We didn’t have any time to celebrate our victory, or assess what had happened before the storm grew wilder. The wind kicked up, blowing leaves and small branches from the trees as lightning flashed all around us.

“Find cover!” Sir Zantar yelled, pulling all of us back to focus. 

The rain was falling so heavy I could hardly see a few feet in front of me. All I could make out were the shadows of the other knights: a tall skinny one, an average one, a bulky one, a tiny one, one rigid with heavy, elegant armor, and most importantly: one on four long legs. 

Sir Zantar’s armored shadow pulled along the smallest one and the tall skinny one as they set off into the thicket of trees.

I was soaked to the bone before I made it past the first trunk, and my metal boots started to sink into mushy dirt with every step. My poor armor. I really hoped there would be a way to clean it up after all of this.

After minutes of slipping and sliding through the woods, keeping Leo’s bulky frame on one side of me and Prince’s majestic one on the other, we eventually came to a stop.

“There! A tree we can hide beneath!” called out Sir Zantar from the haze of a shadow ahead. 

Sure enough, after a few more steps, I emerged from the rain and up to a huge tree trunk, twisted and gnarled but thicker than Leo’s mountain of a body. Its canopy stretched wide above us with thick branches and green leaves that created a natural umbrella from the rain.

Only a few drops here and there leaked through, but it was nothing compared to the monsoon going on around us.

We all took cover under the tree, Pip shaking his head like a wet dog, Leo gazing up to the tree top, Blaze sulking in the shadows like an angry possum, and Vincent and Sir Zantar mumbling to each other off to the side. 

Another cracking lighting strike reminded me that this wasn’t just rain. This was a thunderstorm.

“Uh… wait. Isn’t a big tree the worst place you can be during a storm?” I asked Vincent and Sir Zantar. That was one of the basics of basics we all learned in elementary school. Don’t hide under a bridge in a tornado. Don’t struggle in quicksand. Don’t hide under trees during a lightning storm.

“No?”  Vincent said as he tried to wring out his hair for water. “The trees are natural conductors for the lighting and lead it back into the sky. This is the safest place we could possibly be.”

What kind of backwards logic did this world operate on?

“Yea! ‘When sky-light flashes you see, one must flee underneath a tree!’ is what Mom always said!” Pip said as he shuffled his hands through his hair to get out more water. Clearly that was something he had heard and repeated often.

“This is common sense, Sir Krystal. I am concerned that you hit your head too hard when you got overwhelmed by the rock gnomes,” Sir Zantar said in an earnest and worried voice—which only pissed me off more.

“Yea. Sure. That’s what happened.” I didn’t have the energy for this.

“It wouldn’t be the first time Sir Krystal has ignored common sense,” Vincent said very loud and clear. Almost as if he was making sure I heard it over the storm.

“Oh no, Sir Vincent. No need to throw around blame. Let’s enjoy the beautiful storm!” Leo said, looking out at the flowers in front of us. Somehow he really was enjoying things, even in this weather.

“No, Sir Leo. Some things need to be said and be said loud and clear. Sir Krystal, you directed us straight into the clutches of the rock gnomes, which I had warned you about. On the basis of, what? ‘Weather vibrations?’ And it brought all of us in danger as a result. What do you have to say for yourself?” Vincent looked straight at me. He really didn’t pull any punches, huh?

But also, he was completely right.

I didn’t have anything I could say to defend myself.

After all, I did bring us all into danger. 

I thought following the book would be the easy way out, but it’d never occurred to me that I could completely change things to the point where we were seconds away from becoming human fertilizer.

I really did believe I was doing what needed to be done. But what was belief worth if we all had died?

Thank Matty for the rain. At least it would hide the tears starting to form.

Why couldn’t I get one. Damn. Thing. Right?

“Now, Sir Vincent,” Sir Zantar cut in with only calmness in his expression, “harshness does not create a lesson learned. Let’s discuss things rationally and figure out what went wrong. I’m sure Sir Krystal did not mean to put us all in danger.”

Dammit Sir Zantar. Sometimes it would be easier if everyone was just pissed at me. I didn’t need this ‘I’m not angry, I’m just disappointed,’ nonsense.

“Regardless of intent, it was her choice that led us all nearly to our demise,” Sir Vincent doubled down. 

“That’s not right at all!” A voice squeaked up. Pip. Coming to my defense? Again. I didn’t know if the tears in my eyes grew stronger because of the vicious verbal attack, the guilt I felt from screwing everything up, or from the fact that Pip was a great friend and possibly the only—human—one I had in this world.

“And just what exactly do you mean, Sir Pip?” Vincent asked politely, but oh boy did his words have thorns.

Slimy, dangerous, oozing, red thorns.

“You were the one who said weather was unpredictable and had the final call! And also…!” Pip made a lot of vague indications towards the rain, “Sir Krystal, lady was right! A storm was coming; it’s right there!”

Pip’s movements got more wild as he started to walk around on the small dry patch.

“Besides, Leo is the one who woke them up and called them friends. Blaze quickly antagonized them and didn’t understand he couldn’t cut them, and ruined his sword!” Pip was really getting into it now, wringing the greatsword from Blaze’s hands to point at the very chipped blade.

“If I can’t kill it, I don’t like it.” Blaze mumbled, very clearly not happy with being called out or having his failures showcased. He pulled back his greatsword and continued to sulk in the shadows.

“And I,” Pip said, pointing very proudly at himself, “had so much fun playing ‘rock skipping’ that I nearly forgot we were in a fight, and didn’t take it seriously enough. I even forgot about using them as ingredients! Oh no! I wonder if we can still go back and get some…”

“Sir Pip, I do not think that—” But Vincent was cut off.

“My point is, it’s everyone’s fault! And since it’s everyone’s fault, it’s nobody’s fault! Now, I want to cook. Help me find some dry wood.” Pip finally concluded his long speech in a way only someone as innocent as he could.

If it’s everyone’s fault, it’s nobody’s fault, huh? I very much felt entirely at fault, but decided to keep quiet about that.

“Thank you, Pip,” I said instead.

“Well, everyone’s at fault except you, Knight Commander Zantar, Sir,” Pip added with sparkles in his eyes, ruining my little moment. “You’re ore-some!” 

“Don’t talk about rocks ever again,” Blaze mumbled, hugging his sword and looking at the chipped edge with sadness. 

I shuddered as I thought about another future where that could have been Knightshade… My love… I’m happy you’re safe.

“Thank you… Pip…” Sir Zantar said, clearly unsure of something about that statement. Whether he wasn’t sure about the term being a good or bad thing, or if it was the fact that the entire “if everyone’s at fault nobody’s at fault” just got invalidated by pointing out someone who clearly wasn’t at fault, was all just speculation.

After that, nobody said much. 

Pip occasionally asked for help cutting ingredients, which helped Blaze’s mood improve. I hadn’t seen him ask for help before—he was the one with a legit kitchen knife as his preferred weapon. Maybe he was more observant and mature than I had given him credit for.

When food was ready we ate as the storm continued to rage.

I watched Pip specifically as he ate with a smile on his face, like we hadn’t almost been turned into dirt slowly and painfully moments earlier.

“Hey, Pip?” I said lightly.

He looked up at me with a mouthful of food.

“This is really good,” I said and nodded at my plate.

“Thanks, Sir Krystal, lady,” he said, spitting food through his somehow growing smile.

“And thanks for sticking up for me,” I added, almost too quiet to hear over the roar of rain and thunder.

But Pip heard and swallowed his food. “No problem, Sir Krystal, lady. I trust my friends, so I trust you.”

I sighed and returned to eating silently like everyone else.

And for the first time since I’d arrived, I felt connected to someone—a human—here. I did, truly, hope Pip could trust me from here on out.

Once the storm was over, we would have to get back to the well, find the key piece, and I needed to not fuck everything up again.

What a fucking great plan.