Stolen Lives: A LitRPG/GameLit Novel (The Underhill Chronicles Book 1) Keith Ahrens (best e reader for epub txt) 📖

was. He was also my friend and our contact to the other side! What are we to do?" Thorn's arms drop to her sides, her eyes betraying a shared feeling of hopelessness.

“It’s okay now, my love," Haynes reassures her. "Take a deep breath. It’s not as bad as it could be. We made it out! I'm sorry for your friend, and I'm sorry to have to ask this, but can we still go on with the plan without him?"

"I don't know.” Thorn lingers with her hand in Haynes' for a moment before she walks back over to her horse deep in an internal struggle. She seems to steel herself, as if she has come to a decision, and her voice grows more confident stronger. “I'm able to get us through, of that I can assure you. I know where the crossing point is. The gate naturally occurs in a place of moon metals, and there is only one source close enough. But I cannot tell you what will happen without him after we make it to your world.”

Haynes stays silent for a few moments. Walking up to her, he lightly grips her shoulders and maintains eye contact. He stares at her for a moment as if to gauge her mental state and reserves. “I'm… I'm truly sorry about your friend. I want to know more about him, but now is not the time. Hopefully, once we make it to my home, we'll still be able to find sanctuary even without his aid. Perhaps when we are safe, you'll want to share everything with me. For right now, we need to keep everyone together and moving. Let’s mount up. You lead the way.”

They step apart with some regret and remount their steeds.

“How much farther to the lake?” Haynes asks.

“About another hour or two, then we have to leave the main road, and it's maybe another two hours if the wagons can make it,” the elf replies. "The sooner we get off the road, the safer we'll be.”

Without discussing it, they rein their horses close together. Their knees almost touch as their horses trot along, and after a few minutes, Haynes holds his hand out, and she takes it. They ride in companionable silence until they reach the rest of the party.

The road is muddy and rutted, causing us to bounce quite a bit on the hard-wooden bench. I don't think a small cushion would be too much to ask for. Might as well wish for a cold beer and a soft easy chair. Damn, I miss home.

After about twenty minutes of watching the road behind us to make sure no one is following, I decide it’s safe for now. I climb into the back of the wagon to take care of Des's ankle. His scalp has stopped bleeding by now, but he still looks miserable.

Out of the wind, it’s a lot warmer in here, but the air remains damp with the falling rain. I didn't realize how cold it was topside until I'm sitting down within the wooden walls and pulling Des's boot off. His ankle is a swollen, bruised mess. We hit a large rock or something of the like, and the wagon jostles. Des curses with the pain of the movement. The last jostle causes my mace to slide out toward me from under a bench. I pick it up and shake a small bit of bone and green skin off before replacing it back on my belt.

“I got bad news for ya', Des.”

“Shit, it's broke now, ain't it?”

“Don't know yet," I say as I break into a grin, "but your foot fuckin' reeks. When was the last time you washed?”

We both laugh a bit at the lame joke. I always found it helps to put your patient at ease before you have to do anything. I poke and prod and shift the foot around in a small circle as Des hisses in pain. I can't feel anything out of place, but there are a lot of small bones in the ankle as well as the real chance of a fracture that hasn't displaced. Lucky for him, we're currently out of healing stones.

“Well, I'm not sure if it's broken, but we have to assume it is. I can splint it for now, but you're not gonna be running on it anytime soon.” Then a thought occurs to me. “Hey, how’s the magic study coming along?”

Des glances at his right wrist and contemplates this for a minute. “Probably not good enough to fix this. And truth be told, I ain't much good at healing. I can sure give it a shot, though.”

“Cool, let me splint it first so you have a chance of it healing right.” I get to work, using an old blanket I find under the broken boards. Using a small dagger, I cut it into wide strips and bind the ankle, then I brace it with some of the wood to fashion a splint.

“I can give you something for the pain, but it’ll knock you out for a while.”

“Nah, as fun as that sounds, I think we all need our wits about us. I can handle it.”

“Okay, in that case, there's not much more I can do here; keep that leg elevated on the bench there. I'm gonna return topside to keep watch. Let me know if you need anything.” I get up and reach for the edge of the broken roof.

“Well, Hoss, there is one thing… you can buy me a beer when we get home.”

I let out a genuine laugh. “Brother, I'll buy you a whole case when we get back.”

I climb back out and resume my post. “Did I miss anything?” I ask Jesse.

“Just more rain and mud, nothing to trouble yourself about.”

The wagons in front of us begin to slow and then stop. We look at each other as Jesse slows our wagon to follow suit. Then he transfers the reins to his left hand and pulls his revolver. I pick