It wasn’t until they stopped in the evening that the group really started to speak to each other. The first to say anything was Emily who came over to Mark and stopped in front of him.

“Mark, I want to apologise for being so rude to you earlier. When you came up to me I just saw another man who wanted to be violent to me and reacted badly. I know you weren’t going to do anything to harm me but I couldn’t help myself at the time.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Mark said. “It was a traumatic time and nobody reacts normally when something violent happens to them. I’m happy you can talk to me now. Want a hug?”

Emily nodded and Mark wrapped her in his arms. At first she was rigidly stiff but shortly afterwards she relaxed and then she started sobbing quietly onto his shoulder. Mark felt like he should be strong to give comfort to her but he was putting off thinking about the event. As they proceeded to set up camp and get the meal ready he was able to think only about the immediate actions but by the time he started to eat he had no more excuses and his mind returned to the events earlier that day.

His mind showed him the faces of the bandits that he had hit with a fireball and the sounds as they burned to death. Then he started thinking about what he did to burn the third bandits brain. As he thought of this he realised that he was no longer tasting his meal and in fact his stomach was churning. Mark rushed to the pit they had dug earlier and was violently sick.

It took a while for him to recover and it took Kajal walking over with a flask of water before he could stand and get himself back together. “You did the right thing, saving others from death and worse. Nobody should enjoy killing and your body is telling you that you can’t stomach it.”

“Was that a pun?”

The smaller man smiled. “Of course. It’s always good to bring light into dark times. I will pray to the gods that we don’t have to fight and kill any more.”

Mark wondered if that would be the case. In most games, players killed indiscriminately without any thought of the consequences of such slaughter. However, it didn’t feel like they were in a game and the consequences were persistent. The bodies didn’t fade after being looted and touching the dead bandits had been tough. The memory almost made him throw up again.

“How are you feeling?” he asked Kajal.

“I am fine. I do as the gods want and so am blessed.”

“Sometimes it would be nice to have that much faith but it isn’t my way. Thanks for the support.”

Mark walked over to where Mike and Jo sat together. “How are you two doing?”

“Good thanks” Mike answered. Jo nodded.

Seeing their limited response Mark walked away with a nod. He knew that the big man was the one of them least likely to be affected by violence. Clearly Jo had Mike’s full support and didn’t look to be in a bad way. That just left Charlie who was sat on their own. Mark wandered over. “How’s it going?”

“I’m not saying I’m good but wiping out those bandits was a good thing and I’m not sorry we did that.”

“I can’t disagree with that. Thanks for looking after Emily straight after, she needed that support.”

“We all need support occasionally and I’m glad I could help.”

Mark never felt like any conversation with Charlie got beyond the barrier they kept between themselves and the world.

Fortunately nothing else happened on their route to town.