Chapter IV

Arisa looks at the young man running in the distance until he disappears into the line of trees. And with that, she can't stop recalling the events that had led to this situation, where the previously harmless boy had to flee.

The night had been going so well until then. But the alarm cry from one of the guards had silenced everyone and created a moment where everyone around the campfire seemed suspended in time, trying to comprehend what was happening.

That moment was shattered when Valter, one of the guards watching the camp perimeter, appeared near the campfire, and again shouted, “Bandits!” as a figure came up behind him and knocked him down.

Seeing this attack, she jumps over the fire and screams, “All who have weapons, follow me.” having said that, she starts running, passing by Aves.

“All who can't fight, head to the wagons,” her employer shouts, trying to guide the defenseless to the safest available place. What is good because she can't care about those who can't defend themselves. At this moment, she must focus solely on the battle.

Moving forward relatively alone is dangerous, but she has no better option; her attack can buy enough time for people to organize in defense and aid her. At the same time, it puts pressure on the bandits to break their attack. And not least, she might be able to aid the brave Valter, who may have saved us all.

As she approaches the first bandit, she notices what must be arrows passing by her and hears the cries of people have been hit. Despite the tragedy that means, she can only thank the gods that the spell that set her sword ablaze has ended, as having it active would be fantastic for enemy archers to target her.

Another case where, despite the spell being the main reason she commands the caravan's security, it is also practically useless. In combat, having a burning sword can be frightening, but if your opponent stays calm, it doesn't bring any advantages. Its great advantage is that someone trying to bring trouble to the caravan will think twice if they see that its main defender can use magic.

So right now, all that matters is the quality of the swordsmen. And when Arisa crosses blades with her opponent, she finds him lacking. Unfortunately, despite being able to injure him in the arm, she can't bring him down, and from the noise, his reinforcements are coming, forcing her to retreat to see if she can join her reinforcements.

She doesn't like leaving Valter on the ground without knowing his condition, but she hasn’t another choice. Her luck was that now her guards and the caravan members capable of fighting arrived to face the mass arrival of the bandits, creating a necessary defensive line.

On the other hand, the misfortune is that it doesn't seem like the defenders have enough quality fighters in numbers to drive off the attackers. The bandits were smart enough to understand that she was the strongest element of the defense, which led two of them to join forces to attack her.

Normally, Arisa's great advantage is her aggressiveness, which surprises most of her opponents, especially the men. But fighting two to one, she can no longer take the same risks. This forces her to continue to retreat to gain the space she needs to fight as she wants.

Despite being wounded, the bandit, with the help of his friend, manages to keep Arisa busy. But finally, his companion makes a mistake and hinders his positioning, allowing her to hit his leg. Now, with his arm and leg injured, he no longer poses an effective threat to her, and they both back away from the conflict, giving her a chance to breathe before returning to the fight.

Noticing that she's fallen back to the campfire, where she can see the young man that had previously was talking of magic swords, dragging a body. That body is Torvir's. Whi has an arrow sticking out of his chest, then she hears the boy saying, “Hang on, old man, just got to get there and take care of you.”

The poor man must still be alive, for even with the sound of the battle around, she can hear him gurgling as if he wants to say something to the boy. Too bad that with this sound and the place where the arrow is, she can see that he won't last much longer, and the boy won't be able to do anything.

Before she can shout at the young man to leave him and run for cover, a terrible sight enters her field of view: their opponents have returned, and they bring with them a new friend, armed with a hand axe. Which only makes her think of the poor luck they're having.

Only two types of bandits would try to attack a caravan like this, the desperate or the capable. And this shows that they are a capable group. Usually, they would try to attack by surprise and use fear to drive the caravan members away and then plunder.

Other groups, with the resistance this caravan is putting up, would have already retreated, but these bandits understand that they might still succeed. As such, Arisa will have to find a way to defeat these opponents, and then help her weaker fighters and try to gain numerical superiority.

But that will only work if she survives, and a blow from that axe will be her end. With that, she prepares for the difficult fight in front of her, even considering that one is wounded, the danger of the axe makes the odds three to one.

When they are close enough, they stop. So that they can take measure each other. They for their part also recognize that she will be a difficult adversary and that most likely everything will be decided in the next few seconds.

Before the action starts, she hears a familiar voice. Not a scream or a plea this time. It's like when he asks his questions, as if he doesn't expect to be heard, as if he's simply stating a fact whether you understand it or not.

“The raising of the dead.” Even in this situation, she can't help but stop and think what a strange phrase it is and wonder it means. What saves her life is that she's not the only one stopping the fight; her opponents also stop and have expressions of confusion as they look behind her. Do they also find the phrase strange?

But then they start to retreat slightly. Allowing her the opportunity to look back to see a strange sight. The young man kneeled on the ground, hand outstretched and with an astonished look, watching Torvir stand with the arrow still in his chest and a vacant look.

He should be dead, but he's standing. The scene is completely ridiculous; what is happening, how is Torvir standing? When she is about to take a step forward to see what's happening, Torvir lets out a wild growl that paralyzes the battlefield.

After the growl, Torvir turns to the young man passively, as if waiting for something. The young man, in turn, looking dazed, looks around before focusing on Torvir again and sighs a phrase. This time the sound of this phrase, even in the forced silence of the situation, doesn't spread around.

But Arisa is looking right at the boy, and the fire hasn't extinguished yet, illuminating his face in such a way that she can see the phrase forming on his lips. Even though others couldn't hear the instruction given, all those who are looking can see its result. Torvir lets out another growl and lunges at Arisa, and with him rushing fast in her direction, she can’t muster any reaction.

Just watching the lifeless eyes of this once irritable old man, but with a good heart. Eyes that just a few minutes ago expressed the enchantment of a child over magic. And so, the image of Torvir rapidly charging is something she knows she'll never forget.

And so, with that, the body of what had just been an old man passes her by and leaps onto the bandit armed with the axe. Realizing that he is the target, he still barely as time to attack him by swing his weapon into Torvir's chest.

But for the old man, this attack matters little, and he leaps onto the bandit and begins to bite him. At this action, his less capable bandit companion shouts “Undead!” and starts to run.

The shout confirms what everyone already suspected, and the remaining attackers begin to withdraw. Speeding up Torvir gets up from the bandit he had just attacked and leaps after them.

In turn, the defenders try to pursue the bandits. “Stop, it's not worth chasing them. Hold your positions, it might be a trap,” Arisa shouts the order to her forces. Knowing very well there's nothing to gain in chasing them. Only Torvir continues after them, but he is already beyond any help they can give him.

So, they stay here with the question of how this could have happened. Undead can appear naturally, but only in magic-rich areas, so only in the deepest of ruins can this be expected. And it is unlikely that a wild undead would only attack the bandits.

Arisa can only think of one possibility. A possibility that leads her to look at the young man kneeling on the ground, looking alternately at his hand and in the direction where Torvir went.

Having witness all, the people who had taken refuge started coming out of their hiding places and returning to the area of the campfire.

It's at that time that Arabela appears and points to the still kneeling young man and shouting “Necromancer.” With everyone around now approaching him aggressively, the boy finally stands up quickly, looking around fearfully.

“What? A necromancer, me?” he tries to argue with the people nearing him.

“I don't even know magic, let alone being a necromancer,” he tries to tell the people, taking slow steps in the opposite direction. In the attempt of maintaining the distance between them.

“Who do you think you're fooling? We can all see that you, and only you, were touching poor Torvir when he rose,” Arabela aggressively shouts back at him.

“Yes, and you sent him after them. And he obeyed,” shouts someone lost in the crowd.

“How are we going to explain this to his children now? We won't even have a body to give them,” Arabela continues with immense fury.

While the boy continues to move away. “Look, I don't know magic. You want to see?” he exclaims quickly, trying desperately to save himself. But Arisa can already see that the crowd's decision is made, and he is lost. These people who a little while ago were hidden and powerless against an armed assault are now ready to attack an unarmed boy.

He must have seen a piece of wood on the ground, which he picks up and raises for everyone to see and speaks loudly. “Will of the flame,” and to everyone's astonishment, including apparently his own, the stick he's holding busts with a blue flame.

“Oh, darn, is this a joke,” he says, before realizing the problem he's in. And after throwing the burning stick in the direction of the crowd, turns, and starts running.

With this incident, the crowd is paralyzed for a moment in confusion, until someone shouts, “After him.”

Before they can follow him, Arisa shouts in turn, “Stop it. You want to run after a necromancer, with powers you don't know.” she says to the crowd, a little of common sense immediately taking away their momentum.

“Archers,” Arabela says, still thinking in some way to attack the necromancer.

“I said stop it, let's take care of our wounded. We have more to worry about.”

“Yes, Arisa is right, take care of our own and prepare to break camp. I don't know about you, but I don't feel like sleeping here.” Aves interrupts, appearing out of nowhere with an arm bandaged.

The crowd seems to agree with his feelings and starts tending to what needs to be tended.

“How are you?” Arisa asks him, focusing on his arm.

“Oh, the arm. I tripped, and I fell in the middle of the confusion. Just a small injury, but nothing serious.” Aves replies pausing for a second before continuing “And how are you?”

“I'm a bit tired, but other than that, I'm physically fine,” she replies, feeling her body sore and drained of the fatigue from all the fighting.

“And are you sure of your decision?” Aves asks her now, looking at the direction the young man had taken.

“He helped us. Without him, more people would have died,” is all Arisa as to say on the subject.

“Still, a necromancer.” he says but is tone of voice implying to the risks of her decision.

“The boy seemed as confused as we were by what happened. And he isn´t more than boy.” she states.

“He could have been pretending,” he interjects, being very reasonable in his suspicions.

To answer those suspicions Arisa can only ask. “Do you know what order he gave to Torvir?”

“I don't know. Attack the bandits?” Aves tries to guess surprised by the strange question.

“No, he said 'protect them'. If a wicked and terrible necromancer gives such an order while becoming a target for those he was trying to protect, how bad can he be?”