Testing My Luck in the New World

We were dumped in front of their raging campfire close enough to count the embers crackling within the logs. Its heat slowly started to burn my face, but every second that persisted, the more the Anti-Focus Poison prevented me from moving.

It was like everything happening around me was delayed due to my own perfect memory forcefully repeating the scene in my mind's eye until I understood it. And soon enough, even the thought of fighting back evaded me.

Tillmann – murder – threw Yua's unconscious body close enough to the fire to cause a panicked flurry in my chest, but even my heart forgot how to act. She was so alarmingly close, close enough that, had a light breeze chose that moment to whip the flames in her direction, her hair would have been set alight. And still, I couldn't summon up a thought powerful enough to move myself to her.

Silvano dumped Gawin on the ground. They hadn't bothered to wake him from my spell yet. He landed awkwardly, but drool continued draining down his cheek peacefully.

The now one-armed Yelis let Gregor's unconscious body slam into the dirt before he collapsed onto a log bench. He'd already healed his stump enough for the bleeding to stop, but there was nothing he could do about the blood he'd already lost.

I couldn't see the men Yua fought anywhere in the mix.

Tillmann surveyed what was left of his men with a sneer. He tossed Silvano something that looked like a ceramic jar.

"Open that under Gregor's nose. Do the same ta Gawin, but don't get yer hopes up. Magic works different than a good punch ta the face."

"Right..."

I only had enough control over my mind to force my eyes back to the Swordsman every time my attention slipped. There was no stopping him from – trees – stooping in front of his comrade and shoving the jar under his nose.

There was a loud, regretful sniff and Gregor sat up bolt right. Must have been some sort of smelling salts.

"Euggh! Whaf the hellf is fhat?! Arghh!"

Lisping through his complaints, he pinched his nose in open revulsion, but just touching his own face caused him to scream in pain. Yua must have hit him harder than I thought. His cheek and tongue were both noticeably swollen.

"Whaf fhe... Wheref's my teefh?!" he whined, touching the place where his front teeth had once been.

"Good mornin', ye fool," Tillmann said, pointing to us. "I cleaned up yer mess fer ya."

Gregor's eyes fell to us and he scowled. Immediately, he reached for his sword, but Silvano stopped him with a hand.

"I said I took care of 'em. Now, how about ye explain why it is ye bungled my simple orders?"

"..."

Because it was obvious they were trying to trick us, or so I'd like to say. And so did Gregor, from what I could tell. He seemed to know better than to – burning – direct his glare at Tillmann, so it found me as he rubbed his swollen cheek.

"It's because the cat-kin caught him in a lie," Silvano sighed, helping the sleepy Gawin to his feet.

He tossed the jar back to Tillmann, but the dwarf didn't look at all happy to see his numbers increase restored. The dwarf pulled a flask out of his apron and pointed it at Gregor.

"I explicitly told ye not to lie! Ye were supposed to skirt around the truth when ye could and speak only in vague answers and half-truths when ye couldn't. A cat-kin can't hear yer heart stumble over a lie if ye fooled yerself into thinkin' yer tellin' the truth!"