I reached the point where I couldn't eat another bite around mid afternoon. I received a final round of thanks from the grateful villagers and started on my way down the southeast road again. Yes, that really was the direction I had been going. The fact that it was the road Eruk had taken had absolutely nothing to do with my choice.

Nevertheless, I managed to catch up with Eruk not more than an hour later. I heard him before I saw him.

"I'm sorry but that's all I have," he was saying. "I'm just a poor wandering healer."

"Well, it's not good enough," a much less attractive male voice snarled.

At this point, I finished climbing the wall that had been blocking my view. Eruk was standing in the center of a circle of the ugliest brutes I had ever seen. They were dirty and scarred. One of them even had an eye patch. Eruk stood out in that group like a gold coin dropped in gravel.

"You'd better find some more if you don't want to get hurt," the most over-muscled of the brutes was saying.

"I told you, that's all the money I have," Eruk protested. "If any of the members of your band are injured I could heal them." He sounded scared but in control.

"Eruk!" I shrieked, leaping off the wall and smacking him over the head with my fist.

"Ouch!" he protested.

"Eruk, you idiot, have you no pride at all? When a bandit says, 'hand over your money,' you don't hand it over! You fireball him! Go on. Fireball them!"

"I can't do that!" He sounded more scared of me than of the bandits. Sheesh!

"Of course you can. You just point your finger like this," I demonstrated, "and say 'Fireball!'"

The highwayman I was pointing at went up in a pillar of flame. His buddies, who had just been standing around with their mouths hanging open until now, seemed to wake up. They attacked us. Technically, it was the first time I had ever been in a real fight but it really wasn't much different from beating up bullies back home. They were just larger and better armed. I could have handled it no problem Ð there were only five of them after all Ð if it wasn't for Eruk. The dope just stood there looking helpless. I ended up having to protect him as well as myself.

"Eruk, you useless pile of logs, why aren't you fighting?" I screamed.

"I don't know how!" he answered, his voice shrill with panic.

"You can cast flare arrow, right?"

"Uh, yeah. I think so."

"Then do it!"

All the time I was screaming at him, I was beating back the bandits with my staff. I'm a master of sorcery but a staff works better for hand-to-hand combat.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Eruk pull back a hand as if drawing a bow. "Flare Arrow!" he shouted. I turned to look. Instead of the fiery bolts of death I expected, all I saw was a single, tiny bar of orange light moving at about the speed of a gently thrown ball. "You call that a flare arrow? It looks more like a carrot! It doesn't even look as dangerous as a carrot! It..."

One of the highwaymen took advantage of the distraction to stab me in the side. Okay, I know I shouldn't have let myself get distracted like that, but Eruk's 'flare arrow' was the most pathetic attack spell I had ever seen. Anyone would have stopped to stare.

I looked into the ugly, grinning face of the man who had just stabbed me and lost my temper. "Digger Volt," I whispered. Lightning crackled down the length of his dagger and over his body. He was still screaming and smoking when his body hit the ground. An icicle lance took out another robber, and the remaining three fell to a fistful of flare arrows. Still blazing with anger, I turned to the only man left standing, Eruk. He backed away from me with his hands up defensively, but he wasn't my target. I took out my remaining rage on a nearby tree. It was a pillar of charcoal by the time I was satisfied.

"Lana, Lana calm down." Eruk was saying. "You're wounded. Let me heal you. Lana, calm down."

"I'm calm," I said calmly.

Before I could even blink he was kneeling beside me, lifting up my arm so that he could look at my wound. I shoved him away. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

"It is not 'nothing'," he contradicted. "It looks deep, and it might be infected!"

"It's just a scratch. Let me rest for a few minutes and I'll be fine." I got a better look at him as I sat down on the ground. "Hey, you're bleeding! You should be worrying about yourself, not me."

His sleeves were dripping with blood and there were spreading red spots on his chest too.

"You're more seriously wounded than I am," he said stubbornly.

"Eruk. Heal yourself. Now."

He sat down tiredly beside me. "Only if you start healing yourself first."

"We sound like little children. 'You first.' 'No, you.'" I started to laugh but ended up gasping with pain instead.

Eruk looked concerned. "Why haven't you started healing yourself yet?"

"I...can't," I admitted. "I don't know any healing spells."

"None? How can a powerful sorceress like you not know any healing spells? Come on, you must know Recovery at least. Everybody knows Recovery, even people who don't know any other spells."

I shook my head. "I don't know any white magic, okay?"

"No white magic at all? No shielding? Purification? Nothing?"

"The best defense is a good offense, and I heal quickly. I've never needed white magic. Besides, who are you to talk? From what I saw, you couldn't cast a decent attack spell to save your life. Literally!"

"I've never been good at offensive magic," he admitted.

"How can a powerful sorcerer like you not know any offensive spells?" I mimicked his earlier question to me. "Everybody knows flare arrow at least."

Instead of responding to my taunts, he wrapped his arms around me from behind. It was the last thing I expected him to do. "Hey, what do you think you're doing!" I protested, flailing my arms.

He caught them and pinned them to my sides. "Hold still. I'm going to heal this gash in your side whether you want me to or not."

I held still. All that arm waving had painfully reopened the wound. "What about your injuries?" I protested weakly.

"I already healed them. They were just superficial cuts. Unlike you, I can use shielding spells." His voice, so soft and deep beside my ear, gave me a fluttery feeling in my stomach.

"I can create black magic barriers. They're almost like shield spells. They're just too much trouble to cast in a fight."

"Can you think of a better time to use them?" he replied with more than a hint of irony.

"At least I can use a staff," I retorted, trying to ignore the strange sensation of being held in someone's arms. "Can't you defend yourself at all?"

"I'm pretty good at talking my way out of dangerous situations. I've been travelling on my own for almost three weeks now and I'm still fine."

Three weeks. Great. He left home only days before I did.

I made a decision in that moment. I would have leapt to my feet to proclaim it but I didn't really want to leave my current, comfortable position. Besides, my teacher always told me to think carefully about the consequences before making important decisions. I considered carefully for a full ten seconds or so.

"Eruk, I've made a decision," I announced. "From now on I will travel with you and be your protector."

"You will what?"

"Don't you think protecting a healer is a noble job?"

"Um...I guess that's okay. I would hate for you to go off and get killed because you can't shield or heal yourself."

I scowled. "It's you who needs protecting."

He nodded thoughtfully, his hair brushing against my face. "We might even make a good team. We do seem to complement each other's weaknesses."

He released me and stood up. "Okay, you're all better."

I looked down. My skin looked like it had never been broken. He was good!

I stumbled to my feet, feeling slightly dizzy. Eruk put a hand on my shoulder to steady me. "Let's go, 'Protector,'" he smiled, his green eyes affectionate.