Surprisingly, our journey back to Starcrest was nothing short of smooth. I also turned eleven on our journey back and no, I didn’t mention that to anyone. Renna remembered and told me “Happy Birthday.” I couldn’t believe we’d been traveling, looking for our parents for almost a year now.

  During our journey back, we did discover that North Ornea was being beaten back by Dracaena, which explained why nobody came after us. A small group of prisoners was nothing to worry about when a war was going on, especially when that war was not going very well.

  Some people in Starcrest were talking about how the war could be over in a year. Nobody appeared to care about the war. It was amazing how people were when they weren’t affected by war. It reminded me of my world, reading the news or watching videos about it.

  The raid to rescue the prisoners cost us nine people. Nine people who fought to save prisoners, whom they didn’t know. Sure, they were being paid to help, but that didn’t make their death any less tragic in my eyes.

  Currently, we were staying at an inn. After a long discussion, Darrow decided to hire wagon transportation. It was easier than escorting everyone back to Alcion, also safer as the wagon transporters had their own guards. We weren’t far from the borders of Dracaena and once the ex-prisoners got into Dracaena, they should be safe.

  During our journey back, I didn’t spend as much time with Renna. We talked and all that, but she spent a lot of her time with her parents. Not that I blamed her. Arsted wasn’t much of a talker and Darrow was busy leading us to spare a lot of time to talk.

  I took a sip of my wine and looked over at Renna, who was talking to her parents at another table. I never asked her if she was going to go back to Alcion or stay to help rescue the rest of the prisoners. Her parents were ex-adventures, but they were old and had wounds that prevented them from coming with us.

  A few of the rescued villagers were going to stay and help save the other prisoners. Thus far, five of the villagers volunteered for the rescue operation. That helped replace our dead. I wasn’t going to complain about the extra help.

  “All right everyone, the wagons are here!” Darrow said.

  That caused a raucous when everyone stood and began talking all at once. I was surprised, the wagons weren’t supposed to get here until tomorrow! With everyone standing and talking, I couldn’t see Renna.

  “Now, now, I know you are all excited to get back home,” Darrow began and then stopped. He clapped his hands and eventually the noise started to die down. “Let’s get you all into your wagons so you can get home.”

  Everyone started moving toward the exit, which was when I saw Renna. They were waiting for the others to get out it looked like, making this the perfect opportunity to see what Renna was going to do.

  I walked over to them. Renna’s father was the first to see me. “Ah, Thorian. I wanted to thank you again for all that you’ve done to rescue us. I’m sorry your family wasn’t with us.”

  This wasn’t the first time Renna’s father had apologized, as if it was his fault my family wasn’t here. “It’s okay, I hope you have a safe journey back. I’ll be working hard to rescue not only my family but also the rest of Alcion.”

  “You and Renna have done so well for yourselves, it’s hard to believe your children,” Renna’s mother said.

  This was my chance. “Difficult times make us grow up, whether we want to or not. Renna, do I get a hug goodbye?”

  “What are you talking about?” Renna cocked her brow and crossed her arms.

  “Aren’t you going back home with your parents?”

  “No! Like you, I too want to save the people of Alcion!”

  Before I could respond, Renna’s father lightly tapped my back and laughed. “Son, you think I could get my daughter to abandon this mission? No way, I’d have a better chance growing young again. All I ask is that you both come back safely.”

  “Don’t worry, father,” Renna began, her face was a tad red. “We’ll be safe and the next time you see us, we’ll have all the villagers with us!”

  “I believe it. Your skills as a swordswoman are far beyond your years. It won’t be long until you’ve surpassed me at my peak,” Her father said.

  With those words said, we watched Renna’s parents get into a wagon. They waved at us until they were out of sight. I looked over at Renna, who remained stoic. She sighed. I could only imagine how she was feeling, getting to spend our journey with her parents and then having to say goodbye.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  “I’m surprised your parents didn’t insist on joining us,” I said.

  “My father wanted to, but my mother said no. They couldn’t handle the fighting at their age. Besides, my brothers are likely on their way to Alcion.”

  “You have brothers?”

  “Yeah,” Renna nodded. “I don’t know them very well. They were ten and thirteen when I was born. I was three when they both left together on their adventure. Their last letter I saw was that they were somewhere in the Lacidia Kingdom.”

  That was far away, on the complete other side of the continent. It was likely they hadn’t made it to Alcion yet, assuming they were headed home to see if their parents were okay. I hoped her brothers got to Alcion after her parents made it back.

  I was glad Renna was staying. The mining camp was going to be our next destination. Surely my family would be there. “Well, let’s get some food and rest. I’m sure Darrow will have a plan to head toward the mining camp soon.”

  A week passed after our return to Starcrest. During this time, Darrow recruited some additional help. Now we have forty-three people assisting in saving the people of Alcion. I contributed by giving Darrow most of our gold pieces. At this point, I trusted the man. I mean, hell, he almost died for Renna and me.

  Renna, Arsted and I were off to see Darrow, who requested to see us. Darrow was waiting for us at a table in our inn. He waved us over once he noticed us. “Hello, Darrow,” I said.

  “Good to see you. Hope you have been enjoying this week?”

  “To be honest, all I want to do is get to the mining camp.”

  “Me too,” Renna said.

  “I see, well I have news about that,” Darrow looked troubled, gripping his cup of wine tightly. “This mining camp is going to be a lot harder to liberate.”

  “I did tell you that our source said it was heavily guarded,” I said.

  “Yes, but I found out there are at least sixty guards and three mages. We only have two mages, you and Draven. The fact that they have almost twenty more soldiers than we do is also worrisome, even with Arsted on our side.”

  “I disagree,” Arsted began. Darrow looked up at him with a puzzled expression. “The guards will likely be weak. With the war going on, most of the skilled warriors should be aiding the North Ornea front. As for the three mages, I can kill them myself while the rest of our forces focus on the guards and liberating the prisoners.”

  “Wait a second, three mages is a lot!” Renna said. “Aren’t you being reckless?”

  “Trust me, this will not pose a problem.”

  If I didn’t know any better, Arsted looked like he was looking forward to fighting three mages. His skills were great, but what if one of the mages was a mystic? The odds weren’t likely, yet no one knew for sure how strong the enemy forces were.

  “If you want to fight three mages by yourself, I won’t stop you,” Darrow said. He took a drink of his wine, then wiped his lips. “You do make a fair point. I’ll plan on you killing the mages while the rest of us focus on the guards. This journey is going to be a long one, especially with our numbers.”

  “Are we not splitting up?” I asked.

  “No,” Darrow said, shaking his head. “With the war being in North Ornea, I don’t see the point in splitting our forces. We shouldn’t run into any trouble. Besides, I want to make sure we arrive with our full force. With us traveling together, I’ll know if anyone who deserts us or dies.”

  “That makes sense. I’m sure we’ll succeed,” I said.

  “This will be dangerous. I won’t try to dissuade you, especially since I know you wouldn’t listen. You’ll both need to be careful and not underestimate the enemy.”

  “I won’t.”

  “Neither will I,” Renna said.

  That didn’t seem to cheer Darrow up at all. “We’re leaving in five days. You don’t need to worry about getting supplies, I’m taking care of all that. Get some rest, explore the city, do whatever you need to do. We’ll meet in the same spot, outside the gates.”

  “We’ll be there,” I said.

  “See you then,” Darrow downed the rest of his wine, got up, and left.

  “We should go to the guild. Esmond may have sent a letter,” Arsted suggested.

  Oh right, I had forgotten about that. We’d been in Starcrest and hadn’t gone to the guild once. “Let’s get going then.”

  We made our way to the guild, and as luck would have it, Esmond had sent a letter. It was dated three weeks ago. I opened the letter and read it to Renna and Arsted. “I have been gathering information and found one more group. This group was sent to North Ornea. I’m going there to confirm and will update you once I have their location confirmed. I did hear from my sources that you joined a group led by Darrow. He’s a good man. I’m hoping to see you at the mining camp with good news. If that doesn’t happen, then I’ll send a letter to Starcrest. Speak soon.”

  “He’s going to see us in person… Does that mean we shouldn’t bring the villagers back here?” Renna asked.

  “It wouldn’t make sense to come back to Starcrest, then head back to North Ornea. If we did that, it would be another year before we could save the last group.” I didn’t like either option. Does that mean we should send the villagers alone in wagons? Did we split off some of our group to guard them?

  “Don’t focus on that,” Arsted said. “Worry about that after we rescue the villagers at the mining camp. If you worry about anything else, you’ll make mistakes. Trust me on this.”

  “You’re right,” I said. It was something I should have already known.

  “I didn’t say that to be mean. I’ve seen too many people die because they thought of a future problem instead of focusing on the current one. It’s easy to do.”

  “Don’t worry, Arsted,” Renna said. She nudged me and laughed. “Thorian likes to overthink at times. He’ll be fine.” She gripped my shoulder. “Now, I need to get you a gift for your birthday, and we only have a few days to get it, so first thing in the morning, we’re looking around Starcrest!”

  “You don’t have-”

  “Don’t try to stop me!” Renna interrupted. “We’re going and that’s final!”

  “Fine, fine,” I said.

  At least that gave me something to do tomorrow. I didn’t know the first thing I wanted as a gift. Since we’d be looking around the city, I was sure I would find something interesting. I would make sure not to make it expensive for her, it’s not like we have a lot of money anyway.