“Did they seriously leave?” Michael asked the open air.

  He stood atop the hill, his hands on his hips as he overlooked the city. Ellis was sitting on the floor next to him, Ameena still half hidden by the treeline as she set up her tent. She had been grumbling for the last few days about how they had to hide, and her patience had long worn thin at having to share less than three meters of space with Michael. The monster, on the other hand, had had the time of his life. Every day he woke with a big smile before they headed out to slaughter the guards, or the peasants, or Ellis’s fellow hunters, or any other poor soul who happened to wander off alone.

  Every single one of them had pushed Ellis into alerting the army, to tell them exactly where they were hiding. But that premonition of the ants lingered in his mind like a scar, and… and he had leveled. Four whole levels. Eight extra stat points. Ameena had leveled the same amount, with Michael having leveled only three times.

  A child of Anwir:

  *Ellis Marsh:

  Strength: 6 (braces of the strong: +4)

  Mana: 4

  Dexterity: 8 (Cloak of the tasteless: +5)

  Perception: 9

  Endurance: 7 (Runner's pants: +2)

  Constitution: 8 (Minor ring of protection: +1)

  Total: 42 (+12)

  Level: 8

  He had thrown at least a point into almost every stat, but he had focused on dexterity and constitution in his level ups. His speed was intense, and he realized he equaled Michael’s speed when they had first met. Every scuffle they had been in for the last few days had made the guards seem like they were fighting underwater, and killing them had been… easy.

  A child of Evosa:

  *Ameena Fray:

  Strength: 9 (Loggers pants: +3)

  Mana: 12 (Wand of deception (bonded to: Ameena Fray): +5)

  Dexterity: 7 (a fighters ring: +2)

  Perception: 6

  endurance: 7 (Messengers necklace: +2)

  Constitution: 9 (The boots of the hardy: +4)

  Total: 50 (+16)

  Level 9

  Skills: knit flesh(level 7), mend bone (level 4)

  Much like Ellis, she had thrown a point into almost every stat, except for perception. The only number he was concerned about was her constitution. While her skin might deflect blades and arrows might only skewer her like they did Michael, Ellis’s newfound strength was more than enough to drive a knife through her eye socket. He still had a chance against her, especially since his dexterity was so much higher.

  A child of Dumiso:

  *Michael:

  Strength: 18 (Sword of the dragon: +3)

  Mana: 11

  Dexterity: 10 (Greaves of the quick: +6)

  Perception: 6

  endurance: 11 (Boots of a soldier: +4)

  Constitution: 14(A warrior's pants: +4)

  Total stat points: 70 (+17)

  Level 13

  He had thrown a few points into strength, mana constitution and dexterity. His total was almost 90 now, which made Ellis pray. How was he meant to get his revenge? Ellis had leveled more than he thought he’d ever seen in his lifetime.

  And yet it still wasn’t enough. The killing wasn’t enough. What else did the gods want from him?

  No matter how hard the killing and corpses piling up pushed him to leave, pushed him to throw himself at the Ant Killers feet and beg to just end it, Michael’s new nightly walks had convinced him to stay. He still remembered shivering as he hung a boy into a tree at Michael’s direction on the first day, that monster’s hand squeezing around the back of his neck when it was time to disappear.

  After finding a new hole to hide away for that first night, Ameena watched Ellis like a hawk. They didn’t speak. She just healed him from the day’s events then leaned back and kept her eyes trained on him, like Ellis would try something.

  She was right, of course. Because Michael had just… left. Only a smile was given as an explanation for where he was going. That suited Ellis just fine, he had planned to run off and find that Ant Killer, throw himself at his feet and tell him exactly where they had been hiding, before begging to be executed. The weight of the crossbow had never been so light, just one arrow through her skull and he would find salvation.

  Michael returned the moment he unslung his crossbow, covered in more blood than when he had left. Ellis had studied him, his eyes scanning every inch of the monster to try and find a clue as to where he had gone. Blood covered his hands and chest, like usual. His new wide smile was normal, and so was his sigh as he curled up next to Ameena, who was trying to scoot away in response. When he thought nothing was amiss, and that Michael really had left just to slaughter more guards in the night, his eyes locked on the bag at the bastard’s hip.

  It was half a size bigger, now the size of Michael’s hands rather than Ellis’s.

  Leaving was the obvious choice. His cloak gave Ellis enough confidence to outpace Michael for a little while, at least. But that bag wriggled into the back of his mind. He stayed for the night, waiting for the man to go asleep. His twitch toward the crossbow made Ameena’s eyes snap open, despite it being his turn to watch. Ignoring her piercing gaze, he picked up the crossbow and cradled it in his lap before curling up to sleep. But that bag had captured his attention, and it never relented, always drawing Ellis’s eye like a beautiful woman just out of sight.

  The next morning, he could no longer handle it.

  “Michael, what’s in the bag?” he asked.

  “Oh, you know, Ameena is concerned I won’t be able to kill this Ant Killer,” he said with a sarcastic sneer, like he hadn’t lost in Ellis’s vision. “You know how the ladies are. So I went and got something that would ease her mind.”

  Ameena shared a concerned glance with Ellis, before turning back to Michael. “So it’s a weapon?”

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  A small smile tugged at his lips. “Uhmm, sure? Close enough, really.”

  A black light went off in Ellis’s eye, the weight slamming into the back of his eye like a caged animal. Ellis reached for his mother’s knife. “What sort of weapon?”

  He grinned ear to ear. “A good one. Enough questions. Now, Ellis, my beautiful little patrol finder, mind finding us a few more today?”

  Never in his life had he wanted to bolt more. Truly. But that black lie… made Ellis stay. Every day he would try to convince himself otherwise, and every night Michael would disappear for an hour, the bag getting bigger and bigger each and every time he returned.

  So Ellis stayed. Through the slaughter. Through the tears.

  He stared at his hands now as they sat and overlooked the Albus Citadel. Michael had a wrinkle in his smile as he turned away from the city, back to Ameena. “You know, this is really disappointing.”

  She held a parchment in her hands, writing down patrol times and numbers. Her voice was laced with disgust and a hint of respect as she said, “it was your idea.”

  “Yes but I didn’t think they’d tuck their tails between their legs and fuck off behind the walls!” He kicked a rock at his feet, the stone turning into a projectile as it flew into the distance. He sat with a huff next to Ameena.

  She separated Michael from Ellis, which let him enjoy the sunset’s golden glow illuminating the valley. The golden rays mixing with the soft green made every farm within view glow in the dimming light.

  Ameena’s cold gaze was on the city, but she was focused solely on the man to her right. “You did kill almost three dozen people —”

  “We killed thirty one men and half a dozen women, not sure how many he got by himself,” Ellis corrected, their faces flashing through his eyes one by one.

  “Roughly forty people died and were hung up along every road leading to the city,” she said, shooting a glare his way. “It makes sense why the nobility are panicking. And Ellis? Don’t act like your aptitude with tracking wasn’t the entire reason we never got caught.”

  “Oh, so throwing the travelstone half way through the forest was useless? That’s good to know.” Michael interjected before Ellis could even find the will to respond.

  “Despite Ellis’s assistance, it was your idea that led to this.” She waved at the walls lined with shouting men in the distance. “I don’t think in all of history has someone single handedly been able to make an army retreat back behind its walls. Do you see what you can accomplish when you use your head?”

  Ameena sounded like she had memorized the compliment.

  Michael’s back straightened, but his face was still sour. “I wanted to kill that Ant Killer first. They were supposed to hide away afterwards. Not before. Chickenshits. It’s very annoying.”

  Ameena scoffed, shaking her head from side to side.

  They stopped speaking after that, the dying light filling the silence. Ellis looked to the farm whose owners they had slaughtered. What would happen to it? Would it be sold? Or… or was there a relative, inheriting the farm along with their grief? A silent prayer left his lips, no answers to the questions leaping forward in his mind. He dragged his gaze back to the city walls.

  He could make out the faces of the people moving about from this distance. The guards lined the walls with crossbows and bows, a few of them managing to laugh while checking over their shoulder. But most held grim faces, all peering over the parapets atop the city’s outer wall towards the treeline like they would find death waiting for them if they looked hard enough. The guards worked in shifts, the last of the day shift now changing out for new, rested men.

  Like that would make a difference.

  Ellis broke the silence. “So, what’s next?”

  Ameena swallowed. “Our mission remains the same. We have just hit a setback, unfortunately. But we’re out of the woods now—”

  “I told you the plan that first night, remember?” Michael met her gaze.

  She didn’t respond.

  “Oh, you don’t? What a shame. Let’s hear your little fairy tail before we work out what we’re actually going to do.”

  She crushed the pencil she had been using, just outside of Michael’s view. “We need a new plan to get into the city to achieve your goals. But I doubt you have accounted for the new… variable.”

  Ellis leaned back on his hands. “That variable being the new army, on high alert for people matching our exact description, watching every entrance day and night to make sure we don’t break back into the city?”

  “Yes, that one, keep up,” Michael chastised. “Well, if we’re going with a ‘new plan’, I suggest going through the front gates. There's no use dawdling or flanking now. I know you're probably going to say it’s ‘not possible’, but I think we can do it.”

  Ameena took a visible breath, as if she were measuring each word that left her mouth. “If we did that, the guards would chase us back into the forest. We would once again find ourselves stuck in the same position we have been in for four days. It. Is. Not. Possible.”

  Ellis nodded toward the farmhouse. “Well then, why don’t we go through the tunnels?”

  Ameena took in a sharp breath. “Either that stupid girl alerted the guards to pin us down here while they shored up the defences of those tunnels, or Michael let that farmer get away—”

  “I didn’t.”

  “—so it’s a fifty-fifty gamble on walking into a well prepared, well organized, well motivated group of mana users waiting to spring an ambush, or into open tunnels that would lead us back into the city, crawling with guards who… How did you put it? Are looking for people that match our exact description.” She shook her head. “This is just… we need a new plan.”

  “How’d you put it for the palace?” Michael tapped a finger against his chin. “‘We can’t just waltz in’? Well, we’re going to waltz on through those pretty gates. Hope you got your dancing shoes.”

  He winked. Ellis shuddered.

  “And then we’d just be in the city! We need to kill the Archduke, not some peasants that just happened to get in the way,” she seethed, her voice losing its usual anger.

  “We could wait for things to die down? Patience would give us another chance in a year, maybe two?” Ellis tried.

  Her fist crunched into his jaw, his neck whipping sideways from the sudden blow.

  “I will not wait another fucking year to kill that monster!” She roared into his ear. “He could die in that time, and then what!? This would be for nothing!”

  Ellis rubbed his jaw, scooting out of arms reach as he nodded, not meeting her gaze. Those city gates looked mighty tempting the longer she glared at him.

  “It’s kinda hot when you get angry, but still… the only real way is through. We could go up that mountain, but I assume you’d come up with some bullshit reason as to why that wouldn’t work,” Michael said, eyeing Ameena as she stared daggers at Ellis.

  Ellis knew the reason, Michael didn’t. And that proved to be the last straw for Ameena’s temper, as she turned and punched him in the face now. “Going up there would get us killed or maimed before we set foot in that palace! It was designed to prevent armies from breaching that mountain top! Why are you both so useless!?”

  Michael hummed and hawed, a sick grin spreading across his face like the punch had excited him. Ellis scooted away from them even more as he said, “Well, you and Ellis are supposed to have minds for strategy or some shit… and Ellis’s plan is as cowardly and sensible as usual. What’s your great plan then, hey?” he finished with a smirk.

  “All we need to do is get into—”

  Michael rolled his eyes. “How are you—” he pointed at her chest. “Going to get from here—” he spread his hands to the treeline surrounding them. “To allllllll the way over there?” He waved to the palace far off in the distance, the sunsets dying rays glinting off its tall windows facing the city.

  Ellis could not see Ameena’s face from where he sat, but he could hear her teeth grating. She didn’t have a rebuttal, for once. Since, just as surprisingly, Michael was right.

  “You're a hot lady Ameena, but I think your little schemes, and keeping that boy around are the very reason we are stuck here. Soooooo let’s get back to the real plan!” he said, clapping his hands. “We are going straight through the fucking gates tomorrow morning, and I will not hear a word of disagreement about it, understood?

  His unbroken gaze turned from the city, back to her. She uttered not a sound.

  “Understood, fantastic!” he finished for her, before getting to his feet and stretching.

  He sauntered off into the forest like clockwork the moment the sun disappeared. The bag now hung half way down his thigh, gently tapping against his leg with every step, his hum fading into the distance after a while.

  Ellis, for the first time in days, didn’t care where he was going. He would have followed, but… when Ameena had turned away from his tirade, and looked back toward that palace…

  A single tear was falling down her cheek. And in that salty teardrop, he saw an opportunity.

  (and if you wish to comment I would also be very grateful)