The trio rest at the inn for three more days before finally setting out from Summit Oak. Ganis rides in the front, while Elijah and Max ride side by side behind him. Ganis’ mood is dour as it has been for days now.

  They just couldn’t listen. They just had to be heroes. We had nothing to do with Summit Oak and should have let them win or lose against Eschaton on their own. We almost died when they mutated those goblins, but nooo~ they had to stay and help.

  Even after Sir Elijah and I were almost killed, Max had insisted on staying and fighting. Why!? He is looking for Lady Rosalee Braye, is he not? Why take the risk when he didn’t need to? I don’t get why Elijah decided to agree; he should have just knocked him out, and we could have been long gone.

  We might have been most of the way to Ashbury by now. By the luck of the gods, we win, and what do they do? They decide, yup, let's go attack the people who did that. We don’t know why they did it, and they have nothing against us, but we are going to risk our lives to go and what? Get vengeance? I just don’t get it.

  He sighs and stares ahead down the road. The look Sir Elijah had when I said Max was already dead when he got hit by the spell, and I fled from the radiating damage, was too scornful. What was I supposed to do? Even he eventually followed after me! Yet the two of them are now acting as best buddies while I’m left alone.

  Max glances over at Elijah riding to his right. The elf’s face is pale, and he holds his left arm across his wound while holding the reins in his right. His face shows that riding is painful for him, but he says nothing and suffers in silence. That wound is far worse than he let on. He definitely should not be riding. I would suggest making camp, but I know he will just decline.

  Max looks forward to Ganis riding in front of them. If we find trouble, he is our best fighter at the moment. That is a scary idea indeed. Damn. Max takes a scythe out from the loop on his belt, where a tomahawk used to hang.

  These things are too cumbersome to carry around. I feel like I am either going to end up cutting myself, the horse, or anyone near me with them. They feel less balanced than the tomahawks as well. The couple of practice swings I made with them didn’t feel awful, but the experience wasn’t pleasant.

  Replacing the scythe on his side, Max adjusts the dagger that is now on the front of his belt. Urgh, and how is this thing even more cumbersome than the scythes? I only really used this to kill Sinclair's men since I never liked the feel of it. Now hanging in place of the larger knife I keep in the front, it just doesn’t want to sit well. Still, if it does come to a fight, it is basically all I have other than the two knives in my boots.

  None of them seem to be in a good mood as they continue down the road toward a bridge. That is the bridge Elijah mentioned. Once we cross this river, apparently, we will be leaving Lady Elizabeth’s father’s land and entering some other duke’s land. Since it is considered wartime in his lands right now, it will be more dangerous.

  Max looks to the side at Elijah again. He cannot fight in that state; if he tries, we will end up having to rest for several days at least. That is, of course, if he even survives.

  He looks at Ganis and tries to size him up. He seemed brave when we fought the goblins. I mean, he wasn’t good at fighting them, but he could hold his own one-on-one most times. I did help him a couple times, but other than when it was two on one, it was more to just to speed his fight up.

  Once they mutated, though, his attitude had quickly changed. He seems fearful and cowardly all the time now. That was definitely a terrifying fight, but we managed in the end. Then he didn’t even want to stay and help the townsfolk and wanted to just leave Eschaton to whatever they were doing.

  An image of Stephen on the overlook above the bandits flashes through Max’s mind. I guess not everyone is brave. I wonder if Stephen would have joined us in raiding them? Probably not, at least Ganis came with us.

  Still, he was afraid to fight even one of the members of Eschaton himself, and since we came back from their encampment, he is so much more withdrawn. He now moves as if something will burst forth any second, while looking already dead with those hollow eyes and miserable expression.

  Hours slip by; the morning chill recedes as the sun climbs overhead. Their pace remains steady, if slower than usual. The silence only grows heavier as each of them sinks into their own thoughts.

  Elijah’s horse rears up suddenly and falls to its side, struggling for breath. Elijah screams out, trapped below the beast. A spear is sticking out of the horse's side. Where did that come from?

  “We are under attack!” Shouting, Max jumps from his horse and takes cover behind the fallen horse while checking on Elijah. “Are you okay?” His hand moves to the scythes before inwardly swearing and taking the dagger from his belt and the knife from his left boot.

  “I’m trapped; the spear damn near killed it instantly. Leave me, escape with Ganis.” Elijah is covered in sweat, and it appears his chest wound has opened.

  Max lets out an exasperated sound while scanning the trees nearby from the direction the horse was hit. Two arrows whizz past him when he tries to stand, forcing him to duck back down. Max turns and looks ahead of them on the road to where Ganis is.

  Ganis hears Max's shout and turns his horse to see what is happening behind him. Two arrows fly at him, one barely misses while the other hits his horse in its haunch. The beast throws him off as it flees.

  He lands hard but gets to his feet quickly enough and makes for a tree on the other side of the road from where the attacks originated. He glances at Elijah and Max and sees that Elijah is trapped beneath the fallen horse while Max is pinned down beside him.

  Shit! Who is attacking us now!? Those arrows came out of nowhere. Elijah is pinned beneath his horse; he won’t be able to fight. If we retreat, he will be left to whoever this is. Damn, damn, damn. What should I do? Ganis draws his sword while trying to figure out what he should do.

  Seeing Ganis' situation, Max sighs. The closest tree is just there. If I can get to it, I stand a far better chance than staying here. Retreating to Ganis’ side of the road isn’t an option. I will be too out in the open. Odds are I get hit with an arrow going either way, though.

  When he glances over the horse again, another arrow goes past. If I am going to get hit either way, I might as well get closer to whoever is firing those. They only seem to fire two at a time. He waves his left arm up, motioning like he is going to go left. When the second arrow passes, he stands and runs to the right toward the tree ahead of him.

  An arrow grazes his left cheek, but he makes it to the tree. Gotta go fast. They will be expecting us to be moving carefully. Trying to use the brush as cover as much as he can, Max moves diagonally, both deeper into the woodland and back down the road the way they came.

  He notices the arrows miss more and more while growing less frequent. I have no idea what Ganis is planning on doing. I know there are at least two people given the way the arrows are, but there could be some close-range fighters nearby, so I have to stay alert. Max stops moving back the way they had come and focuses just on getting deeper into the woods.

  If they are chasing me, the archers should be useless now, so I just need to draw the fighters out. If they aren't chasing me, I will circle back. Max sheaths the dagger and knife and takes the spear off his shoulder, having forgotten he had it. I should have taken my damn bow, but no, I just had to strap it to the horse today.

  Max runs deeper into the woods for several minutes, never catching sight of anyone giving him chase. Looks like they aren't chasing me; they probably don't want the hassle. Hopefully, Ganis didn't just run away and holds their attention, so I have more time.

  Max moves quickly, heading in the direction he believes the attack came from. He tries to keep himself from being noticed while moving as quickly as he dares. Three men appear ahead of him. In the middle, a man stands with a two-handed axe, while there is an archer on either side of him.

  One archer is taking slow shots into the distance while laughing, and the other keeps glancing to the side and behind them. Looks like he's the smart one. Probably figured I didn't just flee, like the other two do, and doesn't want to be ambushed. They don't use the bows like me. If I rush, they will both drop the bows and draw weapons. What do they have?

  Max looks at the two archers. The cautious one has a short sword on his hip, while the other has a hand axe. The short sword is more dangerous. I just have to bait the axe man into overdoing it, and when he tries to recover, one of the archers will be fair game.

  Mr. Hatchet over there isn't as cautious and will have a shorter range. I can close in on him and put him down by then, the axe man will have recovered, and the archer might be smart enough to use the bow to support him instead of the short sword. If I go after the short sword first, I bet he will be tougher, and I might not take him down before the other two interfere. I highly doubt hatchet will stay calm enough to use the bow and will try to close in.

  Max rubs his chin before shrugging. He doesn't know what shape Elijah or Ganis is in, so he can't waste any more time. Max judges the best route to the three men, and once he is relatively sure of it, he takes several deep breaths, closing his eyes.

  When he opens his eyes and takes off running as fast as he can, when he is halfway to the trio, he launches the spear like a javelin at the axe man's back. He pulls the hammer from his belt; he always keeps it behind the weapon on his left side. It isn't a weapon he intends to ever use, but just a simple smith's hammer. He passes it to his right hand before pulling the dagger from his belt with his left.

  The cautious archer notices what is happening a second before the spear hits the axe man beside him. He turns all the way around, discarding his bow as Max runs straight at him. The other archer hears the axe man cry out as he falls and turns to see the child who fled rush the other archer.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  "John!" The archer shouts in warning before throwing his bow down and fumbling for his hatchet.

  I gotta go fast, I can't waste time. As Max approaches, he makes it clear he plans to attack with the hammer first. The archer readies himself and deflects the hammer, trying to make Max off balance and turn him to keep the dagger from being able to strike.

  Yes! Smiling Max spins with the deflected blow and drives the dagger deep into the archer's side. The archer screams out in pain when the dagger pierces his side, then falls forward after the hammer is brought down on the side of his knee opposite the dagger-wounded side. Using as much force as he can, Max almost leaps up before bringing his full might down on the man's head. He doesn't know if it kills him or not, but either way, the man collapses to the ground and doesn't move.

  Dropping the hammer, Max grabs the short sword the man dropped at his feet. The man with the hatchet screams as he approaches with the hatchet over his head. Max struggles with the short sword but manages to get it up in time.

  He uses his left hand to support near the tip of the blade and blocks the overhand chop. As the man goes to raise the hatchet, Max steps back, and he grips the short sword.

  How the hell do you use this? The man swings the axe across his body in a swipe, and Max just moves back more. He sees that the man he hit with the spear is trying to get it out. If he joins the fight, I’m done. I’ve never used a sword before. Think Max think… That movie with that Inigo guy, didn’t they stand more like this? Max takes a more fencing stance with his body sideways, and the short sword held out, pointed at the man. This feels stupid.

  The axe swings horizontally back the way it just came, lowering himself, Max dodges and stabs the man lightly in the side. He grunts and turns the wounded side away from Max. “Dammit!”

  Going with another straight chop, Max moves in close. Now! He stabs the man in the gut and grabs his hand that is swinging the axe while stabbing again.

  “Shit!” The man shouts as he grabs the short sword by its blade. Max lets go of the sword, quickly lifting his leg and grabbing the boot knife, he stabs the man repeatedly in the crotch. The man screams out, dropping the short sword and hatchet, shoving Max away from him, and he stumbles before falling to the ground, holding his crotch.

  Max picks up the Hatchet and brings it down on his head. Finally, something decent.

  Getting the spear out of his shoulder, the axe man turns to find both of the archers on the ground and Max holding a scythe in one hand and a hatchet in the other. “Who the hell are you?” He draws a dagger from his belt with his left hand since his right shoulder is badly torn from the spear.

  Max ignores the question and dashes at the man. Seeing this, the man stabs forward. Literally the worst choice you could have made. Using the scythe, Max parries the blow away from him and chops the man's forearm.

  “Ow sonuvabitch.” The man drops the dagger and grabs his arm, following it up with a horizontal slice. Max cuts deeply into his side. The man turns and runs off into the woods, doing his best to try to hold both the wound on his forearm and side at the same time.

  With the danger passed, Max sheaths the scythe in his hand and then removes the scythe from his right side, putting the hatchet in its place. It's not a tomahawk, but it works. Probably shouldn’t try to throw it, though.

  Max slips the scythe through his belt on the left side with the other one. I hope that stays and doesn’t cut the belt too badly. Shrugging, he sets off to retrieve his weapons. He stops to make sure the man he struck with the hammer is dead by slitting his throat before continuing to get his weapons.

  Once the spear, hammer, dagger, and knives have been retrieved and put in their various locations, he heads back down to the road. When he finally sees the road, he draws the hatchet and dagger and rushes forward. Ganis lies on his back with two arrows in him and a bandit with a sword standing over him.

  “Shit luck mate.” The bandit is about to stab the boy and finish him off when he hears screaming coming from the woods behind him, where his friends should be.

  He turns and sees Max running at him, screaming, wielding the hatchet and dagger. He slashes out at Max to keep him at bay, causing him to slow his approach.

  He’s in bad shape, but he appears to still be alive. This guy has a longsword and looks to be wearing chainmail under that leather. This isn’t going to be easy. Max starts to circle the man slowly, waiting for an opening.

  I could change to the scythe; it would let me parry that sword better than the dagger, I think, and get in close. The hatchet won’t be able to get through the mail, though; maybe the scythe can, but I know the dagger will.

  “What happened to all the fury, boy? You come screaming in like a banshee, only to stop and circle me?” The bandit taunts, smiling.

  “Yea, it was a bad move. Should have just taken you from a distance.” Swapping to the spear might be my best move, but it would give him an opening. If I hadn't panicked and had thrown the spear or taken one of the bows and arrows off those other guys, I wouldn’t be in this mess. Max scolds himself for being foolish.

  The bandit smiles at the comment. “I don’t think you are supposed to agree with your foe. Now, why don’t you just put those weapons down before my friends put ya down?”

  “If you mean the archers and the man with the axe, I already dealt with them. Looks like it’s just you and me.” Max shrugs with the ‘oh well’ face while still circling him.

  “They’re dead?” The bandit circles Max back until he can take a glance up where they should be, and doesn’t see anyone, and frowns.

  Max feints forward, causing the man to slash; he grins and rushes forward, raising his dagger to parry. These guys are skittish. He swings the axe at the man's knee, making him step back and slash down at Max.

  Using the readied dagger, he parries the blow over his head, moving quickly under the sword in a spin, slashing at the bandit's knee that is supporting him. This forces the bandit to jump backward away from Max, and Max opens the distance to take advantage of his reach.

  “You sure are wily, aren’t you?” The bandit shakes his head, not having expected this youth to give him such trouble.

  “Gotta thank you, if you had kept that range, I would have been in trouble. You are better than most of the people I’ve fought.” Max throws the hatchet down and shrugs the spear off, catching it while sheathing the dagger. “I didn’t think I’d get the chance to change weapons.”

  “Damn.” It is all the bandit says as he starts to circle as Max had done to him. Max jabs at him several times, watching his footing and quick to retreat if the man tries to press him. Doing three quick jabs with the spear, moving his grip further back until the last is fully extended, holding it with only his right hand.

  The spear glances off the bandit with its unusual movements, forcing him back. Pulling the spear back, Max grabs it with his left hand about halfway down the shaft, the wrong way. Seeing his range decrease, the bandit rushes forward, thinking to take advantage of it.

  Max feints a jab, allowing him to dodge to the side before following it up by sweeping the spear up and then down to his side, pushing the bandit’s blade away from him. He quickly pulls the spear back, with how choked up on it he is, and stabs it into the bandit’s shin.

  “It’s over. Surrender.” Pulling the spear out, Max keeps to the bandit’s injured side so he can strike his exposed side anytime. Being injured on the ground, the man cannot keep himself guarded.

  “You're right, you got me.” He tosses the sword in front of him and raises his hands.

  “Daggers too, side and back.” Max doesn’t let his guard down at all.

  Chuckling, the bandit unsheathes and tosses both of them to the ground. Taking the spear in his left hand, he moves over and cuts the reins from the fallen horse with his dagger. “How are you doing down there?”

  “Great, this is exactly how I wanted to spend my day.” Elijah sarcastically replies, having watched as much of the fight as he could from his angle.

  “I’ll get you out of there as soon as I can.” With the cut reins in hand, he heads back over to the man. “Now, will you let me bind you without trying anything, or are you going to make me kill you?”

  “You did a number on my leg. I don’t think I can even stand. Even if I killed you, it would be very hard to get out of here on my own.”

  Kicking the daggers and swords away from the bandit and placing his spear out of reach as well, Max heads behind him and ties his hands together the best he can. Seeing that the bandit isn’t struggling, Max goes and checks on Ganis.

  The boy has one arrow through his left shoulder; he can’t be sure if it missed his clavicle or not. The second arrow is between his hips and ribs on his right side. “Are you still with us?” Max touches his right shoulder with his left hand while looking at the second arrow.

  Ganis groans but doesn’t respond. That wound looks bad. I can’t treat something like that. I don’t know if I can trust this guy, and I'd have to drag him over since he can’t walk. That means I have to free Elijah. “You just hang in there.”

  Moving back to Elijah, he checks to make sure he doesn’t see anyone in the woods on either side of the road. “After that attack, I’m starting to feel really exposed out here,” Max says to Elijah as he uses the hatchet to begin to cut the horse apart.

  “I can understand that, now imagine being trapped, unable to move or help, while you guys are fighting. How's Ganis faring?”

  “Not good, that's why I need you out of there.” Making sure to chop into the horse only near the leg and not on top of it, Max starts to make quick work of it.

  “What's wrong with him?” Grimacing the whole time, Elijah tries to get a better angle to see the boy.

  Max pushes Elijah back down. “I need you to struggle less. If you wind up hurt any worse, Ganis and you both might die. He was hit with arrows here and here.” Max touches both places where he was hit by the arrows before returning to the horse.

  Once Max cuts through the horse on one side, he moves to the other side to repeat the process. It doesn’t take him too long to get Elijah free. Max helps him up and helps him over to where Ganis is lying. “I don’t know enough to be able to help him with this, do you?”

  Elijah tears up and shakes his head. “He’s lost too much blood, the wound on his shoulder is bad, but the one in his gut is worse. Either one might have killed him, but together, there is nothing we can do.” Squeezing his shoulder, Max sighs, looking up at the sky. I didn’t care much for him, but I didn’t want him dead. He deserved better than this. Elijah pulls his dagger out and ends the boy's suffering.

  “Watch out for that one, I don’t think he can stand, and his hands are tied. I will be back.” Max, uncomfortable watching Elijah grieve, heads back to where he killed the archers.

  I have no idea where the horses got off to. Let me break it down. Elijah is in no shape to travel far. I’m better than I was, but still not one hundred percent. We were lucky these guys were terrible. Without our packs or gear, we are screwed. If I can get one of these bows, we can make do.

  The river isn’t far back the way we came. We will make camp in the woods not far from here tonight. Eat some horse, so we don’t have to try and find anything. We will decide tomorrow if we need more rest or not. If we need rest, we head towards the river and make camp closer to the water.

  If we can continue, we will go looking for the horses along the way. No matter how far it is, as long as we have this hatchet and a bow with arrows, we should be able to survive.

  After checking which of the two bows is better for him, he picks one and takes a quiver with all their remaining arrows in it. He also spots the dagger that the axe man dropped and adds it to his vest. This prompts him to search the two archers, relieving them of their coin and taking one of their shirts and a belt; he then heads back to the road.

  Elijah is right where he left him, but seems to be making peace with Ganis’ death. Max takes the shirt and belt to the injured captive. “Thanks to your ambush, we don’t have much in the way of supplies, so this is the best I can do.”

  He takes the bloody, torn shirt and bandages the man's leg the best he can. Fetching some sticks, he fashions a splint for the leg just in case. By this time, Elijah is standing and moves to his horse to try to salvage his gear. Once finished with the man’s leg, he helps Elijah get what they can use.

  “We will need to set camp.” Sighing, Max dons Elijah's heavy pack.

  “It is far too early for that.” Elijah simply shakes his head.

  “You need rest after that fall, and I need rest after fighting like I did. We will set camp in the woods a little way from here. That horse will attract scavengers. Once we have camp, I can come and get some of the meat for us to dine on. It won’t be great, but it’s better than going hungry.”

  “Tomorrow, if we are feeling up to it, we can look for the horses.” Patting his back, Max moves over to their prisoner. Elijah opens his mouth to argue, but after a second, he closes it; he is too tired to argue. Helping the prisoner to his feet, Max leads them off into the woods.