Leaving the fire going most of the night, nothing bothers them as they sleep. Once the sun rises, Max wakes Elijah and leaves him with the prisoner and heads back to the road.

  Something had been eating the horse at some point, but Max doesn’t care. He finds Ganis to be in about the same shape he was in the previous day and pulls the arrows out of him.

  Gruesome, but we might need them. I wish we had something to bury you with. If nothing has gotten you when I get back, I might try to get enough wood to burn you. You shouldn’t have to be eaten.

  After staring down at his traveling companion for a while, he heads off down the road. He isn't really religious and doesn't even know any prayers if he wanted to say one.

  I think my horse had run off this way, probably Ganis’ too. I wonder if I can find them. If by noon there is no sign, I’ll have to head back.

  So, the tedious task begins. He walks down close to the center of the road while peering off to either side, trying to spot the things. He wants to head off into one of the sides, but feels that would just limit where he can find them, since they could have been on either side.

  That isn’t the only thing that he keeps an eye out for. They haven’t been in this dukedom for a day and yet have run into bandits, so he is going to at least try to look for ambushes from here on.

  I guess Elijah hadn't been lying about the lawlessness that they were suffering due to all of their fighters being set to the front lines of the war.

  Spending the entire morning finding nothing more than some oddly shaped rocks, the day starts to wear on Max’s nerves. He sighs many times but keeps looking, hoping that he will find one of the horses.

  It is just about noon, and he is getting ready to turn around and head back when he spots a horse lying in the distance. Making his way to it, he keeps his bow out, two arrows in his bow hand and one across the bow, he doesn’t know if someone has taken it or if it has just stopped.

  The horse doesn’t move as he approaches, and when he finally gets closer, he notices why: the beast is clearly very dead. Something had eaten this one as well. There is an arrow stuck deep in its flank. I don’t think mine got hit; I think it just ran away. This must be Ganis’ horse. I didn’t see what happened to his horse; maybe it got hit in the fight.

  After sorting through what they both need and what he can carry, he finally decides on the following: Whetstone, waterskins, blankets, a torch, salt, rations, flint & steel, tinderbox, a comb, a cloak, a razor, a shovel, and some rope. Not even knowing why they had carried so many useless things with them, he leaves everything else behind and heads back to the camp.

  As Max nears the scene of their battle, he notices that Ganis’ body is missing. The body is missing? Did Elijah take it? A scavenger shouldn’t have come for it during the day, should it have? I can't think of anything else it could have been.

  He is sweating profusely and extremely tired. The sun is setting when he enters the camp they had made. What the hell happened here?

  Stopping and staring, he can’t help but sigh. Their prisoner had lost his head, and it is sitting at Elijah's feet as he sits on a rock looking into the fire he had made.

  Did he attack Elijah? Maybe he tried to escape? Why not just drag him off into the woods then? Why keep his head like that? Is this some sort of vengeance for Ganis? Elijah never struck me as the type to do something like that. Shaking his head, he approaches the sitting man and drops the pack.

  “I’m back with the supplies. I found Ganis’ horse; it was eaten by something after being hit with an arrow. I couldn't carry everything that was left, so I only took the most important things that I could think of. When I just passed by the battlefield, I didn’t see his body. Did you move it?”

  “He’s buried over there.” Pointing to a rock cairn nearby, that is all Elijah says without ever looking away from the fire.

  “Guess I brought the shovel back for nothing. I was going to bury him when I returned. So, what happened here?” Motioning towards the headless corpse leaning against a nearby tree and toward the head right next to them, Max can’t help but ask. Elijah ignores him, so he drops the topic. He looks over Elijah, who isn't speaking and just sitting there.

  He doesn't look good; his surcoat is stained with blood, more than what was there after the fall from the horse. Between killing the prisoner and burying Ganis, he must have injured himself again. “There was some food, enough for a couple days maybe. Will you be okay to travel tomorrow?” Elijah nods at the question.

  Guess he isn’t going to talk. I was going to ask how much further till the next village or town, but that would be pointless.

  I can't just leave that there. He glances at the headless body and the head nearby. It will only attract scavengers like the horse. I'd better drag it off since Elijah seems to have no intention of doing it himself.

  He goes and drags the body away from their camp and then takes the head from next to Elijah and puts it with the body. Max then settles in for the night and eventually falls asleep after eating a little of the food he recovered.

  When Max wakes the following morning, he kicks Elijah in the foot to wake him. “We need to head off.” He watches as Elijah struggles to get up and then put on his overly stuffed pack. I know for sure that half of what is in there could probably be left here without hurting us at all.

  Leaving the shovel behind, he picks up the pack he recovered yesterday, and they head off toward the road. Max and Elijah do not speak the entire day. The speed they are moving at is clearly slower than when they were on horses, and as the day carries on, it seems as if the pace gradually slows down even more.

  As the sun starts to set, they find a decent enough spot to make a fire and sleep; camp doesn’t really seem like the right word for it anymore. The only good luck that they have is that they run into no bandits or creatures that wish to eat them.

  The following day is a repeat. They silently walk all day, skipping lunch, with the speed decreasing throughout the day until it starts to get dark, and they find a place to sleep.

  He really isn't doing well. Ganis’ death is affecting him badly enough, but he seems to have made his wound worse. We are moving at half the pace we should. Part of the reason is because he is injured; the mage’s wound is either not healing or was far greater than he led on.

  The other reason is that it really seems he is determined to lug around things we don’t need. If he got rid of some of that junk, I’m sure he would be able to move faster, and as the days drag on, he wouldn’t slow down as much. I guess he has just lost too much already and can’t bear to let the rest of it go.

  If he hadn’t tried to bury Ganis alone, he might be in better shape, but he was bleeding from just the fall. Rubbing the back of his head, Max looks to the sky. Elijah follows behind him.

  Doesn’t look like rain, thankfully. The temperature also doesn’t seem to have dropped too much lately. It’s nice to be in the jacket all day, but not so cold at nights and mornings yet. I haven’t spotted anyone else either; I’d rather take no one over bandits any day.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Fiddling with the bow in his hand, he looks at the woods around them. If I am not mistaken, it took them about two and a half weeks or a little more to come to Briargate. If they originated from Ashbury, we should be at least halfway there now. I know back at Summit Oak, they said we were at the closest town to the halfway mark.

  That means we have a week, on horses, till we reach Ashbury. Well, if we travel like they did, we could probably cut that time in half if we roughed it and didn’t make camp.

  Walking like this, we are looking at two or three weeks at least. Glancing back at the elf, he stops and watches him until he catches back up. Three weeks, maybe four. I doubt he has enough coin to buy us new horses if we find a village or town.

  We could stop there till I earn enough, but it might be faster to just walk. Well, let's be honest, he won’t make three weeks, let alone four.

  Max scratches his eyebrow, twisting his face about. Judging by the way he looks and moves, I don’t think he will make it another week if that. After that, I will be traveling alone again, like when I first got here, only more prepared than back then.

  It might be for the best, though. I can get the general directions from any people I pass, and I would be able to cover a lot more ground. Earning enough coin for one person to get food or a night's rest at an inn is a lot easier than for two as well.

  As of tonight, I will have to start hunting for food for us, too. Alone, I will be able to make it go further. I respect him, after the fights we went through beside each other, but we aren’t as close as I was with the smith or even Stephen. A thud comes from behind him, and he sighs. “Is there a problem?” Turning around, Max finds Elijah lying face down in the dirt.

  Rushing over to him, Max finds that he has a fever and is damp with sweat. “Stubborn fool, you knew you shouldn’t be moving so soon, but no, you had to push yourself.” After removing his pack, he drags the unconscious Elijah to a tree near the side of the road.

  Crap, we just can’t catch a break: goblins, mutants, Eschaton, bandits; now what? Max looks up and down the road and then checks either side, looking as far into the distance as he can. He needs water, and what little we have won’t be enough.

  I might be able to find some plants to help with the fever and the wound. I wish I knew the area we are in better, so I could know if there was a river or stream nearby. Backtracking to the other river will take far too long; he will be dead before I return.

  Max looks through the junk in Elijah's pack before tossing it next to him. Nothing useful there, just as I thought. If I give him all the water we have left and find the plants, we will have around three days to find water.

  At full speed, I could probably make it to the river we passed in that time. Elijah would never make it even if he could move. I would not make it back in time even then. We could risk moving on. I might be able to push it, getting by on whatever I have to, but he won’t.

  He carefully cuts open Elijah's shirt to look at the wound beneath. The round wound looks like a horrible burn; it seems almost fresh still and inflamed with a slight wetness to it. It might just be best to show him mercy like he did Ganis and continue on alone.

  He ponders that thought for a long while before sighing and standing up. He observes his surroundings a final time before coming to a decision. Heading off the road to the north, he walks down the slight slope.

  Water travels down; the best chance of finding it would be at the lowest place around. I’ll try to find any plants that will help on the way. No matter how much easier it may be, I cannot in good conscience just leave him here alone or give him mercy. We will both fight till our last breath.

  Not sure of how long it is that he walks before he spots some ducks heading northwest. Didn’t I read somewhere that animals, including birds, head toward water? Ducks like water, too, so just maybe I will get lucky.

  Max starts to head in the direction that the ducks were flying toward. Sure enough, down and follow the animals, behold water. He spots a small pond.

  Making his way to its shore isn’t going to be easy. The forest seems to turn rocky, and he has to climb down to the area around the pond. There are a lot of big boulders and rocks, but also more than a few smaller ones that like to slip out under you or turn your ankle. After a lot of effort, he makes it down to the water.

  Water seems clear enough; there are tracks from animals being here, too. Now I wish I had brought that kettle that was in Ganis’ things, then I could boil the water. You live, you learn. Max fills a waterskin and tentatively takes a sip. After shrugging, he drinks some more.

  Tastes just about like all the other water I’ve had since I got here. He fills both of the waterskins after having his fill and sets off back to the road. I will probably come out a bit west and have to head east on the road to get back to Elijah, hopefully before it gets dark.

  He finds several of the herbs and leaves that he knows about, both from his studies and those that Stephen had taught him about. They wouldn’t do much, but they were better than nothing in a pinch. One of them should reduce the swelling and inflammation on the wound, and the other can lower a fever.

  Eventually, he finds where he left Elijah. After grinding some herbs and giving them to him with water, he takes a few different herbs and the leaves and uses two rocks to turn them into a paste.

  He applies the paste to the wound the best he can. Elijah never wakes up but struggles as the paste is applied. Once that is done, he finds a safer location for them to sleep and drags Elijah over to it.

  Tomorrow I will scout around and see what is in the other directions. We came from the East, and today I went Northwest. West leads to the direction we were heading, so there might be a town that way. I have no idea what lies to the South, though. Maybe there is someplace nearby with people, or I can find some more plants to try and help him. He starts a fire, and they spend the night not too far from the road.

  The next morning, after checking on Elijah, he sets off slightly south of the road. I know what is Northwest of the road, so as long as I don’t lose the road, I just need to check the South. Hopefully, I will just stumble onto a village and be able to get help.

  He travels most of the morning in this direction, making sure to pick up any herbs, roots, leaves, or moss that might help the elf. “I can’t believe it.”

  Laughing Max smiles as he approaches his horse. “How did you end up all the way over here?” He approaches carefully, but the horse seems to recognize him and comes over to him.

  He pats its neck affectionately. Before he mounts it, he notices that it seems to be hurt. “What is… oh crap, it's from the gear, I’m sorry. “He rubs the horse's side and undoes everything except the reins.

  From spending all this time wearing the saddle and packs, the leather bits have rubbed raw in several spots and caused sores in a few others. Once all the gear is off, he can see the sores and chafe marks from where the gear was on the horse.

  “I really wish you hadn't run off like that, and now I’m sure you probably wish you hadn’t either. Well, come on, let's go get Elijah.” Max stores as many of the leather straps as he can and grabs his old pack and dons it on his chest since the new one is on his back.

  He walks the horse down the road to where he left Elijah. He ties the horse so it cannot wander off again and starts turning the spare cloak and leather parts into a collar for the horse. I can’t ride the horse in the state it is in. Lying Elijah on its back wouldn’t be good for either of them.

  I’m pretty sure I have seen horses pull things before. I’m not too sure how they attach whatever they pull, but if I fashion something to go around its neck, I can use some of this rope to attach to some sort of makeshift sled. Hopefully, it is the right way, but if not, I simply hope that the beast doesn’t mind too much. I’ll walk the horse, guiding it with the reins, and it will pull Elijah behind us. It’s crude, and there might be a better way, but this is what I’m going with.

  Max spends the rest of the day and into the evening working on the collar and making something to lay Elijah on. He settles for four small logs that will work; they are just big enough to get Elijah off the ground, and he chops them short enough that his feet are barely off the ground.

  While looking for the logs, he manages to catch a rabbit. Not knowing if he should force some down Elijah, he just gives him some more of the herbs he brought back with him and water. He goes to bed that night feeling as though he has accomplished something.

  The following day, he walks beside the horse that is dragging Elijah as they make their way down the road. It seems to work well enough. Somehow, we are even traveling faster than when Elijah was walking.

  He shakes his head at that thought. They travel this way until almost noon, when he decides to take a break.

  That is probably pretty uncomfortable for the horse, and we don’t have any food for it. I’ll let it graze for a bit and then set off after midday. He goes and hunts while leaving Elijah on the sled and the horse grazing. By the time he returns with a gutted rabbit, he feels they’ve rested enough and starts off once more.

  As it gets late in the afternoon before the sun sets, he unhooks the horse again and lets it graze while he cooks some bits of the rabbit he caught. The next day, he follows the exact same routine, and by midafternoon, he spots a village in the distance. Thank God! He picks up the pace and makes his way to the village as night settles in.

  “Who goes there?” An annoyed guard shouts.

  “A traveler from Summit Oak. Me and my companions were set upon by bandits. I bring with me on the sled Sir Elijah of Ashbury, he lies gravely wounded,” Max calls out as he approaches.

  “Sir Elijah?” The guard hurries over to the boy and looks at the very ill elf on the makeshift sled. “This way quickly!” Taking the reins from Max, he leads the horse and boy to the village's Medicus. While they get Elijah inside and start to treat him, Max drops himself against the wall of the room they are in and falls asleep, relieved to finally have reached other people.