Surprised, both swordsmen turned in the opposite direction to where Philippa was standing. Reflexively, they both dodged the lightning-fast arrow, which narrowly missed William's head. He stared wide-eyed at the archer, who stood about 30 meters away from them and silently lowered her bow. Ben was about to say something when William felt a tremendous force coming at them from behind, and in the same move he turned to parry Cale's blow. But the latter gave him no time to think, knocked Ben to the ground with a powerful kick and pulled out his second hand. Instinctively, William tried to defend himself and disarmed Cale, but the latter had deliberately dropped his sword. Cale closed under William's defence, stood behind him, grabbed him by the chest and held a pointed dagger against his neck.

For a moment there was silence. William nervously dropped his weapons and raised both hands slightly in the air in surrender. Ben, on the other hand, picked himself up off the floor and coughed hard, for the blow had struck him full force in the chest, and he was having difficulty breathing. In the corner of his eye, William noticed that Aletta also stood up and held out her hand. A moment later, they could feel her releasing magic, healing Ben - at a great distance. Ben noticed he was breathing easier and steadied his heartbeat as he breathed deeply in and out, looking at Aletta with thanks.

"That wasn't fair," he said afterwards, but he met Cale's serious gaze and was puzzled why he didn't let go of William.

"You think so?", threw Cale's harshly, causing William to cringe at the threat. He could clearly feel the warm blade against his neck and wondered how long Cale had carried it. Mentally, he went over the last few weeks, but for the life of him he couldn't remember ever seeing a dagger. "Do you seriously think a fight would be fair?"

Slowly, the High Mage eased away from the prince, who unconsciously grabbed his neck and turned around. He watched Cale make the dagger disappear under his shirt and stared at him in disbelief. Cale hadn't cast any magic, he'd been carrying this weapon around all day long, but under his dark clothes and cloak it was undetectable.

"Your first lesson, you both did wonderfully. You worked together, you looked out for each other, and you both paid attention to your surroundings as well. Just last week the arrow would have hit you for sure", Cale began his lesson, raising his hand and pointing it at Philippa. The archer nodded silently and dropped back to the ground as if nothing had happened. Aletta did the same, which sent a shiver down William's spine. He had caught the movements of the two girls, but there was no way he had expected an attack from them, any more than he had expected an attack from Cale. "That brings us to your second lesson. Don't assume a fight is fair."

Cale extended his hand to the man lying on the ground, who accepted it gratefully and with a jerk stood back on his feet. Carefully, he began to pat the sand from Ben's clothes.

"We're not in the palace. You won't find a fair one on one out here. You must be prepared to be attacked anytime, anywhere", he continued monotonously. Ben looked up in surprise and glanced at William, who was silently listening to the lesson. Cale's choice of words had surprised him a little, but William didn't seem to mind too much. Was there a chance that he knew it too by now? "You must understand how unpredictable a fight like this can become. Do not assume that your opponent will give in when you are down. Try to avoid the situation, otherwise you will die."

The mage let go of Ben and turned to the prince.

"That goes for you too. If you're already dropping your weapons and surrendering, plan your next moves immediately. When you realize I'm about to slit your throat with that dagger, do something about it."

William nodded simply. He had been a little puzzled as to why Cale was suddenly cracking down, but he understood his intention behind it. When something like that happened to you, you never forget it for life. And this moment, when his heart slipped into his pants, he would certainly not forget.

"And one more note. I think you are only now understanding it. Fight with what you have at your disposal. Use your hands, use your feet, use other weapons, use the weather to your advantage, even that stupid sand you can throw in your opponent's eyes as long as you survive."

With his last movement, Cale dragged his foot through the light sand and kicked up some dust. For a moment he stopped and watched it slowly trickle back to the ground and then strode past the two swordsmen as he declared the training over. Ben stepped to William's side and both followed Cale with their eyes as he walked back to the camp. They could only make out his silhouette as the bright fire blurred his outline with the darkness.

"Did you notice he had a dagger?", spoke up Ben, to which William shook his head.

"No, but he must have been carrying it the whole time, he didn't use the magic as promised. I would have noticed that."

"Yes, I realised that too. I wonder how long he had planned to do that today", Ben murmured. William asked himself the same question. He actually had some questions for him, but he couldn't come up to him all the time and bug him with personal questions, it wasn't proper. Cale was very shut out with them anyway. If Cale had told him the other day that he was 22, William would easily guess three times that. Sometimes his easy-going manner would suddenly disappear and William would feel as if he were talking to a veteran who had lived through a war. Which, in a way, might be true, thinking of Groka. "Did Cale tell you that he knew about us?"

"Yes, he told me and apologised to me for hiding it", the prince replied hesitantly as his friend's statement brought him out of his thoughts. Ben's subsequent sigh, however, made him instantly suspect that that had not been all. "How do you know that? Did he mention anything to you?"

"His statement just now. When he said we're not in palace anymore. I actually thought he was hiding it from you."

"How long have you known about this?", asked William of his friend incredulously. For would Ben have told him something so relevant on his own, but why didn't he this time? Was there a reason for this, or had Cale simply asked him not to mention anything.

"I don't know exactly, when had he officially introduced himself as a High Mage?", explained Ben. He knew before William did, which William immediately realised. Surprised, William did not answer his friend and started moving a few seconds later. Hastily, Ben strode after him, a little puny because he felt guilty. "Are you angry with me for not telling you?"

"No, not really. I trust you and I trust Cale. You'll have your reasons", William replied, much to Ben's relief. Side by side, they walked back to camp and watch as Cale talked to Philippa.

"Do Aletta and Phil know?", the brown-haired man asked as he scratched his chin.

"I don't think so, or did you say something?"

"No, I didn't say anything. I'd never mentioned anything to Cale either."

"All right, all right. Cale had confessed to me that he recognised me", he announced with a laugh, patting his friend on the shoulder and settling down by the fire a moment later. His gaze lingered on Philippa, who looked past Cale and fell silent. "So, how did it feel when you fired your arrow at me?"

"I hope you realise I wasn't doing it for fun", she instinctively defended herself. William had to laugh out loud when the usually relaxed Philippa suddenly replied in deadly earnest. Relief enveloped Philippa, which is why she lowered her head again and looked into the fire. Cale, on the other hand, moved aside to inquire about Aletta's experience while the others continued their conversation. "It was a strange feeling. I've been watching you all these days, and somehow I got a feel for the way you move and the kind of attacks you make. I knew at that moment that I was going to hit you, but also at the same time I knew you were going to dodge. I mean... it's hard to explain. I had concerns about hitting you seriously, of course, but I ignored the concerns because Cale would have surely intervened."

William listened to the explanation with interest. It was strange to see the experiences of the last few weeks from a different perspective. He had almost never used the bow, so he had a hard time imagining how it might feel to her, but he knew how good she was with it. To be able to take such an accurate shot at speed and drop all inhibitions, that was a huge step and a hell of a lot of confidence.

Suddenly a question popped into William's head.

"Was that the first time you shot at a human?", he asked curiously, watching Philippa lower her gaze. She poked at the fire in front of her a few times before answering.

"Yes."

William's attention wandered to Cale, who had definitely heard the statement but showed no reaction. Immediately, William wondered if he had been planning this evening for some time. At first, he assumed that Cale merely wanted to introduce his second lesson, but all at once he realised something. Not only himself and Ben, but also Philippa and Aletta benefited from the lesson. It was quite possible that he had directed the fight in such a way as to give the girls a lesson as well. Considering, Philippa had never had to kill a human before and Aletta was generally inexperienced when it came to fighting.

How far ahead had Cale planned? Had they played right into his hands? What else would await him, and what was Cale's intention in teaching them such a thing? Did he secretly assume that one day they would have to fight humans?

Reluctantly, William shook his head and sat down at the campfire as well. He wouldn't expect anything like that from Cale, but he couldn't deny it either. Considering how often he told them about the creatures, it had to be related to the attack on the capital. Maybe he was just being cautious and wanted to help them to be able to defend themselves in the worst case. Especially if they were travelling without him.

, the prince instantly recalled. Should he really ask Cale to accompany the group to Norgram? Considering that Cale was a High Mage, it seemed unlikely to him that this would even be possible. After all, he had been summoned to Exarion by the Elder himself, presumably because work was waiting for them. The likelihood was thus high that they would part ways as soon as she arrived in Exarion. And once he was in Norgram, he would have to say goodbye to the healer as well. The mere thought that he might never see her again saddened him. He had become so accustomed to the current situation that he felt anything else was alienating and wrong. William wanted to stay with them. With Ben, with Cale, with Aletta and also with Philippa.

But when would this dream he was currently living have been lived out?