Cassidy wasn’t at all surprised when Bertold led her down her driveway and onto a dirt road. Really, she should have known the world would have lined her house up during the transfer. All four of them strode out beneath the cloudy skies, happy to keep the sun off them during this humid day.

Cassidy didn’t like that she was in the open and felt off-put by how flat the road was. She was too use to uneven trails with dips and ditches, littered by sticks and stones. The part of her brain diverted to navigating these trails and silencing her steps was now empty, void of activity. It made her restless. That and the openness. The woods seemed to only hug her side of the road. For some reason, no tree dared grow on the other side. She could see for miles. She could be seen for miles. Too open. She wanted her bow drawn and tracking the space for any predators.

Bertold didn’t stop as she paused, taking it all in. She had to rush to catch up. Her dogs’ noses were in the air, taking in the new scents blowing from the plains and whatever came off of the gloomy woods they now passed, trotted to keep up.

They traveled all day in silence. For all she'd recently had Bertold's company, it’d been weeks since she had to maintain conversation and Bertold was all too use to traveling alone. Nothing was spoken till Bertold stopped to look at the sun. “I think it’s time we set up camp.”

Cassidy stopped next to him to see the sun low on the horizon. “We better set up fast.”

Bertold gave a smile gave a smile at the thought of resting his feet and moved off the road to an open spot between the trees.

More than once, Cassidy was grateful to have someone else around, even if that someone was Bertold. But maybe that was because he was being careful of stepping on her toes. He knew what happened if he got her riled up.

It didn’t take long to get things settled. Really, just setting the fire and claiming spots to sleep. Bertold did spend some careful time identifying a sentry spot though. That was something to take seriously. While he worked on that, Cassidy handled dinner. He’d brought some fresh steaks in his special bag and she made sure to note that the bag kept them fresh, juices still dripping. She had them set and cooking over the fire by the time Bertold turned back to her to point out the sentry spot.

“And how are we handling the watches?”

“We’ll just go big. I’ll take the first half of the night; you take the second.” She was nodding her head. Operating on a lack of sleep was nothing new to her. She turned back to the fire. It was a shame she didn’t have time to boil some tea. She could already feel how late in the day it was, something she didn’t want to prolong. Bertold had been firmly against bringing it in the first place. It was for some stupid reason. He claimed he didn’t want to get their things mixed up more than they already were. She thought he was being ridiculous and he ended up taking her kettle. She might have agreed to leave it behind if he had mentioned there’d be no time to use it. Dinner was done and she left him to his watch as she curled up between her dogs to sleep. She thought the lack of a mattress would make a difference, but she went out like a light.

Bertold shook her awake, choosing to dangerously ignore her growling dogs. She waved them off and they became silent. “Where do I go?” He didn’t bother talking, just pointed back to the boulders he showed her earlier that night. Once she fully came awake, she felt like an idiot. But up she climbed. Her dogs trailing sleepily behind her. The night passed quickly without a shattered leg drawing agony with every breath.

The next day Cassidy broke the silence with some questions. She heard Bertold literally groan as she began to speak but chose to ignore it.

“What road are we on?”

“The Northern Road.”

“That can’t seriously be its name.”

“Turn around and it’s the Southern Road.”

She glared at him, but he just kept trudging along.

He spoke up. Temper finally snapping. “Look, travelling is dull enough without having to answer insipid questions.”

Now her eyebrow was twitching. “Insipid?”

“Everything that comes out of your mouth is insipid.”

Sugarbear and Koda growled in unison. Cassidy had her eyes on the back of Bertold’s head calculating.

She whacked him. He turned on her with a snarl. “I can’t help that you’re ignorant.”

“You could! You just don’t want to.” She was right in his face now. It had been a long couple days and apparently silence wasn’t enough to keep them off of each other’s nerves. She didn’t stop. “I thought an Explorer would be a better travel partner!”

“Well I would be if you weren’t slowing me down.”

“I am not!”

“I’m a Tier 3. You don’t even realize how much ground I’m used to travelling in a day.”

She didn’t have anything to say to that. She just grumbled. He turned around with a humph. “Seriously, I only brought you save magic during night watch but I’m beginning to think it’s not worth it.”

That was not very encouraging, but she kept her mouth zipped. The woods were her home. This was his. Best be polite.

They’d been walking another day when her dogs froze and faced the trees, she called Bertold back. He tensed for a moment before realizing she wasn’t asking another question. He stepped toward her. “What’s wrong?” He asked, eyes on the dogs.

“They’ve heard something.” She stated dryly, then turned to investigate herself. She felt something. Her Preternatural Instincts screamed predator. But she couldn’t hear or smell anything that her Companions did. They took a couple steps forward. Stationing themselves between her and the woods. Bertold grumbled as he drew his sword. She quietly faced the forest, bow up and arrow nocked, ready to hit the first thing she saw. Some underbrush moved deeper in, but it could’ve been the wind. She kept her eyes open and listened. Her dogs stayed silent so she could hear and there it was, rustling. She tried to pinpoint it but it seemed to be coming from all angles. She backpedaled in confusion, trying to buy herself some time to pinpoint the threat. Bertold took notes from her and backstepped to stay by her side. Then it all exploded.

All along the woods lean canine shapes burst forth from the undergrowth. They were already spread out; it didn’t take long for them to circle the party. Koda and Sugarbear stayed to either side, guarding her flanks. Bertold whipped around to hold her back. She stared up at the letters floating above the creatures’ heads. Tier 2. At least it wasn’t in red anymore. No worse than fighting Tier 1 deer while Tier 0.

“Wolves.” Bertold grumbled. She remembered he was Tier 3.

“What should we do?” She wasn’t use to working with anyone besides her dogs.

“I focus on speed. With my Skills I should be able to dance through them with this many spread out but…” He paused to glare over his shoulder at her. “That would leave you open and then dead.” She frowned. Her bow kept switching targets as one darted forward and another darted back. They were baiting her dogs, much the same way her dogs would bait a deer. Her Companions’ were clever though. They held their guard. She was sure the same was happening to Bertold. He hadn’t given an answer on what to do though so she decided to step up, metaphorically.

“Why don’t you hold my back then while I shoot them down.”

“They can dodge arrows. Have you noticed their intelligence and speed?”

Her frown deepened. She’d noticed, but they weren’t any faster than a boar trying to gore you at close range. Plus, she knew these patterns. Her dogs used them all time. She could see where each wolf was headed. “I can do it.” She said through gritted teeth and didn’t give him time object. Another wolf had moved to bait Sugarbear and she knew exactly where it was going. She wouldn’t miss this chance. She didn’t. Before the wolves had time to recognize this sheep had teeth after all, she’d brought down another two, leaving five still standing. The wolves may have been smaller than her usual prey, but they didn’t take much more precision. They’re bones were fragile enough for her arrows to break. Even if an arrow missed an eye, it sent the predator reeling. No enraged bears here. She was glad she didn’t need a dagger this time. Especially since she was missing one.

Bertold had fallen silent. She had acted without the team but there were no take backs in battle. Now all he could do was wait for the wolves to rush and hope he didn’t get hurt guarding the fool’s back. But the predators were falling one by one.

Her eye fast enough to sight them. Her arrows precise enough to bring them down.

He needn’t have feared, he quickly realized as the pack dwindled to the two racing off into the woods. He turned around to stare at her. She still had her bow up, her dogs stationed like gargoyles at her side. Seeing her take down that deer was child’s play compared to picking apart a pack’s tactics and chasing down each of its members. He looked over the battle ground. Some had taken multiple arrows to fall but he didn’t see any arrow that had missed a body.

“If I recall… you never did mention what your Skill Level was.”

She’d forgotten that. She tried to remember as she lowered her bow, whether she decided to tell him or not. It was only for a moment but she gave up on being clever. “Archery: Precision is at Level 11.”

Now that had him take a step back and he let out a whistle as he looked over the fallen wolves with new eyes and back to her in amazement. A Tier 1.

She had claimed her Skills were normal.

Liar.