Irene blessed her choice to wear her lighter armour considering the heat that battered them like a charging Taurus. She tried to wipe the sweat from her face with her palm, but recoiled as the warm metal links of the mail touched her skin. Even with water elements imbued into the armour, it was not enough to wholly combat the Aridian Desert sun. She squinted her eyes and observed her companions. Damien appeared unaffected by the sun as she panted alongside him while they trudged through the blistering sand behind a somewhat dazed Athos who was climbing a dune ahead of them to be able to see over the landscape. She felt a slight flash of pity as he staggered in his purple garb, but did her best to ignore it. He had forced her take an airship after all.
"We are lucky," said Damien in his soft voice. "There should not be any sandstorms today."
"How comforting," she replied snarkily, notching an arrow and scanning their surroundings nervously. They had avoided a Killer Bee and dealt with a couple of Outlaws thus far, which was nothing out of the ordinary for the area, and her fingers were itching with the need to act. Damien padded his way up the dune and crossed his arms, standing over Athos as the Alchemist began digging up some healweed nestled between rocks.
"Nothing like a little sunshine, right Irene?" called Athos, tucking the herbs into his pouch. Irene glared as she finally reached the top of the dune and he turned away, his smile wilting.
"Come on, everyone," he said sullenly, wiping at his florid face. "We'll head up that cliff and see if there are any Pterodactyl eggs." The cliff face had a flat, sloping path leading up onto a tall plateau from which one could catch a glimpse of a pointed, leathery wing flying overhead or hear the screech of the monsters above. The trio trod along the path with Athos in the lead. Damien was kept in the middle as Irene refused to have him behind her not only because of his reputation, but because he appeared unarmed. She shifted her arrow from the notch and used her free hand to pull a round globe of fresh water from her pouch and take a drink then poked Damien in the back with the end of her bow. He turned to face her, a hand raised in surprise, then paused as she shoved the globe-shaped bottle into his hand.
"Drink. I would rather your bodyguard not slaughter me for your death by dehydration," said Irene. Damien paused to drink and Irene glanced past him to see Athos disappearing around the end of the path onto the plateau.
"My thanks, Irene was it?" said Damien, returning the empty bottle to her. She nodded and stuffed it haphazardly back into her pouch. He started up the path once more
"Why are out here with Athos, Irene?" he asked, glancing back at her. "You seem more like a lone wolf than a pack one."
"It is a service exchange," she replied. "My Master owed Dosh for an order and I was drafted on this expedition in order to pay for the remainder of the cost." Damien went to speak when above them Athos gave a yell and there was a loud screech. The Dark Sultan ran ahead and Irene glanced up to see a Pterodactyl fly up then dive down with a cry. She set her arrow and jogged up the remainder of the path. The monsters were taking turns diving at Athos between them. Around his feet were the smashed remains of some of their eggs and they were not happy about the theft and destruction. He was striking out at them with a curved Rogue's Dagger as they passed him, but they managed to rake at his arms with their long claws and he was ailing fast. Irene loosed arrow after arrow, but their erratic circling ensured that she could not get a direct shot. Damien stayed back from the attack and glowed with a purplish light before unleashing magic without a rod to channel it like most wizards. A large, black ghostly hand grabbed the wing of one beast and dragged it to the ground where Irene shot an arrow into its forehead to end it swiftly.
"Help!" Athos yelled as the second Pterodactyl lifted him from the ground by his shoulders. Damien began to charge his powers and Irene smacked his arm with her bow.
"No don't! You'll kill them both!" Irene ordered. She set a Stun Arrow in her bow, took a steadying breath, aimed for the beast, and fired. The pair dropped like stones and Damien quickly used his powers to catch Athos before he hit the sand. The Pterodactyl lay broken and limp like a great toy on the ground. Irene spread out its long, leathery wing and helped Damien set Athos' unconscious form on top of it, resting his head against its body.
"He's not carrying his pack," she remarked, kneeling next to him. "I'm no healer, but I can do something with what I have while you find it." Damien nodded and began to head for the monsters' nest while Irene removed Athos' torn sleeves with her silver dagger. She then cut strips off the bottom of his cape, wet them with some of her stock of basic health potion and then began to wrap them around his arms. It was too dangerous to make him simply drink the potion, which would have allowed it to act faster, since he had yet to wake and likely would have choked on the liquid. Damien returned with Athos' pack in hand and they began to paw through it to see what was still useable. The pack itself was soaked through. Most of the bottles had been broken in the attack any pooled contents that had yet to soak into the fabric gave off noxious fumes. They carefully removed a Superior Hi-Health Potion and a few Hi-SP Potion. Irene shoved of the blue potions at Damien and made him drink it. Magic users were always passing out from overextending their stamina and being that they were down a party member, it was better to maintain themselves.
"Try and give the rest to Athos," Damien insisted after drinking half of the potion. "Perhaps it will wake him."
"Too risky. Choking him with it won't be any good. We'll have to get him back to Al Maagik before-" She was drowned out by a loud, angry screech and turned to see the monstrous Thunderbird coming at them, crackling with electric fury. Irene went pale, swung Athos' pack over her shoulder and across her body then bent down to partially lift the Alchemist onto her.
"Grab him and come on!" Damien took his other shoulder and they began to stagger away from the dead monster as fast as they could with the giant yellow and black bird bearing down on them.
"We cannot outrun it," said Damien then suddenly froze, his face a picture of horrified surprise, and he had a slightly burnt smell.
"What are you doing?" she demanded, tugging on both the young men as the giant bird's shadow overtook them. Damien struggled to take a step and flinched, dropping to one knee. Irene jerked to the side as Athos was pulled over. The Thunderbird circled them, screeching menacingly, toying with them.
"Come on, get up! Move!" She tried to pull the Dark Sultan to his feet, but Athos was sliding off her back and Damien moved like every gesture caused him pain. He gritted his teeth, tried to stand and fell down to both knees.
"Oh forget it!" Irene draped Athos roughly over Damien who crouched prone on the ground. She went for her arrows when the bird dived at her, spinning like a top and bristling with lightning, and she threw herself to the side, rolling in the sand and almost off the plateau. She hurriedly swiped away the grit from her burning eyes and shot an arrow while lying on her stomach. It went wide, but caught the bird's eye and it turned to face her from where it landed near Damien and Athos. Damien was struggling to stand up while bearing the Alchemist's full weight, but he was making more headway than earlier.
"Over here, you useless sack of feathers!" she yelled, scrambling to her feet and firing Stun Arrows into its plumage. They pinged off uselessly against the charged feathers, but it noticed the nuisance and lifted off to charge her. Damien was on his feet and stumbling to the path down from the plateau. She was too busy watching him and the bird rammed into her chest. She was flying backwards, flying farther as the Thunderbird beat its wings and blew her back more. The edge of the plateau came into her vision then it was far above her and everything hurt. The sun was too bright. Something was tugging at her one foot. The monster's screeching rang in her ears and she watched it circle way above her. She waited for it to come down to finish her, but instead it flew off towards somewhere beyond her vision.
"Irene!" Someone was calling her name and closed her eyes against the sunlight. Her shoulder was being shaken. She groaned and tried to move, but hardly moved. Something was dragging her yet she could not muster the energy to fight.
"Wake up." Someone forced her mouth open and poured something warm down her throat. She gasped and sputtered as the person sat her up and rubbed her back.
"I am sorry Irene for that, but I need you to help me." It was Damien next to her. She gazed at him blearily and he supported her as they stood up. He pressed a hand against her chest as she swayed forward and she gave a pained moan, closing her eyes.
"Can you stay standing?" Irene nodded and Damien carefully pulled away. She followed him with her eyes and saw he had propped up Athos' unconscious form against the side of the plateau. She could still feel her quiver on her back and Athos' pack against her hip. Damien lifted Athos under the arms and dragged him over to Irene.
"Where's my bow?" she asked, slowly turning around. She could see nothing but sand all around her, occasionally spotted with rocks or cacti. Damien shook his head, lay Athos back on the sand, and stopped to catch his breath.
"I did not see where it flew. I am sorry." Irene stared at him as if he spoke an unfamiliar dialect until he suddenly grabbed her and shook her roughly.
"Stay with me, Irene. We need to get back to town before we die of thirst. Both you and Athos need tending. I need you to help me carry him."
"Alright." Damien helped her take one side of Athos and waited to see that she could bear his partial weight before he quickly transferred himself over to Athos' empty side. Damien looked around to get his bearings then began to guide them towards the desert exit. Irene could remember little of the travel there. Her head beat a steady rhythm against her skull and there was a burning in her foot she could not explain. Athos' head lolled against her shoulder as they limped across the border of the Al Maagik outskirts and came within sight of the guarding Maagiknight.
"Fetch the other guards and assist my companions!" ordered Damien as they finally stopped near the glittering pockets of Al Maagik gold. Irene dropped to the ground in relief and the young Dark Sultan set Athos down next to her as carefully as possible. Then he knelt at her feet and picked up her left one. The simple movement sent needles of pain through her and she gasped before everything went dark.
The next moment, she awoke in a black-clothed bed in an equally dark room. Torches crackled at intervals on the stone walls and a faint, scented smoke floated into the air. She sat up and winced, doubling over and wrapping her arms about her midriff. Squinting through moistened eyes, she realized she was not alone. There was another bed a short distance away and a chair in between them. Athos was sitting up in the that bed and Damien was in the chair, the two of them quietly talking.
"What happened?" she croaked and licked at her cracked lips. Her throat felt like it was on fire and her foot was not in a much better state. "Where am I?"
"Irene, you're awake!" Athos quickly shuffled out of bed and Damien made to stop him, but the Alchemist brushed him off. He was steady on his feet, but looked odd in a blue vest and puffy, airy white pants. He hopped easily on to the end of her bed, avoiding touching the lumps that showed where her feet were under the thin cover.
"How do you feel?"
"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" She slowly straightened and unwrapped her arms. Damien stood, turned the chair towards her bed and pulled it up next to it before sitting back down.
"You are in my palace," said Damien, smiling slightly. His skin was very lightly tanned and the circles under his eyes did not stand out quite as much as before. "I had the Maagiknights carry both of you here for treatment. It has been almost two days since we brought you here."
"I've been awake for a day, but they won't let me leave here yet," interrupted Athos. "They want to make sure that my wounds don't get infected." Here he pointed at his shoulders. Irene glanced down at his mostly bare chest, noting the bandages bound around his upper torso and the fresh ones covering his arms.
"If you would also sit still long enough for them to heal, it would help you to leave sooner," remarked Damien. Athos stuck his tongue out at him childishly then turned back to Irene.
"Damien told me what happened, you know. Thank you for saving our lives." Irene shook her head.
"It is hard to fulfill a deal when one of the parties dies. I was only protecting my guild. It would not do for it to appear that I'd been a lax party member and let you be killed in order to escape our arrangement."
"Be that as it may," said Athos sceptically, "You have my thanks. If you like, we can just say that this is enough repayment for those potions and antidotes and bombs. Owing you my life must surely count for more than a few hunting supplies."
"If that is how you want to settle it." She extended her hand and he shook it with a wry smile.
"Perhaps our paths will cross again on better terms." She grunted, but said nothing to encourage or discourage the idea.