“Up and at’em boys, girls, and people I hesitate to call men; we got a long trip ahead of us!” After another day of rest at the town, the group began travelling west toward a port town. “How far is the next town?” Jessica yawned, her red hair still frizzy from waking up and immediately being kicked from her bed to the wagon. “We won’t get there today, we’ll have to camp out overnight.” Anita got a groan from the rest, even the men who knew how long the journey took.

Matt had convinced Eric to sit on his side of the wagon cart while Adriana had to put up with Jessica and Brian abusing each other. “Hey Eric, I’ve been meaning to talk with you since we first left he kingdom.” The boy raised an eyebrow at his friend, suspecting the direction the conversation was heading. “You don’t have to put yourself down. You proved yourself out there the other day, and even before then.” Eric nodded his head, declining the reassurance, “Matt, I just did what I had to.” Matt put his hand on the boy’s shoulder, “Eric, we all do what we have to; it doesn’t make what you did any less brave or meaningful. Besides,” he moved his arm around his friend’s shoulder, giving him a side hug, “even if you don’t do much as a cleric, I’m still glad to have you around as my friend. We all are.”

While the teens had conversed with each other, Anita grew nervous, sweating beginning to form on her head. “What’s sweating ya?” Brian’s observational skills made the woman jump. “Stop the wagon!” At the woman’s behest, the vehicle came to a stop. “Woah, did I say something really bad? Sorry!” Anita had ignored Brian’s overly-apologetic response. The woman took a deep breath, “I need to level with you kids, the monsters are not the only reason we need protection against.”

“Oh great, what else are we going to have to beat up?” Jessica’s impatience was reflected among the group, though no one else to the same degree. “Bandits. We encountered them on our first expedition, and though we managed to allude them coming to Lumina, I have no doubt we’ll see them on the trip back to Temperas. They seem to live around the forest, at least that’s where they ambushed us early in the morning.” The group shared a sentiment of concern, except for the red head. “So what did they want? These stupid pots and junk?”

“No, they wanted our money. They must have figured we were paid well; sadly, we aren’t. They ‘offered’ themselves as escorts for the duration of the trip.” Eric was about to step in, but Jessica interrupted him, “Then why do you need us? Couldn’t these bandits just kill these monsters?” Anita shook her head, “Their service conveniently left out killing monsters. In fact, if another bandit group had tried to actually robbed us, they likely would have turned tail and ran.”

“So you need us to save your a-” “Jessica, please” Eric jumped in, “Eric I don’t-“ “Shut up Jess”, “Brian no one-“, “No seriously Jessy, stop” Adriana warned, “I-“, “That’s an order.” Matthew’s stern voice had sent chills through the air and had gotten the girl to finally give in. “Sorry about that. When do you expect the bandits to strike?” Anita, relieved the war was over, took another breath, “Around dawn. If you don’t think you can handle it, or if you don’t want to handle it, we can take a longer path. I’m not going to force you to after what you went through.”

The boy nodded his head, “We’ll be doing this for two years. Better to deal with the problem now than wait it out.” The others agreed, Jessica a little reluctant. “Anthony, lets get going.” With that, the wagon began moving again, the tension gradually fading away.

As the Sun reached its apex in the sky, the group stopped for food. “Here ya go Eric, a nice slab of loboar meat!” Eric accepted the meat in shock, “Brian, where did you get this?” Brian scratched the back of his, “Well you see, yesterday I snuck one of those loboars on to the wagon. Gave it to a chef who not only paid for half of it but let me keep the other half.” The cleric was still surprised at the forethought of his friend, “Wow, I’m impressed.”

“Yeah I was too. It’s not every day I come up with something smart, but when I do…” the dragoon held out a fiery orb, an idea of his he had been proud of for years. “Speaking of, could you hold on to that while I get the water and the pot?”

“What’s gotten in to you? I know Brian is the hothead, but you’re the short-fuse, but I’ve never seen you this worked up?” In the woods, away from the group, the two girls had agreed to have a private discussion. “I’m just tired of these people, constantly holding info from us. I didn’t think we’d be babysitting.” Adriana huffed at the privileged girl, “We’ve got two years with them, so unless you want to find another group or fly solo, you’re going to have to put up with it. And I mean, what did you expect? If they really could fend for themselves, we wouldn’t be here. If everyone could defend themselves, what would we do? What would you do?”

“I don’t know,” the girl relented, unable to keep eye contact with her peer. “I’m sorry about earlier.” Adriana nodded, “Don’t apologize to me. I might have been annoyed, but I don’t think any of us are hurt. Apologize to Anita. Also, Matt’s going to talk with you later.” Instantly, the red head at locked her eyes with the rogue again, unnerving her. “Do I really have to talk to Matt? I get it, I shouldn’t haven’t exploded.” The girl’s whine was met with a palm to the forehead, “He’s not going to chastise you, just ask what’s up. That will be later today, probably around dinner. On the topic of food, I’m sure the boys are almost done cooking.”

“Hey, where is Matt anyways?” Adriana had turned to face her while still heading back, “He said he had to ‘take care of business.’ I hope I don’t have to explain what that means.” The girl was slightly unnerved to see the mage was not disgusted, but instead appeared disappointed. Facing the path ahead, Adriana no longer minded if the other girl got lost in her fantasies.

Meeting back up, Eric had given Brian the food to distribute to all. “I hope the food tastes as good as it looks.” Eric personally handed a plate to the lead archeologist, “I hope so too. I studied cooking. I could make a meal out of just about any monster.” Taking a bite, Anita was clearly enamored with the meal. “Time well spent I’d say. If you ever get tired of helping people, you could be a famous chef!”

“Maybe, but I’d be nothing without my grill, Brian” the cleric motioned to his friend. “Aw shucks, I just do what Eric tells me too.”

As the group continued on their way, the seating arrangement changed again, Adriana sitting with Matt, Eric and Brian on the other side, and Jessica sitting with Anita. “I’m sorry about what I said this morning.” The researcher simply smiled at the response, “Don’t worry about it. As a mother, I’m used to having arguments with a stubborn husband and a crazy daughter. When I get home, my little girl is going to be a teenager; if anything, this is just practice.”

“Hey man, when we get to the next town, I’m going to take you shopping.” Eric looked at Brian, confused about what he had in mind. “Wait, what?” Brian flashed a brown sack, “Remember I said that guy paid me? We’re going to get you a weapon. I know you’re not big on fighting, but even something for just cutting stuff would be better than using your barehands.”

As the sun began to sink, the group found a place to setup for the night. “No worries kids, we brought sleeping bags!”

The two men dropped supplies on to the ground, setting them around a fire. “So what are we going to do about the bandits?” Adriana’s question was met with shrugs from the two boys. “We could use that system where someone stays awake for a couple hours, then has someone else take their place until we see a bandit.” Eric’s suggestion was met with jeers.

“So, what are we going to do in the dark forest?” Jessica’s flirting fell flat toward the unmoving wall that was Matthew Baronia. “Jessy, what’s gotten into you recently? First you explode, now you’re…doing this.” The girl sighed, looking away, “I apologized earlier. And seriously, do you not get it?” Putting his hands on her shoulders, “Look me in the eyes” The girl immediately did as ordered. “Jessica, I know the others give you a hard time, but recently you seem especially frustrated.”

“It’s just-“ the girl tried to dodge the boy’s gaze, but she realized there was no going back, she had to face him. “I feel like no one wants to be around me. Brian and me just fight, Adriana barely tolerates me, Eric tries to avoid me, and you…even you don’t like me.” Tears began to trail down the redhead’s face. “Hey, I don’t hate you. Sometimes you’re hard to approach, but we’re friends.” The boy tried to wipe away the tears, but she grabbed him by the arm, “I don’t believe you. Eric might buy that friend crap, but I’m not that dumb.”

“Jessica, perhaps if you stop insulting others, they might not distance themselves from you.” Finally breaking eyesight, the mage began walking back to the camp, “I’ll consider it.” Matt watched her storm off, a pit forming in his stomach. “I hope you do more than consider it…”

As the night’s onslaught continued, everyone had fallen asleep after a hearty meal. Each teen had taken their turn keeping watch, with Matthew being the last in line. The chirping of crickets and cawing of fowlcrows formed a symphony of noise that helped Matt stay awake. He couldn’t believe Eric had managed to come up with such a cockamamy idea, and moreover had convinced the others to go along with it. Most of all, despite being the last one to watch for bandits, Matt felt like he had gotten the least amount of sleep. The noise’s ability to keep the teen in the waking world was beginning to fail, forcing him to focus on events that would keep his mind active. “It’s been a little over a week, I wonder how Luke is managing. I should send him a letter; I think Brian had said something about making mone-“

‘Matthew opened his eyes to see he was back home. Suddenly he turned his attention to a noise he couldn’t quite recognize. Running toward the noise, he stopped near his home, only to see the castle on fire. “Luke!” Matt shouted from the top of his lungs. A shadow emerged from the castle entrace. The figure zoomed toward Matt who attempted to draw his sword, only to realize he had no sword. The shadowy figure had stopped in front of the teen, the resulting wind knocking him down. Looking up, the creature was now recognizable: it looked like him, but it had subtle differences. “Luke?” The boy grinned, razor sharp teeth filling his smile. “Yes Matt. I killed the princess, and now I’ll kill you!” All Matt could do was scream as the beast lunged at him.’

Matthew awoke in cold sweat, hyperventilating as he did so. Looking up, he witnessed something that made his already tired heart stop beating: it was a man in strange garbs. Matt froze, his mind trying to think on what to do. His eyes had begun adjusting to the darkness well enough to see the thief had Jessica over his shoulder. At this, Matt picked up his sword, stood up, raised the sword to the sky, illuminating it. The light had stunned the thief and caused the others to wake up immediately, including Jessica, who the thief dropped on her head.

Realizing he had been caught, the thief fled. “After him!”

Without hesitating, the group followed their leaders command, Adriana leading the way, lighting up the way with her electricity. Before long the group stumbled upon two more bandits sitting by a tent. “Looks like we found your little camp.” The three bandits stood up in an attempt to look intimidating. “You kids think you’re real clever; let’s see how you handle this!” The bandit in front threw a large rock at Matt, who easily blocked it with his shield. “Alright then…attack!”

The front bandit rushed the knight, assuming his bodyweight would overwhelm Matt. The other two bandits tried to flank the group. Matthew sent the middle bandit flying back, Brian swatted the bandit attacking from the left, Jessica sent the bandit on the right reeling back with a large chunk of ice. Gathering back together, the bandits formed a new strategy: “Retreat!” Before they could make headway, another flash of light dazed all three of them. “Stop doing that!”

As the bandits regained their sight, they realized they were now surrounded by the teens. “You’re not going anywhere. It’s time you pay for your crimes.” The knight’s words made the bandits recoil.

Anita yawned, stretching arms as she opened her eyes. Looking toward the woods, she saw the teens bringing in three men. “You…you got them?!”

“Yep. It’s a rather short story, but I’m sure these guys can fill you in while we get some shut eye.”