Merchants, dockworkers, and travelers continued their day-to-day business with the usual bustle. The three of them walked along the rough dirt road towards the edge of town. Heavily laden wagons of fresh lumber made their way towards the docks, while lighter ones made their way to the small warehouse area on the northern side. Elec patted a couple of the animals as they passed, each not minding his presence. Their drivers stared at him in an unapproving manner, however, and did not seem to appreciate it as much. The scent of fur and hay, and unfortunately manure, brought out another brief pang of homesickness. Roderick led the way, directing them onto the easterly Kingdom Road.
“So what sort of animals did you have on your ranch, Elec?” Seraphine asked. “Anything exotic?”
“Pretty mundane, really. We’ve roughly thirty head of cattle, one bull, and fifty head of sheep and goats each. Five oxen for plowing and three horses for wrangling.” Elec replied. “Oh, and a small army of laying hens. How else would you feed a pair of folk like myself? Beyond that, we have four separate five-acre plots plowed for crops.”
“Five acres per rotation. That’s a lot for just three mouths.”
“Well, my family were the primary meat providers when the island first became a proper community. So one plot crops, and two plots feed grains, and we rotate. Eventually, the other wealthy families, like the Vyrnus, Dukaeck, and a few others, began raising and selling cattle. Took the burden off us to support everyone else. Not that we minded, and we still help here and there when needed.”
“Well, that is understandable, but you on horseback? That I’d like to see.” She said with a laugh.
“I’m fair at roping, riding, and wrangling, but just not that fast at it. With my build, I have to ride a heavier horse while everyone else can get on with a lighter and faster steed during competitions.”
They continued on about barns and chores. Harvests and plowings. While listening to his stories, the Half-elf hummed a tune to herself. As the town receded, the fields where they had practiced appeared before them once again. Soon, the salty and spicy scent of Pelavora transformed into an earthy, green, and less salty aroma, which again reminded Elec of home. While he could manage his emotions from turning, he could not help but feel his spirits soaring. He looked towards the older fighter marching, then to the stunning bard who stole glances at him. Her own smile grew each time.
*
Roderick continued his pace, but his mind was already working. The bard and the Rava’kin went on about mucking barns, tilling fields with the manure, and about an eternity of the farming process. Those two are going to be a distraction the whole time, he thought. We might as well have her sing the entire march.
“So what sort of crops did your family raise back home?” It asked.
Roderick stiffened when he heard the question asked. For the longest time, Seraphine kept the conversation focused on its past and family. When the direction shifted, she paused and coughed before replying.
“Well, wheat mostly. Everyone always needs bread…well, that and beer. Then the standard fare: Maize, lettuce, tomatoes, and such. After my brothers were born, my father expanded our lands to include orchards and a vineyard.”
“Truly? Do you make your own wines?”
“Absolutely, we even have our own bourbon.”
Elec paused, looking upward as they walked. He tried to repeat the word, having never heard it before. It took the Rava’kin several tries before his mouth formed the word correctly.
“Burl…bron…bourbon?” Elec said, repeating the word a few more times. “What is bourbon?”
“It is a distillation of wine. It’s kind of like potion making, only the process makes the wine stronger and the flavor thicker and smoother. My father guards the recipe with the utmost secrecy. I think Alberon, my oldest brother, is the only one out of the eight of us whom he taught how to make it.
Roderick had warned her about sharing too much with the creature. He noticed the shift in her behavior. While she was smiling, he heard the slight discomfort underlying some of her words. She never talked about her life before Larkinth, and never to someone she had just met. In fact, she had only spoken of it briefly with himself once before, and only after he had spoken about his family. Roderick relaxed a little as he found the hilltop he had been scanning for.
“Alright. No more chatter once we leave the road,” Roderick said.
“I’m taking point,” Seraphine said.
“I’m taking point,” Roderick countered.
There was a silent exchange between the two of them. Elec looked between the bard and the warrior while they stared at each other. The Elf’s shoulders slumped.
“Fine, I’ll cover the rear.” She conceded, rolling her eyes.
“And…what do I do?” Elec asked, watching as Seraphine plodded away.
Roderick regarded the Rava’kin for a moment.
“What are you?” Roderick asked.
“A Mirithar…”
Roderick stared impassively at the tiger’s face. Its tail curled once and relaxed while it seemed to wait for him to continue.
“I’m talking about strategy, Elec.”
“Oh, right. A sorcerer.”
“So you are support. In battle and in traveling order, the fighters and scouts are out front and covering the rear; everyone else stays in the center of the formation. Especially if they walk around unarmed and unarmored.”
Elec made to debate the issue, but Roderick narrowed his eyes. I will not be swayed on this, creature, the old sword thought. The Rava’kin seemed to get the point.
“Alright. Very well. Fighters on the line and everyone else behind,” Elec said, nodding.
The feline’s ridiculous smile fell away, his countenance giving in to the seriousness of the matter.
“Can you whistle?” Roderick asked, feeling that the tiger finally had his head on straight.
Elec gave a low, trilling whistle like the ones he and the other mercenaries used when they were out hunting. Roderick nodded. He possesses a little bit of experience after all, he thought. Silently, he began walking towards the hill, checking his compass as he marched.
*
Seraphine watched as Roderick hopped the fence and marched directly for the hill in the distance. Elec watched him go as well, unsure how to follow.
“Let him get a little bit farther than a stone’s throw away, then start to follow,” Seraphine said, touching Elec’s arm. “And don’t bunch up. He hates that.”
“Hates that? He still seems to hate me.”
“Oh? I beg to differ.” Seraphine said, giving him a nudge to start walking. “He’s calling you by your name now.”
Elec’s brow unfurrowed a little as he turned to follow Roderick. She smiled, watching him go. I finally have someone to talk to, she thought, and Roderick has someone to teach now. She allowed the Mirithar to get a suitable distance away before she started after them. Elec looked back at her, and Seraphine pointed to him and then to her eyes. She then motioned to the fields to the left and right. You watch out there, not me. Elec waved and continued on. She hummed to herself as they went, crossing the grassy field and into the forest just beyond. They had just set out, and already she was looking forward to the first break.
She sighed as the path wove between rows of corn and wheat. I wonder if we are going to be hiking or stalking, she thought. Knowing Roderick, he’ll probably start stooping down once we reach the brush.
*
The canopy hid the sun from overhead, and the surrounding air cooled considerably. The gentle rustle of branches and leaves overhead had long since replaced the sounds of the ocean and gulls. Birds flitted about, and the brush was full of scampering squirrels. Elec had not seen squirrels before and tried to get good glimpses of the rodents and their interesting, rippling, bounding movements. Their bushy tails flicked this way and that, then flowed like water when they bounded away. He was about to ask for a break so that he could sketch one, but Roderick was too far away for him to pester. The warrior crouched low to the ground as they made their progress. Elec glanced back towards Seraphine, who, like Roderick, crept through the brush. She watched to the left and right, pausing now and then to check back behind her. Probably not the time to pester him, Elec thought, even though there was no threat in the area.
The progress through the forest was slow going. Roderick crept along at a snail’s pace. While it was a little boring, Elec’s mind did not wander too far. Roderick would pause here and there, remaining still for a while. Elec waited for any kind of signal or gesture from the warrior to indicate if there was any sort of danger. After a moment, he would continue on. While he didn’t see, hear, or smell anything out of the ordinary, he wasn’t expecting any threats in this region. He also did not discredit the warrior either. Better one of us to be overly cautious.
*
Roderick continued to cross the brush cautiously, not because he was aware of any threats: There weren’t any. He wanted to see how the Rava’kin handled himself in the wild. It annoyed him to see the tiger walking upright and without a care, but he moved with almost perfect silence through the brush. Roderick had to steal glances to make sure he was keeping his spacing. At the very least, he was not bunching up like Seraphine was prone to do, he thought. While he had no worry of a sudden hail of arrows taking them out in these forests, he was not aware of the region’s threats. The bandits they had encountered were only a few days’ march from Pelavora. They would’ve fallen upon the town if the tempest had not interrupted things. Elec’s findings pointed out that a metaphysical barrier of sorts broke, probably at the same time the storm occurred. This must’ve sent a ripple of its energy throughout the region. There is no telling what other things this may have unsettled, and while the tiger did not seem to be disturbed by the overall goings-on, he could trust that Seraphine was doing her part to keep her eyes out as well.
The terrain ascended again. While the canopy of the forest kept everything shaded, he could still see the patches of sunlight here and there, marking the day’s progress. They had not reached the high point he had plotted out yet. He took a moment to observe the surroundings; there was not an immediate spot for them to take a rest without adequate cover. He knew he was good for several more hours, but Seraphine’s calves would be screaming by now from all the creeping they had been doing. They would need to stop here soon, but not in this spot.
*
He could at least pretend to be sneaking along too, Seraphine thought, as her calves and thighs were now on fire. She was alright in the beginning, but with their path going upwards now, her legs were becoming more and more cramped as they went along. Meanwhile, Elec continued to walk upright. She found herself conflicted between the warrior’s enduring teachings and the Mirithar’s relaxed stance. At the moment, she did not like the tiger and his carefree attitude, but he moved like a whisper between the brush and saplings since they started walking away from the road. Roderick, on the other hand, stooped low to the ground, stopping to look at every bent branch, broken twig, or strange scratch on the ground.
Elec continued as he was supposed to, otherwise. Watching the left and right of their column as they went. He checked himself often, stopping to maintain his distance from Roderick. He even checked on her, if a little too frequently, but that was fine. It was refreshing to have someone just a little more concerned with her, and not just take for granted she would do the right thing.
The route climbed even more steeply now, and she was in agony. After several long minutes, she could see the Mirithar sitting down on a rocky outcropping near the warrior, his journal resting on his knee. She took her time and soon rested on a flat rock of her own. Light sweat beaded Roderick’s brow, while Elec seemed unaffected by the terrain or the travel.
“Seraphine, where are your rations from?” Elec asked.
She took a moment not only to register his question but also to recognize that she did not know from where she had purchased her rations last.
“Is there a difference?” She asked, rubbing her legs.
She watched as the tiger and the older swordsman shared a look. I knew he was growing on Roderick, she thought, but I didn’t think they would bond this quickly.
“If I had to guess, Tunstead. Why?” She responded.
“Ok, try this one,” Elec said, offering her one rectangle of baked foodstuffs.
While she did not like eating after someone else, or two other people, she took a bite of the ration. There was the telltale sweetness and meatiness of it, but also a heavy addition of onions. And a slight saltiness as well.
“That’s not bad…” She said.
“It has an aromatic saltiness, right?” Roderick asked.
“Yes.” She said. “Though I’ve never heard you use that word before.”
“Now try this one,” Roderick said, offering the rectangle of travel food from his own pack.
There was the sweetness of the fatty meat, but also a smokiness missing from the first portion.
“Alright, I have to say I like this one a little bit better.” She said, wiping her lip.
Both Roderick and Elec nodded.
“I think the mainland rations taste better as well,” Elec said, finishing his and closing his journal. “Hintersons’s are fine, but I think they skip on the flavor because few folk purchase them that often, as they don’t leave the town proper for very long.”
“I had never paid much thought to rations,” Seraphine said, rubbing her calves and the backs of her knees. “Maybe I should write a limerick about the various rations we encounter. Would sound perfect to accompany aching feet and legs on a forced march.”
“We can pick up the pace a bit,” Roderick said, taking a drink from his waterskin. “Elec was filling me in a little more on his dealings with the smugglers on his island while we waited. That’s when we got on the subject of rations.”
The three of them rested for about an hour until Seraphine was ready to continue. She ate a ration of her own and had several hefty drinks from her waterskin and hopped up to her feet.
*
The pace remained cautious, but the going was easier. Elec continued to watch to his left and right as the climb gently leveled out. The shadows of the deep woods gave everything a dusky feeling now. Night would come swiftly to this area, he thought to himself, remembering a hunt his father had taken him on years ago. That was the trip that made him admit that his claws and bowstrings did not get along.
Roderick froze. Elec saw and froze as well. Tense and still, the warrior’s posture warned of tangible danger. He lowered himself to the level of the surrounding brush, and Elec immediately did the same. After a moment, he looked back and found Elec’s crouching form. He placed a finger to his lips, motioned with his hand flat to the ground, and then waved him up: Quiet, keep low, and come here. Elec was about to move when he heard a gentle rustle of branches from further back. He turned, saw Seraphine walking somewhat upright, and gave her a low whistle. She froze, and when her eyes found him, he mirrored Roderick’s gestures. As she crouched low, he moved towards the warrior.
As Elec crept along, he could see a small clearing with a stream cutting through its center. Roderick raised his hand, motioning for him to join him at the rock he crouched behind. His sharp eyes caught movement on the other side of the clearing. Elec moved over to the large stones the warrior knelt behind. He peered between the large rocks at the trio of hideous Humanoids. They were around two and a half to three feet tall, blue-green skinned, and wore clothes and patches of armor that looked tied together rather than sewn or fashioned. Two of them were bald, with the larger one having a slender strip of hair going from the front of its head down the back in a long and wiry manner. They each carried clubs and long knives. They had stopped just this side of the creek that crossed southward, panting as if they had been running away from something. The larger one appeared to be holding a small, strangely carved, wooden-looking box. The other two tried to hang on its arms as it tried to open it. Elec listened to them gibber at each other, picking out the cadence and sounds of the language, but unable to discern what they were saying.
Roderick forcefully tapped him on the shoulder.
“Sorry,” Elec said, “I’ve never seen Goblins before.”
“Well, they may see us here soon. I’m going to circle to the left along the brush and will move on your go.” The older swordsman said, sliding off.
“No, wait!” Elec said.
Roderick had already made his way to flank the creatures. Elec looked to Seraphine, her rapier already in hand. He already had a plan in mind, but his two companions seemed eager to kill them and be done with it. Elec allowed a moment for the warrior to get situated before he made his move. Rather than open with a kinetic spell, he focused the power into his hand, duplicating it invisibly with his magic, and sent it out towards the goblins. The larger one continued to fuss over the box while jerking it away from the reaching hands of the other two. It raised the box, its hand over its head, and threatened to hit the others with the empty one. Elec seized the object with his magic and lifted it out of the fingers of the tall goblin, making it hover just out of reach.
The three goblins stared in disbelief. Elec made the box shudder violently in mid-air. Tilting and jerking it this way and that, as if it possessed a mind of its own. A furious mind. The box menaced the creatures, and the three of them jabbered at it in their strange language. Frightened, the smallest of the three tore away in a dash. The largest ran off after it, looking more like it was chasing the first rather than escaping. The third followed suit, eyeing the box as it trotted toward the other two.
After a long moment, Elec stepped into the small clearing, the box floating down into his outstretched hand. Upon taking the box, he could see that it was not wood, but wood in color. The carvings and grains were, in fact, letters that shifted and swirled in strange patterns. While some letters appeared to match the runes on the dagger, many others did not. However, it had the same feel as the dagger, a foreboding dread as he turned to look at each of the sides.
“That was quite impressive, Elec,” Seraphine said, resting her slender sword on her shoulder.
“Impressive, but you better hope there aren’t more of them out there,” Roderick said, his voice a low growl. “If they were to overpower us, they’d wear our hides as trophies and would not stop raping Seraphine until her dead body finally went cold. They’d then feast…”
There were a series of crashes from the brush several hundred feet away. Elec could not hide his look of dismay as he looked at the warrior and the bard. Roderick readied his crossbow and strode off in the direction of the advancing group, while Seraphine moved forward and off to the right, providing plenty of room away from both the warrior and himself. Kneeling, Elec slid his pack off one shoulder and stuffed the strange cube inside. He slipped the strap back over his shoulder and crouched lower. The three goblins they saw before returned with two more.
Elec concentrated on every exhale of his breath and built a mass of relaxing sensation which he focused with his magic. He hurled it towards the advancing gang, feeling the power flow out from him, but something was amiss. He realized he had rushed the spell the moment he cast it. There was only a momentary pause in their advance as none of the goblins yielded to the sleeping spell. The taller goblin, the one with the single stripe of hair, locked eyes with him and advanced. The other goblins focused on him as well, oblivious to his other two companions. Elec rose to his full height, the smaller goblins stopping dead in their tracks. The taller one stopped to scold the others. As they argued, one of them produced a crossbow bolt in the center of its chest. One of the smaller goblins spotted Roderick as he slung his crossbow and rose from his hiding spot. With a whirl of his arms, the sword and shield were now at the ready. Elec let loose two blasts of force at the taller goblin, staggering it. In the further confusion, Seraphine sprang from her spot and skewered the rightmost goblin through its skull. The two remaining smaller goblins engaged Roderick and Seraphine, while the tall one closed the distance to Elec.
Elec raised his hands to cast another spell, but froze. The Goblin leader froze as well, staring nervously at the clawed hands outstretched before it. In that moment, Elec looked past him to see Roderick cleave one goblin in half, Seraphine punching the other in the face with her cross guard before running the narrow blade through its chest. A wave of panic hit him. While he had expected them to be skilled in combat, it was another thing to witness it firsthand. Elec’s mind was a flurry, trying to figure out what to do. How could he defuse the situation? How could he defeat the last goblin without having to kill it? Could he do so with minimal suffering? His hands trembled slightly as a sort of paralysis set in. He felt the threshold looming just beyond the tips of his trembling fingers. A true no going back. There was no avoiding this battle, and it would be to the death. Sensing his hesitation, the Goblin uttered a gibbering taunt and swung at him.
*
Seraphine wrenched her rapier’s blade from the chest of the second goblin she killed. The Goblin leader and Elec stared each other down for a moment before it laughed and swung at him. Elec easily avoided the strike. She was about to move to strike, but Roderick cleared his throat to get her attention. When she looked, he shook his head, his sword and shield at the ready. This was to be Elec’s fight. Again the Mirithar hesitated, and the goblin swung again, this time connecting with his shoulder, knocking him aside a step. Seraphine took a step forward. Roderick growled, freezing her in her place. Elec moved to make some sort of action, but his foot slipped in the foliage. The Goblin swung again, this time connecting with Elec’s collar. He slipped again, and still did not cast any spell on his attacker. The Goblin swung once more, but the attack went way wide. There was a loud whip-crack sound as the goblin’s head jerked back, the rest of the body staggering to catch up with it. Its nose erupted in a spray of blood from the well-placed punch. The goblin took a step back, and Elec hit it even harder, this time across the jaw, dislocating it. The taller goblin remained on its feet, swaying on wobbling legs.
“Just go down!” Elec yelled. “Do you want to die? Surrender!”
It swung the club sideways, catching Elec in the ribs with a meaty smack. He punched the Goblin in the face once more. The noise of the strike was sickening as the skull crumpled under the blow. The goblin leader went down into a twitching mess, the Mirithar having to wrench its fist from the cavity. Elec stood over it, panting. Seraphine looked to Roderick, who relaxed his stance and nodded.
“Elec, are you alright?” Seraphine said. “Looks like you took down the big one…”
The eyes that flashed up at her were not triumphant. They were pained. Mortified. A bit of shame washed over her as she recognized the look in her eyes. She wore the same when she marched to that war with Roderick and his crew. She even carried it through the several weeks after Larkinth.
“Why didn’t he yield?” Elec said, his hands shaking. “The battle was lost…”
The Goblin twitched on the ground, its eyes open but staring at nothing as blood poured out of the ruin of its mouth, nose, and ears. Its face was a gnarled, concave mass that slightly sickened Seraphine. Elec remained standing over the creature as the life ebbed from it.
“They are not bright, Elec,” Roderick said. “It mistook your hesitancy for weakness. Are you wounded?”
Elec remained frozen in place, staring at the corpse of the goblin at his feet, his clawed hands shaking.
“Elec!”
The Mirithar’s eyes looked up at him.
“I didn’t mean for him to die, Roderick,” Elec said, his whole body trembling.
Roderick nodded slowly, calmly saying, “I understand, Elec. You took three good hits. Are you hurt?”
Elec moved his left shoulder and stretched his right side as if in a daze.
“No…I felt the strikes, but they didn’t seem to hurt me.” He said, staring at his blood-soaked hands.
Seraphine saw the attacks as well. The tiger appeared unfazed by the repeated blows. She knew it was largely the adrenaline rush from combat, and she would have to check him when they made camp.
“Go clean your hands in the creek,” Roderick said, his voice calm and commanding. “We need to put some miles between us and these bodies. There may be more Goblins, but wolves and other scavengers will definitely be here before too long.”
Seraphine watched solemnly as Elec walked over to the small creek and washed his hands. Then he splashed water on his face and over the back of his neck several times. Roderick stood by her, watching the Mirithar recompose himself. Elec seemed to regard his reflection for a long moment before rising. The tiger rejoined them, but stood as if in a daze. Roderick gave no further words. He checked his compass once more and set off, jumping over the creek to regain their path.
Elec watched with lost eyes as the warrior began marching on. Seraphine came alongside him and bumped his shoulder with hers.
“Hey,” She asked softly, “are you alright?”
Elec took a couple of long breaths before he responded.
“I’m going to have to be,” He replied, his voice sounding hollow. “If we’re going to put a stop to this growing darkness…I have to be.”
“We’ll talk in a little while. We’re probably going to push on for just a couple more hours before we make camp.” She reassured. “Elec, keep your head up. I know this hurts, but there are other dangers out here too. Alright?”
Elec tried to offer a smile, but his lips only formed a tight line. Seraphine inclined her head in Roderick’s direction, and he fell back into his place in their small formation. She allowed Elec to get a little way away before she moved to the Goblin leader. Seizing the pouch tied to its belt, she used the edge of her rapier to cut the bindings free. As she fell into her own spot in the column, she opened the small bag and counted over a dozen silver coins. I’ll give it to him when we make camp, she thought, tucking it into her pocket.
*
Elec walked along, desperately trying to keep his thoughts clear of anything. Anything he thought would become the crater he left in the face of the Goblin leader. Even now the scene replayed in his mind. It had hit him several times, and not once did it wound him. They were not glancing blows either. Roderick may have been right, he thought. If I hadn’t slipped, it might have surrendered. Then again, he remembered the stories he had read about goblins in his father’s library. Tribal, territorial, and, as the warrior said, not very intelligent. He looked down at his hands. While he had thoroughly washed the blood from the knuckles, he could still smell the coppery scent. The inky redness seemed to reappear when he wasn’t looking directly at them, forcing him to focus on them again and again. The shaking had quieted down to a constant tremor. He did not want to kill the Goblin, just as he didn’t want to hurt anyone on his island. His father and mother had mentioned all the ‘bad guys’ they had defeated in their time. Defeated, they had said, but never…
There was a sudden rush from off to the right. Elec took a defensive stance and raised his hands, flames issuing forth to cover them both. From a distance through the brush, it seemed a whole horde of Goblins were rushing towards them from a few hundred feet away, just out of sight. The entire forest was shaking in their wake.
Then the skies suddenly opened up above him, and a torrential downpour swept up from the south, in the direction of the woodland commotion. Though he held his hands ready for spell or strike, the downpour doused the flames surrounding them. The rain fell in solid sheets for several moments, Elec waiting for the creatures to charge.
As rapidly as the rain began, it stopped, leaving a stream reaching his ankles, and him drenched to the bone. His clothes and fur clung to his skin, coolly. The air bore the fresh scents of moisture and mud, which he would’ve found pleasant in other circumstances. Again, he looked around for signs of the impending attack from the dripping leaves and shrubs, but it never came. Magic sparked and crackled around him while he remained still.
“I think you scared it away,” Seraphine said, the hood of her cloak resting on her ears as it covered her head. “The storm, that is.”
Her tone was light and playful, but it did little to improve his mood. Elec felt hollow, and it frightened him. Not even when he had to slaughter his first cow had he felt this hurt or this empty. Desperately trying to mirror her demeanor, he tried to smile despite his darkened mood. He turned his head away just enough so she couldn’t see it as an idea formed. He waited until she got closer.
“That’s pretty wild…” She continued, Elec still frozen in his spot.
Using a bit of magic, Elec shook off the rain in a single sharp shudder. The water sprayed off him in a sudden burst in all directions, a good portion catching Seraphine mid-stride. Elec peeked back over his shoulder to see her frozen, dismayed face. The Half-elf’s eyes narrowed, and her smile tightened.
“You jackass…you did that on purpose,” Seraphine said in a cool voice. “Didn’t you?”
Elec gave a chuckle, turning towards her. Seraphine slapped him across the chest with the back of her hand, not too gently.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, but I couldn’t resist.” Elec said, rubbing the spot on his sternum.
Seraphine looked at him incredulously, shaking the excess water from her sleeves. Then his reserve gave way, and she saw the facade falter. Her expression softened as Elec’s breathing hitched and the smile fell away. He looked downward, feeling his eyes moisten and his composure failing.
“When does this stop?” Elec said, solemnly looking towards his trembling hands.
Seraphine’s breath caught in her throat for a moment. Her eyes held a knowing recognition.
“It takes a while. For me, my hands didn’t stop trembling for a couple of weeks after Larkinth.” She replied, gently taking them in hers.
Elec’s hands continued to tremble in hers while she stood with him a moment longer. She felt the fur on their tops with her thumbs while the rest of her fingers stroked his palms. He found her touch soothing, and his breathing soon returned to normal. Then Seraphine noticed his clothes.
“Wait. You’re dry. Like completely dry, aren’t you?” She asked, touching his sleeve.
Elec looked about himself and nodded. There was still some water in his boots, but the bard was correct.
“Do you want me to do yours as well?”
Seraphine’s look became conspiratorial, glancing in the direction they were traveling.
“Can we wait to do Roderick’s until after he notices we’re both dry?” She responded, giving a wry smile.
“Of course,” Elec said, a hint of a smile returning.
Seraphine took a step back. Elec grasped the cuffs of her shirt sleeves and gave them a sharp shake. Like a bucket of water being poured in reverse, the water leapt up behind her in an enormous wave and splashed onto the soggy forest floor. The bard looked surprised. Even her leather armor was almost completely dry.
“Hurry up and get back to your spot,” Seraphine said, shoving his broad shoulders. “And don’t think I won’t get you back for that.”
My word, it’s like watching over two Rodericks now, she thought to herself, always having to manage their emotions. Only his are at the other end of the spectrum. One I have to keep alive, the other from dying or fleeing. This is going to be exhausting. Chuckling, she looked down at herself, still almost as clean and dry as when they had set out, despite the sudden and bloody battle. She watched the tiger go, his tail flicking now and then as he walked to catch up with Roderick. She waited to get her spacing before picking up the march.
*
Roderick felt more at ease when he saw the tiger spring into action. While he had responded to his frayed nerves, he showed both resolve and discipline. The old sword watched the magic spring forth and envelop his readied claws, but he did not lash out. Not even when the strike came as a torrent of rain did he lash out in terror. He stood ready, expecting an attack from without. Poised, but not panicking. When Seraphine came up alongside him, he turned to continue on. I am already having to babysit two children now, he thought, let the older one take care of the younger. He then checked his thoughts, remembering the stories of the Rava’kin, and looked back.
He could not see completely with the foliage blocking the way, but he glimpsed Elec shake the rain off himself and onto Seraphine, much to her surprise. The tiger played coy before apologizing for the prank. Roderick shook his head and took a couple more steps before looking back again. Seraphine shooed him on, but she appreciated the joke. He took a moment to collect himself, an additional concern growing within him. He checked his compass again, adjusted his heading, and paused once more. I am not going to die of my own carelessness, he thought to himself. He took a couple of deep breaths and cast his eyes outward, focusing on the mortal dangers ahead.
One crisis at a time, he thought, and paused again. I’ve never been philosophical. What is going on with me? The old sword shook his head and continued on. The shadows were already darkening, threatening to halt their progress. They needed to make camp where they could hide their presence or set up decent defenses. He would hate to camp in the open with Goblins and other creatures milling about.
Before the sun had fallen below the horizon, he spotted something akin to what he was looking for. Up ahead, he could see a partially collapsed cabin. Most likely a hunting retreat that had fallen into disrepair. Roderick halted and knelt behind a bush before giving a signal whistle to the two youngsters behind him. Looking back, he could barely see the tiger as he stalked up. Roderick signaled: Quiet, come up here. Elec looked back and echoed the signal before creeping up near him. A few short moments later, Seraphine joined them.
“Quietly, now,” Roderick said, pointing towards the structure. “We need to scout over there to make sure it is safe. Care to do the honors, Elec?”
