Every single member of the group jumped into action as they watched Rennar sink on the ground. Enir shouted something at Yara while Kanry held his staff in front of him and began chanting a spell. A second later a large wall of ice erected from the ground, shielding the fallen dwarf and the ice mage himself. Remi, Reni and Reli sprinted towards the wagons seeking cover, since the three dwarves were not suited for battle.

Kurt heard the sound of another arrow being fired and instinctively covered his face with his arms. When the expected impact didn’t arrive, he looked up. Furr was holding the arrow in her hand, the tip only a few centimeters away from Kurt’s face. The woman had saved Kurt’s life by grabbing the arrow out of thin air.

“Stay back,” she grunted, staring at the direction the arrow came from. “They’re after you.” It wasn’t a question, more of a statement and Kurt nodded slowly.

Furr gave him a long look, but Kurt couldn’t read the emotion in her eyes. Was it anger? Pity perhaps? Kurt didn’t have the time to think about it for too long anyway. Following the beastwoman’s advise, he ran as fast as his tiny legs could carry him towards Rennar behind the ice wall, arrows flying over his head and barely missing him.

When Kurt arrived safely behind the ice wall, Yara had already removed the arrow from the dwarf’s chest and was now trying to close the wound with her healing magic. In the meantime, Kanry had turned around and started bombarding the hill with ice projectiles.

Kurt went on his knees and bent over his fallen friend who was miraculously still breathing, his eyes half opened. Kurt was relieved, but froze when he noticed a black liquid oozing out of he wound, mixed with crimson blood. Poison, no doubt. Kurt helplessly turned towards Yara.

“Can you heal him?” He asked the healer with a soft voice.

Yara didn’t look up and kept healing the dwarf, little droplets of sweat covering her forehead.

“The poison is too potent for my healing to close the wound. I can only keep him alive for a few more minutes at best, and he’ll die immediately if I stop,” she said, a frown forming on her forehead. Her cheeks were red and her hands, covered in blood and poison, were shaking a little from the visible effort it took to keep the dwarf alive.

Kurt looked down on his friend, tears in his eyes. If only he hadn’t taken Rennar with him, he would still be gardening at some noble’s house in Eyden, alive and well. This was all Kurt’s fault, and now his friend, and maybe even the rest of the group would suffer from his actions. He snickered for a second and Yara shot him a quick glance, but didn’t say anything and continued healing the wounded dwarf.

When Kurt looked at Rennar again, the dwarf was staring back at him. His eyes were still half closed, but he seemed to be conscious at least. Kurt listened while his friends spoke softly.

“Kurt my friend, don’t blame yourself. What’s done is done, you can’t change the past. I don’t have any regrets coming along, it was my own choice and I stand by it,” he wispered. The dwarf coughed, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.

“Just… promise me… one thing,” he continued, clearly having trouble speaking as his lungs were slowly filling with blood. He coughed again.

Tears were running down Kurt’s face as he grabbed his friends hands. He cried while Rennar struggled to say his last words.

“What is it?” He asked with an unsteady voice. Rennar looked serious while he spoke.

“Just… don’t… let them… have it… Take it away… far… away…” Rennar wispered and Kurt nodded slowly.

“I promise, my friend.”

Rennar smiled one last time while his grip lessened and his eyes faded. Yara lowered her hands with a grim expression.

“He’s dead.”

Kurt wanted to cry longer, to grief for his fallen friend, but he wiped his tears with a determined look. He would fulfill his last promise to Rennar, even if it would cost him his life. He looked as his hands, were Rennar had slipped the nut in his dying moments. Kurt made sure Yara hadn’t seen i tand breathed in.

In the meantime, Enir had joined them behind the ice wall. The elf had several cuts in his clothes where arrows had nearly hit him, but he seemed unharmed. He shot a glance at Rennar’s body and understood the situation immediately. He turned towards Kurt.

“I must ask, sir dwarf, are they here because of you?”

Kurt didn’t look at the elf as he nodded. Enir remained calm however, laying his hand on Kurt’s shoulder.

“Who are they? What are they after?”

“I have no idea who they are. Bandits, probably. As to what I’m after, I can’t say. It’s too complicated to explain here, but just know that it’s important. Enir, I need you to listen to me,” Kurt said.

Enir looked doubtful, and he had reason to be so. Nontheless, he let Kurt speak.

“I’m currently in possesion of the object those bandits are after, and I believe they know it as well. My guess is that if I were tof lee into the woods, they would leave you and follow me instead. I’ll just have to hide it before they can catch me otherwise… Well, I don’t want to think about that.”

“That’s suicide! You can’t-” Yara began, but Enir held up his hand and she stopped. The elf looked serious, and Kurt knew what he was thinking.

“How do we know you’re not just trying to escape? I won’t endanger my team for someone I don’t know, not if that person flees as soon as the ground under his feet is getting too hot. How can we trust you?”

Kurt sighed. “Please, I’m not running away to survive. I’m running because I made Rennar a promise. I beg of you, trust me this once,” he pleaded.

Enir wanted to say something, but he was interrupted when the ice wall was shattered by an explosion. The four people behind it covered their faces with their arms as shards were flung through the air.

“Enir, they have mages on their side as well! What do we do?” Kanry shouted as the dust settled. Enir thought for a moment before he answered.

“Take cover behind those rocks over there and support Furr and Raven from behind. Yara, check on the dwarfs and rest there for a while. Kurt…”

Enir paused for a second as he finally made the decision.

“Don’t get caught,” he just said.

Kurt smiled gratefully and nodded.

“Thank you. I wish you the best of luck, Enir. It was a pleasure meeting you all.”

Enir nodded and turned around to parry a swordstrike from behind with his sword. The elf twirled around and cut deeply into the attackers stomach. The man fell onto the floor and remained still.

Kurt didn’t hestitate any further and jumped over the body, onto the battlefield. It was crucial that he was seen, otherwise his plan might fail and the party could be wiped out. He dodged an arrow flying in his direction as he looked at the battlefield.

About twenty figures with covered faces were attacking Kurt’s companions. Seven of them were already dead and were laying on the ground, the rest was still standing. Kurt watched in awe as Furr handled three bandits at the same time, the beastwoman almost dancing as she dodged blows and strikes from her oponents. She managed to land a hit with her elbow in one of the attackers face, and Kurt could hear the nose breaking from here.

A bit further away, Raven was busy handling the bandits with bows by throwing purple orbs at them. Kurt watched as one of the archers was hit in the face by one of the orbs and fell on the ground. Kurt couldn’t see the body from this distance, but he could have sworn he saw mushrooms growing from the attackers face.

“Over there, that one! Follow him!”

One of the archers yelled and some of the bandits turned to look at Kurt. The dwarf picked up the pace and sprinted towards the forest, arrows flying in his direction. Just when Kurt was about to reach the cover of the dense forest, her felt a burning pain in his left arm. An arrow had pierced his muscles and was now stuck in the bone, and Kurt could feel a numbing pain spreading through the rest of his arm.

Ignoring the poison tipped arrow, the sturdy dwarf gritted his teeth and kept running. Soon, the sounds of the battle slowly faded as Kurt ran deeper into the forest, but he didn’t stop. He knew he was still being pursued, and that he had to act fast.

Kurt stumbled when he suddenly reached and open space in the forest. The tall grass on the small hill rustled gently as a gust of wind blowed over the open space. Kurt didn’t hestitate and quickly walked up the hill.

As soon as he reached the top, he quickly began digging a small hole between the grass with his hands. After digging deep enough, he took the nut out of his pocket and layed it inside the hole. He gave it a quick look before he covered the hole with dirt again. With a little of his magic, he made the place he had dug the hole look natural.

He looked at the small patch he ad left behind. He didn’t have enough time to let the grass grow completely, but it had to do for now. He felt his arm throbbing and noticed it was getting harder to breathe by the minute. Without a word, he turned around and ran away, the sounds of his pursuers resounding through the forest.