“God, she’s really a pest.” Mark huffed, looking at her with a disapproving gaze. “Why are you this obsessed with us, huh?!”

  Xila’s eyes went to Mark for only a moment before meeting mine again. “You let your pet guide speak for you? Interesting.”

  “Hey, what the hell does that mean?” Mark shouted back, but she ignored him completely.

  Her voice was more collected than before, reminding me of the first time we met. “The quest failed. It was doomed to fail for a while now, and you put the nail in the coffin by killing the mages.”

  Doomed to fail? I thought the dragon had a pretty damn good chance if we weren’t! My thoughts were in disarray, trying to see her goal here, though. “So, what do you want? Are you so petty that you’d come to kill my friend just because you can?”

  She scoffed, giggled and then pressed the blade tighter to Fink’s throat. He remained there, dangling in her grip, his hands raised, his eyes wide open. He met my eyes, and I saw tears welling up in their corners.

  Xila didn’t let him speak. “No. I’ve come to regret not killing you on that first day several times over, but that is not why I came here. You’ve got grit, if nothing else, and trying to kill you is a waste of my time. What I am here for, however, is my leg.” She raised the stump into the air, showing me the grown-over skin where her lower thigh and calf should be. “It cannot regrow if I don’t have it. So, my offer is such. You give me my leg, and I let this stinky creature go. Equivalent exchange, they call it?”

  I considered it. Not because I didn’t find the deal worthwhile - the leg was useless for anything else but a joke I still didn’t get to do. My hesitation was born of something else, though. “How do you want to do this? So we guarantee no.. accidents?”

  She rolled her eyes, sighing. “We don’t. I called this an equivalent exchange, but think again. I can fly. I don’t need that leg as much as you need a player in your group of miscreants. You put my leg down, step away, and I come down and let your friend go.”

  No way. “I don’t—”

  “I’m not giving you an option here, you idiot. You have ten seconds before I change my mind.”

  “You—”

  She didn’t break eye contact, and in those white eyes of hers, I saw that she meant it. There was no discussion to be had. No pleading. It wasn’t a trade. She was just going to cut his head off if I didn’t do as she wanted. “Nine.”

  I watched, trying to think of something again.

  “Eight.”

  What could I do though? Was there any skill that would help?

  “Seven.”

  Could I blind her? And try to close the distance? But surely she’d expect that.

  “Six.”

  Where was Crudia when I needed her, damn it? Or Dusk and Bryga! I knew that I was the best of the players, but range attacks really weren’t my area of expertise!

  “Five.”

  Shit. Too little time.

  “Four.”

  Mark tried grabbing my shoulder, phasing through, but grabbing my attention. “Just do it, Shrimpie. No other way.”

  “Three!” She raised her voice now, to get my attention back, but I looked at Mark. He looked nervous, but in that moment, in those features of his, I saw encouragement.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  “TWO!”

  “Alright, alright, I’ll do it! Happy?” I opened the interface and found the leg in a matter of moments, showing it off. It was still warm, and still leaking blood, just as when I ripped it off. It reeked of blood, actually, but I held it in a firm grip. Holding Xila’s eyes, I gently laid it down onto the corpse of the dragon, and then slowly stepped away, both of my arms raised. “There! Now hold up your end!”

  She remained where she was for longer, though, watching me step back with a scrutinizing look. The ants were climbing on the body down below, some of them feasting on the dragon, though I noticed a few running at the few remaining wolves.

  Xila’s wings finally whirred slower, and she made her descent, standing at equal footing. Her eyes went to the leg, analyzing it, and then she pushed Fink in my direction with one hand, sending him flying. He bounced a few times before arriving almost exactly at my feet, as was promised.

  Xila’s wings finally stopped moving completely, and she stood on one leg, grabbed the other from the ground, and then she sliced off the end of the stump. Her guide seemed to guide her through it, though I haven’t even noticed her before. The now-sliced stump continued pouring blood, but she pressed the cut-off part to it, and probably downed a potion. The leg started re-knitting itself immediately.

  Good. Maybe she wasn’t completely evil after all. A deal was a deal, no matter how fucked up you were in the head, apparently! I looked down at Fink, who was getting up from the ground, and helped him up. “You alright?”

  Coughing up blood, he looked up at me. “Been better. But I’m alive.” He brushed through his hair with one arm. “Thanks for saving me again, by the way. Hopefully for the last time.”

  “You owe me one. Or two.” I smiled.

  “Guys-” Mark began saying something in his rambly tone, but Fink ignored him.

  “Yeah, yeah. Bryga coming?” He looked down at the battlefield, scanning it, stepping closer to the edge of the dragon’s head..

  “Yeah, she should be—” I didn’t get to finish the sentence. Mark’s voice sounded, but I barely registered it before my world shifted as something shoved me to the ‘ground’. Something furry. Crudia?

  I looked up, trying to see what happened. Crudia, who was on the ground next to me, hopped on her feet, both of her daggers at the ready. What happened?

  I finally stood, and looked around. There was a new horizontal cut in the dragon’s head. Coming from Xila, and ending at the edge where Fink and I stood.

  “She… saved you.” Mark said, visibly shaken. She must have pushed me, getting me from the attack’s area.

  But she didn’t push Fink. One horizontal half of him remained on the dragon’s head, the other somewhere below. His mouth was still upturned to that relieved smile.

  Summoning my shields, I screamed at Xila, ready to finally let the world exist without her terrible existence. But she was already flying away, not even looking in my direction. The fight left my body and I collapsed onto my knees. She got away. Again.

  An exchange, huh? Was that all it would take to make me lose my focus?

  “It’s okay, Shrimpie.” Mark said from my side, interrupted occasionally by Crudia’s sobs. She was hunkered over Fink’s body, her hands on her knees. And then she vomited down from where she stood, letting the fluid drop on the corpses below. Talisha hovered in front of her, whispering something only those two could hear. She was crying as well.

  “It’s not okay. The first moment I got to not pay attention, I almost died. I let my friend die, for fuck’s sake!” I looked into the distance, searching for Xila again. She was a dot in the sky now, headed in the direction of the falling sun.

  I’d not let this go. My revenge would come, sooner or later. But first, I had to tell Bryga and Fink. They…. I didn’t know how they’d react. I still didn’t know how I should feel. There was an absence where a sadness should be. Was I… shocked? Or I just didn’t care as much as I thought?

  I’d have to think about it later. Though almost done, there was still a battle underway. I got on my feet, intending to join back in the action.

  Nothing like killing some damn wolves to get rid of my confusion. But something stopped me. Outside of the city, I saw a huge figure sprinting in Xila’s direction.

  Bryga. She must have seen.

  “What the hell is she doing?!” Mark exclaimed, already opening his menu.

  Mark: You won’t catch her Bryga. Come back!

  Bryga: I’llKillthatbitch

  Mark: You won’t catch her. The floor is closing in just a few hours.

  Bryga: Good enough. I’ll catch her now, or in the next one.

  Mark: Come back. We’ll help.

  …

  A message beeped in my interface, a private message from Dusk.

  Dusk: I’ll try to convince her to come back. The goblin army is finished. Stay safe.

  Shrimpie: You stay safe too. Tell Bryga… I’m sorry for Fink

  Dusk: You can’t blame yourself for Xila’s actions, Shrimpie. Talk to you later.

  He disconnected. I knew that Dusk was speaking the truth, but I couldn’t help but feel as if the words rang hollow.

  Looking at the battlefield, the goblins and soldiers vastly outnumbered the wolves now. The fight was over.

  And I was left there, wishing there was nothing to do than to think of my failure.