Hunting Renegades (Part I)

"I'll be fine." Loc assured her as soon as he had the breath to say it.

He stumbled to his feet, but immediately hunched over in pain.

"Why didn't you do that the first time?" He asked weakly.

"I'm sorry, I just had never seen such a thing. I had to get back my concentration."

That was true enough. Magic took a fair amount of willpower and concentration to evoke.

Jahala, as soon as she was sure Loc would not collapse, approached the rifle, which now lay beside the man. His eyes stared blankly ahead. Death still upset Jahala a small amount; she was not as much of a veteran as Loc was. She looked away from the corpse as she picked up the rifle by the long, metal shaft.

She held it laid across her arms, staring at it with a look of confusion on her face. "What a strange weapon?" she muttered.

Loc stumbled over to her. He, too, stared blankly at the rifle. Eventually, Jahala simply let it drop to the ground with a dull thud.

"I cannot go much further today. Let us simply get away from these bodies." Loc managed to gasp out.

"Oh, of course! Here, I will help you." She said hurriedly as she held out her arm for Loc to lean on. He did so, putting most of his weight on her. They went on for another mile before Loc could go no further. Jahala helped him lie down on a patch of soft moss. Jahala went to gather firewood when Loc had finally convinced her he would be all right alone for five minutes. Soon after the fire was started, Loc fell into a deep sleep. Worrisome about Loc as she was, Jahala stayed up the entire night watching over Loc.