Isa woke with a start. The sheltered area lay in darkness still, and she sensed rather than saw that Alice was sleeping deeply beside her. She listened for a moment, ears straining to hear. What had woken her? She didn’t have to pee. The air was cold, but it had been that way when they lay down the night before, so that wasn’t it. Had someone shifted? Maybe Mery rolled over; maybe Lund coughed; maybe the dwarf snorted in his sleep.

She turned to look at Dulrak. At bedtime he’d propped himself up against the inner wall with a blanket pulled up to his chest. His battleaxe lay beside him on the right. He had his pack at hand on the left. Isa could see that he was still in that same position, but as her eyes traveled to his face, she saw his dark eyes glittering in the gloom. Slowly he brought 1 finger to his lips, then he pointed past Isa, toward the cracked corner opening. He held up 2 finger, and then pointed toward the main opening that lead out to the ramp and help up 3 fingers.

Isa started to rise up, but Dulrak motioned her down. He held up both hands.

Movement to Isa’s left made her turn her head. She saw Mery’s open eyes. They nodded at each other, and Isa touched Alice gently. When Alice stirred, Isa put her finger to her lips.

In the quiet of the night Isa heard a murmur from the dwarf. One of his hands seemed to move, and Isa thought she heard a faint scraping sound. Mery stood and pulled her sword free. The noise seemed to reverberate in Isa’s ears. If Lund heard, he didn’t move. Dulrak stood and picked up his axe. He tilted his head toward the doorway and the ramp. Mery nodded and tilted her head toward the opening in the corner.

Alice touched her bracelet and summoned Peck. He left her shoulder, and Alice clutched Isa’s hand and swayed a bit. A few seconds later Peck was back, and Alice leaned toward Isa. “Two that way,” she pointed at the cracked wall. “And 3 that way.”

Isa nodded and stepped carefully to the edge of the wall that was the threshold for the main opening. Shielded from the enemies, she cast shillelagh on her staff. As she rounded the corner to confront the strangers, she heard fighting behind her. But she couldn’t worry about that now. In front of her stood 3 men with scimitars. The third one also had a dagger in his left hand. He seemed confused by her presence, so Isa took the opportunity to slam her staff into his right shoulder. If she could get him to drop the scimitar, that was all to the good.

She felt rather than saw that Lund had come up beside her. He had his greatsword loose in his hand. “You should go,” he said, “before someone gets hurt.”

The man with the dagger blinked as if waking from a dream. He said, “Are you part of the Menesian fold? You’ll die like your magician king.”

From behind her, Isa heard the sounds of Mery and Alice fighting. Impossible to know if they were winning. Best to dispatch with these 3 and then go help Alice. With that resolved Isa swung again at the leader, but he dodged, and Isa realized that she’d stepped too far into the swing and was now vulnerable to a backstab.

It’s possible that only the roaring entrance of Dulrak and his battleaxe saved Isa’s life. He swung the weapon at the leader and managed to part the leather straps on one side of the man’s armor. The breastpiece flapped a little as he tried to block another attack from Lund, but Lund’s blows hit home and blood poured from the bandit’s arm.

The 2 women flanking the bandit leader moved in tandem and each sliced at Lund, one hitting him on the shoulder and the other at the calf. Isa breezed past them both, her staff glowing faintly green in the moonlight, and hit the leader in the midsection.

As she pulled back, Isa thought she heard Alice say, “God damn it!” Mery said something in a laughing tone, but Isa couldn’t make it out. Then her focus was back on the battle in front of her. Both Dulrak and Lund seemed to decide to go on the offensive. The other bandits took advantage and they each landed cuts on Dulrak and Lund. It didn’t change the tide of battle though, because each man landed blows on the leader, and with sudden insight, Isa realized that she might be able to finish him with a blow to the midsection. With a deep lunge, Isa slammed the end of her staff into the man’s belly and drove him down.

In the silence that followed, the 2 women on each side looked at each other, looked at the fallen leader, and bolted from the encounter and melted into the night.

As Isa moved toward the corner opening she heard Alice yell in triumph, followed by a cough and a grunt. A lone bandit dropped to his knees in front of Mery, his hands clutching his belly. In the moment Isa took it all in. The man’s eyes were red and wet with tears. Snot dripped from his nose, and blood dripped through his fingers.

Mery put her foot on the man’s shoulder and pushed him over backwards. “Your love, she hit him with a face full of poison. ‘Twas a fine move.” She looked past Isa and said, “Alright?”

“Yeah,” Lund answered. “A couple of bandits.” He gestured at the two men at Mery’s feet. “No trouble here?”

“Nah.”

Alice moved to Isa and hugged her. “That was scary. I didn’t know what to do. Kept trying the poison spay. On paper it looks good, and it’s a cantrip, but then….”

“Yeah,” Isa nodded. “It’s not a game. It’s real.”

“I was so excited to have the spell work, but….”

“Yeah,” Isa said again. She remembered the stew of emotions after battle. The elation of surviving, winning through, sometimes even landing the killing blow, and then the realization settling on her shoulders like January rain that she’d killed someone. A man was alive and then he wasn’t, and it was Isa’s doing.

Isa heard Lund ask, “Did they say anything?”

“Like what?”

“Anything about a magician king? And a name. What was the name? Isa?”

She scrunched up her face trying to remember the name the man had said.

“Menesia,” said Dulrak from campfire.

Current Hit Points:

Hit Points:

Mery = 27

Isa = 30

Alice = 13

Lund = 32

Dulrak = 63