Living Dreams

Chapter 6

Dustin

Two weeks. I thought as I glanced at the group of gasping men and women around me. Each of them straightened themselves and turned towards me, waiting for the next order. A soft voice sounded behind me and I turned to see Gabriel chanting his heals and healing those who were severely injured, but thankfully no one was killed.

When he was done, the others stood up and walked towards me.

"What do we do?" Xander asked as he hoisted his shield higher. Adrian leaped forward, clinging to his bow, and stood beside his boyfriend and I nodded at the two of them.

"I think this is enough for today. It's almost dinner time." I told them and sheathed my sword before turning and leading the way back to camp.

"And tomorrow, we storm the dungeon!" One of the women beamed as she shoved her sword into her sheath.

"Do you think we're ready?" Gabriel asked as he walked beside me and I nodded.

"We're more ready than we'll ever be." I promised him. He nodded.

We walked in silence, heading back towards camp and the others. If we were lucky, Cedric would be back from the little town we had discovered a few days ago with some new news.

A few people called out a hello and I waved at each of them, hoping that none of them could actually see how terrified I felt. Maybe this is why it's good that a military man is the actual leader. I stated to myself as I collapsed by the fire and watching a small cluster of people pile meat and vegetables into a pot by the fire.

"You're back."

"I should be saying that to you." I chuckled.

Cedric towered over me with a cocky grin and then jerked his head towards the tent. "Come on, we need to talk."

"Dungeon talk?"

"Come on." He turned on his heel and stalked away. With a grumble, I followed him away from the people. We walked out of camp, close enough that we could help them if need be, but far enough away to talk in privacy. "We have a problem."

"We have a lot of problems." I stated, echoing his usual remarks when someone said that 'there was a problem.'

He didn't laugh, instead he just eyed me and shook his head. "This one's serious. You know the whole issue with those religious nuts?"

"Them going after magic users?"

"Yes." Cedric nodded. "Apparently it affected our people more than I realized."

"What do you mean?" I demanded.

"Our mages are content with staying as they are since they're away from the-" he cut himself off.

"Psychos? Murders?" I offered usefully and he grunted beside me.

"Aye." He stated and studied me from the corner of his eye. "The problem we're facing is with the priests."

"What problem?"

"Did you know there's a difference between a support priest and a fighting priest?" Cedric watched as I shook my head and then nodded. "I didn't either, but from what I've been told, there's a massive difference. A support priest cannot cause damage of any kind and a fighting priest can only do personal heals."

"Do they require different staffs and-"

"Their staffs are the same, but the process is different. At least, that's how the group of them explained it to me." Cedric turned back towards the camp. "Look, the procedure doesn't matter for this, the problem is that almost all of our priest don't want to be a support one because it makes them an easy target that can't defend themselves."