Shadows danced viciously against the cave walls in a narrow passage while a tall man in dark brown padded armor jabbed his long sword through an attacking goblin's head. The sword pieced its skull, and the goblin went limp, dropping its sword and shield while tumbling to the ground. A short man wearing a black cloak with its hood up and wielding a torch quickly rushed to the goblin’s body and began to pick through its torn and worn garments, searching for anything of value.
The cloaked man said disappointedly, “Damn, no keys or anything on this one.”
After clearing his throat, the man with the longsword asked curiously, “You do know it is unwise to venture this far down into these caves searching for something to open a mere chest the goblins dragged down here?”
The cloaked man turned quickly and said sternly, “As long as you drank that potion I gave you; the miasma won't affect you for over three hours. So, calm down, Ruben.” He turned back to the goblin's corpse and picked up its sword and shield, then tucked them somewhere under his cloak. While holding the torch out in front of himself to light the path, he then went on to say, “I’m telling you something in that chest. It’s different from the normal loot the goblins drag down here. And you heard the bar wench yourself say there have been multiple noble caravans that have been attacked recently up and down the highways around here, so it’s probably some wealthy pigs’ belongings that will score more gold than usual.”
Ruben, the man still wielding the longsword, stated, “It’s not the miasma that concerns me, Maxwell. These goblins seemed better armed than usual, and I don’t like being down here on a treasure hunt without a full party. Especially without a healer of some sort.”
Maxwell, the man wearing the dark cloak, chuckled, and said, “Come on, I brought us plenty of potions, antidotes, and even some invisibility potions, in case we face something we can’t beat. Plus, not only will it turn us invisible, but the alchemist who sold it to me said it will also heal us at the same time. And I wanted to split whatever is in that chest with just you, so we don’t need everyone else this time.”
“How much were those potions? They sound expensive”, Ruben huffed while stepping past Maxwell and leading the way further down the path.
As they cautiously continued down the winding cave path, a purplish black fog, which was previously a light mist upon entering the cave, began to slowly grow thicker. The sounds of multiple goblins grunting and moaning echoed off the cave walls as they slowly approached what looked like an old wooden door that led into another cave shaft.
The door was barely hanging on by one hinge, as part of the cave ceiling looked collapsed and occupied most of what was visible past the door. Maxwell peeked his head past the door and noticed that in the corner of an uncollapsed area was a peculiar-looking wooden chest with flamboyant gold markings about it. He turned back to Ruben and said quietly, “I found something in here; let’s check it out.”
Ruben and Maxwell quietly crept past the dilapidated door and made their way to the chest cautiously, avoiding rubble on the ground that could alert a nearby goblin. Maxwell knelt in front of the chest and carefully searched it for traps. With excitement in his voice, he said, “I’ve never seen a chest like this with those markings. There must be something marvelous inside.” After a quick search, he determined the chest was safe and tried to open it. The lid to the chest didn’t budge, so he began to search the side of the chest for some sort of keyhole. To his surprise, the only thing he found were intricate gold inlays of what looked like some sort of dragon.
Ruben watched the area behind them while Maxwell inspected the chest carefully. After clearing his throat, Ruben said, “That chest has markings of the old kingdom Enos on it. I remember seeing that golden dragon on the empire's emblems when I was a kid, when my father would serve there before the kingdom fell.”
Maxwell's face lit up with joy as he said, “So what you’re saying is that instead of noble shit that could be inside, there could be royal shit inside?”
"Exactly,” replied Ruben, showing excitement for the first time all evening.
A few moments passed while Maxwell continued to search the chest for some sort of opening mechanism or lock.
Ruben went on to say, “I also remember there was a bakery in the town right outside the castle wall’s run by a demi human fox lady who would always give us these free pastries.” A sad look washed over Ruben's face as he continued,” I don’t think I’ve ever had anything quite like those pastries ever since.”
Maxwell turned to Ruben and said impatiently, “Can you stop thinking about sweets and hold the light over here so I can see?"129Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7dgfyKiVtl
Ruben said apologetically, “Sorry, just seeing that emblem brought back some memories.”
Before Maxwell could turn back to the chest, a sudden, sharp pain rang through his left arm. While quickly looking down at his arm, he noticed that his elbow was missing. Blood began gushing from his stump as he screamed out in horror as the chest he was kneeling in front of was now open, exposing large, dagger-like teeth that were now soaked in blood. Maxwell scrambled to grab a weapon from under his cloak, but the chest suddenly leapt off the ground and closed itself around his head.
Ruben watched in horror as Maxwell’s headless body tumbled onto the floor, expelling massive amounts of blood all over the rubble around the room. The chest began to move toward Ruben while it opened and closed its lid madly while bits of Maxwell's chewed arm flung out of it.
As fast as Ruben unsheathed his longsword, he thrust it forward into the open mouth of the chest, only for it to close hard upon the blade, snapping the sword in half midway down the blade. While going for a short sword on his belt, what looked like a tentacle whipped out from underneath his chest and knocked Ruben off his feet and onto the ground. After slamming his head hard against the ground, he wearily looked up at the chest that was attacking him and noticed his legs were gone. Before he knew it, a sharp, searing pain cut deep into his lower abdomen as he noticed something closing around him, surrendering him to a pitch-black darkness. The only thing he could hear, besides his own screaming, was the grinding of razor-like teeth as they sawed across what was left of his body.
Light slowly began to fade away as a torch, which lay in a pool of blood on the ground, slowly began to extinguish. While the chest sat once again in the corner of the room, as if it had never been disturbed, the remaining light was swallowed by the darkness.
129Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqh7U9gmD37
129Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOF6jdYQCor
Bright colored leaves from various nearby trees littered the gravel roadway as a large multicar double decker wagon caravan pulled by horses and dragon raptors came to a halt in front of a large gathering of imperial soldiers standing in the pouring rain wielding torches. Four of the soldiers were standing tall wearing large gold inlayed plated armor. Two of which who were wielding large highly decorated two-handed swords, while the other two wielded large double headed battle axes. The remaining soldiers were dressed in black dragonhide padded armor wielding crossbows and various flintlock weaponry. They all wore a blood red cape trimmed in gold bearing a griffin wearing a crystal crown.
One man who stood in front of the rest raised his torch out in front of him as he addressed a man wearing a brown cloak and a large wide brim, hat sitting behind the reigns controlling the horses and dragon raptors.
“You there, this is an imperial check point. Please step down from your…” the man paused for a moment as he tried to come up with a word to call the style of wagon since he had never seen such a wagon so large and unusual from the ones he had seen in the past. After a quick moment he continued, “…Your rather peculiar wagon and have any occupants step out as well. We need to verify everyone’s identity before letting anyone pass.”
Blue light from the torches casted shadows that danced across the open land and all the way up to the tree line of a large sea of evergreen trees that became a large forest bordering the western edge of the Enos Mountains. The man with the large pointy hat climbed down a small ladder on the side of the carriage and knocked on a wooden door that was slightly behind him.
After a few knocks the man called out, “Vyncent, Isaac, imperial check point gonna need everyone out here with their paperwork.” He then turned around and said to the man who had addressed him, “Hey there! The name’s Theo. Nice to meet you.” He stopped a few feet in front of the man and looked around at the soldiers who stood scattered about the road while the rain beat down on their armor. Theo went on to say, “Looks like you guys brought out the elites tonight. May I ask what the occasion is?”
A soldier wielding a large two-handed sword stepped forward and said sternly, “Watch your tongue peasant. You are in the presence of General Lazarus, heir to the throne of Valmosa. You will not speak so causally to your future king.”
General Lazarus stepped forward as he lowered his free hand near his belt. The gauntlet he was wearing seemed to snap into a clip like mechanism on his belt, allowing him to pull his hand free from it as he outstretched it and said, “Don’t mind lieutenant Argram. He’s a strict man and a stickler for formalities.”
Argram grunted in displeasure as the man with the pointy hat quickly outstretched his hand and firmly gripped Lazarus’s hand and said gleefully, “Well, well, well. If it isn’t the little runt except now you’re all grown up.”
After shaking the man’s hand Lazarus quickly raised the visor on his great helm so he could get a better look at the man. Quickly realizing after a brief inspection, he called out in excitement, “Master Theo is that you?”
Theo replied, “I sure hope so, hopefully I haven’t lost myself to the eternal void while studying and become a demonic vessel.”
Lazarus smiled and said, “Still studying the mysteries behind the miasma I see. You know the Crimson Knights never found anyone to replace you as their leader after you left. They operate directly under the senate now and rarely leave the castle walls.”
After adjusting his hat in the rain, Theo responded, “I was sure Ari would take over after I left. What happened with that?”
Lazarus’s smile quickly faded as he said, “Ari gave her life in battle defending my father against a group of necromancers on their way back from a ceremony in Winwyrloch.”
With a tone of sadness to his voice, Theo responded, “I’m sorry to hear that. She was an excellent mage and scholar.”
The door behind Theo opened as Vyncent and Isaac stepped out and raised the hoods to their cloaks to shield themselves from the rain.
Before Theo could say anything else, Lazarus quickly said, “I’d love to catch up sometime Master Theo but there are some serious matters at hand.” He lowered the visor on his great helm and continued saying, “The town to the north beyond this forest was attacked and nearly leveled to the ground by a mob of unknown creatures. My father has stationed multiple groups of soldiers around the area to investigate.”
Vyncent spoke up and said, “Sounds like some serious shit.”
Argram quickly raised his voice and said, “You will only speak when--“ Argram suddenly stopped talking when Lazarus quickly raised his hand and signaled to stop.”
Lazarus said a bit annoyed, “Don’t mind him, he was hoping to see some action tonight. Anyway, yeah it is some serious shit. Nearly half the town perished in the attack. If it wasn’t for a small regiment of imperial soldiers stationed there and a passing mercenary group there probably wouldn’t have been any survivors.”
Theo responded, “We are actually headed that way to pick up a group of our team that was out on a job. Maybe they are the group of mercenaries you speak of?”
Lazarus quickly replied, I don’t know who they were or the names of the soldiers since I was stationed here.”
Isaac interrupted while handing a folder of paperwork to Lazarus said, “Here’s the identification of everyone inside. You can go ahead and take a look around but I will warn you, there are multiple sleeping elven women in there who wont be happy if you wake them.”
“While Lazarus quickly inspected the paperwork he said, “No need to go in, a friend of Master Leo is a friend to the empire.”
Isaac said sarcastically, “I didn’t know Theo was so well respected within the empire.”
Lazarus instantly responded, “Of course a barbarian such as yourself wouldn’t know such things, Lord Leolar.”
Taken by surprise Isaac said, “Surprised you recognized me and remembered my name.”
Without hesitation Lazarus responded, “Your brother bullied me during my time at the mage academy and now is always causing a stir amongst the senate. So of course, I remember you. I remember you giving up your knighthood and leaving the military years ago. Even though some feel you betrayed the kingdom I understand your decision. My father isn’t an easy man to serve under given his disposition against the demi-human races.”
Isaac smirked and briefly laughed as he said, “You put it so elegantly my liege.”
Lazarus grinned and said, “I didn’t expect to see you again Master and in the company of such roughians.”
Theo put one hand on the back of his head and leaned slightly backwards as he laughed an said, “Oh come on, I was eventually going to check in on you. I knew you’d be in good company and could handle yourself after graduating. And these guys?” He said as he pointed back to Isaac and Vyncent. “These guys aren’t so bad. They don’t really know how to listen to a smart old man such as myself though when trouble arises but they are good company.”
Lazarus suddenly laughed loudly at Theo’s statement as he asked, “Old? Not only were you one of the youngest generals in the empire and leader of the Crimson Mages, but you were also the youngest to retire from the military as soon as the war ended. My father was so outraged after you left that he almost had you dragged back and tried for studying and practicing dark magic.”
A look of horror stuck Theo’s face as he asked, “Why would he do that? I was mostly studying dark arts at his request.”
Lazarus responded, “He wanted to try you and sentence you to serve him for ten more years as a general and leader of the Crimson Knights. Ari was the one who talked him out of it.”
Before anyone else could say anything another soldier coming down the road riding a horse quickly called out, “General Lazarus, you’re needed at the outpost. There’s urgent matters you must attend to.”
Lazarus quickly shoved his hand back into his gauntlet as it unclipped from his belt as he said, “I would love to see you again Master Theo, there’s much we should catch up on. It seems I am needed elsewhere.” He turned around and signaled to a few soldiers to come with him. He then turned to Argram and said, “Let them pass, this is the band of traveling mercenaries taking up the jobs my father refuses to dispatch soldiers for. You are in command until I return.” He turned to Theo and bowed and said, “Until we meet again, please keep in good health Master.” After his bow he mounted a nearby house and rode down the road away from the forest with a few of his men trailing behind him on horseback.
Argram spoken with a deep voice as he said, “As much as General Lazarus respects you, there is still another matter that needs to be addressed. We have had intel that an adolescent black dragon is being smuggled across the country. Due to the size of your caravan and its potential to be harboring a dragon inside, I will have to take a look inside.”
Vyncent said cheerfully, No problem, sir. We have nothing to hide just trying not to disturb the girls or a mob of unknown monsters won’t be the only thing we’ll have to worry about.”
After signally to a few soldiers that remained, they separately entered different cabins that made up the double decker caravan cars.
Theo leaned in and quietly asked, “What about Nox and Lizyra?”
Isaac leaned in and said, “I had them execute code zero so everything will be fine.”
While Isaac and Theo began to converse, Vyncent stepped forward toward the remaining soldiers and said, “Good evening, everyone. If I may, could I ask if any of you have seen or know anything about a group of demi-human harpies that live in the forest down the road?”
One of the soldiers spoke out and said, “Besides them eatin up all the livestock in the neighboring towns there isn’t much else we can tell you. We only deal with the dark races when we’re dispatched to dispose of them.”
Vyncent nodded his head and said, “Thank you, just had to check.” He headed back over to where Isaac and Theo were and said quietly, “We should pick up Vlad and the others before pursuing the harpy job. Beside the ones who posted the job at the tavern, noone else really knows anything about them and I don’t want us to get ambushed in the forest by a mob of unknown monsters looking for them without Avery.”
Glass shattering from within one of the caravans’ cabins interrupted their conversation as everyone could hear Osira screaming at the top of her lungs. “What the hell are you doing in my room you ghoulish fuck?” Osira shouted as she threw the closest thing she could find at the imperial soldier tying to escape her room. As the soldier turned to run he tripped over something he couldn’t see on the floor and found himself face to face with a larger black and white dire wolf that began to growl upon seeing his face.
The solider shot up onto his feet and yelled, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I didn’t know anyone was sleeping in here and I didn’t see the wolf sleeping on the floor. Please don’t eat me!”
Osira leapt off her mattress from the bottom bunk on to her feet while wielding a large dagger. A long single braid of green hair that protruded out from underneath the rest of her hair that hung well above her shoulders, swung wildly behind her nude body as she pointed her weapon at the soldier and said, “You have to the count of three to get the fuck out of my room before I slice you a new ass crack.” As she began to count, the man scrambled to get to his feet while he made a mad dash out of her room and down a small and narrow hallway. The door to the cabin of the second caravan wagon came flying open as a soldier fell face first into the gravel.
He cried out, “Let them pass! There’s a short naked foul mouthed elf woman in there who’s about to sick her wolf on me!” While catching his breath he stood up and ran behind the few soldiers still scattered about in the road.
Argram stepped out of the first cabin and said, “Everything checks out let them pass.” He walked past Isaac, Vyncent, and Theo and his voice boomed as he said, “Have a safe night.” After taking a few steps away, his head exploded off his shoulders as a gun shot rang out from the tree line. Pieces of his head and bits of metal that made up his great helm littered the road as his body tumbled over the gravel.
Soldiers began shouting out and firing their weapons in the direction of the gunshot while Isaac, Vyncent, and Theo made their way into the nearest caravan wagon. Before shutting the door, Theo raised his hand and chanted a spell. Upon finishing the incantation, orbs of blue vibrant light appeared around each one of the horses and dragon raptors protecting them from any projectiles.
As the door slammed shut, Theo used his telepathy magic and said to everyone in the caravan, “Everyone up and be battle ready we’re being ambushed!” Without warning, both dire wolves aboard the caravan began to howl loudly in alert of the oncoming danger. Before anyone emerged from their rooms, the gunfire suddenly ceased outside and only the rain could be heard slamming into the sides of the cabin walls.
Vyncent moved to a series of levers on the wall nearest to a window and pulled the level closest to him. Along the other walls of every car in the caravan, a shudder like armor quickly unrolled down protecting the windows and blocking access into the cabins.
Isaac carefully looked out the window and between a slit the shudder armor created and noticed all the soldiers in sight were dead laying in the road while unrecognizable masked men looted their corpses.
As some of the bedroom doors opened a voice called from outside and said, “We only need one person to come out and negotiate. If nobody emerges or anything funny happens, we’ll rig your wagons with explosives and send you into the afterlife.”
Isaac called out in a sarcastic tone as he asked, “Why should we take the word of someone who just murdered imperial soldiers in cold blood?”
Isaac noticed a man stepping into sight from where he was looking out the window. As the man became more visible, he noticed he was dragging a smaller figure by the arm. The man said as he tossed the unknown person down into the gravel and mud, “Because I’ll kill your little fucking whore.”
While his words still echoed in the night air, Lizyra went tumbling to the ground as she moaned in pain. Her hands were bound behind her and blood was smeared across her face as she weakly said, “Sorry guys, they ambushed me in the woods.”
The steel shudders slowly rolled up on the all the caravan wagon cabins as a door opened and Isaac stepped out. Isaac said angerly, “You’ve made a grave mistake.”
The man removed the mask covering his face revealing a thin, pointy mustache and beard accompanied by a devious grin. As he spoke he pulled a small flint lock pistol out of its holster on his belt and said diabolically, “No, you are mistaken. I recognize you. I saw you off on the side of the road before your little witch stepped in front of us and attacked us the other day.”
With no hesitation Isaac responded, “Maybe if you didn’t take things that didn’t belong to you there wouldn’t have been any problems.”
The man with the gun said, “I’m not a very patient man so let’s cut to the chase. This brat not only attacked us but destroyed a large amount of gold and other valuables that belonged to our employers. Not only that but by the time I finally woke up after being frozen by this little twat, what was left of our caravan was being pillaged by goblins.” He pulled back the hammer of his gun and spit on Lizyra while saying, “Tell us where the dragon is or I’ll kill her right her and now.”
Theos voice quietly rang in Isaacs head and said, “We are totally outnumbered Isaac. They have us completely surrounded and I think I can see some trolls hanging out in the tree line. If we were going to attack we missed our ideal chance. We are all ready to go though so just say the word and Theo will teleport everyone outside the caravan.”
Isaac asked the man holding Lizyra at gunpoint, “What are you talking about? She was with the dragon.”
Lizyra said while pulling her face out of the mud, “I ordered him to fly away.”
Isaac asked angrily, “Why didn’t you order him to attack?!”
Lizyra said weakly, “Because, code zero states we lay low and out of sight until danger passes. Ordering Nox to attack wouldn’t be laying low.” She coughed up an unpleasant amount of blood before laying her head on the gravel and saying, “I’m not feeling too good. They made me drink something gross.”
Isaac took a step toward them before the man with the gun fired a shot off. The dirt and gravel next to Lizyra’s head became disheveled a bullet impaled the ground inches from her face. With a stern tone to his voice he said, “One more step and the next one paints her brains on the ground.”
Shaking with anger, Isaac stopped and stood in place while he said, “It was a mistake not killing you when I had the chance.”
The man chuckled as ahe said, “A mistake I applaud you for. If you wouldn’t have sent a child to do a man’s job I, Roberto Alveraz, wouldn’t be able to get my revenge right now!” While finishing his sentence he pulled the hammer back on his gun, causing a cylinder to revolve near the handle, ejecting the spent round and replacing it with a new one. He then ordered, “Call the dragon back here and surrender it over to us and we’ll let your friends live and give you the antidote to the poisoned anti-magic potion you drank.”
Isaac said out loud angerly, “You fucking bastard.”
Lizyra laughed, which caused her to cough up more blood as she struggled to say, “I’d rather shit in the woods with no toilet paper then hand over my best friend over to you.”
Roberto snarled as he said, “Oh well,” and squeezed the trigger of his gun. A gun shot rang out as Isaac sprinted forward as fast as he could through the pouring rain. He noticed Roberto was no longer in front of him and he was charging toward two masked men that had been standing behind him. As the sound of the gun shot still lingered in the air, everyone who was inside the caravan cabins, suddenly appeared after a blinding light, scattered about the masked men and already attacking.
As Isaac charged past Lizyra, Kitsune appeared next to Lizyra’s body and immediately began casting a healing spell. The two masked men raised their swords to defend against the attack they anticipated from Isaac. Isaac jumped towards them as he unsheathed two small short swords and swiftly hurled them at the masked men. They quickly swatted the swords away only to be greeted by the two bullets piercing their chests as gunshots rang out in front of them.
While landing into a roll, Isaac holstered the two pistols he used after throwing the swords and quickly rose to his feet. He grabbed both swords off the ground and turned to a man charging him with a spear. The oncoming spearman began to thrust his weapon forward forcing Isaac to evade its blade in a series of dance like twirls. As he danced around the blade of the spear, Isaac was able to lock his arms around the spear while it was behind his back and twirled around forcing the spear out of the spearman’s grasp. While spinning around the blade of the spear struck the spearman’s throat, causing a geyser of blood to erupt from the wound as he fell forward into the gravel.
On the other side of the caravan two trolls came running out from the tree line as Osira drew her bow and began to fire upon them. An arrow struck a troll in one of its eyes as it shrieked out in pain and hurled the large war hammer it was carrying in her direction. The war hammer was twice her size and seemed to be increasing in speed as it made its way toward her. Before the hammer could reach her her a bolt of lightning fell out of the sky with a crack of thunder and vaporized it.
Osira turned around to see Theo standing behind her holding his sword out in front of him, engulfed in the light from the magic circle illuminating under his feet. He continued to chant spells a web of lightning shot out from his sword and electrocuted some of the assailants closing in on them.
Gwen with a sickle in each hand was tearing through her opponents while screaming, “I was trying to sleep until you assholes showed up.” Close behind her was Ifera who was fighting off two swordsman at once with ease with her double bladed pole arm made of dark steel adamant.
Atop of the first caravan cabin Onyx and Osirus were sniping each ranged assailant before they could fire or reload their weapons. Osirus said while laughing, “So much for being outnumbered. These guys had no clue the hell storm that was about to reign down on them.” Instead of reloading their rifles, Osirus and Onyx were grabbing a preloaded rifle from a nearby crate strapped to the roof of the cabins second floor underneath the cloth canopy after each shot.
Blood painted the ground in front of Isaac as he struck down the last man in front of him. He quickly looked around and could see Riley, Sakura, and Vyncent fighting off the two trolls in the distance. From his peripheral vision Isaac could see a blue orb surrounding Lizyra’s body while Kitsune continued to cast healing spells on her. Isaac noticed for the moment, everyone was accounted for except Roberto and Nox.
Roberto felt a searing pain reigning down from his shoulders and throughout his body. Everything happened so quickly he was not only having a hard time comprehending how the ground was rapidly becoming further and further away, but also why he couldn’t lift his head to see what was dragging him upwards. Rain, thunder, and the flapping of wings were so loud he could barely hear himself think. While using all his strength to fight the forces acting upon his body, he managed to lift his head up far enough to catch a glimpse of a black dragon as it released its grip on his shoulders. Nox let out a loud roar into the stormy night sky as Roberto Alveraz started to descend back down toward the ground with increasing speed.
Isaac quickly leapt out of the way as Roberto’s body came slamming into the ground and exploded into a mist of pink and red mush. Isaac got up off the ground and wiped his face which was now covered in guts and blood as he belted out, “Jeez Nox, the next time you’re going to drop someone make sure its not on me.”
Nox landed next to Isaac and after a load moan lowered his head down next to Lizyra and nudged her body. Kitsune said quickly, “Stop it Nox. I’m trying to heal her.” Nox laid down next to them and remained silent while Lizyra asked weakly, “Why did you kill Nox? That wasn’t right.”
Isaac sheathed his swords and said sourly, “Because that man poisoned you and shot you in the back. He deserved far worse.”
After taking a deep breath and enduring a wave of pain, Lizyra said, “Nobody deserves to die.”
Kitsune said nervously, “Lizyra you need to be quiet this is a pretty serious wound and I’m struggling to concentrate.”
Lizyra reached up and ran her hand through Kitsune’s hair and across ears before saying, “Don’t worry foxy. I trust you.” As she finished her sentence she passed out from the pain.
Vyncent, and the rest of the crew came running up from behind the caravan as Osira said, “Okay so good and bad news time. Good news all the bad guys are dead.”
Vyncent cut in and said, “Bad news is after all that commotion, some kind of monster army seems to be approaching us from the east. Given Lizyra’s condition we should get moving and escape north through the forest.
Isaac asked, “You killed the trolls?”
Riley said fiercely while swinging her battle axe toward the ground causing all the blood to fling off from its blade, “Of course we did. They didn’t stand a chance.”
Kitsune spoke up and said, “Okay, she’s healed enough for us to move her inside, but I’ll have to perform an actual surgery to remove the bullet from her back.”
Without a moment of hesitation, Isaac gently picked Lizyra up and headed inside the first cabin car of the caravan.
The blue orb of light that surround each animal attached to the caravan’s reigns, quickly dissipated as everyone reentered their respective cabins. Theo made his way up to the coach driver’s seat and ordered the animals to move forward. The muti-car, double decker, series of wagon cabins began to move forward, slowly disappearing into the darkness as it entered into the forest.129Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjhUbPXUGCr
