There were six of them, enough to form a full Party, and a fairly well-balanced one, except for the fact that they had two Archers and no Fighter. Bobby and Fedor were on point, so at least there was one thing that Bobby listened to Pawel on. Archers go first in forests, Thieves in ruins and labyrinths, Fighters when facing physical opponents, Mages against magical opponents, Clerics against the undead, and Bards when going into taverns and bordellos. None of the children knew what a bordello was, but the way Pawel got elbowed by Zofiya for it, Arjun was sure that it was nothing good.

As much as Arjun knew this was a bad idea, he did understand Bobby's eagerness to actually do something more than just walk all day. If they wanted to get stronger, they had to do something that really mattered. They did not have these weapons for nothing, after all.

However, even as he thought this, he was remembering what happened in Axios when those people took Zofiya. He remembered the pain and the fear, and then how easily they were scooped up when Fedor blew their cover. They were so weak. What was more, none of them really understood their abilities. Yes, William was a Cleric, but could he actually heal anyone? Could Yayyo cast a fireball or anything like that? Were the three magic-type members only going to be capable of hitting things with their sticks?

Without the guidance of their Mentor, Arjun wondered what exactly Bobby thought they were going to accomplish. Were they going to be trying to chase down rabbits or sharpshoot deer? They were not strong enough, fast enough or skilled enough for even mundane goals like this, but it would not have surprised him if Bobby was deluded enough to think that they could aim even higher than that. As Arjun thought about this, he could feel the pain in his stomach as if it was that day in the Rat's Nest all over again, only this time it could be so much worse. Zofiya was not there to heal them, nor would there be that mystery song to banish their fears. They were on their own.

Worse still were the other dangers they faced. Pawel had said that most Monsters would not venture this close to the King's Road, but that was no guarantee. Neither Bobby nor Fedor seemed to be thinking about this and none of the others raised any objections, so either they also were not thinking about it or else they simply did not want to stand up to the forceful Bobby. It then fell to Arjun to be looking out for threats they could not handle and getting them all out if they found themselves in over their heads. It almost sounded like a responsible excuse for going along with this. Arjun did not imagine it would save him when Pawel and Zofiya found out.

Because he was pulling up the rear, Arjun could carve marks in the trees as they went to help them find their way back. They were going to be in enough trouble as it was. If they were to get lost, it would be so much worse.

Just up ahead, there was deer stripping the bark off a birch tree, but the moment it heard Bobby, it turned its head to look at them.

Before Bobby could even draw out an arrow and nock it, the deer promptly darted off. Seeing this, Bobby angrily stomped his foot on ground, cursing, "Dammit, dammit, dammit!"

Whatever Bobby was going to say, he stopped himself. Arjun imagined that he was going to say that he had been hunting too, but it would have just been a lie to keep up some kind of pointless competition. Even he seemed to realize it was a wasted effort and that being caught in the lie would only make him look worse.

And so they continued ever deeper into the woods in search of another deer. As they were walking, Arjun noticed the first flurries of snow starting to fall. It did not take long for Fedor to comment on it.

William did not need to say anything for Bobby to answer his own question.

Rolling his eyes, he grumbled, "Right... Canadian..."

Part of him seemed to consider William's warning, but it did not take him long to convince himself out of it.

Fedor was staring at his hands, wiggling his fingers like he was using them to try to calculate the viability of them carrying a deer. Math had never been his strong suit, though.

To spare him from taxing his brain any further, Arjun told him, "It's too heavy. We'd never be able to carry it."

Arjun looked at the emaciated Yayyo and the not much more robust Narayan and told Fedor, "Not a chance."

Arjun followed Bobby's line of sight to the new deer, which was sniffing around the ground. This time Bobby was making more of a conscious effort to be quiet as he drew out an arrow and nocked it. Seeing this, Fedor did the same.

The bow was far from steady in Bobby's untrained hand, which only served to make Arjun's point. In comparison, Fedor's form was better. He seemed to have more of a natural aptitude for it, but that did not mean he was any more likely to hit the target at this distance.

The two of them loosed at about the same time. The deer looked up and took a hit to the neck and another to the chest in quick succession.

He started to got toward the deer, which was flopping on the ground in its death throes, but Arjun hastily reached out to grab him by the cloak.

A shrill cry sounded and what looked like three midgets swarmed on the dying deer and proceeded to beat it with clubs. It did not take long for the boys to realize that the trio were not midgets. Although they were mostly covered in animal hides, they had some glimpses of exposed skin, skin that was an unnatural mottled brown and green. Unnatural for humans, that is.

Arjun flattened himself onto the ground and heard a thunk-thunk sound. He looked up to see Pawel standing between the boys and creatures with his shield raised. Arjun realized that sound he heard was arrows hitting the shield, but from where? The three that were beating the deer did not have bows, so he should have known the archers were somewhere out of view.

There was no other way to describe it, but Pawel roared like a beast. The creatures around the deer shrieked in terror, dropping their clubs as they scurried away in a panic, but they were not fast enough. Pawel closed the distance almost immediately and cut the creatures down in three strokes so quick it seemed like just one. He then darted off to the side, presumably where the archers were. There were further shrieks in the distance and then silence.

Nobody dared to move until Pawel returned. When he did return, he tossed two mangled corpses onto the ground in front of them. Bobby screamed and Arjun had to strangle a gasp in his throat. The creatures were ugly to begin with and uglier still after Pawel had finished with them. Each of them had nearly been cut cleanly in half. Arjun imagined Pawel had stopped short so that he could bring them back in one piece.

If this was what pretty looked like, Arjun did not much want to think about what might have happened to them if Pawel had not intervened.

"Now you might've been able to take one or two a' them Thralls over there, but you didn't even catch on to the damn Scouts that stuck the deer. Oh, you might've got lucky an' they miss anythin' too vital to you, but you'd be movin' slower an' most a' you are too slow as it is. You saw how they beat the shit outta that deer. They'd do the same to you. You think you could keep your cool an' fight smart when one a' you's lyin' there with a head lookin' like a damn smashed watermelon?"

None of them said anything.

There were some murmured 'yeahs' and a 'yes, sir' or two, prompting to Pawel to shout, "Sound off with a 'Yes, sir!' or I'm leavin' your asses out here!"

Arjun got up and went over to the two dead Goblins. He drew his knife and crouched down beside one. He pull off the hood it was wearing and hesitantly, he reached out to take hold of its ear before bringing down his knife to carve through it. It came off easier than he would have thought, but he felt sick to his stomach holding the ear in his hand.

He went to the next Goblin and cut off its ear as well, then over to three by the deer. Pawel was right, even after just a few times, it did get easier, but that sick feeling never really went away.

While the other boys were busy looting the corpses as Pawel told them, Pawel himself stood over the deer, saying mostly to himself, "God, what a mess. We'll be lucky to get fifty dee off this."

Pawel then surveyed the scene and asked the boys, "You done yet?"

When it seemed clear that the boys had picked over the bodies as much as they were going to, Pawel hoisted up the deer and slung it over his shoulder. Remembering their own conversation about how they could not expect to bring any deer they got back with them, Arjun could not help but be impressed with how easy Pawel made it look.

Anticipating this, the boys corrected themselves and gave a proper, "Yes, sir!"

The snow started coming down more as they made their way back to town. Nobody said anything. Although it seemed like they were getting off rather light, the boys were duly shamed by their failure. Arjun felt particularly bad about it because unlike Fedor who was easily suckered into it, he knew what a bad idea it was from the start and went along with it anyway. Simply staying behind would not have made things much better and if he told on the others, he wold be branded a tattletale from then on and no one would trust him. You need a Party to survive in the World and without the bonds of trust, no Party is going to last long.

As they passed one of the trees Arjun had marked Pawel said to him, low enough that the conversation was mostly just for the two of them, "The way you marked these trees to make sure you found your way back, that was smart."

Arjun hung his head.

Arjun tilted his head curiously and asked, "How did you know?"

Arjun nodded.

Arjun could see this was going to become a trend for the foreseeable future, but he supposed he earned it. Considering what the alternative could have been, he ought to be thankful it was no worse than this.