They had easily found a nice spot tucked right beside the trail to camp out for the night, and aside from a scurrying rat and a few biteflies, nothing had disturbed their rest. But given the hit request that had circulated from the town, Maddison had expected to see a few fleeing villagers, or other adventurers competing for the bounty on the trail. In a disturbing shift from expectation, they had yet to pass anyone. Bervolt was far from the hot spots that typically spurred trouble, but the bounty was still nothing to scoff at for a lone wolf or group of novices.

Maddison grimaced as he packed up their belongings. Someone could have already dealt with the bounty, which would explain the lack of traffic. Any adventurers at the town would have kept heading north to the closest city after cleaning up. It would save him the trouble of keeping Sariel safe while hunting down the sorcerer, but he was short on his monthly quota again after a tip on his main target had turned up empty. He glanced at Sariel, the gears slowly turning in his head while she carefully lined up all the rods of the tent instead of just stuffing them in their bag.

Putting some thought into their situation had raised a good question. What would he do with Sariel if the sorcerer was still alive? Dragging her into a fight he knew nothing about wasn't much of a good plan.

He stiffened as he saw a shadow pass his vision, an object dropping right in front of him to toss up the leaves and dirt around it. He grabbed for his sword, stopping with the blade halfway out of its sheath when he saw the fat crow land in front of him with a squawk. He eyed its satchel and peppering of green feathers, pacing his leaping heart as he shot the familiar a death glare. "Stop doing that! Do you want to be a kebab?" The crow scratched at the dirt with a scoffing squawk, taking to the air again to land on Maddison's shoulder. This one was a little fatter than the last, likely to give it the strength to carry the package it had dropped to scare the life out of Maddison. He looked at Sariel, signaling for her to stop her approach with the tent rod she had picked up. "We can't eat the crows with green feathers, they're my friends."

Sariel lowered her weapon with a look of relief. "Worried I was yer only friend there, Maddison. Odd choice a bird is, but I'm happy for ya."

Maddison's eye twitched at the remark. "I have other friends."

"Where are they?"

"Doing stuff." He sighed at Sariel's unconvinced squint, grabbing the cloth-wrapped package. He unclipped the small crested crow pin holding it all together, lobbing the useless piece at Sariel to catch. When he was sure the shiny pin had distracted her, he unwound the rest of the gift, letting the sheathed dagger roll out into his open palm.

Maddison held up the dagger, his face twisting with confusion at its magical sheen. He skimmed the runes etched into the blade, recognizing the fancier-than-usual nullification enchantment. "What's this for?"

The crow pecked his padded shoulder aggressively. "Stab!"

"Obviously, but this piece is worth more than the bounty."

The crow tugged a folded sheet from its satchel, dropping it in Maddison's palm. It leaned close to the paper as he unfolded it, bobbing its head at the familiar poster. The only difference from the last one was that the reward had doubled. "Emergency, bigger! Group!"

Maddison winced at the proximity of its shriek. "More money doesn't always mean more danger."

The crow waddled across his shoulder to get closer to Sariel, its singing mock returning. "Giiirl? Group!"

Maddison shrugged to throw the crow's balance, forcing it to topple to the ground with a shriek. "I'm not getting her involved. I'm dropping her off somewhere safe where she can..." He eyed Sariel hesitantly. "Wait for someone she knows to pick her up and take her back to her village once it's rebuilt. She can stay in Bervolt once I deal with the problem."

"Stupid! Stupid plan!" The crow squawked, hopping around the items Maddison was trying to pack up, singing the phrase like a disobedient child. "Stupid plan! Stupid plan! Stupid plan!"

"Stonesong is controlled by the Heroguard, where else am I going to take her?!"

"City! Safe!" The crow waddled over to Sariel, pecking at the necklace dangling around her neck. Sariel shooed the crow away with her stick, tucking the treasure to keep it safe from the grabby familiar.

"I'm not taking her on a week-long horseback detour to the closest Landport and dumping her off in the middle of a city!" Maddison argued.

Sariel nodded along to Maddison's explanation, calming down Horse as he flinched at Maddison's tone. "That'd have to be tomorrow. Today's my off day."

"See?" Maddison stopped, shooting Sariel a confused look. "What?"

"How many times has the sky got bright now?"

He counted his fingers. "Why?"

"Bout five times now?"

"I guess...?"

Sariel nodded, handing Horse's lead off to Maddison and dropping onto her butt to rest at the side of the trail. "Means it's my free day."

"Your what?" Maddison folded his arms.

"It's my free day, don't gotta work for food." She stretched her legs out with a sigh, untying the bandage around her head and rubbing the scabbed gash. "Been rubbing crushed Binadelle Grass on this, but I should probly wash it."

Maddison eyed the exposed gashes. Mostly closed up, with their once purple tint now softened to a yellowish brown. All things considered, he had expected the injuries to look a lot worse than they did. "Town will have a place to wash up."

"That ain't healthy Mr. Maddison, ain't no one in their right mind would walk sunrise to sundown for five days straight. My feet feel like a bed of hot coals! It's a real miracle you haven't collapsed stompin around in thick leather armour!"

Maddison drew back in surprise, looking at his armour with a scoff. "What are you talking about?"

"You haven't even taken your shoes off! All that moisture in there is gonna give you fungus!"

"I walk for a living, I think I know how to take care of my feet," Maddison replied, tightening a lace to hold his point. He got up, grabbing the tent pieces Sariel had folded up and packing them into a bag on Horse. After a quick check to make sure they had grabbed everything, he caught Sariel's pout. "Are you alright?"

Her frustrated glare relaxed to surprise in a split second, a hint of embarrassment turning her head away from Maddison. "Sure you don't wanna find a bath with me? You could use one."

"Oy." Maddison kept his frown, pointing at the path. "The village is just ten more hours."

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Sariel grabbed the bound map Maddison had given her, rolling out enough of it to point at their camp spot. She tapped a little splatter of blue dots westward. "This bath here's closer than that Bervolt place."

"Yeah, but it's a detour." He replied, quicky realizing his reasoning wasn't going to budge Sariel. He backtracked to come at the problem from a different angle, eyeing Horse with a flicker of inspiration. "And do you see a trail anywhere? How are we going to bring Horse along?"

Sariel shrugged. "Horse has got twice as many legs as us, don't see a problem there."

The crow flew back onto Maddison's shoulder to get at Sariel's eye level, stomping its feet impatiently at her. "Bervolt!"

"Bath!" She mocked back.

Maddison raised his palm between the two, motioning for their silence as he caught a new sound on the wind. Distant, drumming steps coming closer. He pulled Horse and Sariel to the side of the trail, allowing the crow to hop off his shoulder and onto Sariel's. The familiar didn't waste a second to grab the hood of her cloak with its beak and pull it over her hair, pecking at her chest expectantly. "Pin! Pin!"

Sariel showed it the shiny crow pin Maddison had given her, clipping it to her cloak where the crow had been pecking at her. She gave the crow a frown for its ill manners. "I'd say this pin is a lot nicer than you."

The crow hissed out an indignant squawk.

Maddison shushed them both as the hoofbeats came closer.

"Doesn't bite me," Sariel muttered, avoiding the crow's gaze as it leaned over her hood to glare at her.

The source of the sound finally came into view, a pack of six riding horseback along the trail, and kicking up a cloud of gravelly dust in their wake. Maddison sighed as he caught a glimpse of a sigil on one of their mounts, a golden eagle. The Heroguard really had the worst timing. He tensed when he saw the rider in front signal the group to slow, sticking his arm out to bar Sariel from approaching any of the riders as they trotted closer.

He didn't recognize any faces in the group, which likely meant they weren't the squadron that had been patrolling Stonesong. Even more telling that they weren't a typical squadron was their armour. Dyed to a dark mix of black and brown leather, with their brilliant white capes being the only thing flaunting the Heroguard's colours. Easy to discard for sleuthing around. The man at the head of the pack jumped off his mount, no clear weapons on his body as he turned to help down a second guest that had been hanging on behind him. They were much smaller in their frame, barely coming above his waist, with their face entirely covered by a metal mask that resembled a squirrel.

A Follower. Someone unlucky enough to have been deemed a witch and sent to the Psych Ward for rehabilitation. Maddison had seen more than a few. They never spoke short of incantations in spell work, and their faces, and most of their body, were always covered in some way.

The commander approached him calmly, open palms at his sides as he allowed his Follower to timidly follow behind, almost wrapped up in his waving cloak with how closely they were hugging his waist. The behaviour was definitely unusual. Followers almost always took their commander's side, or the front in dangerous situations. Maddison had seen squadrons beat their Followers senseless for less.

They weren't supposed to show a hint of hesitation in protecting their Heroes.

When he was a few feet from Maddison he stopped, raising his palms to Maddison. "At ease adventurer."

Maddison didn't move his hand from the hilt of his sword, eyeing the two horseback Heroes that had bows rested in front of them with an arrow at the ready.

The commander looked back at them, paying Maddison an understanding smile. He pulled an emblem from his pocket to flash to him, despite the Heroguard's sigil already boldly flapping on his cloak and the six others behind him. Maddison sighed, flashing his guild crest to show some good manners.

"Are you headed to Bervolt, mercenary?"

"This trail only has one destination."

"If you value your head, I'd turn around and find another target," the commander replied, his eyes widening in realization as Maddison' squinted. "I don't mean to threaten you. The sorcerer has lost control of their magic. We're on the way to scout the situation and see how many squadrons to send over. Trying to keep the crossfire down between guilds."

"Thanks for the heads up. I'll see you there."

"Then may your god heed your prayers," he replied, paying Maddison a respectful nod. He looked down as the small Follower tugged his cloak, silently staring at them for a brief moment before chuckling and giving their head a little rub. "You may."

Maddison watched them wander away from the commander, his muscles stiff with anticipation. Child or not, he would draw his sword at the slightest hint of an incantation.

They tiptoed around him, timidly eyeing him as they headed off the trail. The commander didn't pay attention to the occasional glare Maddison was tossing him, fully distracted with watching his Follower try to step around the dried leaves and crunchy twigs. Eventually, they hit their mark, crouching next to a rotted tree stump and plucking a little white daisy sprouting from its base. The commander gave them a little clap as they turned to show it to him. "That one? I love it."

They rushed back to his side with a happy bounce in their steps, holding up the small flower to the commander as he pulled out a bound journal. He opened it up to a page that already had a few crushed flowers plastered to the blank pages, allowing them to press the new find into its own space.

Maddison let out a steady breath, relaxing his grip on his sword. This entire situation was odd, but welcomed. But in the stressful what-if situation he had cooked up in his mind, he forgot about Sariel.

"Oh! Would you like more of those?" Sariel spoke up, earning a stiff glare from Maddison and an indignant squawk in her ear. The Follower stopped, their masked face turning to Sariel with a small tilt of the head. "Saw a pretty red one, hold on." She turned to tromp through the bushes, coming back with a couple extra twigs sticking to her cloak and a small plucked red flower. She crouched down and held it out like she was offering a stray cat food, "My village calls these ones Princess Blood, they make you feel light. We'd give em to people if they got hurt bad."

Maddison caught the commander's confused glance. "Sorry, she likes to talk to people."

"That's alright, she can use the interaction," the commander replied, looking down at his Follower to listen to more of their words that no one else could hear. "She's offering it to you, would you like it?"

They gazed at the flower in Sariel's hands, responding with a short and excited nod. The commander complied as she grabbed his wrist to accompany her, stopping in front of Sariel and waiting for the commander to grab it from her hand.

Sariel smiled as they eyed her curiously. "That's a very cute mask."

Their shoulders rose at the compliment as they held the little flower close to their chest.

"She says thank you," the commander replied, allowing the Follower to press the extra flower into the book before leading them back to the steed they shared. He helped them back onto the mount, paying Sariel and Maddison a friendly wave. "Stay safe mercenaries," the commander said, saluting them farewell as he kicked his horse's side, sending the mount into a swift gallop once more.

Maddison waited until they had disappeared a fair distance, looking at Sariel when he heard a crunching step. She stopped mid-step when she caught his glare.

"You're not seriously walking off into the middle of the woods, are you?"

She shook her head, pointing westward to the rocky hills the map had marked. "I know where I'm going, I'm gonna take a bath."

"I have to get to Bervolt before the town strikes a deal with the Heroguard. We don't have time for your bath." Maddison argued.

Sariel nodded in understanding, but didn't rejoin Maddison on the trail. "You don't gotta follow me. Be back this time tomorrow."

His tone rose to a sharp defensive boom. "I'm going to keep walking towards the next town."

"Right then sir, meet you there I suppose."

"Do you even know how to get there?'

"Path only goes one way."

Maddison pursed his lips, keeping his frustrations from completely taking over. The right choice in this was deep in the grey. Sariel could very well be safer in the wilderness for a day, instead of walking into a town with a mad sorcerer that the Heroguard was sending a couple squadrons to. But on the flip side, she couldn't even forage berries right. Maddison took a deep breath and closed his eyes. No more charity acts. He wasn't going to sacrifice the bounty to the Heroguard for a stranger's tantrum over a bath.

He had already saved her life once, she had no money, and no favours to cash.

Any worry on his face stiffened as he waved her away. "Do what you want."

"Right then sir." She grabbed the map out of her little pile of stuff, holding it out with a smile. "Need this back?"

"Keep it so you know where you're going." Maddison sighed, grabbing the new dagger the crow had gifted him and pressing it into her hand. "Use that to defend yourself. Don't stab any more heroes if you can help it." Maddison glanced at the crow. "Can you keep an eye on her?"

The crow squawked, digging its talons into Sariel's shoulder to keep stable.

He nodded as he eyed the two, pulling his arms into a fold. He caught the crow's look, instinctively understanding the way it had looked at the gifts he had handed Sariel. It couldn't do much more than scouting to keep her safe. It's real job was if she bit the dust, it would bring the map and dagger back to him. "Keep each other safe."

"Thank you!" Sariel replied, "What's its name?"

He frowned. "Crow."

"Crow!" The bird confirmed.

"Right Maddison, think we ought to talk about your ability to name things when I'm back," Sariel replied, giving him a cheery wave as she turned to start her journey. "See you tomorrow, in Bervolt if I can help it."

Maddison nodded. "See you there, with a dead sorcerer if I can help it."