Sam could feel Alannah’s body go rigid at this announcement. It only lasted a moment before she relaxed, leaned further into him, and whispered, “I am so sorry.” Her words were like a salve on his raw soul. He let her lean in further and wrapped his arms around her as well. They sat side by side in the dirt paved alleyway between the two buildings holding onto each other. Azuriel’s increased senses allowed him to hear Sam’s statement as well. He had Bard continue to watch over them in the alley and he moved back toward Lucas and Sanders who were still standing over the man. A small crowd of the townspeople had exited the tavern and were questioning why these strangers had assaulted one of their own. The crowd parted for Azuriel who quickly explained the situation to the other two members of his team. He then turned to the crowd and explained their connection from earth. The man had not recognized Sam since he had died in the same car accident; however, Sam had stared at a picture of this man for weeks after it happened, needing someone to blame. Azuriel informed the townspeople that they could help this man to his home. Then, he and Lucas discussed the entire situation with Jasper and the owner of the inn to make sure they were still welcome there for the night. Once the man was back in his house, Bard relaxed his watch on Sam and moved to join the rest of the group. He didn’t want to stand there watching the two of them embrace each other. Sam and Alannah stayed in that position for another thirty minutes before she suggested they get him upstairs to sleep for the night. He silently nodded his agreement and she helped him up. She guided him back into the inn and up the stairs that hugged the back wall of the room. There were only four rooms in the inn and luckily there were no other travelers in town tonight. She led the two of them into the first room at the top of the stairs. The four rooms were mostly the same. They had sparse furniture with only a bed and a trunk in each room. Two of the rooms had a large bed and she had chosen one of those rooms. The other two rooms had two twin beds with smaller trunks. There was also a washroom on this floor that was shared between the four rooms. Alannah removed Sam’s armor and outer layer of clothing. She pulled the sheets back and tucked him into bed as she would a child. He didn’t resist as all his energy had been burned through by rage leaving behind an empty husk. She kissed him on his forehead and promised to be right back. He lay staring up at the ceiling of the room for a moment before exhaustion overtook him. She returned from the washroom a couple of minutes later to find Sam asleep. She had removed her gear as well but had put on a clean set of clothes. She laid down beside him with an arm over his chest and her head against his shoulder. It only took a few minutes of feeling his steady breathing to put her to sleep as well.

***

            Sam woke up on his couch. His head was pounding as he sat looking around his living room, bleary eyed. He wasn’t sure what time it was, but he could see sunlight trying to power through the thick curtains that hung over the window. He had passed out again last night. Drinking and crying. Crying and drinking. It was pathetic. He surveyed the room. The television was still on, but Sam couldn’t concentrate on it to know what was playing. His head pounded worse when he tried to focus on the screen. He fumbled around for the remote, finally finding it under a pizza box. He turned it off and put his hands on his head. The coffee table in front of him was littered with trash. Mostly take out boxes and empty bottles of bourbon. It had been close to five months since the accident. Since he lost his family. He closed his eyes trying to power past the unending pain of both his constant hangovers and his constant guilt. He fumbled around on the coffee table again, finding his new prescription of antipsychotics. He downed a pill with a swig of bourbon. He knew better than to drink on these kinds of meds, but he no longer cared about doing things the right way. What was the point of doing things right anyways? As he put the pill container back on the table, he knocked a cup over spilling its contents across the rest of the pile of trash on the table. Cursing, he got up and stumbled to the kitchen. Wads of restaurant napkins had been piled up on the counter and he grabbed these to clean up the mess. He dragged the trashcan behind him as he moved back toward the couch. Although he had blacked out, Sam’s mind was trying to pull back the fog covering his recollection of the dream last night. Sam kept moving containers of half-eaten food into the trash bag. He was sopping up the spilled drink with the napkins in his hand and throwing them into the trash as well. He startled slightly when he lifted one of the containers and found his Glock 23 handgun sitting underneath. Had he gotten that out last night. He moved the trash away from the gun and, with shaky hands, picked it up. There was a mag in the gun. He checked the chamber and was scared to find it was loaded. He never kept the mag in the gun, especially not a bullet in the chamber. His mind desperately tried to fight against the black out of his memory to see why he had loaded the gun. Even though he couldn’t penetrate the memory block, he knew why it was there. His thoughts had been moving darker and darker over the past couple of months. Everyone kept telling him that he would improve with time, but he was tired of waiting. Standing there with a soaked napkin in one hand and a loaded gun in the other, he thought about his life over the past few months. What was the point? God only knows how long he stood staring at the loaded gun, weighing the pros and cons of continuing to live in this miserable state. Sam was shaken out of his own thoughts by his phone ringing. He laid the gun back down and picked up the phone. One of his buddies was calling. He pushed the side button to ignore the call. The calling number faded from view and was replaced with a picture of his wife and kids reading in bed. Sam couldn’t help but temporarily smile at the sight of their smiling faces. The pain of losing them flooded him as well but that momentary joy had broken through his suicidal thoughts from moments earlier. He went to the contacts in his phone and called his psychiatrist. The phone phased from his view and was replaced by his wife sitting in the car next to him.

***

Sam’s nightmares were a magnitude worse that night, waking him shortly after midnight. His sudden jolt in bed startled Alannah awake too. He realized where he was and lay back in the bed soothing her back to sleep. Once she had drifted off, he lay there, still tired, but keenly aware of his actions the night before. Most of his emotions swirled around embarrassment at his angry outburst and the aftermath of emotions that Alannah witnessed. He waited until she started to have small jerking movements, the tell-tale sign of deep sleep. His wife had fallen asleep the same way on Earth. He slowly rolled her onto her back and slid out from under her arm. He knew he wouldn’t go back to sleep tonight despite the early hour. He dressed back into his fatigues and left the room. The upstairs was silent except for Sanders’ snoring coming from the last room on the left. At least he knew no one else was having to suffer through that racket since he had been designated to bunk with Sanders. He moved to the stairs and down onto the first floor. There were no other guests in sight and the owners had called it a night as well. He moved between the empty tables toward the door. As he left the inn, he activated his night vision and turned left. When he had bad nights like these, the only thing that let his brain work through it was exercise. His plan was to run around the town or along the road for a couple hours to try and clear his mind. His plans were interrupted when he saw Azuriel standing with the tied-up horses patting his horse’s neck. Azuriel approached Sam as though he had been expecting to see him.

            “I’m sorry about last night,” Sam said embarrassed. “I lost control.”

            “You do not need to apologize to me, Sam Phoenix. I know why you did what you did.”

            “Is he alright?” Sam asked hesitantly. Despite being the attacker, he had not been able to shake the guilt of attacking that man. He was given the opportunity to do what he had asked and begged for the months following the accident. He had wanted to stand with him face to face, accuse him of murdering his family, and exact some sort of revenge. He could only be grateful that once he was given that chance, he had friends to stop him from making a mistake. Killing someone in battle to defend yourself is one thing but slaughtering an unarmed man out of anger is not something you recover from.

            “He will live. He did not know why you attacked him, but he does now. In a way, that may haunt him much more than any physical damage you could have caused.”

            “How am I supposed to do it? How can I ignore my anger and find a way to forgive?” Sam asked in a resigned tone. He had never been able to understand that part of the bible’s teachings. He understood that forgiveness was a good thing, but he couldn’t quite grasp how to push away the other feelings to reach the point to truly forgive.

            “There is no easy answer to that question. All I can say is that your forgiveness does not save that man, but it may help save you.” Azuriel said in a tone reminiscent of one of Sam’s old pastors. Sam nodded in response and knew that forgiveness was easier said than done. He explained that he was okay now and just needed to clear his head with some exercise. Azuriel would only let him go if they went together. Azuriel replenished his energy stores and his body through rest alone but could easily go two or three days without it before showing signs of exhaustion. They ran through the streets until they exited the town in the direction they had entered the day before. Azuriel’s tall frame and large strides made it look like he was casually jogging next to Sam as they ran. They turned right out of the town and ran the perimeter as well. Sam kept up a hurried pace for about an hour before he turned back into town, and they returned to the inn. They sat inside the empty inn till dawn.

            Sam moved back upstairs as soon as he could hear the team start to rise above them. He slipped back into Alannah’s room not wanting to wake her if she was still sleeping. As soon as he closed the door behind him, she greeted him from the bed. He turned to find her laying on her side under the blanket with her head propped up on one hand.

            “Good morning,” he said smiling down at her. “Thanks for last night. Sorry I acted the way I did.”

            Her smile turned serious, “You didn’t do anything we wouldn’t have done. Are you doing okay this morning?”

            He nodded his head, “I’m doing better. Mostly thanks to you. I’m not sure what I did to deserve ending up in this world with you.” He said moving and sitting on the edge of the bed near her feet. She got out from under the covers and moved to sit at the bottom of the bed beside him. She looked up at him with a sleepy smile returning to her face. Sam’s heart started to pound a little faster and harder in his chest as she looked at him. Her comforting touch last night and her physical beauty this morning overwhelmed him. He placed both of his hands on either side of her face and pulled her in for a kiss. He had moved quickly not wanting to lose his nerve. This caused her to stiffen initially. But soon she fell into his kiss wrapping her arms around his neck as they embraced. It was wonderful and most of the fears and troubles from the previous night washed away as he lost himself in that moment. It seemed to last both forever and not long enough all wrapped together. He slowly pulled away from her looking down into her eyes. Her smiled reflected his, and they came together for another passionate embrace. They eventually made it out of the room and down the stairs to join the others.

Sam asked for everyone’s attention. “I’m sorry for what happened last night. Thank you all for not letting me step down that path.” The team dismissed his apology as unnecessary and was glad to see that he was doing better this morning. After a lite breakfast, they prepped their gear and started to leave the inn. They were greeted outside by Jasper and an exasperated child.

            “There’s been another attack, on the road.” Jasper said as the child tried to catch her breath. Azuriel indicated for them to lead the way and the child took off at a run out the other side of town. Sam took off after the child while the others grabbed their horses and caught up quickly. Sam grabbed the child by the back of her shirt lifting her up onto Lucas’ horse. He mounted his own steed that was being pulled by Sanders and the child directed them further up the road. The child explained that she was riding with her parents to bring a cartful of crops into town when they were attacked by a small group of bandits. After a fifteen-minute ride, they came across an overturned cart. There were some food scraps scattered along the ground, and two people were sitting on the ground with their backs against the underside of the cart. The team dismounted as they approached, weapons drawn in case this was another ambush. There were no enemies in sight and Sam and Lucas approached the two people. The man was holding a blood-soaked rag to his right side and his legs both had gashes across the thighs. He was barely awake and appeared quite pale. The woman next to him was in better shape but had similar cuts to her legs. The bandits had sliced open the adults’ legs to keep them from running for help. They had also stolen the animals that pulled the cart. Sam went to work on the man, healing up his internal liver injury followed by the muscle and skin of his abdomen. He repaired the leg wounds on both as well. Alannah dismounted and gave the reins of her horse to the woman. They helped load all three onto the horse and sent them back toward town. They would reclaim the horse when they returned from their mission. Alannah joined Sam on his horse, and they searched the area. It was not hard to find the path the attackers had taken due to the numerous animal prints leading away in the direction of the suspected bandit camp.

            The town had guessed that the camp was about a day away but with the team on horseback they moved quickly through the flat terrain. They encountered more farmsteads as they rode northeast off the main road. The tracks started to appear fresher and had been joined by several older groups of tracks as they passed another farmhouse. They dismounted here and found the place abandoned, likely for several weeks coinciding with the bandits’ arrival. They tied their animals up in the empty stables and planned to go the rest of the way on foot. Another structure could be seen about a quarter mile to the north of their current location. They made their way slowly through the overgrown farmland trying to stay out of sight. As they approached, they noticed the structure was larger than the other farmsteads had been and would be more fittingly described as a large manor house. They were on one side of the manor house, looking at a ten-foot-high wall stretching about thirty yards from the front edge of the house. The house itself was a three-story stone mansion that was another thirty yards deep. Ivy and vines were attempting to reclaim this side of the house and only a few windows were scattered amongst the side of the house facing their direction. The team had found a small side structure that was fifty yards from the main building. They were crowded on the far side out of view of the house. They had only seen a few bandits toward the front of the wall and a couple that were randomly walking the perimeter of the building. As they discussed their options, they realized they needed more information about their enemies’ forces. Alannah closed her eyes a moment and summoned a spiritual hawk. The beast materialized on her forearm, looking at her for direction. One of the benefits of her skill that she had discovered in training is that she can connect with her summons. Not only telling them what she wants with a thought but being able to connect to their senses. She sent the hawk high into the air. The hawk was a light grey color with streaks of white through its wings. It spread its wings out and climbed higher into the air before approaching the house. It circled from a great height initially, making two sweeps around the perimeter of the house before closing in on the roof of the structure. It alighted onto the roof and moved toward the front edge. It looked down into the courtyard of the manor. Alannah had watched through the hawk’s eyes as it surveyed the grounds. She relayed the information to the group as she watched. There was only one patrol of two guards that were walking the perimeter of the building. There were another two bandits at the entrance to the courtyard that was enclosed by the thirty-foot length of wall. No other bandits could be seen inside the courtyard. The bird hopped off the roof and glided down onto a balcony on the third floor of the building. It peered through the window seeing no one inside this room. It repeated this process, slowly approaching each window along the structure. Alannah had only seen five other bandits inside the house, with one seeming to direct the others. The bird lifted off the last window and returned to Alannah’s arm. She thanked the creature before releasing the summons. She had also learned that she has a thirty-minute cool down between summons if she dismissed it and a two hour cool down if the beast was killed.

            “I only counted nine bandits in and around the house,” Alannah said confirming her count in her head before speaking. “Maybe we took out half the team when they ambushed us yesterday.”

            “Let us hope that is the case but we should still proceed cautiously,” Azuriel noted. “Call it, Lucas.” Azuriel had been pushing Lucas to assume more of the leadership responsibilities of the group.

“We will wait for your summons ability to return before starting our attack. We clear the two roaming guards, followed by the two guards out front. Then we’ll take the house and hopefully the leader quickly,” Lucas noted as he delineated tasks to the team. The next thirty minutes passed by slowly as the team stayed out of sight of the roaming guards. They never heard any other groups approach or leave the compound. Once Alannah’s ability returned, the group readied themselves for the battle. The two patrolling bandits had just walked past the side of the manor facing the team. As soon as they rounded the corner to walk the back side of the house, the team sprinted to the back corner. The three archers had bows out and ready. The guards were moving slowly and had only made it about twenty yards away during the team’s dash to the wall. They lined up their shots and sent three arrows that thudded into the backs of the retreating patrolmen. They both dropped to the ground, dead without a scream. The team split up at this point with three of them circling the far side of the house and three returning back to the close side. They were counting down time to coordinate their attacks. They reached the front corner of the wall on either side and waited for another thirty seconds. They turned the corner again sending arrows at the two bandits at the front entrance. Alannah had taken one down with two successive arrows. Lucas and Sam combined their attacks to take down the other. The team continued to move silently along the wall and paused at the edge before turning into the large open archway. The next step would have to be fast since they would be out in the open in full view of anyone inside the house. They counted down from five on their fingers and then turned the corner at a run. Sam moved out in front of them phasing through the courtyard. As he got in front of the house, he phased upward grabbing hold of the outside banister of the first balcony. He pulled himself over before repeating the phase climb two more times to the top balcony. He took a breath as he peered inside the empty room on the top floor. Azuriel had also lifted off from the ground with his wings and landed on a neighboring balcony to Sam’s right. The rest of the team lined up in a stack to the left of the front door. Sanders was at the front with Bard immediately behind. Alannah followed in the third spot with Lucas bringing up the rear. They held their position for a moment, expecting a rush of enemies from inside the house or at least a call of alarm if they had been spotted. Nothing came and the group breathed a sigh of relief. They still held the element of surprise. Azuriel signaled over the edge of the balcony to Lucas below confirming their readiness. Azuriel and Sam would move through the house starting from the top and the entry team below would make entry after three minutes or upon hearing the battle start inside the building. The hawk’s earlier reconnaissance had shown an empty third floor and only one person on the second floor. They could only hope that not much had changed in the thirty minutes since the report.

            Azuriel and Sam were able to force the doors open quietly and move into their respected rooms. So far so good as both rooms were empty. They moved through the top floor taking a room at a time making sure they weren’t leaving any enemies behind them. There were eight rooms located on the top floor with one being the master suite. All the rooms on this level were empty and they moved to a set of stairs at the back of the manor. They descended the stairs and restarted the clearing process on the second floor. They found the lone bandit in one of the rooms near the front of the house. The door to his room had been open and he was sitting at a desk with his back to them. Sam phased behind him and slid his sword through the man’s neck silencing any potential scream. They cleared the rest of these rooms and again positioned themselves at the stairs moving to the main level. If their numbers were correct, there were four more combatants on this level. Azuriel had been tracking the time and they had completed the top floors in less than two minutes. They waited at the top of the stairs counting down the last minute before moving to the first floor. They started their descent and heard the other team make their entry as they hit the halfway mark of the stairs. They moved faster now exchanging stealth for speed as they moved through the bottom floor. Surprisingly they found no other enemies within the building. They looked to each other in a confusing manner as they regrouped in the center of the first floor with neither team having found the last four bandits.

            They paused for a moment wondering if the other bandits had left the grounds heading away from where the team had waited. They paused in the center of the house for a minute and then started to move together back toward the entrance. Lucas and Sanders were leading the team through the side hallway, but Sanders suddenly stopped and pulled Lucas back. The ground floor team had left the double wooden front doors open after making entry and a trio of arrows whipped past the spot where Lucas’ head would have been. Sanders had been walking into the open entryway and his danger sense had saved them both. They recovered quickly and started to move themselves to the front of the house avoiding any windows and the open door. As they settled into positions of cover near the front, a booming voice echoed from the courtyard.

“Do you really think it is that easy to sneak up on me? I almost got bored pretending to be bait and came out to meet you in the field.” The team members peaked through curtained windows to see a courtyard full of bandits. There were at least twenty standing about. Understanding dawned on the team as they saw a handful more of the bandits climb out of the ground at the far corners of the courtyard. When they had entered, they hadn’t paid much attention to the wooden planks that were laid out in the two front corners. Now they realized that these were trap doors that led to stairs coming from a cellar or basement area of the house. At the front of the ragtag group of bandits was a large man covered in plate armor. He stood close to six four holding a large spear in his hand. The spear was formed from a red metal, and it glinted in the sunlight. He was flanked by three archers that had their bows aimed at the front of the house. Another nine bandits had bows out and were watching the windows for movement. Toward the back of the group, a short spindly man stood with a cloak covering his body despite the warm day. He had a cowl over his head masking his features. His clothing had a slight shimmer reminiscent of the colors of the rainbow as it wafted in a slight breeze. He held a staff in his hand that stood almost as tall as him. The top had a blue gem trapped in tendrils of wood. “Come, let us finish this so I can get back to my fun.” The plate armored man said in a dismissive voice.

            Azuriel signaled to his team. They would move to the back of the house and escape through a window. Then they could employ a hit and run approach to whittle down the enemy’s number. They started to retreat through the house, still avoiding any straight shots from the archers outside. They were moving back down the hallway when they heard a small boom from the direction they were moving. They turned down a hallway to see another trap door closing. In front, the bandit had exploded a cannister of white liquid. Smoke poured from the broken cannister filling the hallway and slowly expanding through the house. The team heard laughing from the bandit leader at the front. Sanders recognized the gas as a form of knockout power and knew they would be incapacitated if they were to stay in the house. Unfortunately, the gas bomb was placed to block the windows at the back of the house as well as the stairs to the upper levels. Sam acted quickly and was able to phase to the stairs before the gas had started climbing to the upper levels. The team trusted his judgement and returned to the front of the house again, trying to come up with a plan. They found their enemies had remained on alert in the courtyard, knowing they couldn’t escape the house in the back. They moved to the far side of the house hoping to escape through a side window. All the first-floor windows had been boarded up, but Azuriel was able to pull the boards free. He started to open the window, but an arrow streaked through it first, missing the team but sending the warning that they wouldn’t be allowed to exit through this path. Lucas saw another bandit from outside throw a small vial at the window and yelled for the team to retreat. The vial flew through the broken window, landing on the floor of the room they had just been in. The same gas started to fill the room as they moved back toward the front door. Before they could make a move for the other side of the house, they heard another window break followed by a small boom consistent with the vial of knock out powder. They were slowly being trapped closer and closer to the front door where multiple arrows were now aimed. They posted up on either side of the main door as Azuriel planned their initial assault. It would all depend on Sam being able to provide enough of a distraction to allow them to get their footing in the courtyard.

            Sam had phased to the stairs as soon as he saw the gas starting to fill the area blocking their exit. Before he retreated up the stairs away from the advancing fumes, he glanced back at his team making eye contact with Alannah. He turned away from her a moment later, replacing his fear of the overwhelming odds with a stout determination to keep her alive. He moved up the stairs and through the second floor toward the front of the house. He stayed to the right of the house aiming for a window to exit from. He slowly pulled open the window surveying the area outside. Below he saw two bandits, one with a bow that had just shot into the window below him and another standing beside the first. This bandit threw a vial into the broken window. He capitalized on the distraction of the two bandits focusing on the first-floor window. He leapt out of the window and phased to just behind the archer. His sword sliced easily through the archer’s neck decapitating his foe. The bandit closer to the window didn’t even register the attack before Sam had launched his axe end over end. It collided with the man’s chest as he turned back toward his companion. It knocked him off his feet killing him immediately. There were no other enemies in sight on this side of the house, so he collected his axe and moved toward the front entrance. He knew his team was running out of time inside the house. He needed to distract the bandits to allow them to make an exit.

            Sam slowed at the turn in the wall and peaked his head around the corner. He didn’t see any bandits on this side of the wall. He was worried about bandits on the far side of the house returning to the courtyard, so he crept along the front wall with his bow drawn aiming at the far corner. No bandits came so he again exchanged his bow for his axe and sword. He poked his head around this corner and was happy to note that none of the bandits were watching their backs. He saw the field of enemies totally focused on the front of the manor. His initial focus was on creating chaos and taking out the bandit in the back that looked the most ominous. He finished his survey of the bandits and then sent a few hand signals toward the front of the house in case his team was watching. He pulled back behind the wall and steadied himself with a calming breath. A moment later he turned back into the courtyard, praying for the safety of his companions. He held his axe in his right hand and held his left hand out toward a clump of archers to the left of the leader. He sent his last ability to the center of a group of five and a brown sphere started to grow in mid-air. It grew over the course of a second to the size of a basketball before exploding outward in a hail of razor-sharp rocks. He had phased himself in time with the explosion of his ability to land right behind the mage. He planned a quick decapitation before he would phase to another area of the battlefield trying to keep the group off balance. His swing was intercepted inches from the mage’s neck causing a reverberation of power back into the axe that pushed Sam off balance. He shook the stunning effect from his mind right before the courtyard exploded into chaos.

            The team had been watching out the front, their plans prepared, awaiting Sam’s entrance into the courtyard. Lucas was the first to notice him on the far side at the entrance. He conveyed his intent to the group and gave them a countdown of thirty seconds. The team couldn’t reciprocate since they were in cover with all eyes on them. Alannah prepared her attacks while Lucas drew his bow. Azuriel moved closer to Sanders who was closest to the front door. Bard started summoning his armor with fifteen seconds left in the countdown. He stood on the other side of the door from Azuriel and Sanders. The team saw Sam move back into view and they tensed, preparing for the battle ahead. Sam’s ability set the entire team in motion. The rocks exploded amongst the rightmost group of archers inflicting minor damage but serving its purpose. This group of archers was startled out of their concentration as they were thrown to the ground. The rest of the courtyard turned their attention from the front entrance for just a second in response to the explosion. Alannah sent her entangling vines into the group at the front of the yard entrapping and distracting the second group of archers as well as the leader of the bandits. As the vines started to engulf the group, a tan mountain lion shot out from the entrance aiming toward the left side of the enemy group. Bard stepped out behind the spiritual beast, his plate armor fully protecting his body. He started to swell as he enacted his overpower ability. A couple of archers had maintained their discipline and unleashed their arrows at him. They thudded against his body, not powerful enough to penetrate the thick plates of protection. He charged into the fray. Azuriel stepped to the doorway and lifted off as soon as he cleared the door frame. He held Sanders with one arm as he flew out over the courtyard. He stayed low over the ground and as soon as he cleared the first group of enemies, he tossed Sanders toward another collection of enemies. He swerved to the right after letting go of Sanders, slicing through a bandit before lifting a little higher. He hesitated a moment at the peak of his flight, tilted his body back down, and wrapped his wings closer around him. He streaked to the ground like a meteor unfurling his wings at the last moment and impacting the ground knocking two other opponents off balance and skewering a third with a sword strike. Sanders fell a few feet toward the ground and enacted his time slowing ability just prior to landing. He swung his axe into one of the bandits as he landed. His aim was slightly off, and his axe sliced open the bottom half of the bandit’s abdomen spilling his internal organs onto the ground below. Instead of his usual axe and shield combo, he was wielding his poison dagger in his left hand. Still in his enhanced state, he rolled forward after landing and came up slicing his dagger into one enemy’s thigh while catching another attacker’s leg with a backward swing of his axe. This caught the bandit at the level of his ankle fully severing it and dropping the man to the ground. After Azuriel’s flight from the manor, Lucas and Alannah took up positions on either side of the door sending arrow after arrow into the group of enemies. Lucas’ first arrow was aflame with fire and was aimed at the bandit leader. It thudded against a shimmering barrier and fell to the ground. The leader barely registered the attack as he was still battling the vines that were climbing up his legs, attempting to bring him to his knees. The siblings adjusted their aim taking out the other archers in the field.

            Sam stumbled backward from the rejection of his axe strike. The mage had been caught off guard by his magical shield suddenly being struck from behind. He started to turn toward his attacker when an explosion on the other side of the courtyard caused him to pause. Sam was back on sure footing, launching himself forward to strike out with his sword, but again, it was rejected by the invisible shield as well. The mage had turned his full attention to Sam after the second strike and deflected an axe swing with his staff. Sam was hopeful his weapon would cleave the staff in two, but he heard a resounding clang as though he had struck a metal pole. A blue frost leapt from the staff into the axe and eventually into Sam’s right arm causing a numbing sensation. As Sam pulled his attack back, the mage lifted his staff about a foot off the ground. The blue stone started to glow with an internal light and the mage slammed the staff back down sending a blue shockwave out in a concentric circle from the staff. Sam had seen the staff powering up and phased away from the mage moving back to the entrance of the courtyard. The frost wave jumped past him as he jumped sideways to be protected by the edge of the wall. He watched as it passed into a couple other bandits causing them to collapse on the ground, their skin turning a faint shade of blue. Sam readjusted his approach not wanting to be on the receiving end of any more ice attacks. He put his other weapons away and pulled out the basic spear he had received from the quartermaster. He launched this at the mage, but it was again blocked by the shield. He subsequently started hurtling throwing knives at the mage. He had picked up two of these from his first kill and then had added to that collection slowly gaining six throwing knives that hung on his belt. The shield continued to stop the knives. After the fourth knife, the mage swung his staff in an arc toward Sam. He stepped back behind the wall as a slew of icicles the size of swords slammed into the wall he was using as his barrier. Two of the icicles shot out of the entry gate into the field beyond. As Sam hid from the ice spikes, he heard noise coming from his left and two more bandits turned the corner, one with bow drawn. He launched an arrow at Sam who activated his lesser shield ring absorbing the shot. He was exposed on too many sides, and he needed to end the fight with the mage. He turned back into the courtyard throwing his last two knives toward the mage as he charged him. He was disheartened as both thudded against the shield and dropped to the ground. The mage started charging another wave of frost by lifting the staff into the air, accumulating energy into the blue stone. Desperate, Sam pulled the sword back out and hurled it at the mage. To his joy and surprise, the sword passed the barrier and the hilt slammed into the mage’s chest. It didn’t cause any significant damage, but the sudden hit startled the mage just long enough to make him abort the staff attack. Sam phased forward, axe in hand and brought it in a sweep toward the mage’s back. The mage had seen Sam phase away, so he was expecting some sort of movement skill. He was able to turn in time to partially block the axe swing. The staff collided with the shaft of the axe sending another blue wave of frost into the axe and down into Sam’s arm. The numbness worsened and his arm felt heavy forcing him to let go of the axe. Although the mage had blocked part of the axe swing, the head of the axe snuck past the staff and collided into the mage’s right arm. It sunk into the man’s elbow and the combination of the frost wave and colliding with bone caused the axe to shatter lodging a frozen piece of metal in the man’s arm. Sam struck out quickly kicking the man behind the leg before he could turn all the way around. The mage tried to keep himself upright with the staff, but this put extra pressure on his injured elbow causing him to drop the staff and drop to his knees. Sam grabbed the sword that had dropped to the ground near the mage and thrust it at the mage as he tried to regain his feet. The sword sunk into the man’s chest easily sliding through the robes and finding a space between the man’s ribs. The man’s body stiffened as his life left him. Sam didn’t have time to celebrate as he pulled the sword back out of the mage and turned toward the entrance where the two bandits were running to join the battle. A surge of energy filled Sam as he prepared for the rest of the battle. It was enough to remove the heaviness from Sam’s right arm.

            The initial momentum the team had at the start slowly ground to nothing as the bandits’ numbers showed their strength. Sanders quickly grew bogged down as he tried to move from enemy to enemy. He had dropped the first three quickly but as he continued into the fight, he started to get pressure from multiple attacks. He worked feverishly to keep the incoming attacks from swords and spears at bay. He was able to get an occasional hit with his axe or dagger but most of these were superficial. Luckily, the dagger only needed superficial wounds and a couple of the enemies he encountered were taken out of the fight a few minutes after his brush with them. He knew if he stopped his momentum, he would be overwhelmed by his attackers, so he continued forward moving toward Azuriel. He was saved multiple times by an occasional arrow strike from the siblings just as he thought he was about to fall to an unguarded strike. He had not lasted the first few minutes unscathed; however, and blood trickled from two facial wounds, a right arm injury, and a stab wound that grazed his abdomen cutting only skin and muscle. Azuriel was faring better. Anytime he was starting to feel overwhelmed, he would leap off the ground and land just outside the enclosing circle of attackers. He had already taken down three more bandits, but another eight were pushing toward him as hard as they could. The mountain lion was serving its purpose slowly taking down one bandit after another usually by going for their throat. It was fast enough on the ground that the recovered archers were unable to land a hit. It took a few hits on its flanks but ultimately kept moving amongst the crowd striking at opportune targets. Bard had charged toward the group that was initially affected by the rock explosion. He reached them as they were recovering. His sword and poisoned dagger danced through the group finding openings in their leather armor with ease. He had dropped two of the five with deadly sword blows and the other three had received minor injuries from the dagger. He left these bandits to die slowly as he moved back toward the leader hoping to finish him off before he could fully untangle himself from the vines.

The siblings had remained just inside the house firing arrows in all directions. They initially focused their fire on the archers just outside the front door that had become ensnared in the vines. After dropping those three archers, they had turned their attention to the entire courtyard. They alternated between taking down the other archers in the courtyard and helping whoever was the most pressed at the moment. Alannah had finished off the closest enemies to her left with the help of her summons. Bard was taking care of the initial clump of enemies to the right. The archers around the leader had fallen and she could see Sanders about to meet up with Azuriel in the middle of the field. She knew Sam was at the other end of the courtyard but there was too much commotion to see him from her point of view. She returned her gaze to the bandit leader as he roared a battle cry in their direction.

Lucas had come to the same conclusion that they had helped the group where they could and started to focus his fire on the leader. He had sent a second arrow that hit another shimmering shield, but his third arrow passed through the translucent barrier and thudded against the leader’s plate mail. It didn’t have enough power to punch through, but the resounding thud drew the leader’s attention. He had finished freeing himself from the vines as the arrow hit his chest. He started moving toward the siblings, frustrated that he had already burnt through his shield tokens. He wanted to take these two out of the fight before he turned to the larger warriors that had stormed into the courtyard. He stopped short in a moment of shock as a blue arrow, launched from the female archer, punched through his breast plate, and caught him on the right side of his abdomen. The armor had removed most of the force of the arrow, but it was still enough to pierce his skin. Anger quickly followed his shock, and he hefted the red spear in his right hand hurling it toward the entryway. He had predicted that the archers would duck back into the house for cover and had aimed his spear just to the left of the doorway. It slammed into the outer wall of the house but instead of dropping to the ground, the spear glowed a slight red before impact and seemed to melt the outer wall of the house as it slid through the structure and into Alannah’s right arm. She let out a yelp of pain as the spear shattered her humerus and punctured the right side of her chest wall. The structure, her arm, and her leather armor eventually slowed the progression of the spear, and the tip only superficially punctured the skin on her chest. The force of the impact broke several ribs. The pain from the spear forced her to drop her bow. Heat from the molten spear seared her wounds instantly radiating pain throughout her entire body. She went limp from the pain but was held aloft by the spear protruding through the front wall. She was still awake but didn’t seem to have control of her body as the waves of heat rolled through her. A moment later, the spear disappeared, and she collapsed to the ground. Lucas had sent another arrow at the man’s head after the spear throw but he was able to dodge it. Lucas turned his attention to Alannah after sending that last arrow and rushed to the other side of the door. Their situation turned from bad to worse as Lucas noticed the gas had progressed to the entryway and would engulf them in another minute. He bent down and lifted Alannah up wrapping her uninjured arm around his neck and hoisting by the back of her leather pants. He knew the leader was headed this way, but he had to get her out of the building before the gas overtook her.

Lucas pulled her back through the entryway to find the leader gearing up for another throw of his spear, but it was interrupted by a charging Bard. He was already moving toward the leader when he saw him throw the spear and he went into a full charge when he thought the leader was weaponless. Bard closed to within ten feet of the bandit before stopping short. He was startled to see the weapon magically appear back in his enemy’s hand. He looked toward the house for a moment as he started moving again and saw Lucas dragging an injured Alannah through the door. His anger ignited; he bounded the last few steps dropping his shoulder down before slamming into the bandit. The leader had seen the charging warrior just before impact and was turning to get the spear angled at Bard. He didn’t have enough time and Bard’s shoulder bash empowered by his extra strength sent the man three feet in the air. The leader was catapulted off his feet, losing his grip on the spear in the process. He fell backward into a roll deftly jumping back onto his feet. Bard advanced hoping to finish him off quickly, but his plans were thwarted by the return of the spear into the man’s outstretched hand. Bard squared off with his long sword and dagger. He thrust forward with the sword but despite the man’s size, he was quite agile. He was able to swing the spear into the sword knocking Bard’s strike wide. Bard used the momentum to spin and strike out at the joints of the bandit’s armor with the poisoned dagger. He got close enough to strike at the man, but it only found plate mail causing no injury and delivering no poison. The bandit retaliated knocking at Bard’s dagger hand with the shaft of the spear infusing the metal to make it glow red hot again. The metal scalded Bard’s hand underneath his plate armor where it connected but he kept his grip on the dagger. The bandit followed that hit by rolling the spear inward toward Bard’s chest, but Bard was able to step back far enough to deflect the tip of the spear with his sword. The two warrior’s traded attacks and parries for a couple of minutes before the bandit gained the upper hand. He had struck out again catching Bard’s front thigh with a swing of the spear. Bard had trusted in his armor to protect him, but the heated metal spear tore through the plate mail with ease slicing a large gash in Bard’s leg, making him stagger backward. The spear then twirled once above the bandit’s head followed by a lightning quick throw at Bard’s chest. He saw the strike coming and was able to twist his body enough that the spear caught him in the left shoulder. The spear had enough momentum to penetrate Bard’s shoulder and plate mail armor completely and land a few feet behind Bard. The strike had shattered his arm and sent a wave of pain and heat through his body knocking him onto his back out of the fight. The bandit leader summoned his spear back to him and moved to finish off the beaten warrior. His focus was interrupted as another arrow thudded against the chest of his plate mail. He looked up to see the male warrior approaching with his sword overhead and covered in a white flame. He shook his head in frustration, thinking how annoying these pests were, always interrupting him before he could finish anyone off.

Sam held the sword in his left hand and grabbed his spear off the ground as he started moving toward the two incoming bandits. One raised his bow for a shot while the other was charging at him with his sword drawn. Sam launched the spear at the charging bandit while phasing away as the arrow whistled through where he had just been standing. His phase movement took him behind the archer where he slid his sword through leather armor and into the bandit’s heart. He watched as the spear he had thrown thudded into the other bandit knocking him back to the ground. The spear had caught him in the gut and the swordsmen was squirming on the ground. Sam stepped the few feet to the writhing man, slicing his sword across his throat and yanking the spear out of his gut. He took a breath and turned his attention to the rest of the courtyard. Azuriel and Sanders had found each other on the battlefield and were back-to-back battling six other bandits with three more moving in their direction. Two other bandits were trying to hold back Alannah’s mountain lion. Remarkably, the rest of the bandits lay dead or dying across the courtyard. He watched as Bard got knocked onto his back but was reassured as Lucas came charging in to protect his companion. He couldn’t see Alannah as he searched the battlefield, but he knew he couldn’t lose focus until the battle was finished. He also knew that Lucas could use some help, but he had to even the odds for Azuriel and Sanders first. He phased closer to the main fighting. He sent another spear throw at one of the approaching bandits catching him in the side and knocking him to the ground. He followed with another phase movement to land behind two other bandits that were raining blows down on an overwhelmed Sanders. He sliced the back of one of the attackers’ legs and then reversed the momentum bring the blade up under the leather armor of the second attacker slicing through his low back until the blade punched through his abdomen and came out just below his ribcage. Sam then phased to the other side felling one of Azuriel’s attackers. They made eye contact for a moment and Sam yelled, “Sanders.” This was all Azuriel needed as he deflected a spear strike and turned toward his companion. Sanders had fallen to one knee taking a spear in his side. Two more bandits were rapidly approaching but Azuriel grabbed the back of Sander’s leather chest piece and launched himself into the air landing several feet behind Sam and out of the center of the battle. Sam parried a weak spear strike aimed at his head and phased to the other side of the group as they all turned their attention toward Azuriel’s landing spot. He struck out at another warrior slicing through his armor and piercing the side of his chest. Azuriel had moved to the wall, placing Sanders behind him. He turned to face the rush of bandits. Sanders still had the strength to throw his poison dagger at one of the incoming bandits catching him in the leg and essentially taking him out of the fight. Azuriel still had three bandits to contend with, but Sam knew he could handle it. He turned to check on Lucas and his battle with the bandit leader.

Lucas had moved to engage the leader before he could finish off Bard. He knew his arrow wouldn’t penetrate the armor, but it would get the bandit’s attention. He charged forward his blade engulfed in flames. Lucas feigned a rush but stopped short just as a swing of the metal spear sliced the air in front of the bandit. He followed in behind the spear striking out with his sword. The bandit was too quick however and was able to parry the sword strike. They exchanged attacks a couple more times before Lucas was able to move inside the reach of the long molten spear. He had aimed his strike for the crack between the chest plate and the metal greaves. His sword found the sweet spot and sliced into the leader’s fleshy hip. The flame seared the flesh where it touched. The bandit bent forward in pain, trapping the sword in its place. A swing with the spear, glowing red hot seemed to slice through the longsword. Lucas had been pulling back with as much strength as he could. When the sword was suddenly severed clean, he fell backward onto the ground. He regained his feet quickly tossing his broken sword at the bandit and drawing his bow, quickly setting an arrow in place. The bandit leader grew furious at the continued battle and leaned forward letting out an ear-splitting roar in Lucas’ direction. This was different than the war cry at the start of the battle. This roar was filled with spiritual energy, and it picked Lucas off his feet and threw him ten yards back toward the front of the manor. The bandit hefted his spear up and launched it at the downed Lucas as he landed.

Sam had turned in time to see Lucas get lifted off his feet by the roar and the subsequent spear throw. Sam threw out his shield ability to cover Lucas as he phased toward the bandit leader. He could only hope that it was enough to stop the strike. The spear hurtled through the air stopping dead inches from Lucas’ torso. The molten aspect of the spear that had let it pierce the building and Bard’s armor had no significant effect on a magical shield and so it was treated like an ordinary metal spear stopping the throw completely and dropping it to the ground next to Lucas. Sam needed two more phase jumps to get within striking distance of the leader and had to buy himself time. He phased near a fallen bandit picking up another spear and throwing it at the leader as he phased again. The spear clanged into the leader’s shoulder unable to break through the plate mail. The leader turned his attention to the newest threat only to find no one standing there. He did find a glowing brown sphere at about chest height. He started to back away and shield his face as the sphere exploded outward covering him in rocks. He only received a few scrapes from this as his armor absorbed most of the impact. Both the spear and the elemental bomb were distractions for Sam’s true goal, however. His second phase jump landed him next to the downed Bard where he collected the poison dagger. He started charging toward the bandit leader who now had his back to Sam. Sam let out his own scream as he charged the warrior. He threw his sword at the bandit as the man turned to face him, spear pulled back for a thrust. The sword flew toward the man’s head, but it was easily deflected by an upward swing of the spear. Sam used this brief interruption of the man’s field of view to phase behind him and sink the poisoned dagger into the side of the man’s neck. The blade found its way into the carotid artery pumping the deadly poison through his body at an astounding rate. Sam pulled the dagger out letting blood spurt in a pulsating rhythm. The warrior dropped the spear as he turned toward Sam, his hand reaching up to try and plug the newly created hole. The poison was already taking affect though and he fell to his knees as he turned. Sam slapped the man’s hand away from his neck allowing the blood to flow unimpeded. It was unclear whether the blood loss or the poison killed the man first. He started to check back in on Azuriel. He turned in time to catch an arrow in his chest thudding into the right side of his armor. It hit with enough force to pierce the leather and enter his lung. He stared at the archer that was standing about twenty yards away. Another arrow was already being prepared. Behind the archer, Sam saw Azuriel finish off the last of his opponents with Sanders on the ground behind him. The pain from the arrow and his inability to catch his breath was keeping him from thinking quickly enough to phase away from the next shot. He could only watch as the archer leveled his bow at him. Just before the arrow took flight, the mountain lion came bounding from the side colliding with the archer, claws raking across his face and chest. The collision pulled Sam out of his daze, and he started pulling the arrow out of his chest. He kept an eye on the archer though and watched as the last bandit was able to stab the beast with a short sword and toss the body to the side. He started standing again as Sam had finished pulling the arrow out. His breathing was getting worse, and he started funneling his energy into his chest wound focusing on healing the lung first. He continued to heal the wound as the bandit again drew back an arrow, aiming it at Sam. He waited a moment longer and then phased ten feet to the side causing the archer to miss completely. He didn’t have time to load another arrow as Lucas had lined up a shot and sunk an arrow into the man’s face.