They rounded the corner into a scene of chaos. Several men with a variety of horses surrounded Naiela. One horse lay on the ground, kicking its powerful legs as it tried to right itself. A man in brown leather armor was trapped under the horse, one leg pinned firmly beneath the heavy beast. Two other riders holding crossbows were trying to restrain their frightened mounts as the horses bucked and danced, trying desperately to escape the surrounded wizard.

  Naiela was standing in Nightfang's stirrups, rapidly drawing glowing runic lines in the air. She had a long dagger in one hand, held out towards the nearest man. As Triss and Reginald closed the distance, Naiela's spell finished. The runes shrunk to a point of light and then expanded into a icy blue wave of wind that roared towards two of the men like a howling blizzard. They were also armed with crossbows, which they dropped to the ground as they threw their arms up to protect their faces from the ice attack.

  Triss made a quick count of the men. Bandits, she corrected herself. They must be bandits. There were five total, the one on the ground under the horse, the two who were struggling to control their mounts, and the two Naiela had just frozen. Part of Triss relaxed a little, seeing that all the attackers were either distracted, downed, or disarmed. Then she spotted the sixth man. He wasn't riding a horse, instead he was standing at the edge of the woods. His dark green leather armor blended into the scrubby bushes at the edge of the road. He was a large man, obviously well muscled. And in his hands, aimed directly at Naiela, was a heavy crossbow.

  Triss didn't have time to cast a spell. Firestarter would take too long to make a difference, and every other spell that might help took her far too long to cast. "By the woods!" She screamed, hoping that Reginald or Naiela could do something. The crossbow fired, the sharp snap of the string echoing in the crowded woods.

  Time seemed to slow for Triss. She heard each pounding beat of her heart right in her ears. Naiela was turning to look at her, twisting in the saddle, inch by agonizing inch. Reginald had his wand out, a runic spell already shrinking to a pinprick of light. The crossbow bolt crawled through the air, unerring and unstoppable in its flight.

  The bolt slammed into Naiela's shoulder as time seemed to suddenly resume. Reginald's spell became a roiling ball of flame that enveloped the crossbowman. Twin screams pierced the air as Naiela fell from her horse and the crossbowman burst into hot orange flames. Triss jumped off Buttercup and ran to Naiela's side as the council wizard writhed in the dirt.

  "Stop, stop. Hold still!" Triss yelled at the woman as she reached her side. Naiela rolled to her back, arching and screaming, face painted with dust and dirt from the road. The screams of the crossbowman were fading into a horrible choking noise, and the foul stench of burning hair filled Triss's nostrils, making her gag. She tried to ignore it, to breathe through her mouth as she examined the wound in Naiela's shoulder.

  The bolt had hit right below the shoulder bone, the blood soaked fletchings just barely visible above her black silk shirt. Triss grabbed the cloth around the wound and pulled, ripping a hole and exposing the pale skin beneath. Blood pooled around the shaft, the skin pulled inward to create a shallow pool. "Shit. Reginald!" Triss called as she pressed her hands around the bolt, trying to slow the bleeding. The sound of hoofbeats thundered in the air, and she looked up to see the rest of the bandits fleeing as quickly as they could, one hobbling down the road pursuing his fleeing horse.

  Reginald slid to her side like a baseball player stealing a base. "That is bad." He said, seeing the bolt. His wand was already in his hand and he began casting a spell. "I'm going to stop the blood flow for a second so we can get the bolt out. I need some clean cloth."

  Triss looked around frantically, mind racing too quickly to come up with any sources of cloth. A tearing sound drew her attention back to Naiela. Reginald was slicing her shirt with one claw, cutting away the dark fabric and exposing more of Naiela's flesh than was decent. Naiela swung her good arm, connecting with the back of Reginald's head. "Stop!" She screamed. Reginald ignored the strike.

  "I need cloth to stop the bleeding. I'm trying to save your worthless life." He growled as he pulled a large strip of cloth away. "Hold her down." He said to Triss.

  Naiela swung at Reginald again, but Triss caught her arm and pinned it the the ground. She did her best not to look at the woman's exposed body or the bloody work Reginald was doing. "It's ok." She assured the flailing woman. "He knows what he's doing. He'll fix it." She hoped that was true.

  "Ok, deep breath." Reginald said, and then there was a loud sucking noise. Triss looked back to see Reginald holding the bloodstained bolt in his hand. "Good, nothing left behind." He tossed the bolt away and began stuffing cloth into the hole in Naiela's shoulder. Triss wanted to look away, he stomach churning at the sight, but she was transfixed. Reginald poked the cloth into the wound with one claw, stuffing it in deeper and deeper until only a thin streamer stuck out, waving in the air like a morbid flag. He picked up his wand from the road where he'd set it and waved it over the wound. Naiela screamed and arches her back again as blood pooled around the cloth.

  "Check her saddlebags for a shirt." Reginald ordered, and Triss hurried to comply. Nightfang had stepped away but hadn't left, and she rushed over to his side. The big black stallion snorted at her approach, but didn't stop her as she unbuckled the saddlebags and started searching within. She found all manner of weapons, pouches and jars, and even a bright blue dress covered with frilly lace. Finally, tucked at the bottom of one bag she found a few sets of clothing that matched what the wizard was already wearing. She pulled the shirt and hurriedly stuffed the contents back into the bag.

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  "Here." She said as she handed Reginald the shirt. To her surprise, he didn't try to put it on the woman, instead folding it into a square and pressing it against the wound. Naiela shuddered as he pushed the cloth against her shoulder. Her skin was a pale white now, and even her lips were beginning to lose their color. Triss ran back to Nightfang and rummaged through the saddlebags, finding a coarse wool blanket. She shook it out and threw it over the woman. Naiela didn't move as she tucked the blanket tightly around her body, and she realized the woman had completely passed out now.

  "Good thinking." Reginald said, helping her arrange the blanket with one hand while still pressing the wound with his other. "We need to get moving. She's lost a lot of blood, and I think the bolt hit her shoulder blade. I don't know if it's broken or not, but she needs better treatment than I can do on the side of the road. I'm going to lift her, you keep a hand on the bandage."

  Triss took over putting pressure on the wound. Reginald stood and waved his wand. Purple bands of energy wrapped around Naiela's body, lifting her off the cold ground. "Keep pressure on the wound. I'll keep her up and lead the horses. We'll have to move quickly, I can't keep this up forever." Triss nodded and got ready to move. Reginald ran and grabbed Buttercup and Nightfang's reins, and then with a flick of his wand they headed out, Naiela floating a couple feet off the road.

  Triss couldn't help but look back as they set off. The road was torn up in where the one bandit's horse had fallen. A large puddle of thick blood had mixed with the dirt of the road, leaving a dirty red-brown mess. A small fire still burned on the side of the road, several bushes snapping and cracking as the flames devoured their thin branches. Where the crossbowman had been was a large black spot with a crumbled form in the center. A blackened hand reached skywards, barely recognizable. The fingers were curled inwards, so tight they pressed deep into the cracked palm. Triss turned away quickly, trying not to lose her lunch.

  The wind blew down the road, swirling eddies of dust around the edges of the dirt path. The trees seemed to press in, their high canopy dimming the muted sunlight. "How far do we have to go?" Triss asked.

  "Probably about an hour's walk at this speed. When we get closer to the town I'll have to carry her. I'll draw enough attention for what I am. We don't want to use magic too." Reginald replied.

  They walked for twenty minutes, the wind and Naiela's shallow breathing the only sound. "Is she going to be ok?" Triss asked nervously. She almost hadn't asked, not wanting to hear more bad news.

  "I don't know. She's lost a lot of blood." Was Reginald's terse reply.

  Triss was silent. She barely knew this young woman, and she certainly didn't like her. But the idea of her dying weighed heavily on her. It wasn't Triss's fault, but it felt like she'd failed. "Can we go any faster?" She finally asked.

  Reginald didn't answer, but his pace picked up slightly. Triss quickly matched him.

  "Who were those men?" She asked a while later, more to break the silence than anything else.

  "Bandits, probably. It's a common issue."

  "Don't the have like, police or something to stop them? If it's a common issue there should be like, patrols or something."

  "In some of the larger cities they do have patrols, but not out here."

  "Why not?"

  "There's not enough people for a real kingdom to get set up. If there was a kingdom, then the court wizard would probably do something about it."

  "Court wizard?"

  Reginald nodded. "Every kingdom has a council appointed wizard who serves as advisor to the king. At least, they call them advisors. In reality they're the true power. If the king doesn't listen to the court wizard, he gets quietly replaced."

  "So the court wizard is the one in charge? Why bother with a king then?" Triss asked, partly from curiousity but mostly because the conversation was a good distraction from the situation.

  "Because court wizards are allergic to a knife in their back." Reginald grinned. "If the court wizards were in charge, then they would get blamed for everything that went wrong. And the people would turn against them, and against wizards in general. Deep down, people are frightened of those who wield powers beyond their understanding. That fear can turn to anger."

  "And anger leads to hate." Triss replied, almost instinctively.

  "Yes, actually. If the people knew wizards were ruling them, they'd begin to hate them, and eventually try to kill them. It's happened before. And even a powerful wizard can be killed if enough people are trying."

  "Why do the kings put up with it then? Couldn't they just refuse to have a court wizard?"

  "Because the council would kill them. That's why there are so many countries. Every time a wizard reaches a certain rank within the council they're given a country to control. It's how the council keeps power. One or two kings might kill their wizards and try to overthrow the council, but never enough at once to actually accomplish it. It's a clever way of maintaining control, if you think about it."

  "It's stupid. Someone should take the wizard council out." Triss replied.

  "Well, maybe you can make that a goal. Always good to have goals. Ok, we're getting close. I'll have to carry her from here."

  Triss didn't see anything that said there was a town nearby, the road looked the same as it had all day. But she trusted Reginald, so she stepped aside so he could pick up Naiela's unconscious form. She grabbed the horses' reigns and started to lead them down the road, Reginald following behind. He seemed not to even notice the weight of the woman slung over his shoulder, walking as through he had a bag of flour instead of a person.

  When they rounded the next corner, Triss finally saw the village. The road dipped down, out of the forest and into a short stretch of tan fields. Down in the valley sat a small town with no more than two dozen stone buildings with brown thatched roofs. A wide stone bridge crossed a narrow brook just before the town's entrance. There were no walls, which gave Triss a bit of hope. Thalonia had been a relatively safe town for years, and it had walls. Maybe this town was so safe and peaceful it didn't need them.

  The weight seemed to lift off her then, seeing the town. She could imagine it was full of friendly people, and likely someone who could help Naiela. Plus an inn. Reginald had mentioned an inn. The idea of sleeping in a real bed and eating hot food energized her. This was exactly what they needed. Visions of hot soup and fresh bread danced in her eyes as they traveled down the road and over the bridge. She was so distracted she nearly ran into a man who stood in the middle of the bridge.

  "Shit!" She yelled, right at the man. His eyes went wide in surprise. "Sorry, you startled..." She trailed off as she recognized the man's armor. It was identical to the bandit's.

  "Sorry about that, miss." He said in a deep gravely voice. The man was tall and heavily built, obviously well muscled. His salt and pepper hair was cut short, and he had a thick beard, trimmed neatly with lines of grey running through the coarse black hair. "I'll need you both to come with me."

  "Why?" Triss blurted out.

  "I've recieved reports that that woman-" he indicated Naiela's body. "-attacked one of our patrols. I'm here to arrest her.