They marched through the dead land for hours, the rain a near-constant companion until it stopped in late afternoon. Finally, when the sun sank toward the horizon in the west, the dark shapes silhouetted against its waning light were those of healthy tree tops, untouched by fire. As the forward elements of 5th division’s advance force passed the sharp line between the ashen wastes and the living forest, it felt like they had returned to their own world, breathing easily for the first time since morning.

Aside from the feeling of relief, reaching the other side of the area ravaged by the wildfire had more benefits. Firstly, they would have a lot more cover for their camp, as the soldiers were easily spotted from afar in the skeletal remains of the once-wooded area. Secondly, they would be able to gather sticks and make fires – something that would’ve been much harder in a place where the flames had already devoured anything and everything that could be used as fuel. Even though they didn’t have any food that could be properly cooked, a fire to give warmth and help dry their clothes would do wonders for morale. Even Edwin, whose physique allowed him to remain entirely unbothered by the weather on most days, wasn’t a fan of wearing wet socks and boots, so once the order to encamp was given a short while later, he quickly set to the task.

Any wood they found was wet, of course, but Salissa’s control had advanced enough that she could light a campfire without turning it to ash immediately. Making her rounds through the adventurer camps, she quickly became everyone’s favorite person. After a meal of heated travel rations, which strangely did taste considerably better than cold travel rations for no particular reason Edwin could discern, Edwin and Bordan sat around the fire, enjoying the heat on their wrinkled skin and the chance to rest their tired feet. Salissa was standing on one leg, finally making use of the opportunity to test Edwin’s training method, and Leodin had wandered off to a different camp to talk to some of his friends.

It had surprised Edwin quite a bit to learn that the young marksman was apparently good friends with what seemed like everybody in their banner, as well as a good portion of those in the other banners and maybe even some soldiers. He had no explanation for when Leodin had even found the time to befriend all of them, or how he’d done it, considering the quietest member of their party was usually perfectly happy to let Bordan and Edwin do most the talking. Edwin decided he would have to look into the mystery and learn the boy’s secret, as such a miraculous skill could certainly come in handy in the future.

Cracking branches and murmured words broke him out of his ruminations, and he turned his head toward the sound. A few fires over, a sitting adventurer was talking to two robed figures, raising an arm and pointing straight in Edwin’s direction. After weeks surrounded by mages, the familiar spike of fear was a shadow of its former intensity, but seeing the two robed men make their way toward him in the dark forest still put him on alert.

As it turned out, he once again had no reason to be worried.

“Hey, there she is!” one of the two mages said as they stepped in the firelight. “Hi Salissa!”

“Hi Salissa,” the other one echoed more quietly.

Surprised, Edwin’s teammate opened her eyes and put down her raised foot. “Bernel? Hafarn? Hi, what are you doing here?”

“We were bored,” the first one said, shrugging. “The soldiers we’re assigned to won’t talk to us, so we figured we’d see what you were up to. Speaking of, were you just standing on one leg?”

“Just training my telekinesis,” Salissa said evasively, and Edwin could barely see her flushing in the low light.

Bernel leaned forward, interested. “It looked weird. Is that how you learned unconscious linking? Should we be doing this too?”

“No, and no,” Salissa said resolutely. Now that she’d gotten over her initial surprise, she easily shut them down with what Edwin assumed to be her teaching voice.

“I told you that it would be way too much work to retrain you guys for linking. If you really want to do it, do it after the war is over, when your life doesn’t depend on it.”

“Fine,” Bernel sighed, disappointed.

“Are you guys the volunteers?” Edwin asked from his sitting position. Salissa was doing fine on her own, but if he could help her deflect their questions, he would absolutely do so.

“Right, let me introduce you,” Salissa said. “This is my party, or at least most of it. This is Bordan, our leader and the Guild’s representative to our division. That over there is Edwin, our fighter, and our marksman Leodin isn’t here right now. Guys, these are Bernel and Hafarn. They’re in my combat class, two of the best.” Bernel, the talkative one, was of average height, with a mop of blond hair and an infectious smile. His companion was taller, and his well-trimmed dark brown beard made him look older than his friend. He was also decidedly uncomfortable, and Edwin assumed this trip hadn’t been his idea.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Of the best? You wound me!” Bernel said with a laugh, returning Bordan’s waved greeting and turning to Edwin. “We’ve met before, of course, though we didn’t have a chance to talk.”

“We have?” Edwin asked, confused. Had he seen them around the ritualist wagon?

“The first combat lesson,” Hafarn said quietly. “You slapped Alphonse.”

“Oh right, that,” Edwin said, realizing that he’d actually forgotten the interaction. The two had probably been somewhere in the crowd, though he wouldn’t be able to remember anyone’s faces without using Walter’s core to cheat. “I’m sorry?”

“Gods, don’t be!” Bernel laughed. “I wish it had been me. Little Lord Haliri was in dire need of a good slapping, if you ask me.”

“Good to know,” Edwin nodded. “Did he come along too?”

“And join us tromping through the mud instead of riding in the dry wagon?” Bernel chuckled. “He really wanted to, but he conveniently remembered that he’d broken his neck the day before and didn’t feel up for it.”

“Sprained his ankle,” Hafarn corrected him.

“Sure, sprained his neck, whatever. Nobody was expecting him to go anyway. Honestly, this trip is a breath of fresh air, being able to get rid of all the stuck-up pansies who are too good to get their shoes dirty.”

“How many came along?” Edwin asked. He remembered a number being mentioned right before they set off, but he’d been busy strapping down his oversized load and hadn’t paid attention.

“Seven,” Bernel answered.

“Out of 32, was it?” Edwin said, scrunching his eyebrows.

“31,” Hafarn said. “It’s not as bad as it sounds. The research teams weren’t allowed to come, and a few of the others just aren’t up for it, physically.”

“Can you imagine Orlik trying to keep up?” Bernel said, boxing Hafarn into the side and laughing. “The poor guy would die after half an hour!”

“Master Orlik,” Hafarn corrected him, and Edwin was starting to understand the dynamic of their friendship. “And no, I couldn’t. It’s a shame about Master Ulyssa though.”

“That woman is badass,” Bernel said, sighing. “I thought she was gonna punch Master Greg when he told her she was too old to go. Would’ve been great to have her along, and not just because she’s a master.”

“Do you guys know her from before?” Edwin asked.

“Nah, we weren’t what you would call ‘part of magic high society’,” Bernel answered, actually doing air quotes. “We work for the city, which means none of the others want anything to do with us.”

Sewer mages, Edwin realized. Not that the sewers were their only area of responsibility, but if part of your job involved walking through fecal matter, people tended to gloss over the rest.

“She really stepped up after this whole thing started though,” Bernel continued animatedly. “Without her keeping everyone on a leash, we would’ve had at least one brawl, and the combat classes would’ve definitely been canceled. She’s awesome.”

“Glad to hear you aren’t killing each other,” Bordan grunted. “We were worried how things would turn out with all of your different… factions stuck together for this long.”

“Oh, it’s not great, believe me,” Bernel said. “But the masters have a decent enough grip on the snobs that they’ll do work, and I think they’re slowly getting a taste for combat magic. Some of them are even pretty decent, despite having a stick up their butts.”

“Like Claire?” Hafarn prompted with a grin.

“Yeah, she’s great!” Bernel agreed happily, seemingly unaware. “And Siglind too, I guess. It was really awesome of them to volunteer. None of the other healers are in any shape for this, but nobody would’ve faulted them for staying behind.”

“You should tell her that,” Hafarn suggested innocently.

“Maybe I will,” Bernel answered, giving his friend a challenging stare. Hafarn shot a sideways look at Salissa, then turned away and ducked his head.

“Hello,” Leodin said from behind Edwin. He’d heard the marksman return a little while ago, but Leodin had quietly stopped outside the circle of light. Now he walked up to the fire as if he’d just arrived, studying the two mages. “Oh, guests. Who might you be?”

“These are Bernel and Hafarn from my combat class,” Salissa said, gesturing. “I told you about them, remember?”

“Sure, nice to meet you,” Leodin said evenly. “Shouldn’t you be with your units though?”

There was a moment of quiet, then Bernel chuckled. “Probably, yeah. They’re going to be fine, I doubt we’ll be attacked right now. I mean, the scouts and sentries and such would alert us, right?”

“You never know,” Leodin said, face impassive. “We did just ambush them when they didn’t expect it, no reason they couldn’t do the same.”

“Leo!” Salissa said, perplexed. “These are my friends! Surely the world won’t end just because they visit me for a few minutes?”

“Probably not,” Leodin said, shrugging and turning to leave. “I guess we’ll find out.”

The marksman walked away from their fire, leaving the others in awkward silence.

“I guess we do need to get back,” Bernel said with a forced smile. “Good seeing you, Salissa, and nice meeting the rest of you.” After a quick goodbye, the two mages walked off into the darkness as well.

“What was that about?” Salissa asked Bordan, half puzzled and half angry. The older man sighed, rubbing his eyes.

“Just guys being guys, don’t worry too much about it.”

Distant sounds reached Edwin’s ears, and he paused to listen. After a few seconds he rose, picking up his socks and boots and kicking Bordan’s in the man’s direction. “Put these on,” he said, grinning. “Guess who just walked into our camp.”