They made it through the village without any incident. Pint was well behaved being led behind Mars. Kit was standing next to Mars in front of the horse, he didn’t want to be too close in case something went wrong.

The southern exit of the village led into another meadow. Kit glanced up to the sky, white fluffy clouds were slowly passing, the blue sky was a lovely backdrop for the different white shapes. A soft breeze once again brought the smell of fresh grass to his nose. Kit wondered if it ever rained here, or if the weather was constantly perfect like right now.

“Should we collect some flowers while we pass along the meadow?” Mars voice pulled Kit from gazing at his surroundings.

“That’s a good idea, then we can make some extra money.”

“We can take turns holding Pint’s lead, so one of us can leave the road to collect the plants.”

“Ok, since you’re holding the rope now, I’ll start collecting first.”

Kit went over to the meadow to find some flowers. It looked the same as the meadow on the northern side of the village. After half an hour of travels, Kit returned to Mars so they could swap over.

Kit was a little nervous about leading the giant creature. Mars had stopped the horse to take out two bottles of beer.

“Here take these if we are both going to lead him, we should each carry some bottles in case he needs a top up.”

Mars gave a little chuckle at the idea of Pint needing beer. It still amused him that a horse was addicted to alcohol. Kit put the bottles in his inventory. By the time he got his nerves under control and picked up the rope, Mars was already in the meadow.

“Pint, we are going to be good friends, so we should be nice to each other.”

Kit didn’t know if the animal could understand him, but he figured being nice was worth a try. He then pulled on the rope to start the horse moving. Pint had other plans, he snorted and stamped his front hoof on the ground with a great force. A wave of wind knocked Kit off his feet.

- 60 damage

‘Holy red apples! That hurt!’

Kit grunted and sat up. Mars heard the noise and was running over to Kit’s side.

“What happened? Are you ok?” Kit noticed Mars had a sword in his right hand.

“I’m ok, I just need to have some water to replenish my health. That horse packs quite a strike. Pint must be needing some beer, he got a little aggressive when I went to start our journey again.”

They both stared at the horse warily. Kit quickly drank a bottle of water to replenish his health, the pain faded immediately.

“You give him the beer this time, so he becomes friendly with you.” Mars put away his sword and helped Kit up from the ground.

Kit made his way over to the large horse with cautious steps.

“Pint, do you want some more beer before we continue?”

Pint gave a soft snort when he heard Kit mention the alcohol. Kit thought he should be safe getting closer to the animal now. He pulled out one of his bottles of the dark liquid, then realised he had no bowl.

“Mars, can I have the bowl so I can give Pint his beer?”

Mars walked over and gave it to Kit. Kit poured the liquid into the bowl and fed Pint. The front of his shirt became wet from the sloshing of the beer.

‘That is gross, beer and horse saliva!’

Once Pint was finished, he softly nudged Kit with his head. Kit smiled at how docile the animal became after receiving his favourite treat.

“Thanks Pint, I like you too.”

Kit figured he should be nice to the horse, or he might end up dead. If he took so much damage from the wind Pint produced from a stamping hoof, he did not want to find out how much damage the horse could give from a direct kick.

Kit picked up the rope once again, this time Pint was very well behaved. They continued in this fashion, collecting flowers and feeding the alcoholic horse until they reached a little cottage. The red dot on the map was not far behind the little cottage.

“This must be Iris’ house.” Kit mused out loud.

The cottage was the same design as the buildings in the village, it had a wooden frame and twigs were packed together to form the walls. The roof was covered in tightly bound straw. The cottage was surrounded by flowers of all different colours. Kit thought it looked quite pretty.

A narrow dirt road led behind the house. Kit hoped the cart would fit on the surface, he did not want to have to carry the wooden barrels backwards and forwards from the house. Pint seemed to know where he was, he started to head over to the dirt road by himself.

Instead of them leading the horse, Pint was currently leading them to their destination. When they reached the back of the house, Kit could see a large spring up ahead. The water was a deep blue, he could see the surrounding trees reflected on the surface of the water.

Large trees offered shade surrounding the water hole. The water was still, it gave off a peaceful atmosphere. Kit glanced around but couldn’t see any creatures in sight, maybe they could fill all the barrels without any incident. Kit realised they had forgotten to ask what the monsters looked like. Hopefully, if they did appear they would be easy to spot.

Pint stopped about a short distance from the water’s edge, bent his head and started to graze on the sweet smelling grass. It looked like this was a common trip for the horse. Not far from where Pint had stopped was a path leading to the water’s edge. Kit followed the path, where the path stopped a wooden ramp started and entered the water. It led to a platform that was submerged under water.

“I wonder what this platform is for? Come and have a look Mars.”

Mars glanced down at the ramp.

“I think I get what it’s for. It seems like we can roll the barrels into the water from here. If we submerge them under water and seal them before taking them out it will make this process of filling them much faster. Iris is quite ingenious.”

“That is pretty cool. It shouldn’t take us too long to finish then. Should we start? Do you think one of us needs to stand as a look out?”

“No, I think we should try to get this done as fast as possible. We don’t know how strong the Spectral Nile Reptiles will be. What weapon do you have by the way?” Mars sword was hanging from his hip. Kit was a little embarrassed to show Mars his rusty knife.

“I only have the rusty knife I received from Mayor Meadows.”

“Well at least that’s better than trying to get in a fist fight with a monster, but maybe when we get back you should invest in a better weapon.”

Kit’s face turned a deep red, he had not even thought about getting himself a proper weapon. He decided when they got back, he would fix that mistake.

Kit untied the rope holding the barrels to the wagon. He then collected a barrel off the back and walked over to the water’s edge. He took off his shoes and rolled up the hem of his pants to above his knees. He removed his shirt and placed it with his shoes.

“What are you doing Kit?”

“I don’t want to get them wet.”

“I should do that too then.”

While Mars was getting ready Kit glanced down into the water and realised, he could not see the bottom of the spring.

“This looks quite deep Mars. Do you think the Spectral Nile Reptiles could be hiding at the bottom of the spring?”

Mars joined him at the water’s edge. “Maybe.”

Kit picked up a rock from the ground “I think we should see if disturbing the water will bring them out.”

Kit threw the rock into the calm waters, a loud plop was heard. Ripples formed on the surface of the water from the rock’s fall. Kit waited, holding his breath, nothing happened. Kit threw one more rock to be on the safe side, this one was larger than the first. There was still no reaction from the depths.

“Looks like we should be ok to start.”

Kit unscrewed the top of his barrel and rolled it into the water, by the time it reached the platform it was filled. Kit screwed the lid on the barrel, then rolled it back to the cart. Once he got to the wagon, he realised they would have to remove all the empty barrels first before starting to stack them in, once they were filled. Mars and Kit unloaded the wagon then returned to their task of filling them with water.

“We should fill all the barrels first, then we can help each other load the wagon.” Kit thought it would be too difficult to do it on their own once they were filled due to their increased weight.

“Yes, I agree, it will be a two-person job. Let’s hurry to finish while there are still no monsters in sight.”

Kit and Mars filled all the barrels without any incidents. It went a lot faster than Kit was expecting. Once the last barrel was rolled over, they started to fill the wagon. The wagon was almost filled when Kit gave a loud sigh.

“Mars I think my arms are going to fall off, I can’t lift another barrel even if I wanted too.”

“I’m about the same, let’s have a drink of the water. I think we need to refill our stamina and we have a huge source of just the thing we need in front of us.” Mars gestured towards the large spring.

“Good plan, do you think Pint would let us ride on his back for the journey home?”

“You can try if you want but I’m happy with both my feet on the ground.” Mars gave a wary look to the large horse.

“Yeah, it’s probably not a good idea.”

Kit had reached the water’s edge, he knelt and cupped his hands together. He dipped his hands into the cool water and then brought them up to his mouth. The water was sweet, it soothed his dry throat on the way down.

Kit glanced across the water to the other side of the lake. His eyes caught movement in the long grass on the opposite bank. He was curious to see what sort of creatures visited the lake. His eyes widened when he recognised what he was seeing.

“Ahh, Mars. They are massive crocodiles, right? I think it’s time we left.”

Mars followed Kits gaze to the other side of the spring.

“Yep, in total agreement, right now.”

They both slowly got up, not taking their eyes from the other side. They grabbed their clothes and tried to put them on as fast as they could. Kit lost his balance while putting on his shoes and fell over with a loud thud. Kits eyes flew back to the monsters at the other side of the spring, hoping they didn’t hear his loud connection with the ground.

Unfortunately, his movements were detected from the monsters across the spring. A loud roar reached Kits ears, shaking his nerves.

“How did I ever think we could kill those, let alone think of a way to distract them. They look like prehistoric crocodiles on steroids. Seriously, what is with this game and giant creatures. Can there at least be one cute fluffy monster.”

The giant crocodiles entered the water with a loud splash.

“RUN Kit!” Mars turned and grabbed Kit up from the ground, they then sprinted towards the last barrels.

“Leave them Mars there is no time. Let’s just get out of here before we are killed.”

Kit reached Pint and picked up his lead rope, he gave it a tug to get the horse moving. What he did not expect was for Pint to remain in place. Pint gave a loud snort and tossed his head.

“Now is not the time to be stubborn Pint, I will give you all the beer you want after. There are huge crocodiles coming to eat us, so let’s get a move on before we are lunch.” Kit once again tried to move the mammoth horse. Pint shoved Kit with his enormous head, causing Kit to stumble backwards.

- 80 damage

“Pint, you overgrown alcoholic horse, we need to go, or we will die!”

“Ah Kit, I think it is too late to go now.”

Kit turned. His eyes popped, the two crocodiles were already coming out from the water. Up close they looked even more scary. They were a light blue colour almost transparent, there was a soft shimmering coming off their bodies.

They were three times the size of a saltwater crocodile, the ridges on their backs down to their tails were a deep red. Kit could see large diamond shaped scales interconnecting across the body of the reptiles forming what looked like a tough armoured skin.

Kit made eye contact with one of the crocodiles, the eye of the monster was a deep black. Kit felt like he could be sucked into their depths never to return. He felt a shiver of fear run down his spine. At that moment it opened its mouth and let out a loud roar. A mouth full of sharp white teeth was revealed.

“Mars, I don’t see how we can get out of dying, these will be way too strong for us.” Kit’s panic started to intensify. He could feel his breathing speed up.

‘At least I can say my first death was from a ferocious monster.’

“Let’s at least try to save Pint, I don’t think he will respawn like us.”

Kit glanced at the giant horse. Even though he was a giant pain in the backside, Kit didn’t want him to die. “Ok, what do you suggest then?”

“Let’s divide their attention you lead one that way and I’ll go the other, hopefully we can lose them in amongst the trees. You never know we might even be able to survive.”

Kit pulled out a bottle of water and chugged it down as fast as he could. His Adams apple bobbed repeatedly with his efforts.

‘You can do this Kit. I can always climb a tree if I need to. They don’t look like they can climb.’ Kit tried to psych himself up to stay alive long enough to save the stubborn horse.