I stood there, a midst the corpses of our enemies, breathing hard for a moment. My eyes were wide and my heart raced as if it wanted to jump out of my chest. I looked around. The only ones left standing were my sister, our friends and I. At least as far as I knew. I dropped the crossbow again and headed over to the female headhunter I had brought down first. I pulled my knife from her corpse. It took considerable effort and I could feel it grind against her ribs. She was dead, I was moderately certain of that. Still I rammed the knife into her torso once more below solar plexus, aiming for the heart this time, to make sure.

She didn't even twitch. Then I proceeded around our former campsite, cutting the throat of all the other fallen intruders as I passed from one to the other. Better safe than sorry. So much better. Finally the Cat's Grace spell ran out, Blur had done so some moments ago, and as it did so I dropped to the ground exhausted. It had only been a few moments of intense fighting but it felt like those few moments had me cost me years of my live. I turned over, to rest against one of the rocks that had shielded our camp from prying eyes and bad weather alike, screaming once more as I accidentally put some weight on my injured arm. “Gah!”

No, it wasn't exactly my arm that was injured. It wasn't the shoulder either. It was the collarbone. Damn. Sure, those healed well enough all on their own, when left alone and given some time but they never healed quite as strong as they originally were. Kaele's Regeneration spell wouldn't help in that regard either, Sure, it would make it heal faster but in the end it only boosted the natural healing of the body. I would need a proper Cure Wounds spell if I wanted to avoid that becoming a weakness of mine in the future. I looked at the others. Khuzan had received a few scrapes as well, but they weren't immediately live threatening either. Kaele and Eld'tide had gotten away unscathed. That was a relief.

We had gotten lucky. Again. If we kept going like that we would run out of luck before long. That thought wasn't comforting. Not at all. I nodded towards my sister and pointed her to Khuzan. She understood what I meant and headed over to him to have a look at his cuts. It looked like even Mage Armor had some weaknesses. Well, whatever, it probably had saved his live, so there was no reason to complain. Kaele shook her head. “We should get the gear we ditched first. I need a clean piece of cloth and my medical supplies to properly treat those cuts before casting Regeneration on him. Otherwise I might make things worse.”

She was right of course. “Eld'tide, you accompany her. Keep your eyes open in case there are any more of them around.” I grinned and grimaced at the same time. “Get dressed again and get our stuff, please.” As they got going I extended my good arm to Khuzan, so he could help me back up. I still felt dead tired but I really shouldn't have let me go like that in the first place. Don't show weaknesses. That was another lesson his mother had been trying to beat into me. Maybe I would need a little refresher in that regard. “Come on, lets have a look if they had anything useful on them.” It remained unspoken, but what I meant was anything useful besides steel weapons and armor.

In the end our search turned out to be a little disappointing. They had been traveling with light luggage. What we found didn't amount to much. A few foreign coins, some mementos as well as some stale bread and skins of wine. It smelled sour and probably was. I didn't feel like actually tasting it. The biggest finds were the belongings of the robed man. He had a few small potion bottles with him. They weren't labeled though and I didn't feel like trying my luck. Maybe Kaele or Eld'tide could identify them. Otherwise they would remain useless. That man had had a book on him as well. Curious things, these books. Sure, they were more sturdy than scrolls, but given how heavy and cumbersome they were I couldn't quite understand why the humans bothered with them. They didn't even contain all that much more information than a few scrolls.

Maybe it contained some spells. Or maybe it was some kind of prayer book. Maybe Kaele could actually read it. I certainly couldn't. I had never bothered with any of the human languages. Honestly, couldn't they even settle on a single one? I sighed. At least all the steel they had been wearing would be worth a small fortune. That way it would be good for us even if it hadn't done them any good. I noticed Khuzan experimentally wield one of the shields the human warriors had been using and snorted. “You know that we will have to sell any steel we take of them to the royal treasury, right?”

He just shrugged and kept going. “Once we get a chance to sell anything. Until then we might as well put that stuff to good use.” In the end he dropped the thing though. “Its too large. Too heavy as well. Entirely unlike the shields I have trained with. No good. I guess I'll stick with my shield spell for the time being.” That was understandable. A good warrior knew how to use a great many weapons and was familiar with a great many kinds of armor as well. That usually did not include gear fashioned for a different people though. He kicked one of the fallen warriors. “Want to try on one of their chain shirts? The one from the guy with the big sword might just fit.”

I just shook my head. “No.” I wasn't quite as sure that it would really fit. I was a good two head larger than that man had been. His armor wasn't crafted for women either which would mean that it probably wouldn't fit all that well around the shoulders and the waist. And, most importantly the smith who had crafted it had not wasted any thoughts on horns. My head probably wouldn't fit through the hole for the head. Besides there were other things keeping me from even trying it on. “I probably couldn't get out of my scale mail right now. Can't raise my right arm.” Well I probably could. At least with some help. The pain would make me swear up a storm though. Thus I wouldn't even make an attempt. No thank you.

“What's that about your arm?” My sister's worried voice kept us from exploring that topic any further. She carried her pack and mine with the scales as well. A few steps behind her was our Gorgon comrade. She was back in her clothes and carried the rest of the gear we had dropped in preparation for our attack. Before I could voice an objection Kaele was at my side, prodding at my arm and my shoulder until I winced in pain. “Broken collarbone, huh? Want me to cast Regeneration on it? Or should I just tie the arm to your side to immobilize it for the time being? So Eld'tide's mother can treat it with a Cure Wound spell once we get back home?”

I sighed. “We'll put it in a sling and tie it to my side and then you will cast Regeneration. With a bit of luck I'll be able to move the arm again without pain tomorrow.” That was in theory possible but it was a pretty optimistic estimate as well. It probably would be better if I could rest for another day or two. Somehow I doubted we had that much time though. “First you will see to Khuzan's injuries though.” I pushed her in his direction with my good arm before turning to Eld'tide. “Help me cut up the tent for a sling?”

She shook her head. She obviously didn't like the idea. She set out to do it anyway. She must have already guessed what I said next. “We will leave tomorrow morning. And we will leave most of our things here. Especially most of the loot we have gathered. Until then we have to get back into fighting shape best we can.” I kicked one of the headhunters, my gaze locked on their bloody trophies. Some of them were all too fresh. “We probably will have to do plenty more killing before this is over. Eld'tide, get the headhunters' arrows. I think they are steel tipped armor piercers. I'll take that crossbow and one of their lighter swords. Khuzan, Kaele, how about you.” They just shook their heads. “Very well.”