I sat on the foot of Maddy's bed as the healer tended to her. Meri stood on the other side of the small room while Malik sat in the spare chair. After wrapping and cleaning the wound, the woman placed her hand on Maddy's head. A soft blue light emitted from her palm. Everyone in the room watched the process silently over the next few minutes. She took her hand away and checked the bandages. Seeming pleased with her work, she turned to Malik.

They talked as if old friends while she examined him. Malik had used this same healer multiple times in the past, which made convincing her to see us on such short notice easier. Not to mention, she was the only healer in town. While she busied herself taking care of Malik, I inquired about Maddy. “Is Maddy going to be alright?”

My interruption during her examination annoyed her, and she wasn't shy about showing it. Her bed side manner could use some work. “Do you really think I'd be acting so casually if that wasn't the case young one? I poured my magic into her, and didn't find any traces of brain damage. When she wakes up she'll probably feel nauseous and dizzy, but it will pass."

She finished wrapping Malik's head and placed her hand over it. The same soft blue light appeared. I pushed her for more information. “So when will she wake up?”

The healer shrugged. “It could be two minutes or it could be two days. She'll wake up soon enough. I could easily awaken her right now if I so desired. So there's no need to be concerned about that.”

“If you can wake her up then why haven't you?” I figured that it would be the obvious thing to do.

She laughed as if I asked what color the sky was, or some other equally stupid question. She replied. “We heal more quickly when asleep. Healers can't perform miracles you know. Even the most skilled healers in the world have their limits. All I did was use my mana to direct her body to repair the most critical areas and sped up the healing process. The longer she sleeps the less pain and dizziness she'll feel. I recommend you let her sleep, she'll wake up when she's ready.”

After taking her hand away from Malik's head she examined him one last time. “You may experience some blurry vision within the next forty eight hours. If that happens, come see me. Besides that, rest up and don't do anything strenuous.” She gave him a stern look until he finally nodded in agreement.

To think, even someone as strong as him could be foiled by a stray brick. I guess it went to show, no matter how strong someone may be, they weren't immune to a freak accident.

She turned her attention to me and spoke in a curt manner. "Take off your shirt".

At least I was starting to get a little definition. Sadly, I doubted anyone would find my bruised skin attractive. She lightly touched around my chest and ribs as she inspected each one. “Does it hurt when I do this?” She lightly pushed on each individual rib.

I cringed and let out a quick breath. “No, I'm making this face for fun. Can't you tell?”

She was not amused by my cheeky comment. The force she put into her tiny fingers increased a miniscule amount. That was still enough to double the amount of pain I was feeling. “This isn't the time to speak brashly. I don't want to be here all day you know."

Doesn't anyone in this damn world have a sense of humor? I swallowed my follow up zinger. Too bad, it was a really good one. “They all hurt. I'm pretty sure everything on the left side is broken. My right rib cage is hurt too, but not as severely. It might just be fractures or bruising. That's my guess anyway.”

She nodded while continuing to feel every rib individually. “You got lucky, or someone picked out some very good armor for you. In either case your organs seem fine.”

She put her hands to my ribs. The same blue light came out, only this time she use both hands. I guess it was due to the size of the injured area. At first there was only a minor tickling and burning sensation. Then a few sharp stabs of pain. I could actually feel my bones moving within my body. I tried not to cry out as they were adjusted back into their original position.

After being set in place, I could feel them being tentatively mended together. I sat still while taking slow and shallow breaths. Only the ticklish and slightly burning sensation remained. She finally took her hands away and slumped, ;etting in a deep breath. I guess I used up a lot of her mana.

She rubbed her eyes while she spoke to me. “Absolutely no combat until you're fully healed. I would recommend another healing session tomorrow morning and the morning after that. There's nothing else I can do for now. You're body needs time to recover from the stress of healing. If you decide you don't want to pay for the sessions, it will take about four weeks to fully heal by yourself. The choice is yours.”

She gave Meri a cold glance. “I take it your beastkin is alright?” I didn't like the way she said beastkin. Maybe she didn't detest them, but I got the impression she wouldn't touch her if she didn't have to.

"She's fine." I tried to keep the displeasure out of my voice. There was no reason to go out of my way to piss this woman off just to make some silly point.

“My price for healing your group is five silver pieces. If you want two more sessions with me that will be 5 pieces more, paid in advance.” I took 10 silver pieces out of Maddy's purse. It would save us money and time in the long run. Plus, my ribs still hurt. I don't consider myself a wuss, but I’m not one of those macho idiots that bares with pain when I don't need to. With our money in hand and appointments set, the healer excused herself from the room.

With Meri assured that Maddy and I would be okay, her exhaustion finally won out. While she didn't have any serious injuries, she used more energy than all of us combined. She slowly climbed into her bed, looking ready to pass out. Seeing how tired she was, her willpower to have stood up for all this time must be amazing.

I would never say it to her face, but I thought she would be the one to get seriously hurt first. The way she moved was incredible. I told the girls not to come with me. Yet now I was the one feeling left behind.

Back in the dungeon, when she told Malik to put out the torches I instantly knew what she was planning. As I crawled over to extinguish the final flame, a chilling feeling came over me. I've never felt so helpless in all my life. Not when I was auctioned off and not when I was a slave of the Armingtage house.

I wasn't in fighting condition, but I had my sword nearby and I could still see and move a bit. It was unlikely I could've done much, but I could have done something at least. No matter how small, I clung on to a single shred of self determination.

Once I put that torch out, I had no choice but to leave everything up to Meri. We would all live or die depending on her alone. Being able to trust in your friends is a great thing, but I have to be honest, I hated that helpless feeling. The feeling of waiting in the dark for either a friend to save you or a monster to kill you. I made a promise with myself to never be that helpless again.

If I had to depend on others, then I'd never be strong enough to save my sister. Putting the burden of the task on someone else was not an option. No, that would be my cross to bare alone. I would make sure that from this moment on, I was the one who would face the biggest dangers.

All that being said, I couldn't let my frustrations get the better of me. It was best to just consider it a part of the learning process. I got bailed out this time. Accept it and move on. I'm sure everyone on the path to power that survives has a similar experience at some point.

Malik stood up from the chair and stretched. "I'll be on my way. I still have that sack of loot that we need to exchange. You lot feel free to rest up. You can pick up your coin at the outpost whenever you're ready." He turned to leave.

“I'll go with you.” I stood up, moving slowly.

He gave me an exasperated expression. “You trust me to watch your back in a dungeon, but not with a small amount of coin? That seems a bit paranoid.”

I waved away his concern. "Its not that. I need to get out of this room in any case. Since I'm getting up I may as well go with you. I'm curious how much we were able to make today. I also need to fulfill my end of the bargain when it comes to getting you what we agreed upon, right?"

Malik looked into the distance, which was a little odd considering we were still in a small room. No doubt he was picturing June and himself doing something. A small indecent grin formed on the side of his face only to vanish just as quickly. When he looked at me, it was as if he was remembering I was still there.

Malik picked up the sack full of monster parts. I turned to say goodbye to Meri, but she was already starting to doze off. I quietly closed and locked the door to their room as I left. I tried to keep up with Malik's pace as we walked towards the outpost. I failed several times and had to ask him to slow down more than once.

We entered the outpost to see the same bored young man, just as I left him last time. If it wasn't for his clothes being a slightly darker shade of dreary gray I may have thought that he hadn't moved from that spot.

Malik dumped the bag full of monster parts on the counter without saying a word. I got the feeling he didn't get along with this kid anymore than I did. Barely bothering to give either of us any acknowledgment, he slowly sorted out the loot in front of him. “That's ten pairs of Red Bat fangs, three Demon Weasel horns and a Devil Goat's hooves and horns. How would you like that back? As sixty silver coins or two gold and ten silver coins?”

“Sixty silver coins.” We said those words at the exact same time. I noticed that like me, Malik didn't add a please at the end. This little brat didn't deserve it. The boy carefully placed the loot in a box and then counted out sixty silver coins. He left us at the counter as he took the box to the backroom. I was curious how this whole system worked, but this boy wasn't about to tell me and I wanted to deal with him as little as possible in any case.

Malik quickly counted out fifteen silver pieces and put them in his purse. I place the other 45 inside of Maddy's purse which I still had on me. For all the trouble we went through, it would only be 15 silver pieces per person, and that was before expenses. Not a very high amount for risking your life. I guess that's why there aren't more adventurers wondering around.

To make any real money you either had to go solo like Malik or level up enough so that you could go into the more dangerous dungeons. I got the strong impression that neither of those were the norm as far as the usual adventurer goes. With our business here finished, Malik and I took our leave and headed to the tavern.

Turning to me as we walked Malik asked. “By the way Bill, you never told me exactly how you would get me a date. Care to share that information?” I motioned him to stop and readjusted the bandages around his head so a little more of the soaked up blood could be seen.

“Just let me do the talking and agree with whatever I say.” I patted him on the shoulder as we continued on. As we walked into June's tavern I played up the pain in my side slightly. I didn't need to pretend that much, it was still tender. As we went to sit at the bar, I gave out a very noticeable wince as I took my seat. Seeing where I was going, Malik tried to copy me and play up his own injury. The barmaid didn't care much about Malik's, but did show concern over me.

“Jeez young man, are you okay?” She stood across from me with genuine worry on her face. I think I needed to take it down a notch. She looked as if she was about to run out of her tavern and track down a healer.

“Thank you miss, yes I'm fine. My party is okay too. We got pretty banged up down there, but we're all going to make it. Thank the Mother. It was more horrible than I could've ever imagined. I saw things that even my nightmares couldn't prepare me for. There is only one reason we made it out alive, this man sitting by my side.” I gave Malik a slight nod.

The barmaid didn't seem impressed. “Well, I always knew he was pretty strong. I'm glad your group is okay.” She went back to wiping the bar. So that wasn't enough for you June? Fine. I continued on with my prepared story.

“I tell ya, its funny June. You don't mind if I call you that do you? I never wanted to be an adventurer. I would've been happy to stay with my loving mom and dad along with my sweet little sister. We didn't have much. Only the small bakery, but we were happy. Luckier than most I knew. But then...” After a long pause to increase the effect, I started crying. I went all out turning on the water works. It made me glad there wasn't anyone else here.

She had no idea what to do. Drunk customers hitting on her were an easily dealt with and common occurrence. A customer crying their eyes out was not something she had to deal with often. She fetched me a clean rag and put her arm on my shoulder. “There there, it will all be okay. What happened?” I remembered the old saying, 'the best lies are mixed with truth'.

“A man from a powerful house came. Don't ask me which house, its better you don't know. In any case, he told us my uncle, who recently passed, owe the lord of the house money. Since he died, they claimed that the debt was ours. Being a man of great principle and courage, my beloved father told him that he refused to pay.” I rubbed my eyes with the rag and continued.

“The next day, coming home late from the bakery, I found my mother and father had been killed, the house had been ransacked with everything of value stolen and my sister was gone. Since that day, I've decided to go into the dungeons until I'm strong enough to get her back.”

I got my 'crying' under control. “When I told my story to Malik, he offered to watch over our group in the dungeon. When I tried to pay him to show my appreciation for his kindness, he insisted that all he would accept was a fair share of the loot. He made a solemn pledge that he would go with us as many times as we needed. We tried to refuse, surely we could never accept such a generous offer, but my dear friend Malik would have none of that.” I turned to Malik to see the shocked expression on his face.

I faced June. "He even promised to stop drinking too, just to make sure he'd be ready to go with us to the dungeon every morning. I know I’m taking advantage of his generous heart. All I can do is ask the mother to bring my sister back to me quickly, so that I can start making it all up to him. I know he'll refuse, being the man he is, but I’ll try in any case.”

I gave Malik a pat on the shoulder. “I never knew there would be another man I could look up to the way I did my father until I found him. At least he is allowing me to buy him a drink of what ever non-alcoholic beverages you have. That is all the thanks he will allow for saving three lives. Actually, make that two June, if you would be so kind.”

Malik stare daggers into my soul, as much as he could with June stealing glances at him. I knew what he was thinking. What the fuck was all this? I never agreed to that. Stay sober? Go down into the dungeon as much as we wanted with nothing but an even split? The deal was for him to help me once and I would get him a date. This little lying manipulative bastard.

I could see he was about to tell me where I could stick this load of horse shit, but June interrupted his thoughts as she stood directly in front of him. Bending down slightly to match the height of her face with the two of use sitting on the bar stools. “I never knew you had this side to you Malik. In that case, these next two drinks will be on the house.” She poured what smelled like a fruit juice into two cups and placed them before us.

Before she could leave, I waved her closer to me. “June, I know it's shameless to ask this, but I noticed before when I was in here Malik was asking you on a date. Has he done that before?”

She gave me a coy look. “You're not going to start too now are you? While you aren't terrible to look at, I don't go for guys as young as you.”

I laughed and waved her concerns aside. “You are a beauty to be sure, but I was going to ask something different. I have no money or ability to repay Malik for everything he's done for me. I know no matter what I try to do, I will never be able to help him like he has helped me. I feel great shame in that. You rightly turned him down of course. He was drunk at the time and you deserve a man who has his wits about him so that he can treat you the way you deserve”.

I took a drink before I continued. “I know it's shameless of me to ask you this, but please take him up on his offer. My father always told me, we should do whatever we can to repay our favors. I have been trying hard to be as good of a man as he was. I know what I ask is improper, but there's nothing else I can do to pay him back. So I ask, no I beg. In memory of my dear father. Please just this once, go out with him."

I bowed deeply. I was ready to fall to my knees and beg while I started up the water works again if that's what it took. I was laying it on a bit thick, but sometimes it needs to be laid on a bit thick. I needed to get my sister back and I needed Malik's help in the dungeons to do it. So I'd do whatever it took to get it. If I had to stoop to this level, then so be it. It was inconsequential if I could accomplish my goal.

I saw that June felt trapped. With me begging her on behalf of my dearly departed parents and missing sister, it was exactly how I hoped she would feel. The news of Malik showing such a heroic and generous side of himself didn't hurt either. June let out a sigh. “Okay, one date. But no promises after that!”

I gave June a tight hug. Partly to stay in character and partly out of pure joy. Joy at the thought of soon having Malik exactly where I wanted him. “Thank you so much! I'll be forever in your debt! I swear someday I’ll make it up to you if I can!” That last part was true. I would try to make it up to them both if I could.

I was manipulating things to get what I needed. That didn't mean I felt good about it. If possible, I would like to make it up to them once I got my sister back. She lightly pushed me off her, but she couldn't fully hide the small smile on her face. After telling me that making it up to her would be unnecessary, she left to clean some tables on the far side of the tavern.

Once she was gone Malik turned his full attention on me. Not looking the least bit pleased. “What the hell was all that? I never agreed to do that for you.” I could tell Malik was considering beating me to a pulp, injured or not. The only reason he didn't was now that he'd finally gotten a date with June he didn't want to blow it.

I shrugged. “Well, I got you your date didn't I? Not just that, if you play your cards right you could get a few more. The only reason she hasn't taken you up on your offer is due to your vices and personality. It isn't like there are a lot of options in this town. She's probably starved for a date. Just play it cool and don't be too needy.. Act like all the heroic stuff you're doing and will continue to do for us is no big deal.” I purposely emphasized the 'will continue to do' in that sentence.

Before Malik could say any more I finished my drink. “Spend less time being mad at me and more time thinking about what to do on your date.” I thought of adding in that if he didn't show up with us to the dungeons every day that I would tell June the truth and ruin this for him. Some things are better left unsaid, as long as they are understood.

With this matter sorted out I went back to the Inn, leaving June to get to know the sober Malik. He seemed like a decent enough guy. Rough around the edges but decent. I hoped it would work out between them. If Malik somehow blew it I would lose all my leverage. Whatever, it wasn't like he was going to come with me again in any case if I didn't do this. I had nothing to lose.

With nothing else to do, I decided to go back to my room at the Inn. A nice meal and some fresh water would be welcomed. Since I couldn't practice like this, I laid in my bed and went over all the fights I had been through. I tried to think of all the things I could have done better. I pictured them in my mind over and over again.

My first venture into a dungeon didn't go as well as I hoped, but at least my whole group made it out. We would be out of commission the next few days. Malik and Meri could go alone and probably be okay, but I wasn't going to let her take a risk unless I could do it too.

No, what I needed was to use these next few days effectively to increase our strength. I had an idea that had been floating around in my mind for a while. Now would be the perfect time. It was something we would need to do anyway before taking the test in all likelihood. I slept throughout the day. Waking only to eat and do some light movements so my body wouldn't become stiff.

After dinner had been finished I went over my plans for tomorrow in my head one last time before turning in for the night. I heard a soft knock on the door and sat up in my bed. “Come in.”

Meri opened the door and quietly closed it behind her, as if she was still nervous someone might catch her doing something that wasn't allowed. “Hello Bill, sorry to bother you. If I am intruding please tell me.”

I motioned for her to sit on the chair next to my bed as I sat up. “It's no bother, what's on your mind?”

She gave me a depressed look. “I was thinking about today. That if I had acted sooner instead of froze like a scared child Maddy and you wouldn't have gotten hurt. I wanted to apologize for my inaction and assure you that it will never happen again. I beg you to please overlook my failure.” It isn't often that someone apologizes for not saving your incompetent ass better.

I held up my hand as I spoke. “In the first place, I owe you an apology, not the other way around. I was the one that wanted to go into the dungeon, and in a rush to go I was completely unprepared. In the second place, I don't believe in that kind of thinking. We should learn from the past, but wallowing in regret never made anything better. I've had my fill of that already. My only focus is how to do better next time.”

Meri looked relieved that I wouldn't scold her and considered my words. “Do you have any ideas for how we can do that? Whatever you come up with, I shall try my best to accomplish it.”

I gave a slight chuckle at her earnestness. At least she was willing to talk more now. Baby steps. “We clearly won't be able to go back inside the dungeon as a group tomorrow. Even if only you and Malik went in, we can't be sure Malik is fully healed yet. There's no point taking a needless risk. We will need to take enough needful risk as is. In that case, I was planning on traveling tomorrow to the nearest magic guild. There's a large city close by that's sure to have one. I think it's time we all learn a few spells. That will be a safe way to increase our power while we're out of commission.

Meri tried to not show any emotions except for those which had to do with subservience, but even she couldn't hide a hint of excitement at the thought of learning magic. “Do you have any idea how the magic guilds work Bill?”

I nodded my head. “Malik told me a little about them. They make a lot of money selling their magic knowledge. Obviously no guild would ever sell their most powerful spells, but we don't need those right now anyway.”

I saw Meri pondering. No doubt imagining all forms of amazing magic. A thought came to mind. “Would you like to come with me Meri? If you don't have something you want to do here that is.” A soft smile appeared on her face.

She nodded. “I promise not to be in your way and shall do my utmost to be useful. Thank you for allowing this one to come with you.”

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “You're never in the way Meri. Also, I’m not allowing you to come with me. I'm asking if you want to. Not only is the choice yours to make, but it isn't like I could stop you from going if you wanted.”

Meri looked nervously before answering. “Then I thank you for believing this one is worthy of inviting, and I would be happy to come if it pleases you.”

Remember Bill, baby steps.