Steven took the reins of all the horses and Jessica quickly walked towards the stretcher with the people they needed to help. She felt a hand on her broken arm, was covered in a green glow for a moment, and she was healed.

“Thanks, Josh.” Jessica said.

“I can't believe you did what you did with a broken arm.” Josh said, admiration in his voice.

Jessica remembered attacking Hunter and then practically screaming at him, then tears burst from her eyes. She quickly caught them and stored them in her mana reserve.

“Why are you crying?” Aimee asked.

“This isn't how I thought meeting him was going to happen.” Jessica said and took several breaths to calm down.

“I can't believe he just attacked us all, despite his explanation.” Josh said. “Someone needs to knock some sense into him.”

“Jessica did that.” Evangeline said, admiration in her voice. “After she hit him, he stopped attacking.”

“If I hadn't changed spells at the last second, I could have killed him.” Jessica said and more tears came from her eyes, so she caught them and stored them.

“What did you hit him with?” Josh asked.

“My highest tier Confusion spell combined with Push.” Jessica said, and more tears came out. “It looked like it kind of worked, so I'm surprised that he can... speak coherent sentences.” She said, a little sheepishly.

“What should he be doing?” Aimee asked.

“Mumbling incoherently and staggering around trying to figure out how to walk.” Jessica's face flushed red as she glanced at the others and saw their surprise. “Confused Push was the only spell I could think of when I saw it was him.” She said. “I couldn't use the Crushing Blow or Consuming Fire spells that I had already prepared.”

“You weren't holding back at all, were you?” Josh asked, impressed.

“The Goddess told us to do everything in our power to protect the others.” Jessica said. “Holding back against someone that attacked us is not a choice she would be happy with.”

Aimee and Evangeline looked at Josh and saw his nod, so they were reassured that he would do everything in his power to protect them.

*

“What are you going to do with me now?” Kara asked me after Jessica, Josh, Evangeline, and Aimee walked away. “Am I to remain shackled and be your prisoner from now on?”

My anger at her was still there, even though I got to shove a Light sword through her heart; but, it had diminished and faded, since I no longer felt justified. The extra power that had come with it faded as well and I felt a little diminished as the double boost went away and I was left with my own abilities.

“Yeah, hero.” The armored man said. “Do you want to keep your strongest supporter confined?”

“Supporter?!?” I nearly yelled as I turned to him. “You have no idea what it was like being confined to her side for four years or go through the things I had to do under her tutelage!”

“Oh, boo hoo.” The armored man said. “Cry me a river, you wuss.”

I formed solid Presence around my fist before he could react and I punched him right in the middle of his chest. The chest plate caved in slightly and the crunch of metal scared the horses, whose reins he still held. He didn't move or get pushed back from the force of the blow like I thought he would.

“You're paying for the repairs.” The man said without looking at the armor.

I glanced at his skin and saw that it was imbued with a solid layer of green mana, very similar to my own body strengthening technique, except it wasn't draining him like it did when I do it. It was constant and kept protecting him, and that annoyed me a lot.

“Ullir, please just...” Kara started to speak and I turned back to her.

“Just what? Forget all the years I was held by The Order? Forgive them for my parents' death? Forget that they wanted me dead when I wouldn't join them? What?” I asked.

“You're not going to listen at all, are you?” Kara asked, her eyes sad. “The Goddess sent us here to...”

“I honestly don't care.” I said and turned around and started to walk away. “Whatever deal you made to follow me here and to take me back, it has nothing to do with me.”

“Hey! You need to let her go!” The armored man said.

“Now that she's awake, she can break out of it whenever she wants to.” I said and activated Mana Presence Run and ran around the others that were walking towards the stretcher and stopped beside Maylia. “We need to leave.”

“Who are they and why are they with Kara?” Maylia asked. “Also, why didn't she die?”

“The skinny guy in the white robes healed her. They're all emissaries of a goddess that's pissing me off.” I said. “Apparently, she chose me to be her hero without telling me and they are here to 'help' me.”

Maylia frowned. “What kind of goddess sends your murderer after you to help you?”

“That's what I'd like to know.” I said. “It's like she's playing games and seeing what happens, like we're just amusement for her.”

“Then we should go.” Maylia said. “The less we are associated with them, the better off we are.”

“That's my thought exactly.” I said and took her hand.

“HOLD IT!” The girl yelled and I turned to see her next to the stretcher. “I need two of those blue potions.”

“I don't know what they do.” I said.

“They can create antidotes for poison if you know what you're doing.” The girl said and held a hand out for them. “Please.”

I thought about refusing, then let Maylia's hand go and took out two of the potions from the bag of holding and handed them to her.

“Thank you, Hunter.” The girl said in a tone that implied she was thanking me for a lot more than just the potion bottles. I didn't say anything and she held a hand out to the trees and a few small pieces of dried wood floated over to her. She put them on the ground and they lit on fire by themselves. I was a little surprised by that and she took out a small pot and poured one of the blue potions into it and put it on the fire.

“We should go while they're busy.” Maylia whispered, and I nodded as I took her hand again.

“Please wait.” The girl pleaded without looking at me, and she went to the lamia. “Open up.”

The lamia didn't try to protest or refuse, opened her mouth and dropped her fangs, and the girl collected several drops of her venom in the empty potion bottle.

“Thank you.” The girl said and poured the couple of drops of lamia poison into the pot, then several drops of something appeared in her hand from somewhere and she tossed them in as well. She made a stirring motion with her finger and the potion became a tan color. She poured it into the potion bottle and swirled it around, then mumbled something under her breath to make it glow slightly. She went to the tanned man and smiled at him.

“Can you drink this? It will stop the lamia poison from killing you.” She said and slowly fed the potion to him. You could see the difference in him immediately and he took a deep breath, then another. The relief on his face was profound and he took the girl's hand.

“Th-thank y-you.” The tanned man said.

“If it wasn't for Hunter, I never would have known you needed help.” The girl said, then picked up the pot and held it out and mumbled something else. A few seconds later, both the pot and the potion bottle looked clean. She took the other blue potion and dumped that into the pot and let it warm up, then she had more drops of something appear in her hand and dropped them in, too.

She stirred it up a little and then took the first empty potion bottle and added a few drops of the same substance into it and covered the mouth of the bottle with her hand. She mumbled something and the contents glowed black. She went to the blue haired girl and looked into her eyes.

“I'm sorry, this is going to hurt a lot.” She said and moved the potion bottle to the blue haired girl's neck, slid her hand out of the way, and stuck the mouth of the bottle over the arrow wound. The blue haired girl gurgled a scream as some of that blood red poison was sucked out of her neck and into the bottle. She quickly dumped it into the pot and stirred it up, then she poured it into the second potion bottle and swirled it around and mumbled something else.

I was listening well and even used Presence to pull the sound to my ears, and I still could only hear mumbling. After the potion turned grey, she went to the girl.

“Drink this and it will stop the blood death poison from killing you.” The girl said and the blue haired girl drank it eagerly. Her breathing became stronger almost right away and she tried to sit up. “No, don't move.” She said. “All it did was stop the progress and neutralize the poison in your body. You're still severely hurt.”

The blue haired girl nodded and turned her head to look at me. “Th-th-thank.” She managed to say with a very hoarse voice.

“Don't talk.” The girl said and pat the blue haired girl's hand. “You had an arrow in your throat.” She said and looked at Josh. “Can you start on her? She's going to need a lot of healing.”

“So is he.” Josh said as his hands twitched. “All of his muscles are damaged.”

“It's not life threatening now.” The girl said and moved out of the way, and Josh knelt by the blue haired girl to start healing her. He hovered his hands over her neck and face as the green smoke poured out of his hands and into her. Her red face and neck started to fade and she closed her eyes to try and relax as she waited.

“I have to go.” I said again, unsure why I had stuck around for so long. I started to walk away with Maylia and I saw Kara and the armored man as they walked towards us with the horses.

“Let's run.” Maylia suggested and covered herself in mana.

“Hunter, wait.” The girl said and turned to me. “We need to talk.”

“What I need is to get to the capital and find out a few things for myself.” I said.

“We came from the castle there about a week ago.” The girl said. “I'll tell you anything you want to know. All you have to do is...”

I shook my head. “No, I need to find out for myself.” I said and covered myself in energy. Maylia's energy joined mine, and we activated the Mana Presence Run technique together and disappeared from their sight. As we ran around them and past Kara, she turned her head to watch me and it looked like she was going to follow, so I made a solid box of Presence in front of her face and filled it with mana to make it completely green and not see-through. I also activated Mask Presence and Stealth so she couldn't follow me with her eyes anymore.

*

“Hunter!” Jessica exclaimed as he disappeared from her sight. She picked up her staff and thought about casting Hold on him, then he was out of her range and she sighed.

“Are we really letting him go?” Josh asked as he felt the bundle of mana run around the group and up the road. “We came all this way just to find him.”

“We know where he's going and he's nowhere near as fast as us.” Kara said as she walked over to them with Steven beside her with the horses. She had only bumped her face lightly on the solid green box that had appeared in front of her and used her own Presence to disrupt it and dismissed the energy. She rubbed her face absently and looked down at Josh as he healed the blue haired girl. “How is she?”

“Really bad.” Josh said. “Even my highest heal is taking a while.”

“Why is that?”

“She not one of our group.” Josh said. “Whatever that poison was, it completely messed up her body.”

“I think he's going to be the same.” Jessica said and motioned to the tanned man. Even though she had stopped the poison and its effects, he still hadn't spoken. He watched them all intensely, though. “Lamia poison actually dissolves muscle tissue. The longer it's inside the body, the more the person wastes away.” She said. “At least, until it reaches the heart. Once part of that dissolves...”

They all turned and looked at the lamia that was tied up beside the blue haired girl.

“So, how did he get so much lamia venom inside him, I wonder?” Steven asked her.

The lamia opened her mouth a few times trying to speak, then she closed her mouth and turned her head away.

“Well, we know why she's tied up. Maybe when the others are feeling better we'll get their story.” Steven said and looked at Kara. “For now, I think it's time that you tell us what the hell is going on between you and Hunter.” He said angrily. “What did he say? Something about you chasing him across the universe?”

Kara wasn't surprised at the angry tone in his voice and she sighed. “I didn't think it was necessary for you to know our history, and I thought... I hoped... that he would at least listen to me.” She said, then sat down next to the stretcher. “It was an accident. I never meant to mortally wound him.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Josh said and looked at her. “You what?”

“Josh, concentrate on what you're doing.” Jessica said and sat down beside Kara. “Start at the beginning and tell us everything.”

Kara nodded. “It all started when this beautiful angel of a boy was brought to The Order compound.” She said, and then she started to tell them the whole story about Ullir's rogue parents being killed and him being raised by The Order. She tried to keep her words impartial so she could convey the story and not influence their opinions; but, when she described Ullir, as he was as a young child and then again when she met him when he was twelve, she couldn't help herself and her voice and mannerisms changed to reflect how she had feelings for him.

Allirynn stared at her and listened intensely, and he absorbed every word she said. The more she talked and told him of the things that had happened, he was slowly filled with anger. He purposefully withheld judgment on her story until it was completely done, though. When she finished several hours later and both Imiryl and himself had been treated by their healer, he absolutely hated The Order organization with a passion that almost rivalled that of his love and devotion to his mother.

The 'benevolent acts' they did to subjugate entire worlds to their way of thinking was anathema to him and his beliefs. He hadn't even known there were other worlds out there, and that wasn't even in the forefront of his mind.

Forcing people to follow their way because they believe it is the best way, was not benevolent at all. It was a dictatorship. If you didn't follow their rules, you were declared a rogue and hunted down. Allirynn thought in disgust. That had been the final straw to his decision. It was bad enough that they declared Hunter a rogue from an organization that he wasn't a part of, then they still hunted him down and killed him. His next thought he had was a shocking one and his eyes narrowed as he looked at Kara. With her here, that means The Order can't be far behind. I can't... no, won't... let something like that reach my homeland.

“I'm spent.” Josh said and sat back with a huff. “I've got the both of them into mobile condition; but, it's probably going to take me a few days of working on them to get them back to normal.”

“What do we do now?” Evangeline asked. “We're only two-thirds of the way towards the elves lands and we still have a few more things to investigate for the queen.”

“Hunter's going back to the capital, so we don't have to worry about where he's going to be or meeting up with him.” Jessica said. “I'll send word to the castle to expect him and to invite him to stay.”

“That's a great idea!” Aimee said. “We should send word to the head acolyte as well. She'll know what to do about him if anyone does.”

“What about them?” Steven asked and pointed to the three people on the stretcher.

“We have to take them back to the town, rest for the night, and then take them with us.” Josh said. “Unless you want to leave them somewhere to fend for themselves.” He said with a smile.

“Ha. Ha. No, we can't abandon them. We're here to help.” Steven said. “I meant, are they coming with us to the last few monster sightings on the queen's list, or are we leaving them at the inn until we come back in a couple of days?”

“That depends on if we can fit them into the carriage.” Kara said. “The lamia we can definitely leave, since she doesn't seem hurt.”

“Actually, I didn't even check.” Josh said and held a hand towards her. It twitched heavily and his eyes widened. “Actually, she needs to come with us, too.”

Kara sighed. “All right. It looks like were renting a couple of the horses for a few days, too.”

“I'll take a horse.” Jessica said and stood up.

“Me, too.” Aimee said.

“Even after what just happened?” Steven asked.

“It wasn't the horse's fault. Josh said one of them died, too.” Aimee said and then frowned. “I don't like the chosen very much right now.”

She just completely ignored the fact that she died, too. Steven thought, surprised.

“Let's get the wounded onto the horses with the most experienced riders.” Kara said. “Jessica, can you handle the tanned guy?”

“Not a problem.” Jessica said and waved her staff at Allirynn and cast levitate on him. He was picked up and she walked with him over to her horse, climbed on, then settled him down behind her.

“Th-things.” Allirynn said and pointed at the stretcher.

“What? Oh.” Jessica waved her staff at the items still on the cheap blankets and they all flew over to her. She opened her bag of holding and they all flew inside. “Can you hold on or do you want me to use a bind spell?”

Allirynn held in his sigh at her taking all the items and putting them in her bag, then put his hands around her waist and held on. Jessica felt the strength in his arms and nodded. She didn't have to worry about him falling off.

“Can you do that for Aimee and the blue haired girl?” Kara asked.

“I've got it.” Aimee said. She didn't have a staff, so she took a small focusing wand out of her robes and cast the same levitate spell on Imiryl. She put her in front on the horse instead of behind, though. She was short enough that Aimee could see around her and could still control the horse while she held the blue haired girl steady.

Kara looked at Evangeline. “Can you...”

“I'll take the snake woman.” Steven said and bent down to look at her face. “Just so you know, you can't bite me. If you try, I will snap those folding teeth right off. Understand?”

Siada looked at him for a moment and then nodded.

“This might look undignified.” Steven said. He put her arms over his shoulder, grabbed her by the waist, then lifted her up as he stood and put her in a fireman's carry over his shoulder. She wiggled and squirmed when he did, and he slapped her backside to get her to calm down. She jerked at the hit and jammed her elbows into his back in retaliation, then she gasped in pain.

“Remember what I said about not biting me.” Steven said and chuckled. “I didn't mean that you shouldn't, I meant that you couldn't.”

Siada struggled and he held her steady as he climbed up onto his horse. When he was secured in his saddle, he carefully pulled the lamia off of his shoulder and sat her across his lap like a lady.

“I didn't know any other way to get you up here.” Steven said. “It's not like you can walk.”

Siada frowned at him and thought about head-butting him, and he laughed because he knew that look.

“You'll only break that cute nose.” Steven said and her eyes widened as her frown disappeared.

Josh, Evangeline, and Kara got on their horses and the group trotted back up the road towards the town. If they were lucky after getting back to the inn, they would get a few hours sleep before the driver and their guide woke up and they would have to leave again. They had a few more monsters to take care of before they could back to the capital.