"Hot, hot, hot!" Lyle shouted as he stomped furiously upon the ground.<br/><br/>Beneath his stomping feet, the flames of the torches withered and died but not without some expense if Lyle's pained shouts were any indication.  When he was done, it wasn't just the extinguished torches that were smoldering with leftover heat but Lyle's boots as well.  But the torches were out and that was all that mattered.<br/><br/>Of course, when Lyle looked back to rejoin the rest of the battle, he soon wondered if he had needed to sacrifice his boots as the remaining bandits were in full retreat.  Having lifted his bow in one hand while his other started moving to the quiver to pluck an arrow, Lyle froze and watched the retreat of the horde before his hands dropped back to his sides.  Well, so much for that then.  Off to the side, the archer thought he could hear an order to chase the bandits down but he quickly decided to pass on that.<br/><br/><i>I've done my part thank you very much,</i>Lyle thought to himself.  With that in mind, the archer rested his bow against the statue that he had pulled the torches from and took a seat before pulling off his boots to check the damage.<br/><br/>"These were custom-made too," he murmured to himself as he inspected the right boot.  The light leather had been scorched pretty good at some areas which was where most of the heat and smoke was drifting from.  He lightly patted down the boots, trying to halt the smoke and brush off the ash that blacked the brown leather. The left boot wasn't too bad; it was the right foot that Lyle had mostly used to stomp out the torches before it became too hot and he had been forced to switch.<br/><br/>"Hope there's still a tailor around that can repair them..."<br/><br/>Lyle seemed a lot more concerned about his boots rather then the aftermath of the battle and some part of his mind took note of this and tried to find an explanation for it.<br/><br/><i>Never killed anyone before.  Shot plenty of deer, squirrels, birds, rabbits, even killed a wolf that one time but never a human being.</i>While Lyle was checking the sole of his left boot, he took a moment to register how he was feeling about killing someone.  He had to have been staring at the sole for half a minute before he finally thought,<i>...Don't know what the big deal is.</i><br/><br/>He tried to feel some kind of remorse or horror about taking a life but the archer felt none.  He knew that killing a rabbit and killing a human being should be two different things altogether but more and more Lyle was wondering if they were different in a way that most people didn't usually think about.  Wolves and deer, they were animals sure but that was the whole point.  They were animals that just worried about hunting, eating, sleeping, and finding a mate.  The humans that Lyle had slain were big, stupid, ugly bandits that were set on slaughtering an entire village so they could satisfy their greed of riches and young maidens.  It was probably a silly thought but it was the only thing that Lyle could think of that would explain how unmoved he was.<br/><br/>The archer finally took note of another presence that was nearby.  He thought he remembered hearing a small voice before but for some reason it was only now that Lyle turned his head to see the silhouette of someone having planted themselves at the other side of the same statue that Lyle had chosen.  Due to Lyle having removed the torches, there wasn't enough light for him to see who it was and with their back turned to him, he couldn't see that it was the same thieving elf that he had met earlier in the day.<br/><br/>"Any idea how long it will take for things to get back to normal?" he questioned easily enough, still unusually unmoved about the battle that had just taken place. "I could really use someone to take a look at these boots." Now that they were no longer smoking, Lyle was already sliding his boots back over his feet. "The torches burnt them just a little but I'm hoping they can be repaired."<br/><br/>That would be if the tailor or any leatherworkers were still alive.  If not, ah well, Lyle would just buy a new pair or make do with what he had.  He was getting the hell out of Greenvale.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>