When I opened my eyes, my hands were tied behind my back, and my mouth was gagged. I was in a dark tent with the only light from a torch outside. I blinked a few times, letting my eyes adjust. Every time I closed my eyes, I felt a surge of pain coursing through my head. Slowly, the room grew brighter, revealing the silhouette of Lise. I turned so my foot nudged her. As I moved my foot back and forth, I felt the knife I kept in my boot.
"Wah-Uh," I grunted at them as I kept jostling them.
"I'm so comfortable, grandmother. Five more minutes!" Lise's voice grumbled.
"Leth, Wah-Uh," I grumbled slightly louder.
"Koga, why is your boot squishing my face?" She calmly asked,
"Sorry." I moved my foot and sat up.
"Oh My. Are you gagged? Thank god, now you can't talk back to me." She chuckled as I saw her silhouette move. I shot her a dirty look and hit her with the foot that had the knife.
"Eyfe"
"What?
"Ere Ith Uh Cyfe in eye Uth." I nudged her with the same foot again.
"Oh!" She said, twisting herself, taking off the boot. I felt the dagger drop and nudged it towards her, "Got it."
I felt her move and twisted myself, facing away from her with my bound hands brushing up against the knife. She slid the blade between my wrists, and after a couple of seconds, I felt the rope start to loosen.
"Almost..." she whispered. As the bonds fell away, I reached for the gag in my mouth.
"These ineffable ingrates. Granted, they fell right into my plan."
"Yes. Yes, you're superior. You can gloat about how great you are when we're free. I think I liked you better when you couldn't talk." She chuckled.
"Ha Ha. Fine. You have a point." I said, rolling my eyes. As I started to untie Lise's hands, I heard something outside the tent. My eyes immediately shot towards the entrance. The light that slipped through the bottom of the flap flickered.
I saw movement underneath the curtain separating the tent we were captured in and the rest of the camp. I looked at Ana, and my eyes darted to the entrance. I slipped over to the side and motioned for her to fire when they walked in. The curtain swept to the side, and I drove the knife in my hand into the man's chest. I felt the blade slide past the leather armor he was wearing, between the rib cage and into his lungs. He let out a pained sigh as his lungs filled with blood. I shook my head to Ana, letting her know not to fire. We had the element of surprise on them. I pulled my knife out and wiped it off on his clothes.
"K-Koga... is he?"
"Dead? Yes, we're in a very precarious position, and it's kill or be killed. My corpse is worth just as much as it is me living and breathing." I whispered, peeking out from behind the curtain. I saw a guard on the opposite wall walking between two turrets. I kept my eyes on him, learning his movements as he paced.
"But, I've never..."
"And I hope that you never do. Now don't focus on that; let's go." I said, looking back and noticing he was gone, "Backup is here."
Ana's eyes shot open with relief. I understood the feeling. No magic meant I didn't exactly have a lot of options beyond the sneak attack. I walked out of the tent into the night. The area was dimly lit by a few torches scattered around. No guards, so far. My eyes scanned the outer wall and saw nothing. I heard some shouting off in one of the tents next to the one we were in. I motioned to Lise to exit.
"You took your sweet time getting out of that mess." A voice said behind me. I whipped around and saw my grandfather's traveling companion behind me.
"You took your sweet time getting here."
"Where's Az?" Lise whispered.
"She's around. We split up to cover more ground."
"So what's the plan? Grab a few torches and cause a mass panic?" Lise said.
"Actually, that's not a terrible idea. Better than us storming that tent, that's for sure." I said. Yrak shook his head.
"Do you ever think things all the way through?" I shrugged and headed towards one of the torches.
"How about we wait until our group is all together," Ana said. I shrugged and kept my eyes peeled for our elven companion. After a few seconds that seemed like an eternity, Az walked out of the shadows.
"I see that the plan is going well," she said, looking at the three of us. Her usual blank expression was replaced with a slight smirk.
"It sure is; now we burn the tent," I said, picking up the torch. "Yrak and Az, I want you two standing in front of the entrance, shooting as they flee. Lise, if anybody gets hurt, cast a healing spell."
"What are you going to be doing, our fearless leader?" Lise said as she lifted her eyebrow at me.
"I'll be setting the tent on fire, and if anyone is still alive after the onslaught of our archers. Well, they won't be." I said, looking at my companions. "Are we ready? Because once we start, there's no stopping until every last one of them is dead."
Yrak nodded; Az drew her bow and prepared for the coming battle. Lise gulped and nodded ever so slightly. I could tell this was the most dangerous situation she had ever been in. I put my hand on her shoulder and gave her a slight smile.
"You're going to come out on the other side of this unharmed, I promise. You've got all of us to make sure of that." I said softly. I looked towards the others and saw them with bows in hand. I walked to the back side of the tent.
"Grandfather, if you're watching, then I could really use some of that unnatural luck of yours right now," I whispered under my breath as I held the torch to the bottom corner. Within seconds, the tent caught on fire. I had to move to the other side now before the chaos started. As I reached the edge of the tent, I heard shouting inside. I looked towards the group. Yrak and Az had arrows pointed at the door. As the first man burst from the door, he was allowed a few seconds before Az let loose the first arrow, hitting him squarely in the chest. He clutched at the wound and fell to the ground as a second man emerged. Yrak hit him directly in the neck and dropped next to the first. Another came out and tripped over his two fellow bandits. I rushed over and drove my knife into his throat. I looked over and saw Yrak and Az firing upon the bandits rushing out from the other tents. I stood up, and my eyes started looking for Lise. A pit opened in my stomach as my eyes grew frantic. I felt an arrow flying past my face, forcing me back into what was happening.
"Koga, head in the fight," Az yelled as a man fell over with a groan of pain behind me. I spun around and saw a group of heavily armed men with Remy in the middle.
"Kill them all, including Koga. His body is worth just as much alive as it is dead." He spewed orders out, and one of the men ran towards me. I gritted my teeth and ran to meet him. Arrows flew by me as Yrak and Az took down one of the men simultaneously. The man who had been rushing towards me turned back to his fallen friends. I smirked in his moment of hesitation. I lunged towards him and sank my knife into the space between his helmet and his breastplate. He quickly became dead weight, and I threw him on the ground before he toppled me over. Remy was sneering at me as I lifted my head.
"Useless pathetic wretches. I'll kill you myself." He spat as he drew his sword. I glanced around and saw a few men start to swarm Yrak and Az. Lise was still nowhere to be found. My attention was soon returned to the man in front of me.
"Like I would let a lesser man kill me. Though you're welcome to try, and you will proceed to find out." I smiled at him. He swung his sword, and I aptly dodged his first swing. He pulled back his hand to strike again and was interrupted by a quick flash of fire hitting his face. He reeled back, and I saw an opening. My knife found a soft spot in his armor and began to sink in. I felt my grasp on the knife slip, and I was pushed back. I stumbled back and tripped over a dead body. My legs gave out from under me, and I felt myself falling. Remy was smiling. I looked at the dagger in his side. It just needed to be pushed a little bit further. He glanced down at what I was looking at and chuckled.
"I'm going to kill you with your own dagger. Then I might keep it. It's a beautiful piece. Far more beautiful than you deserve to own." He said, pulling the blade out. I looked upon him with spite. My feet moved quickly on their own, and I was standing up. I sprang towards the dagger, grabbing it by the blade.
"How dare you, low-life piece of garbage. Threaten me with my own dagger, the sheer utter audacity of such a statement." I spat in his face and slid my hand across the blade, drawing blood. My injured hand left a single long, thin streak in the air. I closed my hand on the handle of a sword that was dripping in my blood. I brought the blade straight into his rib cage.
In retaliation, he brought the dagger into my chest. My lungs started to fill with blood. I coughed, and the taste of iron filled my mouth. I smiled at the sheer force of will this man had, knowing it wasn't going to be enough. We both fell to the ground. I distantly heard Lise screaming out.
"Well, that was certainly unexpected. I would have bet 50 gold pieces you walked away from that with nothing but just a flesh wound." A familiar voice echoed behind me. I was surrounded by shadows, dark and wispy that fleeted whenever I tried to get a solid look at them.
"I suppose I thought the same thing if I'm being honest, " I chuckled and turned around with a smile on my face. I made out a silhouette of the man in the shadows, but nothing more; all the same, I knew who was in front of me.
"My grandson is in front of me with none of the animosity I thought he would have. Also, unexpected. Absolutely nice for sure, but unexpected, especially after that little outburst in Woods Refuge." He said without a care in his voice. His words took me aback. How could he have seen what happened with Lise?
"How can I know what happened? You're asking yourself now. Well, it's kinda hard to explain, but I know for a fact I'm watching over and rooting for you. Anyway, I don't know how long it'll take Yrak to find the scroll I left him years ago, but that'll get you up, running, and doing whatever you decide to do."
"No, no, no, you know as well as I do I'm not gonna take 'it's hard to explain' for an answer."
"Well, I've seen your journey start to finish here. It's a beautiful journey, but a difficult journey. One that I would only wish upon my lineage because we few are strong enough to see it through."
"You're not making sen-" I started to say before a crippling chest pain brought me to my knees.
"Good Luck, my grandson, and remember to be Justin-" I heard my grandfather's voice trail off as my vision blurred and the shadows started to disappear. I saw Lise's face in front of mine as my eyes opened.
"It worked. Thank the Goddess, it worked, she said, starting to cry. I looked around and saw Az and Yrak covered in blood, bruised, and battered.
"I knew it would. Justin gave me that a long time ago. I didn't think I would be using it like this." Yrak said, rolling up a piece of paper.
"So I was actually dead, dead? Well, I figured that talking to the old man and whatnot. Now, could you please patch me up?" I said.
"Wait, you talked to Thyme?" Lise looked at me, questioning what I said.
"Yes, now. Could you please heal me? If I have to ask a third time, there will be no please. I'm pissed I got killed by that buffoon, and I'm trying not to take it out on you guys."
"Um, bad news, Koga. This is beyond me." Lise said.
"Nonsense, you can shoot fire out of your finger just fine. I know you can heal me. Just visualize your energy entering my body with healing intent." She put her hands on my chest, and I started to feel that warm glow of a healing spell. The pain in my chest evaporated into a dull ache, and the slice on my hand was starting to close.
"See? I knew you could do it. You're also a descendant of Thyme." I stood up and dusted myself off. My clothes were relatively unscathed beyond where I got stabbed.
"We should move. I don't know how casting that spell with my blood affected the aura. I'm hoping that, with us being so close to the elves, Mathios and his goons don't sense me. I'm not exactly keen on finding out either." I said, looking at my companions.
"I agree. From the stories that Lise told, they got to Refuge pretty quickly." Yrak nodded.
'Koga, you just died. Don't you think you should rest for a bit? Besides, we have a lot to talk about. I thought you left us, you jerk. Then you're spouting off about how you talked to our grandfather." Lise glared at me.
"You're right. I should rest, and I'm planning to, just away from a war zone, however. You want to stay here for the night, be my guest, but I'm walking a bit away." I said, grabbing my knife from the ground.
"I have to report back. I wish you all the best of luck on your journey." Az smiled at the three of us. "May the day our paths cross again come swift."
"It was a pleasure. I look forward to working with you again." Yrak said, extending his hand out, shaking Az's.
"Goodbye, Az. I'll miss you." Lise said, hugging them.
"Goodbye, Lise. I'll miss you too. I'm sure our paths will cross again, especially when you're traveling with C'Tola," Az said, returning the embrace. My mind went aflame with questions about what I was called. The biggest one that seared through was, why?
"Good Luck walking the path, C'Tola." I heard snapping me back.
"Wh-"
"The time for answers will come, but the time for travel has arrived," Az said, turning, and in an instant, she was gone.
"I'm also perplexed as to why Az called you that, but we still need to leave. Our packs are just behind that tree line." Yrak said, motioning for us to go.