Page 75 of The Fly-Half

“That doesn’t answer my question!”

“All right, so, the four of you are on the road on your way to Arrowholt, and you’re approaching the second night of your journey,” Ryan said as we sat around the table later that evening, listening as he captivated us with his words. “The sun is just starting to set over the mountains in the distance and there’s a chill in the air. The road is currently empty, but you remember what you were told about there being bandits in the woods you can see not too far to your left. Can you all roll me a perception check?”

I watched as the others rolled, Rory deliberating for a moment about which dice to use. He’d been kind enough to lend me one of his many, many sets for tonight—which were bright turquoise with golden threads running across the surface—because I hadn’t gotten around to buying some. Mostly because whenever I went on to various dice shops, I was overwhelmed with the amount of choice and spent hours looking at all the pictures and trying to decide which ones I’d like best instead of actually ordering any.

“Seventeen,” West said.

“Starting off strong this evening with a nine,” Rory said with a giggle.

“Fifteen,” Mason added as he looked at his sheet to check his modifier.

“Twenty-eight,” Jonny said, a wry smile on his face.

Ryan laughed. “And there’s the rogue.”

“Thank God we’ve got you,” Rory said. “Or we’d be fucked.”

“Hey, mine was pretty good,” West said, nudging his boyfriend with a teasing smile. “So was Mason’s.”

“Yeah, but there’s a difference between a seventeen and a twenty-eight. Besides, now we can spot whatever horrible thing Ryan is planning to throw at us.”

“Since when do I do that?”

“Er, might I remind you of the goblins?” Rory asked with disbelief, holding up his hand to start counting things off. “And the mimic in the bookcase. There was that weird bat creature too! And, you know, the vampires?”

“And don’t forget our worst enemy,” Mason said solemnly. “Locked doors.”

They all nodded and I bit back a laugh. I’d heard multiple stories about their problems with doors, even though rogues were supposed to be good at opening them. But apparently, Jonny’s dice didn’t believe in breaking and entering, no matter what the situation.

“Luckily for you there are no locked doors in sight,” Ryan said, drawing us back into the story. “But, Flint, you spot a tiny twisting bit of smoke coming from the edge of the forest. It’s not enough to be a forest fire or even a large campsite.”

“So probably a small party then?” Jonny asked as he gently hooked his foot around mine under the table. “Maybe one or two people at most?”

“Yeah, I think with a twenty-eight, you’d probably assume it’s not going to be a lot of people. More like something the four of you would set up.”

“I’ll point it out to the others,” Jonny said before adding a couple of lines as his character. He had a voice for Flint too, and I melted a little inside because I’d never realised he did a voice.

“I’m not sure,” Mason said. “Do we want to go and investigate? What if we scare them off? Or what if they try and rob us?”

“Please,” West said, waving his hand at all of them. “Who’s going to try and rob us?”

“Don’t say that!” Rory laughed as he tried to clap his hand across West’s mouth. “That’s just asking for trouble.”

“Yeah, don’t give them ideas,” Mason said, gesturing at Ryan with a playful grin.

“Well, I’m starving,” Rory said. “And I love meeting new friends, so I vote yes. In fact, I’m going to start walking towards the campfire.”

There was a little more debate, and West even considered going and scooping Rory’s character up and carrying him away, but they couldn’t ignore the plot hook forever. Eventually, they made their way over to the edge of the forest and the camp my character had set up. Excited nerves bubbled in my stomach as the moment of my introduction got ever closer, but Jonny’s foot was still hooked around mine and suddenly I felt his hand on my thigh under the table, gently soothing me.

“You get to the edge of the forest and you do indeed see a small campfire has been set up with stones around the outside, the fire burning merrily, and there’s even a metal tripod set up over it with a pot of something bubbling away, which smells delicious,” Ryan said. “And there’s also a figure sat beside the fire watching you—because let’s face it, none of you were trying to be stealthy.”

Mason vaguely tried to object but it was more for show than anything, and five warm faces turned to me as Ryan said, “Devon, would you like to describe what they see?”

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Jonny

“Did you have fun tonight?”I asked as I climbed into bed, looking at Devon stretched out in a pair of loose shorts and an old Knights T-shirt, both of which he’d stolen from me. I wasn’t sure why he’d bothered putting pyjamas on since I was going to take them straight off, but maybe he loved the idea of me undressing him.

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