Slipping past the guards in the garden and climbing over the garden wall were small feats. Gabriel had done them many times before. In fact, he had done it so many times he had an established route. The same route he told Coral to take. No matter how many times Gabriel escaped Karson could never tell what his escape route was since Gabriel would heal the grass behind him, leaving no trail.

  Once Gabriel was over the wall he headed to the Hero’s Welcome Hall. This was and still is the place where every guild associated adventurer who ventured into the great woods would enter through. Over time it also became a staging ground for adventurers going into the forest. It gained this secondary feature through simple convenience. It was the southernmost point of the guild town, ergo the closest point to the great forest.

  When Gabriel was only a short distance from the entrance to the Hero’s Welcome, he took a hard right and hid behind a tree. He took the leaves he used on Coral and used them on himself. He wanted to minimize the chance he was spotted so he obfuscated his appearance further with a scarf and hat over his ballooned skin.

  Gabriel waited for the leave's poison to take effect and walked into the hall. The hall was the definition of gaudy. Everything was golden from the ceiling to the door trim. Old useless artifacts lined the hall set on marble pedestals and enclosed with magic barriers. Gemstones lined the walls and embedded themselves into the doors as signals of wealth and direction.

  Gabriel found a ruby arrow made from real ruby pointing him in the direction of the staging ground for new adventurers. He thought about trying to pluck out the ruby but thought it would be better to lay low. Some day he wished he could come back here and take all the old man has. He doesn’t want to keep it but just to take it from Lord Karson.

  Gabriel walked a little more until he heard voices. After one more check that his disguise was in order, he continued to the door.

  What he found on the other side of the door surprised him. There was a heavily armored woman in the middle of the room looking exasperated. She glanced from one side of the room to the other alternating quickly before she registered that the door in front of her was open. Standing next to her was a girl Gabriel’s age or younger. She looked lost and scared, clutching her bow close to her chest for comfort.

  On one side of the room was a boy in dark cloth armor, also near Gabriel’s age, who alternated between mad and sad while muttering to himself about something Gabriel couldn’t make out. On the other side crouched a similarly aged girl who was crying.

  The heavily armored woman looked straight ahead at Gabriel. She let out a long sigh followed by a mutter that sounded like “Another one?”

  Soon after she stood up straight and walked up to Gabriel to introduce herself. When she got closer Gabriel could make out more details. She was stern with short blonde hair and a scarred face. Her armor was polished and each pauldron had an insignia Gabriel had never seen before. When she offered her hand Gabriel still couldn’t make out what the insignia was.

  “Hello. I am Lisa Von Nova. I presume you are Coral the healer.”

  “Von Nova.” meaning ‘of Nova’. Gabriel deduced she must be someone important to the Nova family. They are one of the strongest and most influential families in the Rodran Duchy. Having the Von Nova name means she is respected well enough to carry their name, but isn't actually a family member. She must be their head guard or something. That means that one of the people here must be a member of the Nova house. Before Gabriel could guess who, he had to respond to Lisa’s greeting.

  “Yes. I am Coral the healer. It is a pleasure to meet you. I would shake your hand but my own are swollen and hurt” Gabriel responded. He coughed a little and held up the hand he used to administer the poison to sell the next lie better. “I must have inhaled too many fumes while making antitoxins last night. I should be fine by lunch though.” It was a good lie. Most healers couldn’t heal poisons easily. They could keep you alive while your body works to get rid of the poison but poison detoxification is quite different to healing wounds, so many healers prefer to carry around a variety of antitoxins.

  “That is fine. I believe it would be good to postpone the departure a few hours anyway due to… rising tensions.” She said the last part while looking at the frustrated boy and the crying girl.

  “No!” Gabriel blurted out. Everyone immediately looked at him, even the crying girl. Though he couldn’t quite make out her face behind her long red hair, he did hear her sniffles stop for a moment.

  “I just meant that whatever problems we may have shouldn’t tear us apart or delay the mission. I would like to start as soon as possible.” It might have been a little over eager, but he was quite eager to get out of the city before anyone knew he had snuck out again.

  “I am afraid our party members are simply too stubborn to continue forward at this time.” Lisa remarked at no one in particular but it seemed to offend both parties. On either side of the room.

  “This was my idea. I wanted to come here. You wouldn’t even be here if I didn’t want to come here. I should go first.” Yelled the boy on the left side.

  “I asked Duke Nova first. It’s not my fault you're his son and I’m just the girl who he picked up off the street. I should go first” She said coming close to tears again

  “I didn’t know that. I asked him independently of you. You should be happy to be here.”

  When the boy said that the girl went back into her huddle and the room warmed up a few degrees. Heat emanated from her body and the whole room got more tense.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  The girl in the middle continued to look scared and unsure what to do while Lisa looked exasperated again. Gabriel had to act fast or else his chance of slipping out today would fade away with the dawn.

  “What if you lead us, Lisa?” Gabriel said to Lisa, loud enough for everyone else to hear too.

  “I suggested that, but I was shot down by both sides. They can't agree on who goes first but they agree that it can't be me.” Lisa responded

  “Well, what about her” He pointed to the other girl in the room.

  She immediately began to shake her head vigorously, telling Gabriel it was a bad idea. Lisa seconded that by pointing out her timid demeanor. Not leader material.

  Gabriel really didn’t want to mention the last option in the room. Finally, he spoke. “What if I went first..”

  Everyone looked at him like he had grown a third eye. He couldn’t really blame them either.

  The boy who Gabriel identified as the duke’s son spoke up first. “That’s stupid. Everyone knows the healer stays in the middle. They are always targeted first and putting you out in front is just asking for beasts to eat you.”

  “But the beasts won’t know I’m a healer and I can heal myself better than anyone else in case I do get bit. I can also administer the poison faster on myself than to you guys. Honestly, the healer sounds like the best to go first.” Gabriel stood proudly believing his logic was sound.

  Lisa quickly popped his bubble though. “What if a beast incapacitates you or crushes your skull before you know what happened. I know of no healers who can heal without their head.”

  Gabriel earnestly considered her words for a moment while everyone else remained silent thinking of another way to resolve their conflict. Before anyone else, Gabriel spoke again.

  “If that happens, and someone’s head gets crushed or they get eaten before me or anyone else can react then I think it would be best if it wasn’t them two. They seem like the most important people here. More important than even the healer. Isn’t that right?” He looked back and forth from the boy and the girl and finally to Lisa.

  “Well I am the heir to the Nova Duchy but leaders lead from the front.” The boy said indignantly.

  “Not necessarily. Generals command from the rear guard which is typically in the middle of the formation. Only when it is safe or necessary do they lead from the front to posture and raise morale. You could command from the middle.”

  “The hero always goes first though.” The Nova heir said edging closer to a full tantrum.

  “The hero makes the decision that is best for everyone.” The lady with the bow said softly. Her words were so quiet that Gabriel thought it was a whisper.

  “But…” His words fell off. He wasn't even sure what he was going to say. He couldn’t really argue with what she said. Everyone wanted him to go to the middle and they all had good reasons. Reasons he didn’t like, but reasonable reasons nonetheless.

  Then like a blaze of fire, the red-haired girl whipped her head around and yelled. “I'm not as important as him, I can go in front.” Her desperation and heat matched one another and the room warmed up again. Lisa created a current of air around herself and the girl with the bow rushed to the other side of the room.

  “You’re just as important as I am!” The Nova boy yelled angrily.

  “No, I'm just a pretty little girl who has strong magic. I’m not an heir like you. I don’t get special privileges from daddy. Let me go first” The Nova boy grimaced like he had been physically hit by those words.

  Gabriel had to do something. He felt that if things got much hotter, then Lisa, who already had a wind spell ready, would step in and stop her by any means necessary. That could delay things and Gabriel really didn’t want that to happen. He walked over to the girl. The air got hotter with each step until he could feel his skin start to burn. When he got right next to her his whole arm was full of first-degree burns. He was prepared to tell her how important she was and how everything was going to be fine if he went first and she went after him, but he never got the chance.

  The red-haired girl took one look at him and was horrified. She saw his blistered red arm and immediately pulled all her fire back towards herself. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I'm so sorry. I… I didn’t mean to.” She began trembling.

  Lisa walked over and hugged her tight. “It’s okay you did not hurt anyone. You are fine. Everyone is fine.”

  “No! I…” She continued trembling until she saw Gabriel’s arm again. It was completely healed.

  “I’m fine. I’m a healer, remember?” Gabriel said, showing his arm. Luckily he remembered to not heal his puffy face and kept up his cover.

  “Oh. I see. So, no one got hurt?” She asked.

  “No, everyone is fine.” Lisa responded, still holding her tight. “Are you okay now?”

  “Yea. I think so.” She said shrugging off Lisa’s hug and standing up. “I guess it’s okay for you to go first, Mr. Coral, but I’m going right behind you. Okay! And get out of my way if enemies come for us. I don’t want to hit you.”

  “Okay.” He said. He was already planning on doing just that since he was not a fighter.

  “Hey, you should be asking me since I am the leader.” The Nova boy said.

  Gabriel was about to step in but Lisa was quicker. “Yes you are, but it makes sense to have you in the middle. Then our bowman and I in the back as our ranged fighters. That leaves only the second spot. It simply makes the most sense.”

  “I guess you're right.” He agreed begrudgingly. He looked like he wanted to say more but he kept his mouth shut

  With all that settled, there was one last thing Gabriel wanted to get finished before they all departed. He coughed and asked, “What are all your guys’ names again?”