Rakhail reached his hand down and pulled Kaden to his feet. “Do not feel bad, Padvor and Gion both have trouble even when fighting against me together.”

Kaden had just lost all seven rounds against Rakhail’s superior tactics. Rakhail was somehow always able to bait Kaden into making a mistake or trap and then counterattacking. Magic didn’t make any difference, Rakhail seemed to use both spells far more efficiently.

“What you said about using magic at only the moment it was needed is a good way to preserve ones stamina and prolong spell life. It is still somewhat difficult, I should ask Saba to show me how she does it.”

“Somewhat difficult?” Kaden repeated Rakhail’s words and laughed. Saba was the only one in the village that had figured out how to completely stop and restart a spell’s affects without ending the spell entirely. Kaden was able to manage it to a very slight degree but was never able to fully master the skill; not that he saw any point to it now with his newly enhanced body. “Is that really necessary now? With the strengthening serum most are able to manage to keep both spells fully active for between two and two and a half hours. Also since we all recover fully within an hour after that give or take. It feels like it really isn’t worth the time to learn. I just can’t see fights lasting that long but if we need to we can also supplement this with Recoberry juice.”

“It would be best to have a tool and not need rather than need the tool and not have it. The more options we have the stronger we will be.” Rakhail slowly guided Kaden towards a nearby bench. “Speaking of options, you said you knew bits and pieces of other spells but they were not complete?”

Kaden nodded answering Rakhail. “Then would you be able to write down all you know? Sometimes it takes an entire village working together to solve a mystery.”

Kaden agreed to Rakhail’s request. He also didn’t forget to make a mental note to remember and ask Saba to demonstrate how she was able to use spells so efficiently. The two of them sat back to rest and enjoy a few of the other bouts.

“You know you’ve been staring at him all morning”, Gion’s voice called to Alia.

She quickly turned her gaze away from Kaden. “What’s wrong with me? My husband just died not more than two months ago and I don’t know why I am having these thoughts.” The myriad of emotions Alia was experiencing were very clearly tearing away at her. “I feel like I’m betraying my husband by having these feelings and yet I have no control over them. I keep telling myself it’s because he gave me hope and they aren’t real. I hope they aren’t real”

Gion placed a hand on her shoulder, “I can’t tell you if what you’re feeling is right or wrong. The effects of grief are different for everyone. I can tell you that Alcor loved you very much and would want you to be happy. I do not believe he would feel betrayed.” Gion embraced Alia, “The pain from loss will always be with you, it never truly goes away when it is someone you deeply care about. It will however lessen over time and you will think about it less. This I know well.”

Gion took a moment before finally letting her go, “Come, let’s try and take your mind off it.”

The two of the walked up and took their places in the center of the practice arena. “We’ll start slow for now and see how you feel. Girl, do not push yourself, you have only just recovered.”

Alia nodded, “ready.”

The signal to start had barely been given leaving Gion almost no time to react. Alia had thrown her sword towards Gion forcing her to swat the improvised projectile out of the way. The split second Gion’s eyes were forced off her opponent were all Alia needed for a real attack. Alia closed the distance between them just slightly ahead of her sword. She dropped herself low to the ground ensuring she was still out of Gion’s vision while sweeping her leg.

The next thing Gion realized she was laying on her back staring up at the blue sky with Alia’s sword pointed towards her.

“I may have just recovered but you didn’t have to take it that easy one me”, Alia lowered her sword offering Gion a helping hand up.

“I didn’t take it easy on you, I barley had the chance to even move. I don’t remember saying anything about using magic or going all out from the beginning.”

“I didn’t use magic, and I wasn’t going all out.” Alia’s reply causing Gion to pause questioningly for a moment. “No, I really wasn’t using magic.”

“Again” Gion barked determined to heal her bruised pride.

The next few rounds yielded different degrees of a similar result. Gion was forced to give up the idea of an even fight and finally won using magic while Alia had opted not to. The both of them had finally been stopped by Kaden and Rakhail just as things were starting to spiral out of control.

“Your hands”, Kaden holding his own out to Alia causing her heart to slightly quicken. “I don’t think you should fight if you have the choice”, he said after carefully examining her.

Kaden had noticed several scales forming all over Alia during her mock battle. “I think the sudden increase in adrenalin is causing a physiological change. As the fight progressed, especially during that last bout more of these scales started to form. You were also far more… aggressive.” Alia was shocked at his analysis at the situation. It was true, she had inexplicably felt a rage towards her opponent especially when she was put on the defensive during that last match. “I think that anyone who required my serum should also follow that advice. It would be best to avoid giving anyone new a dose if there is another option.”

“I refuse to just follow along helplessly”, Alia voice flared slightly.

“Calm down girl, you won’t be helpless following anyone around.” Gion authoritative tone halting her protest.

“How about using a bow from the back? You will be directly out of the fight but still able to help while remaining calm and help direct the battle.” Rakhail chimed in.

Alia pondered this for a moment, “I guess that would work.”

“Good, I have been thinking about a different way to fight since all of this had started. With everyone’s new found strength and magic we should be able to pull heavier bows with ease. Alia and anyone who used Kaden’s serum should be able to use even heavier bows then the rest of us. There are many things out there that are still faster than us, but maintaining distance with our enhanced speed and while using bows to attack or defend would give us better results.” Rakhail words sparking a plethora of new ideas for the group.

“If that is the case I have something that may help. My people have something called a Compound Bow, it would take more time to make than a regular bow but would be perfect for our needs.” Kaden briefly explained the gist of how the weapon worked as everyone listened intently.

“It’s settled then”, Gion bring them all back to the moment. “It looks like we won’t be able to move up our timetable after all. We will need to gather all the materials to make these Compound bows as well as train everyone in the village to fight with this new hit and run method.”

Before weeks end the village had created enough of Kaden’s Compound Bows for everyone and the preparations for leaving were almost complete.

“Are you sure the tribe hasn’t found the place where we grew those Para flowers?” Saba pestered Rakhail once again.

“No they have not”, his smile trying to relieve some of her anxiety.

“What about the stockpile we hid? Hopefully their scouts still haven’t noticed. What about the Spine-backs? The pack is almost four times the size and will attack us soon.”

“Calm down little one. Kaden’s plan regarding those two are very clever and I doubt the tribe will notice anything till it is too late.” Still smiling at her, “That and our own preparations and traps are already in place so there is little risk with adding his in with them.”

“Remind me to kill that boy for thinking of this. I hope Lara is in place”, Shole’s grizzled voice breaking the silence as his partner pointed to the signal they were waiting for. “Time to stir up the hornets next, you ready?”