The War of Gods

Chapter 4 - Akchaman

Dawn greeted them as they neared Akchaman. A hill of houses could be seen through the tree tops of the forest they found themselves in. This thicket of nature represented the border between Korfez and Szofe.

They had made it.

Nerith was exhausted. They all were, she guessed. Joel had fallen asleep on her a few miles back, and Mavar hadn't talked much the whole night. Her own eyes threatened to close at any minute, even though they were only a few minutes ride from the city. More of a village really. Nerith had stopped here briefly on her way to join the army. Seemed like it had been years since then. In reality, only a couple of months had gone by, so she could still remember the path quite clearly. She recognized this thicket of trees they were passing through, and the road was familiar as well, the last bend before revealing the whole village. The air felt fresh and clear, as opposed to the thick humidity of Korfez. The smell of flowers and gunpowder filled her-

Gunpowder?

"Get down!", she barely had time to yell.

Nerith threw herself onto the ground and instinctively protected Joel's body with her own. A loud explosion left her ears ringing and head spinning, the only thing she could feel were the earth tremors caused by their horses galloping away.

She could hear Mavar yelling for her, but her body couldn't keep up. She looked down to check up on Joel and saw him groaning and gasping, straining for air. The impact must've sucked the oxygen out of his lungs.

Nerith looked up and saw a hooded figure moving in the trees up ahead. Scrambling to her feet, she grabbed Joel by the collar of his shirt and hid behind a tree. She began conjuring a bolt with her other hand and waited for her ears to stop ringing. Where was Mavar? Nerith peaked from her cover spot and didn't see much. Everything was oddly quiet. She dared look a little further, putting her whole head out. She now saw Mavar, back against a tree a few feet ahead. He was looking at her as well, breathing heavily but slowly. Calm, collected, he put up three fingers to signal the number of bandits. Joel was steadily regaining his breath and now had his pipe in hand. Nerith tapped his shoulder. He tapped back. Nerith looked back at Mavar and nodded. He nodded back.

Go.