“Edryd!” I tried to call out, but through the cacophony of battle, it fell on deaf ears. He was fighting voraciously when a glick knocked him off his horse in the same manner that I had been just a few minutes before. “Edryd!” I yelled again, much more desperately this time, and sprinted to help my best friend.

Edryd didn't have as bad a fall as mine, but he was still visibly hurt from it, wincing in pain as he pressed the hilt of his sword up to his shoulder. A few of the neighboring glicks turned and saw the young synner desperately trying to get back on his feet and grab his sword at the same time, and began to charge him. I continued running towards Edryd with my sword in my right hand, flowing behind me in the air.

Edryd managed to get into his guard position - with the sword low, and the point aimed behind him. This provided for an excellent uppercut position, and it was his favorite for groups of attackers during training. The four glicks who were charging him all came at different speeds, but he was ready for them.

He can’t take them all at once, I have to do something, I thought.

As I watched them begin their charge, I decided to act. Regardless of whether I’d tested it, I knew only one spell I could cast in time that would deal damage to the glicks around him. My eyes turned into the obsidian ovals once more, as I reached into the Ethereal, drawing mana from the world without time. I felt the warmth flow from my fingertips, rolling over my whole body and condensed the mana to my left hand as I ran. I held the sphere for a few seconds, patiently waiting for the glicks to be in a closer bunch than how they were at the moment.

They continued to charge towards Ed, and in doing so, unconsciously converged into a tight group.

Ed, on the other hand, could only watch as his attackers approached, but the fire in his eyes told me he was calculating whether he could strike them all at once, even with his arm being in the state it was.

I kept sprinting, feeling my mud-caked boots getting heavier as I went, making it difficult to continue at the same pace I had been at only a few seconds prior. I saw the glicks approaching faster than I could get there, and knew I had no time left to get any closer. The jade sphere of mana had gotten so hot, my glove felt as though it was catching fire. “I hope this works,” I muttered as I drew my left hand back over my shoulder. “Duck!” I shouted, throwing my arm forward and extending my hand to release the spell.

The ball transformed into a whip-like tendril that moved at an incredible speed towards my friend. Luckily, he saw I cast the spell out of the corner of his eye, after having looked for me when I told him to duck. Edryd, seeing the whip-like spell coming quickly, ducked and rolled to his left as fast as he could to get out of its way.

I flicked the whip, wrapping it around the oncoming glicks’ torsos and groins. I followed it up with the same motion I had used on the Pyrus spell, flicking my index finger from the base of my thumb to the tip, and ignited my spell. The mana-flame traveled along the tendril and reached the intended targets, melting flesh and bone wherever the mana had been present.

Their limbs flew away from their bodies after having been viciously severed by the spell. All four glicks fell to the ground in chunks of molten flesh and bubbling blood. Roburn saw the spectacle, though he was too occupied with slaying the remaining glicks.

Shit, I used too much mana, I thought as my vision blurred. I noticed something was amiss with my core, the housing for what could essentially be my soul stuck inside my chest and beneath my heart, but was instantly occupied by another oncoming glick.

Garret, who had been watching the battle from a distance, decided it was time for the bow-casters to finish off the stragglers. “Infuse!” he called out, and each bow-caster's eyes turned into obsidian ovals. They drew from the Ethereal, however, instead of condensing it to their bodies, they condensed their mana to the bows themselves.

The mana coated the bow's curves and string, becoming denser at the grip and anchor point. Having nocked their arrows, the mana flowed into the arrow itself. With an index finger above, and the middle and ring fingers below the arrow's shaft, they were ready. “Aim!” he yelled, and all picked their targets, judging the distance. “Fire at will!,” he called out. The arrows – now enhanced with mana – rapidly soared through the air without being tampered with by the wind.

The remaining glicks were few and far between, but the bow-casters' arrows found their marks. They rained down from above, and struck the glicks' heads, piercing their scales, bone, and flesh. The arrowheads came out on the other side, just between the bottom of their jaws and their necks. As soon as the arrows struck, each one fell limp as a boned fish, and dropped to the ground with a 'thud'.

Just as I was about to strike, my attacker crumbled onto the bloodied ground after the arrow had struck its scaly head. It skidded a short way on the slick ground, coming to a halt just before my feet.

That was close, I thought.

I looked around, watching the remaining monsters fall like haunches from a butcher's rack, slamming into the ground. Their green blood soaked their limp bodies and seeped into the ground beneath them. The stench of sour meat began to overwhelm and surround us. Most of us had kept our composure, except for Batch. Poor bastard was the first of us to vomit up his breakfast in projectile form. The bow-casters on the hill's slope began to laugh at us poor bastards below, wallowing in our enemies' reek.

At that point, I was barely phased by the smell now, since I’d already had it in my nostrils for the past few minutes, and I knew how to control my body well enough to not puke.

I would be lying if I didn’t say that I came close once or twice.

The taste of bile was enough for me to react by swallowing my morning oats back down from whence they came. I shook my head and immediately turned towards where Edryd was now motionless on the ground. “Edryd!” I shouted, desperate to find him unharmed after the spell had blown the creatures’ limbs off into all directions. Irun had already reached him and was kneeling by his side. “He’s wounded!” Irun shouted back. I felt a chill go down my spine as I rushed to Irun's location and saw Edryd lying on the ground, unconscious. He had a large talon mark across his chest and shoulder that had been bleeding profusely for quite some time.

“We need some help over here!” I called out while Irun was trying to make sure the wound wasn't as severe as it looked. Garret himself rode over and dismounted from his black stallion. He rushed over to the us, kneeling at Edryd's side, and briefly looked between the flaps of the sliced jerkin. “He'll live, but I need to close this wound if he's going to continue to have that option,” he said. “Give me some space, boys,” his eyes glowed with an intense, amber color.

He was in the timeless-world – the light shafts still spinning and colliding overhead. He rubbed both of his hands together in a circular manner, and began pulling the tendrils towards him , condensing the amber mana directly to his hands – each hand having its own sphere. His eyes returned to their normal state, and the mana remained in his hands. “Open the flaps of the jerkin for me, Thoma,” he ordered in a calm voice. I moved as quickly as I could to open them, coating my hands in my best friend's blood and recalling the severed limbs as they flew through the air.

One of the claws must have hit him as it flew. Damn it, I thought, making sure I didn’t avert my gaze from what was happening in front of me.

Garret placed both of his hands over the open, bloodied gash that was the young boy's chest and shoulder. He alternated his index and middle finger  to slowly release the spell. The wound began to sew itself shut, using the tendrils of raw mana to both pull the separated skin together and seal it shut. The heat produced from the spell was enough to sear the skin, giving it an even tighter seal. The smell of burning flesh and blood filled the air near the downed boy, and I almost couldn't bear to see it.

“There,” Garret said with a sigh of relief. “The bleeding has stopped, but he'll have to be careful for the next few days. Wouldn't want that opening back up, now would we?” he asked. “No, Master Garret,” I replied. “I'll see to it that he recovers properly,” I said. “Good. Make sure he gets put in one of the wagons. He won't be riding on horseback for a few days by the looks of things,” Garret said. “Yes, Master Garret,” I replied.

The rest of the convoy came down the hill, and met up with us and the rest of the bloodied synners. When the Master arrived, he gazed out over the small amount of havoc the young ones and the bow-casters had wreaked, and smiled.

“A pity Edryd isn't awake at the moment,” he said. “I'd have loved to congratulate him for his bravado in combat. Holding his ground to face at least three of these bastards at a time is nothing to sneer at. See to it he gets a comfortable spot on one of the wagons to be able to recover,” he said, looking at one of the nearest synners, who responded with a slight nod. “But that's not even mentioning the spell that was cast as they were advancing,” he said in a subtly praising tone, while looking at me.

I looked down at my muddied and blood-soaked boots, humbled by the compliment given by the Master, his second in two days, and tried to hide a grin. “Master,” Garret began, “We best be on our way. We've at least twelve leagues ahead of us, and I for one would like to be there before nightfall,” he said. “Very well,” the Master said.

“Wait,” someone cried out. An old farmer crawled out from underneath a few sacks of potatoes. He had a long, unkempt beard with white hairs among black. He was mostly bald, and had probably seen at least 60 winters.

“Yer a' headin' out yonder-ways, ain't ye?" he pointed South-East. “Yes, my good sir,” the Master replied, giving the elderly man a once-over glance. “One would imagine that you're not here only to be attacked by these foul beings,” he continued. “Aye, that be true,” said the elderly one. “I was on my way to me farmstead when me wheel got stuck in yon puddle o' mud. When I was a leapin' from me wagon, I saw the bastards a' comin' from about a league off to the East,” he said, raising an index finger to point in the general direction of the morning sun light.

“I see,” said the Master. “I hid meself from them foul beasts, so as to avoid gettin' in the way of progress, if ye get me meanin',” the farmer said with a rapid succession of head bobbing movements. “Yes, I get your 'meaning',” the Master replied. “What is your name?" the Master asked. “Jehn Boone, at yer service,” the old man replied.

“Very well, Jehn Boone,” the Master began. “Safest of travels, and gods' speed to you and your oxen,” he nodded. “Thank ye, master, and thank the young-uns for savin' me wagon 'n' oxen,” Jehn replied, smiling from ear to ear. I, Batch and Irun nodded to the elderly man, and began to mount their horses. Edryd was carried to the nearest wagon, and placed on top of a sack of bedding materials by two of the bow-casters.

Bernar rode up next to me, grinning as he always did. “I told you never to use an untested spell in combat,” he said, adjusting his ass in the saddle. “Oh, and I imagine I was supposed to have allowed my best friend to die a death worse than I can imagine,” I replied with remorse seeping through my tone as I fought back the emotions of nearly having killed my best friend. “No, not at all. But what’s important here is that you pulled it off,” Bernar began. “So, I suppose now would be as good a time as any to give you the apology I owe you for having doubted your capabilities,” he said, widening his eyes and lifting his eyebrows.

I was puzzled to hear that, but nodded. “Thanks, I guess,” I said solemnly. “Bah, don't thank me till we're at the castle and Edryd's awake,” Bernar said. I nodded once again and mounted my horse.

We reformed their original formation, and waited for me to get into position. Once I was, the Master gave the signal to begin moving once more and they were off, heading South-East to Coltend Castle.

The place where everything I knew would begin to be put to the test.