Rana lopped off the head of the final straggler that had tried to run away in fear. He hadn’t made it very far at all before she caught him. They never did with her around. She was fast as lightning.
After the vilge they met up in, they’d stopped for a quick meal. Only to find out that their packs didn’t contain any food except anything they’d taken off of defeated bullywugs. A few bruised apples and one sb of jerky ter the three of them had trudged on toward the tavern.
Over the st few hours they had come across several other vilges and a handful of traveling war parties. All of them had been dealt with rather efficiently by the three of them. As predicted, Awenda made an excellent tank and was able to draw everyone’s attention to her, and Rana was a murder machine set to extra violent. Together with Lilit throwing in strategic heals and wards they were able to very quickly cut their way through any opposition. She only rarely ended up being able to wade into the fray herself.
They stopped for a moment to collect and divide up the loot. Lilit found it pretty easy for everyone to agree about considering how their partnership had begun. The experience points, which Lilit had barely paid attention to when she was by herself, were automatically divided amongst them equally. It didn’t matter that Rana technically had most of the kills, since they worked as a team, they all got the reward.
The beacon had finally begun to appear to be getting closer. Twenty minutes ter, they looked to stumble upon it any minute. Lilit could just begin to make out the outer walls of a rge structure ahead when out of the fog stepped a different group of monsters than they were used to. There were still several level one bullywugs, but at the back of the group was a much taller reptilian creature urging them forward.
She scanned him as he came into view. Above his head floated, Lizardman Lvl 2. It made a kind of sense that there would be a boss fight now that they were so close to the end.
The lizardman stepped forward, parting the rows of bullywugs. “Why have you been attacking the subjects of—”
While Lilit had been stunned by one of their enemies actually talking back in a nguage she recognized for once, it seemed Rana was less impressed. She’d thrown a rock and hit the lizardman right between the eyes, staggering him, before she took off in a sprint toward the group. Apparently the time for talking was over.
Awenda used one of her moves, letting out a loud roar that drew the attention of all the bullywugs. She marched forward toward the now rushing bullywugs. Rana continued her mad dash toward the lizardman. Lilit stepped out to the side and circled around the dozen or so bullywugs struggling to reach Awenda.
Gncing over toward Rana, Lilit saw she couldn’t quite make it to him before he was able to shake off taking a rock to the face. Now he had drawn a much rger version of the scimitar the bullywugs occasionally used. The two of them circled each other, occasionally sending out probing strikes to test the other. This was the first time Lilit had seen Rana act anything but recklessly impulsive and violent in a fight.
Lilit decided to give Rana an early edge. She pulled out her prayer book and flipped it open to the ward page. The prayers were simple enough that she’d memorized them by now. She’d found she still had to activate the prayer book to the correct spell though, or nothing happened. But, she didn’t have to take her eyes off the action as she chanted her prayer. When she was done she shouted, “Rana! Ward!”
Rana acknowledged her with a head bob before she darted forward with intent.
Lilit on the other hand refocused on the mob of bullywugs trying to encircle Awenda. Her mana bar fshed in her vision a few times. Crap, she only had enough left in the tank for one minor healing, or maybe a smite. She’d have to be careful about how she used it. If she used it too soon and needed it ter, they’d be screwed. If she was more cautious and waited too long someone could get seriously hurt.
Lilit stepped forward and began swinging as she waded into the mob of bullywugs. It only took a few kills to draw the attention of the rest of the group onto her. Lilit stepped backward, trying to get space before she became surrounded.
As soon as the weight let up on Awenda she pulled her sword back and activated her sweep attack. Her sword swept out in an arc, slicing clean through several bullywugs at once. In moments they had more than halved the number of bullywugs attacking.
Lilit spared a gnce toward Rana as she circled away from the bullywugs, dodging from probing spear attacks. Rana had lightning flickering across her axe bdes as she danced forward, her arms a whirlwind. There was at least a small cut bleeding down her side. That was all she had time to take in before she had to turn back to where the danger for her y.
Awenda had already killed another bullywug. Now several of those left were turning away from Lilit to deal with the threat at their back. That left two still coming after her.
If she was patient she could wait them out until one of them made a mistake or Awenda got to her. The problem was her stamina bar was dangerously low, and sinking fast. She was winded and breathing heavily. Combat was the ultimate cardio.
One of the bullywugs made to rush her. Lilit tried to feint to the side, but the bullywug didn’t take the bait. She barely leapt out of the way. His spear grazed her ribs, punching through a gap in the side of her armor. She felt warmth flow down her side.
His spear became stuck in her armor as she stumbled backward, tearing it out of the hand of the bullywug. He stumbled forward and fell to his knees at her feet. Before he could move, she brought her mace down on his head with a sickening crunch.
The second bullywug hadn’t been idle though. It jumped toward Lilit on its long, muscur legs. Scrambling to get away from the bullywug, Lilit tripped over something soft. She went down, arms filing. When she hit the ground, all her breath seemed to explode from her lungs. Her vision darkened and she saw fshes of stars.
Then the bullywug was standing over her. It kicked her hand holding the mace, causing her to drop it in pain. Smiling a froggy little smile at her, he raised his spear up in preparation of shoving it through her armor and into her heart.
This was it. She’d done everything she could. She just wasn’t enough. How depressing a thought that was. Apparently the little spark had been wrong. She hoped that it would be as painless as her first death, but somehow doubted it.
She watched helplessly as the spear began to streak down at her. At the st instant the bullywug stumbled forward. An axe appearing in the back of his head. But the spear was already in motion. It pierced through the armor, but instead of her heart, it pierced deep into her abdomen.
The pain was a white hot nce through her guts. She had never experienced anything like this before. It was beyond debilitating. All she wanted to do was curl up around the pain and try to hold herself together. She could feel her blood flowing over the sides of her body, pooling under her back. A scream was ripped from her throat.
Above her, fuzzy silhouettes were looking down at her. She could make out sounds as if from underwater, murky and distorted. She stared, breath hitching in her throat, until Rana and Awenda came into focus above her.
“Fuck! What do we do?”
“I don’t know. She’s the healer, but even then I doubt she’d a doctor.”
“The inn is close…”
“No, I don’t think she has the time.”
“Look I think she’s starting to come back to us.”
Lilit had trouble distinguishing who was saying what, her mind was a bit too preoccupied at the moment.
Rana knelt down so she was close to Lilit. “What do you want us to do? I don’t know what to do here.”
“Take it out, Rana. It hurts. Please, just take it out.” Lilit panted.
“I don’t think we should sweetheart. I’m pretty sure if we do, you’ll bleed out before we get to help. That’s about the most first aid I know.”
Awenda knelt down beside her. “Do you think if we pulled it out she could heal enough to stop the bleeding at least?”
“I don’t know,” Rana retorted. “Ask her.”
Awenda turned to look down at Lilit. “Little one, do you think you could heal yourself if we pulled the spear out?”
Lilit thought about that for a second. Sine Rana mentioned it, she did remember more clearly that she wasn’t supposed to remove something that was sticking out of you. But, on the other hand…magic. The question was if she believed in it enough to take the chance and go against logic.
Her hands and feet were already starting to feel cold and numb. She wasn’t sure she’d st too much longer no matter what they decided. But there was a chance with the magic. But, she’d definitely want the spear removed so it didn’t accidentally heal around it. She did not need a new piercing.
“Hand me…my prayer book.” The pain kept stealing her breathe.
Awenda reached down and pulled Lilit’s prayer book free. She pced it on Lilit’s chest, then folded her hand over it, like she knew that Lilit didn’t have the strength. Lilit concentrated with all she had on the healing spell. Then she nodded at Awenda, who used Lilit’s hand to open the book.
“Do I need to hold it up so you can read it?” Rana asked.
“No. Memorized.” Lilit was panting in pain again as her concentration slipped.
Rana and Awenda nodded their heads. They looked at each other, exchanging silent words. Awenda nodded her head, then bowed it as if in prayer. A moment ter she stood up and took the spear in hand, careful not to jostle it.
“On three,” Awenda said.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Awenda took a deep breath. “One…two…” Then she ripped the spear from Lilit’s body.
Lilit was shocked speechless for a moment, and then a scream bubbled up her throat, leaving it raw and burning. Before anyone could admonish her, she quietly started chanting her healing prayer.
“May the light guide you,
May the light heal you,
Burn away the sickness,
With cleansing light.
My the light guide you,
May the light heal you,
Wash away your hurt,
With cleansing light.”
An itching, burning sensation started up inside her. It felt like tiny ants on fire crawling around her guts and onto her abdomen. A moment ter, the feeling disappeared. She y panting on the ground. She tried to sit up and found that her abdomen was still very tender. The flesh appeared to have knitted back together, but it was obvious she’s still need some healing.
“I hope neither of you is badly hurt, because that was my st heal until I can regenerate some more mana.” She took a shuddering breath. “Fuck. That was close.”
“Take it easy. You were very recently impaled, little one. Are you ok?” Awenda asked.
Lilit nodded her head. She would be ok eventually, and that would have to be good enough. She looked around the clearing. By now all the bodies had disappeared. There were loot bags all over the ground.
“Will you grab all the loot bags?” She looked up in Awenda’s face.
Awenda agreed and moved away, bending to pick up little bags. Rana kneeled back down, pcing a hand on Lilit’s shoulder. “Are you sure you’re ok?”
“I will be. And, thank you. I would have been a goner if not for you…so, thanks.”
Rana cpped her on the back, “Of course. Can’t have my favorite healer dying on me. Who would argue with me about every little thing?” She smiled at Lilit.
Lilit gave her the finger. Rana just ughed. “Help me stand up,” Lilit demanded.
Rana helped pull Lilit to her feet. She swayed a little with dizziness. Rana stepped closer, wrapping a furry arm around her waist. Lilit let herself lean against her for the moment. It felt warm, safe. It felt nice.
“What did we get Awenda?” Lilit called out.
Awenda had piled all the bags together and was quickly opening each one to release the loot. Lilit stepped forward, and Rana kept pace with her, supporting her weight.
“Well, I did find this.” Awenda held up a small bottle with a viscous, red liquid inside. “Wish we’d found this a few minutes ago,” she mumbled under her breath.
A second ter, Lilit understood as a small bel popped up above the bottle, Minor Healing Potion. Lilit couldn’t help it, she let out a loud bark of ughter. Then immediately regretted it as pain nced through her abdomen. “Ow…”
Awenda held the potion out to Lilit, “Here, take it. You still look a little pale, and you just had a spear sticking out of you.”
Lilit waved it away. “I’m fine for now, and once we have time to rest I’ll be able to cast healing on myself again until I’m all better. We should keep it for another emergency like this though. Next time I might be out of mana, or the prayer might not be enough to stabilize whoever is injured, or I might just not be able to get to you in time. Either you or Rana should hold onto it. You’re more likely to need it than I am.”
“I’d feel better if you’d drink this. I’m sure we can purchase more, probably at the inn.” Awenda thrust the potion toward Lilit.
Lilit stood taller, stepping away from Rana. “I don’t need it, but one of you might ter. There is no reason to waste it now.”
“Giving it to you is not a waste.”
“Yes, it is. I am stable. I can heal myself ter. You two,” Lilit gestured between Awenda and Rana, “can’t. So stow it.”
They stared at each other for several moments, but Awenda ended up being the one to look away first. She pced the potion in her pack. Then stood up over the pile of loot that was left.
Rana leaned over, “Does this mean you are willing to be in a party with us moving forward?”
Lilit sighed, “Yeah. You guys are pretty alright, I guess.” She smirked at Rana’s frown.
“There are a few decent weapons in here that might actually be worth some money. A small shield, and a few dozen gold pieces.” Awenda informed them.
“So, we sell the weapons and shield, and split the gold for it?” Lilit looked around to confirm everyone was on the same page. “Ok, then it doesn’t matter who carries it.”
Awenda simply started stuffing equipment into her pack. Rana shrugged when Lilit looked in her direction.
A few minutes ter they found themselves walking toward the inn again. The wooden walls coming into view through the fog.
“Oh. Congrats on the lizardman kill, Rana. Looked like you had him on his back foot the entire time.” Lilit smiled at Rana.
“Awenda deserves a fair amount of credit. If it weren’t for her decidedly underhanded trick I don’t think I would have finished him off in time to save you.”
“It wasn’t underhanded!”
“You threw a boulder at him.” Rana ughed back.
“It wasn’t a boulder. It was a small rock.”
Rana held her hands about a foot and a half apart when she looked at Lilit. “I’m proud of you, Awenda.”
“It wasn’t underhanded.” Awenda paused, trying to find the right words. “It was tactical.”
Rana ughed. “Either way, it worked. The lizardman stumbled trying to jump out of the way, and I was able to bury my axe in his chest.” She shrugged. “Then I saw that bullywug standing over you and threw my axe into his back. No big deal.” She buffed her nails against her top, a wolfish smile spread across her features.
Lilit bumped her shoulder into Rana’s. “Thanks.”
The trio stepped up in front of the doors to the inn. Above the door a sign hung down that simply said, The Inn. Not very original. It was a wide, two story structure. A wooden building, painted white with pale blue trim. A small porch with outdoor seating stretched the length of the building. No one was seated outside, and Lilit could understand why.
They looked at each other one st time before they climbed the steps up to the porch. They crossed it in a few strides and Awenda pulled the door open for the other two. A small wave of sound poured out of the open door. Loud in the silence of the swamp. The sound level dropped as conversations paused when Rana and Lilit stepped through the door. It dropped again when Awenda’s imposing frame stepped in behind them. She had removed her helm as she stepped through.
It was quiet enough that they all clearly heard a tiny, high pitched feminine voice, hidden at the back of the room call out, “Damn! I want to climb that like a spider monkey.”
