“Are we close?” Alera called back as they rode up the top of a hill.

“We’ll be in Skaro before dinner,” Ethan answered her, his voice colder than the snow flurries drifting on the breeze. “Just remember, keep your weapons out of sight. They’ll welcome me, but I don’t know about you two.”

“Yeah, you’ve said that,” Alera shook her head in frustration and rolled her eyes “Several times, this isn’t a place we’ll be welcome.”

Ethan scoffed at her comment and kicked his mare into a gallop harder than he’d meant to. She whinnied her protest at the treatment, but obliged him by picking up her pace.

“Sorry girl,” he pet her neck affectionately as an apology as they reached the top of the last hill that would give them a view of the lake and the secluded town of Skaro. “I just wanted this to be our thing. Remember the last time we were here?”

David’s estimate of a week to Skaro had been way off, it had only taken them three days. Three very long days of riding. Playa de Fuerte was closer than Startesgarde had been, making this leg of the trip quicker. Ethan’s desire to spend less time with Alera had pushed them even faster.

“Ethan, this is gorgeous,” Leah’s voice sounded amazed as she and Alera joined him in taking in the serene beauty of the snow capped mountain reflected in the lake.

“It really is,” Ethan grinned. He could see in the very far distance a tiny plume of smoke rising from where he knew the village to be. “Skaro is just on the edge of the lake.” He pointed in the direction of the smoke. “The people there used to live on the mountain in a city named Skarlheim, but demons invaded. My teacher, War Shaman Hertha Horrisdottir, and her husband fought them off and saved as many as they could.”

“She sounds amazing,” Alera’s voice was quiet as she took in the awe inspiring sight of the area.

“She is,” Ethan answered her, still annoyed by her presence. He managed to get through the three day ride by ignoring both her and the heart wrenching ache that came from being around her. He knew he was taking out his frustration visibly, but he didn’t care. He just wanted to be done with Alera.

“Come on, Siv and Torag will probably meet us at the gate,” he, much more gently, nudged his mare forward towards the steep switchbacks of the final hill.

As she’d done before, Ethan’s mount expertly weaved her way down the familiar incline, Leah and Alera following as they rode single file down the narrow trail.

“Whoa,” Ethan tugged gently on the reins of his horse as he reached the bottom and waited for Leah and Alera to catch up.

Leah was just reaching the bottom, but Alera still had a quarter of the trail left. I bought her that horse, she could at least show a little gratitude for that. He thought bitterly. Truthfully, the guild had paid for Alera’s mount, and the required training, but Ethan had been the one to give her the gold from the bank.

“Hey,” Leah said as she caught up with him, interrupting Ethan’s bitter thoughts. “We’ve got a problem.”

“What’s up? How did your horse handle the hill?” He asked with a cautious look up at Alera.

“He did fine,” Leah ran her fingers through the animal’s black mane. “You’re the problem. You’re being an ass.”

“What?” He looked at her in mock confusion and shock.

“Your petty, passive aggressive comments are just you being a jerk to Alera.”

“Hey, I didn’t ask her to come!” Ethan tried to defend himself. “I said she should have gone with David and Miguel.”

“Again, a juvenile way of you not wanting to deal with your own issues!” Leah was practically shouting at him now. Ethan glanced up the hill to see how far away Alera was. “But more than that, she’s not really got ties to anyone here and she’s trying to rescue someone she’s never really met! You’re treating her like garbage.”

“What do you want me to do?” He shook his head. “Want me to pretend like I’m not hurt? Like everything okay? Want me to run to her and hug and kiss and make everything better? Because that’s not life, this isn’t a fairytale where everyone just gets better and gets over their problems at the end of a book just because that’s what someone wants!”

“I’m not asking you to try to love her,” Leah glared at him. “But you need to treat her like she’s an actual person, not a vile creature who exists just to hurt you.” She paused and sighed, “I know you’re hurting, and I do take the blame for that, even if you don’t want me to. But try to also look at it from her view. Alera did love you, very much. It hurt her to leave you, and when she left, I promised I’d try to fix everything.”

“You don’t-“

“I failed at that,” Leah shook her head and looked up at Alera. “Maybe I can’t fix what you two had, but that also doesn’t mean I’m going to let you treat one of my friends like she’s nothing.”

“Leah-“

“When she gets down here,” she interrupted him with another glare. “You’re going to be polite, even if you don’t want to. You don’t have to bend over backwards, but you will at least pretend to be considerate of her feelings.”

“Fine,” Ethan scowled and watched as Alera’s horse turned to start the last sloping section of the trail.

“If you don’t,” Leah said softly. “I know where you sleep, and I guarantee fire ants will find you.”

“Jesus, Leah,” Ethan grimaced at her in mild fear. She’d never threatened him before, but with her Druidic magic, he didn’t think this was just an idle threat.

Alera’s face was pale and her hands were shaking holding her reins when she finally caught up with them

“Are you okay?” Leah lept from her mount and rushed over to the Rogue.

“Yeah,” Alera nodded weakly as she dropped to the ground. “I just don’t, um, like heights.”

“Hey, listen,” Ethan looked on as Leah hugged Alera and began rubbing her back to comfort her. “We, um, we’ve only got a couple more hours left until we get to Skaro, but, uh, why don’t we take a quick break. Let you, um, rest.”

Leah looked up and smiled approvingly at Ethan before helping Alera back to her feet.

“You sure?” Alera looked in confusion between the two of them. “I know we’re in a hurry.”

“A quick break won’t slow us down that much,” Ethan halfway smiled at her. “We’re going to have to stay in Skaro for at least a couple of days. When I left, a friend of mine swore there’d be a feast when I returned.”

“I think that’s an excellent idea,” the radiant look on Leah’s face caused Ethan to roll his eyes as he walked away.

What the fuck is going on with me? Ethan wrapped his horse’s reins around a low hanging branch of a nearby cedar tree. He leaned back against the tree and slid down into a more comfortable relaxing position, facing away from his companions.

His concern was genuine. Leah had been right to call him out in his behavior. Ethan had started being rude to Alera, partly out of defense for himself. He wanted to see her as a cold hearted witch, so he’d been attacking her to justify his own hurt. It had quickly turned into a habit, if he kept her at a distance, then he wouldn’t have to confront his own conflicted feelings towards the blonde woman.

He uncorked his water skin and sipped slowly from the musky water. He could hear Leah and Alera talking in hushed whispers behind him, but he tried to ignore them. Maybe I can ditch her in Startesgarde, send her to Anvasa by herself, then stay to talk to Arianna and Sam. He rubbed his eyes with his hands, wishing he hadn’t suggested they stop.

“Hey,” Leah’s voice broke the peaceful quiet of the forest. “I just wanted to say, that was really sweet of you to take a break after Alera had a hard time.”

“Don’t mention it,” Ethan stared at the ground, trying to focus on a small trail of ants that seemed to be in a hurry trying to avoid him. “Really, I was getting saddle sore and needed to stretch out,” he lied.

“You know you could just talk to her, right?” She sounded impatient to him.

Ethan grunted as he stood up. “I could,” he admitted, “except I don’t want to.”

“Why not, Ethan?” Leah crossed her arms over her chest and stamped her foot. “You told me you understood why I did what I did, why can’t you forgive her too?”

“Because-“

An explosion of wood and stone next to him threw Ethan to the ground. His horse screamed in terror and took off at a full gallop as the tree she’d been tied to disintegrated.

The taste of blood filled his mouth as he scrambled on his hands and knees, trying to stand up amidst the cloud of dust.

“Ethan!” Leah’s hand grabbed him, faint green light emanating from her Druidic tattoos. He gratefully accepted her help in getting to his feet.

“What was that?” Ethan yelled, still disoriented.

“I don’t-“

“'ugh. bIval 'e' Dachaw'nIS.” An earth shaking roar thundered from behind them as another boulder smashed into another tree. Ethan dove out of the way of the massive stone, pushing Leah from its path.

“Alera!” He shouted as he scrambled back to his feet, pulling Leah up with him.

“Here!” She appeared in a flash of blue light.

“jImejtaH 'e' vIchaw'nIS!” Another roar echoed through the forest, followed by crashing footsteps.

“Get ready,” Ethan ripped his seaxes from their scabbard, flames instantly igniting across the metal.

“What do you think it is?” Alera asked, crouching low and readying her weapons.

“No clue,” Ethan’s heart pounded heavy in his chest as the thundering footsteps grew closer. “Leah, be ready to heal us.”

“You sure?” Leah asked from behind him. “Don’t want me to try to root it and we can run to Skaro?”

The footsteps grew closer.

“Whatever this is,” he squeezed his fists against he handles of his blades, his rage rising from deep within him, “it just threw two huge boulders at us, I don’t think Entangling Roots is going to hold it.”

“There!” Alera shouted, pointing deep into the woods with one of her katars.

Ethan whipped his head in the direction she gestured and saw a massive figure looming between the trees. Holy shit.

The monster was easily fifteen feet tall and just as wide. Two curved tusks jutted out from its beastly face. It’s arms, thicker than tree trunks, ended in three fingered clawed hands. One of which was closed around an enormous club.

“What the fuck is that?” He heard Alera breathily whisper next to him.

“Some sort of troll,” Ethan muttered, his eyes focused on the beast.

“RARRRR!” The troll bellowed again and sprinted towards them on short, stubby legs.

“Alera, five seconds and then follow!” Ethan screamed as he released his inner rage. Flames erupted from his body as he dashed forward to meet the troll.

“Got it!” He barely heard her shout as blood pounded through his ears.

“AHHHH!” Ethan screamed a battle cry, his face contorted in a mask of fury as he charged towards his foe.

“HIja' tlhIngan ghotvam'e” The troll taunted him as it lumbered to a stop and slammed its massive club down at him.

Ethan dove out of the path of the club, rolled and stabbed his seaxes into the ground to halt his momentum. He ripped the sizzling blades from the ground and leapt towards the troll. His blades bit deep into the thick, grey skin of the troll’s left leg as he rushed past it.

Alera blinked in over his head, drove her blades into the leg Ethan just attacked and back flipped off. She landed on the monster’s colossal arm, slashed again, and pushed off towards the troll’s head. All before the the beast had a chance to release a guttural scream of pain.

“DIch 'oH leghlaw' Hoch.'” the troll howled as Her shining katars pierced her target’s hide near its shoulder. But before she could retreat, the troll grabbed her with its free hand and threw her into a tree. “choghob”

“ALERA!” Ethan roared in untempered rage as he sliced deep into the troll’s stumpy leg. Hot troll blood spewed out, coating his skin.

“I got her!” Leah sounded calm behind him as she, hopefully, brought Alera back up.

Ethan hacked and slashed into the grey monstrosity, but for all the damage he knew he had to be causing, the troll didn’t tire or slow down.

He sidestepped a stomp from the troll’s three toed foot, only to be knocked through the air as the troll swung with its club.

Bones in his back snapped like firecrackers as he collided with a tree. His rage vanished as he landed on the rocky ground. Ethan tried pushing himself back up, but his legs refused to move. Red and orange notifications flooded his view.

Health low: 42/405

You are paralyzed.

You are exhausted.

Ethan activated both of his emergency self heals, the pain is his body dulled to an aching throb as his HP slowly crept back up. But the debuffs remained.

“Retreat,” he yelled in futility as he tried to drag himself away from the troll. “Leah, Alera, fall back!” If he died, they’d lose only the Skarobjorn. If all three of them were forced to respawn, then they wouldn’t be able to muster any sort of army

Ethan watched helplessly as the troll slammed its foot into the dirt, sending a shockwave of tremors that flipped Alera into the air. Leah charged forward in the form of a massive lion to try to rescue her, but the troll ripped a boulder from the ground and hurled it at them.

The monster paused, as if waiting for the cloud of dust to settle before advancing on the women.

Get up! Blink out! Do something! He involuntary held his breath as he frantically watched for his guildmates to appear.

A split second later, he could see clearly. Both Leah and Alera were laying on the ground, not moving at all.

“Leah!” Ethan screamed, his voice cracked in fear as the troll turned its ugly head to face him.

“jIQoS,” it spat out at him and advanced on his downed friends. “yImejnIS”

“Alera!” Ethan tried to drag his mangled body towards them. He pulled on roots and rocks, his legs trailing uselessly behind him. “I’m sorry, Leah!” He sobbed facedown into the dirt.

Thud! Thud! CLANG!

“ghaH tlhej!” the troll bellowed in what sounded like rage and pain.

“Pull!” A booming voice rang out in the forest. “Pull!”

Ethan raised his head up and saw two spears embedded in the back of the troll, one of them had a heavy chain attached to the haft. Using what little energy he had left, he twisted and turned to find their saviors.

“Tie that off!” Torag Toragsson, Second to War Leader Siv Korisdottir of the Skarobjorn, stood grim faced, heaving against a thick metal chain. “Healer Bransam, attend to the wounded!”