The next morning we were up and dressed in our adventuring finest. Everything was freshly cleaned and anything that was metal gleamed. Diofra cast Jessica's Maintenance spell on everything again and I helped boost it this time. I changed the glow to be invisible, though. Having everything with a tint of blue would be annoying, to say the least. Maylia and I boosted the horses and I made their glow invisible as well. We mounted up and the queen's guards escorted us to the edge of the capital city.

Grania the mage hadn't expressed any desire to join my party or to go with us when we left. With more money than most people saw in several lifetimes, I had told her that she could go anywhere and live however she wanted. She liked that idea a lot, so she booked passage on a carriage headed somewhere in the First Sothen Kingdom. The queen had said she would have one of the mages check on her occasionally to make sure that she was okay.

There was no fanfare and no big crowd to send us off, either. We had been brought around to the front of the castle and a small group of people had been there. Queen Celestina, her daughter Milly, the captain of the guard, and Sam were there. They waved at us and we waved back as we passed the castle. That was it, and we were off on our worldly adventure.

We met up with a squad of guards on horseback at the city limits and Maylia and I boosted their horses to give them the ability to keep up with us. We travelled at our normal running speed, which was a lot faster than the guards were used to travelling. By the time we made it to the border of the Second Choutia Kingdom, the guards were pretty haggard from riding so hard. I held in my laugh and absorbed the boosts from their horses and told them that the horses won't go that fast anymore. They were relieved to hear that and they bid us farewell.

I was surprised that there wasn't a border patrol, or a gate, or some kind of monitoring system, to mark the passage from one kingdom to another. There was a sign at the side of the road that said the kingdom's name we were going to and on the other side of the sign was the kingdom we were leaving. I shook my head at the simplicity of it and wondered how many roads that the kingdoms shared. I had to assume that they all had the same signs on them, because if they didn't, you would never know that you had crossed into another kingdom.

After I had given Dawn her cut of the garglemacer bounty, she opened up and talked a little more about her home. She eventually told us where she lived and we wormed the directions out of her. Once we had them, we rode at our fastest speed to get there as soon as possible. She wasn't quite happy about that, because the trip would be over a lot sooner than she had expected. When we got there however, she was glad that we had reached her town. There was something going on and the town was mobilizing for something.

“My training building is on the outskirts.” Dawn said and pointed to the right, so we followed her directions around part of the town and arrived at the garrison where she had been stationed.

“PreKnight Sherwood!” A man's voice bellowed and ran over to us. “Where have you been all this time?!?”

“Captured and tortured by the elves, sir!” Dawn responded automatically.

The man's mouth dropped open in shock and his face lost most of its color. He tried to speak again and only mumbled nonsense. I looked at Dawn and she gave me a little smile. She had taken my advice and had been blunt with the truth, because I knew it would surprise whoever asked her about it.

“Sir! What's going on?” Dawn asked as she slid off of Maylia's horse.

The man stared at her for several moments before he shook his head. “You don't need to worry about...”

“I need something to do, sir!” Dawn said, almost as a plea.

He took a breath and let it out, then nodded. “We've got reports of an Orck horde massing in the wheat fields.”

“No! Not the winter crops!” Dawn exclaimed

The man sighed. “If we don't get there soon...”

“Where are the wheat fields?” I asked and Dawn's head whipped around to stare at me. “Well, it would be a waste to have a large party of adventurers right here and not go have some fun.” I said and looked at the others around me. “Right?”

“You have to let me cast Firestorm.” Diofra said with a gleam in her eye.

I snorted a laugh. “Not a chance. Crops are flammable.” I glanced at Imiryl. “Icestorm is out, too.”

“I'll limit myself to shards and melt them to provide extra irrigation.” Imiryl said, her blue hair wafted in the wind as she tried to give me an innocent look.

I glanced at Allirynn and he shrugged. “All right.” I said and looked at Diofra. “Stay close to Imiryl and when she's not busy and can cover you, you can use fireballs.”

“YES!” Diofra yelled and Evus laughed.

“I'd suggest sleep and confusion spells as well, if you can prep them.” I said.

“I've got two Mass Sleep as free spells.” Diofra said, a little proud of herself for thinking ahead.

“Maylia and I will stay with Afyne while she gets experience.” I said and Afyne's muscles stiffened. “Don't worry.” I whispered so only she could hear. “We'll be close by; but, we won't be maiming them to make it easier for you.”

Afyne tilted her head back and looked up at me. “Really?”

“It would only make your training take twice as long if it was easy.” I said and kissed her forehead.

“Spearhead formation?” Allirynn asked.

“If they have a big one among them, sure.” I said. “Of course, we might need to make a lot of noise first to make one show up.” I smiled. “Then it's all yours.”

Allirynn nodded with a grin.

“I'll stay behind Imiryl and Diofra and try not to get in the way.” Viri said.

“Don't sell yourself short. You've seen us fight before and you haven't been in the way yet. You've also helped with that sword of yours.” I said, because Maylia had been training her in her spare time. “Being able to see an attack before it happens to you is a huge advantage. Don't be afraid to use it.”

Viri nodded and gripped the hilt of her sword.

“I'll protect the rear.” Evus said. “I'll also keep an eye out for any flanking units.”

I turned back to the man who was Dawn's superior. “How long to get your forces mobilized?”

“We're almost done.” The man said. “Are you really going to fight for us?”

“No, we're fighting for ourselves.” I said and then smiled. “Unless you want to pay us.”

The man shook his head. “We barely have enough money to feed everyone.”

“Which will be more expensive if the orcks destroy the food crops.” I said and he nodded. “Dawn, want to take us there?”

“She needs to lead her unit.” The man said.

“I still have one?” Dawn asked, surprised.

“They've been sitting around and twiddling their thumbs without you to keep an eye on them.”

Dawn turned to me. “Give me a few minutes!”

I nodded and she ran off. The man stood there and looked us over for a few moments, grunted, and walked away. We waited for Dawn to come back and she had a group of ten people behind her. They looked like they had just woken up and had put their armor on in the dark.

“Can you do your levitation trick?” Dawn asked and took out a large wooden crate. “If you could take some of us on your horses, the rest can fit in here and we can drag them behind us.”

I laughed at the absurd idea and looked at my fellow adventurers. They nodded, so we split the men and women up appropriately and Dawn chose to take a spot in the large wooden crate. I held a hand out to Maylia and she used her Levitation technique on the crate with my boost, and the thing lifted two inches into the air and stayed stable.

“You're going to be the conduit.” I said to Dawn and let Maylia's hand go and held it out to her. Maylia held her hand out as well and Dawn took our hands without hesitation. She felt our energy pass through her and power the technique, then the crate raised up two feet to put her at our height.

“Go down the road, take a left. Three miles, then a right, then ten miles. You can't miss it.” Dawn said. “The rest of the troops will go straight through the fields and meet us there.”

I nodded and we trotted out at a slow pace, then went faster and faster. We made it to the winter crop fields only ten minutes later and saw what had concerned the town. A horde wasn't just gathering. It was already there. We dismounted and tucked the horses behind a nearby barn and out of sight, then we all crept closer.

“Allirynn.” I said and pointed. “He's about a hundred feet in, kneeling in the dirt.”

“Spearhead formation.” Allirynn said and we arranged ourselves into the formation with him as the point, me on the right and Maylia on the left, Afyne was directly behind Allirynn and between us, and Imiryl and Diofra were behind her with Viri behind them and Evus in the rear. I could hear Dawn's and her troops thoughts of surprise, then their complete shock when we took off at a full powered run and left them behind.

In less than ten seconds, we had crossed the two fields between us and the orcks and smashed right into the mass. Those of us with weapons had drawn them during the run and we easily cut through the completely unprepared orcks. Their piggily squeals were loud as we cut them down in droves and then we reached the big guy.

Allirynn jumped at the last second and drove his fist into the large tusked creature's snout. He broke one of the tusks and tackled the creature that was twice his size. We quickly formed a fighting area around them and I put up Presence Walls to keep most of the other orcks away. Most of them were still stunned from our sudden appearance and they weren't being very aggressive towards us yet.

“Okay Afyne. Have at it.” I said and motioned to the half dozen orcks still within the Presence Walls. “Let's see what you can do.”

“MASS SLEEP!” Diofra yelled and all of the orcks on her side, for about fifty feet around, dropped to the ground unconscious and snoring. Startled squeals, snorts, and grunts met this sudden loss of part of their fighting force.

“Shardscape!” Imiryl said and held her hands out. Hundreds of tiny shards formed on the other side of my Presence Wall and I felt her mana drop by a quarter. She let the shards loose and they peppered over two hundred orcks in the face and eyes. Most of them dropped dead just from that, and more squeals and snorts greeted another massive loss of fighting potential.

Afyne took courage from what she had just seen and I felt her resolve. She drew her short sword and I felt her boost her body to strengthen it and make herself faster. I smiled as she also activated a very inefficient Presence Run and took off towards the six confused orcks. Before they could react to the five foot human that had magically appeared near them, the tendons in their ankles had been severed and they started to fall to their knees. Their wrists were slit to make them drop their weapons and the last thing they saw was a bright steel blade as it slit their throats.

Afyne stood behind the six bodies as they dropped to the ground. She was almost completely exhausted and her techniques faded as she stumbled over to me. I held my arms open as I knelt and she dropped into them.

“Good girl.” I said and hugged her as I shared some of my Presence with her, then I tried not to laugh. “We definitely need to work on your Presence Run technique that I haven't taught you yet.”

“I wanted... to surprise... you.” Afyne panted.

“I was definitely surprised.” I said and kissed her cheek. “You did really well.”

“We're both very proud of you.” Maylia said and knelt beside us and pet Afyne's hair. Evus stood there with a big grin on his face, because he realized he just lost his normal job of protecting Afyne.

None of us had been watching Allirynn's fight with the large orck, because we all knew he was showing off to the other orcks to discourage them and distract them. We all turned to watch as he put the finishing moves on the poor beast.

Both of its arms were broken at the elbow from pressure holds and it had lost its second tusk, because it was now sticking out of one of its eyes. The orck's face was pummelled into mush and its piecemeal armor was dented all over with fist-sized depressions in it... and more than a few hand prints. Allirynn's personal strength was astonishing as he demonstrated it by easily picking up the creature, flipped it around to face forward and upside down, then slammed it head first into the ground with a crunch.

“I think it would have survived that move if you hadn't tenderized the head so much first.” I said.

Allirynn looked over at me and gave me a thumbs up.

“Oh. Never mind.” I said, and he laughed.

“Hey, here they come!” Evus said and pointed. We all stood and turned to look and saw a large regimented army coming across the field.

“Let's give them a bit more help, shall we?” I said and everyone nodded, even Afyne, who had already recovered. “We'll only let one by at a time, so you don't have to use Presence Run, all right?”

Afyne nodded again and I pushed out with my Presence Walls and shoved the orcks back twenty feet to knock them off of their footing, then I absorbed the walls and we all attacked. The orcks tried to stay away from Allirynn; but, they were massed together and didn't have anywhere to go, so he crushed necks, smashed faces, and broke legs and arms as he moved through the orcks like a battering ram. Of course, we kept the same spearhead formation and were right behind him. Both Maylia and I would let a single orc through so that Afyne could deal with it, and she handled it like a professional.

Afyne paced herself and didn't swing with strength unless she had to. She used finesse and knowledge to disable most of them and killed her opponents. She couldn't make a Presence Hand yet; but, she could make a flat piece of it about the size of her fist. She occasionally used it to smack them in the side of the head to make them look that way, then she would cut their throats on the other side with her sword.

I have to remember that move. I thought, impressed. She's adapting her fighting to what she can do and not what we expected.

I sent her a large burst of my Presence, and she paused for a second to let the tingle flow down her spine, just like I had taught her, to let it integrate into her own Presence, then she smiled and nodded. Maylia and I let an orck through at the same time and she dealt with the both of them. It wasn't easy, in the small amount of room that she had to work with; but, she handled it as well as she could and they were quickly dispatched like the others.

Our spearhead formation reached the other side of the orck horde and we came out of it with no blood or anything on our clothes and armor. It wasn't because of the spells Diofra had cast, either. We were just that efficient. Only Allirynn had blood on his hands, and that was only because he was having fun and wasn't being careful.

“Do you think that was enough?” Diofra asked.

We all turned to look back at the orcks. The local army was currently wading into their backs and cutting them down like loggers cutting down trees. It took them a couple of heavy swings to cut each orck down; but, they were cutting them down. It was just taking a while.

“What do you think Afyne?” I asked and put a hand on her shoulder. “Do you think they still need help?”

“They don't have you, Maylia, and Evus to show them how to fight properly with a blade.” Afyne said with a smile. “Of course they still need help!”

That made us all laugh.

“All right, Allirynn. You heard her.” I said and pointed at the orcs. “Pick a direction and let's go.”

“Gladly!” Allirynn said and nodded to Afyne, then our spearhead formation plunged back into the mass of orcks that remained.

It took about an hour for the army to finish them off, even the sleeping ones that Diofra had left them, and we all met up at the side of the large and body covered field.

“We kept it to one field!” Someone yelled, and a cheer rose up from all of the local's mouths.

“You've got lots of fertilizer now, too.” I said and that made a lot of them laugh.

Dawn and her squad came over to us. “Hunter, I... I don't know what to say.” She said and looked at the others in my group. “I didn't understand why the queen wanted you to leave her kingdom. Until now.” She looked back at me. “You could have taken all of them on by yourselves.”

“If we were going to do that, we wouldn't have done what we did.” I said and motioned to Allirynn. “What would we have done if we were alone?”

“Funnel formation.” Allirynn said. “We manipulate the enemy into coming to us and only in the strengths we could manage easily.”

“But...” Dawn looked at us all again. “You just...” She shook her head. “I don't understand.”

“What we did today was kill the leadership and be a huge distraction while your army approached and weren't noticed by the orcks until you started to attack.” I said as an explanation. “We intentionally were loud, showy, and made spectacles of ourselves.” I chuckled. “I don't think I've ever seen Allirynn punch so many faces before.”

“I haven't and their tusks are really sharp.” Allirynn said and held up his fists to show healing puncture wounds. Even with his hands covered in solid mana, the tusks still managed to get through and Diofra had cast healing on him.

“Sorry, I didn't notice. Let me get that for you.” I said and touched his hands and healed them completely in an instant.

“Thanks.” Allirynn said. “Having two healers is really going to help us from now on.”

Everyone nodded and the man that led the army came over to us.

“Thank you for your assistance.” The man said. “If you come back to...”

“If anyone should be thanked, it should be Dawn.” I said and surprised both Dawn and the man. “If we hadn't brought her here, we wouldn't have been able to join in on the fun.”

The man mouthed the word 'fun', then he shook his head. “You adventurers.”

“Yeah.” I said and grinned. “Adventurers hit and run!”

As if we practised it, my party and I took off at a run back across the other field towards the old barn where we had stashed the horses. I almost laughed at the astonished thoughts from Dawn and her superior officer. We mounted up and took off down the road and waved at Dawn as we left.

“I think we just shocked their army.” Evus said with a laugh. “I didn't realize how much faster I can run now, until I saw how fast I used to run in those soldiers!”

“Stick with us long enough and you'll be at the top of your class.” I said and hugged Afyne with one of my arms. “Even unique classes need to have an elite member.”

Afyne's face flushed red as she blushed. “I'll do my best.”

“I would never ask for anything else except that you try.” I said and let her go.

“We should stop and see if there's a crack nearby.” Diofra said. “In fact, we should do the whole map of the kingdom.”

“Good idea.” I said and we stopped at a small clearing. We set things up and she used both a mana crystal and my help to draw out the map. To my relief, there weren't a lot of cracks, even though the kingdom was one and a half times the size of First Sothen Kingdom.

“Looks like we're mostly travelling this time.” Maylia said. “That means extra training.”

No one groaned or complained, because they all knew that keeping your skills sharp was the best way to survive in a world that tried to kill you pretty much every day... if you weren't careful.

“No crack nearby.” Diofra said and copied the map and gave them out. “It looks like orcks are local.”

“Great!” I said with a smile. “More homegrown fun!”

“Ha.” Allirynn said. “Is it lunch time yet?”

“We're stopped, so why not.” I said. “Afyne, let's set everything up and get to work.”

“Scrambled eggs!” Afyne exclaimed happily as she took out a couple of the cheap sheets.

“You're the boss.” I said and she liked it a lot that I believed it.