Chapter 18:

Chapter 18 - One Week to Lillinberg (Days 3 and 4)

Wandering Another World with Only A Six Shooter


The plan was quite simple. Only three steps. Step one was obviously to find a dire deer, easily done with Clint’s eagle eyes and Luna’s Detect Magic spell. Step two was to isolate it, a job for Sol’s fire magic; He was to create three walls of flame, cutting off the creature’s path and forcing it toward… Step three, Luna would emerge from hiding and ambush the creature, casting a spell to strike it down with a single blow.

Although he was unfamiliar with the woods, Clint acclimated quickly when it came to stalking prey. He climbed a large oak, quiet as a cat and found a perch from which he could observe the target.

While he had been told of the creature’s appearance, it made witnessing one in person no less strange. Its face was long and large, more like a horse than a deer. It had a stocky body behind it that sagged in the middle, supported by pillars of firm muscle that were a far cry from the typical thin and nimble legs of regular. Its horns were the most impressive, spiralling towers of keratin that turned and curved and grew into themselves. Dire deer lost the ability to shed, and as such their horns would grow ad infinitum, the pain of which often drove them even further into their berserker rages.

Target identified. Clint watched for a moment, observing how it thrashed about. It made enemies of rabbits and birds that happened to be in its proximity, charging toward them and attempting futilely to crush them underhoof. He almost wished he could spare a bullet to put it out of its misery.

He threw up a hand, a signal to Sol, who observed him from below. Three fingers up; That meant 30 feet. Next, he gestured left, then right, then to himself. Sol interpreted it as “Left side, right side, close to you.”

Instructions given, Sol began his spell. Three walls of fire, thirty feet away, one to the left, one to the right, one close to him. A three-sided box with an open top, forcing the deer toward Clint. He began the incantation to aid him in such precise spellcasting. Soon enough, the walls of fire began to form. First the left, which sent the deer recoiling. It sprinted directly opposite, but found its path cut off by one on its right. It turned toward Sol, stamping its hooves ahead of a charge, but was then cut off by the final wall. Its violent nature was overtaken by its basic survival instinct, retreat became the only option, so it turned and fled toward Clint.

Luna was the final piece, already running at the sight of the first wall. She was equidistant between Clint and Sol, allowing her to take her place whichever way was ideal based on the landscape and proximity to the deer. It was an ideal role for her, she was the only one fast enough to beat it in a footrace and she possessed the magical power to instantly kill the beast. She was perfectly suited to be the finishing strike of their combination.

The only question was which spell to use. Munditia was far too powerful and destructive, lightning risked burning the meat and was unlikely to give a clean kill. Bolt, the weakest and simplest of projectile spells, was unlikely to do sufficient damage. Beyond those, the rest of her arsenal was utility, which wouldn’t help at all.

No, for this task she needed something new, and thanks to her research, she had just the thing. Glacia, a second level ice spell she had been studying as of late. She’d not used it yet, but there was no time like the present. As she came to intercept the charging deer, she began the incantation. It was composed of all harsh sounds, reminiscent of chattering teeth.

The deer didn’t register her as she appeared in its path, still in a blind panic. If it didn’t notice her, it certainly wasn’t going to notice the fact it was dead. The bolt of ice magic fired through its entire body in a quick, clean shot, boring a hole through it like it wasn’t there at all. Its blood froze the instant it seeped out, preserving the wound perfectly.

With a deep breath, Luna smiled, satisfied with her performance as she stood over her kill.

“No good.” Clint remarked from above.

“What do you mean ‘no good’?” she protested.

“Meat’s ruined.” He said plainly, switching his attention to climbing out of the tree.

Soon, Sol returned, also inspecting the deer. “Wow. What’d you do to it?” he looked at Luna wide-eyed.

“Glacia. Not bad for my first time, right?” She beamed.

“For sure!” Sol patted her on the back, earning an even larger smile from his sister. “But…”

“But what?” Luna’s face dropped into an irritated glare, she hated being left in the dark.

“Look at the meat.” Sol said hesitantly.

Finally Luna inspected the meat. It was grey and ugly, fibres contracted and dehydrated. Even as Sol cut into it looking for something salvageable, it was ruined all the way through.

In a vacuum, it was an impressive feat, and if the goal was to purely impress with sheer magical power, she’d have succeeded with flying colours. Unfortunately, they needed to eat, and this had only gotten them further from their goal.

“Ah well.” Clint shrugged, already continuing his way north.

“No, it’s fine, we can just find another…” Luna began, scrambling to cast Detect Magic again. No hits. It seemed the fire had scared all the other dire deer off. “Or maybe we could-”

“‘S Fine. Give it a day, let ‘em settle.” Clint insisted.

“Yeah, don’t sweat it. It can’t be helped.” Sol smiled, continuing behind Clint. “We’ll just try again tomorrow.”

Luna grumbled to herself, hesitant to continue with her wrongs unrighted. It truly could not be helped, she had cast the spell at her absolute minimum capacity, after all. There was simply no more she could do. Her magical reserves were so great that any usage of them would occur at maximum capacity. It was like pulling the plug on a great reservoir; The sheer volume caused an incredible flow rate that simply could not be held back. Most mages could easily manage the amount of mana put into a spell by trickling out mana, or partially opening a metaphorical valve that would only let a small percent of their power through. Luna couldn’t achieve such a thing, however, the sheer force at which her mana poured out would blow through any attempt to manage it. It was all or nothing, and even a millisecond of all was often too much.

There was simply nothing she could do.

They decided to go hungry that night. They still had two cracker-breads, and if push came to shove they could make it all the way to Lillinberg on just those. Although, that knowledge didn’t make sleep come any easier.



Walking, walking, walking. By this point, the twins were getting sick of walking. The woods had grown stale and samey, and they had already run out of much to talk about with Clint. There was only so much one could say unprompted by outside stimuli. Even Sol had found his repertoire of songs running dry.

Especially frustrated was Luna, who still hadn’t come to terms with the defeat of the day before. She spent most of her time with her eyes glued to her Detect Magic spell, waiting for the moment another dire deer came to give her a chance at redemption.

“Ahah!” She cheered, a mana register finally appearing after hours of nothing.

Something was off, though. It was faint. The dire deer’s mana signals weren’t particularly bright, but they were at least more prominent than the weak little glow before her now. Dire creatures’ mana was always wild too, as violent and desperate as the animals themselves, but this signal was only weakly pulsing every few seconds.

Concern rose within Luna. Certainly, this was strange. “Turn west a little.” She instructed. “I’ve found something.”



Somehow Luna began to doubt even her own impressive magic. They had at last reached the supposed destination of the magical power, but there was no source. No monster, nor beast, nor spirit in sight.

“Where’s the deer?” Sol asked, still a step behind.

“I didn’t say it was a dire deer.” Luna replied, scanning the treetops for any signs of magic.

Naturally, Clint was the first to discover it, even though he wasn’t paying Luna’s spell any mind.

Face down in the dirt was a small woman, about half Clint’s size. Her breath was soft and shaky, signifying a life that was barely hanging on. Her ears poked out from dark curls of hair, pointed, but shorter than even a half-elf’s.

Immediately, Clint crouched down to aid her, offering a hand to pull her up. Her own olive-skinned fingers reached out weakly. He met her in the middle, pulling her to her feet and keeping a firm of hold of her as she got her bearings.

Although she was small, she was an older woman. In mankind’s terms, she must have been somewhere in her late 40, crow’s feet settled at the corner of her eyes, the suggestion of wrinkles starting across her face but not quite settled by age. Her long dark lashes flitted over her large brown eyes, struggling to stay awake and struggling even more to focus.

“It’s alright. Take a seat.” Clint soothed, helping her to perch on a fallen log nearby. “We still got that food?” He turned to Sol.

“We do, but it’s the last we’ve got…” He hesitated.

“Give it to her. Water too.” Clint ordered, leaving no room for discussion. He knew the severity of the woman’s situation. He was well accustomed to the sight of a body walking the borderline between life and death.

Sol passed him the last of their food, as well as one of their only skinfuls of water. Clint offered them to her. “Eat slowly now,” he said.

Obeying, she weakly tore at the hard bread, teeth barely able to get purchase with how weak her jaw had become. It was likely she couldn’t even speak. Clint passed her some water, allowing it to wash over her dry, cracked lips and soften the bread she was struggling with.

Recovery took a while, but Clint gave the woman all the time in the world. It was an hour before she finished her bread. Another half before she was able to speak. “Th-thank you.” she muttered, eyes finally staying open.

Clint sat up, leaving her side for the first time. “‘S alright.” was all he said.

Luna, who had long since grown tired of holding her tongue, began her questioning; Gently, of course. “What were you doing face-down in the middle of the woods like that?”

The woman began, voice still weak and unfamiliar to itself. “I got lost. I came from Lillinberg.”

“Lillinberg? Man, you got really lost. We’re still a few days out.” Sol commented, earning an awkward hand-waving protest from the woman.

“These woods are easy to get lost in! I mean, as you said, they’re huge, right? It takes days to get through them.” The short lady quickly responded.

“What’s your name?” Luna moved on, not wanting to stress out the poor woman any further.

“Marrie, like to marry, Gauld, like Gold.” She said.

“Like a marigold!” Sol added helpfully.

“No, not at all.” Marrie responded with a quizzical look, thoroughly dejecting Sol.

“Are you a spellcaster, Miss Gauld?” Luna asked.

“Mrs. And oh, I wouldn’t be so bold, I just do a little healing, fix up cuts and bruises around the house.” She was modest, blushing at the mere suggestion of such a lofty title.

“That explains the signal.” Luna thought.

As the two spoke, Clint sidled over to Sol, quietly asking “Why’s she so little?”.

Sol gave him a wide-eyed stare, like he had said something profoundly offensive. “She’s an Auf. They’re small.” He said quietly in return, as if acknowledging such a difference was itself an offence.

“May I ask you three a question?” Marrie piped up, pulling Sol and Clint out of their secret chat.

“Shoot.” Clint replied.

“Are you headed to Lillinberg?” It took her a moment to say it, like it was some grand request.

“We are! It’s the nearest town, isn’t it?” Sol took over, he was the most competent socially.

“It is.” She nodded. “W-well, if it’s not too much trouble, could I…?” She struggled with her sentence, it felt pathetic to ask for yet more kindness from people who had already given her so much.

“‘Course. We’re headin’ the same way anyway, ain’t we?” Clint said, making one of his signature mid-sentence exits.

Marrie held her hands together, a tear almost forming in her eye. “How lucky.” she thought, watching as the other party members fell into line behind Clint. “How lucky I am to meet such kind people.” She hopped off the log, smiling to herself as she trailed along behind them.


Current Party: Clint Morgans, Sol Dragoneart, Luna Dragoneart, Marrie Gauld


Bullets Remaining: 5

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