The fire crackled loudly, throwing dancing orange shadows against the broken stone walls of the ruined courtyard. I stood over the makeshift stone hearth, my face covered in dark ash, aggressively flipping chunks of sizzling monster meat with a flat piece of sharpened iron.
Sweat dripped down my neck. My chest heaved from the sheer frustration of the task.
A few feet away, sitting comfortably on smooth stone pillars, the others were loudly talking and arguing.
"I'm just saying, your footwork during the last fight was awful," Alice said, leaning back with a smirk as she tossed a small pebble into the air. "If I hadn't covered your left side, you would've been eating dirt, Riven."
Riven's hand went to the hilt of his dagger, his eyes glaring at her. "I had it under control! I didn't need your help!"
"Oh, please," Cordelia interrupted, smoothing out her dress. "Both of you were making too much noise. A real fighter moves with grace. Right, Amelia?"
