166 Noble

"That was a good fight," Elero said as she jumped out of the small crater in the mud which had resulted from her landing. "It's been a while since I've let a little loose like that." She sunk into the water and let the slow current wash all the guts and blood off her body and down the stream. When she surfaced, she found her rapier stuck inside of the Bullfrog's stomach, half of it anyway. Only a broken pommel remained in her hand. 'Not again,' She scowled as she tossed her broken weapon away. She pulled a longsword and sheath from her spatial ring and attached it to her waist.

After, she reached into the Bullfrog's stomach and pulled out Frey's shield. There was a large crack down the center. The spear fared better. A simple tug and it came loose. "Frey, I got your weapons," She yelled over as she walked around the Bullfrog's corpse and towards the group. The group however, payed her no mind. They were gathered around Frey's fallen figure.

Aside from Thomas's wobbly legs, the only thing that held him upright was the spear which he leaned on. "Frey are you ok?" Frey held his head and groaned. He slowly got to his feet, mud and water dripping from his dented armor. He held onto his side and squinted. "Frey?" Thomas asked, waving a hand in front of Frey's face. "Hello? Is anyone home?" Frey coughed swamp water out of his lungs and into Thomas's open mouth. Thomas grimaced and spat out as much of it as he could.

Frey's eyes lost their focus and he began to stumble back into Doevm, who put one of Frey's massive arms around his shoulder. "He's fine." Doevm turned and began making his way towards the few remaining pieces of solid soil in the area. "Can you two go get the Bullfrog's corpse, the Amphiboards, and the paddles while I make sure he's ok?"

"But the fight is over," Thomas insisted. "I can help. I have more than enough energy. Everything else can wait."

"I can take care of him from here, Sir Viril…" Doevm sighed. "What's the point anymore? Thomas, do you think you can fit that thing into your spatial ring?"

Thomas glanced back at the Bullfrog's slimy, bloody corpse and hesitated: "Can't you do it? Doesn't your spatial ring have the space? It's just so…"

Elero sighed as she pushed Frey's shield and spear into Thomas's arms. "Make yourself useful and go get the Amphiboards and paddles after handing Frey back his things. I can get the corpse." She stormed off. Her previous bright smile turned into a frown.

"What's her problem?" Thomas intentionally asked before she was out of earshot. He looked back only to the others only to find that they had gone ahead without him.

"Thomas, we made a lot of noise in a swamp full of curious creatures." Doevm called over his shoulder. "Those Amphiboards and paddles are necessities for moving fast. Get them."

"Didn't you have a rapier?" Thomas asked as he tried to yank a paddle from an entanglement of plants. He sighed and began to cut at the long grasses.

"I have a lot of weapons," Elero grunted as she pulled at the Bullfrog. "Rapier, longsword, crossbow, and a bunch of other stuff you probably don't care about. It is all nothing to worry your pretty little head over."

"Did I do something to offend you in some way?" Thomas asked, finally pulling the paddle free of the mess of plants.

"Absolutely nothing," Elero said as she finished pulling one of the Bullfrog's arms into the spatial ring. She walked around to the other side and pulled on it. "Nothing at all."

"Ok then," Thomas said. He picked up a piece of Elero's broken rapier and gave it a quick glance over before tossing it away. "Do you want any help with that?"

Elero waved a hand at him. "No, just go make yourself useful somewhere else. I don't need your help, or the trouble it would bring."

"Got it," Thomas forced a faint smile and grabbed an Amphiboard. Turning it around, he found a tooth as big as his fist in its side. The Amphiboard itself only had a small scratch. "These things might be an absolute nightmare to use, but they're are pretty tough. Who knew that frogs had so many teeth?"

Elero glanced back at the single tooth that Thomas held out. "Yup, a lot of teeth. They almost ripped you to shreds if it wasn't for your friends. They are your friends, right?"

"Of course," Thomas let out a nervous chuckle. "I am very grateful that they have my back. Do you feel that they didn't have yours in some way? If it is about that, we couldn't help getting separated…"

"No, that's not it." Elero shook her head. "I figured you wouldn't notice. You didn't have thei…" Elero's voice trailed off. "Nevermind." She turned back to the Bullfrog's corpse, which was halfway into her spatial ring. "Just know that you need to work hard no matter what you were born with, Thomas Virility. I know what your household does. That won't carry you through this academy."

"Hey, I've trained hard for the academy," Thomas walked into her line of sight. One whiff of The Bullfrog's corpse made him step back from it. He held out an arm and surrounded it with blue life essence. "See, I am not weak." He smiled.

"I see that you're showing off instead of working. Did you pick that trick up from Molly? Are you going to have your two hired babysitters do everything for you?" Before Thomas could respond, Elero let go of the frog and put a finger over her lips. A bit of life essence moved from her legs to her ears. She closed her eyes. Every few seconds, her head would twitch.

"What do you hear?" Thomas couldn't help but ask as he moved his life essence to his ears as well.

"Quiet," Elero said.

"Yeah, I don't hear anything either," Thomas said as he dispersed his life essence.

"No, I was telling you to be quiet," Elero opened her eyes and dispersed her life essence. Her head whipped around, staring at one of the denser parts of the fog. "Hurry up with those Amphiboards and paddles." She moved life essence to her arms and pulled as hard as she could.

"Alright," Thomas backed away. "I guess not every noble is as good as the ones I know," he muttered as he picked up more paddles and Amphiboards. "Do you know how many there are? What's coming?"

"Doevm," Elero called over, "Get Frey ready to move."

…

Doevm leaned Frey against a tree and gave him some space. "Why did you get distracted in the middle of a battle? It is not like you."

"I-I," Frey stuttered. His eyes went in and out of focus.

Doevm sighed. "I don't have time for this." He reeled back and slapped Frey so hard that his head snapped to the side. "Take some breaths," Doevm said. The Bullfrog knocked the wind out of you when it slammed you. It might have given you a con…" He put a hand on his chin. "con…con-cushion? Concussion that was it. But I don't think that's why you're so out of it. Come on, talk to me." He glanced down to Frey's swelling leg, to the hand Frey held to his side, then back to Frey's eyes, which were locked onto something behind Doevm.

He followed Frey's line of sight to the Bullfrog's eye, which Elero had yet to pull into her spatial ring. He turned back and put a hand over Frey's eyes. "Breathe in," Frey's rapid breaths slowed as he took a long breath in. "Breathe out," Frey breathed out. They repeated this process several times until Frey lightly pushed Doevm's hand away.

"Thank you," Frey said as he stood on his feet with Doevm's help. "I'm sorry, just something came back to me, something I haven't thought about in a long time. I lost focus. It was just a small slipup. It won't happen again."

"Frey," Doevm said. "Remember what General Marble said before we casted off. Hold onto what pushes you forward: a drive, a purpose, something you can put all of your being into. If you do that, this will not happen again."

"I have that already," Frey said. After a second, his eyes drooped. "I think I do."

"Say it," Doevm pushed Frey back to the tree. "Say it now." As he looked Frey in the eyes, that cool neutral expression he always wore, twitched. "A real one this time." He balled up his hands. "Remember when you fought in the war, when you faced down swarms of ghouls, when you led a squad of Virility guards. Ask yourself: why did you do it? What were you telling yourselves through all of that? Why do you push yourself?"

"Doevm," Elero's voice called over. "Get ready to move." Elero and Thomas rushed over with the Amphiboards. "There are more coming, a lot more." Deep into the fog, large round shadows moved up and down. Rhythmic sounds, hard slaps of flesh against mud and water, rang out harder than hail.