“This one has some fish in it,” Cata called over.

“Maybe we have some lunch then,” Thomas said,

He cautiously dipped his finger into the liquid and yanked it out quickly. There was no burning sensation or any other sensation for that matter. Thomas put his finger in his mouth. There was a slight alcohol taste, but Thomas found that he actually liked the taste.

“This one is wine,” he said to Cata.

The next pool had a pinkish liquid in it that gave off no discernible scent. Placing a drop on his tongue, Thomas shuddered as he felt the rest of his wounds vanish.

“Awesome! This one heals you!” he exclaimed.

“Look at this green one,” Cata said. “There’s a cup next to it.”

“There are no bodies around here, so I guess it’s safe,” Thomas shrugged, picking up the wooden mug.

Garyn walked to the pool with the fish, and pawed at the water.

“You want one buddy?” Thomas asked, setting the mug down.

He strung his bow, and walked to the edge of the pool. Nocking an arrow back, he shot at a fish, causing the water to ripple, and obscuring the fish. When the water cleared, there was a fish floating to the surface of the water. Thomas grabbed the arrow sticking out of its body, and pulled it from the water.

“This stuff tastes pretty good,” he heard Cata say,

As Thomas removed the arrow from the fish, he heard a loud thud. Spinning around, he saw Cata laying beside the green pool, the mug rolling from his hand.

“Shit! Cata!” he cried, rushing to the elf’s side.

Thomas felt Cata’s neck, easily detecting a pulse. The elf was alive. He was just sleeping.

“What the fuck?” Thomas groaned.

He shook Cata violently, trying to wake him, but the elf remained comatose.

Thomas heard footsteps coming from the hall.

“Shit!”

He grabbed his bow and hissed at Garyn to follow him, ducking into the shadows of the room. The wolf followed him, happily munching on the fish. Seeming to understand the need for silence, the wolf refrained from growling as a pair of kobolds entered the room. One carried a small spear, and the other wielded a short bow with an arrow nocked back on it.

Thomas silently pulled an arrow out and nocked it to his own bow. He pulled the string back to his lips, and waited, aiming at the kobold with the bow.

The kobolds walked up to Cata’s limp body, and the one with the spear raised his weapon. That was when Thomas let his missile fly.

Garyn followed the missile, rushing forward with a snarl. He ripped the spearman’s arm from its socket as Thomas’ first arrow flew through the archer’s head. Thomas rushed forward with his scimitar, and sliced through the kobold’s neck.

“This day is getting worse by the minute,” he informed Garyn.

A knife appeared at his throat, and a male voice hissed, ”Don’t move.”

“What did I tell you?” Thomas sighed. “Look, whoever you are, if you are going to kill me, could you please at least make sure my friends get out alive?”

Garyn growled but stayed where he was.

“Make sure the wolf doesn’t attack me, and I’ll think about it,” the voice said, though the knife never wavered.

Thomas silently switched to Elvish.

“Beacon! Stop growling!”

Garyn fell silent, and the voice said, “Good. Now kindly tell me who you are and what you are doing here.”

Thomas switched back to Common, and said, “Would you mind moving the knife away first?”

“Not a chance,”

“I was out teaching my friend to shoot a bow. We found this tower, and he insisted on doing a little exploring. We found this room, and he drank some of that green liquid, and now, he is sleeping.”

“Dumbass,” the man scoffed.

“I told him not to drink any of the liquids,” Thomas said. “Do you have any idea how long he’ll be out?”

“Anywhere from an hour to eight hours.” the man said, finally removing the dagger from Thomas’ neck. “We really should move. There will be all kinds of creatures roaming these halls in a few hours.”

“I’m not leaving Cata,” Thomas said.

“Of course you aren’t,” the human sighed.

Now that Thomas was able to get a good look at him, he could see that the man was actually a teen, no older than sixteen. He was wearing a pitch-black cloak, with a hood that was down, and his hands were hidden inside the fabric. The dagger he had held to Thomas’ throat was nowhere to be seen. The man had short black hair, cut no longer than his ears.

“Well, hurry it up,” the man said impatiently. “Get him and let’s go.”

Thomas unstrung his bow and tucked it back into its quiver. He removed the kobold’s quiver, and tied it to his waist, before grabbing the short bow and adding it to the quiver.

“Hurry up!” the human hissed, as several more footsteps came into their hearing.

Thomas grabbed the spear and shoved it into the kobold’s quiver.

“Shit!” the human groaned, sprinting towards a dark corner.

He melted into the shadows, as around fifteen kobolds appeared at the doorway.

“Shit!” Thomas echoed, pulling the short bow from its quiver.

He nocked an arrow back, slightly uncomfortable with the weapon, and fired it at the lead kobold. The arrow flew straight into the kobold’s eye, and the monster fell. Its companions all began screaming in a harsh tongue, as they all charged forward.

Thomas got off one more shot that sent a kobold falling into the pool of acid. The creature howled in agony, as he began melting away, and Thomas realized the pool was full of a very strong acid. Then, the kobolds were on him, and he was forced to toss the bow aside in favour of his scimitar.

Two kobolds rushed him with spears, and he tried but failed to redirect their spears. Twin jolts of pain shot through Thomas’ body as the spears entered his body. Fighting through the pain, Thomas swung wildly, completely missing the kobold he was aiming for. He heard the human cursing, and saw Garyn lunge at a third kobold,

The wolf bit into a kobold’s head, and the kobold went limp. Thomas’ attention was redirected to the two kobolds in front of him, and he brought his sword up, trying to block a stab at his face. The spear stabbed over his head, but a second spear grazed his side.

The pebble that was providing light for the group suddenly fell dark, leaving the room lit only by a small window on the wall. Thomas had no problem seeing, but he still didn’t like the lack of light.

“Fuck!” the human screamed.

Thomas struck at the kobolds again, this time decapitating one. Another splurt of blood washed over his robe, as Garyn slew another kobold beside him. He saw the human take three spears to the gut, and he gritted his teeth, enraged. A kobold attacked him, and he cut the spear in half, before swinging his scimitar through the kobold’s midsection. He watched the human’s body fall, and lunged toward the man, swinging at a kobold about to deliver the final blow.

The sword sliced diagonally through the kobold’s body, and a kobold next to the fallen man screeched in hatred, before stabbing his spear through the human’s neck.

“NO!!!” Thomas screamed, knocking a spear aside.

He stabbed the kobold in the gut before slicing out of the corpse. Garyn cried out, and Thomas whirled, attacking the last kobold with a vengeance. He sliced through both arms, and then removed the kobold’s legs before finally ending the wretched creature’s life.

Knowing the man was dead, Thomas knelt beside Garyn, ripping a strip of fabric from the corpse of a kobold. He found a bleeding wound on Garyn’s side and spent a few minutes binding it up. Walking back to the human’s corpse, he began rifling through the man’s possessions, feeling more and more like a thief. He found 12 copper coins, 7 silver and a single gold coin, all of which he placed into his own money pouch. Very carefully, he removed the man’s cloak, revealing a suit of leather armour. Rolling the cloak up, he stuffed it into his bag. Finding nothing more on the corpse, he set about gathering the weapons of the kobolds lying around him, stacking them in a neat pile. He told Garyn to guard Cata, before heading into the forest, and gathering some firewood, using it to make a pyre several yards away from the building. Then, he took the human’s corpse, laid it upon the pyre, and surrounded it with the spears of the slain kobolds. As the sun began to fall, he lit the pyre and watched it burn, asking Belvira to watch over the soul, though it wasn’t her domain.

As the pyre burned down to ashes, Thomas felt a little better. He returned to the room of pools, and began organizing his own things, and unstringing the short bow. As he was finishing his task, Cata stirred.

“W-what happened?” he asked blearily.

The elf glanced around the room and blanched at the sight of the kobold corpses.

“Shit! What the hells happened here?”

“I told you not to drink the liquid,” Thomas said numbly.

“You killed all these kobolds?!”

“Most of them. There was another guy who helped me, but he was killed.”

“I’m so sorry,” Cata whispered, hanging his head.

“You wouldn’t have been able to help too much,” Thomas shrugged. “I need to sleep. Wake me in about six hours.”

He pulled out his bedroll, crawled inside of it, and fell asleep thinking of the young man, and with Garyn curled up at his feet.

Thomas opened his eyes as sunlight streamed through the tiny window. Sitting up in his bedroll, he glanced around searching for Cata.

The elf was kneeling in the fish pool, water lapping softly against his skin. He dipped his head, and then wrung his hair out, before crawling out of the pond. Thomas averted his eyes, as the elf dressed.

“You know, I doubt lake water is the best water to clean yourself with,” he said.

“You’re awake!” Cata gasped, recovering from the shock of hearing Thomas’ voice.

“Why didn’t you wake me when I asked?”

“I thought you could use some extra sleep. I was about to get you up, as we could get moving.”

“I have to meditate for an hour first,” Thomas said. “That’s why I wanted you to get me up early.”

“Shit,” Cata groaned. “I can’t seem to do anything right.”

Thomas stood up and took a drink from the healing pool. Then, he walked outside, finding a secluded spot. He began praying to Belvira, asking that she grant him extra healing for that day. Coming out of his meditation, he was left with the knowledge of his basic orisons and he felt that he would be allowed three healing spells that day, along with a spell that would create water.

As he rose, he saw Cata staring at him, while gently rubbing the necks of Sanor and Collin.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing. I just wanted to make sure you were protected,” Cata said, tearing his eyes away from Thomas.

“Well, it’s time to get going,” Thomas said, grabbing his pack from Cata.

He picked up the quiver with the short bow and the spear and handed them to Cata.

“These are yours. We’ll work on finding something better later,” he said.

“Thank you.”

Thomas helped Cata tie the hip quiver on, and showed him how to string the bow. He had Cata test the pull, to make sure it wasn’t too much, then the two mounted their horses, and set off, followed by the ever-loyal Garyn.

As they rode, Cata asked, “Why is his name Beacon?” as he gestured toward Garyn.

“Because he is a beacon of hope in dark times. Garyn is not just a mindless war machine. He is my companion. He will protect me from enemies, both real and perceived. And he and I share a connection. Whenever I am sad, he’s always there to comfort me, helping me feel better.”

“I wish I had someone like him,” Cata said.

They rode on for a few minutes in silence.

“Thomas?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m sorry. For everything that happened in the tower. It was my fault we even went in there.”

“I hope you’ve learned not to go drinking from strange pools,” Thomas said.

“Yeah. I have.”

They found a small creek, and after a moment’s thought, Thomas led them east along it, heading in the direction of Ayre. The horses plodded along, unconcerned by the wolf trotting along beside them.

As they rode, Thomas spotted a black walnut tree, and he brought Collin to a halt, sliding off the horse. He ran his hand across a low hanging branch.

“This is the one,” he said softly.

He grabbed the axe and began cutting the branch from the tree.

“I thought you said yew,” Cata said.

“This will look better, last longer, and give a better bow overall,” Thomas grunted as he worked.

Three minutes later, he handed the axe back to Cata and picked up the branch.

“Let’s get back to town,” he said.

Frank studied the room. It was very basic, but he decided it would work. Thomas was going to be ecstatic when he returned from his trip.

“Hammer please!”

Frank handed the hammer up the ladder, and Marc took it, hammering the last board onto the roof.

“Looking good you two,” Margaret said, bringing out two mugs of ale. “Anyone want to try my new concoction?”

“Sure,” Frank shrugged, taking a mug.

He took a swig, and his eyes widened in amazement.

“This is some of the best booze I’ve ever tasted,” he gasped.

“Really?”

“Yes! Keep this batch under lock and key!”

“Awesome!” Margaret smiled.