The air felt incredibly tense as Sekh and I rode alongside the river. I could feel the sensation of the eyes prickling the back of my neck. But this wasn’t some magic power that heroes had. I was just informed beforehand that there were people watching, so my mind is most likely trying to keep me on alert. 

Sekh rode by my side, on my left to be exact. Around three hundred meters to my right, which was southwest, lay the forests filled with unknown people. To Sekh’s left was the Chrysor river, which was far too deep to ford, at least not anywhere around here. Thus, we were trapped between a rock and a possible hard place. I say possible because the identity of the people in the forest is unknown. They could be bandits, but they could also be hunters, soldiers, or any other occupation that involves working in the countryside. 

“Feels all stiff now,” Sekh said in an attempt to lighten the mood. 

“Nothing we can do about it,” I replied wryly. 

The ebb of time trickled by slowly, like sand lazily descending from an hourglass. What felt like an eternity was most likely just a few minutes. The gentle clip clop sound of the horses hooves and the ambience of the forest permeated my ears. It was the calm before the storm. 

When Sekh and I were perpendicular to the people in the forest, the storm broke out. From the treeline, a group of 10 men rushed out, bandits from the looks of it. Around six of them carried bows, while the other four had javelins or slings. Their garb was a motley mix of equipment, mostly linen tunics, with a few clad in padded armor. Among them, three wore metal helmets, four had some type of fabric or animal based headgear, and the rest just didn’t have headwear. 

“Sekh, make sure you don’t get surrounded,” I advised before riding off to face the opponent. 

Once I was close enough to start shooting arrows, I began to move parallel to the line of marauders. Before they could come into range of me, I had already struck down two of their bowmen at range. As the enemy began to retaliate with arrows of their own, I wheeled my horse to the right and charged towards them. Most of the projectiles whizzed by me, though the few that did make contact bounced harmlessly off my armor. 

Another marauder lay dead from my arrows when I had come into melee range, this time it was two of the javelinmen. I quickly stuffed my bow back into its case and equipped my lance. As I thundered towards a straggler, I saw a javelin fly out from my rear and impale a marauder. But I could hardly afford to dawdle and observe Sekh; instead, I stabbed my lance into the stray bandit with an overarm grip, the spearpoint pulverizing his head.

I spun my horse to the right and continued my charge towards a trio of ruffians. The closest of the three was quickly impaled when I slammed my lance into his chest with all my momentum. On my left, one of the men tried to thrust at me with a spear but I jerked my body forward to dodge. As I avoided the spear, I unsheathed my sword from its scabbard and swung it down on the man’s neck, the blade going down to his collarbone. The last of the three also attempted a spear thrust, but I had urged my horse forward in anticipation of the blow. As I wheeled around to face him, I slid my sword out of the slain bandit's body. The man thrust once more with his spear, though the movement of my body ensured that the weapon only glanced off my armored torso. I circled back towards him, who was now crouched with his spear in anticipation.

Instead of charging the man, I rode back and swapped to my bow. Seeing his situation, the bandit quickly picked up a shield off a slain comrade. I was already seeing this unfold as I nocked my arrow, so I instead aimed for his leg. My plan was successful, as the arrow planted itself into his unprotected left thigh, the area blossoming red. The man cried out in pain and momentarily let down his guard. A fatal mistake that was punctuated by an arrow through his cheek. 

When I turned to see the rest of the battlefield, the last three bandits were beginning to pull back. One of the men seemed to be injured on his shoulder, most likely an injury from Sekh’s javelin. Sekh was retreating, looking unharmed from what I could tell. Seeing this, I spun my horse around to retrieve my lance from one of the corpses. Once I had my lance strapped to my saddle, I turned back to pursue the remaining trio. Seeing that I was pursuing them, two of the remaining bandits began to loose arrows in my direction. The last one held up his shield in a position to protect his comrades. 

I drew my own bow to trade shots with the enemies, but the shieldbearer was able to render me ineffective. Thus, I slid my bow back into the holster and brought out my lance. As an arrow whistled by me, I thundered towards the three marauders. In my mind, the shieldbearer would be the biggest issue. I drove my horse towards the bowman on the shieldbearer’s right, causing the man to leap out of the way. As that happened, I feinted my lance at the shield bandit’s chest before suddenly jerking it upwards and slamming it through his throat. In the moment that my lance was in his throat, the bowman on the left tried to swing at me with his axe. Using the rear of my lance, I knocked him in the chest and sent him to the ground. When he fell back, I pulled my lance out of the shieldbearer’s throat and slammed it into the prone bowman’s chest. 

The bowman to the right, who had just gotten up, charged at me with his shortsword in desperation. Since it would take too long to pull my lance from the bowman’s chest I pulled my sword out instead. Simply because his sword was shorter, I was able to slash through his throat before he could retaliate. 

For a brief moment, I sat atop my horse to observe the aftermath. All the bandits were quite dead by now, no movements to be seen. I’ll have to make sure of that later, but I raced my horse back to Sekh to check on her. 

When I saw Sekh, she was cleaning a wound on her right thigh with a cloth. 

“What happened?” I shouted as I rushed towards her.

“Just an arrow,” Sekh waved off. “It wasn’t too deep and I had an easy time pulling out the arrowhead.”

“Wait a bit,” I told her. “I’ll get some wood so we can boil liquor for your wound.”

“Thanks,” Sekh replied happily. 

For now, I ignored the bandits and quickly gathered a few branches and twigs. Within a few minutes, I rode back to our position and began to set up a makeshift fire. When the alcohol was sufficiently heated, I dipped a cloth into the liquid and began to wipe Sekh’s injury with it. 

“It stings,” Sekh remarked, almost shirking away. 

“That’s natural,” I said as I continued cleaning out the wound. “I’ll bandage it after I’m done.”

Once I finished wiping up the injury, I cleaned another cloth with the liquor before I wrapped it around Sekh’s wound.

“Thanks Azel,” Sekh said with a smile after I finished bandaging her up. 

“You ok with helping me take care of the bodies?” I asked as I got up.

“Sure,” Sekh answered. “Are we looting them?”

“Obviously,” I replied. 

Sekh and I perused the battlefield, making sure that the dead were in fact dead. After that, the two of us picked off valuables from the corpses. We picked off coins and the jewelry. The arms and armor were simply too low quality for us to replace our own or sell. We dragged the corpses to the side of the river and erected a large pyre to torch the bodies. As the bodies lit up, I arrayed the helmets and arms in a mock memorial. Maybe it will become of use to someone later. And it might be interesting for people to speculate on the existence of such a memorial. 

Sekh and I continued on our journey once the pyre had burned for a while. Our spoils included two rings, a necklace, 4 denarii and 14 nummi. I took 2 denarii and 14 nummi as part of my share. The jewelry would be sold later, then the money from it would be split. 

“You feeling alright Sekh?” I asked as we traveled.

“Yeah, I feel fine right now,” Sekh replied with a grin. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m good right now,” I said with a grin. “I’m curious but do you feel shaken up from killing people? I didn’t notice anything in your reaction.”

Sekh scratched her cheek for a bit before answering. “Somewhat. It doesn’t really affect me if I’m being attacked and there’s no other choice. But I still have some bad memories from the war, even though I wasn’t the one doing the killing at that time.”

“I see,” I said cautiously. “Well if you ever want to talk about it, I’m here for you.”

“Thanks Azel,” Sekh replied cheerily. “But if you ever feel like opening up, I’m also here.”

“I appreciate it,” I chuckled. 

That night we camped by the river and ate some fried fish that we caught. After dinner, the two of us spent our time playing cards and traded jokes. Compared to the bloodbath at noon, the atmosphere couldn’t be more different. Things continued down the path of normalcy at night as well, taking shifts and going to sleep. It was around noon the next day that the storm came back out of nowhere.

“Azel, I feel a bit dizzy,” Sekh remarked as we were traveling. 

Dizziness and an injury, the telltale signs of a fever. Too bad I don’t have some healing hero to just make the problem go away. Granted the healing hero only accelerates bodily functions, so that power is a double edged sword. 

“Can I feel your head Sekh?” I asked as I walked over towards her.

Sekh nodded and presented her forehead to me. When I made contact, I felt an unusual amount of heat radiating off her. 

“It’s a fever isn’t it?” Sekh inquired.

“Seems like it,” I sighed. “Well I guess you can start by drinking a lot of water then.”

Once I handed Sekh a waterskin, I went off to the river with a cloth in hand. After soaking the cloth with cool water, I went back and began to wipe Sekh’s head with the cloth. 

“Make sure to take it easy,” I told Sekh as I was wiping her head. “If you feel tired, just let me know so that we can stop and rest.”

“It’s fine,” Sekh waved off. “No need to worry about me too much.”

“That’s how bad things happen,” I argued. 

“Alright, alright,” Sekh surrendered. 

At that point, I began to purposely slow down our pace. It’s better that Sekh recovers quickly and safely. Even our pace would increase more in the long run in this case. We set up camp earlier that day, in order for Sekh to get more rest. I had originally intended to switch up our meals by hunting, but I opted to fish until Sekh got better so I could keep my eyes on her. 

That night I made fish porridge with some of the grain that we brought along with us. My decision to bring scallions with me has never paid off more. 

“It’s really good,” Sekh remarked. “Even sick people's food tastes good when you make it.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I quipped. “Porridge is not just sick people’s food, but for soldiers, poor people, and grandmothers.” 

“That’s true,” Sekh chuckled. “My grandma really did make porridge every time I came over.”

“Well I hope you enjoy it, since we’re going to be eating it for a while,” I told her. “Until you get better, I’m only making broth dishes now.”

“Well if it keeps tasting this good then I’m fine,” Sekh replied happily. “How are we keeping watch tonight then?”

“I’ll keep watch, you just make sure to get sleep,” I answered. 

“But you won’t get sleep then,” Sekh complained.

“It’s fine,” I assured her. “Besides, I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I let you stand watch while sick.” 

For a while Sekh tried to think up an argument, but she eventually gave in. When she went to sleep that night, I gently placed a wet cloth on her forehead. 

“This feels really nice,” Sekh remarked happily as I held hands with her while sitting at her side. “Have you taken care of sick people before?”

“Yeah,” I answered. “Before I was a hero I took care of some people when we were on raids in Fars.” 

“Sounded wholesome until you said raid,” Sekh laughed.

 “Can’t argue with you on that,” I said with a smile. 

A while after Sekh had fallen asleep I continued to check on her situation. It didn’t feel that hot, but a wet cloth was just a recent occupant there. I squeezed the water out of the towel and wet another from the river. At least the river was cooperating with me tonight and didn’t make me heat the water over the fire. Well I guess it’s going to be a long night. Probably going to stay the same way for at least another day.

Still, it's a reminder that a hero's power will change one's life forever. I don't mind not experiencing sickness, but it feels a little strange to know that it's something I just won't go through anymore.