He sailed through the air, as the dwarf’s words came to him, and though he felt worried there was strangely no panic. He reached the peak of his arc, hanging weightless for a split second, as the archer’s voice rang out.

  “Borgrim you idiot, not again. Duskclaw: [Flash Burrow].”

  Wei fell, trying to curl himself into a ball to roll as he landed, but as the pine needle-littered brown forest floor rose up to greet him, there was a slash of pure blackness, and something that looked like claws and a long head broke out from the ground right in front of him, and a monstrous form eight feet in length or more hauled itself out of the ground in his path and turned sideways.

  “Sorry lass. Not used to these gauntlets yet.”

  When Wei hit, it was like landing on a soft pillow.

  The breath was still driven out of him in a wheezing thump, but he was miraculously unharmed as he rolled onto the much firmer ground.

  He pulled himself to his feet as the other began to appear over the ridge of the hill and took up a defensive stance.

  The mage and Dorric staggered back, the peacock-man gently depositing his sister before pulling out another vial to give to the mage who gulped it down greedily.

  The dwarf stood at the top of the hill, shield and mace at the ready, and the archer stepped over to Wei, glancing up and down at him as if to check he was alive. She nodded to herself and returned to the dwarf, calling out as she did so.

  “There’s a lava elemental down there. The big bastards are coming. Lio - can you slow it? We need to cover her escape.”

  “One second;” the mage said, panting heavily, “I need a moment. How long until h-”

  A pealing like a bell breaking rippled through the air and Wei fell to one knee from where he’d been standing to check on Xiaoling as the vibrations threw his balance out.

  “No time!” the archer screamed, and began sending arrow after arrow down the slope beyond Wei’s vision. “Shit. Where’s Nyssara. Duskclaw - find her.”

  There was a snuffling and the shadowy shape that Wei had crashed into burrowed back under the ground. He hadn’t even been able to make out what it was.

  The mage - Lio - sprinted past, robes hitched up in one hand until he was standing next to his companions at the edge.

  Streams of water began to rise from the ground and coalesce into a growing sphere above the mage’s head. His two companions were too busy watching their friend’s progress further down the hill, but as Dorric turned to check on them from where he’d been examining Xiaoling, he cried out, eyes widening.

  “No. Wait!”

  But it was too late.

  Lio, the mage, had already hurled a ball of water as big as a small car down the hill and out of sight.

  Borgrim’s face turned back, and Wei could see the glimpse of realisation in them a second before a shockwave of scalding air exploded from down the hill and flattened Wei - along with the rest of the group this time.

  He was knocked flat on his back, and as such had a perfect view of the silver warrior, flying backwards through the air, trailing wisps of steam before she slammed into a tree trunk and fell to the ground.

  Whatever curses the team mates were shouting at the mage were to Wei as he struggled to his feet again, hands clasped to his scalded ears, and turned with a sigh of relief as he saw the peacock-man had thrown himself over Xiaoling.

  She was okay.

  Beyond feeling like he’d held his face over a boiling pot for too long, he was too.

  The others were rushing for the silver warrior but she was already pulling herself to her feet.

  Wei took his hands from his head as he hurried over to help Xiaoling. Dorric rummaged through his satchel, feathers singed, muttering too low to be heard. He started to pull Xiaoling up as their rescuers began to reform, but as he glanced over to them he could see their faces and the shape of their mouths begin to cry out warnings - the archer already loosing an arrow his way.

  It flew past his shoulder with a buzz like an angry hornet and buried itself in the earthy vines of a monster that had loomed up behind Dorric.

  Unfortunately, a single arrow was not enough to stop the creature, and as Wei watched on in horror, the peacock-person had only enough time to look up from his satchel before a mass of thorned tendrils burrowed into his body and ripped a hole through him.

  The bird-person fell to the ground, eyes wide and unseeing.

  Wei was screaming again as the two armoured figures of the group sprinted past, too slow to save their friend but hell-bent on avenging him, and then the group was under attack once more.

  The remaining four formed a rough square around Wei, his sister and the body of Dorric, trying to halt the oncoming tide of elemental forces that were rushing towards them with only the trunks of a couple of trees and a low rock formation that Wei pulled Xiaoling into the shadow of.

  It was like a nightmare come to life.

  Overhead, more of the translucent creatures that had torn Jie to shreds flitted about - the mage alternately evaporating their bodies with fire or solidifying them with ice, whereupon they’d fall and another off the group would smash them. There were dozens of the bear-boar creatures that had killed Zhi, forcing the silver-clad warrior and the shield-wielding dwarf to charge all over the place to keep them from being overrun. Dotted amongst them were the living tree creatures - just like the ones that had ripped Dorric apart, and every time a burst of thorn-covered tendrils shot out from the slow but silent killers, the archer woman would intercept them with an arrow.

  But they were being forced back towards the rock where Wei crouched in front of his sister.

  And those were the easier ones.

  Ten-foot tall beings that looked like the skeletons of giant squirrels crossed with crocodiles but made of ice instead of bone.

  A sheet-like mass of dull water that descended from the treetops that Lio had to blast with lightning.

  Then, from the ground behind them - away from the edge of the hill - a slow, undulating dark mass that seemed to suck up the detritus covering the forest floor as it rolled towards them.

  The archer lady cursed and called out.

  “Damp hands. It’s a mirefiend! Leo - lightning!”

  “I’m a little busy Mira!”

  The mage was grappling with an injured boar-bear that he’d put down but not taken out of the fight. The staff he was using to pin it to the floor was flexing as he tried to keep his weight on it.

  “Magic, idiot!”

  “I’m out!”

  The man was struggling, but no one else was there to help him. The archer - Mira - sent an arrow into the beast he was grappling but before she could send another she was forced to roll out the way of one of the ice skeletons and shatter its elbow as it struck for her.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  The dwarf was fighting off a huge form that was beginning to drag itself over the ridgeline and the shining silver woman was single-handedly holding off three of the bear-boars, one of the vine-slashers and a darting air spirit.

  As Wei watched, Lio’s staff bowed almost to breaking point and, opposed by the much larger form of the bear-boar he was fighting, the mage was catapulted back.

  He hit the rock formation with an audible ‘oof’ and tried to stagger to his feet.

  But the elemental monster was getting up.

  If we lose him…

  Wei dived for the body of Dorric, or, more specifically, the satchel that was still on the ground by his side.

  Scooping it up, he scrambled over to the dazed mage and began rummaging through the leather bag for anything that could help.

  It was full of vials.

  Wei pulled out a double-handful and held them out to the mage as the bear-boar creature got to its feet and began to lumber towards them.

  Blinking, the mage reached for a pair - one green, one blue.

  He tossed the green one at the monster, and though it hit it only shattered on its shoulder. The creature’s skin began to bubble and dissolve, sending a plume of foul smoke rising into the air. It didn’t stop the monster, but it slowed as it flinched long enough for Lio to down the contents of the second vial.

  A spark returned to his eyes and he grabbed a red vial and downed that too as he jumped up to his feet.

  “Thanks kid! Any chance there’s another blue?” His hand shot out at the charging monster and a gout of fire burned a hole the size of a wok through its chest. It fell to the floor, smoking. Dead.

  Wei looked at the vials in his hands. They were all red or green. He dug through the rest of the bag and pulled out the only blue he could find.

  “This is it, I think.” He held it up to the mage who took it with a grimace.

  “Okay. Well…” he turned and pulled himself to the top of the small rock formation as he called out to the rest. “Last mana potion. I’m gonna take it and blow the mirefiend then I’m out.”

  Electricity began to build in his hand as Mira swore again. She’d finished off the ice creature and was now putting arrows into the half dozen the silver warrior was holding at bay.

  “I’m almost out of arrows too.”

  “We need to be leavin’. Sod the quest. I’ve no’ seen hide nor hair of ‘em.”

  Seeing a gap where Lio had blasted the bear-boar creature, Wei darted out a dozen feet and picked up the man’s staff from where it had been flung, before racing back into the shelter of the group as another vine-slasher pulled itself from the ground close by.

  The mage was still standing on the rock, lightning flashing between fingers as he formed a ball in front of his chest with his hands.

  In the middle of the furious fighting, he could sense the team’s attention turn to the silver-clad woman.

  There was the briefest pause.

  “We find Nyssara, then we retreat.”

  And just like that, Wei sensed a shift in the team.

  Mira began calling out commands as she loosed arrows at the mass of monsters flowing towards the group. .

  “Borgrim, get Dorric’s body and the girl as soon as Lio finishes his spell. Lio, take the mirefiend out then lead the way and try to conserve what mana you have left for an emergency. Boy,” she looked down at Wei, “follow Lio and keep close. I’ll cover Kira as she brings up the rear and scout for-”

  A scream of pain came from further in the forest.

  “- Nyssara. No.” Mira trailed off as her head turned to the source of the sound.

  Wei took off running.

  If they keep Xiaoling safe…

  A couple of cries followed him but each of the fighters was too beset by foes to move. The mage still hadn’t completed his spell.

  Wei was the only one they could spare.

  As the group disappeared behind him - trees and gathering mist obscuring the battle - sounds of another fight took over.

  Ignoring all his instincts, holding the borrowed staff out in a futile attempt to ward off danger, Wei headed towards it.

  A flash of light and a rolling crack of thunder came from behind. The mage had finished his spell.

  It wasn’t long, barely a minute of dodging trees in the mist, before he stumbled across the second fight.

  Even without the sounds, he’d known roughly where it might be - and what he might find there, in part at least.

  That didn’t make the sight any easier to deal with.

  The pile of stones still had a skeletal form in their midst, only there were two now he saw it from another angle. But that wasn’t the most terrifying sight.

  A shadowy form, as large as an ox, was holding off a huge bear-boar, the two shapes ripping chunks out of each other, only instead of blood one leaked shadows and the other a foul greenish ichor.

  One of the thorny creatures was lashing out wildly, missing half of its vines, but Wei couldn’t see where the final member of the group was.

  He took a risk.

  “Nyssara!”

  The vine creature turned towards him and he stood with shaking legs, staff held out in a vain attempt to ward it off, but as it whipped part of its body at him a dark blade came flying from the cover of the stones and sunk deep into it.

  Wait. Not the cover of the stones - just in front of them.

  A female figure, with skintight clothing and ears like knives. She was lying on the ground, clutching her side with one hand whilst the other threw a dagger.

  The thorn-elemental collapsed inches from him as it died, and the elfin creature’s jet-black eyes met his.

  “Twisted roots. Who are you?”

  Wei scrambled over to her side and pulled out a selection of the vials and held them out to her.

  “I’m Wei. Your team must retreat. But they will not leave without you.”

  Her nose wrinkled. She tossed another dagger at the creature the shadow was fighting, then another at an ice-elemental that was lurching out of the mist. He couldn’t see where she was getting them from.

  “I’m trying to complete the mission whilst they go off saving random vagabonds.” She picked a red vial. “You’d better have clean hands.” She downed the contents and tossed it to one side.

  Taking her hand away from her side, Wei could see a deep wound begin to close, and she twirled and vanished before reappearing behind another bear-boar that had come charging toward them.

  “[Shadow Strike].”

  Wei barely heard the words, but the creature began to fall, flailing and twisting as it sought the person on its back - but she wasn’t there.

  A voice came from beside Wei’s ear and he jumped as Nyssara gave him orders.

  “Duskclaw and I will hold the elementals back. Grab what you can from the skeletons in the ruin. Then we run.”

  He didn’t get a chance to ask what she meant before she vanished from beside him and reappeared in front of a shadowy form emerging from the fog, slashing low.

  There wasn’t any time to waste, and Wei pushed down his fear and dove through the chill air for the cluster of stones.

  Up close his second appraisal proved true. There were two bodies, but now he could see the remains of a few possessions on them.

  Suppressing his repulsion and dropping the quarterstaff, he took a pair of rings off one skeletal hand, and a necklace off the other body. There was an axe on the ground and a charred pouch. Next to that was a waterskin and a silver disc, and a short sword that fell to pieces as he tried to pick it up.

  He stuffed them all into the satchel he was wearing, trying not to break any of the vials in the process.

  “I’ve got everything.”

  Picking up the quarterstaff as he called to Nyssara, he suddenly realised that he didn’t in fact have everything. A tattered cloak on one of the bodies had been partially covered by needles and blended into the forest floor, but he yanked it up and stuffed it into the bag as Nyssara shouted from just off in the mist.

  “Follow Duskclaw. I’ll keep watch behind.”

  So saying, she gave a whistle louder and shriller than any Wei had ever heard before, and a second later it was answered by another in kind.

  The shadowy shape on the other side of the rocks to him paused in its process of ripping apart the body of a partially-crystalline wolf and began to lope off into the mist.

  Wei followed at a run, trying to keep the creature in his vision. If it hadn’t stood out so much against the white of the fog he might have lost it altogether.

  It was only moments before the two burst out into a clearer space, and Wei saw the mage - Lio - leading the retreat from the place with a burning hand raised to ward off the mists, though it was growing dimmer with each passing second.

  Even so, the visibility jumped from six feet to thirty and Wei hurried in the direction of the mage as the shadow creature joined the archer, who called out in relief as she fought off a bear-boar with her bowstaff.

  “Nyssara. Where is she?”

  “She was right behind us.” Wei said, though the elfin woman didn’t appear.

  Wei felt his own sense of relief wash through him as the dwarf Borgrim retreated into the cluster with Xiaoling over one shoulder and the body of his fallen comrade over the other, mace lashing out despite the burden at something Wei couldn’t see.

  A shape rose up directly in Lio’s path and the mage swore as another ice creature lunged out of the mist. He flung the last of the fire at the creature but it kept coming as the mists began to creep back in.

  Wei ran forwards, but not to fight the monster. Lio was backing away, hands raised, but as Wei reached him the mage turned, face tight with stress, grabbed the staff and pushed Wei behind him.

  He fended off the creature’s first strike as the others engaged their own foes, but before he could try to finish it off, a figure appeared behind the ice elemental and shattered it.

  “Move you slugs!”

  Nyssara’s voice elicited a cry of relief from Mira.

  “Kira. Now!”

  Once more a voice of gold and honey sang out from in the mists.

  “[Cinalia’s Last Hope]!”

  A surge of energy suffused him and Wei found himself sprinting through the forest at Lio’s side.

  The mists began to thin as their feet took them downhill and as the terrain shifted from forest to countryside, and Wei saw that they were still on top of the rise - the valley down to his left opening out to the base of the hill.

  The mage, Lio, lifted a hand and pointed.

  A cart lay ahead. More of a wagon, really. But elemental creatures were heading out of the forest towards it and towards them.

  “Run boy. Unhitch the ironbacks and get it moving. Hurry!” His hands almost seem to brush Wei forwards. “Ventus Impelli!”

  Wei sped up as a force threw him across the open ground at a speed he’d never reached before.

  He tried to keep his footing but as he reached the back of the cart he tripped and spun, tumbling over, head rattling, one arm bending painfully. He slid to a stop with a trail of torn up grass and gritty mud stretching out behind him… and a face of a boar monster over him.

  Hi all! Welcome to my book, Miscast Heroes.

  I'm uploading a few chapters to start with and then will upload one a day after.

  The full first book is available on Patreon - and I greatly appreciate anyone who chooses to support me there.

  Hope you enjoy it - please leave comments below!