“Batter up!” I shouted.
Kegohr was already on the ball. His mace hit the flying fishman with all the force of a massive two-handed swing. There was a crunch and a spray of blood as the half-ogre hit a home run. The fishman flew into a tree and struck it with a loud thunk.
While Kegohr caught his breath, I rushed to Vesma’s aid.
“So, you helped Kegohr first?” she said through gritted teeth.
“He looked like he needed it more,” I answered.
“I don’t need your help!” she screamed as she thrust her spear at the final fishman.
I raised a hand and stepped backward as I watched the fight continue. I didn’t want Vesma to be hurt, but I also knew that me fighting her opponent would be a scar against her honor. This was her battle, and she seemed well-poised for victory.
The two swayed back and forth while darting around like partners in a deadly dance. Her speed and agility were more than a match for the fishman, but his unfamiliar fighting style was throwing her off. She feinted at his left shoulder and then, struck right, only to find that he had swung away and was coming at her from the right, forcing her to jump away. From the lack of visible wounds on them both, I guessed neither had landed a single hit on the other.
“Guild fuckers!” the fishman howled, and he was now clearly speaking a language I could understand. “You bastards are the scourge of the Wilds.”
He pivoted around his spear and knocked the legs out from Vesma. She fell to the ground, and the fishman raised his spear. Horror gripped my stomach, and my hand shot toward him. I released a torrent of Stinging Palm like some kind of automatic thorn-shooter. My Vigor faded to nothing as projectile after wooden projectile hammered into his body. He dropped to the ground, looking like a pincushion.
“I had him,” Vesma grimaced as she took my hand and jumped to her feet.
“Sorry,” I said with a shrug. “He definitely looked like he was about to kill you.”
My vision blurred a little as I swayed on my feet. Kegohr appeared at my side as the fire faded from his skin. He put an arm beneath me, and I felt like a toy while he supported me with his massive arm.
“You really hulked out there,” I said to him.
“Hulked out?” he asked.
I laughed a dry wheeze. “Never mind.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Kegohr said. “All this water Augmenting; this place is the pits.”
“I guess we’re all just too used to facing other fire Augmenters,” I said. “Just wait until we find the straw and paper Augmenters; they’ll be no match for us.”
“There ain’t straw Augmenters, are there?” Kegohr asked.
“I hope not.” Vesma looked down at the thorn-riddled corpse in front of her. “But then, this is my first time meeting fishmen.”
Kegohr took me to a soft patch of grass and placed me down. I concentrated for a few minutes as I centered myself and used a technique for restoring Vigor. I listened to the crashing of the waterfall and felt the heat of the sun on my skin. The sensations became like beacons connecting my consciousness to my awareness of the channels within me. Soon, I had replenished enough Vigor to move freely.
I retrieved my dagger from the floating body of the first fishman. As I walked back to shore, my friends were scouring the bandits’ corpses. Kegohr had wrapped his injuries in bandages, and Vesma seemed to have recovered from her wounded pride.
“Find anything worth keeping?” I asked.
“A few coins, but they don’t look like they’re worth much,” Vesma said. “And they’re weapons aren’t great either. I’d say these guys were desperate.”
“They must have been,” I said.
“What do you think they wanted with that woman?” Kegohr asked.
I raised an eyebrow, and realization crossed his face.
In the silence, I inspected the bronze trident. The prongs were cracked in places, so I tossed it aside. I heard a relieved whisper from Nydarth, and I couldn’t help but smile.
The fishman were even uglier now that they were dead, and I wondered what other strange humanoid creatures existed in the Seven Realms. If I achieved immortality, then I wanted to meet them all.
“Where do you think she went?” Kegohr asked as he stared over the waterfall.
“I heard those fishmen mention ‘Qihin’ and ‘Princess,’” I answered. “Xilarion said we’re meant to meet with King Beqai of the Qihin Clan. I’m thinking that woman we saved might have been his daughter.”
“What’s a princess doing in a place like this?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I can’t imagine she’d just decide to bathe here if she knew there’d be bandits around. I think they might have followed her here.”
“I thought it was only the guilds and clans who have problems.” Kegohr shook his head. “Now, the bloody Wilds are bandits.”
“Not you, though,” Vesma said with a smile. “You’re just a big half-ogre. You’d never harm anyone. Unless they have magical cores in their chest. Or they try to kill you or your friends. Then, you crush their skulls with your mace.”
Kegohr laughed, and I chuckled along.
Still, I couldn’t help feeling uneasy. If the Wilds were also at odds with the guild, then a three-pronged conflict involving Resplendent Tears, the Qihin Clan, and Wilds could be broiling on the Diamond Coast.
A movement in the trees caught my attention. I thought maybe the princess hadn’t actually swam over the waterfall but had merely made it look like she had. Perhaps she was still here, after all, and had been waiting until the coast was clear. I watched for a glimpse of curved brown flesh. Instead, two familiar figures emerged.
Both looked refreshed and amused to see us. A slender elf woman with long brown hair and emerald eyes, and an old man in a worn white robe with matching scruffy hair and a tangled beard.
“Faryn and Tolin.” I stared at them, mouth agape. “What are you two doing here?”
Chapter Four
“What sort of way
