Karline ran as quickly as the stabbing pain in her back allowed. It was abating slowly, potions be praised, but pits, did it hurt.

  Her brain struggled to catch up to everything that had happened over the last 20 minutes. That thing, the Fel as David had called it, would haunt her dreams for the rest of her life. Even now, as she ran for the central elevator shaft, she was hallucinating its two globular yellow eyes peering at her from the darkness, eminently aware that until she reached the shaft's gate, there was nothing between her and the creature.

  Nothing apart from David.

  Who had sent her away with not a single hesitation, putting himself in danger like it were a casual Sunday stroll.

  Who had run like a pit-bound demon, so fast the rain hit her face like marbles.

  What was that? It was ridiculous. Nobody could do that, except maybe the royal Azure Guards, whom she'd seen in action once before at a Royal Army exhibition in the capital, Amberose.

  The Azure Guards who glowed blue, a lot like a certain donkey she'd just ridden here. She gritted her teeth. Anti-curse imbuements, my sweet ass! David was an Azure Guard.

  What was he doing playing a free courier? She sighed; nothing made sense.

  She sighted the inner gate ahead of her, the small door waiting for her. She stepped through and scrambled up the rubble, to the ladder, and only then allowed herself a few minutes to rest. She retrieved the health potion and drank its contents, allowing the cool sensation of relief spread through her aching body.

  Her breath under control, she turned and looked at her way out of here. She grimaced. At least a full bell of climbing, with her back still killing her, was not going to be enjoyable.

  She downed an energizer potion, throwing the flask aside, allowing it a few seconds to start working.

  Except it didn't start working, it exploded inside of her. She started feeling restless, her muscles yearning for exertion, screaming at her to be put to use. She felt... good, light, like she could run up the wall all the way to the top.

  Twitching, she looked at the second potion he had given her. He'd told her to drink both potions. Her eyes widened.

  If one potion had this effect, what would a second potion do?

  She looked up the ladder, at the out-of-sight end of it so far away, down at the second greenish potion in her hand, staring at it. Did she dare...?

  Before she could change her mind, she uncapped it and dumped its contents down her throat.

  It barely took a few seconds. Her pupils dilated, and a manic grin settled on her face.

  “WOOOOOH!” She whooped, pumping her arms and legs, pain forgotten.

  “LET'S PITTING DO THIS!” She jumped at the ladder, clawing her hands around the vertical bars and jumping up rungs three at a time, like she was a train engine on vertical rails, her legs pistoning her forward.

  She yelled like a madwoman as she raced up the ladder.

  Back in Riverwall, as Niala brewed a batch of regular energizers, she had a thought about the ones she'd given David. She hoped he remembered those were triple-strength superior versions, that he should only drink one within a six-bells period.

  She shrugged. Even if he didn't, he was sturdy. He should be able to handle it.

  David was sore, he hurt, and he had shallow puncture wounds all over his back, his skin like a sieve, slowly leaking blood.

  When boosted, the Fel's quills barely managed to pierce his skin – a small blessing that – but without Karline to warn him, he had no way to know when to dodge.

  He had been running and hiding from the Fel for at least a full bell now. The storm clouds had passed over and left a refreshed savanna behind, but the wet ground had soon turned the air steamy under the sun's heat.

  He was breathing hard, soaked in sweat, his mouth dry. He needed a break to drink a gulp of water and take a health potion, but the Fel never let up.

  This had to be enough time for Karline to have at least gone most of the way up. He wasn't going to last much longer anyway.

  Time to beat a retreat.

  He angled towards a large herd of oxen-looking animals that had stopped at a watering hole, filled by the passing rain. He hadn't needed to, but he still checked to make sure the Fel was on his track, just in time to see it rear its back up and shoot a barrage of needled quills at him. He dodged to the side, earning himself another frustrated roar as the beast started after him once more.

  “That's it, get angry.” He muttered to himself.

  He ran straight at the herd, its outer line of guarding beasts noticing him and forming ranks, huffing, braying, and pounding the earth with their hooves in an attempt to scare him off.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  He instead jumped over them, clearing their heads and horns with a few centimetres to spare.

  Landing in a roll, he spotted a dead, fallen tree. He reached out, latching the grasping vine to it, and swung around, launching the log into the air in an arc, sweeping it at the Fel that had just reached the apex of its own jump over the oxen beasts.

  It batted him to the side and into the throng of aggravated animals who saw it as an attack and replied in kind.

  They stood no chance, but it would slow the thing down.

  He spun and made for the central pillar, bounding over the intervening huddled beasts.

  Behind him, an enraged roar intermingled with the panicked braying of the dying beasts being butchered.

  David sent them a small prayer of apologies and thanks for their sacrifice.

  A few minutes later, he was at the hallway entrance. Before long, he was crossing the inner door into the central shaft, slamming it shut behind him. The Fel's roar reverberated through the metal. He didn't have much time.

  He fished out a scent masker potion and threw it at the door. He wasn't sure if it would do much, but maybe it'd buy him a few seconds.

  He retrieved a healing potion and another energizer, drinking them both at the same time.

  The pain from his puncture wounds slowly receded, turning into a dull ache rather than a piercing one, letting out a breath of relief.

  And then ants crawled up his arms and legs. He felt ready to jump wall to wall up the shaft. What...

  He slapped his forehead. Triple-strength superior energizer. NOW he remembered.

  He looked up the ladder. He'd told Karline to drink two.

  She had probably finished climbing half a bell ago.

  He sent the vine to lash at a ladder's rung roughly seven meters up, pulling himself up to it, grabbing on with his other hand before repeating the motion with another rung higher up.

  He hadn't gone more than 40 or 50 meters when he started hearing the booms of metal being punched by something very strong and very angry.

  Please hold, ancient door. Give me 10 minutes. You can do it.

  He pushed the sound out of his mind, and concentrated on climbing up as quickly as he could.

  David reached the top of the shaft. His right shoulder, the arm he'd been using to lasso himself up the ladder, felt like two blocks of granite grinding on each other. He could still faintly hear the metal-punching Fel at the bottom, the sound echoing up the empty space.

  He stepped up and out of the top-side access door, finding Karline doing calisthenics.

  “HEYDAVIDYOUFINALLYMADEITUPWHATTOOKYOUSOLONG?!” She blurted out.

  He scratched his head, looked back at the door to the shaft.

  “Karline, we gotta go. Get back on me.”

  “NOWAYIWANNARUNLETSGOILLRACEYOU!” She shoved the words out of her mouth and started sprinting south.

  He reached out for her, but she was gone. Shaking his head, he started after her.

  They ran back south for almost a full bell. He actually had trouble keeping up with her without boosting. He kept glancing back, but so far there had been no sign of the Fel. Maybe it wasn't able to climb up the ladder? Or it didn't want to leave the underground preserve?

  Whatever the case, he was glad.

  And then, in front of him, Karline collapsed like a sack of potatoes with no warning.

  He ran up to her, flipping her on her back, and put his hand under her nose. She was still breathing, and her pulse was weak but constant.

  He'd need to keep an eye on her, but she should be fine. Would probably wake up with an incredible headache, however.

  He sighed and picked her up, resuming his run south.

  The sun was starting to set; he'd have to look for a place to set camp soon, but he was not staying in the general vicinity of this place.

  He ended up running well into the night, boosting all the way. If someone saw him, so be it; the only thing holding him up at this point was the boost.

  Karline had stirred a few times in his arms but hadn't woken up. That was still a good sign that she didn't have any serious issues; she was probably just beyond exhausted.

  Sometime past midnight, he started to recognize the terrain around Camp Freshmeat. He let go of his mana, the blue glow leaving him at the same time as his strength. He sagged and stumbled, grunting as he forced his legs to keep carrying him.

  He kept going for a half bell, walking on sticks of fire, his muscles rebelling at his instructions.

  But he managed to get there. With halting steps, he reached the outskirts of the camp, one of the lookouts noticing him and coming to investigate.

  He waved him away and found a cleared spot. Not bothering with a tent or anything, he simply dropped Karline on the ground and unpacked a few supplies from one of his cargo-cloths; a few sheets, a small mana burner, water, a pot, a cup, and a set of old woman herb packets.

  He drank eagerly, pouring the rest into the pot to boil, rolled Karline onto a sheet, covering her and putting a rolled-up one under her head as a pillow.

  Soon he had a warm old woman in hand, a rolled sheet under his haunches, and a small tree against his back. He closed his eyes and let his aches and stress filter out into the cool night's air.

  He looked at the still unconscious Karline. The day had been way too long, and the night would be way too short.

  As he'd feared, Karline only came about in the pre-dawn. He offered her a full water canteen and a cup of old woman, both of which she consumed on the spot.

  They didn't exchange any words. Bleary-eyed, he just shooed her away from the sleeping spot, pointing at the place he'd been mounting vigil and crawled into the most comfortable sheets he'd ever known. Leaving her to nurse a splitting headache, he fell asleep the moment his eyelids shut.

  She let him rest well into the morning, alone with her thoughts once more, now that her head wasn't threatening to split apart.

  While it had been far from what she had expected, she could admit that the whole expedition had been a great learning experience.

  He'd taught her quite a few of his ways, and in the process, the image she had of the top-ranked courier had been shattered, to then be rebuilt into something... different.

  Not the brazen adventurer she had fangirled over, but of a calculating and honourable man just doing his job the best way he could.

  And it made her wonder if she'd been approaching the whole free courier thing wrong. Was she seeking fame or fortune? David's way seemed to lead to both, but somehow whatever fame he'd gathered felt unwanted, and a bit of a lie. Maybe that was just her.

  She huffed, pushing back the questions for later. For now, they had to get back to town, get the longest shower she had ever had, get one of Niala's master-chef meals into her, and go to sleep in a comfy bed.

  Yeah, that sounded nice.