The gnoll hurled the heavy weapon far across the snow, yelping as the edge cut deeper into its palms. Regdar, weaponless but not helpless, drove a fist into the gnoll's throat. The gnoll lurched backward, trying to defend itself with its bleeding hands. Regdar responded by kicking its armored belly, knocking the gnoll onto its back. He was about to reclaim his greatsword when the other gnolls attacked him from behind.
A studded mace struck Regdar's left shoulder, cracking the bone. Regdar whirled about to face the attacker and tried to punch the gnoll, but it caught his fist in its free hand and twisted. The pain dropped the fighter to his knees. Another of the beasts wrapped its long fingers around Regdar's neck and squeezed, emitting a snarl of victory as it did so. A third gnoll pinned Regdar's struggling hands and arms from behind. Regdar would have screamed from the pain in his shoulder, but the grip on his neck was too tight. The human gulped desperately for air, neck muscles straining to keep his windpipe open.
Relief came when Hennet's spell hit the gnoll that was strangling Regdar. The gnoll released its grip and stumbled back in time for another missile to catch it mid stride. The creature's smoking corpse collapsed at Regdar's feet.
The gnoll with the studded mace raised the weapon to smash Regdar's skull, but Sonja stepped behind it and snapped its knee with a well-placed blow from her cudgel. The monster tumbled backward, and the cudgel cracked its forehead on the way down. The gnoll that held Regdar by the arms pulled away immediately, letting Regdar's inert form collapse to the ground. Near panic, it fled directly toward Hennet and his short spear. The gnoll dodged and twisted past the sorcerer. Hennet turned and tossed the spear, hitting the gnoll in the back and bringing it down. The sorcerer ran and yanked his weapon from the living flesh then drove it hard into the fallen gnoll's outstretched neck.
Moments later, the spell that held Lidda wore off, and she suddenly finished cocking her crossbow with a lurch.
"I missed the battle," she lamented. "I didn't do you any good."
"Don't blame yourself for that," Hennet told her. "It could have happened to any one of us."
Lidda turned around and surveyed the carnage that lay all about the snowy, bloodstained field. Regdar was sprawled across the corpses of two gnolls with Sonja kneeling at his side and grasping his wrist.
"Will he be all right?" Lidda asked, the worry clear in her voice.
"I think so," the druid replied, though there was uncertainty on her face, "but I have much work to do."
4
They pitched the tents early. Hennet, wounded by the gnoll priest's spiritual weapon, rested in a tent with Lidda while Sonja worked her spells on Regdar in the other. Sonja needed a certain amount of quiet for her spells to work. They only hoped that their fire wouldn't attract unwanted attention from gnolls or anything else. In their favor was the near-white out condition. Between the haze and blowing snow, visibility was almost gone. It was only Sonja's excellent sense of direction that would keep them on the right path from that point on.
Lidda was cleaning the crusted gnoll blood from Regdar's greatsword when Hennet asked, "How long have you known Regdar?"
"Quite a while," Lidda said, looking up from the sword. "We were both fledgling adventurers when we first met. I was having some problems with the militia in a small town. Regdar and another friend, a priest named Jozan, helped me out. He saved my life, but don't tell him I said so."
"Then you owe Regdar," Hennet suggested. "Do you travel with him out of obligation?"
"Not at all. I travel with him because I like him. Everyone becomes his friend in time. You will too; there's no reason you shouldn't. He's not as immediately likeable these days as he once was. Lately," she confessed, "I've been concerned about him. He's not the same as he was when we first met."
"I've been meaning to ask you something," Hennet said. "An indelicate question, to be sure…"
"Could that be," Lidda responded, "what's with him? Why is he so abrupt? Doesn't he ever say 'please'? Is he always like that?"
"I would have put it more diplomatically," said Hennet, "but yes."
Lidda considered before answering. "He can't be with somebody he loves."
"I know how that feels."
"But you're with the person you love," she said, pointing to Sonja's tent through the snow. Hennet twitched.
"Sonja, yes, but in the past it's happened that…" Hennet trailed off, suddenly unsure of how to finish his sentence. He changed the subject. "Does Regdar always fight so rashly, rushing into danger like that? I'm surprised he's lived this long."
"No," Lidda replied. "That's something new since Naull disappeared. I'm worried about him. Naull's disappearance has had a real effect on him, that's for sure. I guess he feels disconnected from other people, even me. I'm worried this behavior might get really get him hurt."
"You say I'll get to like him in the end?" asked Hennet.
"I guarantee it," said Lidda with a smile.
"Say," said Hennet, "we've discussed the romantic status of the rest of our little party. What about you?"
This surprised Lidda. Her stature often made humans, Regdar included, forget that she was an adult woman. For Hennet to bring it up now touched her greatly.
"Most of the men I meet are just a little too tall for me," she said. "Really, they couldn't even kiss me without making themselves look ridiculous. But if you should happen to know any available men of any race who happen to be under four feet tall…"
Their laughter echoed across the stark white landscape.
Across the camp in the other tent, Regdar awoke from the magically induced sleep Sonja had placed on him. His eyes crept open and beheld the face of an angelic being of light. The wind outside howled threateningly, but Regdar felt safe and sheltered from the storm. Sonja's once-immaculate white robes were splattered with bloodstains, but this did little to diminish the feeling of peace she inspired in Regdar. Her smooth, white features, her smile, open yet mysterious… he was enraptured. Never, not even at their tenderest moment, had he seen Naull the way he was seeing Sonja now-healer, druid, warrior, angel.
"Welcome back, Regdar," she said. "That was some fight."
"Yes, it was," the fighter replied. "Is everyone all right? How's Lidda?"
"Safe. Uninjured. Hennet took a few thumps from the gnoll priest's magical morning star, but he's fine now, too."
Regdar ran his hand over his neck and shoulder. The pain was nearly gone. "My sword?" he asked.
"We have it. You know, Regdar, if you keep fighting like that, you might find yourself beyond all my spells next time."
"They would have killed Lidda," he explained. "She was helpless. I did what needed to be done."
"I know, Regdar, I know, but in the future, please, an ounce of caution." She smiled down at him, and he gave up all resistance.
Her hand was on his chest. Regdar felt close to her indeed.
This was the first time they'd been together away from Hennet. He felt a warm rush of embarrassment. When Jozan healed him all those times, it was a quick, dutiful thing, then it was back to the fray. Now, supine and incapacitated under Sonja's tender care, he felt his cheeks burn red.
Part of him liked it quite a lot.
When Sonja healed his leg at the bridge, Regdar thought that it felt different from ordinary healing, more personal somehow. Now he was sure of it. In a way that was hard to express, he felt Sonja must have put something of herself into him. The closeness of it touched him deeply.