The crate shielded Nyhm and Tolliver from the blast, but Thea stood up just in time to take a concussive gust of flame to the back of her head. The shield strapped to her back protected her from the worst of it, but the explosion still threw her skidding across the deck into the rail, which was the only thing that stopped her from flying overboard.

  Nyhm snagged his only healing potion off of his belt and scrambled towards his downed friend. The back of her head and neck were badly burned, with missing hair and angrily blistered skin. She wasn’t moving.

  Half the bottle went directly onto her wounds, which thankfully began to mend immediately. Thea’s eyes shot open at the agony of recovery and she screamed.

  “You’re going to be ok.” Nyhm positioned himself in line to meet her eyes and showed her the remaining potion. “You need to drink the rest of this.”

  She nodded and winced at the pain that shot down her neck from the taut, burnt skin that had not completely mended. Nyhm helped her pour the remainder of the potion into her mouth and eased her head back down to the deck.

  Another fireball exploded on the other side of the deck as Tolliver joined them by the railing. His eyes were wild with fear, and Nyhm worried the man was on the verge of actual panic.

  “That was Concussive Fireball, a Tier Four spell! We need to get out of here before the boat is sunk.”

  “I need to tend to Thea for a moment while she recovers. Can you still transform?”

  The [Mage] nodded, and Nyhm was relieved to see irritation flash across Tolliver’s face at the question. He’d take irritation over panic any day.

  “Good. Go find Silas and Raith. Tell them I’ve got Thea and we’re going to swim for the western shore.”

  “That will put us in the wildlands. We must go to the east. There will be proper roads on that side.”

  Nyhm bit back a sharp retort. Fires were spreading quickly in spite of the increasing rain, and there was no time for pettiness.

  “The eastern shore is over a mile and a half away last time I checked. We’re only a quarter of a mile from the west side. Thea is injured, and I am not a very strong swimmer. Now hurry.”

  With another nod, a bat appeared where the [Mage] had been standing and began flying widening circles around the barge. Nyhm looked down to find Thea struggling into a sitting position. The long auburn locks from the back of her head were gone, but smooth pale red skin had replaced the previous blisters. She rubbed at the healing skin and grimaced.

  “Do I look ridiculous?”

  Nyhm almost laughed out loud at the question, but stopped himself upon seeing her pained expression.

  “Not at all. You can’t even tell from the front.”

  I avoided hurting someone’s feelings for once. Only took her nearly dying to get there.

  Motion drew his eyes to a group of crew members diving over a rail.

  “We need to get in the water. Can you swim?”

  She shook her head.

  “Not really. Hooves aren’t great for swimming. I can tread. Sort of.”

  This was going to be a problem. He wasn’t nearly a good enough swimmer to carry them both. Especially with the storm. As if to emphasize the point, lightning flashed in the distance, followed a few moments later by a crash of thunder.

  “Help me find something that floats.”

  They cast about the area nearest to them, but everything was either on fire or unsuitable to use as a flotation device.

  “Shit.”

  “Wait, I have an idea,” Thea said, reaching into a pouch. “I can grow a tangle of vines that should float. It won’t be great, but it will be easy to hold on to.”

  “Do it.”

  A few moments later, they were kicking west away from the burning ship, clinging desperately to a door-sized knot of vegetation that served to barely keep their heads out of the turbulent river.

  ***

  Raith was sprinting towards Thea and his brother after seeing them enter the water when a voice whispered in his ear.

  “Silas needs help.”

  Casting around for the source, he saw the bat dart past his face, then circle upwards.

  Ah, Covert Message.

  “Which way?” He called over the rain.

  In response, the bat whipped past him and took off towards the bow of the ship. Raith followed at a run. A few moments later he caught up with Tolliver, who was flying a tight circle around a body floating facedown.

  As he arrived, Silas jerked sharply downwards the bobbed back up as something in the murky depths struck at his foot. Raith lunged for his teammate, dragging the larger man up to hang over his shoulder. The [Archer]’s boot was damaged and his foot looked mangled, but there was no time to treat them or even see if he was breathing.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Casting around to see where Nyhm and Thea had headed, another message was whispered in his ear.

  “They’re heading to the west bank of the river.”

  Tolliver darted in front of him and sped west. Raith followed, struggling under the weight of a full grown man in armor over his shoulder. He thanked the Weavers they weren’t headed the other way because he wasn’t sure he would make it.

  The wind began to buffet his side and the river grew more turbulent. His shoulders were screaming under Silas’ weight while trying to keep his balance in the inclement weather.

  “They’re this way.”

  Tolliver sped past to his left, and Raith thought he could see them through the pouring rain. Changing course, he soon caught the slower moving pair kicking behind their makeshift raft. Raith’s shoulder was giving out, and he didn’t think he was going to make it with under the weight of his burden.

  “Can that thing support him, too?”

  Nyhm looked at Thea, who considered for a moment and nodded.

  “Yes, but be careful not to sink us setting him down.”

  With their help, Raith carefully lowered Silas between the two while they held the [Archer] against the vines. Everyone let out a gasp as the whole thing dipped dangerously for a moment before righting.

  “I’ll tie my rope off to this and pull while you guys kick, ok?”

  It turned out that dragging the very non-hydrodynamic mess of vines and people through the turbulent waters and increasing current was even harder than carrying Silas had been. His thighs burned and the rope cut into his hands, slipping and chafing more than once. The water felt like it took on the consistency of molasses as it resisted his straining to get his friends to safety.

  Something struck at Silas’s bleeding foot again, nearly pulling him off the raft. Raith peeked back to see Nyhm’s hand glow blue before he lashed out at something beneath the water. They were almost there and Raith heaved, pulling even harder, but it didn’t feel as though they were going any faster.

  This is ridiculous. I’m stitching a strength [Skill] next.

  A figure on the shoreline came into view, shouting something unintelligible through the rain. Raith grimaced, wondering if he had enough left in him if this was going to be another fight. A few seconds closer and he realized it was Tolliver, motioning them forwards and shouting words of encouragement.

  What the fuck do you think I’m doing?

  Raith gritted his teeth and pulled.

  As soon as he was within reach, Raith handed off the rope and collapsed onto the mud, heedless of the mess it made of his clothing.

  Too bad Leah’s bracelet doesn’t work on mud.

  Although now that he was thinking about it, the enchanted gift had done a marvelous job of keeping off the rain. He turned between heaving breaths to see everyone else made it out of the water, and Tolliver was administering a potion to Silas. Raith hoped enough life remained in the man for it to work.

  A cough and loud retching had Nyhm quickly roll Silas onto his side while he threw up water from his stomach and lungs. Raith breath a sigh of relief and dragged himself to his feet to stagger over. He put a hand on Tolliver’s shoulder.

  “Good work today. And thank you for sparing a potion.”

  The [Mage] looked flustered and embarrassed, sputtering a moment before replying.

  “Yes, well, we’re all on the same team, aren’t we?” He looked back down at Silas in concern. “And I don’t believe he would have made it without a greater healing potion.”

  Raith couldn’t keep the surprise from his face. Greater healing potions cost ten times as much as the lesser version the rest of them had. Turning to Silas, he could see the man was already sitting up and rubbing his forehead as he got his bearings. Water sloshed around the [Archer] as he sat in the mud, already rising up the bank and threatening to pull them back into the river.

  “We need to get higher,” Raith said. “Tolliver, scout us somewhere to wait out this storm. We’re going to move up the bank until you get back.”

  After a sharp nod of acknowledgment and determined look, the bat appeared and darted away. The rest of them struggled to higher ground in the slippery mud, Nyhm practically dragging Silas as the healing potion continued to do its work. Thankfully, this one seemed to be working considerably faster it and after a few moments the [Archer] insisted he could manage himself.

  The bank turned steeply upwards, and the trio slipped and clawed their way up the increasingly muddy slope. At the top, they huddled beneath a large maple while awaiting Tolliver’s return. Silas, soaked and shivering from exhaustion, gave a haggard smile.

  “So how do we like adventuring so far?”

  Everyone stared at him in shock for a moment before the silence was broken by Nyhm’s guffaw. Thea followed suit, and they all found themselves laughing much harder and longer than the joke warranted. It settled down for a minute, then Silas chuckled and set them all off again.

  “How could anything possibly by humorous right now?” Tolliver asked as he alighted down beside them.

  “Did you find something?”

  “Yes. A cave perhaps ten minutes’ walk.”

  Raith nodded appreciatively and hauled himself to his feet. Everyone else followed.

  “Did you happen to see if it’s occupied by anything?” Silas asked, and Raith was glad for the question. The pale [Mage] sneered in response.

  “Of course I did. Whatever was once in there has long since vacated.”

  The trek turned out to be closer to an hour. Partially due to Tolliver’s poor ability to estimate such things, but also because slogging through the rain and mud was slow, miserable business. By the time they arrived, everyone was exhausted anew and they collapsed on the dusty floor of the small cave.

  Well, everyone except Nyhm. Somehow, the elfling seemed unperturbed in spite of it all.

  “I’ll go scout the area for monsters while you set up camp for the night.”

  “Good idea. Thanks, Nyhm.” Raith exchange a salute with his brother and watched him disappear back out into the rain.

  “Is anyone still in need of healing?”

  The others conducted an inventory of themselves, poking and patting at the places they’d been injured. Everything had healed up well enough for now.

  “Good. Everyone is exhausted. Break out your bedrolls and get some rest. I’ll don’t need to sleep, so I’ll take watch for a while.”

  Silas smiled at this.

  “You’ll take all the watch? That may be the most amazing teammate [Skill] I’ve ever seen. Thanks, Captain.” The smile fell away. “But my pack was on the ship. I don’t have a bedroll. Or much of anything else for that matter, except my weapons, armor and gold.”

  “I lost my pack, too,” Thea said, tight lipped and glaring.

  She’d been uncharacteristically quiet since they got to land, but this didn’t seem like a good time to open up that discussion.

  “I’ve got Nyhm and I’s gear in my satchel. You two can use our bedrolls for now. My brother doesn’t sleep much more than I do. Tolliver, how is your equipment situation?”

  In response, the [Mage] reached into the expensive leather pouch on his hip and pulled out a luxurious bedroll, cushioned by some sort of exotic fabric.

  “I remain well provisioned,” he said down his nose, but then frowned. “There is much to discuss following the events of today, but I believe a good rest is in order first. I have not yet flown with such vigor and duration. It was quite exhausting.”

  Silas took the bedroll from Raith with a tired smile and nod of appreciation. Thea snatched hers from his hand and set it up as far from Raith as she could manage in the small cave. She rolled over to face the wall, but Raith knew she was talking to him when she spat.

  “Aye, much to discuss indeed.”