Patrick woke up in his bed wondering if it was all a dream when he felt something in his hand. It was the medallion, so the dream was real. He sat up to get out of bed and something clattered to the floor. Looking down it was the spear Dorian made for him. Picking up the spear he rushed to the spare room where he found his sister sitting up in her bed holding her head. The golden fox was awake, laying in the pile of covers looking at Jules.

“Are you all right Jules?”

“Yes. I just have a bad headache. Can you get some tyth root?” Patrick’s eyebrows raised in surprise. She never uses her voice.

Patrick grabbed the jar of herbs from the kitchen and handed it to her. Jules opened the jar quickly sorting through packets of herbs until she found what she wanted. She removed a sliver of root and started chewing it. It took a few minutes, then she handed the jar back, and he returned it to the kitchen. He wished the herbs could be stored in inventory, but these were all fresh. Putting them in inventory would kill them, lowering their potency.

“Can you communicate with our little friend?” Patrick says pointing at the fox.

Jules nodded looking at the fox who sat up to stare back. After a few minutes, she said mentally.

He says that while they made it back to the mortal realm, he is afraid the Lord may be able to find him here. I told him he can’t leave yet with his injuries.

He was worried about Jules. If he hadn’t seen the fox as a young boy in the Ghost Wood, he probably wouldn’t hesitate to make him leave. He just can’t do that now.

“I could take him to the caves in the foothills to the North.”

We need to all stick together. There is no telling how they are tracking the fox. They may show up here even after you left for the caves.

“Very well. We will make a sling so I can carry the fox and we will head to the caves.”

Jules nodded and he started packing up everything they would need for the trip. It took them about thirty minutes to get ready. Jules set up a sling that Patrick could wear on his back to carry Dorian. It was early, so they should be able to make it to the caves by midday if they hurry. At noon they stop to eat a quick meal with Jules feeding the fox while he rested on Patrick’s back. They have been pushing themselves and were both sweaty and tired. He hoped Lord Sunridge could not follow them, but there was no way of knowing.

About an hour later, after entering a clearing they got an answer. It’s not the one they were hoping for. Sitting on a rock waiting for them was a large man wearing clothes that just yelled money. He was perfectly groomed and didn’t have a speck of dirt on him. Inspecting him showed he was Lord Sunridge with no other information.

“Well you finally arrived.” Lord Sunridge said standing up and dusting himself off. “Imagine my surprise when my men didn’t return from the spirit realm, but I find their medallions here moving to the northern foothills. Now you obviously have some skills to be able to handle Jacob and Bishop. There is no chance you can handle me. Give me the fox and my medallions back and we can discuss your employment.”

“You want to hire us?” Patrick asked surprised. This couldn’t get any more surreal.

“Of course. You are very resourceful to have beaten Jacob and Bishop. You must have some excellent skills. You will find I can help you develop them quickly. I reward my people well and you can have a bright future. Or you can refuse of course, but in that case, you are not making it out of this clearing alive.”

“You aren’t worried we can handle you like we did Jacob and Bishop?”

“Not at all.” Sunridge said with a genuine smile.

This guy was not right in the head Patrick thought. He set the fox down gently on the ground and grasped his spear tightly. He thought at Jules wishing for her and the fox to run after he attacked. Hopefully he could deflect Sunridge’s attack like he did earlier with Jacob.

“I can see you are going to be foolish about this aren’t you? Well let’s get this over with. I have important things to get to.” Sunridge clapped his hands and when he pulled them apart a ball of fire over a foot across formed between them. In the blink of an eye the ball hurtled at Patrick. Luckily his spear moved on its own and smashed the ball back at Lord Sunridge. The ball struck a barrier around the Lord and exploded scorching the grass to ash in a ten-foot circle. When the fire and smoke were blown away by the wind, Sunridge stood there unharmed chuckling.

“Well, well, you have a spirit weapon. What a surprise, but excellent. The fox will be able to give me exactly what I want.”

Crap, his weapon only had five spirit points left. Jules and the fox also hadn’t left. He was just getting ready to run when a purple bolt of energy flew out of Jules’ head. Unlike when she hit Bishop, it hit a barrier like the ball of fire.

Sunridge laughed in delight this time. “A mental skill as well. No wonder you beat Bishop and Jacob.”

Jules hit him with another mental bolt with no more affect than the first, other than the Lord seemed to be enjoying himself even more.

Sunridge gestured and lightning began to crackle over his hands. Patrick had a bad feeling about this. He ran in front of Jules just as a bolt of lightning leapt from Sunridge’s hands toward Jules to be intercepted by his spear. The bolt swatted him to the side. He landed on my back about fifteen feet away with his muscles spasming. Getting to his feet slowly he shook his head to try to clear it.

“Wow, that looked like it hurt. Looks like that weapon only blocks attacks directed against you.” Sunridge rubbed his chin with a thoughtful look on his face. “I wonder how it would handle an area effect spell that included you? Let’s see shall we?”

A jolt of fear shot through him. Patrick didn’t think they were going to make it out of this. Jules wasn’t going to leave without him. He braced himself when Sunridge gestured again. This time an arc of flame expanded into a wall twenty feet across and ten feet high that roared toward him. He didn’t want to deflect this back to Sunridge, just parry it. This time the spear jumped in his hand when the flames approached. The heat was intense until his spear swept in a vertical cut through the wall, which parted around him. Looking behind him, the opening in the wall closed back up, and the wall continued into the trees igniting them.

Soft clapping could be heard from Sunridge as he was practically dancing. “Truly amazing. Are you sure you both haven’t changed your mind? I am in a very good mood today and feeling generous.”

Both Jules and Patrick were silent.

“Tsk… Well let’s finish this then.”

Sunridge began to gesture quickly. Bolts of intense fire ignited in the air in front of him. One after another streaked at Patrick, which he parried until the fifth one, which detonated when his spear struck it. A notification informed him of the bad news.

Warning: Spirit points exhausted.

Warning: Health below 10%.

“Well looks like that is it for you.”

Sunridge turned to his sister and started gathering green flame. Patrick tried to stand and collapsed back to his knees when a wave of nausea hit him. Suddenly there was a weird spitting sound. A round object struck the barrier around Sunridge with a wet smacking sound. Inspecting it revealed something interesting.

Item Description: Head of Jacob Landry.

Sunridge just started to look up from the head, when a roaring beam of golden light struck the barrier surrounding him. The barrier only lasted a second or two before the beam cut through it with a resounding crack. The beam hit the Lord high in his chest, dissolving his flesh like butter on a hot skillet. The beam moved up to Sunridge’s head, which simply exploded, then stopped. Patrick didn’t realize how loud it was until it cut off.

Patrick staggered around to search for the source of the beam and found a monstrous golden fox that stood ten or twelve feet at the shoulder. At first, he thought it was staring at Jules, but actually it was looking at Dorian who was crouched at her feet. He held his breath until the huge fox looked up at them all and shimmered. Before he knew it a beautiful woman with golden hair and eyes dressed in a creamy white robe was walking over to Dorian to pick him up.

“I am Gabriel and it would seem thanks are in order for helping my son. I see he even crafted you a weapon.” She made a lazy gesture and a wave of golden light surrounded all of them. Patrick’s health shot up rapidly to 100%. Inspecting Jules showed she was at 100% as well.

“Well you also seem to have medallions to enter the spirit realm. I think we should have a long talk about possibilities, what do you say?”

Patrick looked at Jules who nodded.

“Excellent, let’s go somewhere more private.” With another gesture, a portal opened leading into the Ghost Wood on the other side.

Patrick took Jules’ hand and followed Gabriel through the portal. They were going to survive after all. He couldn’t help the grin that split his face from ear to ear.