BOOM!

  The ground shivered as a shockwave rushed out and down the crop covered hill, sending a golden wave through the barley. There was an aftershock that sent birds cawing into the air, escaping the blast.

  Then I saw the smoke on the horizon.

  Thick, black smoke roiled in the air. With my days on the rig, I knew that to mean the fire was volatile and likely to spread if it wasn’t stopped soon. I just didn’t know what was burning, yet. Benji saw it too.

  “Let’s go!” Benji cried.

  “Go where?!” Maleena shouted.

  “There!” Benji pointed at the smoke curling in the distance.

  “You’re an idealist, I’ll give you that,” I said, thwacking him on the chest with a thump as we began to run.

  Benji just smiled at me and shrugged, “I do what I can.”

  It was true, we were in Kalawyn to help. So, help we would. I rushed up the hill with Benji, almost immediately. But I saw Dane hesitate until Maleena grabbed his shoulder and pushed him along.

  Being the most experienced one in the group also meant he was the most cautious by nature. His tactical prowess was unmatched by the rest of us, and I felt a sense of calm wash over me as he caught up. Bit of a contrarian or not, Dane was a strong guy to have around.

  “Dane, anything?”

  He caught my meaning and looked down at his shield, which was supposed to alter him of impending danger, and shook his head.

  The Informant: [Defensive] [Buckler [Uncommon] Get advanced warning of any impending danger via psychic link.

  “No.”

  “No?!” I exclaimed.

  “It’s either an accident or just not meant for us,” He yelled back as we puffed up the hill, continuing he said, “Still not entirely clear on when I get the warning.”

  “Well, we’re here to help… right?” Benji asked, a few steps ahead of the rest of us.

  “I’d say so…” Maleena said, then as we crested the hill.

  What was once a barn now lay in smithereens, its scattered pieces on fire and giving off noxious black smoke. In the middle of where the building once lay was a gigantic crater, like a bomb had gone off.

  Broken glass was already melting in the high heat, the fire seemingly a combination of explosive and chemical nature. Black, charred, burning pieces of the red Barn had become shrapnel and stuck in a nearby tree trunk nearby. The tree, and a few others that had shared the same fate, were starting to go up in flames.

  Nearby, a hay cart lay toppled. Though not on fire, like the rest of everything, it was splattered with blood.

  Slumped in the cart, was a person covered in gore.

  They had several chunks of wood sticking out of their midsection, but miraculously they were still breathing. I could see the heaving of a heart working overtime to keep them alive.

  I rushed up, medic instincts falling into routine. Find the bleeder, tourniquet the bleeder. Find the next one, stop that. If nothing could be corded off, then apply pressure and hold. Don’t move the neck, splint the bones.

  But from what I could see as I got closer, none of my experience would be of any use here. Refusing to give up on a stranger, as if out on a call again, I yelled to Maleena.

  “Maleena, Bolster. Now!”

  Bolster: [Active] [Defense/Healing Spell] [Domain: Enhancement] Improve or fortify a physical aspect of target ally. (ex: bolstered low health will be brought back to stability) (mana cost: varies).

  She complied, just as the stranger’s breathing was starting to slow down. They came back, fast. Temporarily stabilized, their eyes blinked open. Still covered in blood, I could see a young face under the gore.

  A woman, maybe?

  She was mid to late twenties, I’d guess.

  Pixie cut purple-black hair, a severe looking face with a very defined chin, and black eyes. If she were in my world, I’d say she looked Syrian by descent. But I didn’t know much about ethnicities and races here, considering I just spent a week in a remote forest.

  “Wha… what, who are you?” She looked down at her body, and then continued, “I mean… thanks.”

  “My name is Greg, this is Maleena. We’re here to help. Just keep breathing, we’re not done. We have to take these pieces out, one by one. And then you need to drink this,” I said, using my practiced first responder cadence, and handing her a health potion.

  She took it in one quivering hand. Bolster was a good spell for triage, but she was still badly hurt. I grabbed the first piece of wood sticking out of her guts, looked to her and said,

  “Just keep your eyes on me. Don’t look down. Can you do that?”

  “Yes,” she said between gulps of the health potion.

  “Here we go,” I said, and then I pulled.

  She let out a meek little cry that quickly erupted into an all-out scream as the potion revitalized her once semi crushed lungs. The hole where the shrapnel had been, closed immediately… new brown-beige skin forming.

  The health potion did wonders for healing but did absolutely nothing for nerve pain.

  “We’ve got three more. Are you up for that? You’re doing great,” I said, keeping my tone even and calm.

  Her breathing was coming back down from hyperventilating due to the advent of pain, and she just nodded.

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  “Perfect. You’re doing great. Here comes the next one,” I said, and then pulled.

  She passed out.

  I continued removing all the shrapnel I could find, the potion still in effect and patching all the holes. With the three major pieces of barn board out, I turned to look for any other lingering problems that would cause issues once the potion stopped working.

  Finding none, I sat back on my haunches and sighed.

  “Could have used these fucking potions back where I’m from,” I said.

  “Get into a lot of scrapes, did you?” Maleena asked.

  “None, actually. Unless you count my patients getting violent during the psych hold calls. But we usually just let the cops handle those. At least until they were on our gurney,” I said.

  “Patients? GZelle, wait a minute. Were you a healer?” Maleena asked, taken aback.

  “Of sorts,” I said, wiping my blood hands on a piece of cloth from my inventory.

  “Hey guys,” Benji said, walking up, “She alright?”

  “She’ll live,” I said.

  Dane came over next, having just unsuccessfully used Ice Lance over and over again to try to stop the burning.

  “Leens, think I could get your help? Put out the fire with Windsheer? Better than what I’ve got. And I don’t think lightning will help,” Dane said, slapping Benji on the back.

  “I’ve got Ice Lance, now…. Remember?” Benji protested.

  “Yeah, so do I. But frozen wind beats an icicle every time,” Dane shot back.

  “Fair,” Benji relented.

  “Maleena?” Dane nudged.

  “Huh? Oh. Yeah.” Maleena had been staring at the now peacefully dozing woman in the hay cart. She turned to Dane, stood up, and said, “Yeah let’s get it done.”

  “I need an AOE…” Benji muttered to himself.

  -

  A little while later, Dane and Maleena returned. The black smoke had now transitioned to white, and there was nothing but smoldering ash left of a few piles of wood. Nothing was at risk of catching fire, and the fields of barley were safe. My patient woke as the two approached, still snuggled up to some hay in the overturned cart.

  “Where am I?” She asked, hand going up to her now sticky head. The blood had dried a bit, and was now glommed onto her short hair.

  “Kalawyn, I think,” I said, and then handed her a hygiene drink.

  “Thanks,” she took it and downed the beverage. A light mist appeared over her body, made a sizzling noise for a few beats, and then dissipated revealing a clean face and bloodless set of clothes. She blinked a few times, ran a hand through her hair, and hopped to her feet.

  “Gods, that felt nice. Have any more of those? I’d love to study it. Never seen a hygiene drink up close, let alone drink it. The word refreshing comes to mind,” she said, looking at me and my raised eyebrows.

  The others crowded around the cart, postures relaxed.

  “Oh well, hello everyone! Didn’t realize we were having a party. I feel terribly underprepared. And my barn just exploded, looks like,” she said, looking over with a frown.

  “That’s okay. I forgot my dancing shoes. How’d that happen anyway?” Benji asked.

  “Alchemical explosion. Happens sometimes. You know, when you’re tinkering. And I do love to tinker. Thanks, by the way,” she said, turning to me.

  “No problem. It was really her spell,” I said, turning to Maleena.

  Maleena smiled wanly, and then extended a hand, “Maleena Soli, at your service. And you are?”

  “You can call me Cyn! That’s what my uncle calls me, hell that’s what most people call me these days. I should take you to him…” the woman, Cyn, said.

  “Why to your uncle?” Dane asked.

  “So, he can thank you of course! Silly. We owe ya, and I owe him a new barn,” Cyn said, shaking her head mournfully.

  “You don’t owe us a thing, hun. Just happy you’re alright,” Maleena said.

  “Well aren’t you a sweet thing! Still, it’s custom around here. Someone saves your life, you pay ‘em back for it! I’m sure you understand. Anyway, here we go. Follow me!” Cyn called, cheerily, as she began walking from the scene of the crime like nothing had ever happened.

  “Uh… do we?” Benji looked over at Dane and Maleena for approval.

  Maleena was already walking, so we followed. As we caught up to Cyn, she was chattering away, pointing things out as we went. When not a bloody soaking mess, she was seemingly quite the happy human. Her good nature almost had us forgetting how we had found her. Benji turned his head, looking at the ruined barn.

  “Are you sure we shouldn’t, I don’t know, do something about that? Tell someone?”

  “Nah,” Dane said.

  “…At least so they know not to dig around in there? It looks like there’s still quite a bit of volatile compounds in there.” Benji continued.

  “Benji, there’s no way anything survived that blast or that fire. I think people know, across the board, to stay away from burned out buildings. Or what’s left of them,” I said.

  “It’s Kalawyn, sir. Nothing to fear. Besides, it’s my land. I just have to go tell Uncle Trask. He’ll be cross, but he’ll get over it,” Cyn said from over her should with a mischievous grin.

  “Not your first explosion, I take it?” Dane asked.

  “Not even a little bit!” Cyn said in a sing song voice.

  “I like her,” Dane whispered at the three of us.

  Cyn didn’t hear and kept her jaunty pace up. We followed her down a chipped gravel path, past another few Barley fields. Up ahead there was a semi-circle of houses. The style was simple, but well crafted. They were one story, had high pitched slate roofs, and were all painted white with brown natural wood accented windows.

  “Cute place,” Maleena said.

  “Very cute!” Benji agreed.

  “Thank you! I quite like it. Over there,” Cyn said, pointing at the semi-circle, “Is the McCleens. They’re quite well off, with a couple dozen acres of field. And over there,” Cyn pointed at a vast field of barley, “Is Count Kalawyn’s field.”

  “You have royals?” I asked.

  “Yeah, but it’s not what you’d expect. He’s quite the nice fellow. Donates all his crop every year for the big harvest festival, pays his workers fair, and even lets us grow whatever we want. Well, whatever we want plus barley,” Cyn said.

  “And what do you like to grow?” Benji asked.

  “Oh… a bit of this and that. Nothing to exciting. Anyway, up ahead here,” Cyn pointed at the only multistory building within sight, “That’s old man Guilvar’s place. He doesn’t come out much, but when he does it sure gets interesting,” she said.

  “Hey Cyn?” I asked.

  “Yes, uh sorry. What was it?” She asked, hand upturned in question.

  “Greg,” assuming her meaning.

  “Right, Greg, what is it?” She asked.

  “Not that I mind the tour, but… um… not sure how to ask this so I’m just going to. Sorry if I’m being ungracious or anything. But, why? The tour, I mean,” I bumbled through asking.

  “Well, you’re obviously not from here. So, you’re either here for the fliers Uncle Trask has been putting up or you’re just passing through. Besides, just good manners… is it not? Know where you are and where things are and all,” Cyn said, smiling.

  “Very true,” Dane said from the rear.

  “Couldn’t agree more,” Maleena said.

  “I was wondering too…” Benji said, under his breath.

  I shot him a grateful smile.

  We walked on towards town with Cyn pointing out a few more things along the way. There were several more fields with modest houses on each plot. There wasn’t much livestock to be seen, maybe a few goats and one house a huge coop full of what looked like chickens.

  The town was a cluster of eight or so buildings, with a big square in the middle. People were milling about under a giant pergola, some singing and some drinking.

  There was a band playing on a little stage positioned just ahead of a giant gnarled but branchless tree. We got a bit closer and the music wafted in our direction. It was an upbeat tempo with someone playing an instrument that sounded like across between a fiddle and a guitar. Someone was singing through a metal cone that helped carry his voice.

  All and all, it was a cute place invoking the feeling of small town, tight-knit, real community. This was a place that Naomi and I would have loved to move to. Thoughts of my wife had my head spinning for a bit until Cyn patted me on my back and asked,

  “You alright buddy? Here, Uncle Trask is this way.”

  “Uh, ah… yeah. I’m okay,” I said, shaking off thoughts of Naomi. I would get back, I just had to get my Mirror Door spell stronger.

  “Okay! Great! Come on, follow me,” Cyn said.

  We followed Cyn down the alley, which in retrospect would have been a bad call in any other place. But Kalawyn seemed a quaint little town, not plagued by seedy alleys like San Francisco or any other big city. I picked a flier off the wall as we went. I read it slowly at first, trying to keep up with the group. I gave up, and just stopped and caught a glance.

  “Terror in the night!”

  “Keep your windows closed!”

  “Flittermouse infestation in the Eastern Woods! Keep out!”

  My interest was getting piqued considerably by the flier. So much so, I lost track of where we were as we walked. Dane stumbled into me, he had brought up the rear of the group as he usually did.

  “You good?” He asked.

  “Yep, just catching up,” I said, handing him the flier.

  “Already got one.”

  “Right.”

  We kept moving, following Cyn through the alley. As we rounded the bend, weaving through a few stall shops selling various leather and woolen goods, we heard raised voices.