by Logan Jacobs
"Oh, sure, sure," Clay replied with a nod. "Of course, a lot of 'em don't ever make it back out, that's the problem. You have five men go out into this desert to draw up their maps and only two come back, and they can't agree on where everything's supposed to be. Then, when some aspiring bounty hunter decides he wants to collar some bandits, he has to pick between the bad maps. The bandits know the land better than he does, and he doesn't come back either."
"Well, it sounds to me like it would work better if there were simply a better system in place," Aerin said thoughtfully. "A contractor could hire teams to scout and map small portions of the desert, and they could keep each other safe and accountable. Then it'd just be a matter of putting all the pieces together to form a complete map. I'm sure plenty of guilds would be willing to take on the bandits then."
The dwarf pressed his lips together. "Right you are. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem as though anyone has been up to the task. There's not enough of a government in Gilamar to take on the project, there's nothing but nomads in the mountains, and the cities beyond the Canterrose Mountains don't think it ought to be their responsibility."
"A private contractor, then," Aerin suggested.
"You know anyone rich enough to do all that?" the dwarf asked with a smile.
Aerin slumped back in her seat a bit. "No," she admitted. "It's a good idea, though. It would benefit everyone to make the region safer for merchants and travelers."
Just then, a whistle sounded ahead, and the wagons in front of us slowed and began to stop. I handed the reins back to Clay so that he could guide our team off to the side and bring the wagon to a halt.
"Looks as though we'll be stopping here for the night, then," the dwarf said. "You're welcome to sleep in the wagon if you'd like, but most of us set up tents on the ground.”
I doubted I'd be able to get much sleep couched between a dozen cages full of belching toads, so sleeping on the ground was the obvious choice.
The caravan's wagons were arranged in a loosely circular shape, and at the center of the ring of wagons, several people had already begun to set up campfires. I understood the appeal given how cold it had become once the sun went down, but I couldn't help but think the fires were like beacons to any bandits or animals in the area. My reservations must have shown on my face because Clay spoke up.
"Anything in a thirty-mile radius that'd be interested in us already knows we're out here," he told me. "The animals' senses are too keen for us to go unnoticed, and the bandits don't miss much, either. At least if we keep warm, we can be better prepared to defend ourselves, if necessary."
He dug around behind the seat and produced a tinder kit which he held out to me. "There's some wood in the back, why don't you two go on and start us up a fire?"
I took the kit, and Aerin and I hopped down from the wagon to get the firewood Clay had mentioned. I wasn't sure if I was fully convinced that the fires were a good idea, but I doubted I'd be able to convince the other twenty-odd caravanners to put theirs out, and one more wasn't going to make much of a difference.
When we went around to the back of the wagon, Maruk, Lavinia, and Lena had already begun to unload our gear and set up a sleeping area for us.
"Finally," Lavinia breathed as she stretched her arms over her head. "My foot was starting to fall asleep." She looked wistfully over her shoulder at the surrounding landscape. "Wish I could hunt, though. Do you think there's anything worth eating out there?"
"Probably not," I answered as I retrieved the firewood from the back of the wagon and Aerin helped me arrange it on the ground.
"We brought plenty of food," Maruk said.
"It's not that." Lavinia shook out her bedroll and laid it out on the dirt. "I just need to stretch my legs."
I recalled what Clay had mentioned about our position being no secret to the other hunters, human and animal, that might be stalking us.
"We should stay with the group," I said. "We are guards, technically, and I don't think they'd appreciate it if we wandered off."
The ladona woman pursed her lips. "Yeah, you're probably right," she admitted. "I'm going to take a lap around the camp, get the blood flowing."
At my curious look, she added, "I won't go far."
Then, without waiting for any sort of acknowledgment from the rest of us, she shouldered her bow and quiver, turned on her heel, and disappeared behind the line of wagons.
"Is she alright?" I asked with a frown when Lavinia had gone. "She seemed upset."
"She always gets restless when she has to stay in one place too long," Maruk answered as he spread out his own bedroll. "She'll be fine once she gets it out of her system." Then the orc straightened up and cast an unhappy look over at our wagon.
"As a matter of fact, I think I could use a bit of fresher air as well," he said. "I'll see you all in a moment, shall I?"
When he'd announced his intention, I'd half-expected Maruk to follow Lavinia, but instead, the orc made a beeline for another of the wagons, specifically one that was laden with luxury items to sell in the east.
Aerin snorted when she saw where Maruk was headed. "Bet he comes back with at least two bottles of cologne and some incense to burn," the redheaded elf said with a sidelong look at me and with a knowing grin. She finished setting up our campfire and lit the tinder, then rocked back on her heels.
"Only two bottles?" I replied. "Keep in mind that he did just spend five hours surrounded by those toads."
"Damn, you're right," Aerin said. "I'd better go make sure he doesn't spend all our money. I'll be right back."
As Aerin took off after Maruk, I turned then to Lena where she sat cross-legged on the ground and flipped through the pages of a book. It wasn't the notebook I'd seen her with earlier, but a thick and ancient-looking tome with stained pages and a frayed cover. She must have had it in her bag before.
The alchemist had offered no complaints so far throughout our trip, not even to do with the smell of the formerly fire-breathing toads, but I knew I should probably check on her, anyway.
"Lena, how are you holding up?" I asked.
The elf woman looked somewhat startled at being addressed, but her surprise faded quickly, and she smiled at me.
"I'm wonderful!" she replied cheerfully. "When Clay first showed us his toads, they reminded me of something I'd read about before. I finally found the recipe again."
I moved over and sat down next to her so that I could see the book better. It did look more or less like a recipe book with printed illustrations alongside long lists of ingredients and instructions for preparation. The major difference, as far as I could tell, was that these recipes called for things like beetle's legs and whiskey that had been left out overnight under a full moon as key ingredients.
"What does the recipe make?" I asked.
Lena arranged the book on her knee to show me the right-hand page, where, alongside some other illustrations, was the head of a fire-breathing toad, its wide mouth open to reveal a short, purple-gray tongue.
"It's just a standard burn-healing salve," she replied, "but I think I can make something even better."
"What did you have in mind?" I asked, somewhat warily.
"The toads' saliva has a particular property that protects them from burning their own mouths when they breathe fire, and this recipe uses it as a natural ointment to soothe burned skin," Lena explained. "But I was thinking, wouldn't it be better if you didn't get burned in the first place? With a few modifications, I could make a potion that's safe to consume that can protect people from burning their mouths, just like the toads."
Though I tried to keep my expression neutral, some skepticism must have shown on my face nonetheless because Lena held up her hand.
"I know what you're probably thinking. People don't breathe fire, so why would need something like that? Think of all the possibilities though! You would never have to wait for your tea to cool, you could drink it right away and... uh..." The elf bit her lip. "Well, it would work for any hot food or drink,
so there's that. What do you think now?"
I had to admit, the idea of drinking toad saliva was even less appealing than rubbing it on my skin, and I was sure that sentiment would be fairly widespread, but the look in Lena's wide violet eyes was so hopeful, I was reluctant to say as much. Still, I knew I wouldn't be doing her any favors by lying to her.
"I'm not sure there would be much of a market for something like that," I said gently. "I think most people don't really mind waiting for their drinks to cool down."
"Really?" Lena's shoulders slumped, and she sighed miserably. "I'm never going to get my business off the ground at this rate."
I reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, don't give up," I told her. "You're really creative. I'm sure you'll be able to come up with tons of great ideas."
The corner of Lena's mouth turned up ever so slightly in a grateful smile. "You really think so?"
"I do," I insisted, and I meant it. She hadn't quite hit the mark yet, that much was true, but if she could pull off the wild concoctions that she'd talked about already, I was sure she could make a name for herself if she redirected her efforts toward something more marketable. "You said the toads' saliva protects against fire, right? Maybe you could make something with it that could prevent fabric and leather from being burned."
Her eyes lit up at once. "I could make that, definitely," she said confidently. Then she frowned slightly. "Is that something people would buy, do you think?"
"Yeah, I would expect that to sell pretty well," I answered.
The alchemist grinned and opened her mouth to say something else, but at that moment, Lavinia ducked suddenly back into the ring of wagons, an arrow nocked to her bowstring.
"Look alive," she warned, "we've got company."
No sooner had she said it when the captain blew three short, urgent notes on his whistle, and everyone in the camp turned to him at once. I was on my feet in a moment.
"Bandits?" I asked.
"I saw them coming up from the south," she answered with a short nod, and I could have sworn she had a small smile on her lips.
Automatically, my hand went to the hilt of the dagger attached to my belt. The metal blade had broken off when I'd faced down the Dovar-cu weeks ago, but thanks to my magic, I didn't need it. As I drew the dagger, I channeled my mana into it and a blade of shimmering blue light formed at the hilt. There was nothing this blade couldn't cut through, and I had learned that it had a particularly profound effect against magical creatures.
I heard the pounding hoofbeats of several horses in the distance, and the camp erupted to life as the caravanners jumped to their feet and prepared for battle. Most grabbed weapons from their wagons, and I made a note of bows, swords, and a few axes, but I caught sight of five or six others, including the mages I'd seen in Gilamar who'd filled the water barrels, move forward without weapons.
There was no way for me to determine whether these mages were loyal to the Academy, but that didn't mean they'd be friendly with a manipulator. I would have to be careful about how I used my power so that I didn't draw their suspicion.
Aerin and Maruk ran up at that moment to retrieve their own weapons, and Clay appeared at the same time with a short crossbow in hand.
"There are bandits," Aerin said breathlessly as she took up her axe and removed the cover over the blade. The elven writing etched into the metal glinted in the firelight.
"We know," Lavinia said. "From the south, I saw them."
The redheaded elf's head whipped up, her hazel eyes wide. "We saw them coming from the north."
An icy chill settled over my sternum as I realized what was going on. "We're surrounded." I turned to Lena, who was watching us anxiously with her book clutched against her chest. "Stay close to us."
Off to my left, someone screamed, and as I turned toward the sound, I saw a man fall back with three arrows protruding from his chest, and then the bandits swarmed in among the wagons.
Four of the bandits were on horseback and armed with crossbows, but about two dozen more were close at the riders' heels with blades, maces, and staves. Many of them appeared to be human or elven, but I saw a few ladonae and cat people as well. The bandits' clothes were ragged, patched, and stained, as though they'd all picked them off dead bodies which probably they had, and I noticed that the riders at least wore thick silver bracelets on their wrists.
As I'd known they would, the bandits flooded the camp from every direction at once and brought chaos with them.
The first of the bandits unlucky enough to come upon our group fell with one of Lavinia's arrows in his throat before he'd even fully raised the axe he carried, but his comrades behind him didn't even slow down.
The clash of metal on metal rang out on my left as another of the bandits, a hulking man with ghost-white skin and red hair, met Maruk's shields with a spiked mace, and on my right, Aerin grappled with another who wielded a thick cudgel.
Before I could come to either of my guildmates' aid, however, a dark-haired bandit stepped in front of me and twirled a pair of long daggers in his hands. His green eyes flicked down to my mana blade, and he grinned before he struck out swiftly with both of his daggers at once.
I registered a flare of mana in his chest as he lunged forward. In response, I took half a step back as my free hand came up automatically and curled into a fist in the air.
The bandit's eyes went wide, and he coughed as though he'd been hit in the chest. The light of his mana flickered and dimmed as I used my own power to suppress it, and the man stumbled forward, thrown off balance. The arc of both of his daggers went wide, and the blades sliced harmlessly through the air.
Before the bandit had a chance to recover, I closed the distance between us in a single step and drove my own dagger through his chest.
The dead bandit slumped against me, and I staggered beneath his weight, moved back, and let his body fall. A rush of air chilled the sweat that had already collected at the back of my neck, and I whirled just as another bandit attempted to sneak up behind me.
The bandit stepped nimbly back out of stabbing range before I’d even raised my arm, but I saw that he was armed with nothing more than a dagger of his own. His dark eyes glittered in the firelight as he sidestepped, and as I moved with him, we began a deadly sort of dance.
Unlike the first bandit, he didn’t try for an attack sophisticated enough that he needed to use mana, so I had no early warning system when he attempted to strike. Still, my reflexes had always been good, and adrenaline enhanced them further. As the bandit lunged, I dodged, then stepped in close for a strike of my own.
The bandit moved back before my mana blade could connect with his skin, but just barely. I’d surprised him, and he didn’t take well to it. I could see the renewed urgency in his eyes as he moved to strike again, but instead of dodging, I raised my dagger to parry.
The mana blade sliced through the steel as if it were water, and the bandit gaped as the end of his knife fell into the dirt. Of course, he must have guessed my dagger was enchanted, but he would never have anticipated the extent of its power. Even if he knew that it was a manipulator power, all the manipulators were supposed to be long dead.
I took advantage of his moment of shock to drive my blade forward, deep into his unprotected throat, and he still had that wide-eyed expression on his face when he fell.
By then my heart was hammering with the exertion of maintaining the mana blade for so long, and the bandit’s shock was a reminder that I needed to be careful. I would be better off fighting without the mana blade for now with so many witnesses around that might notice something unusual about it.
I let the mana blade flicker and returned the dagger to my belt as I surveyed the camp again.
Maruk was still locked in battle with the fierce redheaded warrior, and as I watched, the orc’s mana flared, and he let out a roar as he bashed the larger of his shields into his opponent’s chest hard enough to send the man reeling back into one of the wagons. There was a crunch, of bo
ne or wood I couldn’t tell, when the warrior collided with the side of the wagon. Confident that Maruk had him under control, I shifted my attention to Lavinia.
The ranger had climbed on top of one of the wagons where she had a better vantage point from which to pick off the bandits, and she shot arrow after arrow with devastating precision. She had almost single-handedly taken out all the mounted bandits, and the horses reared nervously with their riders slumped dead in their saddles.
Just below Lavinia, an arc of pale gold light traced through the air as Aerin swung her axe forward and into the neck of a bandit. The magic imbued in the blade made a keening sound as the power of the elven gods who’d blessed it added power to the cleric’s strike. The bandit swayed, coughed up a mouthful of blood, and then finally crumpled.
As Aerin struggled to pull her axe free, another bandit started for her, his cudgel raised to take advantage of her distraction. They were several yards away, too far for me to run, but I didn’t have to. I raised my hand, and with a thought, an illusory clone of myself appeared between Aerin and the bandit.
To his credit, the bandit reacted quickly and swung for the clone’s head, but of course, his heavy cudgel simply passed through the illusion. The clone flickered and vanished, but it had given Aerin enough time to pull her axe free, and she advanced on the bandit and cut him down before he’d even appeared to process the sudden disappearance of the clone.
Aerin caught my eye and gave me a grateful nod, and I nodded back. Just then, a high-pitched, terrified scream drew my attention across the camp. Between the campfires, bandits and caravanners were locked in combat, and already I could see about half a dozen bodies slumped and bleeding on the dirt. One was someone I recognized as one of the water mages, dead from a knife slash across the throat.
Another of the mages I'd noticed earlier stood in the center of the camp and threw balls of fire out at the bandits, and I realized that the panicked screaming I'd heard had come from one of his targets. The bandit, now no more than a humanoid silhouette surrounded by red flames, crumpled in on himself as the fire spread over his body. He continued to howl as he fell into a fetal position on the ground, and his cries of anguish began to draw the attention of his fellows.