Katarina shifted as I began performing Kinetic Overload again, running toward the closest downed kobold and throwing him backwards, over the cliff. It’s scream echoed between the valley walls as it fell.

  She repeated the motion a half dozen times before the kobolds regained their footing, grabbing them and throwing or kicking them off the cliff. A chorus of screams faded into the distance below.

  One of the archers regained its footing first, shooting an arrow at her. She launched into the air, detonated an explosive charge to redirect herself mid-leap, and drove a flying knee into the archer’s face. A cloud of bloody mist sprayed around her from the impact.

  She spun, leaping to kick another kobold as the Archer's corpse fell to the ground, its face a smashed in ruin. She shot out her right hand, flat, hitting the kobold in the neck with the tips of her fingers and detonating an instant of Kinetic Overload, decapitating the kobold in a spray of blood before shifting and pirouetting around two kobolds that swung at her with spiked clubs. She angled her body, dodging the blows by the barest fraction before lashing out with Wind’s Edge. The blade extended and sliced through both kobold’s chests.

  I finished performing Kinetic Overload and sent the charge into myself, dismissing the lute as I ran towards the nearest kobold. They were all distracted, hurrying to try and swarm Katarina. I grabbed one by its tattered cloak, pulled it back and positioned myself between the kobold and the mountain before punching it in the stomach. I enhanced my punch with a charge of explosive energy, this time with proper technique.

  It felt good. The power surged from my body, through my knuckles, and blasted outward with the impact. The kobold’s canine face reflected shock and pain as it was blown backwards, beyond the path and over the cliff.

  Three kobold broke free from the pack, which Katarina was making short work of, to charge me. They were growling and shouting in a guttural language I couldn’t understand. One swung its spiked maul at me from the right as the other swung from the left. The third leapt and swung down. All three moved at the same time, in a coordinated attack that seemed as natural as breathing for them.

  I jumped up, evading the two horizontal weapon strikes, and threw a punch at the third kobold’s weapon. I activated another instance of Kinetic Overload as my fist connected with the club. The club exploded backwards, soaring through the air behind the kobold. It flew right over Katrina's head. Her hand shot up, grabbing the club and bringing it down to crush the head of a kobold that had been charging her.

  Her battlefield awareness astounded me, but I was pulled back to reality as the kobolds on either side of me swung their clubs once more. I felt like I was wedged between two trucks as they impacted both sides of my ribs. Several bones crunched and broke in my chest and I slammed a Moderate Healing Potion from my Quick Slot menu as I jumped backwards, narrowly avoiding a dagger thrust from the kobold in the middle that I had disarmed.

  Cursing myself for getting distracted, I sidestepped and pivoted, throwing a roundhouse punch at the kobold to my right and detonating another explosive charge. It was blown into the middle kobold and both went sprawling, sliding very close to the edge of the cliff. Encore flew down, slamming four paws into one of them and pushing it the rest of the way over the edge. He flipped backwards, launching himself from the impact and opening his wings wide. He flew straight at the other kobold that I had knocked near the cliff, grabbing it's tattered cloak in his mouth and dragging it off the side before soaring back up into the air.

  The last kobold looked around and turned to flee, trying to run past Katarina as she slammed two kobolds’ heads together, breaking their necks. Three more kobolds had already started running away.

  Encore dove from the sky, stopping the one nearest me as Katarina ran after the other three, quickly gaining on them. Encore once again executed a four-poster chest kick against the kobold that had run from me, toppling it over as he backflipped and landed on the ground a few feet away. I caught up and kicked at the downed kobold like a soccer ball.

  The kobold went spiraling out over the side of the cliff and screamed as it fell, but I must have kicked it wrong because I felt a tearing pain down the inner side of my thigh and my foot felt like it had been smashed with a sledgehammer.

  I cried out in pain, falling to my rear and consuming a Minor Healing Potion from my Quick Slot as Katarina dispatched the final three monsters with a flurry of blows that ended with all three being launched off the side of the mountain. Gentle warmth of healing energy coursed down my leg and into my foot.

  “You okay?” I asked Encore, who trotted over.

  “Never better, why do you ask?” He butted the side of my leg affectionately.

  “Haven’t really seen you get physical in many fights before, just wanted to be sure.” I smiled at Katarina, who was jogging back. Only about five of the kobold corpses remained on the roadway, most had been sent over the side in the fray. Katarina stopped and looted them in quick, efficient motions as she jogged back.

  I stood as she approached.

  “I saw that,” she said with a half smile. Her eyes were squinted in amusement. “What made you think kicking would be a good idea? We barely just started training you in how to punch properly!”

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “It… seemed like a good idea at the time.”

  “Didn’t feel good, did it?” She eyed me as we turned and began making our way back to the carts. Abernathy saw us approaching and said something to the old couple, who stuck their heads out from between the front flaps of the wagon, relief shining faintly through the grief and exhaustion.

  “No, it hurt like hell.” I replied, remembering the simultaneous tearing sensation from the inside of my leg and the sharp pain of at least one bone in my foot breaking. “Healing potions are a godsend.”

  “And limited. Don’t waste them. You could have just tossed that lil guy off the side of the cliff. Don’t try to be fancy out there. I’m glad you are implementing what we are training. Just don’t overextend, yeah?”

  “Hai, sensei.”

  She elbowed me in the side gently, chuckling as Abernathy ran up to us, beaming.

  “Chanter! I saw that! You lobbed that kobold right off the trail! Right nasty work, mate!”

  I laughed. “Thanks. It… didn’t go as planned. But it worked itself out.”

  “Mhm,” Katarina murmured as we walked back to the cart.

  “Got everyone settled in,” Abernathy began as we walked. “Right exhausted, the lot of them. The smallest are already sleeping.”

  “Did you find out more about them?” Katarina asked.

  “Not yet, was getting them all settled.” Abernathy climbed up on the bench and slid down as we climbed up next to him and turned. Both of the elderly people were still sitting at the front and greeted us.

  “That was incredible. Just incredible. Those beasts must have been chasing us for the better part of the day.” The man said. His nameplate listed him as Emry.

  “Truly. We are so tired. Thank you for intervening.” The old woman, Gretchin, added.

  “No problem, glad to help. Where were you heading?” I asked.

  Gretchin and Emry exchanged an exhausted, sad glance before Gretchin spoke.

  “We started the trip with a caravan. There were over fifty of us, then. three merchant groups, their guards. Our… family.” Her voice broke at the mention of family. She coughed, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.

  “I’m so sorry,” I spoke softly. “What happened?”

  “That damned fool Kelvin. I told him we shouldn’t camp at the ruins of the fort. Been a den of evil since the guards abandoned it.” The old man cut in, his voice harsh with anger and remorse. “Told them damn fools we should keep going. Passes are dangerous enough, but that fort is a death trap.”

  He choked out the last word and tears spilled down his wrinkled, liver-spotted cheeks. Gretchin placed her hand over his, shedding tears of her own and taking a deep breath before continuing.

  “We made camp there. Everyone else camped inside, claimed it would be safer within. Damned fools. We camped outside. Woke up to screams. We ran. Had a cart, but it was too slow. Little devils poured out of the fort and came for us.”

  She tapered off sobbing gently. Her husband continued the story. “My son and daughter in law, gods rest their souls, stayed back to stop them. Both were adventurers before retiring to start a family. Our Danny boy was strong. And Abigail was smart. Think these must have got past them in the fighting. Would take more than a group of kobolds to…”

  He stopped for a moment, blowing his nose on a handkerchief before continuing. “To get past them.”

  “I heard something in those ruins. Louder than them little yappers.” Gretchin added. “Weren’t no gnoll either. Heard them yippin’ in the beginning of the pass to the west.”

  “Aye, I heard it too,” her husband agreed. “Don’t rightly know what it was, but it… it was more than just kobolds in that old fort.”

  “Danny and Abigail might still be alive, if those kobold slipped past them in the fighting,” Katarina said hopefully.

  “Could be. Could be.” Emrys said the words but there was no hope in them.

  Abernathy glanced at me and Katarina, a question in his eyes.

  Abernathy: Should we offer to bring them with us?

  Chanter: We have plenty of room, its fine with me.

  Katarina: Of course! They need help. They look horrible.

  “We are going that way. Want to come with us?” Abernathy asked softly.

  “You’ve already done so much for us. We couldn’t possibly—” Emrys began, but Gretchin squeezed on his hand and spoke over him.

  “Yes, please. We need to see. Gods willing, Danny and Abby are alright.” She lowered her voice to a whisper, glancing back for a moment before continuing. “But they should be laid to rest if they ain’t. And we could use the rest.”

  Abernathy clicked and the donkeys began pulling the cart down the path. Encore settled on the top of the wagon canopy and assisted me with a performance of Radiant Winds, which I stored in my lute’s song cache. The performance awoke one of the children, a young girl of six or seven, who spoke up.

  “Music? Is someone playing music?”

  She squeezed up between her grandparent, rubbing at her eyes.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” I whispered. I felt terrible for waking her up.

  “No, is okay.” She mumbled. “Do you know stories? Mommy always said the best bards know stories.”

  Katarina caught my eyes and smiled, nodding toward the tent.

  Katarina: They could use a distraction. The lot of them are pretending to sleep, but they are moving around too much. Go be a proper bard, luteboy.

  I smiled, sending a tendril of mana into my lute and transforming it. The girl’s eyes widened as the lute shifted into a bawi. “Sure, I can think of a story. I think I have the perfect one in mind. Let’s move to the back. Encore, want to join me? I think your dream would be the perfect story.”

  “Ice cream bunnies?” He dreamily replied, hopping down on my shoulder as the girl and her grandparents shifted deeper into the cabin.

  I moved aside the flap and slid into the cabin, nestling down with my back against the front wall as I slid the bachi free from behind the strings of my instrument, nodding.

  Patreon! (No ice cream bunnies were harmed in the production of this post).