“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Sarah pressed.

“I think it’s a better one than just the six of us strolling into the Citadel,” Udoriol replied.

His mouth was set in a thin line as he sat across from Sarah. The five of them were riding in the same carriage that Grimald was driving out of fear of further betrayals. They were on their way to the city’s massive cathedral to seek the Church’s help in assaulting the Citadel. It was a risky move, but Hicham and Kurt were confident they could convince the Church to overlook Udoriol’s past transgressions for now.

“Are you sure your man can be trusted to send my message to the Grand Library?” Udoriol asked.

“If you asked me this morning, I’d say I trusted that man with my life,” Kurt said, “But after what happened back in my home, all I can say is that I’m more sure about him than anyone outside my own family.”

Udoriol nodded thoughtfully. In the corner of her eye, Sarah saw that John was fuming as he stared peevishly out of the window. She could understand his concern. He had made it clear that he was an advocate for the third position and would have long since walked away if she hadn’t insisted on staying.

And why not walk away? They certainly didn’t owe the people of this city anything, and she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if anything happened to John… So why was she so insistent on staying? Perhaps she had let herself get swept away by the moment while John had been concerned about nothing more than their safety. She took a moment to compose her thoughts and weigh her options. It didn’t take long for her to make her decision.

She placed her hand on John’s thigh and took a deep breath. “Gentlemen,” she said.

“What is it, my lady?” Hicham spoke first and John’s scowl deepened.

“I know this is abrupt, and couldn’t come at a worse time, but I’m afraid this job has long since become more than we signed up for and this will be where John and I will have to part ways with the rest of you,” she said.

A silence descended over the carriage. Sarah could see that John was stunned and squeezed his thigh. Moments later, Grimald brought the carriage to a stop and poked his head through the small window. “Well, I can’t say I blame ye, lassie,” he grinned, “In fact, I’m surprised you’ve made it this far.”

“And the rest of you?” she asked, looking around the carriage, “Are you alright with this?”

“The two of you are still young and have the rest of your lives ahead of you,” Udoriol said with an easy smile, “besides, you owe us nothing. I certainly won’t think less of you for leaving now.”

Grimald hopped down and opened the door. “I’d take the South Gate if I were the two of you. The last thing you want is any of those heretics recognizing you at the North Gate. You can take a ferry at Jordan’s Crossing. It’s about forty miles upstream from here.”

“Thank you,” Sarah said. She felt she should say something more but was at a loss as to what.

“Go on then, may the Pantheon watch over you, wherever you go.”

“I thank you for your efforts so far,” Kurt said, “and hope you come back when all this is over so that I can properly reward you.”

Sarah’s eyes widened. “I honestly expected a little more pushback.”

Udoriol laughed. “We can do that if you want.”

“Oh, I want to!” Hicham declared, looking at John, “The lady I can forgive, she should not be placed in harm’s way, but you? You know how high the stakes are!”

He then whirled around to face Udoriol. “They still have the rest of their lives ahead of them, you said, master. And what about me? I’m around their age too, you know?”

“And do you want to walk away?” Udoriol asked with an amused grin.

“Of course not!” Hicham declared indignantly.

“That’s what I thought.” The elf turned his gaze back to Sarah and John. “Well, if you’re leaving, be quick about it. We’re a little busy.”

“We won’t forget you,” Sarah said as she and a still bewildered John got off the carriage.

“When all this is over, you can come back and we’ll have a big old party,” Grimald said, slapping John on the shoulder, “and then we can go see Roldo together about our pay.”

“Are you going to see this through to the end?” Sarah asked.

The dwarf stroked his beard thoughtfully. “I might just follow your lead. My nose is telling me that this is bad news all around, but I’m not ready to walk away just yet.”

“Farewell,” Grimald said. He bowed low before climbing back onto the carriage.

“I can’t help but feel I’ll never see any of them again.” Sarah brushed away a tear as the carriage rolled away.

“They made their choice,” John said as they stood on the side of the busy road and watched as the carriage rounded a corner. “I have to say, I’m surprised you finally listened to reason.”

Sarah grabbed onto John’s arm and held it tight. “Thank you for waiting around until I did.”

“So, no regrets, whatever happens?” John ventured.

Sarah squeezed his arm. “None, as long as we’re together.”

She let go of his arm and smiled impishly up at him. “Although, if we did stick around and saved the day, that would have been more than enough for a triumphant return to Golton, wouldn’t it?”

John made a face. “More likely we’d have ended up dead.”

He shook his head. “There will be other opportunities.”

Sarah watched the corner where the carriage had disappeared from view and sighed.

“It’s not too late to go to the cathedral if you want to re-join them,” John offered softly.

Sarah shook her head. “No, my mind’s made up.”

She looked up at John and smiled brightly, “Now then, let’s leave this place and continue on our journey together.”

John broke into a smile and a Sarah realized it was the first time she’d really seen him smile since they’d arrived in the city.

“My lady,” John smiled as he bowed debonairly and offered her his hand.

Sarah broke into a broad grin and curtseyed formally. “My lord.”

“Where to now?” Sarah asked as they passed through the South Gate hand in hand, feeling very content. “Shall we go to the ferry crossing, or explore the Southward Expansion?”

John looked to the rolling hills to the south and said, “I’m thinking we head south for a spell, see what we missed out on when your parents refused to let us go to New Golton.”

“Oh, are you a risk taker now?” Sarah grinned as they joined the foot traffic going south. They looked to be a band of settlers, and there was an air of excitement and fear about them. The emotions one would feel when setting out on a new adventure.

A new adventure, Sarah thought to herself. Yes, that was what this was. A new adventure in the Southward Expansion, just like they’d intended three years ago. She resisted the urge to look at Corrington over her shoulder and forced herself to look straight ahead.

“We should be safe as long as we don’t go beyond New Milford,” John mused, “I think that’s where the main stronghold down south.”

Sarah’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Oh, aren’t you knowledgeable about the Southward Expansion?”

“I did my homework, you know,” John huffed indignantly, “We were supposed to start new lives together there, after all.”

“Are you two newlyweds?” asked a woman who was walking nearby. She was a heavy set woman who carried a large knapsack on her back.

“No, we’re going to make something of ourselves first before going back to our hometown,” John replied.

The woman’s eyes crinkled as she broke into a broad smile. “Well, bless my heart, isn’t that precious?”

“Did you hear that, Vincent?” she asked a man who was walking nearby. He was a muscular man who sported an ample belly and was pushing a wheelbarrow piled high with all manner of things.

“I did indeed,” he laughed. “Ah, to be young again.”

“Are you starting anew in the Southward Expansion?” Sarah asked.

“That we are,” Vincent said, “Vincent Smith’s the name, and I’m a blacksmith, as my name suggests. There seems to be a lot of demand for my type down there and I’ve finally convinced Beth, my wife, to take a gamble.”

“That he did,” Beth said agreeably, “He wanted to go all the way to the southern coast and live along the beach, but I convinced him that it was safer at New Milford. We haven’t had children yet, so it’s as good a time as any to settle down somewhere new.”

“A wise choice,” John agreed.

Vincent leaned in and lowered his voice to a whisper, even though his wife was walking right next to him and could hear every word, “I just said that to get her down here, you see? It’ll make it easier to convince her to take a step into the untamed wilds.”

They continued chatting as they travelled south and soon became fast friends. That night, the Smiths shared some of their food with them, as they hadn’t brought any. John had insisted on paying, and their hosts were happy to accept.

“A penny for your thoughts?” Beth ventured.

Sarah blinked and looked at the older woman. “I’m sorry, what?”

“You just had a very content look on your face, and I wondered what you were thinking about.”

“Oh, just that I think that I could get used to a life like this,” Sarah replied. It was a warm, clear day, and the road took them past rolling fields and lush, green pastures. Despite how late it was in the year, it was still warm enough for crops to grow this far south, and farmers were out working in the fields.

Beth smiled. “You make it sound like you’re ending an adventure instead of beginning one.”

“I suppose that’s true,” Sarah mused and felt a twinge of guilt as she wondered how the others were fairing. It had been three days since they’d left Corrington and she’d scarcely thought of them.

“We should be reaching New Milford late today or tomorrow,” Beth said, “Will the two of you be staying there?”

“I suppose we could stay a day or two,” Sarah allowed. She looked over at John who was in the middle of a conversation with Vincent.

“I have to say I had my doubts about settling here when I saw him with his sword,” Beth remarked, “But now that I’m here, I can’t help but feel my worries were misplaced.”

“Oh, John just likes to be careful,” Sarah said.

“That is a fancy looking sword,” Beth observed, “Is he from a rich family?”

“Something like that,” Sarah lied. She couldn’t very well tell her he’d taken it off an inquisitor that they’d killed.

“Say, we’re staying at my brother-in-law’s place at New Milford,” Beth said, “If you’d like, you could…”

Her voice trailed off as she spotted smoke on the horizon. “What is that?”

There were worried voices from the travellers around them.

“They’re saying that smoke is coming from New Milford,” John said worriedly.

“It could just be a fire,” Vincent said.

Soon, they spotted people running down the road towards them. “That doesn’t look good,” John muttered as his hand went to his sword.

“Orcs!” they cried as those who fled came running past, scarcely slowing down as they jostled and pushed their way through the travellers who were heading south. “Flee for your lives!”

Sarah looked back down the road they had come. Travellers were still heading south, oblivious of what lay ahead. If these orcs were mounted, these people would all be slaughtered.

“What do we do?” Beth asked, her voice high pitched with worry.

“Treto save us, has Milford fallen?” Vincent cried as he stood rooted to the spot, watching the distant smoke spiral up to the sky.

“Drop everything, get off the road and run as fast you can back to Corrington!” John shouted as he drew his sword.

“But everything we own is with us,” Beth protested.

“What good will your belongings be if you’re dead?” John shot back, “If you’re lucky, it’ll slow them down.”

Sarah’s blood froze as she spotted black shapes moving swiftly up the road. “They’re mounted,” she said, “they haven’t a hope of outrunning them all the way back to Corrington.”

“So what do we do?” John asked as he followed her gaze.

“We bloody their noses,” Sarah replied, “There aren’t that many of them. We could make them think twice about pursuing us.”

John swallowed and nodded. “Fine.”

That caught Sarah off guard. She was expecting more resistance from him. “I thought you were going to advocate running off into the wilderness and waiting them out.”

John cast an eye at Beth and Vincent and shook his head. “Abandoning your friends leaves a bad taste in your mouth after all.”

“Does that mean you think we should go back to Corrington?” Sarah asked.

“Run, you fools!” screamed a woman as she came tearing up the road, “There must be thousands of them! Milford has fallen, they’re sacking the place as we speak!”

“I suppose that answers that,” John muttered.

He turned and kicked Vincent up the arse. “Didn’t you hear her? Take your wife and run!”

“What will you do?” Vincent asked, wide-eyed.

“Try to buy you some time,” John replied.

“Come with us,” Beth urged as she cast down her knapsack, “What can you hope to do against thousands of orcs?”

“Not me,” John said, and pointed at Sarah, “Her.”

“Here they come!” Sarah warned.

Ten orcs riding massive wolves came bounding up the road. They held blood soaked axes in their hands and hacked down any who remained on the road with savage glee.

“Run!” John ordered as he ran into the long grass that grew along the road.

“You can’t just leave her!” Beth screamed.

“Don’t worry about me,” Sarah replied. “Get to safety!”

“What are you doing? Run!” Beth screamed as Vincent dragged her away.

She faced down the orcs who were almost upon her by the time the last of the surviving travellers had run past. She could see the blood dripping from the jaws of their mounts and smell the stench of death on them. When she was almost in their range, their leader raised his axe and prepared to swing.

“Burning hands!”

Pillars of blue fire erupted from her hands, incinerating the first eight orcs and their mounts. The others managed to leap off the road to avoid meeting the same fate. They recovered from their shock quickly and pressed their attack.

Sarah leapt to the side just in time to avoid being decapitated by a wolf rider and raised her hand.

“Fire blast!”

The wolf squealed as the bolt of fire struck it. Its rider leapt off and lunged toward Sarah who finished it off with a second spell.

The surviving rider charged toward Sarah, who raced to turn around in time. Just as the orc was about to strike, John leapt from the grass and plunged his short sword into the rider’s chest, knocking the orc off his steed. Sarah narrowly managed to avoid the wolf’s snapping jaws. The beast shuddered and fell over as a hail of arrows struck it.

Sarah looked up to see a group of men armed with bows and arrows looking at her, wide-eyed. “We’ve never seen anyone conjure blue fire before.”

“Now’s not the time for that!” John snapped, “We need to run before more of them come!”