Chapter 9: Rock Trolls

We trekked for the next two days. Fay stopped complaining about the walk, all of us stopped talking, we just trudged on in weary silence.

We paused on the crest of a hill to break out some supplies and eat a little. I was long out of sandwiches, so Jess and Alia (using my bow) had gone hunting for some food. Meanwhile, my fledgling Pyromancy spell had lit the fire. I couldn’t do anything awesome with fire yet, I just said ‘Ignite’ and I could light a piece of wood on fire, which was great for starting fires.

“How far to the first town?” Fay groaned, flopping backwards and landing her head squarely in my lap, brunette locks splashed across my pants.

“Ironford’s not far.” Alia said, standing and peering at the horizon.

“Does Ironford have a cartographer?” I asked.

“Yes.” Alia said.

“Ironford’s where knights begin their training, isn’t it?” Jess asked, blatantly ignoring Fay’s head in my lap.

“Yes. But training takes us all over the Fourth Realm. I’ve been to the forests of the Blackwood and the mountains of Neverpeak.” Alia told us. I opened my mouth to speak, but Jess anticipated my question.

“That’s the southernmost and northernmost parts of the Fourth Realm, respectively.” Jess told me. I nodded.

“Do you think we’ll make it today?” Fay asked, and I glanced down at the beautiful girl with her head in my lap. She gave me a playful smile.

“If we hurry.” Alia shrugged. Fay stood and I did, too. I offered a hand to Jess, who took it and allowed me to haul her up. She gave me a light kiss and grabbed her pack off the ground. I grabbed mine and we set off after Alia, Fay lagging behind.

———

Two hours later, we caught our first glimpse of Ironford. It sat down in a low valley, and we stood on a cliff overlooking it.

“How do we get down?” Fay asked.

“We’ll have to climb.” Alia told us. Jess and I exchanged worried looks.

“Did you know about this cliff?” Jess asked.

“I knew of the cliff, but I didn’t think we’d encounter it.” Alia frowned.

“What do you mean? You know our route, right?” Fay questioned.

“Yes, but... never mind. Are any of you proficient climbers?” Alia asked. We all shook our heads.

“Alright. Sebastian, I’ll help you down first.” Alia said, and I nodded. She slid off the edge and grabbed a handhold and foothold and climbed down with ease. Jess helped me over the cliff’s edge, and with infinitely more awkwardness, I began to descend. About halfway down, I slipped and almost fell, but I felt an arm wrap around my waist and turned to see Alia’s ice blue eyes inches from mine.

“You OK?” she asked worriedly. I nodded. I marveled at her strength, being able to catch me while not dropping. I grabbed some handholds and footholds, and Alia’s shoulder nudged mine, her chin tilting up the slightest bit. I looked up to see a very worried Jess watching nervously.

“I’m OK!” I called up to her. Alia and I kept descending, and I was relieved when my feet hit the ground. Alia dropped off her pack, and started climbing back up. That’s when I noticed it. Bulges I’d thought were just rocks unfurled and revealed themselves as rocky humanoid things. One lunged at Alia and she screamed as the thing’s teeth tore into her arm. She fell and I caught her hastily, and her eyes were fluttering as she slipped into unconsciousness. The rocky beasts hastily scaled the cliff to Jess and Fay.

“No!” I called, and set Alia down as gently as possible, before notching an arrow and firing at one of the things. The arrow bounced off harmlessly, and one of the things jumped off to land with a thud in front of me. It attacked, and I didn’t have time to draw my sword before it was on me, its’ sharp teeth tearing through my chain mail and shirt to take a deep gouge out of my chest. I roared in anger and pain, and shoved my fingers in the thing’s eyes.

“IGNITE!” I screamed, and the thing screeched as its’ head started to cook from the inside out.

I pushed the dead stone monster off me and scrambled to my feet. I couldn’t see anything happening at the top.

“Sebastian...” Alia croaked. I turned and rushed to her side. Her arm, like my chest was bleeding profusely, and I gathered her up in my arms.

Jess and Fay appeared at the top, hastily climbing down. The things hurled themselves towards the girls, and Fay almost slipped. My heart was in my throat, but I didn’t want to put Alia down on the ground, defenseless. Jess made it down easily enough, and I noticed a nasty gash on her shoulder. Fay was taking a lot longer. I shoved Alia into Jess’s arms and took a deep breath. My continuous uses of Ignite had depleted most of my mana, but I lifted my hands.

“Ignite.” I said, and visualized the things’ eyeballs instead of a stick, hoping it would work. They roared as fire burned where their eyes had been and Fay made it to the ground unharmed. She threw herself into my arms, sobbing. I held her tightly against my chest, utterly spent and dizzy. She looked mostly unharmed, except for a bruise on her cheek.