Triss screamed, the sound weak because of her raw throat. Reginald moved quickly, whipping out his wand and stepping in front of Triss. The old man’s expression was shocked, his eyes wide and mouth open, though no sound was coming out. “Stay back.” Thomas said calmly. “He’s not dead yet, and may still be saved. Unless I pull up, that is. Stay back, or his blood will be on your hands.”

“He dies, you die.’ Reginald replied.

Thomas grinned. “Oooh, a standoff.” He threw his head back and laughed, the lavender moonlight reflecting off the whites of his eyes. Triss was astonished at Thomas’s transformation. He seemed to have come completely unhinged. “Let’s talk terms then.”

“Leave. That is the term you get from me.” Reginald spat.

“Temper, temper.” Thomas chided. “Unacceptable in any case. I require her.” He nodded at Triss. Percival let out a long groan, and Thomas seemed to suddenly remember the man at the end of his knife. He pulled the knife and pressed it to Percival’s neck in one smooth motion. He pulled hard enough that Percival had to press back into Thomas to avoid having his throat slit.

“Not happening.” Reginald snarled. “Let him go now, and I will give you safe passage out of here. You have my word.”

“Hah! The word of a draconic away from the Hordelands? I don’t think so, Banished One.”

Reginald snarled, and began to draw a symbol in the air with his wand. “You know, maybe I’ll just kill you anyways. There are plenty of spells that will make it through Percival to kill you too.”

“Try it, lizard. Go ahead. Maybe you‘ll be lucky and you’ll kill us both. Or maybe I reflect and kill you both. Come on, lets give it a try!” Thomas was nearly screaming now, white spittle flecking the corners of his lips.

“Enough!” Triss yelled. At least, she tried to yell. It came out as more of a loud whisper.

All three men looked at Triss. She hobbled up until she was standing only a couple feet in front of Percival and Thomas. “Stay back.” Thomas warned.

“Put. Him. Down.” Triss bit off every word. “NOW!”

Thomas looked at her, dumbfounded. Then his eyes narrowed, and he suddenly shoved Percival at Triss. Neither of them had expected it, and they collapsed to the ground in a panicked bundle of arms and, in the case of Percival, extremely white legs. A flash flew overhead as Thomas cast a spell at Reginald.

Triss did her best to untangle herself from Percival, the old man groaning weakly as she pushed him off her. “Sorry.” She said as she finally managed to separate.

“Help him!” The wizard gasped. He was trying to contort himself backwards to put pressure on his stab wound. “Reg. Reg.” He stammered, plainly out of breath. “Not, good. Battle.” The words were a staccato beat, timed with Percival’s snatches of breath. “Help.”

“Reginald isn’t good at battle, I need to help him?” Triss asked, and Percival nodded. “Oh for f-.” Triss cut off the curse and sat up in the grass. Thomas and Reginald were trading blows, flashes of light bouncing back and forth. How in the world was she supposed to help?

She was moving before the idea was fully formed. That was the one benefit of thinking like she did. Once she had climbed through the window, she quickly made an orb of light. It only took her a few seconds to find what she was looking for. She grabbed the object and hurried out the front door was quickly as she could. He body had recovered slightly, she noticed. She was able to at least walk almost normally. She rounded the corner of the house to where the battle raged in blinding flashes. “Hey Tom!” She yelled. It hurt, and she knew she had damaged something in her throat by forcing it. But it was necessary. “CATCH!” She hurled the skull as hard as she could, right at Thomas.

The grinning skull flew through the air, a perfect arc straight towards Thomas. It hit the ground a foot or so away from him, then rolled on to bump gently against his foot. Triss cursed. What was she going to do now?

A cry of pain drew her attention. Reginald was down on one knee, seeming dazed. His wand was gone, and he was swaying slightly. Thomas stood up straight, and began to walk towards Reginald, his wand in front of him.

Triss took off like an olympian at the hundred meter dash. Her body screamed in protest, every muscle pure hot agony, but she ran anyways. She pushed off the soft grassy soil and hurled herself at Thomas, crashing into his back and taking him down to the ground.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

There was no slow untangling of limbs this time. Thomas spun as soon as he landed, grabbing her arms and throwing her off of him. Wild rage painted his face. He scrambled to his feet, then slapped Triss full across the face when she started to get up. She collapsed back to the ground, her head ringing. “Stupid.” He snapped. “You’ll get yourself killed, and for what?” He strode across the ground towards Reginald.

“No!” Triss cried weakly. Reginald still seemed to be out of it, staring at the ground without even blinking. Thomas pointed his wand right at Reginald’s face from only a foot or so away. “Take me!” Triss screamed.

That made Thomas pause. He drew back from Reginald slightly. “You want to come with me?”

“No, but I will. Just let them both live and I’ll go with you.”

Thomas considered for a moment. “You know I could just wrap you up and take you anyways. And if I killed them then I don’t have to worry about them coming after me.”

“But you do have to worry about me. If you let them go I’ll cooperate with you. If you kill either on of them I’ll find a way to stop you.” Triss said, making her way to her feet and standing up straight.

Thomas laughed. “What could you possibly do to stop me?”

Triss shrugged. “No idea. But I won’t stop looking. I’ll find a way to make life harder for you.”

Thomas took a few minutes to think before reaching a conclusion. He waved his wand suddenly towards Reginald. Purple bands of light bound the draconic Around the arms and hands. “Up.” He commanded the lizard.

Reginald looked up at Thomas, brows furrowed deeply as though the command to stand had been delivered in a foreign language. Thomas grabbed Reginald’s arm and dragged him to his feet. “Your lucky day, Banished.” He maintained his grip as he walked, pulling Reginald along towards Percival.

Triss moved to the fallen wizard as well. She bent down and grabbed his arm, pulling him to his feet. She put his arm over her shoulder, then put her arm around his back so she could help him walk. The back of his robe was sticky with warm blood. Triss tried not to let it bother her. “Let’s go.” She told the old wizard, and he dutifully came along with her.

“Leave them in the house.” Thomas commanded.

“Fuck you.” Triss replied. “They need medical attention, so they’re going to Nert or Jonal.” She kept walking.

“You’re not in a position to make demands, girl.” Thomas snapped.

She ignored him, continuing to walk down the dirt path that led from Thomas’s rented house to the front gate of Thalonia. Eventually Thomas made a frustrated noise and followed along, half-dragging Reginald along behind him. Despite his head wound, Reginald was definitely in better shape than Percival. “How,” said Triss through gritted teeth, “does one scrawny wizard weigh this much?” Thomas ended up passing them, pulling Reginald towards the city gates.

He was waiting impatiently at the gates for Triss when she and Percival arrived. Percival was slumped now, his forehead resting on the top of Triss’s head. He was whispering something as they approached. “What’s he saying?” Thomas asked.

“Nothing. Babbling about a cat or something.” Triss replied. “He’s lost a lot of blood.”

Thomas grunted, then pushed on the city gate. It didn’t move. He cursed, then kicked the door. The wooden sounds echoed in the courtyard beyond, the faint sound reverberating to the four people stuck outside. Thomas kicked it again.

“What’s this? Who’s there?” A voice called down. Triss had forgotten that the wall was manned every night now. Not by soldiers, of course, since the town didn’t have any. Just which ever trusted citizen happened to draw the short straw that particular night.

“Thomas Crest.” Thomas called back up. “Lord Percival and Lord Reginald were attacked by a rogue wizard. They need medical attention. Please open the gate.”

“Oh. Uh, I’ll have to ask the elders about that. Wait there, I’ll go find one.” The voice on the wall called, already fading as the last word was spoken.

“Anyone but Nert!” Thomas cried.

They waited for nearly an hour before the man finally called back down from the wall. “I found Elder Nert!” Thomas cursed. “He says to open the gate for you and he’ll have some people ready to help!”

“So open the gate!” Thomas called back.

“Will do! Just need to climb back down!” The voice called back, far too cheerfully for the time of night.

“Why in the twelve hells didn’t he open it instead of climbing up to tell us he was going to open it!” Thomas complained. “Idiot!”

Triss ignored him. She had set Percival in a soft patch of grass near the gate, then had moved Reginald to sit next to him. Thomas hadn’t stopped her. Then she had sat with the two, shivering from the gentle night chill. Percival was looking whiter and whiter, and she wasn’t sure how many shades there were left for him to turn before all his blood was gone.

The gate finally began to creak open, and it was a wonderful sound to Triss. Four men stepped out, hurrying up to the group of injured people on the grass. Two others followed along behind at a slower pace. “Just take them to Gertie’s. She’ll fix em up proper.” Nert said in his characteristic tone of voice. The four men grabbed Percival and Reginald. One tried to grab Triss as well, but she waved them off.

Nert Walked up to speak with her, but was interrupted by Thomas, who strode up to stand in front of the old elder. “Triss is coming with me.” He said loudly. “She needs something from the castle.”

“Oh, well. I guess that’s ok?” The elder said. “If, Reginald is ok with you going to the castle, of course.”

Thomas hesitated, but then replied. “He’s in no condition to give approval. We need herbs for him from the castle. Triss knows where they are.”

Nert walked up to Reginald, peering into his eyes intently. Reginald didn’t respond. “Well, I suppose.”

Thomas didn’t wait any longer, taking Triss’s hand and pulling her to her feet. “No funny business.” He hissed.

They made their way through town, Thomas making his way through the dark streets as though he’d lived in the town his entire life. A little over half an hour later they were standing outside the forest. It was just as dark and foreboding as every other time Triss had seen it at night. “How do you plan to make it through here?” Triss asked.

“It was dark when we came though earlier, and I memorized the safe route that Percival and Reginald took.” He replied nonchalantly.

“One trip, and you think you’ve got it memorized?” Triss shook her head. “You’re pretty arrogant, you know that?”

“You should hope that I do have it memorized.” Thomas said, an evil grin spreading over his face. “You’re going first.”