Less than three days in the forest of Gene and I had already been knocked out or nearly killed several times.

  “Well, it’s definitely not a cozy magical world,” I mumbled.

  “What’s that boy?”

  It was Trelain. He had somehow gotten me back in the Treehouse, but it looked different. It was…bigger? Trelain and Benji were sitting at the table, deep in conversation, as the buff braided woman loomed over me.

  I think she was checking my vitals?

  Nearby stood the other man who had been inspecting Randall’s corpse when I bumbled my way into the encounter. He wore a contemplative look as he watched something below, through the window. Bucket stood sentinel near the door, his little arms still holding the massive great axe that was improbably big for his size.

  “Nothing. Tre, did you… did you renovate? I could have sworn the house was smaller than this.”

  “It changes depending on my needs, no need to fret.”

  I looked around, marveling at the now multi roomed treehouse. There was a whole ass kitchen, what looked like a real bedroom, and a living room which is where I lay now.

  “No fretting, just appreciating.”

  “How are you feeling?” Asked braids.

  “Good. Better,” I looked myself over, “Completely better. Thank you…uhhh…” I gestured at her awkwardly, palm up with a questioning look.

  Apparently, she didn’t get the gesticulation and just stared at me.

  “Okay you’re going to have to introduce yourself. I’ve just been calling you braids in my head. I’m Greg… you are?”

  “Braids? I kinda like that. But are you sure you’re okay? Vision good? I’ve only got one.”

  “Yeah, I’m good. Braid sounds dumb though, right? Add an s and suddenly it’s a nickname.”

  The guy in the corner laughed, breaking his stoic fa?ade. He was a little older than the two, maybe late twenties earlier thirties. Blond hair, a few days old beard, green eyes and a stocky build. He wore the red jerkin like the rest of them, but had a massive mace strapped to his back that was sticky with old blood.

  I idly wondered if he had gotten involved in my impromptu rescue as well.

  He noticed my curious gaze and looked over and gave me a polite nod.

  “Braids is good, but my name is Maleena,” Braids said.

  “Thanks for saving my dumb ass, Maleena,” I said with a smile, “I super-duper appreciate the heal. That was you right?”

  “It was.”

  “We shouldn’t have gotten involved,” The guy in the corner spoke for the first time. He didn’t sound angry, just… disappointed and a little worried.

  “They were going to take him, just like they took us. And if he didn’t let them, they were going to make us kill him. Come on Dane, you know this…” Benji said, speaking up from the table he was sitting at with Trelain.

  “We don’t know that,” Dane, formerly the guy in the corner in my head, said.

  “We do. That’s what they do…” Maleena said from my side. She had stopped looking me over and was now just crouched next to the couch I was laying on. I curled my legs up to my chest to give her room to sit. She sat and smiled a thanks.

  “They did it with us,” Benji said.

  “They took others too. You know how they handled their recruitment,” Maleena continued.

  “Well, they won’t be doing it any longer,” Dane said grimly.

  “Hmm?” I asked, shooting a questioning look towards Maleena.

  “They’re dead,” Benji said.

  “All of them?” I asked.

  “All of them.”

  That’s when I saw all the notifications waiting in my HUD. I’d get to those later, I resolved… and minimized them mentally. Not the time or place.

  The room went deadly quiet for a minute. The three seemingly contemplating their circumstances and next steps. A few minutes became ten and ten became twenty. Each one just sitting there sort of staring off into space. Trelain had made himself busy drinking something, and had putzed around the room pouring a mug for everyone as they sat in silence.

  He could be good like that.

  Maleena sat next to me on the couch with her shoulders slumped a bit as she drank deeply. Dane still loomed in the corner, looking out the window. I now understood he was keeping watch to see if any other Hoarfrost Syndicate members came around.

  “So… you guys can’t go back?” I broke the silence, searching for a bit of clarity. Though these people had saved my life, I had just met them.

  “No,” Maleena said.

  “Nor would I want to,” Benji said.

  Dane just nodded silently, seeing something beyond his gaze. He looked a bit like a shellshocked Vietnam vet.

  “And… sorry I don’t mean to pry too much. But when we were all down there, earlier. You didn’t look very happy to be there. Were you… coerced?” I asked.

  “Let’s not do this right now,” Maleena said politely, though I could see the discomfort in her eyes.

  “Ah yeah, sorry. Timing… was … never my strong suit. It’s just, I was wondering how they kept you. Randall… he didn’t look like he minded. So, some people… never mind. We can get to that.” I said.

  We fell back into silence. But I could tell my words had, had a worse impact than I had intended. I was fairly sure the Hoarfrost Syndicate took kids, pressed them into service, and eventually succeeded in brainwashing them by means of an enhanced power suite.

  That would explain why some, like Randall who seemed to have had a penchant for cruelty and the entitlement of being powerful and young, had fallen trap to the Syndicate.

  While others, like these three, had their own reasons for going along with them. Either from external pressures like blackmail or coercion. I guess it didn’t matter. They helped me when they didn’t need to and now they were in a tough spot with nowhere to go. I didn’t need to say it out loud, and their silence spoke volumes.

  Me and my dumb mouth. I really have to stop doing that.

  -

  Quite a bit of time had passed as I was checking my HUD notifications and Benji had seemingly given up being morose and was reading a book. Seeing him read reminded me of something… something that happened recently. Something with words. His name on a piece of parchment. And then it hit me.

  “Wait a minute… your name is Benji,” I said.

  “That’s a weird sentence. You know it is.”

  “Ah, yeah no. Sorry. It’s just…”

  Benji just stared.

  “One sec,” I opened my inventory and retrieved a blood-soaked letter and proffered it with an apologetic smile, “Is this yours?”

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  His eyes went from confusion to horror when he saw the blood stains. There was recognition in his eyes as he saw the handwriting on the letter. His voice, usually warm, took on a cold edge.

  “Where did you get this?”

  I told him. About the burned-out camp, the Sus Anura, the pile of corpses, the mass grave… all of it.

  -

  “You have to take me there. Now.” Benji said.

  "Absolutely.”

  “You can’t.” Dane said at the same time Trelain said “You shouldn’t”

  Bucket, who had been standing facing towards the door, turned around and rested his great axe on the ground. It wasn’t an aggressive stance, but it was pretty clear that he was standing in our way.

  I idly wondered if Tre had commanded him to do that or if he had a mind of his own.

  I reminded myself to test out his sentience later. I shook off my internal thoughts and tuned back to the conversation.

  “Why not? They’re dead. The rest of the Syndicate is off in Weloran doing that job Rowena set up.” Benji was saying.

  “And that’s what I’m saying. If they’re done, they’re probably back looking for her to give her, her finder’s fee,” Dane said.

  “Okay but they can’t have finished the job that quick and then come all the way back to the temple in a day. It’s not like they’ve got a—”

  Dane and Maleena looked pointedly at Benji. I missed the meaning of the look until Benji finished his protest defeatedly

  “—a portal specialist.”

  The two doubled their incredulous look directed at Benji.

  “Raulf is in town?” Benji asked.

  “Raulf is in town.” Dane affirmed.

  “So, I’m guessing this guy is a problem?” I asked.

  “He is. For so many reasons. But the main one, is he’s an adherent with a powerful portal spell. Also, he’s Rowena’s husband,” Maleena said.

  “Oh,” I said, frowning.

  The room fell silent. After a minute, I spoke back up again.

  “Hey Trelain, what’d you do with the bodies? They’re not in the well again, are they?”

  “I knew you had something to do with that!” Benji exclaimed.

  “Actually, the dude killed himself. Well, he jumped me. We fought. I won, but didn’t kill him. And then he fell into the well. It was a whole thing,” I said.

  “Oh, I don’t care. Randall was a cunt.” Benji said, giving me a nod of respect.

  “He WAS a cunt. I like you, Benji. You can stay,” I winked at him.

  “Stay?” Maleena asked, finishing her mug of ale and looking over at me with a quizzical look.

  “Well… yeah? Sorry Trelain, I know this is your house and I’m being very, very rude. But these three saved my life, while you were out doing… whatever it is you do. They can stay right? They go back to Hoarfrost and they’re dead.” I said.

  The old Apostle had been writing something furiously in his book and peered up at me with an uncharacteristically serious look on his face. He set his notebook down, folded his hands, and swept his gaze between the four of us. “Your old lives are over, whether you like it or not. And I have something of the utmost importance to do. If you stay, you must listen. You must behave. And above all, you must believe.”

  “Uhhhh….so that’s a, yes?” I asked.

  Trelain went back to writing in his notebook and didn’t look up again. He was muttering something about a fourth something or other, again. It was really starting to become a habit for him.

  “That’s a yes,” I said, winking at them.

  “We’ll have to think about it,” Dane said, curtly.

  “Dane...” Maleena gave the big man an incredulous look.

  “Maleena…” Dane rose his eyebrows and tilted his head at her.

  “What?”

  “If not here, where? Dane… we can’t go back.” Benji said.

  “I know we can’t.”

  “So, what’s the problem?” Benji continued.

  “Oh, come on, we’re going to play pretend? This guy,” Dane gestured at me, “Like it or not, killed one of us.”

  Benji snorted.

  “One of us? I wasn’t one of them,” Maleena shot back. “Nor were you. I know how you got that red coat, Dane. I was there.”

  He just looked at her with a pained expression.

  “Look, we need to lay low for a while. Greg and Apostle Trelain are giving us a place to stay. What’s wrong with that?” Benji said, half standing now.

  “I’m just not ready to join up again. With anything!” Dane said, exasperated.

  I stepped in before they could go on down this thought process, “You’re not joining anything. Guys… we’re not a thing,” I pointed between me and Trelain.

  “Well, that was pretty obvious,” Maleena said.

  “Ew, he’s like, double your age.” Benji added.

  “What? No. What the fu—” I swallowed and tried again, “No I mean I just got here. Like… what, Trelain? Two days ago?”

  Trelain wasn’t paying attention.

  “Look. I just meant for the night. At least stay long enough to recover. I owe you that much. It’s getting late, and we don’t know if Hoarfrost is around.”

  “They’re not,” Trelain said.

  “So, you are paying attention?”

  He just shrugged.

  “But you’ve been staying here… and Apostle Trelain. Well… he’s a Duke or something? Or royalty, right?” Maleena asked.

  “Not really, I’m just meeee,” Trelain sing songed.

  Dane smacked Benji in the shoulder. Benji handed Dane something round and shiny from his pocket.

  Maleena just laughed and then looked back to me for confirmation.

  I pointed at the bedroll in the corner, “I’ve been crashing on the floor, just trying to get my bearings. Tre has been helping me. I’m not staying here forever; I’m looking for a way home. We’re not a thing. We’re not a pair of adventurers. I’ve barely even gotten any backstory out of the old guy. You’re not joining anything… I promise.”

  Dane looked at me with new eyes, digesting what I said.

  “If it makes you feel any better, I’m not from around here. And I really don’t intend on setting down roots. I’ve got people I need to get back to. But I can’t do that yet. And Tre’s been good to me. So, I’ve stayed a few days. Look, what do you say? No pressure or anything but I’m tired as fuck and I’m going to turn in early tonight. I can already tell. It’s up to you. It doesn’t matter to me either way. But, again, I owe you…”

  “If that’s what GZelle thinks, that’s what he thinks. And I think, for one, that you should rest easy. If only for a day or two. If you want to stay longer, I’ve got a thing or two needs doing… if you’re the sort that likes to earn your keep. But it’s entirely up to you. Or should I say, it’s my pleasure to host you after the day you just had. Regroup, decide in the morning. No proverbial skin off this old back,” Trelain, finally speaking, added.

  Dane turned from Trelain, who he was politely listening to, and gave me a silent nod. Then he looked to Benji who spoke for the group.

  “Just for the night.”

  “Just for the night,” Maleena agreed.

  “Wait, we’re not all going to sleep on the floor, right?” Dane asked, hopefully.

  -

  Trelain used whatever magical connection he had with the Treehouse to create an extra building on an adjoining tree. It happened in the blink of an eye. I reminded myself to ask him about how he did that later, but I was too tired to get into it. The house was two stories, had four modest bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and a decent sized bathroom.

  It was connected to the main treehouse via rope walkway and possessed the same sort of magical camouflage that made the original impossible to spot from the ground. Dane and Maleena took the two rooms on the second story, and I moved into the bottom room next door to Benji.

  When I asked Tre why he hadn’t done this when I first arrived, he said something about me being new to the forest and that he wanted to ease me into the whole magical experience. I tried to explain to him that I used to read books about ever flexible cloud houses and kids that lived in boxcars and the like, but he couldn’t wrap his head around the concept of fiction or reading for enjoyment.

  After that, he quickly lost interest and told me books are for power and nothing else.

  The rest of the night, we spent it in the trees just in case Hoarfrost came looking. Tre sent Bucket (which I now knew was his official name) to clean up the clearing and loot the bodies. With his own looting power, the three would be traffickers went up in black ichor filled smoke that left a noxious stench in the lower canopies.

  Eventually Maleena got tired of the lingering smell and used a wind spell to blow the funk away. We all had dinner in the new treehouse and enjoyed a quiet chat about nothing serious. Everyone called it an earlier night after a hell of a day and went off to bed.

  In my own room for the first time in days, I sat on the bed and went through what was left of my notifications.

  The battle log was filled with warnings about low health and mana, which I decided I would rather not revisit.

  But it also catalogued a few of the spells that were used on me during the fight. The icicle blast that tore a hole in my thigh was a spell called ice lance.

  Ice Lance [Active] [Conjuration/Elemental Spell] [Domain: Frost] Conjure and shoot a hunk of ice, shaped to your will, at a target. Piercing, Frost damage. Ignores invulnerability (Mana cost: low).

  The wind spell that Rowena and Maleena had cast was Windsheer.

  Windsheer: [Active] [Elemental Spell] [Domain: Frost] Emit a freezing gust of wind, Knock back and cold damage (Mana cost: low).

  The spell that had nearly killed me was apparently called Noxious Orb.

  Noxious Orb: [Active] [Elemental Spell] [Domain: Poison] Create an orb of poison that you can infect your foes with. Can be thrown for area of effect or used as a touch spell with stacking poison damage (Mana cost: low).

  The spell that had sustained me, and kept me from death, was called Bolster.

  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).

  Because I was not the target of anything else, I did not get a notification of any of the other spells and their effects that were going off around me. I could probably figure some of them out with context clues, like that ice pillar thing king creeper had made. But, until I knew their name exactly, I couldn’t exactly go poking around in the glossary. It was too big and I’d be reading forever.

  I decided to ask the ex-Hoarfrost crew about some of their spells later.

  Based on my understanding of how Domain Initiates worked and some passing comments Trelain had made, it was clear that all Hoarfrost Initiates had access to the Frost Domain. However, considering every Initiate had three total Domains, that meant there were two more Domains that each attacker was probably using which meant a potential of interaction for some of those spells.

  I moved onto my final notifications, skipping to the logs before letting myself sleep.

  Congratulations! You have slain a more experienced enemy, Guthred Amulan, Acolyte.

  Congratulations! You have slain a more experienced enemy, Rowena Sempfi, Acolyte.

  Congratulations! You have slain a more experienced enemy, Mannon LeBraic, Acolyte.

  You have earned the achievement, “Power Isn’t Everything.” Please check the glossary for more information.

  Before heading to bed, Trelain popped over to tell me he’d like me to come over in the morning to discuss another task he had for me. I went to sleep wondering what the old man wanted this time.

  goooo