The weather had been choppy for the last two days. It would rain for an hour here and there then stop for about the same time. Andromeda wasn’t terribly bothered by it because her robes were enchanted to resist the cold and weather to a certain degree. As long as she didn’t let herself get completely drenched she would stay warm and dry.

Eli wasn’t so lucky. He was dressed very plainly for long distance travel, just some clothes and some leather armor. His situation had improved a bit after Andromeda mended them to perfect condition but that was only going to do so much to keep him well. Because of this, they chose to take breaks whenever the rain got bad.

It was a long trip they were undertaking, and while they have already covered a significant distance, they had weeks ahead of them. They long since ran out of things to talk about and had taken to long bouts of silence. Only speaking up when it was important.

It was during one break from the rain under a nearby overturned wagon that Eli found something to talk about. Something that had been eating at him for days.

“And- er, I mean, White?” Eli said.

“Names are fine right now, nobodies around.” Andromeda said.

“Right… I need to ask you something.” Eli said.

“What is it?” She said.

Eli had received at least light instruction on so many subjects in a month that he was scared of how small his world was before that. Before he had only known farming and the occasional trip to market. That was all he ever knew.

Now he had a giant swirling mix of information. So many things he didn’t understand, and many more that wish he didn’t.

One of them was magic, and the other were the Medea.

“Your hands…” Eli said.

Andromeda looked down at her hands, still covered with the gloves Alice had gifted her, and the rings Rhys had given her under them.

“What about them?” Andromeda said.

“I might be misremembering this, I don’t remember much well before my head was messed with, but you said that you were born with them that way. Right?” Eli asked.

Andromeda thought about it, it was a fair bit ago and a lot had happened since but she did remember. It was a lie to keep the truth hidden. She reasoned that her lie had been seen through. If she had known she would meet Eli again in the future she might have tried harder to make a better story up.

“I did say that.” Andromeda said, not trying hard to confirm it.

“That was a lie, am I wrong?” Eli said.

He was exactly right, but that wasn’t something she could easily talk about. He suspected that something was amiss but didn’t know exactly how drastic the situation was. She wasn’t sure if she even could explain.

“Yes…” She said, Eli shook his head.

“I figured, it seems like all folk ever do is tell half truths or lie through their teet.? Is it so wrong to expect someone to be honest every once and a while?” Eli said. He wasn’t saying that directly to her, it seemed as though he was ranting to the open air itself.

“It’s complicated, I don’t know what would happen if I told you.” Andromeda said.

“Yeah, that might be the case, but if you are willing to lie about something like your hands looking strange, then how do I know you wouldn’t lie about more important things. I’m supposed to be guarding you and I can’t even trust you.” Eli said. While she didn’t like hearing it, she agreed with him. If their positions were reversed she would feel the exact same way.

She could have been cold about it, she could tell him to just do his job and not stick his nose into her business.. Maybe that was the right thing to do, maybe not, but it didn’t make her feel any better.

“Look-” Andromeda started to said, then Eli put a hand up and she went silent.

They both listened and they could hear distant voices. All male and far from friendly..

“Our guy told me that there were some folk out this way. One looked like one of those magic types, the other was just a welp.” One voice said.

“Do you think we have enough guys for a mage? I’ve heard some things.” The other voice said.

Eli peaked around the edge to see what was going on, he caught a glimpse of five men. All of them were armed to the teeth and wearing impressive armor for the middle of nowhere. He motioned with his hands to say 5 men and swung his fist like a sword to suggest them being armed.

This specific region they found themselves in was a forested one with thick bush and tree cover. The path they had been taking was seemingly carved through otherwise untamed wilderness.

If they had been seen earlier than it was likely when they entered the forest which was nearly an hour an hour ago. If they weren’t jumped right then and there then this was likely a more organized operation.

They didn’t need to say anything to know that this was an uphill battle, a green mercenary and a mage with no combat prowess or desire vs a group of experienced highwaymen.

“Fan out, they should be in this area, stay near the roads.” The first voice said.

Eli could see that the group was still a far distance away from them, but there was no way of leaving the overturned wagon without revealing themselves to the bandits.

Andromeda tapped him on the shoulder and pointed behind them. The wagon they were sitting under was turned on its side so they were leaning against what was originally the bed. Andromeda put her hand up to it. The wooden bed started to fester and turn into mush right in front of their eyes. Eventually it had degraded enough that the wood was soft enough to push a hand through. Andromeda went through the hole first and Eli followed quickly after her.

Once they were though she turned back to the hole she had just made and pressed her hand against the edge. The wood regenerated back to its original form just as one of the men looked inside, they could see the wagon shaking behind them as the man peered inside the now empty interior.

“The wagon’s clear boss!” The man’s voice rang out.

Behind the wagon was hidden away by the thick brush, so it was less likely that they would look for them here. Both heard that the men had passed them by so they were safe to whisper.

“What’s the plan?” Eli asked.

“Not sure, we might be able to get away, but they found us before so they could find us again. We need to deal with this now.” Andromeda said.

“I can’t take them all by myself.” Eli said.

“You don’t have to, we just need to get them to spread out.” Andromeda said. She looked up and around them, then she picked a tree in the distance. She reached her hand out towards it and applied Expliza Mending to the base of a branch on it. The base withered and decayed until it broke off and fell to the ground. It was a heavy branch so the sound of it made a healthy crunch when it landed.

“Someone go check that out!” The man who seemed to be the boss called out. One of the men called it and started moving toward the fallen branch. She signaled Eli to follow her and they snuck through the brush until they were a safe distance away from the man.

He walked up to the tree and investigated the branch. Andromeda waited for him to look away and she mended the tree from a distance. The branch disappeared off the ground and appeared back on the tree. Then the man was struck by two things in quick order, the first was confusion of the branch not only being gone off the ground, the second was the very branch he was confused by as Andromeda had broken it off again. The man fell to the ground and was dazed, using this time Andromeda and Eli rushed up to him.

“Wha-” The man tried to say, but his mouth was covered with Andromeda’s hand. She looked down at him through the mask and put her hand up to it as if asking for silence.

“I’ve put a curse on you, if you try to defy my orders you will instantly die, and it won’t be painless.” She said, The color in the man’s face drained and he violently nodded his head.

“What do you want?” He whispered.

“I want you to head back to wherever you and your friends are shacked up and leave them here. If I even for a second believe you are trying to defy me, I will make you feel pain you will have never felt before.” Andromeda said.

“What if they force me to come back?” He said. He was obviously terrified and he wasn’t much older than either of them. He wasn’t used to this at the very least.

“Then you come back, I will not be pleased if you get yourself hurt.” Andromeda said.

“O-Okay…” He said, then he got up and made his way deeper into the forest.

When Andromeda turned to Eli to start toward the rest but he seemed upset about something.

“What happened to being a pacifist?” Eli said.

“I didn’t actually curse him, I was bluffing.” Andromeda said.

“That’s not the point…” Eli said.

“Report!” The boss called.

The pair rushed quietly back to their spot behind the toppled wagon and waited. The group of men gathered up quickly and started deliberating.

“He was likely taken out, no splitting off. They’ll try to take us down one by one.” The boss said. Andromeda cursed under her breath, her plan was shot. Their only chance was bluffing their way out of this.

“We need to go out there, if they find us then we’re cooked.” Andromeda said. Just as she tried to stand up Eli held her down.

“Are you crazy!? They’ll just kill us!” He angrily whispered at her.

“Do you have any better ideas?” Andromeda said.

“We could just wait for them to get tired and leave.” Eli suggested.

“They are literally intending on robbing us, they won’t get bored if it means a payday.” Andromeda said.

“Damnit…” Eli said. Andromeda could see the swell of emotions on his face, between fear, anger, and terror.

“Look Eli, just stay here. I’ll deal with it.” Andromeda said. Before Eli could stop her Andromeda stood up and walked up into the road. Eli behind her silently screaming at her to stop.

She didn’t need to announce herself for them to notice her. There were four men after the one from before left. The one she suspected of being the boss stood in the middle of the group and almost seemed confused. The rest were all at the ready incase something happened.

“Ah, there you are, I was starting to wonder if I was going to make it back for lunch.” The boss said. Andromeda stayed silent, they didn’t need any more information than they needed. Luckily the boss seemed talkative.

“I’ll make this real easy for ya. Drop everything valuable and we might consider letting you go through in one piece. If you resist then I’ll start counting, whatever I end up with in the end will be the number of holes my boys will dig.” The boss said.

“Boss, those look like mage robes, maybe we-” One man said, but the boss raised his hand as if to slap the man. The man flinched and the boss put his hand back down.

“If they had half a lick of experience under their belt then we’d be dead already. They’re probably one of the boot lickers from the college running with their tail between their legs.” The boss said.

“Right boss, sorry boss.” The man who flinched said. Either his faith in his boss redoubled or he was afraid of what further defiance implied. Nevertheless the man’s grip tightened on his dagger.

“I’ll ask you only once, what’s your choice?” The boss said.

Andromeda considered her options. Dropping everything wasn’t an option, and Eli was right in thinking he couldn’t take them all on. She herself wasn’t entirely sure what she could do to neutralize them. She got the impression that a bluff wasn’t going to get her out of this. Even telling the truth about being the Arch Mage of King’s Grove wasn’t going to be taken seriously.

Eli didn’t have enough advantages to move the situation in their favor even if she gave him the opportunity. She was at a loss as to what to do.

“That’s it!” Eli said. He walked out from behind the wagon and walked in front of Andromeda. She tried to stop him but there was a resolute look in his eye.

“Oh good, that saves us the hassle of looking for you. I’m feeling generous today so I’ll give you the same offer. Drop the valuables and I might let you live.” The boss said.

“I’m sure you’d love that, why don’t you come over here and make me.” Eli said.

“Eli, What. Are. You. Doing?” Andromeda said through gritted teeth, he ignored her.

The boss snapped and the other men drew their weapons, one man with a dagger, another with a sword and shield, another with a bow, and the last with a spear. The boss himself did not draw a weapon, but judging from the greatsword hanging over his shoulder it wasn’t for lack of arms.

“That’s one body, shame that, look here mage. We’ll talk once this one is dead.” The boss said.

“Look you fat sack of bandit shit, let this farmboy give you a bit of advice. Don't count your chickens before they hatch. They tend to break easy.” Eli said. The boss furrowed his face into a deadly stare.

“You got a death wish kid?” The boss said. Then the most strange feeling came over the area. A kind of pressure that felt familiar only to Andromeda.

“Do you think that’s a wish you can grant?” Eli said. He raised his spear up toward the man just like Andromeda had done to him a few days before. The boss said nothing, only his face grew in anger. Any moment it would boil over and come crashing over the edges.

“DO YOU?!” Eli screamed, his voice resounded through the woods like the roar of a beast. It shook the birds from the trees around them and echoed in the hearts of all that heard it. The pressure Eli exuded felt as though he would crush everything around him.

The question was answered with a whisper from the boss.

“Kill him.”