“Why are we stopping here?” Thea asks, as I let the truck coast to a stop on top of a gentle hill. Shutting the truck off, I open my door sliding out and stretching before I respond.

“If they keep following us, they will have to crest this hill. There's a good field of vision that way.” I say pointing down the road ahead of us. “This is the best place I've seen to set an ambush, and hopefully drive them back to the castle.” Setting one foot on my rear tire, I hop up into the bed of the truck. While opening the jobsite box, I dig around coming out with a small backpack full of odds and ends I hoped not to ever need to use.

“So why did we stop here?” Thea asks again.

“Because I plan on giving us a heads up for when they are close.” I say with a huff hopping out of the bed. Walking back along the road in the direction we just came from, I start pulling items from the bag.

“What's that?” Thea says from right beside me.

“Fuck!” I scream. “Don't sneak up on me like that.” I say readjusting my grip on the bag. From where I nearly dropped it.

“I didn't, I just walked up. You seemed to be lost in thought.”

“Fine, just make some noise next time or I'll put a bell on that collar. You're too damn quiet.” Looking back, I see we are about twenty yards from the truck. “These are tent stakes.” I hand two cheap silver stakes to Thea.

"Push them into the ground on either side of the road till this hook part is almost touching the dirt.” I say showing her the eye holes on each stake.

“Ok, then what?” She asks moving to one side of the road to place the first stake.

“Run this through the one you're about to set then tie it off to the first” I say handing her the end to a spool of cheap white twine. “I have plenty on this spool so don't worry about the length. We are setting up a tripwire.” I say moving another three yards down the road unspooling the twine as I go.

I kneel down to fix another stake to the ground as this one is different from the rest thicker with a mess of parts fixed to the top.

“That one's different.” Thea says squatting down beside me. I notice the edge of her robes riding up showing off a generous amount of her upper thigh.

“Yeah.” I say with a cough shaking my head at the fact I was so easily distracted from the task at hand. “This is a surprise to the tripwire. The taller grass will hide it and make it harder to see when it and its buddy are pulled.” I say waving its twin gently to draw her attention to it.

“It sets off a shell pointed at the road. It's basically a small mine made out of a tent stake mousetrap and a little pipe. When I made them, I honestly felt like I was an idiot, but now it looks like they will come in handy.” I say quickly setting the second up a few feet past the first .

“Then why are you setting them up back here instead of up by the tripwire?” Thea asks looking back at the string stretched across the road.

“I want them confused. Confusion and fear will be the best help since we are outnumbered.” I reply quickly pulling the line taunt and attaching it to the two mines. “Now, we go pick out our range and wait.” I say walking back to the truck. I stopped momentarily to toss several handfuls of dust on the twine causing it to turn a reddish brown and blend into the road better. Getting back to the truck, I pull out a handful of cheap surveyors flags from the bag. They are basically a piece of heavy gauge wire with a small triangle of plastic on top. As I hand them to Thea, I toss the bag into the bed of the truck before sliding inside and starting the engine.

“What should I do with these?” She asks confused as she jumps in the passenger side.

“When I stop the truck, hop out and stick one in the ground then get back in. I'm using them for ranges and wind direction.” I reply taking off gently down the slope ahead. In twenty minutes, we crest the next gentle hill. I look in the mirror and I turn off the truck.

“Are we done?” Thea asks glancing back at the road behind us.

“Unless you have any more flags, yeah.” Opening up my door, I slide out closely followed by Sarge. As I walked around to the front of my truck, Sarge starts to whine.

“Go on, just stay close.” I say looking down at Sarge and with a wag of his tail, the oversized pup runs off for the tall grass beside the road.

“Where’s he going?” Thea asks as I kneel beside the passenger side of my grill checking on the damage from hitting the cart in our mad dash from the city.

“He needs to hit the head.” I see the confusion on her face. “Bathroom break. He's basically been holding it all day.”

Looking back at my truck, I realize it could have been a lot worse. The bumper took most of the damage, bending one end inward and somehow up. Running my hand under it, I realize it must have snagged on something and ripped itself free.

“Do me a favor. On my side of the truck, right next to the steering wheel, there is a round knob. Pull that out.” Thea quickly walks around the truck disappearing from my view. A few seconds later, I'm blinded.by the headlights shining in my eyes.

“Alright, push it back in.” Standing and blinking quickly to clear the spots from my eyes, I mutter to myself. “At least the light still works.”

Which is more than I can say for the turn signals. Which are busted out of their sockets, but who needs turn signals in another world.

“Shouldn't we be getting ready for the knights?” Asks Thea walking back around the front of the truck.

“We will, but we still have at least an hour and a half before they catch up.” Walking around the truck, I lower the tailgate and hop inside.

“How do you know that? Do you have the gift of future sight?” Thea ask following me around the truck and hopping in behind me. We ease around the assorted ammo cans and bags in the bed. I squeeze around the jobsite box and open the toolbox, pulling my rifle case out.

“Judging by how fast we were pulling away from them as we drove off, they were traveling at about fifteen to twenty miles an hour. We kept an average speed of fifty miles an hour on the road. Twenty five minutes to set up the tripwire, and another twenty on flags. You said the knight's captain had some kind of spell that let them maintain their speed. Assuming they didn't slow down, they will cover the distance we did in a little over two hours. Thus, an hour and a half till they show up, give or take a couple minutes.” As I explain how my math works, I open up the rifle case studying the contents inside. Making up my mind, I pull out my M1a handing it to Thea,

“Hold that.” I tell her as I pull out the browning as well. Even though they both shoot the same round, the M1a has a 3x red dot scope on top. Where the browning is my hunting rifle of choice topped with a NightForce SHV made for long range precision shooting.

“Are these like your other one?” Thea asks me motioning to the cab of the truck where my Ar rest.

“Kinda, but not really.” I say sliding the rifle case back in the toolbox and shutting the lid. “These shoot a bigger round, and have more stopping power.” I explain while I open the jobsite box pulling out the bag full of magazines. After opening it, I pull out four of the twenty round magazines for the M1a and three of the rotary mags for the Browning.

“The one you're holding uses these and has twenty rounds per mag. This one is a bolt action and made for precision shooting.” I say tilting the barrel upwards on the Browning. Sliding back around the jobsite box, I lean the browning against the end of it and drop the loaded magazines beside it before rummaging around the ammo cans in the bed. I find the one full of .308 rounds and lift it up and set in on the edge of the tailgate.

I look up at Thea as I sit down on the end of the tailgate. I see her staring at the rifle in her hands. She's holding it upside down staring at it like it is some unexplainable thing, which wouldn't be that much of a stretch considering no one here seemed to recognize what a firearm was. She starts to turn toward me causing the end of the barrel to start to point in my direction.

“Stop!” I yell causing her to jump in surprise.

“What?” She asks looking around quickly. Gently taking the rifle from her hands, I motioned for her to sit down beside me. I wait for her to sit before I explain. She looks at me for a moment before finally sitting down beside me as Sarge comes walking up and lays down under my feet.

“This is the dangerous end.” I say pointing to the end of the barrel. “When you pull the trigger here, the shell is fired from the chamber here which causes the bullet to exit from the end of the barrel at high velocity. That's why you don't point the barrel at anything you aren't ready to destroy or kill. That's why I yelled, you were about to flag me with the end of it. I didn't mean to scare you.” I say turning the rifle over in my hands to work the bolt back gently and check that a round was in the chamber.

“No, I should be the one apolagizing. You told me to hold it not go waving it around.” Thea says eyes following my movements as I manipulated the rifle. “Can you… nevermind.” She says her eyes going from staring at the rifle in my hands to Sarge laying on the ground.

“What? Don't be afraid to ask if you want something.”

“I was going to ask if you would teach me to use your weapons, but I realized that wouldn't be right. I mean they are yours and I shouldn't try and use them.” She says her head falling further forward her hair falling in front of her face. Blinking my eyes as her question registers in my mind, I understood what she was asking.

“No its fine, I don't mind teaching you when we have time. Right now is not the time for it though. I need to handle the knights following us then I promise I will show you how to use these safely. Until then, there's just a few rules to follow.” I say turning the rifle over in my hands. Thea’s head rises up looking at me with an expression of shock.

“You would teach me how to use your weapons, just like that.” she says eyes still wide.

“Why not? You kept me from getting enslaved back at the castle, and you healed Sarge.” At the mention of his name, Sarge raises his head and starts to wag his tail raising a small cloud of dust under the truck. I continue, leaning forward to scratch his head. “Far as I'm concerned, you have earned my trust. As long as you follow the rules and are traveling with me I don't see why you can't carry a gun of your own.”

“Most people here wouldn't share skills that have your kind of destructive power freely. It just seems a little strange that you're willing to.” She says leaning forward to pet Sarge too.

“Well, I'm not like that. It would be different if I felt I couldn't trust you, but like I said in the truck. As long as Sarge likes you then you're right by me. He's a good judge of character, except for the fact that he likes me, but no one is right a hundred percent of the time.” I say laying the rifle down beside me and reaching back to pull one of the Rural King bags up into my lap. Pulling out one of the pig ears, I lay it beside me before pulling out one of the bags of banana chips. Putting the bag back in the bed and grabbing three of the bottles of water out of the case, I offer one to Thea.

“Whats this?” She asks looking at the bottle I handed her.

“Water, you looked thirsty.” I say opening the second bottle and tilting it down for Sarge, who starts to quickly lap it up from the mouth of the bottle. Thea watches me twist the top off, then mimics my movements to open her own quickly downing half the bottle.

“Thank you.” She says before taking another sip.

“If you want, you can give Sarge that pig ear.” I tell her finishing off the bottle that Sarge had been drinking from. Since he appears to be done, I open the third. Thea picks up the dried ear, looking at it for a moment before holding it out to Sarge, who gently, but quickly snatches it up. He puts it down and chews on it.

“Banana chip?” I ask opening the bag and offering it to her.

“What are they?” She asks, tilting her head at the yellow treats in the bag.

“They are made from a fruit on my world. I don't know if you have them here or not, but anyway they peel them, slice them up, and fry them. I love the things and when I go to the store, I always grabbed a couple of bags of them.” I say taking a handful and tossing them into my mouth. “They're a little sweet and kinda crunchy.”

Thea watches as I continue to munch on the chips for a while before gently grabbing one of the chips from the bag. I watch her as she carefully brings the chip up to her face, staring at the small yellow disk, smelling it and finally taking a small bite of the edge.

“Oh these are really good.” Thea says before tossing the rest of the chip in her mouth and grabbing a large handful from the bag to snack on. For a few minutes, there is just the sound of banana chips being crunched. Only disturbed by the occasional chirp or singing of a bird.

“Tell me about magic.” I say breaking the silence between Thea and I. “I get magic is real here, and I'm still wrapping my head around that, but tell me how it works. The range, how powerful it is.” I say as she starts to turn towards me.

“Ok, let me think of how to start.” Thea says her face scrunching up and biting her lip as she thinks. Yeah, I was right. That lip bite is making her look even more attractive. I quickly take a drink of my water to distract myself from staring at her.

“The entire world is covered in a layer of magical energy called Mana. Most members of the enlightened races have some connection to it inside them. The stronger the connection, the larger your mana pool. It's being able to tap into your mana pool and your ability to manipulate it that allows you to cast magic.” Thea continues to talk and explain to me as I tried to keep my interruptions to a minimum. Only speaking when I needed clarification or something explained.

What I gathered about their magic was that it's a powerful tool to the people in this world. Letting the enlightened races fight back against the stronger monsters in this world. The enlightened races was a term I didn't understand at first. Thea spent a few minutes explaining them to me at the beginning. Apparently, there are more than elves and humans in this world. The beastkin tribes, lizard men, even dragons were considered enlightened because they had the ability to put aside their warring ways and interact with others peacefully. While goblins, orcs, kobols, vampires, and werewolves were considered to be monsters because of their unwillingness to be peaceful with the enlightened races. They chose instead to adopt a more warful existence in the wild regions of the world and were constantly hunted by adventurers and kingdom soldiers for rewards.

What she told me of magic was more interesting to me at the moment though. Most spells were broken down into two classes. Either an area effect spell, which as the name implied affected a large area and was targeted at either ones allies or enemies. Then the aimed spells, which was targeted at one or more individuals, such as a fireball or lightning blast. Those were the most common. Aimed spells apparently had a range to them, depending on how much mana was put behind them. Like most things, the more power behind them, the farther their range extended. The trade off being the spell is weaker the further it travels. Meaning, most spells have an effective range of about fifty yards before it becomes too weak to do much damage.

“So spells have about the same effective range as a pistol target. Good to know.” I say as Thea explains the range limitations on spells. “That means I'll have a good chunk of distance to thin out their numbers before we get in their range.”

“What kind of range does your weapons have?” She asks looking down at the rifle I have in my hands as I run over a last minute check on the bolt and action.

“On a still target I have made solid hits at just under a mile. Moving targets, I've had successful hits past a thousand yards. That's my limits though. The rifle itself can be used out past a mile in the hands of the right person.” Opening the ammo can beside me, I started to sort through the rounds. I dig through the can and come out with three plastic boxes with a piece of green tape on top. I set them to the side before closing the can and pushing it back behind me.

“What is that?” Thea asks picking up one of the plastic boxes, turning it over in her hands to see the rounds inside.

“That's what these guns actually shoot. Most of what I have with me is just basic target ammo. Solid brass and cheap in comparison. These three boxes though are special. I have an uncle back home that used to reload for me. So I had him make me some real precision rounds, capable of cutting the center out of the target at a thousand yards from a sitting position. These are also tungsten cored so they will shred whatever they hit in this world.” Breaking the tape on one of the boxes, I remove the rotary magazine from the bottom and emptying out the rounds inside it.

“Pay attention to this part though.” I say slowly showing Thea how to load the rounds into the magazine out of the plastic box. Pulling three more of the polymer magazines for the browning out of the stack beside me, I hand one to her. “Now you try.”

“Like this?” She questions sliding one of the rounds inside before looking to me for confirmation.

“Yes, now push the round down a little with your thumb as you slide the next one in.” I say smiling as she quickly follows my instructions. “Each magazine for this one holds five rounds, so when you load five go to the next one.” I tell her slapping the one I loaded home and working the bolt to chamber a round. After the round is seated, I remove the magazine and load one more to replace the one in the chamber.

“They are all full.” She says as I look back up at her. Looking over the three she loaded I see them lying on their flat base plate on the tailgate beside us.

“Good, now here's the important part.” I say glancing down at my watch to confirm the time. “When they show up, I'm going to be laying down in the bed here. I want you on my left and keep an eye on them as they come at us. The flags are set every twenty yards when they are less than four flags from us. I want you to say switch, and I mean yell it out to me. That's my que to change rifles because then they are too close to use it effectively at that point. When a magazine is empty I want you to reload it. Most importantly though, try to keep an eye on the knights to see if there is anyone I need to focus on.” I look into her eyes to make sure she understands the importance of what I'm about to tell her before I continue. “It's very easy to get tunnel vision in a combat scenario. I have a lot of family who are combat veterans and I’ve heard all the horror stories from them. I need you to focus and keep me grounded or this can go bad quickly.”

“I'm no stranger to combat and life threatening situations. I will do like you said. When they are almost to the fourth flag, I'll yell for you to switch. Keep your weapons loaded so you can focus and stay on your left. If I see anyone you need to focus on, I'll yell out where they are and what defining characteristics they have. I won't let you down.” Thea says with a small smile. Again, I'm struck by her beauty, causing me to stumble over my next words.

“Ok, umm, fuck. Yeah so also take these.” I tell her digging out a pair of yellow foam earplugs. “When the tripwire goes off you roll these in your fingers and push them as deep into your ears as you can. It will help protect your hearing and lessen the noise.” Hopping down from the tailgate, I kneel next to Sarge, who wags his tail as I start to put in a set for him too.

“How much time do you think we have left?” Thea asks mimicking my movements to put in her own earplugs. Before I can answer, there is a loud boom from over the hill behind us.

“Not as long as I would like.” I deadpan as I stand putting in a set of earplugs. “Remember stay on my left and stay behind me. The last thing we need is to end this with you getting shot.” I say hopping up into the bed and laying down facing the road behind us. Moving an empty water bottle under the foregrip of the browning, I pull it close to my shoulder. I weld my cheek to the warm wood of the stock.

“Oh Goddess who protects the forest and all its inhabitants, hear this prayer of your humble servant and protect us from this evil that comes to claim our lives.” Thea says in a quiet voice beside me. Looking up I see her, head bowed as she continues her prayer. “Let this warrior's hand be steady as he strives to be a shield to me, your servant and let us come out victorious in this coming struggle.” Opening her eyes, she sees me looking at her and raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“Didn't peg you for the religious type is all.” I say as I focus on the road behind us again.

“I'm a priestess of Ava the Goddess of the forest. It's through her I gain my strength of healing. Without her blessing, I would not be able to cast as strong of healing magic as I can.” She says as she turns to look down the road moving back in the bed of the truck to get out of my peripheral vision.

“Six Sarge, position six.” I say causing Sarge to get up and run back to the front of the truck. As I hear Sarge’s tail thump against the front tire, I see the first helmeted head crest the hill. The rider sees us and he lets out a loud yell. I can't tell what he yelled but he spurs his horse on faster. The rest of the knights are right on his heels. Soon the road is covered by yelling men and horses charging at us.

“Middle of the group, the one in blue armor. That's the knights captain. You need to take him out first. Also the one beside him in yellow on the left and red on the right are his lieutenants. They specialize in ranged magic.” Thea says and I can hear her breath coming quickly as she starts to worry.

“I got them.” I say as the knights commander fills my sights. He's a giant of a man, wearing heavy platemail painted a sky blue. His bearded face is screaming some unknown yell as he forces his horse to run faster. A quick glance at the flags shows there is next to no wind, just a gentle cross breeze barely enough to move the flags.

I feel my hands shake as I adjust my grip on my rifle. Taking a deep breath, I struggle to calm my nerves. Adrenaline is coursing through my veins. My body wants to fight or run, I can't tell the difference right now. Another deep breath and hold. I then exhale and another breath. Just a few more seconds and they will be within the far edge of my range, but I want to wait. I need to wait until I know I won't miss my first shot. The knight's commander fills my vision. With this scope, I can clearly see his well trimmed beard moving in the wind.

I take another deep breath, letting half of it out as my finger takes up the slack on the trigger under it. My heart beats fast. I can hear it in my ears. Thump, Thump, Thump. There in between the beats my finger takes up the last of the weight. The rifle pushes back against my shoulder. The knight commander’s head slams back as he rolls off the back of his horse. Up, back, forward, down, the bolt is back in position. Again, I pull the trigger. The man in red falls off his horse. Up, back, forward, down the rifle barks again. This becomes my only thought. Up, back, forward, down. When the magazine is empty, I swap it for the loaded one beside me and it's back again.

In this moment, there is no one besides me and my rifle. I don't see the men in front of me as men, they are just targets steadily getting closer. The bolt is the only thing that matters to my hands, its steady movements. Empty again, I insert a new magazine and continue. That's all there is in my life. It doesn't matter that I'm not in my world anymore, or that I can never go home again. All there is right now is the rifle in my hands and the bolt with its steady movements. Up, back, forward, down.

I heard a story from a sniper once upon a time ago, about how he dealt with the killing he did. He told me that he did not focus on that. He just focused on what he could control in that warzone of his. There in that hot jungle, thousands of miles from home, he focused on his rifle. Up, back, forward, down. I didn't understand what he meant then, but on that dirt road, in another world, I began to understand what he was talking about.

“Switch!!!!” Thea’s yell snapps me out of my trance, breaking my focus on my rifle. Dropping the browning, I scramble to a kneeling position hands grasping at my M1a bringing it up. Now that I am not looking down the scope of the browning, I see the destruction I have caused ahead of me. Of the thirty five riders that had been charging at us, it looks like only twelve are left.

Slamming the stock to my shoulder, I pull the trigger as fast as I can, moving between targets as fast as I can focus on them. There's no finesse to this, no beauty of a battlefield. This is a slaughter. As the knights charge, I gun them down as if they are nothing more than animals. The rifle runs dry and I curse, slamming a new magazine home. I work the bolt as I've practiced a thousand times. There's only three knights left as the bolt slides forward. I put three rounds into the closest spinning to the next and pumping another two into him. The last knight stops his charge as my rifle comes to bare on him.

For the first time, I see the face of the man at the other end of my rifle. It's just a kid. He barely looks old enough to be shaving, much less a knight. My finger tightens on the trigger as the kid throws down his sword, raising his hands above his head.

“Please don't kill me!” He screams face white as a sheet as he realizes how close he is to death.

“Why? What would you have done if the situation was reversed?” I ask my voice steadier than I feel.

“Please, I i was just following orders. I just wanted to make sure my mother and sister were taken care of. I didn't even want to follow you. I was ordered to.” He says his voice cracking as he struggles to get the words out as fast as he can. Looking him over again, I see that he's literally shaking as tears are streaming down his face.

“Off the horse.” I bark motining him down with the end of my rifle. The knight goes to dismount his horse and ends up falling to the ground in his haste. “No that's good!” I yell hopping out of the bed of the truck. Whistling loudly, I walk over to the boy because now I can't see him as anything else. Sarge takes up his post on my heels growling softly at the still crying boy at my feet.

“Please.” He says again.

“If I let you go and make no mistake, it is a big if right now. Are you going to follow me again or should I save myself some time and shoot you now?” I ask placing the barrel of my rifle against his chestplate.

“Please, I swear if you let me go you will never see me again. I swear to the Goddess Selena.” The boy says sobbing.

“Fuck, Selena. Swear to me. Swear on your life and swear to Ava.” I say staring down at him as he continues to sob.

“I, Liam Sandersson, swear to Ava and to you. If you let me go, I will never follow you again. If do, may I be stuck down where I stand!” He yells. As he finishes his proclamation a bright light envelops the two of us. Bright chains of light circles around the crying boy on the ground, seeming to constrict around him sinking into his skin.

“What the fuck!” I scream backpedaling nearly tripping over Sarge in the process.

“It's an oath.” Thea says walking up beside me. “Its recognized by Ava as binding. When you let him go, he won't be able to follow you again or he will die. He's no threat to us anymore.” She says kneeling next to the boy. “You know what happens if you break an oath sworn to a God don't you?” Thea asks him.

“I die.” He says slowly stopping his crying.

“Not just die, Ava's chains will squeeze the life out of you if you ever break your oath.” She says standing up and walking back to the truck. Getting myself back under control, I straighten my shoulders before speaking to the boy again.

“Before you go, lose your armor and weapons you haven't already dropped.” I say stepping back to lean against the tailgate. Liam quickly stands and stripps off his armor leaving him standing in simple pants and a long sleeved tunic.

“Can I take my horse?” He asks eyes moving between Sarge and me.

“Take your horse and any others you can gather up. Don't stop till you're at least ten miles from here. Or I'll know and I’ll come after you.” I say causing Liam to jump into his saddle and start to turn his horse back the way he came. “One more thing, tell your king to leave me be. I won't spare anyone else who comes after me. I see so much as a guard following me and I'll kill everyone in uniform I see and I'll come after him next. Got it?” I say my voice becoming a yell at the end.

“Yes, sir.” Liam yells as he spurs his horse down the road heading back towards the castle. I stand there in the road till he crest the hill, then everything hits me at once. Doubling over, I puke feeling like my guts are coming up with the remains of the banana chips from earlier. Leaving a sweet and sour taste in my mouth.

Stumbling back to the truck, I collapse in a pile next to the rear wheel. I pull my knees up to my chest and starts to sob, staring down at my hands. For all the shooting and drills I’ve ran before today, I’ve never had to kill anyone today. How much blood is on my hands now. Yes, they were trying to kill me, but I still killed them. Sarge noses up to my face, trying to see what's wrong with me because he doesn't understand. I wrap my arms around him, pulling him into my lap as I cry. Burying my face in his neck, I breath deep drawing in his scent as a comfort. I try to find some normalcy. For all the changes, this is still my dog. This is Sarge and he's here.

I don't know how long I sat there holding Sarge. He never made a sound, just let me hold him. It was almost like he knew I needed him in that moment and was just there trying to comfort me the only way he could. My limbs had stiffened up by the time I moved again. I probably wouldn't have if Thea hadnt spoke to me.

“We need to go now.” Thea says as I look up at her standing next to the truck. There's a pile of weapons and small leather bags sitting beside her on the ground.

“Where did those come from?” I ask nodding to the pile next to her.

“I took them from the knights. They don't need them anymore.”

“Are any of them still alive?” I ask knowing in the heat of the moment my shots were good, but not all of them would have been killed.

“Not anymore. I took care of any that were still alive.” She says holding out a hand to me. Taking her hand, I pull myself to my feet looking around. The bodies of the slain knights are still stretched out behind the truck like some sort of bizarre trail of death.

“Then let's load this all up and get gone.” I say hopping into the bed and stowing the Browning rifle and all its magazines in their proper place. Jumping out of the truck, I give Thea a hand setting the various swords and daggers into the bed of the truck. Picking up one of the small leather bags, I feel it shift in my hand. I peek inside and see an assortment of coins in silver, copper and even a few large gold.

“What's this?” I ask showing Thea the contents.

“Money, between the knights there was quite a sum.” Thea says as she starts to empty the smaller poches into the bigger ones. When she was done, there ended up being three large pouches all bulging with coins. She carried those to the front of the truck, tossing them into the cab before walking around to the passenger side. “Are you ready?” She asks opening her door.

“I guess I am.” I said shutting the tailgate and grabbing my M1a from where it was leaning against the truck. Reaching into the bed, I grab one of the full magazines for it, replacing the one that is in the rifle before walking to the door. “Truck Sarge.” I say causing him to scramble inside. Setting the rifle, butt first into the floorboard beside the gearshift barrel pointed towards the back window. I slide into the truck, slam the door, and start it. I take a breath and start down the road.

“We need to find a place to bed down for the night.” I say my voice sounding hollow in my ears. Thea nods her head in agreement looking over at me as I drive.

“Was that your first time in combat?” She asks in a gentle voice.

“That wasn't combat, that was a slaughterfest.” I say as my hands death grip the steering wheel. “Yeah, it was my first time killing someone.” I say in a quiet voice.

“They would have killed us if you hadn't.” She says trying to comfort me.

“Does not make it any easier.” I say as I stare down the road. “I'd rather not talk about it right now if that's ok with you.”

“Ok, but when you want to talk, I’ll listen” Thea says. Reaching up, I turn on the radio. For a moment there is a burst of static till I switch it over to the cd player. Then the cab is filled with the sounds of the Charlie Daniels Band. Thea looks surprised as the music starts, but she keeps silent simply accepting that it's something she doesn't understand.

“This day started off halfway decent.” I mumble reaching down to pet Sarge’s head where its resting on the seat beside me. “Now here we are, lost in some other world.” Sarge’s tail thumps against Theas leg as I scratch his ear like he's just happy to be here with me.