We escaped the town without any problems. They didn’t even know where we ran off and no one followed us outside the city. We wanted to reach the capital as fast as we could but we were exhausted after all of this and the sun was setting. We set up a camp a few kilometers away from the Selem.

[ Eric ]

“How long will it take to get to the capital?”

[ Dian ]

“To Verherm? Around eight hours of walking.”

[ Eric ]

“How I miss the cars… That would be a lot faster… And comfortable…”

[ Dian ]

“By the way… Where are Stella and her wolf?”

[ Eric ]

“Skyge is my wolf… And they went fishing. Stella’s power is very useful for that. She can spear a fish just by seeing it. If I had that power I could easily defeat everyone… It’s probably an epic spell or maybe legendary? Do you have any other spells?”

[ Dian ]

“Nope. The fog is the only one I currently know.” Said Dian as he tossed more wood into the fire.

[ Stella ]

“We’re back!”

As I looked back I saw Stella with a bag full of fish. Skyge also had a fish. One but much bigger than the rest. So big that it was the length of my arm. At least he won’t steal fish from us since he has one for himself. Stella was standing on Skyge but then she began to fall. Thanks to my new power I grabbed her before she hit the ground.

[ Dian ]

“Is she alright?!”

[ Eric ]

“Nothing to worry about. She used her powers too much and exhausted herself. At least now she knows her limit. Her spell is powerful but it has a limit. I had a power that drained so much power from me that I used it only for a second or ten seconds at most.”

We placed Stella near the fire. Skyge gladly became her pillow. Meanwhile, we roasted fishes. Skyge was nagging for food so his fish was prepared first. We prepared the rest and ate almost all of them.

[ Dian ]

“Why aren’t we roasting the last two fishes?”

[ Eric ]

“I have a feeling that she won’t wake up till the morning. I’ll leave them in the bag in water so they would stay alive.”

[ Dian ]

“Ohh… What a good father you are.”

[ Eric ]

“I’m not her father…” I said but had a change of mind once I looked at her. “At least not biological.”

After a good dinner, all I wanted to do was to go to sleep but Dian had something much different in mind. From the earlier fight, he stole a few axes. He proposed to use the handles to spar. He wouldn’t let me sleep so I had to agree.

[ Eric ]

“You sure you want to do this? We could spar in the morning.”

[ Dian ]

“No. In the morning we’re going to Verherm. If we’re not gonna walk in the night then that’s what we should do.”

[ Eric ]

“Fair. Ready?”

[ Dian ]

“Always!”

I saw that in Dian’s eyes. His determination. He wanted to make the first move but when he did only one step forward I took two and got ready to strike. Dian was surprised he wasn’t even going to block the attack. He dropped to the ground and avoided my attack. He took a chance and tried kicking my leg. Normally I would be on the ground because of that kick but thanks to Expert Proprioception I jumped at Dian and pushed his head to the ground.

[ Eric ]

“Checkmate. Now let’s get some rest.”

[ Dian ]

“Kay!” Said Dian with my hand still on his face pressed to the ground.

I was the first one to wake up in the morning. The fire was out already so I had to prepare a new one to roast the rest of fishes. As I was roasting fishes the smell of it woke up Skyge and Stella too.

[ Eric ]

“Morning.”

[ Stella ]

“Morning…” Said Stella as she yawns and wipes her eyes.

While we were enjoying the meal, Skyge was able to hear something approaching. It was the sound of horses that dragged something. We spotted a small caravan of two carts and three guards on horses. I stood in the middle of the road and waved to catch their attention. They stopped the caravan and one of the guards approached me.

[ Guard ]

“What is it that you want?”

[ Eric ]

“You need to stop your travel. Selem is under the control of the enemy.”

[ Guard ]

“What? Which one? Blackwood?”

[ Eric ]

“No. One of the guard’s captains rebelled and took over the town. He has around two hundred soldiers that will do his command and more that are forced to fight. I was going Verherm to warn the jarl about the upcoming attack.”

[ Guard ]

“Wait here… I need to tell that to my boss.”

[ Eric ]

“Wait! I’m not here alone so don’t be surprised. There are two more people and a dog.”