From the moment Ekram counted down, Liam and Torin exchanged a flurry of punches, blocks, and parries. Sweat dampened their faces. Fists clapped against each other. Their breathing turned ragged. Both of them focused solely on the fight.

Honestly, Liam was surprised by the velocity of not only his opponent’s moves, but also his own. Even so, he struggled to gain the upper hand. None of his grappling attempts succeeded. Each got broken before he could follow through. In the end, the first one to land a clean hit would likely win.

Time passed slowly. Fifteen seconds. Thirty seconds. Forty-five seconds. A minute. Still, neither of them could overwhelm the other’s guard.

Finally, Liam successfully drew his opponent into stepping too far into a cross. He grabbed the man’s outstretched wrist. Before the man could break the hold, he spun to the other side of the arm, twisting it in the process. Crying out in pain, the man could only spin around to avoid dislocating his shoulder. Taking advantage of the hold, Liam kicked the back of the man’s knees, dropping him to the ground. From there, he kneeled on Torin’s spine and pulled his arm back until he surrendered the match.

“I give, I give,” the man groaned under Liam’s weight.

Liam released his hold and stood. Several bruises already began to show on his forearms from the many blocks throughout the fight. However, no bruises formed on Torin’s arms. Perhaps his strength was higher.

Rolling to a sitting position, Torin said, “I thought I could get you as long as I prevented those grabbing moves but realized I wouldn’t take you down without some bigger moves.”

“Yeah, well, you got too desperate,” Liam replied while using his shirt to wipe sweat from his forehead.

Suddenly, a large hand slammed against his back, making him stumble and nearly knocking the wind out of him.

“That was a nice fight!” Conor exclaimed, apparently having snuck up on them in the few moments since the match ended. After slapping Liam on the back, he stepped over to Torin and reached out to help him up.

“Guess I’m a bit rusty or somethin’,” Torin replied, grinning as he took the man’s outstretched hand.

“Sure, and my mother never birthed me,” Conor retorted while pulling the man to his feet. “Come on, now. I need to get my turn in.”

Mentally rolling his eyes at the exchange, Liam wandered toward the spectating area first. Before he could even sit down, Iloryn offered to heal him, but he declined. Of course, he would happily accept if suffering from fatal wounds but receiving it for simple bruises seemed unnecessary. The woman nodded in understanding and walked over to Torin to ask him the same thing. Unsurprisingly, he also declined.

Several other people fought during the rest of the evening. The spectators enjoyed every second, even when one of the younger guys broke his leg since Iloryn healed it immediately. Such a sight caused Liam to wonder how many people could use that kind of magic.

During the matches, he ended up casting a few bets and won all except one. Although he never cheered, clapped, or even felt excited about watching, observing the fighting styles of the different members for a second time helped him pin down many of their strengths and weaknesses.

Once all the fights ended, Ekram caught Liam before he could return to his tent and asked, “Just curious, but where did you learn to fight?”

“Military training and experience,” Liam answered, though he refrained from mentioning that he learned quite a bit from a fellow POW who happened to hail from Japan many years earlier.

“Couldn’t have been from around here, then,” Ekram said, briefly raising his brows.

In response, Liam shrugged.

“Where did you serve?”

“Not here.”

“Ah, I see…” Ekram muttered, thoughtfully scratching his chin. “None of my men will patronize you from being from an enemy land or anything, if that’s your case.”

Not sure how I would tell him I’m from Earth, so I guess that works for a background story… Liam thought.

Continuing, Ekram said, “One of my men even served in Estra, but none of the others hold it against him.”

“Good to hear, I suppose,” Liam said, despite having no idea what Estra was.

“So, you wanted to train the less experienced members?”

“If I join, then yes.”

“Still an ‘if’, is it?”

“I’ll let you know when we return to Crey.”

“Sounds good. See you in the morning, then,” Ekram said while heading for his own tent.

Liam waved goodbye in response before entering his tent where Nora had already crawled under the blankets. On the other hand, Scath probably made himself comfortable somewhere behind the tent or something.

When Liam lied down next to Nora, she said, “You seem to be getting used to your strength now.”

“Yeah, but it still feels strange,” he replied.

“Keep fighting these guys and it’ll probably feel more normal,” Nora said while rolling around to face him.

“Perhaps…”

* * * * *

Around noon the following day, the wagons rattled along the dirt highway as usual. For the past few hours, the kid, Ivan, who randomly decided to hop on their wagon, talked Liam’s ear off. He asked all kinds of questions about fighting and battles. For the most part, Liam only gave vague answers when the young man asked about his experiences, but he did, albeit reluctantly, give a few honest pointers about fighting. For example, he told the kid about patience in waiting for good opportunities for counters, always maintaining his guard, and several other things. From what Ivan asked or said, Liam concluded that the military training around here mostly involved sword training, basic physical training, and formation training. Perhaps the system caused them to be lax when it came to technique.

Suddenly, a single horn blew and the procession stopped. Kael knocked on the wall behind the driver and asked, “Is it a bathroom break?”

The driver, who Liam now knew to be a humor-loving man named Vernon, answered, “There is a crowd of people traveling this direction. Looks like the boss is going to ask what’s going on.”

“How many people, exactly?” Kael inquired.

“Thousands, at least,” Vernon answered.

“An army?”

“No. Civilians.”

Both Kael and Conor furrowed their brows.

“Is it a bad thing?” Nora asked.

“Considering we are close to Azgara,” Kael answered, “it could mean any number of things.”

Sounds like some sort of evacuation, Liam thought.

For a few minutes, they waited with baited breath. Eventually, the front flap behind the driver swung open and Ekram peered through with a dark expression.

“So,” he said, “We’ve got something of an issue, but I’m letting everyone know before I tell Iloryn.”

Immediately, everyone, save for maybe Ivan, knew the man would deliver bad news. The man’s following words confirmed Liam’s suspicion.

“All non-military citizens evacuated Azgara due to an invading naval force. Based on how they described the banners, I think the fleet came from Zhulisia.”

“What do you plan to do, then?” Kael asked. “We can’t exactly bring a client to a war zone.”

“True. I’ll ask her what she wants to do, but in the end, we’ll probably head back to Crey. Give me a minute to talk to her.”

The man hopped down from the driver seat, letting the flap fall back in place. Everyone inside the caravan fell silent.

Breaking the heavy atmosphere, Ivan nervously asked, “So… any of you been involved in a war before?”

Liam, Kael, and Conor all nodded solemnly. Nora shook her head.

“The last war was when I was still a kid…” Ivan muttered, lowering his head. “Think it’ll become a war?”

“We’ll see,” Kael replied.

The drum of footsteps grew louder each second. Before long, the crowd of civilians passed one by one, whether by foot or wagon. A few minutes into it, Ekram popped his head in once more and said, “Iloryn wants to wait for the people to pass. Pretty sure she is watching for her family.”

Liam rubbed his chin and pursed his lips. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Kael drooping his head and sighing. Conor and Nora simply nodded. Ivan, however, asked, “Think it’ll take a while? I mean, there’s a lot of people out there… What if she doesn’t see them, or doesn’t notice them?”

Glaring at the young man, Conor grumbled, “Shut your mouth, already.”

“Yes, sir...” Ivan nervously replied.

With that, Ekram left again. Silence hung over them like a dense fog. Only the unorganized, repetitive drum generated by thousands of feet and hooves could be heard. Eventually, Nora couldn’t help herself and looked outside through the window flap.

“They look scared and sad…” she muttered.

“I’d imagine so,” Liam replied.

“If a naval fleet showed up in my city, I’d be very unhappy, to say the least,” Kael added.

Briefly, Ivan opened his mouth to say something, but a sharp glare from Conor shut him up. Instead, he looked around nervously for a few seconds before finally deciding to gaze outside one of the window flaps as well. For several minutes, they waited for the flood of people to pass, nigh wordless like a massive funeral procession.

Shortly after the final few people trudged by, Nora furrowed her brows and said, “I saw a few elves, but none with the same brooch as Iloryn.”

“Brooch?” Liam asked.

Rolling her eyes, Nora said, “Leave it to you to not notice such a thing. Her family brooch was the arrow-pierced oak leaf. It’s always pinned near her chest.”

“So, the point is what?”

“The point is, your friend didn’t see our client’s family,” Kael said, one hand over his mouth, covering a frustrated expression.

“Ah, I see…” Liam said, nodding in understanding.

“Uh, what’s it mean?” Ivan asked.

“We’ll find out soon, kid,” Kael answered.

Before long, Ekram showed up again looking more worn out, and said, “The client wants to go the rest of the way. I told her we can take her to Anders Hill in order to see the city. We’ll just have to wait and see what she decides after that, though I have a feeling we’re gonna be put in a rough spot.”

“Sounds good,” Kael replied.

Again, Ekram left. Within a minute, the horn sounded, and the wagon lurched forward. They traveled along the main highway for another hour or so before turning off onto a side road winding through the forest. The temperature and humidity increased the further they traveled. Gradually, the foliage grew sparser and more spread out. Some of the plant life now looked more tropical in nature. Large ferns were interspersed with oak and maple trees. Fibrous trees similar to palms with brownish-orange leaves popped up every once in a while. Through a window flap across from him, Liam spotted a colorful bird that looked similar to a toucan.

Is it normal for wildlife to change so drastically in such a short time? He wondered.

The horses slowly pulled the wagons uphill until they reached the top of a steep cliff overlooking grassy plains that were sparsely dotted with a strange assortment of temperate and tropical forestry. A large river weaved through the land from beyond the Northern horizon. The river flowed all the way through an enormous city on the coast, Azgara. Grandiose buildings towered over their surroundings, especially the central palace which housed the local government. It looked like hundreds of giant stacks of golden quartz. The shining surface reflected the rays from the mid-afternoon sun. However, it also reflected the light from flames burning along the coastline. Hundreds of warships dotted the surface of the ocean, visible from miles away.

Liam, Nora, and most of the Blue Vultures disembarked from the wagons to observe the scenery. Every single one of them stared at burning city with solemn expressions. The last one to exit her carriage was Iloryn. She slowly stepped down the small wooden steps and plodded toward the cliff’s edge. For several unbearably long seconds, she silently gazed upon her home.

Eventually, she turned around so slowly that it felt painful to watch, a single tear sliding down her cheek. Voice trembling, she said, “My home… is burning… I must go down there.”