“Hey, hey!” Slade hooted, “Look at that!”


    I broke away from my conversation with Max to see what the commotion was. Something was in the grass ahead. It looked like a cut through the plains, stretching diagonally before us. As we approached, I could see it was a dirt trail, with two ruts stretching out ahead of us.


    “This is a good sign,” Max said. “Looks like a wagon trail, which means people traveling, which means civilization.”


    “Cool,” Slade said as he stepped onto the worn path and continued in the direction we mainly had been going. “I could use a beer.”


    “A bath,” I said.


    “I want to gorge on something,” Max said. “A meal for me.”


    Our spirits were lifted at just the thought of these simple things.


    “What about you, Emma?” I asked.


    “A nap on a real bed,” she replied.


    “Yes!” I agreed. A bed sounded so amazing right now. The fatigue of hours of walking with no sleep the night before hit me all at once. I was pushing myself on fumes, just a walking zombie at this point.


    “Head''s up!” Slade barked, looking back behind us. “We’ve got company coming.”


    I turned and looked back along the trail. Sure enough, there was a faint cloud of dust in the distance. Something was headed toward us. I squinted, and my focus zoomed.


    A pack of horses with riders was galloping along the trail toward us. They were maybe a mile off, but they were pushing hard.


    “They’re going to catch up with us in a few minutes,” I said. “Maybe we should get off the trail?”


    It didn’t take long at all before I could see the riders clearly. I feared it would be more goblins or worse, but these were just people. I could make out helmets and chainmail. They were armed, and that made me a little nervous. A message scrolled:


    Horse, Light Riding x4 – Level 1


    Raiders x4 – Level 2


    Affiliation: Unknown


    “They’ve got weapons and armor, and they are coming at us pretty fast,” I told the rest of the group.


    “Okay, let''s get ready to fight them off,” Slade said.


    “Dude. They’re on horses. You’ll get trampled.” I explained.


    “Don’t care, I don’t like the looks of them.”


    He wasn’t entirely wrong. I didn’t like the description of Raider. I had yet to play a game where the Raiders were the good guys.


    “Let’s at least try to talk with them.” I offered. “We don’t have to try and kill everything.”


    “We don’t,” Max said as he faded, “But just in case…”


    Slade moved to the front of the group. I imagined it was some macho protection of the women folk type of thing. I moved to stay abreast, keeping my spear turned walking stick lowered in hopes of appearing a little less aggressive. Emma stayed well behind us.


    The riders approached and slowed. Up close, they didn’t look any less like bad guys. Their armor was rusted, banged up, and generally gave off a “We’re totally used to killing people” kind of vibe.


    As they trotted toward us, they exchanged glances and not-very-friendly smiles. One of them moved to the front, looking down at us from his mount.


    “And where might you lot be heading?” he asked.


    “Hail mighty warriors, we come in peace,” Slade said in one of the most cringy dialogs I’ve ever witnessed.


    As the riders laughed, I gave it a try, “Hello, we’re actually lost. We''d be grateful if you could point the way to the nearest town.”


    “You don’t say?” The lead rider grinned and pointed at the way we’d been traveling. “Springfield is about a half day’s ride that way. But chances are you won’t make it.”


    “And why is that?” Slade said, raising his spear.


    “Cuz these parts are plagued with bandits and all manner of nere-do-well. You''re more likely to have your throats slit and possessions taken by brigands.”


    I interjected before Slade could say anything stupid, “We’re not looking for any trouble. We’ll just be on our way to Springfield then.”


    “That’s too bad, miss, cuz trouble’s found you. You could stand, but I suggest you deliver.”


    “Stand or deliver?” Slade said. “Deliver what?”


    “Your goods, boy. Cough them up, or we’ll trample your ass into a new grave.”The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    “Come and take them,” Slade said. He took a defiant stance and raised his spear.


    I had to admit, I thought it was a pretty good line. It was not one I wanted to die over, but the Raiders made it clear that was the direction things were heading.


    The mounted leader hefted an axe, a big axe, and spurred his mount to charge. Oh hell, we’re doing this, I thought as I raised my spear. The other three riders were all bringing their weapons up, and one of them was looking right at me. Sorry, Slade, you’re on your own for a moment.


    I didn’t want the rider charging me on horseback, and I didn’t want to get anywhere close to the hoofs. The first thought that popped into my head was to throw my spear before he got to me. Flipping the spear around in my hand, I reared back, and the spear sort of came alive, tugging my arm back and pushing itself forward and out of my hand.


    It flew and buried itself in the chest of the rider bearing down on me. He jerked backward off his mount, and the horse turned and ran off. I now had no weapon. As the rider hit the ground, I caught a glimpse of his health bar draining to zero. The rider blinked out of existence, leaving a floating cube. My spear was nowhere to be seen.


    To my right, the lead raider came charging down on Slade. I was certain he’d be mangled under horse hoofs. Instead, he rolled out of the way and popped back up on his feet as the horse charged past him. Slade then turned and leaped at the other two riders, who were raising weapons and getting ready to charge themselves. With a vicious jab, Slade speared one of the riders, lifting him off the horse and knocking him to the ground.


    The remaining rider raised a bow and aimed it at Slade when a katana blade burst out of his chest. Max wicked into view, having jumped up on the horse behind the rider and stabbed him through the back. The horse reared, and Max and a glowing cube tumbled to the ground.


    Slade howled, and I turned back to him. The rider he’d speared off the horse wasn’t dead. The raider’s health was half full,l and he hacked at Slade with a rusty sword.


    Looking back at Max, I saw his health bar was a quarter gone. The fall from the horse must have injured him, but the rider was now just a glowing cube. That rider had been aiming a bow, one of my skills. I wanted that bow. Rushing over, I looted the cube, leaving the bow in my hands.


    Gained: Bow, Short


    Arrows, Normal


    With the bow in hand, I pulled an arrow back against the string and turned back to Slade. He had been in the process of exchanging blows with the raider he’d unhorsed. Slade''s health bar was at half, but he drained the raider’s entirely with a final jab.


    Emma screamed.


    I spun toward her to see the lead raider had circled around and was now charging at Emma. I drew back on the bow string.


    It happened again. The bow tugged at my arm, the string pushing itself back into my hand. I lined up on the charging raider, and the string snapped out of my fingers. I watched as the arrow spiraled away, arcing gracefully and burying itself in the raider''s shoulder. His health bar sprang up, shrinking from full to about a quarter, but his charge continued.


    Emma held up her hands as the raider charged into her. There was a flash of light, and Emma and the raider flew in opposite directions. When the raider struck the ground, his bar vanished, and he changed into a cube. Emma landed with an oomph, her health bar draining to just a sliver.


    Gained: Experience


    We all rushed over to Emma. She was in bad shape, looking like a cartoon character that had been run over. Her limbs were splayed out in all the wrong directions. Her eyes blinked wide. It was easy to tell she was in a lot of pain. I knelt, unsure how to help.


    When we were all gathered around her, she held up one hand and made a fist. The air around us changed, transforming into an effervescence. Glowing bits floated up from the ground, and there was a flash. I felt something tickle from my knees to my head.


    Both Max and Slade’s health bars filled and vanished. Emma’s filled to three-quarters, and when I looked back down at her, she looked much better. She pushed herself up, sitting.


    “That sucked,” Emma said.


    I hugged her, glad she was still with us. When the raider bore down on her, I was sure that was it for her. She flew like a rag doll. That she managed to survive at all was a miracle. She felt warm and soft in my arms, like a real person. If Max was right about our bodies being kept in a tube somewhere, there was no way to tell by the hug.


    “Looks like we got a ride to town,” Slade said, gesturing at the horses.


    Without riders, the horses began milling around, nibbling on the grass. While Max and Slade gathered the loot and herded up the horses, I went to the help menu and read about taming pets.


    Max and Slade each had two leashes with a horse on each.


    Party Gained: Horse, Light Riding x4


    Chainmail x2


    Leather Armor x2


    Helmet, Half x2


    Axe, Battle


    Axe, Hand


    Sword, Short (rusty)


    Dagger x2


    Potion, Lesser Healing


    Copper Coins x49


    Slade asked, “So, what do we do with these?”


    I took a quick look at all four horses. There was a white one, a red one, a black one, and the last was sort of a motley of red and white. The white one was mine, I decided. Approaching Max, I took the leash from him and got up in front of the white horse.


    Cooing at the horse, I held my hands out with palms up. “You are so pretty. You are a princess. Best of all horses. Fast and strong, you will be my friend forever and ever.”


    The horse blinked and stared at me like I was some sort of idiot for saying all that ridiculous crap. Then something happened. Its eyes changed, and they got all gooey and googly. I wouldn''t have been surprised if little hearts could have poured off the horse’s face. It stepped forward and pushed its head to mine. And then continued to push against me, neatly knocking me over.


    “Easy, Princess,” I said while stepping away from it.


    It, of course, followed. And it would continue following from then on.


    Party Lost: Horse, Light Riding


    Gained: Princess (Horse, Light Riding)


    “Hey!” Slade shouted. “We lost a horse.”


    “It''s okay,” I said, petting Princess’s face, “I got her.”


    He scratched his square jaw, “What happened?”


    “I got a pet ability. This one is mine. My Princess.”


    Slade gave Emma the red horse and kept the black one for himself. Then we divided the loot. Slade took the battle axe, chainmail and helmet. Max and I called dibs on leather armor, and Emma seemed eager to don chainmail herself. She eagerly took the hand axe, swinging it around enough to prove that she had no idea how to use it. Max had his katana and let me take the rusty short sword.


    Achievement: Acquire Armor


    Ten more achievements to go, I thought. I couldn’t wait to find out what a crisis was.


    Emma called dibs on the healing potion and was tempted to use it since she was still wounded. Max reminded her that food could also heal, and she was the first to try the jerky. After eating it, her health bar slowly ticked back up to full.


    Once the loot was split and everyone healed, it was time to head out. Watching Slade try to get up on the saddle for a bit was amusing. With help from Max, he finally figured out that he needed to put his left foot in the stirrup before mounting.


    With Slade in the lead, we made our way back on the trail. Our destination lay ahead, the town of Springfield. All in all, it seemed like a pretty good start to things.