Wei yelled in fright and rolled to the side, bringing the satchel up to cover his face, but as he scrambled to his feet the boar-creature merely looked at him with huge, dark eyes.

  The boar was yoked to the wagon, and tied to a post driven into the ground. There were two of them - pigs as large as oxen, covered in armour.

  With his head still ringing and his eyesight shaking, Wei glanced back the way he’d come to see the rest of the group that had saved him springing out from under the trees. His sister and the body of the peacock-man were on the back of the now-limping shadowy creature, and the dwarf and the silver-clad warrior turned back as they emerged from the forest to face down a cluster of elemental nightmares that were chasing them.

  The archer was out of arrows, but she’d pulled out a sword and was fighting off a huge flapping mass of razor-sharp leaves and mouths that had erupted from the canopy of pines. He couldn’t see the elfin woman, but Lio the mage was still running towards him, throwing a few thin streams of fire at elementals that were converging on the cart from further down the hill they were on.

  Wei gulped as, down in the valley that led out of the forest, the mist began to extend beyond the trees, and a horde of gibbering monstrosities erupted out, flowing along the base of the hill.

  Hands shaking, Wei turned back to the gigantic boars and the length of rope tying them to the post. The creatures seemed calm but their legs were beginning to twitch.

  For a few seconds, he tried to undo the knots, before giving up and reaching his hand into the satchel he now wore.

  He clenched his teeth as he cut himself on something but his hand found what it sought, and when he brought out the axe the rope was severed in two frantic swings.

  The boars began to grunt and shuffle in place, and as Lio ran up and jumped into the open back of the wagon he yelled out to Wei.

  “Hope you know how to drive, kid. This ain't no hayride. Let's move it!”

  How…

  There wasn’t time to question, and he jumped up onto a raised platform behind the armoured boars - the driver’s seat?

  Leather reins ran down from where they were wedged beside a crude and barely-cushioned seat all the way to the beasts’ heads. He couldn’t see where they were attached but Wei had seen enough films to understand the basics.

  Glancing back over his shoulder he could see the archer sprinting the last few yards, the shadowy creature carrying his sister and the body of the group’s dead friend beside her, but the dwarf and silver warrior were beset by the continuous stream of elemental beasts and hadn’t even made it half way.

  Taking the reins in shaking hands, he waited a second until the lurching cart told him the archer and beast had jumped on, then he hauled hard to the right on the reins, away from the swarming monsters…

  …and the boars swung to the left.

  “Umm, kid. Wrong way! Those are ironback boars.”

  “I don’t know what that means!”

  “It means steer the other way, fool!”

  He winced as the archer woman yelled at him but the boars were starting to pick up speed as they turned. He kept the pressure up until they were snorting and cantering back towards the forest, then hauled harder as they got too close for comfort.

  All of a sudden, the archer yelled and held out a hand, and a slight clunk and sigh of relief told him the elfin woman had appeared on board.

  As the direction levelled out towards the two figures of the group still fighting, he let the reins fall slack.

  Wait, what?

  The wagon began to slow and instantly he tried to flick the reins to get them to move.

  “Yah! Go!”

  “Pull back harder!”

  The shouted command came from all three of his rescuers on board, and as Wei pulled back on the reins the boars let out snorts of fury and began to charge.

  Scattered missiles came from the trio of passengers on board that were still able to fight, but they may as well have been throwing flowers for all the good it did, until Lio reached over and took the satchel from Wei. Then vials of green began to pepper the creatures who shrieked and fell back smoking. The mage laughed.

  “Hah - not so tough out of your forest, are you!”

  Wei angled the cart towards the beleaguered dwarf and the silver armoured warrior, pulling back as hard as he could on the reins.

  “Pull them in!”

  His shout came as he almost let go of the reins entirely, the wagon slewing to a stop a few yards behind the pair.

  He couldn’t see what was going on but he heard cursing and cries of pain right before the whole cart rocked and then the elfin woman was shouting in his ear.

  “Go!”

  Wei could feel his body straining against the footrests as he stood up to pull harder and the boars shot off down the hill, the creatures legs pounding as fast as his heart, though a few seconds later his heart rate climbed through the roof as he saw the elementals now flooding the valley floor had spread out and cut off their retreat.

  “There’s no way out!”

  “Keep driving!” Mira the archer screamed at him before turning to someone else behind him. “Another healing potion - quick!”

  The base of the valley rose up in front of him, full of elemental monstrosities that ranged from taller than he was to significantly taller than he was, and as the squealing boars charged straight at them Wei wanted to scream out a warning to hold on.

  Instead, what came out of his mouth was an ‘aaaAAAHHHH!’.

  The sound of the boars crashing through the line of elementals was like a side of beef being tenderised with a mallet, only if the beef were the size of a small house and the mallet weighed a ton and was swung by a giant.

  Bits of meat and foul liquid and bits of bone and shards of ice and splinters of wood exploded as the wagon ploughed through the obstacles, lurching and jumping as the wheels ground over and crushed whatever had survived the boars’ charge.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Wei felt flashes of hot and cold, mud and filth, rage and anguish.

  And then they were through.

  The field ahead cleared, though Wei didn’t let up pressure on the reins, and behind him he could hear the dwarf’s gruff cheering and a string of insults in a language he didn’t recognise from the elfin woman as the elementals and forest receded behind them.

  It took a minute or so of jolting over the uneven ground before a rough track appeared in the distance and a hand fell on Wei’s shoulder, making the student leap out of his skin in fright.

  “Woah there. Tense much? Ease up a bit on the reins; we’re out of the woods now.”

  The mage, Lio, clambered over from the back as Wei realised he was still standing at the driver’s spot, legs locked, the seat of the chair digging into the backs of his knees.

  Some portion of the tension he was feeling left him and Wei allowed himself to sit on the seat, where he began to tremble.

  “You ok kid? You need to be sick?”

  Wei managed to shake his head of his own volition.

  “No Sir. I’m…I…”

  He kept shaking, and his stomach was rebelling at everything, but his mind couldn’t fully process it.

  “Here. Take this. Just a sip.”

  The mage was rummaging through the satchel he’d taken from Wei - the one belonging to the new-deceased peacock-person. He held out a pale blue-green potion Wei recognised. He took a small sip and a wave of relaxation rolled over him, and his shaking slowed and then stopped.

  He looked over at the mage as he adjusted his grip on the reins and kept the two boars, now thoroughly coated in filth and gore, heading towards the track in the distance. It wasn’t so hard - it was just the opposite of what he’d been expecting.

  “What is that?” He looked down at the vial, then glanced back over his shoulder. “What were those things? Where are we? Who are you? More importantly I guess, which way am I meant to go?”

  Lio leaned to one side and regarded the smaller Chinese boy, one eyebrow raising.

  “I think the real question is what in the name of enchanters were you doing in the Fractured Wilds? Head north.” One hand rose as he pointed to where the track was angling off to the right, and Wei gently nudged the boars in that direction.

  It seemed like the mage was waiting for an answer and Wei struggled to work out what to say.

  “I don’t know what that place is. Me and my friends…and my sister… we were just on our way back from school. We were walking along a road and then…”

  The mage’s brows furrowed.

  “So you’re nothing to do with the Slayers of Abroath?”

  “I don’t know what that is.”

  Lio was silent for a minute, and the voice of Miri the archer called out from the back of the cart.

  “Look at how they’re dressed, Lio; they’re not from anywhere local. If they’ve had schooling they’re probably from Albraxia or L’Organia , or one of the old aristocracy moved into the area recently. Which one is it, boy?”

  “I don’t know any of those places. I’m from Jiangxi - near Ganzhou. I don’t think we’re anywhere near there…I don’t know what happened.”

  The mage sighed, scratched at a close-cropped, light brown beard as he thought, but Mari called out again.

  She’s definitely in charge.

  “It’s not important now. We’ll get you and your sister to safety. I’m sorry we couldn’t save your friends; we've all lost someone today. Lio, answer his questions before the tonic wears off.”

  Wei was about to ask how they were all keeping so calm about everything when he saw the mage was drinking from another pale blue-green vial.

  “Very well. I’ll start with your first: that was a calming tonic. It stops you feeling overwhelmed in stressful situations. Very useful when going into battle…or to keep functioning until you get somewhere safe after. Not good to take too often, but I think today calls for some.”

  He took a deep breath and another tiny sip from his vial. The potion was half gone.

  “As for the rest of your questions: we are the Vanguard of Valour. I’m Lio - [Elemental Mage]. The woman bossing everyone around is Mira, our leader and [Monster Hunter] alongside other things. The charming woman you ran off to assist is Nyssara, [Shadow Dancer] - she’s a half elf so excuse any brusqueness. The dwarf currently downing a gallon or two of ale is Borgrim, our battle-happy [Ironshield Anvilguard], and the delightfully cheery and carefree lady in the armour who is currently out for the count is Kira, [Paladin] extraordinaire.”

  “Fuck off Lio.” Mira’s voice floated over to them from where she was tending to the unconscious member of the team, taking over from his answer. “Kira’s the strongest of us all, and the one who sensed you were all in trouble. The shadow antean is my companion, Duskclaw, and the one who fell in battle was Dorric. He was our [Plumefeather Alchemist]. He didn’t deserve that fate.”

  There was an awkward silence which was only broken by Borgrim belching and mumbling a toast ‘for the fallen’.

  The cart joined the track, which looked like an ancient road, and as no one told him otherwise Wei kept going to the north.

  “Well, that’s us.” Lio said. “We were out here looking for a group - groups - that didn’t return from a quest in the Fractured Wastes. Weren’t expecting the forest. Weren’t expecting so many elementals. Not sure how you ended up there - we can talk about that later. Before that though, why don’t you introduce yourself and your sister. She doesn’t seem hurt but she isn’t saying anything. She mute?”

  “No - usually she doesn’t stop talking. I don’t know what’s wrong. She hasn’t said anything since we found ourselves here. I’m Chen Wei, and my sister is Chen Xiaoling.”

  “Well, I won’t say well-met Chen Wei, but I’m glad we found you before it was too late. Were there many others?”

  Something caught in Wei’s throat but he took another swig of the tonic and felt it go.

  “There were six of us. Xiaoling and I are the only ones that escaped them.”

  Lio laid a gentle hand on his shoulder.

  “You did well to get your sister out of there alive. There was nothing more you could have done. Wild elementals like that - they’re a silver tier threat even in small groups. With the numbers they had there…I wouldn’t go back there even if all the Vanguard were gold-rated. Even at Platinum I’d hesitate. Did none of you have combat classes?”

  We didn’t know how to respond to that.

  “...Zhihao and Jie took martial arts classes…”

  The mage’s mouth twisted in thought.

  “Hmm. I’m not familiar with those, but at your ages you can’t have been much above what…level ten. Twelve?”

  “I…I’m not sure Sir.”

  “They have no Classes, Lio.”

  A new voice came from the back of the cart. Or at least, new in that it wasn’t ringing out like a temple gong.

  “No Classes? At their age? How is that even possible?”

  “If they’ve been schooled surely at least [Scholar] or [Student].”

  “Typical human laziness.”

  “Borgrim, do not dishonour the dead.”

  “Burrs and knots, sorry.”

  “Not to me - to them.”

  Wei tuned the conversation in the back of the cart out.

  What on earth? Classes? Elementals? Spirit’s aren’t really real… but I saw…they killed…

  “I can read it, Lio. Neither of them have a Class. Nor do they appear to have anything but the clothes on their backs. I was called here for a reason; I think this was it. They needed saving, and we did what we could.”

  The woman’s voice was still musical, if not overpowering now, and looking back Wei could see her face now she’d removed her silver helmet. A pale face, framed by locks of silver hair thought she didn’t look more than thirty, and eyes that shone gold.

  Mira spoke up.

  “Let’s just get back to camp and rest. We’ll return to Troston after and discuss what to do from there.

  —

  It was dark by the time the wagon rolled into camp, and Wei was thoroughly exhausted. Even with regular sips of the potion - which was now almost gone - emotions were bubbling up inside.

  The ‘Vanguard of Valour’ had all collapsed and napped in the back of the cart once the danger had passed, telling Wei to shout if anything approached. As best as Wei could tell they’d covered more than twenty miles since they’d joined the road, and come across no one else, though not all the Vanguard had slept the whole time. One of them had tended to the body of their friend.

  Now they pulled into an abandoned village, little more than half a dozen empty houses and something that may at one time have been a tavern. Mira began to direct the team, but she left Wei to help his sister out of the wagon - she still wasn’t responding to anything - and pointed to one of the houses as she pulled a thick blanket out of the cart and handed it to them.

  “You’ve been through enough today. Take the house there. It was Dorrics; he has no use for it any longer. Go. Rest. Sleep. We’ll leave some food out by the fireplace if you wake up and need it.” She pointed to where Lio was shooting a jet of flames at some stacked logs. “Water too.”

  The woman guided him by the shoulders the first few steps, but as he began to lead Xiaoling to the house she left to see to her own needs.

  Inside, Wei saw a half-broken wooden chest with a bunch of tools that looked like a chemistry set on top, and an old bunk with a threadbare mattress on top.

  He thought about going back and offering to help the others, but as he lay Xiaoling down and placed the blanket over her, a wave of exhaustion crashed over him and he crawled into the bed next to her.

  In moments, he was asleep.

  [Scavenger Class Obtained!]

  [Scavenger Level 7!]

  [Skill – Quick Grab gained!]

  [Skill – Steady Hands gained!]

  [Skill – Scavenger’s Satchel gained!]

  [Wagon Driver Class Obtained!]

  [Wagon Driver Level 5!]

  [Skill – Basic Manoeuvring (Wagons) gained!]

  [Skill – Keep to the Path gained!]

  [Skill – Burst of Speed (Wagons) gained!]

  [Protector Class Obtained!]

  [Protector Level 1!]

  [Skill – Shield Other gained!]

  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!