Halonar

Ambush

Hadwyn didn't think the day would get worse.

The last few days were rough waves for him and most of the rest of the AFHA. The fact that they had to collaborate with the Iron Legion, the independent guilds that had been siphoning funds and assets for years from them, left a bad taste in Hadwyn's mouth. Two heroes, Gerrin And Sierra, stood near one of the tents. Gerrin and Sierra were seniors, if not veteran heroes, which meant they were well trained and competent to any situation.

And of course, there was Sarah, one of the operators of the iron guild. Teresa hated her.

Hadwyn really has no idea why, but Teresa would mention Sarah with such distain. He assumed there was some sort of bad blood between them. He had only been with Teresa and Sarah in the same room once, and it was made pretty obvious that they hated each other, they did keep their professionalism, which Hadwyn was glad for.

Kela was chatting with the other lower rank heroes, Larry, Jenson, and Hobbs

Hadwyn had met the three of them previously for a brief moment during one of their conventions in the past.

Hobbs seemed like a nice enough guy, but he was not very smart. Larry was supposedly the smartest in the group, but he came across as a know-it-all, and kind of an asshole. But none compared to Jenson. Hadwyn had seen them work together, and Jenson was their leader, no doubt. But Jenson treated his party like cannon fodder. He would send them off to weaken the enemy wave they were fighting, then when they inevitably got too weak from fighting, Jenson would swoop in and deal the final blow, and take whatever experience they had built upon.

Hadwyn knew all this because he got their reports last time.

Jenson and the rest of his party were swinging at some practice dummies in the field. There were some other Aldaraians there too, but Hadwyn didn't know them specifically. He would be introduced to them when the time was right anyways.

"Mornin'." Sierra said, approaching Hadwyn when they saw him. "Or as we like to say, where I come from, not again."

"Where do you come from?" Hadwyn asked.

Sierra shrugged. "The wasteland. When you see the sun coming up, you just know it's gonna be a hard day." She smirked at him. "Imagine the first thing you see when you open your eyes is the sun, and an endless sea of sand."

Hadwyn tried to imagine. From what she was telling him, Sierra has been summoned in the middle of the desert.

"Um, yeah. Pretty tough." Hadwyn said, the conversation seemed to be getting uncomfortable.

He shook hands with Gerrin next. "Aye, haven't seen you in a while, huh?"

"Yes, it's been quite some time." Hadwyn agreed

Gerrin sighed. "I have to go talk with Sarah." He pointed to the tables near the dummies and tents. "Sorry Hadwyn."

Hadwyn stood in his way. "Why? What's wrong?"

Gerrin kept pointing. "That's what's wrong."

Hadwyn turned to look again. He observed two people who appeared to be in a fierce argument.

Teresa and Sarah.

Shit!

Gerrin resumed marching down the hill, with Hadwyn following close behind.

As Hadwyn approached he heard some of the conversation.

"I don't care what your priorities are! I care about you doing the right thing here!" Teresa shouted.

"Please." Sarah glared at Teresa. "We've both been doing this for decades, and then finally, when your crime rate goes down, it's convenient for you to complain. You're a hypocrite, Teresa, period."