H-Hogger? I didn't mishear that, did I?

Jess cursed in the language of his previous life and turned, searching frantically for a weapon dropped by a gnoll or one of the soldiers. In the end, all he found was the bone cleaver carried by the smaller gnoll.

But the blade was too short, useless for either blocking or thrusting. The weapon in the gnoll's hand appeared to be an orc-made battle axe, with a head larger than Jess's own. One swing from that thing could cut him in half at the waist.

"Gred! Look over here, damn it!" Jess roared. Something rustled behind him, and someone—Gred or otherwise—rushed to his side.

Jess grabbed the dwarf by the beard. "Look at that! How do we fight it, huh? How are we supposed to fight that?!"

Gred seized Jess by the collar and lowered his voice. "Can't beat him. Should we run?"

"You run. Can you outrun a gnoll? What about your honor?!"

"Honor can kiss my ass if I'm dead! But you're right... Run... Can't get away either."

Jess looked around. Many of the militiamen had fought themselves to exhaustion. The guards were barely able to remain standing, and one man who had tried to flee into the forest had been pinned to a distant tree by a spear...

He gritted his teeth as the enormous gnoll advanced. The guard who had been holding it back now lay motionless on the ground.

Gred hefted his axe and tore off his eyepatch, fully revealing the long scar that ran from his forehead to the corner of his mouth.

In a low voice, he said, "Maybe we can kill him."

"We don't have a better choice," Jess agreed.

"Worth dying beside you, pinkskin!"

"We might not die. Let's do it."

The gnoll chieftain quickened his pace, spinning the axe in his hands as he charged. Human and dwarf leaped in opposite directions. Hogger's axe smashed into the wagon railing, making the whole vehicle shudder. With a metallic clatter, one wheel broke loose, and the wagon tilted sideways as sacks of grain tumbled off.

Hogger turned and swung at Jess. Jess snatched up a grain sack, and Hogger split it cleanly down the middle, spilling wheat across the ground. Even with the sack absorbing part of the impact, the blow left Jess's whole body numb. The monster was many times stronger than any human.

As Hogger prepared his second strike, his entire body suddenly jerked. He turned and clawed at his back, spinning in place. Gred clung to his axe with both hands, its blade buried in the armor across Hogger's back. Under the burning torchlight, the seeping blood shone bright as red ink.

"Can we kill him?"

Muttering to himself, Jess picked up the fallen bone cleaver, stumbled forward, and drove it toward Hogger's lower back... only to find that the point was not sharp enough. In his panic, Jess had not put enough strength behind the thrust either. After piercing the leather belt, the blade skidded across the gnoll's slick, rain-soaked bristles. It sliced the skin but never entered the flesh.

Hogger grunted in pain, turned, and kicked Jess away. He violently twisted his body, swinging Gred back and forth, then reached around with his free hand and caught the dwarf by one of his braids.

"Ow!"

Hogger ripped Gred down, and the axe slipped from the dwarf's hands. With an axe embedded in the armor across his back, Hogger's movements had become awkward, but he remained frighteningly fast and powerful.

He lifted Gred into the air with one hand and reached for his discarded axe with the other. Gred sank his teeth into the gnoll's paw. Hogger growled with pain but still refused to let go.

Jess rubbed his aching abdomen, gritted his teeth, and slipped over to the two-handed logging axe. He picked it up, gripped it in both hands, took a running start, and brought it down on the back of Hogger's leg with a scream and the last of his strength. The blow failed to sever the limb and merely gouged a bloody notch into the bone.

Hogger snorted and toppled to the ground, allowing Gred to break free.

"Finish him while he's down!" Jess threw the axe to Gred. Shouting something in Dwarven, Gred caught it in midair and brought it down in one vicious stroke. But Hogger suddenly raised his head and slammed it into the dwarf's chest, hurling him onto the wagon bed. Gred mumbled something incoherent, apparently dazed. Every time he tried to rise, the rain and mud sent him slipping back down.

Somehow, Hogger stood again and picked up the dwarf's weapon. Carrying a large axe in one hand and a small one in the other, he limped toward them.

The heroic determination on Jess's face froze. This time, he really was going to throw his life away for one silver.

He grabbed a fallen militiaman's long club and tried to take a blocking stance. Hogger brandished the axes before him—then abruptly vanished in a puff of smoke and became a sheep.

Polymorph?

Jess looked down the road. Through the pouring rain, a man in purple robes approached on a white horse, holding a staff high.

Was that Gandalf... or An... Antonidas?

Only when the mage drew nearer did Jess make out his face. It was Malin.

He shouted an incantation. As he chanted, the crystal at the end of his staff blazed with arcane light, illuminating the road and the forest on both sides.

The gnolls still fighting turned toward the light and saw their chieftain transformed into a sheep grazing beside the road. Panic swept through them. Many covered their eyes and retreated into the woods.

"The polymorph will not last long, Mr. Jess Seso!" Malin called. "A few minutes, perhaps only a few dozen seconds... Gnolls are highly resistant to my offensive magic. Once the spell ends, I will not be able to handle him either."

"Then we need to leave quickly. More gnolls may be coming." As Jess spoke, he suddenly remembered the guard Hogger had struck down. He pulled off the man's helmet. The guard was still breathing.

"Master Malin, take him!"

At Jess's shout, Malin jumped from his horse and examined the guard's mangled, bloody face. He pointed east. "Lift him onto the horse. All of you, head east quickly. You will reach an outpost soon. That is the direction I came from."

"Gred! We have to move!" Jess shouted at the still-dazed dwarf. At the same time, he called over several people and the guards who could still move. Together, they stripped the wounded soldier's armor and lifted him onto the horse.

Those still able to walk carried the injured and followed the light of Malin's spell. With their leader transformed into a sheep, the gnolls lacked the courage to pursue them in force. The group hurried onward for more than ten minutes and slowed only when the torches of the outpost came into view.

The exhausted militiamen collapsed beside the fence. Jess lifted his head and drew a deep breath. Only then did he feel that he had finally caught his breath.

The steady patter of rain against his forehead helped calm him.

Sentries from the outpost took hold of Malin's white horse and shouted for help carrying and treating the wounded. With a moment free, Malin looked at Jess. "I must help these young men. You had best leave soon as well. Wolves still roam the forest."

"How did you know we were in danger?" Jess asked.

"I did not. I was simply looking for you," Malin said. "I asked the recruiting guards for your name, and a laborer told me you had gone to Westfall. I thought you intended to seek work in Moonbrook, so I set out to persuade you to return. I did not wish to lose an assistant like you. I never expected a gnoll attack. It was sheer coincidence that I happened to help."

"I don't know how to thank you, Master. So... you've decided to hire me?"

Malin nodded. "Once your injuries recover, come to the Mage Quarter and discuss your compensation with me. The same place as before, Mr. Seso. As for the red dragons, I still hope you will not conceal your thoughts."

"I understand." Jess had not expected Malin to notice that he was still holding something back. Even so, he did not intend to reveal the Demon Soul so soon. He needed to devise a reasonable explanation first.

The mage disappeared into the rain. Gred lay sprawled on the ground and whispered, "I can't hold an axe anymore, Jess."

"We're safe." Jess stared into the pitch-black forest and still did not dare lower his guard, though he was so exhausted he could barely keep his eyes open.

"I said I can't hold an axe anymore, damn it!" Gred shouted. The roar startled Jess into looking sharply over. Only then did he notice that the dwarf's hand was still trembling.

Thinking back over the chaotic fight, Jess remembered Gred losing his grip on his axe several times. Each time had put him in danger.

That did not stop Jess from considering him an excellent warrior. Without the dwarf, Jess and the rescued soldiers might not have survived.

Slurring his words, Gred said, "A human priest in Southshore told me those damned bats raised by the trolls damaged my brain with their venom. I may never fly again. Guthrum was right. I'll never ride a gryphon again, never throw a warhammer again. I'm useless now, Jess."

Jess remembered the first time they met in Southshore, when Gred had floated motionless on the sea like a sack.

Not long before, the orcs and Alliance had fought a naval battle off the Hillsbrad Foothills. Wreckage often drifted toward the coast, so the people on the docks had not even recognized him as a living person. They thought he was waterlogged cargo.

Jess had been waiting near the docks for ships carrying refugees. By chance, he saw the swollen object twitch and release a cluster of bubbles. Only then did he realize that the tangled ropes were a dwarf's braids.

Without hesitation, Jess jumped into the water and dragged Gred ashore. He had not expected the dwarf to punch and kick him wildly, then burst into hysterical sobs.

Gred later explained that he had thought a shark had caught him and fought for his life, then cried because he believed he was about to die. Only now did Jess finally understand what had truly happened that day.

The rain fell harder. Gred's tangled hair clung to his scalp as he stared blankly at the distant firelight. He remained silent for a long time.

"That mage just agreed to take me as his apprentice," Jess said. "Many of the scholars in the Mage Quarter know herbalism. Do you think one of them might be able to cure the poison?"

"Too late, brother." Gred spoke numbly. "The poison itself is long gone. What made me a cripple is the damage it left behind. It's permanent. It can't be repaired."

"But I'm still grateful, Jess. You saved my life twice, and now you're trying to cure me."

"You saved my life too," Jess said.

"A dwarf saving a human's little life is nothing special. The other way around is another matter." Gred snorted a laugh. "Besides, a true Wildhammer warrior can never let himself and his brother die to a dog walking on two legs."

"A dog that chases people around with an axe."

"Ha... cough! Cough!"