of it and missed the city. All except Caspian, who appeared the same as yesterday.

The only difference from before was that Caspian was unusually quiet, which was starting to put Daniel on edge. He didn’t think that Caspian would reveal anything to the others. He just wanted to know how he was handling it. Daniel asked him how he was, but Caspian murmured that he was fine before returning to his silence.

“You’ve taken to the road pretty easily. I think the others are jealous,” said Daniel, looking back to see Dain and Abigail adjusting themselves in their saddles to try and find a position that didn’t make their sore muscles worse. Both of them were still stubbornly refusing to use essence while Daniel had decided on the opposite approach. He would use essence for his aches and pains. It would serve as motivation to solve the cycling bracelet faster because it would be a constant reminder of how much worse he’d feel if he ran out of essence.

Caspian shrugged. “It’s just practice. After an accident with a boat, father thought it best that I learn some of the land trade routes. I traveled by horse all over southern Liria to act as his messenger and negotiator.”

“That sounds like it was hard.”

“At first I thought it was a punishment and, in a way, I suppose it was. More than anything, I think it was just father trying to get me out of the way so that I couldn’t embarrass him. An out of sight, out of mind thing. I’d get to one town or city to deliver some news to a trading partner, only to find a letter had beaten me there, telling me where I should go next. He told me I’d spend a couple of weeks on the road. That two weeks turned into a year and a half,” he said with a small smile.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I quickly figured out that father wasn’t reading my reports and was just going off of whatever representative I met at the time said about me. Once I’d met with them, I had free rein and could do whatever I liked. It was the least scrutiny I’d ever been under in my life. As long as I reached the next town or city within a certain amount of time, I could do whatever I wanted.”

“Sounds like you miss it.”

Caspian nodded. “Sometimes. But then again, Scourge or Corebeast hunting sounds just as fun.”

“Hopefully, it’s the latter. Advancing closer to Iron is what interests me. Not sitting back and watching Sister Greta destroy the wicked.”

Caspian lowered his voice and asked, “is it likely for it to be there?”

“No,” Daniel whispered back. “Almost no chance, but if it is, it can’t take over your body. Your core will protect you from possession. Our best theory is that in the past, the demons only possessed Stones or essence users that invited them in.”

Caspian wrinkled his face in disgust. “Why would anyone invite one in?”

“More power. But like I said. It’s very unlikely.”

Caspian nodded and returned to his thoughts.

By mid-afternoon, they’d reached a narrow path flanked by two steep hills. Up ahead, a tree had fallen down and was blocking the road. The group weren’t the only travelers inconvenienced by it. There was also a merchant’s wagon that appeared to have a broken axle and had lost its two back wheels.

Perhaps the two events had happened at the same time and the wagon driver had pulled to a stop so suddenly that a part of it broke? Daniel wondered.

A man and woman in brown robes got out of the wagon and waved their arms out to the group, calling on them for assistance. Both appeared unarmed, and the man was clutching his side with one hand as if injured. An Aura Sight check by Daniel confirmed that they were Stone which explained their predicament. It made sense that they’d be stuck with the wagon being too heavy to fix and the tree being too heavy to move.

Sister Greta sighed. “Alright, the sooner we help these folks out, the sooner we can be on our way.”

The couple appeared grateful as the group moved closer. Daniel didn’t entirely like it. Something felt off. He studied the wagon and saw that it was indeed broken where the axle was and the two fallen wheels lay on the ground behind it. The couple were young and dressed like merchants, but that wasn’t unusual either. His eyes flicked to the tree, and that was when he noticed it. The group had already gotten too close to suddenly back out, so he started quietly warning people.

“This is an ambush,” Daniel said in a hushed voice to the others. “We need to pull back.”

“What makes you say that?” asked Caspian.

“Look at the tree,” said Daniel. “The weather didn’t knock it down. That’s a clean cut from an axe. It was chopped down and placed there.”

Alanna’s mouth hung open in shock until Sister Greta patted her on the shoulder to comfort her before she admonished Daniel. “You’re being paranoid. One should always be willing to extend a hand to a fellow fallen traveler on the road.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Daniel didn’t feel like arguing with her. She’s Iron. She can handle herself.

He gently pulled on the reins like he’d seen the others do to get their horses to stop. Nutmeg reluctantly stopped, though she seemed to be confused about no longer following the horses in front. Caspian did the same, and the two waited for Dain and Abigail to catch up.

“What’s going on?” Abigail asked.

“Daniel thinks it’s an ambush, but the Sister wouldn’t listen,” said Caspian.

“So you guys decided to leave her to it now?” Abigail angrily prompted her horse forward past them, with Dain reluctantly following.

Daniel sighed. “Fine, let’s get this over with.”

They caught up with the rest of the group. Sister Greta and Alanna had gotten off their horses and were speaking to the two merchants.

“I need two of you to get down and help with the wagon,” said Sister Greta to the four of them.

Nobody moved.

The Sister put her foot down. “As the leader of this group, I order two of you to get down and assist these nice people.”

Daniel fed essence into his tether and brought out Melos. If he was right, then he’d need all the help he could get.

The demon took one look at the scene and rolled his eyes. “You only call when you need something. So what is it now?”

“Potential ambush,” whispered Daniel.

“That’s it? I thought you had a handle on things on your end now. I figured I wouldn’t wake up unless I was needed for a small battle or, at the very least, a skirmish. A roadside ambush by amateurs hardly warrants.”

“Amateurs?”

“They didn’t plan to rob somebody of value. All they’ve done is block a road and wait, while hoping that someone with money comes by. Does your group have money? No, so amateurs.”

“How many?”

Melos went to go find out, but he felt the tether strain as he tried to walk up the hill. He asked for Daniel to move closer. Daniel nudged Nutmeg to trot closer to the right side, which caught the attention of the two merchants.

“What is he doing?” the man asked.

“Daniel, get down and help me with the wagon,” said Sister Greta. “We’re wasting time.”

The merchant woman shouted, “now!” and reached under her robes to pull out a crossbow. Her partner moved to do the same while four men on either side of the hill sprang up with bows all nocked with arrows.

“Get off your horses!” shouted the man, holding a crossbow.

Fiery chains shot out of the ground below his feet. He screamed as they wormed their way up around his body, burning everything they touched.

Sister Greta rushed forward towards the woman next to him and slapped the crossbow out of her hands right as she pulled the trigger. The bolt went wide, missing everyone but startling the horses. Dain threw one of his fighting sticks at the nearest archer before leaping off of his horse towards the rest of that side. Caspian followed suit, launching a shadow dagger into another archer’s eye and chasing after the others.

Daniel took the other side by summoning his gauntlet. Arrows flew all around him as he launched an Invictus into the air. It hit the side of the hill and threw up a mountain of dirt and dust that made the archers recoil. They coughed, temporarily blinded. Daniel moved to get off his horse and finish them off when Nutmeg panicked. She neighed and reared up on two legs before launching into a gallop. Daniel barely had time to hold on as his horse sped off past Sister Greta and the two false merchants. He retracted the essence from the tether and let Melos vanish while Nutmeg jumped over the fallen log and kept going at full speed. Daniel nearly fell off and had to clamp down with his legs and keep his center of gravity low. He needed to make her stop and go back. Abigail and Alanna weren’t fighters and there were too many archers for the others to deal with.

The wind was rushing past as Nutmeg galloped. Daniel grabbed the reins and pulled them back. He had no idea if it would work. It was just something he’d seen in movies, but yanking the reins back did seem to have an effect. Nutmeg started to slow down and eventually stop.

It hadn’t felt like they’d travelled that far, but when he looked back behind him and couldn’t see anyone, it must have been further than he thought.

I need to turn around. Daniel tried pulling the reins to the right, but that just seemed to annoy the horse. What if it’s like turning in a boat where you only paddle on one side? Daniel kept his right leg loose while tightening his left. Nutmeg started to turn to the right until they were facing in the other direction. Okay, and I think go is both heels at the same time.

Daniel dug both heels in and the horse shot off down the road. He cursed and held on until he could see the group again in the distance. He got Nutmeg to stop the same way as before and returned to find all of the archers dead and the two false merchants crying out in agony from Sister Greta’s burning chains. She was arguing with Abigail when he arrived while Caspian was cleaning blood off of his rapier and decidedly staying out of it. Dain and Alanna stood nearby, unsure of whether to intervene or not.

“What’s going on?” Daniel asked the arguing pair.

“She won’t let me help,” spat Abigail, pointing the finger at Sister Greta, who appeared unfazed by her anger.

“They abused our good nature and assaulted a woman of the cloth,” explained Sister Greta. “Their souls have already been condemned by the gods. It’s their bodies receiving divine punishment now that she has a problem with.”

Daniel looked at the two lying on the ground with the chains wrapped around them. The fire had gone away, but the chains still kept them tightly bound. Both were bleeding heavily from their stomachs and had likely caught stray arrows in the ensuing struggle. Even if the Sister withdrew her chains now, they would not survive out here on the road. Keeping them on now was just sadistic.

“Look at their wounds,” said Daniel. “They’re dead already. Why prolong it?” he asked the Sister.

Surprisingly it was Alanna that agreed with him first. “He’s right. Their suffering after death is guaranteed. We should end this and move on.”

The Sister pursed her lips at the group questioning her methods. “Fine!” she snapped. The chains unraveled and then retracted back into the ground before vanishing. She went over to inspect the wagon for supplies while Abigail knelt down next to the two that were covered in nasty burns. She summoned her Royal Command Scepter and said, “peace.”

Their pained moans stopped immediately. Their faces morphing into what Daniel could only describe as serene joy. The two of them turned to each other and quietly spoke.

Abigail got up and moved away. Whatever final words they were sharing were meant to be private.

“That was a nice thing you did,” said Daniel.

She shrugged. “They’re dying anyway. Torturing them after the fact just felt barbaric.”

“Still, you used your Spirit weapon to help someone instead of hurting them. Maybe there’s more to being Spirited than just fighting.”

When she didn’t respond, he left to go check on the others. Most had gotten lucky and had survived the encounter with only a few scrapes and bruises. Only Sister Greta had a serious injury that her black robes had hidden at first. An arrow had gone through the meat of her leg, missing the veins. Nobody went near her as she reached into her pack for supplies and set about cleaning and bandaging the wound.

Once she was done, she got back on her horse and urged it forward to continue their journey. The others exchanged a concerned look before rushing to get on their horses and follow her.