Niall tossed his shield to one side and flew after the Bulvine archer. A flicker of a cloak to one side showed him he had not left it too late. Niall grit his teeth and pumped his legs harder. Those extra points of Endurance and Strength had to be worth something. All he knew was that he could not let the archer escape as, if she was out there, she would rain death on his colleagues.

Step by step he gained on her. Just as he was almost close enough to thrust his spear into her leg, she spun around and Niall had to jerk to a halt to avoid being slashed by a hand axe. Instinctively he glanced down to make sure the blade had not hit.

By the time Niall looked up, the Bulvine archer had taken off again. She had not pushed her advantage and that gave Niall hope that, if she was fleeing rather than fighting, he had a chance against her. He sped after her, but after a couple of steps he stopped and forced himself to think rather than to simply react. The forest around him was still with no sight or sound of her passing. She was fast, but there was no way she had managed to get away that quickly. Her skills were in ambush and ranged attack, so she would want to play to her strengths.

He slowly turned in a circle with his spear at the ready. Something about a shadow under a bush a few metres away did not feel right. He did not allow himself to react, but instead carried on turning. As his circle mean that he faced the bush, he jumped towards it. An arrow that flew just past his cheek showed that he had made the right choice.

He was not given a chance to celebrate that thought as the archer was upon him. Her bow useless at close quarters, she pressed him with slashes from the axes that she held in each hand. At this range, Niall’s spear was useless and it was all he could do to avoid being hit. Seeing her advantage, the Bulvine continued to attack, not allowing Niall to draw his short sword. Although he was able to dodge the worst of the blows, shallow cuts began to open on his arms and body.

Niall ground his teeth in frustration. He could tell that the archer was well trained, but not exceptional, in the use of her hand axes, her strengths clearly lay in archery and tracking. Nonetheless, without the ability to counterattack, Niall knew he had to do something before he was overwhelmed. Not allowing himself to think about the potential consequences Niall hurled the spear towards the Bulvine archer’s legs.

She glanced down for a second to dodge the strike and ensure it did not trip her. However, that was never Niall’s goal, it was the moment of distraction it created that he wanted. Hard won muscle memory earned from weeks of practice allowed him to draw his short sword and slash toward the Bulvine’s face in a single motion. She looked back up a second too late as Niall’s sword cut deep across her face and she stumbled backwards. Niall was already moving forward and his sword tore across her throat. She fell, her body snapping Niall’s spear in two as it hit the ground.

Niall looked at her as her eyes glazed over, then the sounds of the ongoing fight brought him back to himself. He sheathed his sword and was about to race back when he paused. A quick movement and he had scooped up the Bulvine’s longbow and slung her quiver of arrows onto his back. Now he ran, the clash of steel pounding steel urging him forwards.

On the edge of the clearing Niall took a moment to evaluate the state of the battle. Things were not going well for the Gwillish troops. They had managed to kill four of the Bulvine but the cost was high. Two of Squad 15 lay still while, from what he could see, all of Niall’s Patrol except for Tierra were either dead, or injured so badly they were no longer of any use in the fight.

Against all of his instincts, Niall fought the urge to try to heal them. If any of them were going to survive this, he needed to engage in the ongoing fight. In the centre of the clearing the roles had been reversed with the three Bulvine now with the upper hand. The remaining four members of Squad 15 and Tierra fought in a defensive square, with the lines on their face betraying their weariness. Even as Niall looked on, one of Squad 15 defended a little too slowly and her knee crumpled under a blow from a Bulvine war hammer. Argon let out a roar and stepped to stand over and defend his fallen comrade. He fired off his Skill to push them back for a moment, but it was clear that she would not be taking any more part in this fight.

Niall shook his head and nocked an arrow. As he lifted it up to aim, he took in a deep breath. For a moment he felt he could be back outside Devon’s smallholding simply practising at his makeshift archery range. He paused for a moment then released. The arrow pierced the arm of one of the Bulvine and it roared in pain. Hours of practice had paid dividend.

Even as the other Bulvine looked to identify this new threat Niall had fired another two arrows. One flew harmlessly through the middle of the enemy combatants, but the other plunged into another Bulvine’s thigh forcing it to drop to its knee. Niall silently thanked Gwen for all of her patience in training him.

Invigorated by this unexpected support, the Gwillish fighters summoned the strength to press an attack. As the fight degenerated further, Niall realised that he could not fire again without hitting his own comrades. He dropped the bow. The time for fighting in the shadows was over. He drew his sword and plunged into the clearing.

The largest of the three remaining fighters looked at him as he approached. Without stopping his blows, he looked at Niall intently then barked out a sentence. One of the other Bulvine glanced at his leader, then at Niall, before shouting a reply. Without further warning the Bulvine then turned and raced into the forest.

This time Niall did not need to think. He changed direction and dashed after the fleeing Bulvine. He had only taken a few steps before he sensed the other two Bulvine charging at him. He flung himself to one side even as the point of a sharp horn sliced through his arm. As he rolled to his feet, the Bulvine fighters continued to come at him with no sense of self preservation. It made no sense but he had no time to think about it.

For the next few minutes Niall could do nothing but focus on the fight in front of him. However, with only two Bulvine remaining, the outcome was inevitable. A few fierce moments of fighting later and the last Bulvine dropped with Tierra’s spear in its side. Neither of the two Bulvine warriors that had stayed offered their surrender, even when their defeat was assured. In fact, they looked to be trying to prolong the encounter rather than to kill more of the Gwillish fighters.

The fight over, Niall slumped with weariness as the adrenaline drained away. With the sounds of battle silenced, the groans of the injured could be heard. Niall stumbled over to the worst hurt of the downed fighters and started to push his Spirit into them. He was glad of something active to do. This was his first fight against trained warriors and he was not sure he was ready to process it.

***

Two hours later, the Healing was done. The cost had been high, but not as bad as Niall had feared. Squad 15 had thrown themselves into the thick of the fighting and took the worst of it with two of their members having died, while only one member of his patrol, a new member called Xander, had been killed.

Niall was relieved that he was not the highest levelled Healer there. Argon took that prize. It was only thanks to his efforts that Huff did not lose an eye, although it took both him and Niall to create a healing cradle in order to save it. However, others were not so lucky. Thea, had lost her leg from below the knee. It was all that Argon could do to stabilise her even with Niall’s aid.

Despite all of their skills, there was nothing that either of the Healers could do to bring back the dead. It was a difficult decision, but carrying the bodies back would put the living at risk. All that they could do for them was to bury them in marked graves and vow not to forget them. Niall knelt and placed a final stone on the grave that they had dug for Xander’s body with painful emotions running through him. Yet another member of his patrol had died under his command.

Argon came over and sat beside him. “Are you OK?”

“Does it become any easier?” Niall spoke without looking up.

“I’ve now had more than twenty members of my squad die while I was in charge. I remember every single one, and I often lie awake thinking about what I could have done differently. So no, it doesn’t get any easier.”

“How do you go on?”

“Some can’t. I know lots of people who had to leave the service because of it. As for me, I tell myself that if I give up then there will be one less person standing between us and the enemy. Without me here even more people would die. At least that’s what I’ve convinced myself is the truth.”

Argon stood up. “Take another couple of minutes then we need to move on. Let’s not lose any one else. I want to get Thea back to base as soon as possible. There may be some of the Healers there who can do something to regrow her leg. We need to go for as long as we can, but we’ll need to stop for the night eventually. With how tired everyone is, we’ll just end up with more injuries if we try to go through the night. Did you spot anywhere decent for us to set up camp when you were scouting earlier?”

Niall looked around. He had not even noticed that it had got dark. He stood and joined the others. “The Bulvine had already found a good spot to set up.” he said. “They left their packs there. It might be worth going to camp there.” He gave a small humourless laugh. “They aren’t going back.”

Argon shook his head. “Staying there is a bad idea. If the Bulvine follow their standard operating procedures there’s unlikely to be another Bulvine patrol in the area, but I’m not taking that risk. But we should briefly go there to see if they’ve left any useful behind.”

Two people stayed with Thea while Niall led the rest to the Bulvine’s campsite. It did not take long. Argon looked around at them all. “Grab a pack and go through this. See if there’s anything useful, maps, orders, anything written. Even if you can’t read it, we should bring anything we can easily carry back with us. Intelligence will take whatever we can get. Ten minutes and then we’re out of here.”

Niall grabbed a pack, pulled everything out and put in on the rock next to him. There was not a lot. A blanket, a sharpening stone, rations and a pack of spare arrow heads, some fletching and binding. This was clearly the pack of the archer that he had killed. He was about to stuff it all back in when he spotted something in an internal pocket. He had missed it the first time.

He reached in and pulled out a piece of parchment. The creases and the sweat marks spoke to something that had been folded and unfolded many times. He felt a trickle of excitement. This must be important if it had been hidden away so carefully.

He opened it out. It was a picture, childishly drawn, of three Bulvine. Two larger, one horned and the other hornless, with a smaller Bulvine standing next to them. The hornless Bulvine held what we clearly meant to be a bow. There were some words, in a script that Niall didn’t recognise, clumsily written across the top. Niall sat and stared at it. For some reason he found it hard to breathe.

Memories flooded over him. A birthday. A handmade card from a younger sister. Small hands that wrapped around his middle the second he walked through the front door after school. A chattering voice that used to annoy him with the nonsense that it spouted, but a voice he would give anything to be annoyed by once more.

Huff looked over at him. “Did you find something good?”

Niall stood and handed him the piece of parchment before walking to the treeline at the edge of the clearing. He remained there, shoulders shaking, until Argon gave the order to leave.