“A soldier’s best skill is knowing how to fight. Their second best is knowing when not to.” King Brian Felnus I of Alantar (92-154 A. F. E.).

  Garassk scanned the area and accessed the situation. It wasn’t looking good. He could see seven men so far, but he could taste the scent of more nearby.

  “We’re surrounded,” he muttered. “How do we get out of this?”

  “Wait,” the older varanian growled. “An opportunity will present itself.”

  “It really doesn’t look like we have that kind of time,” he muttered back.

  The soldiers had started to draw nearer.

  “A plan would be nice right now,” Garassk said through clenched teeth. Rathorn let out a snarl, which caused the men to step back for a moment. Garassk drew his sword.

  “What are we going to do?” Savrassa asked meekly.

  “Wait,” Rathorn grunted. Garassk tried to keep calm, but his breaths were coming fast and shallow.

  “Any day now,” he said, watching the soldiers.

  One of them finally got too close to Savrassa. That was when Garassk acted.

  He charged forward and headbutted the soldier, sending him backwards into his allies.

  “Not yet!” Rathorn roared, but it was too late. The other soldiers charged forward.

  Luckily, Garassk held his own, despite Rathorn’s objections. He blocked the first attacks with his sword and shield, pushing them back as he did so. What few men ran past to try and attack his back were handled by Rathorn. He dared not turn and see how.

  Despite their success in warding off the men, more were coming, and they were getting bolder.

  “We’re going to have to get out of here!” Garassk called out, stabbing a man who’d gotten too close.

  “That’s what I was trying to prepare before you attacked them!” Rathorn bellowed. Garassk didn’t have the time to point out that Rathorn hadn’t explained himself properly, so he focused on parrying the incoming blows from the enemy. As the fight went on, they managed to get a few jabs in. His thick scaly skin kept them from going deep, but they still hurt.

  “Anything?” he called back.

  “I hear water!” Rathorn shouted. “Follow my lead!”

  Garassk assumed that this meant backing up, and did just that. The enemy soldiers pressed their advantage. Every time he staggered over Savrassa, they lunged. Some of them even managed to stab him. But Garassk held firm.

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  Rathorn roared and moved forward, shooting a bolt at the nearest men.

  “Now!” he roared.

  “Now what?” Savrassa asked.

  “We run,” Garassk answered, grabbing her wrist.

  “What? Ahh!” she shrieked as he charged away from the men, following Rathorn.

  “This way!” the older varanian shouted, sending some rocks backwards into the path of the knights with his tail. Garassk caught up in time to see the older varanian dive for a nearby river and start swimming. The soldiers had them cornered from every other direction. Only one way out.

  “Ready?” he called to Savrassa.

  “No, but do it anyway!” she shouted. He dove in, pulling her with him. The rush of the water felt like a second home, or would have if not for the occasional arrow that flew near him. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, he thought. As the swim dragged on, his lungs began to scream for air.

  Savrassa eventually got enough control over the situation to break free of Garassk’s grip and follow. He poked his head out of the water to take a breath and access their surroundings.

  The archers were far behind them, but they would need to keep going to truly lose them.

  “What are we waiting for?” he called out to Rathorn.

  “There’s more forested ground up ahead,” the older varanian shouted. “We can lose them there.”

  Garassk nodded and pushed forward. The flow of the stream was beginning to slow, making the travel easier. Once he noticed Rathorn crawling toward land, he did the same. He watched Savrassa struggle for a moment before pulling her up.

  “Thanks,” she said.

  “We’ve still got some moving to do!” he replied, pulling her toward the maze of trees. He tasted for the scent of Rathorn and weaved his way through. Even with the scent, he was still caught off guard when the older reptile pushed his club forward to stop Garassk from walking past him.

  “We make our stand here,” he growled. “Find a place to hide.”

  Garassk found a thick tree, and moved behind it. Savrassa followed.

  “Can you climb?” he asked her.

  “I think so,” she said.

  “Try your best to get up there,” he said. “We’ll take it from here.”

  She moved slowly, but did what he said. He crouched down and watched for the first sign of trouble approaching.

  He didn’t wait long. Two knights wandered in front of him almost immediately. He charged forward and slammed the pommel of his sword against the man near the back, crushing the other one’s armor with his tail-mace at the same time. A third man stepped in front of him. Before he could do anything, Savrassa leapt down from her tree and pinned him to the ground. The man managed to kick her off, but Garassk was ready, and crushed his head with his mace.

  “We need to do more to lose them!” he hissed.

  “Just hold the line,” Rathorn called back. Garassk heard a slamming sound shortly after, but didn’t want to know what his older companion was doing.

  “Fall back, lads!” someone shouted in the distance. The knights in front of them proceeded to do exactly that, eventually fading into the horizon.

  “There we go,” Rathorn said.

  “What do you mean?” Savrassa asked. “They’ll obviously be back.”

  “They know they can’t just charge in recklessly,” Rathorn answered. “They need to either get greater numbers, or learn how to navigate the forest. Either way, it gives us time to get moving.”

  “Good enough for me,” Garassk muttered. “Let’s get out of here.”

  “Do you know your way from here?” Rathorn asked, grabbing his younger companion before he could get very far. “I don’t know how far we moved to escape.”

  “This isn’t how we’d usually do it,” Savrassa said. “But I think I can find my way from here.”

  “Lead on.”

  Savrassa limped through the trees, with Garassk and Rathorn tailing behind. The taste of death still lingered on his tongue as Garassk tried to taste a path forward. After a while, he began to flick his tongue out only occasionally. He wanted to stop altogether, but he knew that it would be easier to know when they were safe when the scent was further way, or gone completely.