I’ve always known Glenn was a damned fool. His death didn’t change that. Hells, I was embarrassed and an embarrassment when I first met him, but he left an impression. Some pipsqueak kid, only a damned squire at the time, beat the shite out of the gang of smugglers I was running with. Like it was nothing at that. Sure, he had some of his folk’s guard with him, but they were only there to capture us lot when Glenn was done. Don’t think any of them even drew their sword and I doubt the lad even broke a sweat. A kid shouldn’t have been that strong. All the while, my dumb ass didn’t even know how to fight back then. I was only the gang’s stablemaster. Ain’t like I really cared what happened to them. Ripe assholes, the lot of them. But, when too many so-called honest places turn ya away for being a half-breed, ya take what ya can get.

  Truth be told, when it happened, I swore my head was going to the chopping block. The rest of them sure were, but the dumb kid was willing to let me go against the wishes of his guard. For whatever reason, he didn’t think it was right for some slack-jawed idiot to die for tending to horses and carts. Any other lordling would’ve had me executed for my involvement.

  So I took a stupid chance. Hells, why not? Ain’t like I had anything else in my life going for me then. Figured if any noble would be daft enough to spare a smuggler, they might be willing to do more. So I asked the little runt if he’d be looking for a stable master or lackey. He looked at me and asked why I was running with the smugglers. Told him the truth, that I couldn’t find honest work since I was a half-breed, then he let me join him. I don’t know why he did, and I don’t regret asking for a moment. I was a ripe arse before I met him. I ain’t perfect, but I like to think I’ve become a better man now.

  I didn’t think I was dumb enough to think that any of us were invincible. Yet as the sunset and Glenn breathed heavy, looking like he crawled through the hells themselves, I’d be lying if I said the illusion that he was shattered for me. I should’ve known something was really wrong when the oaf refused to let me help him take off his armor. I thought he’d been spell-shocked from getting his arse handed to him for a change.

  Ivili and Maeori had been a deadly duo with their crossfire. Maeori weakened their lackeys’ Aura with her magic while Ivili picked them off. Made my job a hell of a lot easier; keeping the ones that got too close to us for them to safely fire at. Keeping them away from Glenn as he fought their boss.

  It was going well. Then there was the screaming. We must’ve lost track of one of them fucks, and they went after Sofia. The lad was weaker than he ought to have been, but it was still damn impressive that he was keeping up with their boss while Auraless. But that scream did it. Distracted him. Gave that fuck the chance he needed.

  He was dead set on saving the lass he grew up with. I could respect it. He was bent all out of shape when Maeori explained what had really been happening at the church. Resolved to fix it himself by any means. I can’t say I knew what that damned oaf’s plan was, but clearly it didn’t work. He probably thought he could find the good in people. That was his thing. I knew it would bite him in the arse one day. I always thought it would be a good lesson that not everyone has good intentions, and figured it would be Maeori to teach him that. But that was probably what killed him.

  Here I was, and there Glenn was, on his way to becoming a corpse. Perhaps I ought to have helped Sofia, the damsel he gave his life to save. But after my lucerne hammer pierced the last of those fucker’s throats, all I could do was watch him in disbelief.

  I always knew he was going to die before me. My dwarven half would’ve seen to that. Didn’t matter that I was already forty years his senior.

  I bought him into his damned dream. We were going to be adventurers, heroes, and strike it big. Maybe even I’d retire as some little lordling myself, living in luxury. How could we not, with this man by our side? The hells are we supposed to do now?

  I looked over to the rest of my current crew. Ivili wore a sorrowful look, Maeori was looking over the corpses of the church fucks, and Sofia was pale and almost lifeless herself, looking at his body.

  “Th-there’ll be more,” Sofia mumbled. “Nox, said they had someone running back.”

  “Fucking hells, get his body in the fucking wagon.” I looked up to the darkness of the new moon. “Maeori, ya got some magic shite to give us light?”

  She was quiet, surveying it all with some strange, distraught look. Must’ve been her first time taking a life if I had to guess. I didn’t know why the hells Glenn trusted her so quickly, but I guess I could ask the same about why he chose to trust me. “I’m spent,” she finally said.

  “Well, that’s fucking great.” I can make it work. Somehow.

  Sofia sat as still as a corpse. Sitting there vacantly looking.

  I turned back to the body of the boy that showed me mercy and the man who’d somehow been my greatest friend. Legacy, what a strange fucking thing. As a half-dwarf, I’m a dead limb on my family tree. The only legacy I’ve ever or will ever have would be how I was remembered. I ain’t ever been the hero type. Even after I fell into Glenn’s dreams. So the thought of reaching fame from our travels was a tempting one. I don’t think that’s happening anymore.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Looking at the four of us still grieving, that would have to be Glenn’s legacy: the four of us. The ones he chose to try to make his dream come true with. And what a sorry bunch we were. I don’t think any of us were fit to follow in his footsteps. Ivili, while a gem, was too aloof, Maeori too cocksure, and Sofia too unsure of herself and too haunted by her demons. What a sorry state we’re in that it falls on a dolt like me to keep this thing going.

  “Ya two,” I said, gesturing to Ivili and Maeori, bringing them into a bit of a huddle. “One of ya’s got to deal with that.” I nodded over to Sofia, who still sat there almost as lifeless as Glenn. “I sure as hells can’t. The other, strip and hide the bodies if ya can. If there’s more of these bastards coming for us, let them find their crew as fucking undead for all I care. We ain’t burning their bodies, got that?”

  “I’ll try with Sofia. I’m not great with emotional support either,” Maeori said. Before pausing as she was about to take her leave. “We need to make distance and fast. A boat up north to get us to Aunkein or other Oshonan territories would be good. We should skip and avoid Arrenport if at all possible.”

  “Aye, I’ll figure it out,” I said, before the second half of that hit me. “Why’re ya wanting to avoid Arrenport?”

  “We’ll have… trouble there. It’s close to where these guys are based from.”

  “How the hells do ya know that?”

  “The revelation,” she said with a shrug before heading over to Sofia.

  The response didn’t sit right, but whatever. We’d have time to sort through some things later. The best plan I could come up with was that some of these trails lead to some old smuggling buddies. I wasn't sure how they were still around, but last I knew, they were doing well. Probably the only smugglers from the past I had any sorta kinship with. Could probably get a ride out of them so long as they hadn’t been caught or moved on.

  “The winds weep for him,” Ivili said. Her ears pointed downwards. “What are you going to do?”

  “We get the hells out of here and figure the rest of this shite out later.”

  She smiled slightly. “I’m not sure why I even asked. I’d be more worried if you said anything else.”

  “The hells is that supposed to mean?”

  “You care for the moment. As do I. It’s a good pairing considering so many are either looking ahead or looking behind.”

  “Do ya mean them?” I nodded to Sofia and Maeori.

  “Perhaps,” she responded vaguely.

  “Heh, well, right now I’m looking at all these dead fucks. Doubtful we have time to strip them of all their gear. Get the swords and what else is valuable and intact.”

  Ivili got to work, grabbing whatever spare coin or intact gear they had. I began bridling the horses to get the wagon ready to go. It was sobering. At some point, Sofia’s quietness gave way to her quietly weeping in Maeori’s bosom. I kept going. Heh, that fucker who’s running back to get the rest might even take a decoy trail or be eaten by a monster if we’re lucky.

  A black shadow with red eyes spooked me for a second before I remembered Maeori’s damned devil. The thing was carrying a bag half its size in its mouth. What in the hells was it, and how the hells does a cat know how to use its Aura? It ran around the wagon before jumping in the back.

  When the wagon was ready to go, I came around to the other side. Maeori and Sofia had moved to the back of the wagon. Ivili was doing her best to hide the drag marks and cover the blood left by the bodies. The last body still there was Glenn’s. It was going to be annoying to get him in the wagon with his armor on, so I started working on unfastening the leather straps. After removing the plate, I wanted to hurl.

  The clothes underneath were burnt to ash, and his flesh suffered the worst burns I’ve seen. The two metal connectors that allowed Aura to be channeled from the body to the armor were seared into him, leaving massive blisters. If I were to try to remove them, most of his skin would come with it. Magic must’ve been used at some point to hide the smell of it. How the hells was he fighting? Why’d that fool still act like my shield, standing in the way of the bastards coming for us, while I tried to keep our attackers off us from a distance? With those injuries, he must’ve known he might not’ve lasted the night.

  I refastened the armor. If the rest of us were getting out of there, only I should know what they really did to him.

  The fuck was this shite. Weren’t we supposed to be following some god’s quest? The hells were we being attacked for? Sofia did say her father was the fucker who sent that prick of a mage after her in Harshire. And now with Glenn? He wasn’t fucking murdered, he was tortured. What’ve we gotten ourselves into?

  I made a space in the back of the wagon to put Glenn’s body, hopefully out of sight of Sofia. Though frankly, I don’t care if it hurts the lass at this point. I’ll carry his body as many days as it’ll take until she can cleanse it and we can give him as proper a burial as we can.

  My eyes and the horses’ would have to be enough to see us through, even though we only had the light of the stars to guide us. At least the beasts were rather good at it, but it’ll be on me to make sure we were on the right route. It was a shame we’d need to sell them, but a smuggler’s ship was our best bet and wasn’t fitted to bring horses hundreds of miles northwards.

  The horses did their best despite my shoddy instructions at the reins. The worst part was that I must’ve missed a marking or two and got turned around at some point. Maybe that’ll be fine if our pursuers knew the proper routes. The problem was outside of the main routes, monsters were more likely to lurk. As we kept down a path where up ahead the forest broke and gave way to plains. I knew we weren’t getting farther. We’d need to be in better shape if we were gonna cross the plains, a lot easier for monsters to get a sight or whiff of us out there. Backtracking too much might bite us in the arse. Though after seeing what they’d done to Glenn, I’d rather die to the monsters out there than the monsters after us.

  Ivili helped me settle things down at the forest’s edge before we made our way into the back of the wagon. Sofia seemed to have cried herself asleep, embracing Maeori, who was still up. I sat across from them, and Ivili came over and rested her head on top of mine. That damned devil cat jumped out and started lurking around to keep watch for us, I guess. To the hells with this awful day.