There was a different feeling to the woods now. One which made Leonidas scowl slightly, his eyes darting back and forth, the back of neck felt a shiver. He couldn’t help but notice his fingers fidgeting as his undershirt beginning to stick to his skin as he and the others made their way through the wooded path back to Moire’s farmstead. He stopped, feeling his eyes straining when he tried to open.

  The birds watched them as they moved down the road. Silently, without movement or fluttering of wings or other limbs. Simply watching. The doctor peered into the forest and could make out creatures moving in the shadows. As the animals were gazing towards the road and the riders, Leonidas felt as if there was some form of knowledge, some information they had which he and others did not. It was hard not to find the feeling clinging to every thought as he tried to focus on the road ahead.

  He saw Cid riding at the front of their group, the Felidan’s ears perking up and looking around the area with careful intent. When he first rode through the forest, Leonidas didn’t have the time to think of any threats lurking in the shadows of the forest. But now, it was all he could think of as they moved down the road. The doctor admired the coolness of Cid’s demeanor. Maintaining an alert gaze as they moved down the road, making slow and precise movements with his head, and keeping his breathing calm and controlled. Even with everything that occurred Cid seemed to take in all in stride.

  Leonidas thought back to The Outlands. Back to where warriors cared for glory over victory. Boasting over survival. Posturing themselves as people worthy of praise and admiration than showing they were worthy of such things. Those with such a boastful nature left an ill taste in the doctor’s mouth. Especially when considering how many of his friends were hurt from the foolish escapades, or the sad few who paid a terrible blood price to appease the fragile arrogance of those whose skills never matched their vaunts.

  It helped to calm Leonidas’s nerves to see a group who practiced some prudence over fleeting splendor. He felt the faintest sensation to lower his guard with them around. To not feel the need to expect them to rush out and compromise all their safety simply win vain glory. Entertaining the hope he would not need to recall superfluous details to avoid taking the blame for someone’s failure. The worry causing his chest to tighten at the mere thought.

  But he held himself back. These weren’t the first people he invested such trust with. Those who he felt safe to disclose the fuller extent of his knowledge and capabilities with and not fear violent recourse. Not having to hide himself from the world and being more than a fa?ade for protection. Only to find himself without friend or shelter once he began to feel some modicum of ease. His muscles tensed as he tried to keep his thoughts from turning to complete doubt.

  He looked at the others and wondered if this was going to be any different. If the fates would allow him the chance to find some who he could call friend and not fear there is some obscene condition needed for it exist. He pushed the thought from his mind as he focused attention back to the task at hand.

  Still, seeing how their leader conducted themselves gave him some confidence this was not the usual fair of sell-swords he’d met in the past. It helped calm Leonidas’s nerves about the immediate situation at least. He noticed Benkei checking the path behind them regularly.

  “Expecting anyone behind us?” Leonidas asked.

  “Hopefully not. But one of the first things I learned was to keep my head on a swivel when on the move,” Benkei replied.

  Leonidas nodded, turning to see Maeryn to his left, deep in thought as they rode forward. “Everything well?” he asked her. She was silent, her grip tightening and loosening on the reins rhythmically.

  “Maeryn?” Leonidas said to her. She shook her head quickly before turning back to him.

  “Hmm?” she said, still half in a stupor.

  “Is everything all right? You seem troubled,” the doctor asked her.

  Maeryn nodded. “I’m fine,” she said, trying to assure him, “Just thinking to myself.”

  “Are you still troubled about what happened before?” Benkei asked Maeryn.

  “No one blames you for any of that,” said Silvius, trying to console her.

  “Couldn’t have guess it from Jeanne’s demeanor,” Maeryn said sullenly. “I’m surprised she doesn’t think I was in cahoots with the brigands.”

  Cid, pulled back on the reins, letting the others catch up. “Jeanne and Kveldulf are close, almost closer than kin. Between the situation and her own wounds, I would place good money she doesn’t mean anything by it.”

  Maeryn looked at Cid with a narrow gaze and a set jaw. Leonidas noted a lack of warmth in her bearing. A cold look in her eyes. He felt his skin crawl as it brought him back to his time to The Outlands. On a day bright and hot, without a cloud to blemish the sun’s rays. How he looked back at the same type of cold eyes staring down at him. Seeing his blood dripping from beaten fists and the look of bloodlust in the fiend’s eyes.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  Leonidas felt a shiver rush up his spine as the memory came back. He rubbed the back of his neck to steady his nerves. Reminding himself the moment was in the past, far behind him and where he was now. He forced himself to steady his breathing, so his anxiety did not reach a level beyond his control. He had to keep himself from the darkness, push away from thoughts he knew would begin to take him if he wasn’t careful.

  The doctor turned his attention back to Cid, still trying to comfort Maeryn. The coldness had now left her eyes, though with her slumped shoulders and lowered gaze, there seemed little of a fighting spirit in her at the moment.

  “Maeryn,” Cid said to her in a comforting tone, “one cannot know what lies deep within a person’s soul. Especially when they have had time to master hiding such things well.”

  “I still should have spotted something,” Maeryn replied.

  “Use it in the future to help prevent a similar situation from happening again. The past should be used as a guide in events to come, not as the means to demean and belittle others or yourself.”

  Maeryn looked down. Her clenched fist tapping the horn on her saddle.

  “You did everything you could, and you helped us get out that whole mess alive to figh another day. That should not be tossed aside so lightly.”

  She turned her gaze to the side, not making eye contact.

  “I know, I’d be doing the same too. But he’s alive, he’ll be back on his feet soon, we’ll all have a story to tell.”

  Maeryn looked up at him, her lips tucked in as she frowned.

  “There was a thing my father used to say, when I would hard on myself when I couldn’t live up to what I thought was my potential. And it’s helped me out on many occasions. Failure is complete only when you refuse rise back up. We are all bound to slip up, its what makes us humble in whatever we do. It’s what we do afterwards which decides what the ending to our stories.”

  “Thanks, Cid,” said Maeryn, taking a deep breath to clear her throat. “That helps a lot.”

  Leonidas opened his mouth to inquire more, but decided against the idea. His stomach beginning to turn as he fathomed the ways such questions would turn against him. He looked over to Silvius on his right, leaning forward with him head high up and fiddling with his reins scenery around them.

  “You look like you’re having a good time,” Leonidas said to him.

  Silvius nodded at him with a nervous look in his eyes and moving around in his saddle, rapidly nodding, “I’ve always loved the forests and the wilds of the world. Though right now I wouldn’t mind back at the city and lost in a corner of the university’s library.”

  “Oh, is that how you met, your colleague?”

  He shook his head. “I had been tutoring her since she was in her thirteenth winter. Her parents knew mine and hired me on for her studies. Turned out we had many similar academic interests.”

  “How’s that?”

  “Well, we both have a thirst for historical research. Especially in fields few tend to look into anymore. And we’re both not above cutting our own paths to get to the heart of the matter.”

  “And I take it this little excursion was a part of all that?”

  “Yes and no,” Hypatia replied. “We were on another expedition where she found a tablet tucked away in a drawer at the library and I was able to translate it back to these ruins. But when I presented it to the committees, I was mostly ignored.”

  “So, is this not an official expedition?”

  “Only if we find something worth their while,” Silvius replied. “We are, as the university is concerned, an independent research group exploring these ruins under our own volition. So we don’t have to adhere to any academic guidelines when getting anything interesting here. But it also means they get everything we find.”

  Leonidas nodded. “Ah, one of those situations. I’m not unfamiliar with that wonderful side of academic research, sadly.”

  “Separates those who long to find for knowledge from those willing to find it.”

  “Gods forbid you find more within that middle range.”

  “True. But then they’re be less need of those who are willing to jump into that greater world.”

  “Also true. Though it would be nice to seem the ones around to get their due respect.”

  “Hopefully we’ll be one of the lucky ones to enjoy such things in our time,” Silvius said, giving the doctor a warm smile.

  “I’ll keep my fingers crossed,” Leonidas said, smiling back.

  We were sent here as a team to explore and archive our findings. Course, things have taken an intriguing turn, as you might say.”

  “That’s putting it one way,” he said.

  Cid pulled on the reins, halting his horse as his head and ears perked up while sniffing the air. “I think I smell smoke,” Cid said, turning back to the others.

  Leonidas nudged his horse to catch up to Cid’s and spotted a large plume smoke rising into the air. His skin became cold and shivered while his mind went hazy for a long moment. Whispering, “Gods no,” he urged his horse into a full gallop with the others racing behind him.