“The air is so much nicer out in the wilds.” Agatha smiled up at the sky, past the tall treeline, and took a deep breath through her nose. The sun was beaming, and the wind blew comfortably between their clothes, which in Aethel’s case, was still his Quartzlight uniform. A white linen shirt and dark pants. Teddy was no better, equipped with sleeveless brown cotton and matching pants. Agatha wore black leather at least, and looked like a person fit for travelling the roads, but Aethel and Teddy seemed terribly out of place. Packing extra clothes was not something their drunken selves had considered a priority. As they walked, Teddy kept looking behind them.
“I check regularly, Teddy, don’t worry.” Aethel said. The man from yesterday had them all a little on edge, although nothing had happened the entire night.
“Yeah, I know. I just can’t shake the feeling that we’re being followed. Either by actual countrymen or Mr. Stupid-Hat.” Teddy answered him, and had another gander at the long road and forest behind them. Aethel didn’t say it out loud, but he actually thought the hat looked quite dashing.
“I wonder what his deal was.” Agatha interjected.
“He was obviously hungry, but at the same time, if you’re alone in the forest like that you probably have some idea of what to do for food.” She continued.
“Thavion knows what he was up to.” Aethel commented.
“Yao’lith knows.” Agatha smiled. Teddy looked at her, questioning, before he realised.
“Riiiight, you’re a ‘Chaos Witch’.” He realized. Aethel interjected.
“You should probably be careful sharing your love for the Queen of the Abyss around here. Superstitious villagers might just burn you at the stake.” He gave her a serious look.
“Yeah yeah, I know.” She answered.
“And I don’t love her either. Using chaos magic can really mess you up sometimes. But I like it. It’s kinda like gambling!” She said happily. Aethel chuckled, before he tripped on a large rock and almost fell face first into the dirt road.
“Some fucking ‘Kingsroad’.” Aethel spat as he straightened himself.
“I feel like I’m gonna stumble on a rock and break my neck for every step I take.” The Kingsroad was not at all what he remembered. It was just a dirt path littered with grey stones of varying sizes, some of them as big as cats.
“How do they even drive carriages over this mess?” He continued. Agatha looked at him a little confused.
“You’ve never seen the Kingsroad before?” She asked. Teddy answered.
“We have. It just didn’t look like shit seven years ago.” He kicked a rock as he spoke.
“Has it really been seven years?” Aethel questioned, a little taken aback. Teddy nodded seriously.
“Since you last stepped out of the city?” Agatha seemed surprised at the fact. Aethel stayed silent.
“Yeah, when we were finished at the military academy we had a few excursions outside of the city.” Teddy announced smugly.
“Excursions? So you were countrymen, defending the roads?” The small woman looked up at the towering man.
“No, we haven’t really seen eye to eye with the law over the years.” Teddy chuckled, before he continued.
“We collected bounties on frogmen mostly, and explored some of the surroundings. There are quite a few old ruins around, you know?” Agatha seemed to consider this.
“We made some good money too, ain’t that right, Aethel?” Teddy slapped the dark haired man on the back. Aethel only smiled and nodded.
“So why stop?” She asked, and Teddy’s eyes flicked nervously at Aethel.
“Well…” Teddy began, but Aethel interrupted him.
“We got ambushed by a much larger group of frogmen than we expected, and I pushed myself a little too hard.” He stated flatly and shrugged at Agatha.
“Luckily, Teddy managed to carry me all the way back to Dalen so I could rejuvenate, but it left this ugly thing in my hair.” He pointed towards the grey line. Teddy bumped into Agatha to get her attention and made a gesture that said to stop with the current line of questioning. She looked disappointed. The mood grew silent for a while, which was fine by Aethel but he could see that the others struggled with it. He was going to break the tension, but Teddy spoke up first.
“Sooo, how far away is that camp of yours?” He asked.
“Not far. We’ll reach Greenshire by the evening and stay there for the night. And then have ourselves a little hike up into the Northern Wilds tomorrow.” She drew invisible lines with her hands to illustrate the distance. Aethel spoke up.
“Have all the other gang members we met at the tavern gone back to your camp as well?” Meeting that hulking bald man was a reunion Aethel didn’t really care for.
“Only Bael. The rest are stationed within the city.” She answered. Aethel let out a sigh of relief.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Hoy!” A man called out from up the road. He was standing beside a broken down carriage waving his hands over his head. He was dressed in common clothes and looked like a farmer straight out of a play. One of the wagon wheels was clearly broken, and another lay on the side of the road.
“An ambush.” Aethel whispered to the others.
“Yup.” Teddy answered. Agatha looked shocked.
“What?!” She exclaimed, but before she could inquire further, Teddy called out to the man.
“Don’t fucking bother!” He yelled. “Tell your friends to stay in the woods and I won’t bash your skull in.” The farmer’s hands stopped mid wave, and he took a few steps back.
“I would pull out those knives if I were you.” Teddy pointed towards the knives hanging at Agatha’s belt. She gave him a mean look.
“Do you see these rocks?” Agatha pointed to the ground before she turned and yelled back to the farmer.
“Don’t mind my friends, good man! They are a paranoid sort!” Both Aethel and Teddy were looking frantically around into the woods, unintentionally proving her point. Aethel tried to reach out towards the surge between the trees, but that proved to be a challenging task while walking with his eyes open.
“Be nice guys, let’s just help him get on his way.” Agatha whispered to the men beside her as they approached.
“I don’t have much. Please. Please don’t—” The man began in a dialect similar to Agatha’s, but much thicker.
“No, no, sir, it’s not like that at all! My friends are only wary, and thought you might ambush us.” Agatha interrupted. The man lowered his shoulders but still looked wary at the sight of Teddy, who loomed at least two heads taller than him.
“What’s the problem then? Wagon wheel jumped off?” Teddy demanded. The man pointed a shivering finger at it.
“Y-yes, sir. Right there. The other broke on this side as well once the first rolled off. I have another in my cart, but I would need to lift-” He was cut short by Teddy’s booming voice.
“Watch my back Aethel and I’ll help him out.” Aethel nodded and closed his eyes. He stretched out his mind and felt for inconsistencies in the surge around them. If there were others out in the woods, he would notice them as soon as they cocked an arrow or scratched their necks.
“I appreciate it,” The farmer began. “But surely you would need more men to-” Again, he was cut short by Teddy, but not by something he said. A loud clap sounded from within him, like distant thunder. Agatha and the farmer both jumped at the sound. Teddy kneeled down, grabbed the underside of the vehicle and lifted it up like a sack of grain.
“Let’s get to work then, chop chop.” Teddy commanded. The farmer stood still for a moment looking at the hulking man holding up the side of his cart. Teddy raised his eyebrows at him.
“Right, right. Sorry, didn’t expect that is all.” He muttered as he made his way towards the back of his cart, getting out a box of tools and a spare wheel.
“Seems like we’re alone.” Aethel concluded. “But let’s keep an eye out nonetheless.”
“Smart.” Teddy answered. Agatha let out an exasperated sound.
“Would you guys relax already? Not everyone is out to get you.” She looked at them seriously. Aethel shrugged.
“You can never be too careful. For all we know this guy is in league with the manipulator we saw in the forest yesterday.” Agatha sighed, as Aethel was speaking as if the farmer wasn’t right there.
“So you’re some sort of countrymen, eh? A manipulator and an augmentor?” The farmer asked while he worked.
“Something like that.” Teddy answered matter-of-factly.
“And you?” The farmer looked directly at Agatha.
“A princess in disguise, perhaps?” Agatha laughed and waved a hand at him.
“Nothing that exciting I’m afraid.” She flushed a little. The farmer smiled.
“No? A pretty woman such as yourself doesn’t end up in those dark leathers. A noblewoman is what you are.” As he spoke he put the wrench he was holding back into his toolbox. Agatha looked a little uncomfortable.
“Just fix the wheels, creep.” Aethel commented without looking at him. As he did, he noticed that leaves had begun falling all around them. He hadn’t checked the treetops.
“NOW!” The farmer yelled and pulled a large knife out of the box. Before Aethel had any time to react, a total of four scruffy men had dropped from ropes on each side of the wagon.
The farmer-turned-cutthroat lept towards Teddy and stabbed at his midsection, but to his surprise, it didn’t slide comfortably into his ribs at all. The knife actually bent slightly as if he was stabbing hard boiled leather, and only a little trickle of blood showed itself on his clothes.
“OW!” Teddy yelled. Shock passed over the cutthroat's face, and Agatha immediately took advantage of his stunned state, dashing towards him and slicing his throat in an instant. The man fell backwards clutching at his neck. Blood spattered out of the wound, leaving warm droplets on the ones surrounding him. Agatha shot her glance around her, panicked. The pair of men who had dropped down on their side of the cart were hesitating, as Aethel had started to form some sort of technique, but the men on the other side of the cart were approaching rapidly.
“Drop the cart Teddy, what are you doing?!” She yelled at the big man, and jumped towards the men who were almost on top of Aethel.
“STOP!” Aethel yelled at her as he released his technique. It let out a shockwave that sent the ones almost at him, flying into the forest. Both of the men hit trees in the densely packed forest, and a sickening crunch of skulls and bones followed. At the same time, Teddy flipped the cart over with a roar, and sent it tumbling across the road at an unnatural speed. The cart smashed hard against the men on the other side, crushing them beneath its weight and painting the surroundings in a deep velvet.
“AGATHA!” Aethel yelled. She landed down the road with a thud, having been caught by his technique as well. Teddy grabbed at his side and looked around frantically. There didn’t seem to be any more of them, but the agonising moans and shrieks around them made it hard to focus on much else. Aethel, however, only focused on one thing. He ran as fast as he could towards her. ‘I shouldn’t have released the technique.’ He thought, cursing himself, even though he knew that he might have a knife in his belly right now if he hadn’t.
“Agatha, are you okay? I don’t know why I…” He began as he knelt beside her, inspecting her damages. She had her eyes open at least, looking around dazed. There was a lot of blood on her clothes and exposed skin, which Aethel hoped wasn’t hers.
“I shouldn’t have…” she started before she let out a cough. She tried to rise, but failed miserably. Aethel caught her head before she slammed it back into the ground. To his horror, her hair was sticky with blood as well. She quickly fell unconscious in Aethel’s arms, as Teddy came running up beside them.
“Did you hit her as well?” He asked.
“What do you fucking think, moron?” Aethel said without looking up at the man.
“She’s bleeding. We need to get her to a healer of some sort.” Aethel declared.
“I’ll run.” Teddy said without a hint of hesitation in his voice, as he picked up the limp girl.
“I’ll meet you in the village.” He continued, and before Aethel could say anything else, Teddy was already sprinting faster than any man down the road, with Agatha in his arms.