and then the world went black.
Surprisingly, he regained consciousness. Staring up at an empty gray sky, Will realized he must still be in the ethereal plane. Everything hurt, and when he tried to move, his body soundly rejected the suggestion. Ordinarily, his first course of action at that point would be to take a regeneration potion, but there was a more pressing need.
The spell he had used would only keep him in the ethereal plane for a maximum of five minutes. He didn’t know how long he’d been unconscious, but he was probably running out of time, and he was now roughly a hundred feet down from where he had been previously. That meant when the spell expired, he would shift back to his world in a place that was currently occupied by a large volume of stone.
In comparison to what he had done to Elthas, there would be even less of Will’s body left.
Panicking, he tried to move again, with substantially more determination—and quickly learned that both his legs were broken and possibly his back as well. His ribs also made sure to let him know that they were unhappy with the treatment they had received. Only his arms seemed uninjured, and they couldn’t do much given how much pain his back and ribs responded with whenever he tried to push or pull with them.
He started to summon a regeneration potion just as the spell gave out, and to his bewilderment, he found himself still alive after shifting back to his normal plane of existence. The massive pile of rubble had disappeared, replaced by an impressively large crater—and of course he was falling again.
There’s no justice.
Thankfully, this time his fall was only a distance of ten feet, which was more than enough to send a thousand jolts of agonizing pain through his already broken legs and cracked ribs. The pain lasted long enough to let him know he survived the fall, and then he blacked out again.
***
Someone touched his forehead with gentle fingers and Will slowly opened his eyes. Waking up while being uncertain if he was dead or alive was all too common for him, but he’d had enough experience that he was fairly certain he must have survived. His body felt whole, though he had been lying in the same position for far too long and he definitely had a crick in his neck.
A feminine figure was leaning over, and although the lighting was very dim, his eyes had already adjusted well enough, not to mention his nose would have been enough to identify the woman. Feeling mischievous, he feigned confusion. “Selene?”
Janice bolted up, doubtless remembering a time when she’d taken care of him when he’d been feverish in his dorm at Wurthaven. On that occasion he’d awoken similarly and kissed her by mistake. Will began snickering, unable to keep up the ruse.
“Cad! You were trying to scare me on purpose, weren’t you?” exclaimed his friend.
He nodded. “Where’s Selene?”
She pointed at the tent flaps. “Right outside. She only stepped out for a moment.”
Will laughed even more. “No wonder you were so scared.”
Janice gave him an angry glare. “A joke like that is probably worth more than my life. Remember who you married.”
“She’s not that bloodthirsty,” Will argued. “Besides, she likes you.”
“And I like her as well,” said Janice, “but she still frightens me, especially where you’re concerned. She was not pleased when she woke to find the trolls had returned without you.”
He saw Selene’s head enter the tent, but after hearing Janice’s last sentence, his wife backed out again to give them a moment’s privacy—or perhaps to listen in. It didn’t appear that Janice had noticed her. “You looked like you might be dead the last time I saw you,” said Will.
Janice touched her side and winced at the memory. “I couldn’t let you be the only one having all the near-death experiences. I managed to drink the potion you gave me before I bled to death. I missed the rest of the battle after that.”
“And Tiny?”
“Ask him yourself,” she responded. “He’s outside as well.”
“Where are we?”
Selene came back in, making more noise this time. “On our way home.”
“I’ll give you some privacy,” said Janice, bowing out quickly.
Will sat up on the cot and swiveled his head slowly from side to side. He definitely had a crick in his neck. “I have an army to run.”
“Not anymore,” said his wife. “Are you thirsty? Tiny already has a pot of water on the fire.”
He nodded. “Tea would be