They passed through the gates of the frontier fort, a little over an hour later. Maribel spent most of the time directing her people and speaking to various members of their group. The job of the Astral Wardens would be reduced to guard duty when inside the frontier. But for now, they would have to take the back seat as the Light Lancers, led by Maribel, ran the show.

  Orm hailed the gateman and after a short conversation, the gate started to rise. On the other side was Regiani, the fort commander flanked by the familiar purple skinned man, Reed, and her cohort of heavily armored guards. She stomped over to meet Maribel, who stood at the head of their group. Brent, Alicia, and Becca were up front while Elias stood near the rear.

  “Maribel, how nice to see you again,” Regiani said with clear sarcasm. It would appear that the women didn't like each other for some reason.

  “Here’s the contract, now see us through, I've not the time for a long conversation.” Maribel’s response was equally combative. Cal, the only one amongst the group who carried himself calmly, was standing next to Elias. Elias met his brown eyes, the confusion clear on his face. Cal smirked and said, almost sagely, “Best not to draw from that particular well young one.”

  Once more Elias was taken aback by the anachronism of his young face against his way of speaking. He couldn't resist asking, “How old are you Cal; you don't look much more than 25 or so.”

  Cal chuckled, “A discussion for later. Some are hostile to my kind.”

  Elias looked at him closely, trying to find anything that wasn't human about him, but could find nothing strange. Perhaps it was something internal that he couldn't see, but the mana he felt from him was the same as anyone else.

  The men and men and women who made up the skinners and porters were having small, spirited discussions amongst themselves. After the battle they were rather pleased, The Astral Wardens at the very least had proven that they had skill, so that meant their survivability went up.

  Elias was glad for the extra 10 eagles that were in his pocket. Since Brent was paying for all their provisions, Elias wasn't interested in asking for an equal cut. That put his total coin to 22 eagles and a few starlings. Over two year’s wages for a peasant. Finally, the spirited discussion with Regiani was over and the entire group started to march towards the entrance. Passing through the massive gate and tunnel, into the main courtyard, Elias observed that while considerably empty due to the early morning, it still boasted people training with weapons.

  Becca, Brent, and Alicia were having a short conversation with the Fort captain while Maribel studiously ignored the woman. Elias was mildly curious about the animosity but didn't care enough to ask any questions about it.

  “Have you ever experienced a flood before?” Elias asked Cal.

  His expression turned grim for an instant before it returned to his neutral mask, “Indeed, it is not a good memory.”

  “From what little I know it's quite profitable every time it happens?”

  “Extremely so.” he paused then said, “For the survivors. The walls block off much of the beasts, but some can still climb over, and others can fly; many thousands of innocents will die in the process.

  He seemed lost in thought, so Elias used the opportunity, “When was the last one?”

  “A little over 80 summers ago.”

  ‘So, he’s at least 80 years old, but how does he look so young? Magic? An Elixir?’

  The front gate opened, and their group walked through the massive portcullis to the frontier. A wave of anxiety overtook Elias before he stamped it down. Now wasn't the time to be overwhelmed with worry. Now was the time to hunt.

  ~

  They headed to the southeast, using the relative safety of the barren terrain outside the walls for a few miles until they made a sharp right to enter the forest. The formation was rather simple. Alicia and Brent were to the left and right respectively. Becca and Elias brought up the rear; the formation was mirrored by the Light Lancers at the front of the group. In the center were all the skinners and porters. Tensions were high since as soon as they stepped inside the forest, there was a possibility of being attacked.

  They were under strict orders to limit conversation and have constant surveillance. While it would take a few days for attacks from beasts to become regular occurrences, Maribel wanted no mistakes, and the severity of her words carried through. So, Elias walked in the rear with Becca only a few feet away, heads on a constant swivel.

  Hours passed as the forest became denser. Elias’s thick green cloak fought off most of the morning chill. The sun's rays shone through the branches of the trees casting beautiful rays of golden light. But Elias knew from his own experience the dangers that lurked inside the forest. The people they were protecting were far more tense. Twitching towards every sound that would mean danger. But for all their heightened alert, nothing attacked.

  Elias' feet started to hurt, and his breathing became heavy. Carrying the shield for so long and the increased weight from his armor was more tiring than he had expected but he couldn't drop his guard. Physical exercise was not one of his priorities and as his sister always stated, his height was wasted.

  They changed directions several times after short stops to drink water. Occasionally following a cliff or walking along a river. After nearly 10 hours of walking the sun began to dip below the horizon and camp was called. Elias breathed a sigh of relief. They rested in a small clearing just wide enough so that all 39 of them could rest close to each other. T

  Everyone used leather sleeping sacks arranged around a fire that one of the porters had started. While Elias arranged his sleeping sack, He noticed Maribel calling him over. She was talking with one of the skinners, an older woman of around 40, in hard leathers.

  As Elias approached Maribel asked, “Elias, I'm sure you're competent in water conjuration?”

  “Yes, I can do it rather easily.”

  “Excellent. Help Jene here and fill the cookpot for her. It's much safer than gathering water from a river. Since the only one is miles away.” Maribel said.

  Elias didn’t like being commanded so casually, but everyone got a share of the food from the cookpot so there was little reason to complain.

  “Very well,” Elias said, then followed the woman to the large cook pot hanging above a fire.

  “So ye just summon the water like nothin?” The woman asked, not sounding convinced.

  Elias shrugged, “Essentially, though it doesn’t come from nothing. There’s water in the air I just gather it.”

  Her eyes danced around as if looking for said water. “I don't get it, how’s there water in the air I can’ see no steam or fog,” she sounded incredibly confused.

  Elias had no interest in explaining how precipitation work to this woman. “It’s complicated but I assure you I can.”

  When they reached the pot Elias held his hand above it and started gathering water. Fortunately, it was a humid day, so it wasn’t as hard as usual.

  “Well, I’ll be, I guess you're right. Ain't never seen someone do that.” She said, staring at the growing orb of water.

  “Never met a hydromancer before?”

  “Nope Ain’t never met a hydro whatever.”

  After lowering the now several gallon orb into the pot, Jene asked, “What else can ye do,”

  Elias shrugged, “I can boil it.”

  “Nah,” she said, not believing. Elias focused on the water and slowly expanding his hand poured mana into it. It started to steam then bubble. After a handful of seconds, it heated to a rolling boil.

  “By the eight,” she gasped.

  “You’re a skinner, right? Have you not seemed much magic,” What he was doing wasn’t exactly impressive.

  “I’ve seen wizards and gifted mostly. And they consider using magic for mundane stuff like this a waste. Never seen sorcerer work before though. Damn impressive.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, most hydromantic….., whatever you are, wouldn't piss on me if I was on fire, much less use water. But I can tell you ain’t a noble. But with yer friends…. it's obvious.” She nodded to Brent, Alicia, and Becca, who had just started a conversation with Maribel.

  A skinny man came over to the fire carrying bundles of familiar dried soup and a handful of vegetables and spices. He chuckled at their conversation clearly in Elias’s direction.

  “What’s so humorous?” Elias asked. He stopped boiling the water to conserve mana.

  “You don't see it?” He asked.

  “See what?”

  “You a sorcerer.”

  “Yes.”

  “Using yer magic to conjure water and boil it for supper.”

  “Yes.” Elias said, still not understanding.

  He shook his head as if talking to a dumb child, “You, a sorcerer, are doing peasant work. You see Maribel liftin a finger?”

  “No, but I doubt she can conjure water.” Elias said.

  “Most mages know dozens of spells; she has two grimoires. You don't think there's at least one or two she could use around camp.”

  “I suppose, but if that's the case then why would she not.”

  The man grinned, “She’s a noble Elias at no point will she ever waste magic on us, unless necessary,”

  Elias shook his head, “If that's the case, what does it mean that she asked me to do, as you said, peasant work?”

  Both Jene and the man chuckled, “You, my boy, got tested and failed, any noble or powerful mage would consider that a slap in the face, or a challenge,”

  “That's stupid and pointless,” Elias said. The water he conjured was clean and after boiling it was sanitized. It makes no sense not to use it for cooking.

  “That's the way of Iyah boy. Blood and magic rules, you ain't got neither you ain’t got nothin. She’s a member of the lodge so she has to tolerate us but trust me if’n one of us steps out of line she can end our lives and their ain't a court that's gonna put her away for murder.”

  Elias thought back to all his interactions with her. He didn't notice anything outwardly odd about the way she acted around him. Their conversations were reasonable, the only thing head seen that was negative was her disappointment in his refusal to fight her.

  “In noble circles, what does it mean to refuse a challenge.”

  “Ahh, the boy is finally thinking. For a noble it would have been a disgrace, but you’re not a noble. But if you ask me, it was smart not to fight her.”

  “I figured she was powerful,” Elias said.

  “Even worse, she's rich and her family is powerful.”

  “Then why do you work for her if she looks down on you so,” Elias asked.

  Jene answered with a chuckle, “We all work with the lodge and our name is on the contract, she’s never had a death on her hunts and people like that take extra effort to maintain their status. She don't care about coin, so we get paid well,”

  Elias nodded, understanding their reason. Altruism can't be trusted, however it's easy to trust in someone self-interest and use that for your own benefit.

  “Tell me about the Saresh’s?” Elias asked. He didn't actually know anything about Maribel’s family.

  ~

  The next morning Elias spent some time thinking about his conversation with Nere and the cook whose name Elias didn't actually catch. Maribel and the light lancers ate separately from the poets. They did invite the rest of the Astral Wardens to a meal. Though Elias's mood soured towards them a bit. So, he decided to eat with the porters while the rest took up the offer. Elias watched them talk for some time before he went to sleep. He hoped at least that they learned some useful information. Noble, peasants and the expectations around magic users wasn't one of his concerns so he put Maribel’s supposed insult out of his mind. Though, a part of him wondered if he was making a mistake.

  Two days later.

  Elias was sitting with Alicia; it was the dead of night, and they were on watch while the rest of the camp rested. They were sitting at the edge of camp watching the dark forest for any attacking creatures. This was actually the first time he had been alone with one of his teammates for any length of time.

  The days consisted of non-stop monotonous travel, punctuated by thin largely unsatisfying soup for supper. The rift between the Light Lancers and the commoners at it were, was rather stark. Different sleeping arrangements, different food, and even separate fires. Elias wouldn't go where he clearly wasn't wanted.

  And he would be damned before he would debase himself by currying favor. Though it wasn’t as if his time with the ‘commoners’ was a waste. He learned quite a bit about the process of hunting and cutting. Where to find herbs, gems, and other magical plants. He collected a few herbs that seemed to be magical and kept them in the same sack that held his supplies.

  “So, learn anything interesting,” Elias asked, just to break the silence. They stood at the edge of camp since they decided to rest near the face of a cliff. Attacks would only come from one direction.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “Quite a bit, you should join us for supper, she is a font of information,”

  “It seems I’ve been relegated to commoner in her eyes, I'm not sure if I’m wanted,” he said gauging her reaction. A mild amount of guilt came over her features.

  “Yes. We had to explain where we were from. Fortunately, the world is large, and she believed that we were from some far-off island. Brent is the son of their head general. Becca is the daughter of a lord. And I am the first daughter of what people in this world call an Archon of Law. How nobles act in this world is rather humorous. While we speak with an accent the mere fact that we have last names, the ability to read and write as well as a high school education was enough proof that we were, at the very least, some form of nobility,”

  Elias shrugged, he didn’t know anything about their family. Except Brent came from a military family, Alicia’s mother was a judge and Becca's dad was a senator. Then he realized she didn't mention what story they made up for him.

  “Wait. Then what am I?” Elias asked,

  She bit her lips then answered, “You're a commoner that worked hard to get accepted into one of our institutions of learning.”

  Elias blinked twice, not certain if he heard her right, “I’m a peasant?”

  “Yes, it's the only thing Maribel would believe, not taking up her challenge was a problem. If you were a noble, then your honor would have compelled you to accept it. You refused and were completely shameless about it.”

  “So, you all get noble status, and I get relegated to peasant?”

  “You decided to not bother joining us. You refused the duel. You don't dress or act in any way that would have someone believe you are of noble blood. What were we supposed to do when you didn't even join us?” Alicia chastised.

  ‘She has a point. But still; a serf?’

  Elias sighed, “Well, it's not like it really matters. King or peasant. I’m not from this world anyways,”

  “You are a part of this world now Elias, you can't keep ignoring it. The rest of us realize we need to start thinking long term, you should do the same.”

  Elias knew, at his core, that she was making sense but still he refused to accept the truth.

  “Did you actually learn anything of use?’ Elias changed the subject.

  “We learned a bit about magic at least.”

  “Do tell,”

  “Nessa was right, anyone can be a wizard, even me. But it takes a long time. Though the strength of my gifts are a problem.”

  “Why is that?”

  “My mana flows differently from a normal person and a part of my sea is constantly being funneled into the gift to keep them…alive, I suppose. their like a muscle that grows stronger over time and will atrophy if unused.”

  “Is there a solution to this problem?”

  “A few, there are elixirs that can remove gifts, though those are incredibly rare, or I can allow it to atrophy, so the drain on my sea becomes inconsequential, that way is the most common since it still means I would have the gift just considerably weaker.”

  “Did you figure out why I can’t be a wizard?”

  “Oh, that’s rather simple, your sea is simply too massive,”

  Elias raised an eyebrow, “Why would that be a problem?”

  “Magic circles are incredibly delicate and require a precise flow of mana. Everyone has a minimum mana flow rate, usually round a fraction of a percent of your pool per second. With your pool being several orders of magnitude larger than a normal person. Any magic circle you try to power would be destabilized and could potentially kill you.”

  “Well, that’s mildly disappointing, would you like to be a wizard.”

  “Yes and no. My gifts feels like a part of me. I would never want to give it up, though I wouldn’t mind having a few utility spells. Maribel had one that cleans her clothes.”

  “What about her familiar?”

  “Now that is an interesting thing. Most mana beasts absorb ether from the environment. This beast instead shares her sea and can pull from it. The opposite is true. Meaning her familiar can be used as a battery of sorts when she runs out of mana. Even more so since bonded the beast usually develops abilities. The deeper the bond the more powerful the ability. It also works in both ways; she developed abilities based on the wolf. Her sense of smell and hearing are enhanced.”

  “How does this bond form?”

  “Something about tearing off a piece of your sea and offering the fragment to a newborn mana beast. This process can effectively cripple you until the tear is healed so it's not something to do lightly since it can often fail.”

  “Hm. Interesting,” Elias said absorbing the information, “Thinking of getting one for yourself Alicia?”

  “It sounds interesting but finding a beast that not only suits my need and accepting of the bond is difficult. You can’t do it with just any creature.”

  “Well, the best of luck to you,”

  “You’re not interested?” she asked.

  “My interest is vestigial at best.”

  “It's very useful to have Elias you should consider….”

  Elias looked over at her after she stopped mid-sentence. He noted her eyes; they were focused on the dark forest in front of them. He couldn’t see nor hear anything.

  “What is it?” Elias asked in a low voice. He followed her gaze, for a few moments. Then he saw it. Movement, the snapping of leaves the light of their torches flickering of scales.

  Alicia and Elias had one standing order when they noticed movement on the edge of camp.

  “Alert, Alert, Alert.” Alicia shouted. As she finished shouting, others picked up the call until the entire camp was awake.

  The entire sleeping group burst into motion. Weapons were drawn with magic was being used and they were generally kicking up a racket. All the while Elias kept his gaze on the shifting shadows. There were at least 10 of them by his estimation.

  ‘No, there's much more than ten, perhaps twenty even.’ This entire time he was gathering water. Fortunately, the humid air and moist earth around him was providing a decent amount combined with the 4 gallons of water he always carried he had about six gallons to work with.

  Then in a single motion the creatures burst out of the trees and sprinted towards them. Drakolyths were short bipedal lizards that looked almost like velociraptors, standing roughly chest height. The most notable thing about them was their snake-like heads with rows of hook teeth. At this point, the light Lancers and the rest of Elias’s team were ready. Already taking up the front line while all the additional troops stood behind wielding their own weapons. Elias retreated.

  Brent rushed forward, followed closely behind by Alicia. Brent crashed into the group, starting with a fist to the earth that kicked up a large amount of dirt. Alicia darted in, dodging claws and snaps of jaws as she made precise strikes at limbs tendons or eyes, her movements too fast for the stupid creatures to keep up with.

  Becca was throwing daggers with impressive speed, her knives burying themselves into eyes or necks. In the space of 10 seconds half the creatures were dead.

  20 more burst out of the forest and the Light lancers picked up the slack, charging past Brent, Becca, and Alicia to intercept the new attackers. Juni was a whirlwind of death, every slash of her sword ended a live, severing, legs or beheading a monster in a single motion her massive great sword not stopping for a moment.

  Orm was like a charging pull, bashing one drakolyth with a shield and piercing another with his sword. Using his great strength to his advantage, screaming like a berserker as he killed.

  Dav was like a dancer, each stroke of his sword was precise any drakolyth that came within a few meters would be dead with a precise strike to the heart or a severing of the head. No movement was wasted.

  Maribel’s familiar dashed around the battlefield picking off wounded drakolyth ripping them to pieces with her powerful jaws. Her white coat stained red with blood.

  Cal, the spearman, was close to Maribel, who had her grimoire and staff ready, though she wasn’t casting any spells. The fight was within their abilities to handle. Then nearly double the amount of drakolyth burst out of the forest, a full thirty. The fighting became even more intense, and the front line could only kill so fast. A few managed to slip past, heading directly for Elias who had retreated near Maribel, Cal, and Becca. He had nearly 15 gallons of water at this point, plenty to work with.

  They broke past, running around the defenders and over their dead. Maribel cast a spell, the diagram in her book glowed white. A rush of wind emanated from her conduit and to Elias’s surprise, it cut five of the drakolyths in half, the bodies completely severed from the thigh.

  Becca switched to her chakrams and ended up killing the other five, laughing as heads and legs got severed. Ten more broke away from the pack fighting the rest of the hunters and heading to flank them on the right. Maribel was busy with a fresh group, this time unleashing a wave of fire, the creatures released a high pitch scream as they died. Elias acted, sending out two ice spike into the small pack crippling them two of them. Then sent out eight tentacles. The tentacles of wrapped around the rushing creatures legs sopping stride and causing them to trip and stumble. His mana was dropping fast as they found against the tentacles.

  Elias was about to freeze them until a large amount of mana from his left grabbed his attention.

  He turned around to see Maribel pointing her staff at him, the tip crackling with lightning. She unleashed the spell. Elias thought he was about to die before the bolt of lightning connected with the orb of water. Since it was hovering above his hand the only path for the electricity to take was though the tentacles and the creatures, then into the ground. The eight drakolyths stiffened then fell limp.

  ‘Fire, air and lightning, wizards are something else. Not only that, but she also saw my magic, quickly analyzed the situation, and used the appropriate spell. That means she had to understand, at least at a basic level, how electricity traveled. Has she done this with another hydromancer? Or is she just that competent.’

  Maribel, for the most part stuck to blades of wind, throwing them out casually, completely unconcerned with the battle.

  Elias put it out of his mind as more of the creatures streamed out of the forest. The front line took care of them for the most part, but a few stragglers would get past them. This would lead to the backline taking care of them with a throw chakram, crossbow bolt, ice spike or a blade of air. Elias spent most of his time assisting his allies. Freezing limbs to the ground or pulling a drakolyth off of Brent as one knocked him to the ground.

  The porters and cutters though did nothing, as they were expected to do, and watched the carnage. Drakolyth blood soaked the ground. It didn't take Elias long before he realized he could control it. It was just water after all. So, he started adding the spilled blood around him to the orb. Tainting it scarlet.

  Their numbers counted for nothing and in the space of a few minutes the fight was over. Almost a hundred of them lay dead on the ground. With careful conservation of his mana, he didn't even run out, only being two thirds empty. While the melee fighters were bloody, he was mostly clean. Elias noted Brent downing a healing draft as he gripped his shoulder. He shivered for a few moments then rotated his arm, surprised at the lack of pain.

  “This is bound to draw unwanted attention, pack everything and get ready to march, I want this camp packed up and ready to leave in a quarter hour.” Maribel commanded.

  Everyone sprang into action, taking down cookpots and packing their belongings. Becca spent time rummaging through the drakolyth corpses for her throwing knives. He doubted she would find them all. Elias drew in a deep breath and exhaled as the adrenalin left him. While he wasn't in any real danger, he had very little experience in such wanton violence.

  Brent went over Maribel and struck up a conversation, while Elias went to Alicia and Becca who were searching the field of corpses for Becca’s knives.

  “You guys alright?” Elias asked.

  They shrugged and Alicia responded, “I didn't even get touched. They were just normal creatures.” Her brown armor was spattered with blood, and it made for a gruesome sight.

  “What about you?” Alicia asked Elias.

  “I'm fine, it's not like I was in the thick of it. Brent, ok?”

  Alicia nodded, “Yea, twisted his shoulder after that one knocked him to the ground, that healing poultice is something.”

  “Hopefully we run into something that was a little more challenging, the only problem was their numbers really,” Becca said, with Alicia nodding in affirmation.

  “Yeah; no thank you. I would much prefer if the rest of this journey was quiet,” Elias said.

  “See that attitude is why you lost face with the Light Lancers. Where’s your sense of adventure,” Becca said.

  Elias shook his head and said mostly to himself, but just loud enough for Alicia and Becca to hear, “It’s like I’m the only one that doesn't want to be here,” Then walked away.

  ~

  The journey was long and hard. Elias’s feet hurt near constantly. The weight of his emergency water, armor, shield, and supplies were a constant drain on his stamina. His body wasn't used to being used like this. As each day passed it grew increasingly difficult to get himself out of his bed roll. But still he pushed, placing one long leg in front of the other as the elevation slowly increased. After nine days it got cold enough to where he needed to wrap his cloak around himself to feel comfortable.

  Elias was walking alongside Jene; conversation was sparse but after several days without an attack they were feeling slightly safe. After another few hours of walking, they finally stopped for a short rest and Jene caught my attention.

  “Hey, Elias, watch my back will ye?” Nere asked while pointing with a thumb to the nearby trees. This was code to keep an ear out while she relieved herself. Shame meant nothing out in the frontier and while Elias didn’t like the idea of someone standing a few feet away while he did his business he liked getting snuck up on by random beasts even less. Elias shrugged and acquiesced since he was the only one not occupied with some task.

  After walking not more than ten seconds into the forest Nere squatted behind a tree and started to do her business. Elias busied himself with admiring the trees and studiously ignoring the sounds coming from Nere’s direction. He heard an odd creaking and rustling of leaves in Nere’s direction. She was behind a tree, and he could only see edges of her knees since she was still in the middle of business.

  He heard the creaking again and looked to the left vaguely in the direction of the sound, where he could see nothing. He tilted his head in confusion before he spotted it or rather the vague distortion it caused. Every time he moved his head; he could see a creature almost like a chameleon but over ten feet long with no tail clinging to a tree. He couldn’t make out anything but its shape since whatever was rendering it invisible was imperfect.

  It was as if it was made of perfectly transparent glass with the only sign of its presence being a slight distortion of light. Immediately he started channeling mana into his water pouches. Thinking it was going to attack him. But Elias guessed wrong.

  Its mouth opened, it seemed to not have the same invisibility, and he could see the large red maw with razor sharp shark like teeth, each nearly six inches long. He was just about to warn Nere before a tongue rocked out of its mouth, crossing the 20-foot gap between where the creature was and where Nere was squatting.

  It connected to her chest, and Nere, with a terrified yell was yanked towards the maw of the creature. Elias didn't hesitate. Immediately he commanded the water to grab Nere. A single tentacle of water crossed the distance between them and wrapped itself around Nere’s waist. Elias drew the water from the water pouch so quickly he destroyed it in the process. Then it became a tug of war between the creature and Elias while Nere screamed in terror.

  “Someone help, quickly,” Elias shouted. Since he was running out of mana rapidly. Even the slightest reduction of flow to the tentacle of water would result in Nere being dragged into the maw of that creature.

  Finally, after what felt like an eternity of struggle, which was really eight seconds, there was a rush of mana from behind him, a spear flew past him and buried itself in the creature’s head, killing it instantly. The creature fell from the tree, its tongue going limp. But Elias still couldn't pull Nere free. But with the danger gone he released the water and Nere flopped to the ground. As the rest of the party approached, she awkwardly tried to pull up her pants. The rest of the porters ran over to Nere and started to pry the sticky tongue off of her while the Light lancers approach the still mostly invisible creature.

  “What is it?” Elias asked as he approached.

  “A fully grown Nymron. A weak beast, but an excellent ambush predator. They can sit in one place for days, waiting for a meal, then strike and sprint away without leaving a trace. Once it reaches adulthood its skin becomes invisible. The essence of its skin and the glands that produce the sticky substance of the tongue is quite valuable,” Cal explained.

  Elias shrugged and went over to Nere who was just ripped free from the tongue, “You alright?” Elias asked.

  “Aye, and thanks for the save,” Nere said as someone handed her a shirt, since ripping her out of her shirt was the only way they could free her.

  She glanced back at the tongue and shivered, “I always thought I was going to die from a beast but didn’t expect it like that,”

  The cook from last night laughed, “Well it looks like it’s not today, what say we butcher the beast,”

  One of the porters looked over to Cal who was in a conversation with the rest of the Light lancers, “Cal, who gets the kill?” he asked.

  “Elias can take it, it is his efforts why we are not down one skinner,” Then Cal turned and left, not sparing the creature or the porters a second glance. Elias shrugged, it's not as if he was willing to turn away easy money. While this situation wasn’t of note to the light lancers it brought Elias considerable good accord with the rest.

  ~

  After thirteen days into the trip, they finally started to see signs of the Greater Heliox. Occasionally they would find the spines of the creature, claw marks and the remains of battle. A loud almost trill roar in the distance made Maribel call for a stop. They were attacked by Drakolyths two more times, but with superior forces their numbers counted for nothing.

  Maribel called a halt and after a few minutes of discussion with the light lancers, she announced, “We’re in its territory, everyone remains here, we will continue the hunt alone, you know your rolls, Astral wardens, protect the porters until we finish slaying the beast,” She commanded the rest of the company. After final instructions they headed off into the forest on their own.

  “I wanted to see the fight,” Becca complained, as we sat around a fire. Conversation was sparse since we were in the most danger without the additional firepower of the Light Lancers.

  “I know, those spines are so tough I couldn't break them, I could only wonder how the actual beast is in battle.” Brent said.

  “How long do fights usually last?” Elias asked, Nere.

  “Depends on the beast, sometimes seconds like the Nymron other times it could take days, with a heliox though, hard to say.”

  Nere herself took immense pleasure in skinning the creature that almost killed her. It was rather interesting that even after being removed from the creature the epidermis of the skin remained invisible for another few hours before turning a dark green.

  “SO, we just sit and wait, until they either succeed or die?” Alicia asked.

  “Yes, that is the risk with our profession, if one of the light lancers doesn’t update us on their hunt since beasts sometimes flee, we leave and hope to the gods that we can make it back without their protection,” Another porter added.

  “Seems like too musk of a risk,” Elias added.

  Nere chuckled, “If I live through this, I make almost a year's pay for a laborer, not to mention how much you lot make. I'm guessin you’re gettin gold for this job.”

  Elias shrugged, not answering.

  “Coin is coin so long as the pay is good more will come, even if we all get wiped out” Ruben the cook added.

  Elias sighed and toyed with the water in his rather terrible stew. The hunt was coming to an end and soon enough he would brave the frontier again, hoping to find something. Though no matter how much he tried to conjure hope that he would miraculously stumble on the way home. He could not find any. As the hours passed, he found himself dreading the moment he returned to where they entered the world. Even more so, dreading the moment he would have to admit to himself that he was stuck in this world permanently.