Lassara - Shards of Neril - Story Thread

When Frijyk entered clearing and saw several strange looking people and a huge white, fanged beast, his immediate impression was that he had been ambushed as he expected. Then, as he realized most of them were sleeping and the beast was in a defensive posture, he considered the possibility that he might not have to fight for his survival.

He addressed the aged man's question even as his own curiosity was bubbling up through his mouth.

"I-am Frijyk. You... look-like a magician. Most people here do-not have magic, I have-notice. And all of-you seem different from Lassarans. I-am curious..."

Frijyk turned his attention to the beast. It was not unlike the white wolves of his land, but much larger and somehow... with an aura of intelligence. It appeared to be guarding the woman it was near. Frijyk was struck by the beauty of both creatures. His eyes turned back to the man he had been following, and gestured to the beast.

"Is-this the creature you spoke-of?"

Tawariell groggily used her arms to help herself up into a seated position, a little worse for wear, truth be told; she was surprised to see Raina in one piece, contrary to the harrowing sight from her ordeal, and was grateful as the aistar nuzzled against her. The elf wrapped a forearm around Raina's muzzle and embraced her, muttering several affectionate phrases in Lammirna that the aistar responded to with loud purrs.

It was only in the corner of her eye that Tah noticed the old man from earlier, the abomination having clearly adopted his human illusion once more; he was seated in a meditative post and his eyes were firmly closed, but Tah knew better than to assume that this made him oblivious to the world. Nearby lay what appeared to be a elven youngling deep in slumber, though her vivid veridian hair and the small horns that protruded from her flowing locks suggested that this was not entirely the case; the elven huntress wondered why she had not noticed such a creature before, until she remembered that the lich's foul taint had taken much of her attention.

A sudden stabbing pain caused Tah to rub her forehead, the anguish she had faced in the fey's nightmare having smeared it's jet-black stain upon her mind; her head ached something awful, and in her pain she did not hear the elder mage talking, nor did she notice the return of the male elf with a mysterious companion that he had found while she was unconscious.

In the midst of the chaos and ruin of the capital city of Lassara, things were looking up for one group of survivors. They had managed to avoid fighting off demons long enough to gather supplies of food and medicine from the market square, which was otherwise abandoned. Thomas Targryn had been miraculously revived by a divine force that no one could explain, and perhaps even better, he now possessed a mysterious sword that was clearly enchanted. Given the circumstances by which it had arrived, it seemed safe to say that they would be needing it later.

While they looted the stores that hadn't already been thoroughly looted, Gilford explained to the two strangers the events they had witnessed earlier in the day. He expected them to share his grave concern, but Rufus seemed to be more entertained than troubled by the revelations, and Glungurd seemed disinterested in the story altogether. His thoughts were more focused on finding ale, which he had been deprived of for weeks. Gilford did not exactly trust this odd pair, but allies were very scarce presently.

After gathering all the basic essentials they could carry, they set out east, in the direction the guards had told them to go for safety. They managed to make it to the city gates without major difficulty. Exiting the city, they could see the western shore of Lake Birun in the distance. Not knowing whether demons were to be found outside the city, they debated where to go from there. Only Thomas and Glungurd had strong opinions. Thomas wanted to travel to Cantun to check on his family's safety, while Glungurd wanted to go into Tarania to check on his sheep. They voted, 3 to 1, in favor of sailing to Cantun.

Not certain how safe the roads would be, they decided that for the time being they would follow the edge of the lake, eastward. That way, they could only be beset by trouble from one side.

Morangul looked to where the blue-skinned human was gesturing to.
"The aistar? Ha! The 'creature' this tree-hugger was talking about was probably me!"

The blue-skinned human was obviously confused, and definitely not a local, Morangul noted.

"But you-are just an old man..." said the odd human.
"Don't let him fool you!" Cried the male elf, "He is much more than that! He is-"
The elf gave yelped when the small bolt of electricity hit him.
"That's enough out of you; we don't need to scare the boy, do we?"

Hearing some groans, Morangul looked and saw the elven archer coming to.
"Huh. Its about time you got up. You must have had a very bad memory for you to be out for so long-"
Morangul stopped, and smiled, "I wonder what that was, hmmm?"

"Anyways, whats your story, hmm?", asked Morangul, turning to the blue lad.
"Humans aren't supposed to be blue."

Meghghan didn't like these new surroundings very much. The room looked like brown and smelt like grey. Neither of those colours offered much that would hold her attention on most days. However, her interest returned somewhat when one part of the room began talking to her.

"Well," said the old man, "you certainly caused a stir back there. I don't blame you, though: he didn't look like a particularly savoury character, did he? Don't worry, I have locked the door," and here an almighty THUD rocked the house, "although I fear it might not deter them for long." He sighed. "And I'd just repainted the 'Brown Room', too. Figures."

What is this thing? dreamed Meghghan. It looked like a cloud. But it was too close to the ground for that. And it was talking. Clouds don't talk.

"Unfortunately, the misdemeanours of drunken louts may not be the worst of our worries," continued the old man, stroking his fluffy white beard.

No, definitely not a cloud. Something else. Buoyed by the satisfaction of having reached a conclusion, Meghghan took the time to check her vial. Empty. Oh well. More could be made.

"You saw the birds earlier, I presume." The man was now striding with surprising haste down a similarly grey-smelling passageway, followed (at a reasonable distance) by Meghghan. "All in a hurry, and all flying south. This does not happen in nature." Another THUD. "They were fleeing something. I have attempted to scry the area around the capital, but my abilities are not... what they once were. Suffice it to say that what little I have seen does not bode well."

But wait. Maybe clouds talk all the time, but since they are so far up, in the sky, we can't hear them. This one has come down from the sky to talk to me! Meghghan's commitment to her earlier conclusion was wavering. She decided to take the blunt approach.

"Are you... cloud?" she asked.

The old man's face lit up. "Why, yes! Eucalyptus Cloude, mage-at-large, scion of the Cloude archmages, pleased to make your acquaintance! Might I ask how you have come to hear of my exploits?"

Meghghan didn't know what exploits were, so she decided that this must be a joke. "Ha ha ha," she offered. Cloude's face fell faster than an Odglok attempt at heavier-than-air flight.

"Yes, well." THUD. "There is something in Lassara, something that should not be there. Something that should not be. I know not whether it is old foe or new chaos. All I know is that it is malevolent, and it surely will not stop at Lassara."

Meghghan smiled, immediately forgetting all of this helpful information. In her defense, there was now a painting on the wall.

"Now rumour is rumour, and news is news, and both will travel faster than any malevolence. But I fear it will not be fast enough. The sooner we can alert the towns and cities to the south, the more time they have to prepare. Even an hour is thirty more fighters, one hundred more arrows, two hundred citizens evacuated."

There were a lot of colours on the painting. Red, blue, green, yellow. Purple, pink. Orange!

"And I think I talk too much, when there is so little time to spare!" laughed Cloude, nervously. "But it is important that you know this information. You are young, and can defend yourself in ways I no longer can. You must spread the word."

Was that... turquoise? Oh, what a sight. "Wow," Meghghan breathed, appreciatively.

The old mage cocked his head to the side, puzzled at the girl's reaction. "Maybe this is overwhelming, but I must insist that you understand my message!"

THUD. Meghghan's face was the epitome of blankness.

"Please try to understand, my girl!" Cloude pleaded, grabbing Meghghan by the shoulders in a move that would have caused her to reach for the sand, had she had any. "You must leave the city. You must warn everyone you see."

I must leave the city, dreamed Meghghan. And I must warm everyone I see. Well, that's easy, she could let them all borrow Rags for a few minutes each. Problem solved. Determined to complete her new goal, she turned to leave the building.

"No, stop!" cried the mage. Meghghan stopped. "There's fighting in the streets, you saw those men! It's dangerous to go alone! Take this."

From a cupboard filled with strange gewgaws and contraptions that would have interested Meghghan, had she been paying attention, Cloude withdrew an odd, conical... thing. At first glance, it looked like a horn, one of the music-makers that had enraptured Meghghan earlier in the day; but there was something abnormal about it, a puzzlement too subtle for the girl's half-open eyes to notice. It was as if it did not move with Cloude's hands: as if it wanted, with all its ferruginous heart, to be somewhere else.

"My father was a master of the summon magicks," rambled the old man. "Or at least, he said he was. Did a lot of work for clients, overprotective parents and whatnot. So they could summon their children back from whatever illicit clinch they were lucky enough to find themselves in, you know?" THUD. Jangle. "Anyway, he's dead now. I think he is, anyhow. You never can be sure, with an archmage."

How long is it since I last ate, dreamed Meghghan.

"But he never did master summoning in the other direction: summoning of the self to somewhere else. That was me! Eucalyptus Cloude, my girl, remember the name. But these horns, they always break after one use, so up until now, I've never found a market from them. If only they worked even twice, just twice... it would have revolutionised the way we view transport. Day trips to Epayl Nir! I would have been ear-deep in coin." He sighed, again. "As it is, transport's still a nightmare and I'm up to my ankles in bottel-kapp."

Pressing the horn into Meghghan's hands, he continued. "Just think of where you want to be, and sound a note on this. You will be transported there in the blink of an eye. And remember: you must warn everyone, anyone you see. The fate of this world could rest on you."

The cloud is giving me this nice thing, Meghghan dreamed. That is so very friendly of it! I must say thank you!

"Thank you Mister Cloud!" smiled the girl. "Here," and she reached into her quiltrobes once again, removing a ragged old toy bear, "have this 'Rags', and hug him, but give him back, because he is mine."

"Oh! Well thank you for your time, and I hope we have cause to meet again, young..." he trailed off, waiting for a name, but the arrival of the bear in his hands rerouted his train of thought. Holding it, he shivered. Something was not right about this bear.

"Your friend here is quite... odd, isn't he?" he attempted. "Did - did you ever -"

THUD. Jangle. THUD. CRASH.

"There isn't time!" Cloude yelped, pushing Rags back into her hands. "Blow into the horn, quickly!" She raised it to her lips.

I am hungry, dreamed Meghghan Waltz, as she vanished.

Frijyk's eyes widened at the old wizard's display of raw magical power. He had silenced the pointy-eared man with a lightning bolt that he launched with a casual flick of his wrist. He got the feeling that the two men were not on the best of terms, but they did not immediately start fighting, so he assumed they were companions of sort. The young green-haired girl and the beautiful woman and her tamed beast gave no indication of joining the conversation.

Frijyk had missed much of the subtext of the old mage's words due to the language barrier.

"I-am from the north... the mountains. Where I-am from, all-have pale skin."

Frijyk was wary of divulging any more of his past. He was more concerned with the present, so he changed he subject.

"What about you? How-should I call you? All-of you, I mean. You are all... different as well."

"Well, you can call me Morangul. As for the others," the lich looked over at the two elves
and the Fey, realizing he has yet to learn a single thing about them.

"Ehh...Its better for them to introduce themselves. Now, you said you were from the northern mountains, yes?"
The blue lad nodded meekly, still quite confused about everything he saw.
"Hmmm..." Morangul once again racked his brain for any information that could help identify
where human standing in front of him.
The only thing that came to mind was an ancient legend about a tribe of humans that fled the first
invasion of the demons. By hiding in the northern mountains.
Could this be true? Could he really be from....well, only one way to find out.

"Could you possibly be from...oh what was the name again?
Oh yes, the Borian tribe?"

The look of surprise on the human gave Morangul his answer.

Kyran couldn't hide is scowl as Morangul began his inquisition of the strange man. He turned to the man. "I am Kyran," he said, pointing to himself. The lad's language seemed a bit off, so hand signals seemed a safe bet. "Kyran. I am an elf. She is an elf too," he said, pointing towards the woman behind the guard of the feline.

Finishing his introduction to the lost lad, he turned back to Morangul. "What's your aim? Why are you troubling us? I asked you questions, and you attacked. I have lived these woods a long time, and never have I seen you before. Why are you stalking my home? Like all men, there must be something you want that made you reveal yourself."

Frijyk was completely thrown off by this Morangul person's correctly guessing the ancient and little-known culture to which he belonged. But he was not about to give away any more information than he needed to.

"No. I-am no longer welcome among those people."

The above was not true in the slightest. His grandfather was disgraced, but they were still members of the tribe, and it was unthinkable to abandon or exile in the Borian culture- they were already dwindling without kicking people out. But Frijyk said those words with such conviction as to indicate it was a sore subject and to discourage any further questioning.

Frijyk's own questions had not yet fully been answered, and so he finished speaking. In
the meantime, he found his eyes periodically drifting over to the aistar and it's beautiful owner. "Elf", Kyran had called himself and this woman. They were unlike Lassaran humans, possessing a sort of grace and respect for nature that he had previously only associated with his own tribe. Frijyk suspected he had more in common with these elves than with the humans of his land.

"Ok then, Borian, you can tell me your story later."
Morangul then turned to Kyran.

"And you!"

"If you really think that causing a tree branch to wrap around someone is a good way to start
a conversation, you're even more out of touch than I am!" Morangul said with a bit of laughter.
"If you forgot already, I'm a lich, and if someone uses magic on me, what do you think my
first reaction would be?"

"But, if you must know, I have been in this forest centuries before you were even born.
Its just that I've been sealed up in my sunken fortress until now. I was traveling to Lassara to
investigate whether or not the return of Vayne and the demons had anything to do with the seals
weakening on my prison, allowing me to escape."

Morangul was quite surprised when he saw the looks on Kyran and the Borian's face.

".......You.....did know that Vayne returned with a massive army and flying fortress, sacking Lassara, right?"

"The flying mountain! All-of the people-of Leon were staring at it. It-is a fortress?"

Frijyk did not know what a "Lich" was, but he assumed from the context it was another of the many words Lassarans had to say "magician". He realized that the old man must be much, much older than he looked. For him to know about his tribe meant that he was around before they were driven into the mountains- at least a thousand years ago!

He must have been a very powerful "Lich" indeed. Frijyk couldn't help but think that traveling with this man would be to his benefit. Perhaps he could help Frijyk hone his own magical talent to be more effective.

"This flying-mountain... It had a great-dark void above it. I suggest staying away from-Leon."

Alaria woke up with a start. It felt as if she smashed every bone in her body, and she could concentrate only in brief intervals, but otherwise she felt fine. She took one look at the scenery around her and let out a gasp. She immediately hid her presence and tried to dart away into the forest, but her leg was still useless asnd she couldn't help but stumble and fall face first into the dirt, her disguise flickering on and off madly.

The aistar was next to her in an instant, placing a calming and a restraining paw on her back. "It's dangerous to go off into the forest alone, even if you are a Fey," Raina growled to Alaria. Alaria nodded fearfully at the aistar before she removed her paws off of Alaria's back. Alaria dragged herself back to her feet by clinging onto Reina and stared apprehensively at the druid and the lich before tearing off the emerald brooch from her hair and offering it back to the lich. "I..-I only wanted to help!" she muttered quickly. She handed over the ring just as quickly before withdrawing.

She then noticed the druid and the blue-skinned man staring at her green hair and horns and disappeared from sight although she still stood next to the aistar.

"And.....that was the Fey", Morangul said dryly,
glancing back at Fryjik, who had a blank look on his face.

"If you excuse me for a moment...."
And with that, Morangul walked over to where the Fey was standing.
With a few arcane words, his eyes were filled with a black light; he was now looking
at the world through Wraith Vision, where all things, present and not present,
were seen.

And so Morangul clearly saw the Fey standing next to the aistar.
"I can see you, Fey." Morangul said, stretching his arm out, with his hand open.

The Fey cringed in fear, until it noticed what was in the lich's hand: the brooch.
"I want you to have it," Morangul said, taking some joy in watching the Fey's face light up as she took it back from him.
"It looks better on you anyway."

"Now, there is no need to hide; all of this was a big misunderstanding," Morangul said;
"Let us get this all figured out, hmmm?"

The Fey, with a weak smile on her face, made a few cautious steps towards him, but fell
back on the aistar, her face a mask of pain.
"Huh...guess I didn't concentrate hard enough on the healing spells; its not like I used them a lot!"
Morangul's humor didn't cheer up the Fey at all; she just shook her head at him.
"Will you give me a chance to try healing you again?"

Looking intently at the two guards, Guantano softly whispered into her ear. "See the two guards? The merchant won't consider giving up anything until we take them down." Pointing towards the pale man riding on the left of the merchant, Guantano looked at Alyssa, and moved his finger across his neck. The group was nearing, they would have to take avoid making sudden movements until they were ready. Readying his own throwing knife, Guantano pointed once towards himself, then at the shorter man holding a broadsword on the right.

As the wagon crossed the vantage point, Guantano's muscles tensed as he prepared to throw.

"Now!"

Alyssa's arrow whistled through the air and struck straight and true, impacting the man dead-center of his throat, exiting at the other end of his neck. Wordlessly, his hand released the sword it was holding and it dropped noisily to the earth, its owner following just moments after. The sudden attack had caught the party by surprise, and the dark-skinned owner of the broadsword twitched at the violent manner of his friend's death, and that was what saved him. The knife intended for his heart instead spun and buried itself in his left arm. Shouting with pain, he kicked his horse into motion straight towards Gauntano, his eyes ablaze, burning to revenge his wound. Guantano balanced another knife by the hilt, before swiftly launching it towards the speeding guard. Barely raising his shield in time, a dull thud sounded as the knife impacted the shield, embedding itself into it. Digging his heels to increase the speed, the guard readied his broadsword in glee, as his opponent simply stood there, hands at his side, staring into his eyes. Just as he raised his broadsword in anticipation of cleaving the upstart's head off, an arrow flew through the air, and caught him in the chest, the impact taking him off his horse.

Turning to face Alyssa, Guantano smiled as he addressed her. "I was beginning to wonder whether you could really fire off more than one arrow before they reached us." Scowling slightly, but knowing that it was meant in jest, Alyssa replied sweetly. "It was tempting I admit, to delay my shot for just a moment." Looking at her expression, Guantano chuckled and strolled over to the guard, and retrieved his knives, an unpleasant squelch accompanying one of the actions. Wiping the blade on the man's body, Guantano casually sauntered towards the cowering merchant who hid behind the wagon with the other man, twirling the knives even as he did so.

"If you don't mind, we'll be taking your horse." Guantano said in a loud voice, as he hoisted himself up onto the courser. Spotting a pouch of gold hanging onto the merchant's belt, Guantano drew his long sword and kicked the horse into a slow trot towards the wagon. The fat merchant squealed in terror as Guantano extended his sword to his body. "Relax fatty, I just want something from you." Cutting the strings that held the pouch, Guantano reached out his hand and picked up the bag of coins. Satisfied by the weight, Guantano signaled to Alyssa, and within moments, the duo continued their way to Leon, leaving the merchant behind, scrambling to retrieve all items of value and set off before he had any more encounters.

(OOC: This happens after B_Ray's post, when Gilford tells R&G who they are)

Rufus was indeed entertained. He knew who Thomas Targryn was now. He was a bloody noble of one of the most powerful families in Lassara. Not that that mattered much at all now. One of the Targryn squires had attacked him ten years ago in that stinking desert. Those that survived reported that they were attacked by bandits. Bandits that were actually army scouts that he was part of. He remembered the Targryn crest on the squire's pauldron, and how he had tried to strike Rufus down, but Rufus was a better fighter and killed him. The Targryns had ruined his life. Now was time for a little payback.

They were walking down the lakeside road, four in a line, Gilford in front, Thomas behind him, Glungard afterwards and Rufus brung up the rear. He walked quietly up to Glungard.

"Stay quiet and follow my lead. Make sure that Gilford doesn't attack me."

Glungard looked quizzically at Rufus but said nothing. Rufus hooked his loaded crossbow on his belt hook, then walked a little faster, and in two minutes, was walking side by side with Thomas. He started a conversation with the man, trying to lower his guard.

"So, what was a noble like back in Lassara?"

Thomas looked at the man, he was a weird one, that was for sure.

"It was... alright. Certainly helps that I can buy whatever I liked" Thomas said, smiling weakly.

Rufus grinned back, then tripped Thomas onto the ground, his long sword pointing at his neck.

"What the bloody hell did you do that for?" Thomas exclaimed angrily, trying to get up.

Rufus pushed him back down and put the blade at his neck, drawing his crossbow with his free hand.

"OI!" Gilford turned round to face a crossbow pointed at him.

"Your family owes me." Rufus said calmly and moved around so that he could see both clearly.

"For what?"

"A member of your household tried to kill me. He died, and I was declared an outlaw. Ten years I have been on the run."

"It's your own damn fault, you were a bandit!"

"No, I was part of the army, a scouting division. Now, no more small talk. What do you have that you can give up for your life?" Rufus said, the sword still pointing at Thomas and the crossbow at Gilford.

"Lower your weapons, now or you'll never see where your death came from." The voice came from somewhere out in the night, who spoke could not be seen but obviously the group around Thomas Targryn weren't the only ones in the area of the lake. Rufus hesitated as he had no wish to die right now and after a moment he retreated his sword and lowered his crossbow. A moment later four guards in royal armor cam into view, surrounding the group, their bows ready, arrows pointing at Rufus. "Now hand them over, all of you. You will get them back but we need you to follow us and we cannot let your bear weapons where we go."

The men hesitantly obliged, especially Glungurd didn't seem to understand why he had to hand his hammer to a man who obviously had a hard time carrying the heavy equipment but since his question whether the men had seen his sheeps was ignored again he just followed for the moment to see where they were going. A few moments later they reached a small camp, hidden in between rocks, trees and bushes, the houses or cabins were covered in plantlife to make them blend in with the surroundings and the fire was out. The guards led the group towards one of the cabins and one of them brought their weapons inside while the other three watched them closely. About a minute later another man appeared in the huts door and mustered the group. He was of average height for a man, his body clearly showing that he was in form and his short black hair and facial features implied that he was from the southern parts of the kingdom. "So what do we have here, stumbling along the lakeside in the night. Thomas Targryn, his knight, a bandit, or so it seems, and you", he looked at Glungurd, "you are and Odglok if I am not mistaken." The shepherd seemed surprised that this man knew what he was but after all Alain had been stationed in the northern mountains for quite a while when he was with the army. "Well, we are quickly filling up the space here, this is not supposed to be a pension but we will find a bed for you tonight. Anything else can be discussed in the morning, except...", he returned his gaze to Rufus, "I would like to have a talk with you. Come with me." With that Alain entered his cabin, expecting Rufus to follow while he added, a little louder. "Also, don't try anything, you will all be watched while you sleep. Gerard, arrange two beds for them and ask the Odglok where he would like to rest for the night."

Alain sat down on the side of his bed, his sword ready should he need it while he watched Rufus enter and pointed him to a stool. "Alright, listen, my men have told me what happened back there and attacking a noble isn't really a great idea, not even in the circumstances we are in right now. My guardsman implied that you claimed to have reason though. What connection do you have to House Targryn? Tell me your story."

"Attacking a noble? A noble of what? The oh-so glorious kingdom of Lassara? Which is, if you don't know, under attack by demons. Why do you think I'm covered in blood?" Rufus shakes his head in disgust.

"Ten years ago I was in the army. I was assigned to a scout division in the desert. My scout leader, Dietrich had us combing the lands for any sign of life. We found some alright, or it would be correct to say they found us." He paused, remembering the events from ten years past.

"There were a group of nobles, I could tell because of their armour, clothes, weapons and they way they rode a horse. They must've thought us good target practice and that we'd be easy targets at that. The army insignia was plain for all to see, yet they still charged. A little gloryhungry I suppose. Anyway, me being from Lassara, I recognised a few of the nobles and a few of the families. The one with the crest of Targryn charged for me, but I had my spear ready. Stupid fool kept charging and as he came near, I stepped past his wide swing of his sword and stabbed his horse. He fell off and his friends circled near me. I only just missed their attacks, and if it wasn't for the bravery of my friends, I'd have been killed. Anyway, the man got up, the others left him to go chase down the other scouts, who had begun a small schiltrom. We took blows at each other, his weaponery was of higher quality though, so I had to end the fight quickly. I pretended to trip over my own feet, and looking for the kill he snuck in and I pushed my spear up, which he promptly impaled himself on. I searched him after ripping my spear out of his chest. I took his money and his weapons, then I went over to the rest of the troop, who had fought of the nobles, losing a few men. The rest of the nobles fled, either to the cities to inform the watch of our "banditry" or to look for easier targets."

"From that day on, I have been an outlaw. Targryn covered up for the nobles. Ten years without a home. My parents were killed by Targryn's men. Smothered in the night. He must've found out who I was. Certainly I am not an invisble kind of man in a uniform. :daisy: the entire nobility. They deserve being ripped to shreds."

"I wanted my revenge, and tonight I would've gotten it. Bastard would've been left with nothing, just as I was."

Alyssa rode behind Guantano at a controlled pace, eating from a cluster of grapes that she had taken from the fat merchant. She had also seen fit to snatch a quail and some apples from the wagon while her companion "liberated" the merchant's pouch. "You know what, I could get used to this," she said, chewing on the last grapes and discarding the now-empty stalk, reaching back for her lute as they rode on towards Leon. The drab and staleness of Lassara had been washed from her mood, and the short skirmish had her blood rolling. It was the first song in a long while she sung that was not melancholy.
"I knew a man who was fat as a barrel,
On the highway he was stopped,
He lost his horses and guards in battle,
Oh it's better to be robber than robbed!"

"A fair maid and her drunken dog,
They took his coin and he sobbed,
Left alone in the forest fog,
Oh it's better to robber than robbed!"

She heard Guantano laugh ahead of her. "So now I'm a drunk dog, am I? You offend my pride, milady," he jeered.
"Let's be honest now, Sir, pride seems not our force, exactly."

Alain nodded and tried to read the other's character after listening to his story. He gave it a moment of thought before asking: "So what's your name?"

"Rufus. That's all you need to know. "

"Alright, Rufus", the captain stood up, "I hereby reinstate you into the army with full honors and immediately recruit your for service at the royal guards side in this time of crisis." He saw that the man was about to protest. "You can't be gone long enough to not know that you don't really have a say in this and", he still had his sword in his hand, "to be honest, the only way I will let you walk out of this alive is by hearing you swear an oath on anything that might be holy to you that you will serve your nation and your queen. As soon as this is over, all that you've lost will be compensated as good as possible. Of course we cannot bring back your family but I am not a man who lets service go unrewarded. What do you say?"

I will think upon it. If I decline, will you let me go?

Kyran sighed in exasperation watching the lich and girl having an overtly tender moment, and, after feeling he could bear no more, interrupted. "Lich, I have no interest in the cities of men. If someone has come to conquer them, it doesn't concern me. Leave this forest. Go, investigate the north, and don't return. I tire of your presence. And.... please," Kyran struggled the word out, "Take your pet or whatever that girl is to you too. I don't care for her to stay in my home."

Kyran turned to the Borian man, giving a curt nod of the head. "Sorry for wasting your time, Borian." Kyran pointed south. "Do you want me to guide you out of the forest now?"

Alain sighed and sat down again. "I really should not. You are a danger if left alive but not on our side. On the other hand I am not one to kill unnecessarily and I will not think any less of you should you not have the courage to fight the menace that is threatening mankind." The captain waited a moment and then continued. "I will think about it until morning and I hope you have your answer by then too. Go now, the guard in front will take you to a sleeping place." While Rufus got up the captain added: "One more thing: Do not mistake my mildness for weakness. Should you pose any threat to our mission here or should my guards see any reason to mistrust you, you will be struck down immediately. You are being watched so use the night for rest and let us talk again tommorrow."

The room asigned to them was neither spacious or comfortable but save for one night in the city it was the best place they had slept in for months. The room had little to it; two beds stood against the walls on opposite sides of the room and between them was an old fireplace, the pit filled with what might have been logs about 50 years ago, the time had turned them into a fine powder. Thomas was lying on one of the beds staring at the ceiling, Gilford was seated on the other, sharpening his weapons with a whetstone, and Glungurd was squatting next to the fireplace fiddling with a rusty poker.
There was little to do but wait.

"So, which of my estemed reletives do you think it was that ticked off our hooded friend? Uncle Thanus had some trouble with a bunch of bastards a while back, claiming to be his, maybe the estemed rufus is one of them."

The knight looked up from his blade.
"If I remember correctly he paid them off, Rufus said your family had tried to kill him."

"Oh, probably for the best, the thought of him being my cousin" the squire made a face.

The Royal guard had given back most of thier weapons, save for Essa, they had kept that one. It had knocked the first one to try to pick it up unconcious and they ended up having to carry it in a leather bag. The looks of shock on the other guards faces was one Thomas wouldn't be forgetting in a hurry.
He smiled at the thought.

"Great Aunt Charlotte, she was quite batty towards the end, one hell of a temper, maybe he looked at her funny and set her off."

"No chance, you were only five when she died and he said he was on the run for 10 years."

There was a scratching sound, looking over thomas saw that the Oglock had started carving a message into the wall.

"What about you glungurd? You've know him longer than us, did he tell you what happened?"

Morangul turned to the annoying elf.
"If you think Vayne will stop when he finished off the humans, you are sorely mistaken.
He has waited for centuries to return to this world; he wants to see this place burn!
No one will be safe from him, unless he is defeated."

Morangul looked at the beings he was with;
the elven archer with her aistar, who was finally fully awake,
Kyran, the annoying one, Fryjik the Borian,
and the Fey.

"Now, lets get this misunderstanding sorted out, and then I will tell you all I know."

"Nope," Glungurd replied without hesitation. Whether or not Rufus actually had told him about his past, Glungurd wasn't going to tell this man anything about it. He didn't fully understand the distinctions between the nobility, the military, and bandits in Lassaran society, nor why it mattered so much to these men. But it was obvious that Rufus and Thomas did not like each other, and if Glungurd had to choose a side, he was sticking with the man who had released him from imprisonment.

Presently he was carving a series of symbols into the wall of the cabin near the fire. Odgloks aren't familiar with the concept of an alphabet, but they have symbols that represent words and ideas. And each Odglok had a customized symbol that represented themselves, basically a signature. The message he carved roughly expressed "Nearby sheep belong to Glungurd", which was also carved into countless trees near his pasture back in Tarania. He had no idea just how commonplace sheep were throughout the Kingdom of Lassara, figuring himself to be one of only a handful of people in the world who owned such creatures. So if any wandered nearby this place in the future, he wanted the residents to know that they were Glungurd's. He also planned on etching his name into his hammer and each of his throwing stones, since they had been taken from him twice now.

Meanwhile the captain of the royal guard wondered if he would ever find sleep this night but after Rufus had left his cabin he knew he had one more thing to do. His men had returned the nobles' weapons but they had orders not to give any weapons back to Rufus. Glungards hammer and throwing stones were still with his men as they simply didn't know if they could trust such a creature. Captain Bynae picked them up and made his way towards the hut that had been assigned to Thomas, Gilford and Glungard.

"I may know more about the story Rufus was telling", he opened, when he entered the hut, "but I would suggest you ask him yourself it might surprise him to find you actually care, that is, if you do." A long, inquiring gaze towards Thomas followed but then Alain turned his attention towards the Odglok. "Hey, I didn't get your name but I think these belong to you." With that he put the hammer and throwing stones on the ground next to Glungard. "I don't think you mean any harm but what leads you so far south of the lands your people usually dwell in?"

"You people brought me here." Glungard then went on to explain how his search for lost sheep turned into the nightmare of being captured by the soldiers he suspected to have stolen the sheep in the first place.
Alain nodded and smiled at the Odglok. "I feel sorry that your search ended this way, especially because I can assure you that these soldiers did not steal your sheep. They are well provisioned and are there to look for the order and guard the passes into our land, not as raiders. When you attacked them they must have misunderstood this and so they took you captive. We surely have intruded there so I hope we can pay you back for the trouble we have given you. As you may have noticed, we have a few problems here at the moment, but as soon as we can, we will either help you to find your sheep or give you more sheep than you had before." Alain waited for a moment and the Odglok seemed to understand. The captain had a few encounters with the Odglok when he was stationed in the nothern mountains and thus he knew they were basically of a peaceful nature and so he left Glungard with his weapons and returned to Thomas. "I apologize for the inconvenience of disarming you, Sires but we have to be cautious here and you were not exactly in a position to use your arms anyway or so my men told me. You were in the throne room today, you witnessed what happened and you were there longer than I was. Please, tell me what happened there. Anything about the nature of the attackers, anything about the reason they attacked could help."

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

OOC: B_Rays char used with permission ;)

Alaria stared fearful at the lich's skeletal hand, and drew her closer to the aistar.

The aistar shrugged and tapped the floor. "Make your own decision, little one of the forest," she muttered.

Alaria stared back at the lich. She still remembered the pain that the hand caused her, but he gave the emerald brooch to her and he couldn't be all that bad. She let the aistar return to the elf and took the lich's hand, allowing his healing magic to fill her body. It mostly just dulled her senses to the pain, but that was still appreciated.

She allowed herself to become visible, this time transformed into her tiny fairy shape once more and felt herself being lulled back to sleep, and passively allowing her own magic over illusions to strengthen the lich's disguise.

The guard started to walk Rufus over to his sleeping area. Rufus however, was not going to be forced into any kind of servitude. The guards had taken his crossbow, shield and blades, but his daggers remained secreted on his body as they had not done a thorough check yet. Rufus slipped one of the blades out into his hand. As the guard entered the threshold, Rufus held his blade up to the man's neck and whispered, "Make a sound and it'll be the last one you make. Got that?"

The man said nothing. Rufus slid the guard's blade out of his scabbard. "Time for you to sleep!". The guard opened his mouth to shout but the sword hilt came crashing into his head, rendering the man unconscious. He took the scabbard and lowered the man down into the bedlike object and covered him up with a cloak, then blew out the lantern.

"Don't disturb me, I'm sleeping!" Rufus said loudly and snuck carefully and quietly out of the room, dagger at the ready, his new sword in his new scabbard.

He walked out through the shadows, pausing at each tent to see if he could hear Glungard. Instead, he heard a quiet conversation between the soldier he spoke to earlier, Thomas and Gilford. He also heard scratching sounds, which would most likely be Glungard. Rufus smiled in the darkness.

He walked out into the hut and had his knife at the soldier's (Alain) neck.

"Let me and Glungard go now. I know your type. You'll force me into serving you one way or another. So let me go and give me my weapons back!" Rufus hissed.

Within seconds Gilford was standing, sword raised, Thomas had drawn a dagger and was buisily untangling himself from his sheets.
"Nobody move, or the captain dies!" Rufus hissed.
The two froze for half a minute, the Rufus and Gilford staring at each other, then Thomas went back to untangling himself.
"...And?" said the Squire.
A brief flash of confusion appeared on the man's face "What?"
"Well, I mean you've got to have something we care about if you want us to do something. What do I care if a guard dies?"

"Same here", the captain whispered as good as he could with a dagger at his throat. "This is not about me, we have much more important things to save than a soldiers life and you can kill me if you want, just remember that there is gaurds posted all over this place and you will not make it out alive if you try to run now." The captain sighed. "Also, you should probably let the Odglok speal for himself and, other than you, he was never a captive in this place and could have left any time he wanted."

"This is certainly not going well" Rufus shook his head, "But you don't know how fast I can run..."
"Do you really think you'll get away? I have sentries posted all around this camp and they'll kill you if I'm dead." Alain said calmly as possible with a blade against his neck.
Rufus eyed Thomas and Gilford for a few seconds. Gilford still had his blade drawn.
"Well..... sorry about this but, I gotta do what I gotta do." Rufus said sadly.
Alain closed his eyes and prepared for the inevitable blade across the neck.

But nothing happened.

Then...

"Gods! Stop trying to kill me!" Rufus was outside the hut, dodging a few pike thrusts by the guards who were enclosing on the hut.
Alain opened his eyes, surprised, he turned around to see Rufus running back into the hut to where Gilford took a swing which Rufus neatly sidestepped.
"Well this just gets better and better!" Rufus grinned, dagger facing Gilford.

By now Alain had his own sword out and was standing right behind Rufus who was facing Gilford. "I don't really know what you were trying to accomplish just now, thogh I am grateful you didn't kill me. Now, put down your weapons and surrender. We'll deal with this tomorrow."

Rufus shoved his dagger into his belt.

"Fine".

Deleted

Before anyone could react a small orb sailed through the air and shattered against rufus' head splashing liquid over his face.
"Ah! What the hell was..." He started to sway, "Ugh I dont feel so..." and like that he fell forward, crumpling to the ground.
There was a collective turning of heads as everyone stared at the door to the cabin where Thomas stood with a bag full of glass potion bottles.
"What?"

"Guards" a few men entered the hut immediately and after taking orders from Captain Bynae they carried the unconscious Rufus out of the hut. "Alright, put him in his cabin and this time do a thorough search of the guy before you let him sleep. Keep watch the whole night. I don't want anything like this to happen again. Am I clear?" The guards nodded and shoved Rufus out of the hut after which Alain let out a sigh.
Alain shot a glance towards Thomas and sighed. "I don't think this was all that necessary but anyway, thanks." A short pause and the captain continued: "So it's Consul Boreale who we have to blame for this and he brought Vayne back?", Thomas and Gilford had just been finished telling their story when Rufus entered the hut, "I mean, I only know what has been taught to us as children and I assume Boreale knows much more about him, considering he has been archmage and consul of magic affairs for quite a while now but still I can hardly believe a Lassaran could do such a thing. It's good you were able to secure the royal sword. It's better to have it in your hands than in Boreale's, let alone in the hands of some demon from the Void."
He was basically talking as much to himself as to Thomas and Gilford but a moment later his attention was back in the present. "Alright, the princess will not llike to hear about this and I will let her rest for the night. May I ask what your plans are? I could use your help here as the princess doesn't seem content to stay in hiding."

Playing dead solves a lot of problems. And awkward situations. The poor boy thought that a glass ball filled with water would do something. He'd learn in time.

Vayne? Void? These were things he half remembered from his education. As he was roughly dragged to his hut and searched he remembered what they were. Well that put a dent in his escape plan.

Well the plan seemed to be working for now, he could wait till later and try to escape with glungurd again and- Rufus' started to notice a tingly feeling in his ears as he scratched it he felt that his ear had swollen to three times the size.

Back in the middle of camp one of the guards was cleaning the glass fragments away, on one of the pieces a lable was still attached, "Warning, ingest oraly, do not apply to skin, side effects can include, rashes, swelling and insatiable urge to eat celery.

Alyssa could hardly see five feet ahead of her, and only a vague outline of Guantano on his horse stood out in front of her. "Guantano," she called, "we have to stop for the night, I can't see anything! And it's getting cold!"
Guantano nodded, then realized she wouldn't see. "Okay," he replied, "we can drag our horses off the road and in between the trees here."
She saw him unsaddle and disappear between the dark trunks. She hurried off her courser and after him. Some yards in, he had found a small clearing and was tying his horse up. She began to do the same with her courser while Guantano gathered some dry sprigs to start a fire. "I think it will be hard to keep the cold out," he said, eyeing Alyssa.
"Don't even think about it," she sneered, "I brought my own cot."
"Too bad I didn't bring mine, then," he said.
"Indeed. The soil seems hard and rocky."
Guantano's head drooped for a moment, she could see in the rising flames. Then he straightened up.
"Where's that quail we stole?"

"We're going to Tar cantun." replied the Knight "We both have family there, obviously, we cannot let them be harmed."
The squire glanced to Gilford, who was examining the remaining potion bottles, then back to Alain. He frowned "This Borealis, you know the man better than I, would he be likely to do anything to them?"

"I really don't know. If he is trying to secure his power over the kingdom he cannot look past Cantun but it might not be his priority target. I picture he will send whatever he can south, to secure Leon, Vintom and finally Anaba. If he holds the west and south of the realm, his grasp is pretty strong but the problem is, we don't know what powers are at his disposal. If he actually controls Vayne and his followers he could very well be attacking on numerous frontiers."
The captain stood up and walked towards the small window of the hut, looking into the night.
"Another thing that worries me is the fact that the army hasn't done anything to help in the defense of Lassara. While it might be due to the fact that most of their leaders were lost in the palace I rather think that he has somehow assumed control over the military which is a frightening thought because honestly, then I don't know where to look for help. The princess seems intent on going to Leon to talk to her old instructor. He might be of great help in finding out what we can about our enemy but then we need to find the strength to fight him."
Now Alain turned around and leaned against the window, facing Thomas and Gilford.
"You say you want to go for Tar Cantun. Have you heard of your father? Has he made it out of the capital?"

All things considered, Meghghan was feeling rather pleased with how that had turned out. Granted, she still didn't know where she was, it being much too dark for her to discern shapes and the smell of the place being unfamiliar; but at least she didn't have to look at that brown room anymore. And this new pigeon she'd found was a lot less emaciated than the pigeons from before. It hadn't even tried to get away! It had just been lying there, on a little rock.

Even so, she wished she'd been patient enough to remove the feathers before trying to eat it. Now she had to pause in order to remove the errant quills from her teeth. Which was annoying, because she'd much rather have been eating.

Before she could get too far with this job, however, her reverie was interrupted. A few yards away, Meghghan could just about make out a patch of yellow-orange that had appeared suddenly, as if provoked. The new and intriguing colour was accompanied by some pleasant sound:

"don't even think about it..."

"Oh!" gasped the girl, under her breath. "A 'song voice'!" It was 'music'! But the music had been back in the city - had she merely been summoned to a different part of the same town? She could smell a faint tinge of 'boos' coming from the song's direction...

She didn't care, though, for she was enraptured. 'Music' was, it turned out, a yellow-orange colour! That made sense to Meghghan: yellow and orange made you feel warm and so did music. The thought of warmth returned her concentration to the quest Cloude had sent her on, long enough for her to remember that she had an empty vial to fill.

"the soil seems hard and rocky..." The patch of colour grew larger as the music continued.

The pigeon could wait, she decided. She would fill her vial now and listen to more of the colour music. Grabbing a couple of nearby stones and positioning them above her vial, she began to grind them down.

skrrrrrrtch... skrrrrrrtch... skrrrrrrtch...

"Nothing." Replied Gilford. The Squire smiled weakly as a thought occured to him. "He was accompanied by Tar Cantun's arch mage, maybe he was able to cover his tracks?" The smile vanished as he remembered the last time he had seen the doting old man, to call him blind as a bat and only a tenth as nimble would be optimistic.

"Alright, we will have to decide tomorrow then. It's been a long day, I'm sure you excuse me, Sires. Have a good night, all of you", the last bit was directed at Glungard, right before the captain left the small hut and made his way towards his cabin, hopinh he'd finally get some sleep now.

Frijyk looked at Kyran, who had offered to lead him out of the forest. Then he looked at the old wizard Morangul, who was about to tell a story about this "Vayne" person, who commanded the flying mountain, and sounded conspicuously like one of the demons who had terrorized the Borians in he past. The decision was clear in his mind.

"Thank-you, Kyran, but I will stay to-speak with the-wizard. Do not-wait for me if you must-leave. Though I do-wish you would-stay."

As Frijyk looked back at Kyran, the beautiful elf woman, now standing, had caught his eye again, and would not seem to let go of it.

"You... you looked-hurt before. Are you not-harmed?"

Flames were leaping across the sky, leaving grim and dark wounds in the dark blue sky. The stars had disappeared. The moon was drowning in dark smoke. Alyssa was on her back; her mouth tasted of blood. Her own blood. Her head spun from the violent pounding she had taken with a wooden shield. One of her eyebrows had swollen up and blood was running into her eyes. She could feel the scraps that were the rest of her cloth breeches around her feet as they hang down just above the ground. The wooden table pounded against her back and her shoulders, the back of her head as well, with the rocking motion, and the pain between her thighs was the worst thing she had ever felt. It was pure agony. Above her, the bandit's merciless eyes ate her half-naked body raw. Finally, he stepped away from her, before rolling her violently onto the ground and leaving her there. Salt tears were slowly flushing the blood out of her eyes as she tried to stagger to her feet, but pain shot through her abdomen and she collapsed on the ground.

Weak. She was weak. Weak and alone, and in agony. Around her the small village was aflame, and corpses littered the ground as the world spun beneath her. Finally, her consciousness seemed to fail as reality washed over her in waves of agonizing throbbing. This was real. This was happening. She screamed.

Guantano woke with a shock. Alyssa, on the other side of the small campfire, was screaming like nothing he had ever heard before. She was crying through closed eyes, too, he saw. She sounded as if all Hell's demons was gnawing at her skin. From inside. He got up and crawled to her side. "Alyssa, Alyssa, wake up." He grabbed her shoulder - ever so slightly - and she spun awake and held out a dagger. "Get away from me! Get awa-" She suddenly realized where she was. "I'm- It- I had a nightmare," she explained feebly, her grab on the dagger loosening till it hang in her grasp between them like a dead fish. "I know, you were screaming. I tried to help."
"Oh! What did I say?" She sounded suddenly emberrassed. "Nothing much. Just screaming. You... You frightened me."
She was silent, looking down and putting down the blade. Then suddenly, she picked it up again. "Did you hear that?"
"What?"
"Listen!"

Skrrrrrrtch.... Skrrrrrrtch...

Tawariell was grateful that Raina had returned to her, though she was somewhat confused at the aistar's behaviour around the veridian-haired creature; the old m- the abomination, as Tah had to remind herself, had said that the creature was a fey, but surely that was nonsense... not only were they creatures of myth, but they were said to use their powers for the good of nature, not inducing terrible visions of a lost companion and the ultimate treachery.

The nightmare! Tah had almost forgotten, but the searing pain that raced across her head served as a swift reminder of the creature's powerful magic; between the abomination and the supposed fey, the elf knew that she didn't stand a chance while she was in this sorry state, and so decided to slink away into the night to recover her strength and return another day.

At least, that was the plan until the new arrival spoke to her, seemingly concerned for her welfare; taking in his appearance, Tah noted that while he certainly looked human, the azure sheen to his skin suggested that might not be the case. Apprehensive about his motives, and perhaps slightly annoyed that her attempt to disappear unchecked had been foiled, she responded dryly in her own language, before sighing and translating into the common tongue.

"I am... fine."

The pained expression on her face suggested otherwise.

Frijyk was sure he understood the elf woman correctly, but her answer did not match the look on her face. He frowned as well, soon managing to convince himself that she was not as well as she let on. Looking over at the fey girl and the wizard, an idea crossed his mind.

"Perhaps Morangul can-heal you."

After scanning her face for her reaction, he quickly added a second option.

"Or- I have-some herbal medicine in my-possession. I know you are not-hurt, but if you-need it..."

Frijyk scanned his brain. What was that Lassaran saying again?

"What's mine is yours."

Massaging her forehead, Tah listened to the human-like gentleman talk, only narrowly managing to avoid snorting derisively as he suggested that the abomination could tend to her ailment, before he quickly averted the subject and instead offered her a herbal remedy that may be of some help.

The elf narrowed her eyes; why was the man being so generous? She turned to Raina to see that the aistar was levelling a cold glare at the Borian and thus, trusting in her companion's perception, she waved the man's gesture away.

"I am fine", she said haughtily, "alor'nah felen tor..."

Tah steadied herself, then knelt to the ground and began gathering her things.

Morangul noticed the elven archer gathering her belongings, preparing to depart.
"I would suggest staying for a bit longer, you're going to want to hear what I have to say."
The elf didn't even acknowledge him.
"If what I fear is true, then you'll be encountering worse things than a recently freed lich, elf!"
At this the elf did momentarily pause, but that was all.
"All right then, have it your way then; may whatever god you worship have mercy on your soul!"
The elf looked up then, surprised that the lich would make such a comment, then began to walk away,
her aistar at her side, looking back at where the Fey was.

Morangul sighed, then turned back to face Kyran and Fryjik, "Its about time I tell you whats going on.
You all know of the old tale of how Lassara came to be, right?"

Morangul was met with the blank faces of Kyran and Fryjik.
"Ok then, a short history lesson, then."

Morangul took a deep breath, and began.

"When men came to Lassara they settled on the island of Cantun where they prospered. A little later they attempted to settle on the mainlands and after initial success they encountered a citadel, ruled by a man named Darganta, who was not really a man though. He killed the king's son and destroyed the human foothold on the mainland and then set out to destroy their dwellings on Cantun. The king sunk his fleet though and brought his whole army to the mainland where he marched to Darganta's citadel and defeated the "Dark Lord" in battle, killing him with the help of his sword Neril, which was enchanted by the human's goddes of light, Lassa.
The rest of the dark host was to be sent back to their dimension, called the Void, from where they had originally come. Their new leader, Vayne, formerly right hand of Darganta, tried to trick the men and bring a great host back through the gate. In the ensuing short battle the king Cantus died, and his daughter magically wrested Dargantas sword from Vayne (the sword was the "key" to the gate) and sealed the gate, dying in the process. As there were no heirs an old friend of the king, Undine, was crowned the first king of the new kingdom of Lassara."

Morangul looked at the elf and the Borian before him, both of which were trying to absorb all of this info.

"And now, we are currently about 800 years later, and Vayne has returned. And by the looks of it, he brought some new friends with him, and even his own flying fortress!"

"Are-you leaving?"

Frijyk asked the question more as a formality, as he had already guessed the answer. He was genuinely sad to see her leave in such a sorry state, and disappointed that her pride had prevented her from accepting assistance. It was a pride his own people knew all too well, and one that he himself had been victim to at times. Nonetheless, he was not going to waste the effort conversing in this unfamiliar language any longer, especially since the elf only seemed to become more irritated the more he spoke. But he couldn't help but sneak a glance as he returned to Morangul and the shy fey girl. And when he heard the wizard's words, his interest was instantly held.

"Morangul, you must-tell me more about Vayne! He-is a demon from the ancient times? But it's getting-dark, and I am-hungry... I have-food, if you would like to share it. Surely it-is too late to-hunt for anything."

He had spoken loudly enough that the elves could hear him if they so chose.

Tawariell rolled her eyes at the elderly mage's ramblings, holding little interest in the tangled affairs of humankind; she could have sworn that she heard a mention of food from the azure-hued human, but the elf's pride grudgingly shrugged it off before she gathered the rest of her things and following Raina's lead back into the depths of the forest.

Or at least, that's what she wanted those in the clearing to believe, for when she was certain that she was out of sight, Tah began to listen intently as the mage regaled the elf and Borian with a lengthy history lesson; her knowledge of the common tongue was insufficient for her to understand everything, but she knew enough to get a basic interpretation of a 'dark lord' who had apparantly returned to wreak vengeance upon Lassara.

Satisfied, Tah and Raina descended further into the darkness of the woods, their heightened sense of vision serving well in the absence of the moonlight which had failed to break through the thick canopy.

Glungurd had trouble falling asleep this night, a problem he rarely faced. He was exceptional at falling at sleep, often without meaning to. Especially when he had some warm ale to keep him company. But this night, he felt anxious. More than when he was imprisoned in the city. He tried counting sheep, but that only made him worry about his missing flock. Even apart from that, there was a great deal more uncertainty in his life now than there had ever been before. He did not know where he was, he barely knew the people he was with, and he didn't understand the great significance and urgency that they all seemed to feel about the war within the Kingdom of Lassara. Why didn't they all just run away? Or surrender?

He definitely wanted to run away, but he had no idea how to get back home. He only knew that it was north. The only person he trusted at this point was Rufus, and he clearly wanted to run away, too. But much as Glungurd liked the man, he also had his doubts. Rufus seemed too rash and unpredictable when compared to the other men in their company. He did not seem to ponder things the same way Glungurd did. Still, the other men were clearly on a mission that did not interest Glungurd at all. He had no reason to care for one side over the other in this war between men and demons. And it seemed like he was still their prisoner. He desperately wanted to be free again. Free and at home.

Amongst all the troubling thoughts in Glungurd's head, there was one comforting one in the person of Alain. Glungurd found him to be a very calming person, and he had been fairly kind to the Odglok. Glungurd perceived a strength in Alain that was reassuring to him, even though he was his hostage. And with a more pleasant thought to ease his mind, Glungurd eventually drifted into sleep.

Kyran simply shook his head at the lich. He summoned a leafy branch, and ascended into the canopy. "If Vayne wants the cities of men, I don't care. If he wants to burn the forests, I will find new ones. Now, again, I request you leave, Lich. And you, Borian," he said with a curt nod. "May you not regret your decision."

With that, Kyran took off, vaulting himself through the treetops and away from the other three. He was not intending to completely isolate himself, however. The elven girl... she intrigued him. She held a power and wisdom he lacked. She and that beast seemed to operate almost as one being. It was far more than bond between pet and master. Bending plant life to one's will surely paled to mastery over the more dynamic animal kingdom, he thought. Even after over 50 years in isolation, so many beasts of the world remained elusive, hostile creatures. He would find her, and she would teach him this command. Yes, of this he was confident. Somewhere, deep down, they shared common heritage. And she had come to his aid against the lich, afterall. There was no way she would refuse him.

First thing was first, he needed to get back to his canopy home. He had felt sore without his staff and sword against the lich. He silently scolded his carelessness as he leaped through the night.

Skrrrrrrtch.... Skrrrrrrtch...

Definitely not a natural sound. Come to think of it, didn't the quail go missing before they slept? They had eventually passed it off as some scavenger who had nipped by and nabbed the bird, before scampering off, but now... there was no other explanation. They had company. Guantano motioned for her to stay there, a concerned look lining his brow as he saw the state that she had been reduced to by the nightmare.

Drawing his short sword, he quietly advanced towards the other end of the camp, where the sound was originating from.

Skrrrrrrtch.... Skrrrrrrtch...

Apprehensive now, Guantano readied his sword and crept up to the bush which shrouded whoever was there.

Skrrrrrrtch.... Skrrrrrrtch...

Leaping out from the bush with a yell, Guantano raised his sword in anticipation of a quick chop and thrust, only to find a young girl there, a blank expression on her face, not even registering his presence, engrossed (was she even conscious?) in the act of grinding some stones... with her bare hands.

His posture relaxing as he considered the sight of the seemingly unresponsive girl, Guantano lowered his sword but did not sheath it. "Hello? Who are you, and what are you doing here? Are you lost?" Guantano asked in a soft nonthreatening voice.

Blood.

He was there again, standing over the torn body of Lord Carus. The body was barely recognisable under the lacerations caused by a blade of some sort and Drax could only discern his identity by the heirloom armour the lord was wearing. Evidently his liege was practicing his swordcraft in the armoury, which made the murder all the more troubling – who could have had the skills to kill a well-trained and armoured noble in such a brutal fashion and not raise the alarm elsewhere?

Conflicting feelings fought inside him. Though Carus had essentially given Drax a new life as a ward of his House, he always suspected it was for a more utilitarian reason instead of any sense of charity. After all, trained mages were in high demand and a young child that demonstrated magical talent early on was not a tool to be wasted. Not that his initial talents had manifested into anything useful despite years of study of course. Indeed, Drax had suspected that he was recalled to Carus’ side so that his education can end without too much embarrassment for the Academy, who otherwise produced some of Lassara’s finest mages.

It was only the first step in your path.

What is the Voice talking about? Was it talking about the murder? Drax was puzzled; he had just walked in here, hoping for an audience with Lord Carus, hardly something that cou-

A small shape is in his hands, wet and sticky to his touch. Its edge sharp enough to cut through the finest armour Lassaran smiths can make…

Realisation struck Drax.

Blood. Blood stained his hands and robes.

Blood will always out.

---

Was it just a nightmare? Or was it something more? Drax wondered as he stared at the wooden ceiling, pondering the Voice's words. It was dawn now and footsteps could be heard just outside. He closed his eyes and decided that whatever the truth is, he can't let anyone know...

(OOC: This takes place at the same time as Shlin's, then a little after)

Goddamnit. That stupid boy had made his ears grow massive. Rufus gritted his teeth and tried to suffocate himself with his pillow to go to sleep. Unfortunately, the stupid ears got in the way. He's gonna regret that later, that's for sure...

With thoughts of revenge, Rufus drifted off to sleep, having strange thoughts of celery, which was weird, considering he hated the damned thing. The sun started to creep over the horizon, and a rooster was about to start crowing to start the day, when Rufus sat up.

"CCCCCEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

He rushed out of bed, still in his armour, past the stunned guards, checking each hut for food. He found one, but the guards were on his tail. He dived into the hut and shoved the boxes out of the way until he found celery.

He started shoving the disgusting thing into his mouth, his ears shrinking as he did so. After a few minutes, he slowed down and realised what he was doing. His eyes widened and he turned around, to where the guards were standing in amazement and threw up all over them.

"Sorry about that, late night craving," he grinned, wiping his mouth and walking out to the sunny morning.

The two guards were soon to be replaced by two others. Alain was watching the whole scene from the door to his cabin, where he discussed provisioning with one of his officers. Although it had been very late when he finally found some sleep last night, he had been up before dawn, beginning preparationgs for their departure. Skins had been filled with water, horses packed with food and other necessities and the guards and their weaponry was ready for their duty. All in all there were twenty-two royal guardsmen, including those that had been stationed here as permanent sentries but would now accompany the princesse's escort. They had twenty horses at the camp but Alain was planning to leave at least six man behind anyway, to man the camp and hopefully conceal it again after the rest of them left. This meant that with the princess and himself riding they had two spare horses so depending on what the nobles and Rufus decided to do they might have to leave more men of the guard behind.
Shortly after the incident with the celery Alain was approaching Rufus, now wearing his full armor, ready to ride. "So, Rufus, it's time for you to decide. My offer still stands. I could use a man like you in this, so if you ride with us your service will be compensated. You will also be reinstated with the army and whatever you deserve for the past years will be given to you. You have my word on that but if you decide so, you will have to swear an oath to me. Honestly, I am not sure I can trust you but I'd rather have you close where I can keep an eye on you and then you can prove my mistrust wrong, right?" The captain took a walk towards the hut Thomas and Gilford were sleeping in, he didn't enter yet though as he didn't want another fight between Rufus and Thomas. "If you decide to leave us, the guards will take you right back to the hut you have been sleeping in. You will stay there for a few hours after our departure so we can be sure you are not following us to lead our enemy onto our tracks. After that you will be given back all your possessions, including your weapons and you are free to go where you will. So, I need your answer, now."

Rufus scratched his beard. He had nowhere to go if he left, but he had no friends here besides Glungard, who might not even consider him a friend. What would he do? Join the demons? Unlikely. They'd kill him first. To the east, on the run again? Or a chance at having a permanent life?

"I'll tag along for the time being. We can talk about what I deserve later, right now I want my weapons back, a horse, and to know exactly what is going on. I heard about Vayne and the Void, tell me the rest."

Alain nodded. "Fair enough, I will tell you what I know but not right now. I need to talk to your two friends in there", he added, smirking. He then waved to one of his officers. "Here, follow Gerard for now and he'll take you to your weapons. Make yourself ready for a long ride, I'll be there in a few moments and will tell you what little I know." He entered the hut but turned again in the door. "Also, Rufus, please do me a favor", the captain almost looked pleading on this one, "and don't do anything stupid."

Gerard and Rufus dissapeared behind another hut and Alain was about to finally enter this one when one of his guardsmen came running up to him. "Captain! I need to talk to you!" With a sigh Alain approached the young man and a few minutes later he finally entered the hut where Thomas and Gilford were already getting ready for their journey. "Sires, I have bad news. Our sentries have spotted the flying fortress that was above Lassara yesterday. It is headed for Tar Cantun and at current speed my men estimate it will reach the city before noon. I am sorry."

Meghghan picked up her vial and examined it. While it was still too dark for her to figure out how much sand she had collected by sight alone, the weight of the little flask in her hands suggested the following answer: not much. She grimaced a little. Her legendary patience with her woefully inefficient methods was starting to wear thin.

Why was this? Was she worried? Had she seen or heard anything worrying recently? Meghghan cast her mind back as far as she could.

...

Oh! That's right. She was worried because her flask wasn't filling up fast enough. That'd be it.

Maybe she should get a grinding tool. Whatever that was.

Ah yes, and there had been 'music', too. She only recalled this fact as it had just started up again. Not as nice as before, she dreamed. A lot higher-pitched. She had noticed that the patch of yellow-orange had become smaller and less pronounced as of late. Perhaps it was on its last legs. Meghghan hoped she didn't have to stick around long enough to witness the death of music.

Satisfied that all of her dreams were in order, she went back to her grinding, her previous doubts about its effectiveness blissfully forgotten.

skrrrrrrtch... skrrrrrrtch... skrrrrrrtch...

---

A rustle, and the colour vanished. What a shame, dreamed Meghghan. Music is not what it once was, she concluded, before going back to listening to the Stones.

She thought for a moment that she heard a soft, non-threatening male voice, as well, but decided to ignore that. Non-threatening boys had nothing to do with music.

No, it was the smell that made her turn her head.

There was something there, casting a silhouette against the dying embers of the music, and it was very, very close. Much closer than Meghghan would have wanted something smelling of... that to be.

So this was what 'boos' looked like, she dreamed. And this boo had come to claim her. Well, she didn't have to stand for that!

The fire exploded from her body like the malevolent demon bursting forth from the lowest circle. The fearsome blade, the Gutripper, instantly liquefied as the intense heat burst ever further. Alyssa could only watch in horror as Guantano the rogue, the old soldier, the man so married to combat that he had somehow managed to acquire the nickname 'Cannon-Fodder' in a world without gunpowder, was wordlessly immolated.

Two black, soulless spheres. A scream.

Okay, that's not what happened. What really happened was that some of Meghgan's dust got in Guantano's hair, and that annoyed him a bit.

Meghghan was surprised by this. How was this monster still standing? She had thrown a tiny amount of non-magical sand at him! Surely no living being could stand up to such an onslaught... but were boos alive? She couldn't remember. Nevertheless, she decided to move on to plan b): surrender.

Resigned to her fate, she wandered past the (somewhat nonplussed) abomination that had attacked her, into a small clearing, where she could see that there was another one, and also a... no. Surely not.

"A girl?" exclaimed Alyssa, softly, her instincts not yet permitting her to lower the arrow that she had already notched (although it wouldn't have been much good in a combat situation because she was aiming it at Guantano. She had fought temptation, and lost). "Are you alright? Were you making those... sounds?

It can't be, dreamed Meghghan, staring at the dying embers of the campfire.

Boos made music?

Suddenly she did not know what to believe.

Alyssa lowered the bow again. The stranger looked harmless. She saw as the strange girl sort of nodded towards the campfire and stopped.
"Guantano, get the fire going again, will you?"
She draped her cloak around her and looked at the strange girl again. "Hello," she said, tryingly, "who are you? What are you doing here?"
She frowned for a second, then, a bit louder, "Can you hear me?"

It certainly was very orange. Very orange indeed. Very very very very orange orange orange orange orange orange.

But no music. That was unquestionably coming from the boo. This was amazingly disappointing!

Would the boos eat her, she wondered. They didn't eat the men in the town, but those men were all men, and she was not men. Maybe they spared the men and ate the ladies. I should make sure that they do not eat me, she dreamed. I shall give them food and tell them not to eat me. Then they will not eat me. That orange orange sure is very orange. I wish I hadn't eaten part of my pigeon already.

Turning away from the (very) orange campfire for a moment, she addressed the song-voiced boo. "Hello, I am, Meghghan Waltz, love and dreams to you 'boo'. You can be my friend, but you make the men fall over, when they go to see you, they fall over. And then they make green. You should not, but do not eat me. I have food, for you."

She then reached into the cowls of her quiltrobes, pulled from their depths the (headless) remnants of the quail, threw it at Alyssa's feet, spat out about a million feathers that had all decided to go down her throat at once, and then sat down to watch the orange orange orange orange orange orange orange orange orange.

[OOC - Consider this to be Guantano's perspective of things through the events]

His guard lowered, Guantano had been caught semi-unaware when the girl unleashed a shower of... sand? At first annoyed, as it would be very hard to remove, Guantano had then reminded himself that the girl was hardly in the realm of the living.

More surprising however, was the presence of Alyssa who had her bow at the ready before she finally lowered it. He had motioned for her to stay at the campsite. Then again, the sight in front of him was a clear example that women seemed to operate under different rules from mere men.

--------------------------

His weapon finally sheathed, Guantano had grabbed some more firewood and sticks that he had gathered from their surroundings and set them upon the dying embers, cupping his hands around them and blowing gently onto the flickering flames. As the orange tendrils started to rise again, Guantano placed a few more sticks onto the now crackling pile before settling back onto a sturdy log that he used to rest his back.

She was young, very young. Couldn't be past her teens even, and already she had... issues. Guantano couldn't help but feel pity for her mental state of mind, perhaps lyrium magically induced. As she began to address him, the 'song voice boo', Guantano noticed a feather sticking out of her robes, coincidence? Suddenly, the girl reached into her robes and yanked out the headless remains of a quail and tossed it at Alyssa's feet, before she literally spat out a series of wet and slimy bombardments at the same position. Despite his tiredness, observing the now unpalatable sight right before Alyssa, and her cringed up face oozing with a mixture of disgust and shock, Guantano burst out laughing.

The squire looked that the guardsman in surprise, then as quickly as it came the look vanished.

"Yeah I was expecting something like this."

He stood and took one of the bags, Gilford, with less enthusiasm than his charge, set about appling his armour. They had found that the camp had no containers large enough to put them in or animal to carry them so the knight had resigned to wearing full plate near constantly, in afew days day and he'd start showing the strain of carrying the constant weight.

"My father's advisors were probably left in control of the island, the city will surrender the instant a daemon flies over the city so I dont think there's much danger to my family"

The squire scowled, it was obvious he did not think highly of the advisors. He sighed and started helping the knight into his breasplate

"They will probably be used as hostages to keep the bannermen in line. Thank you for the report, We'll be out in a afew minutes, you may go."

Alyssa frowned. There was clearly something wrong with the woman. "Hello Meghghan," she said, "do you have a horse?"

Then she turned to Guantano. "We can't possibly drag this one along without another horse. Not that I'm sure we want to, in any case. I intend to ride at sunrise no matter if she can follow us or no."

"I sure hope that you are right and they spare the city if it surrenders. I can spare two horses if you need them to get there as soon as possible. Just talk to Gerard outside, he will also give Essa back to you. You might need the sword more than anyone if you should arrive in time and since it has bound itself upon you no one else could use it anyway."

The captain was worried but he didn'T speak of it just now as he waited for the two nobles to leave to have a word with Glungard.

Rufus followed Gerard over to the hut where his weapons were being held. Rearming himself, he walked outside. It was good to be back in control of his future again. And that future would contain his revenge, one day Thomas Targryn will die by Rufus Guiscard, and the many wrongs done to him will be repayed in kind. But none of that showed in his face as he smiled to Gerard and walked to the horse pen to collect a steed. There would be a while to go yet, but so far things were looking up.

When Thomas and Gilford had left the hut Alain sat down on a stool across from Glungar. He smiled at the Odglok who didn't really seem in a hurry to leave right away. "Glungard, right? I hope you did get a good rest this night."
He waited for an answer and then continued: "I need to talk to you, because I will be leaving in a short while. I am sorry if it seemed like you were our captive because that is not the case. You are free to go where you will. I understand that you probably don't know the way home from here and if it were in my might I would take you there myself but right now I can not." The captain sighed. "I will try to explain. You are a shepherd and your duty to protect your sheep is important to you, right? In a sense it could be said that I am a shepherd too, the one I protect is not a sheep but it is my duty to protect her nonetheless and at the moment many want to harm the one protect so I have to make sure she is safe and for that I will have to fight those that want to harm her." The captain nodded and continued after a moment to let the Odglok think about it. He had decided to offer Glungard to accompany them. First of all he knew that the Odglok were strong and they could be stubborn and strong willed if they decided on doing something and secondly he knew that the Odglok would probably get lost on his own or worse, would get himself harmed or killed. "Now listen Glungard, as I said, you are free to go where you will and if you want you can come with us. You can help me to fulfill my duty and when we have fulfilled it you have my word that I will take you to your home and do what I can to help you fulfill yours. What do you think?"

"Hello Meghghan, do you have a horse?" said the music.

Do I have a... what? she dreamed. A 'whores'? Well she didn't know what that was at all. She felt a bit confused by the song-voiced boo. There was clearly something wrong with the woman.

Orange orange orange orange. Orange.

Alyssa shook he head. "She's your problem, Guantano. I'm going back to sleep. See you at sunrise."
With that, she crawled back to her cot and went to sleep, dagger in hand.

[OOC - Consider the first elements of the post before Alyssa speaks to take place before DE's post]

Shaking his head, Guantano decided to save Alyssa the trouble. "I would suppose that in the state we found her, as well as her inclination against for the normal way of doing things, that she does not have a horse. I wonder even, whether she can ride."

Continuing with a half-smile, Guantano whispered back to Alyssa, "In any case, I seem to have a knack for picking up damsels in distress." Glancing side-ways at the girl, Guantano said, "She is small of stature anyway, and I am fairly experienced with inexperienced passengers." Alyssa merely shrugged, and replied. "She's your problem, Guantano. I'm going back to sleep. See you at sunrise." Heading back to her roll, yawning, Alyssa did not notice Guantano's normally composed features contorting as he stood there silently for a moment, his smile disappearing before he muttered, "indeed she is," walking back to the pile of leaves that he had designated as his bed spot.

Inwardly, Guantano grappled with a feeling that he had not faced in a long time, abandonment. Damn that girl, why did she have to come by now, and damn Alyssa too, for suggesting to leave her, who would have been ripped apart in a heartbeat had his intentions been violent, to face what was surely an encroaching demonic horde who had probably finished their fun in Lassara. The barman was a decent father, but he had three real sons who came soon after, to whom most of his attention was devoted to, lest they grow jealous of their adopted brother. His father had left him, and so had his mother, even if she hadn't meant to. Grinding his teeth, Guantano silently resolved to himself, that he would not abandon Meghghan right now. He would get her to Leon, and he would make sure that someone watched over her, yes, he knew just the person.

As tiredness set in once more, Guantano took one last glance at the young girl, who currently bumbled around, innocently and happily oblivious to the dire state of affairs in the kingdom, and he walked over, and told her in a serious voice, "Stay here, don't go wandering off elsewhere. Make yourself comfortable," he gestured to a soft patch under a tree. "We'll be here until morning anyway." And with that, Guantano walked back to his pile of leaves, set his gear under the pile, easily within reach, settling himself down, the pile rustling and shifting under his weight. Sighing, Guantano stared into the night sky. He thought this chapter had been long buried and past. Stilling the flurry of memories in his mind by force of will, Guantano finally drifted into the stillness of sleep, his expression gradually relaxing and becoming peaceful.

Glungurd considered Alain's words carefully. As miserable as he had been all this time, and as badly as he wanted to return to his home, there was suddenly something indescribable that made him hesitate. He had finally been given a real choice, and no longer felt like he would be running from anyone. It was no longer a choice between being captive or fugitive. He could choose to depart and be free, or stay a become a guardian. This made all the difference in the world to Glungurd. He did not understand the importance of the princess, but protecting the helpless was a concept he was quite familiar with, and a role he had kept for 9 years now.

For several moments, the rational part of the Odglok's mind clashed with the rash and illogical feelings that were now appearing. Ultimately, it was the side which made him a good shepherd that won the struggle. When faced with a pack of dangerous predators, or caught between two raiding parties, when the only rational thing to do is run or hide, Glungurd had always stayed and defended his flock. And why? Were they more valuable than his life? Certainly not. Glungurd could not answer why, but he knew that somehow it would be better to stay and die for them than to retreat and leave them to be killed or captured. And that was how he felt now.

So after a long hesitation, which almost sapped Alain's patience, Glungurd finally spoke. "I'll follow you and protect the woman," said Glungurd, grinning for reasons he did not know. He stood up, flexing his disproportionally large shoulders in an effort to add to his stature, and added, "I can fight." This boast was, of course, somewhat exaggerated, considering Alain's expectations for a soldier. But Glungurd felt confident that when the opportunity came to prove his worth, he would impress the company.

"Alright Glungurd", Alain stood up and smiled, "I'm glad to have you with us." This was the truth, although the captain obviously didn't go into all the details he really was glad to have the Odglok around. He walked towards the door and before he exited he added: "Get ready, we're leaving in a short while. I have to get going to prepare a few things."

With that the captain left the hut and went to look for Drax, not knowing that someone else had already found him.

The princess had been up for a while now and was helping where she could. Since she did not know too much about weapons that meant mostly the filling of skins with water and the preparation of provisions. She had exchanged her royal ceremonial garment for travellers clothes and her clothing gave the impression of a wandering merchant or bard now rather than a princess. Still she emanated a beauty and elegance that was hardly concealed by her new appearance and that must have also been Drax' first impression when she entered his hut, right after he had gotten up and made himself ready to leave.

"Good Morning", she smiled as she spoke, "I hope your night was as good, too."

He just nodded, surprised to have the princess visit him and at a loss of words for now.

Amalia couldn't hide the hint of amusement in her tone when she continued: "Drax, right? My captain will probably be here shortly to tell you your options and he will most certainly ask you if you want to leave or come with us. Now, I know you must feel intimidated with all these soldiers around and you might feel like you cannot be of any use to us but that's not true. I feel a strength and power in you that has yet to arise and I think by coming with us you will both profit from the journey and be of great help to us... To me..." Again she smiled and right when she finished, Alain entered the small hut.

He was surprised too, to find the princess here, nonetheless he saluted: "Your Majesty, I didn't expect..."

"I know", she laughed, openly now, "don't worry, my captain, I was only trying to help. I was just asking the young man what you would have asked him anyway. So", she looked back at Drax, "are you coming with us?"

A choice between staying with 20 heavily armed men or striking out for himself? The choice seems obvious, but Drax did hesitate - if he had really done the things he suspected he has done, he really should not be around the Princess, nor indeed anyone for that matter. Cowardice however won out over his guilty conscience; if something did happen, he was sure that the guards could stop him and-

They will kill you.

The very thought of death terrified Drax, but it at least it added another reason for him to stay with the group - after all, if he ventured out on his own, who knows what kind of harm he could do without anyone to stop him?

By the Spirits, that didn't even sound convincing to himself.

"I'll follow you, Your Majesty. Safety in numbers right?" Drax replied, masking his thoughts with what he imagined an off-hand comment would sound like.

The Knight and the Squire left the camp with haste, only pausing to recieve Essa from a rather cranky guard with bandages on his hands, he had flinched when Thomas pulled it out of the leather bag. As promised two horses were waiting for the duo, a pair of coursers, fast but strong enough to bear the knight in armour. Thomas helped Gilford mount the largest horse and strapped thier supplies to the other as not to overload the first.

They had procured a tent and some bedrolls from the guards the night before and a jittery man had helped identify thier rather handsome inventory of potions; two cure light wounds potions, one cure moderate wounds, three cure critical wounds, three lesser restoration potions, and something called "sanctuary", the man had said "pour it on yourself if in battle and it should help". He didn't say how but Thomas had taken to keeping it in his own pocket instead of the bag with the others.

Mounting his courser Thomas looked to the sky, the castle that had lingered ominously over lassara the day before had moved south and was now alot smaller hanging almost unmoving over the path they had to take.

"Think we can catch up, Gil?"

The knight took several seconds to reply.

"It doesn't matter what I think, we're still going."

He dug his heels into the horse and it launched into a canter. Thomas turned to the closest guard.

"Tell your leader; if you see my father and that castle hasnt crashed into the sea by then tell him not to go to Tar Cantun. Please."

And with that he coaxed his horse into a gallop and chased after the Knight.

"Quite the opposite, young man," the captain replied, "we will ride with few people." He turned to face the princess. "Your Majesty, I have reports of the army marching south towards Leon, under consular banners. We will not be able to reach the town before them. If you really want to go that route secrecy is our best bet and fewer numbers will accomplish that more easily. We will only take two of our guardsman and we will ride under disguise."

The princess nodded and then replied. "Well in this case you should stop calling me 'Your Majesty' captain. Call me Liana. I always liked the name Liana."

Alain wondered how the princess could keep her spirits up so much given the current situation but he was glad about it. "You are right, Liana it is then."

They all left the hut and met the others outside. Alain had chosen two of the royal guard, his best and most experienced fighters, to accompany them, Florin and Damon. He left Lieutenant Gerard in charge of the rest of the men and they should wait and if necessary hold this outpost. So the princesses escort consisted of three royal guardsmen, riding in chainmail and mercenary's garments to disguise themselves, an actual mercenary or rather bandit, an inexperienced mage and an Odglok.

Before they could go Alain remembered that he had promised to explain their situation to Rufus and so he did, before mounting his horse. He told the mercenary what he knew about Owyn Boreale and Vayne, that they didn't know who the others coming with Vayne were and that their mission was to protect the princess while trying to find out how to fight this enemy. With a sigh Alain mounted his horse and explained to everybody: "We ride in secrecy. From this moment on this," he pointed at the princess, "is Liana, our cleric. We will disguise as a group of mercenaries should anyone ask."

They all nodded, only Glungurd seemed to be a little confused as to what to do. Everyone else had mounted their horses but it was obvious the Odglok had never rode a hore before. After a few moments the princess waved him over and said. "You ride with me. You can keep me safe, yes?"

Raina lazily opened her eyes and ears to the familiar sights and sounds of nature emerging from slumber; the morning sun's warm glow shimmered upon her fur, while the gentle serenading of the local avian population heralded the aistar's awakening. The majestic creature stretched her forepaws out, raking her claws into the soft ground as she arched her back and emitted an unmistakable yawn; the hunters had only bedded down a few hours previously, having made their way through Ayal Royad Hyo's expansive woodlands for several hours during the night until Tawariell's ailment forced them to make camp.

The aistar turned her sapphire-hued gaze towards Tah, who was wide awake, resting against an aged oak tree, head resting firmly in her hands as though she had been weeping; Raina needed no encouragement, wandering over to her companion and nuzzling against her. Tah gently sighed, moving her hands from her face and embracing the aistar; the veridian-haired girl's magic was still taking it's toll even now, with Tah's limited unconsciousness through the night marred with visions of death and destruction.

The elf's thoughts wandered to the girl herself, one of the feys according to the abomination, and she found herself struggling to remember anything about her, apart from the fact that the sinister magic that ravaged Tawariell had seemingly taken it's toll on the fey's physical wellbeing too, the creature forced to sleep in order to recover her strength. Despite the fey's responsibility in Tah's predicament, the elf couldn't help but feel sorry for the little one, though she suspected this was due to her appearance more than anything.

Instead, Tah thought about the others present in the forest's depths; the lich Morangul, an abominable amalgam of everything that her kin stood against, yet he showed a willingness to help the fey with her wounds and offer advice to the others; the male elf, apparantly named Kyran, a master of the forest and her fauna, a curious sort who didn't seem to show hostility towards the lich as she had; the azure-skinned human, with his peculiar manner of speech and naivete, provided Tawariell with the greatest food for thought, his kind nature towards her contradicting everything that she thought she knew about humans and their ilk.

Tawariell had little belief in the concept of fate or destiny, yet somehow it felt as though their peculiar meeting was meant to happen, but that couldn't really be the case... could it? Frustrated with her thoughts and sighing once more, Tah climbed to her feet and gathered her belongings, before leading Raina out of the clearing.

Frijyk was up early, a few minutes before the sunrise, as was habitual for him. The chilly morning air did not bother him in the slightest. He began cleaning up the remains of the campfire he had started the night before and the dinner that had gone with it. The wizard and the fey had eaten a surprisingly small amount, even less than Frijyk had expected. At this rate, he'd be able to sustain them with salted meat and cheese for another three of four days before he would have to hunt or forage- though he supposed it might make his meals rather bland.

Both Morangul and their fey friend appeared to be sleeping still, but the wizard certainly did not sleep in a position he would find to be comfortable. He was a strange old man, but Frijyk could tell he was very powerful and very wise... And very old. An ally like that, Frijyk believed to be invaluable. Perhaps he could teach Frijyk to widen his own rather sparse library of magical spells.

The fey... Frijyk did not know what to think of her. They had had precious little interaction. She seemed if anything to have an aura of innocence about her.

Frijyk's mind drifted to the two elves he had met, who had left before supper. Out of all the people he had encountered so far, Frijyk seemed to share a similar view of the world with them. Kyran, the kind and yet formidable master of the forest; the mysterious, beautiful hunter and her majestic beast companion; he regretted that he had to part ways with them.

And then Frijyk began thinking about what he would do next. Where would he go? That was one subject he had not had the chance to discuss with Morangul last night. Before, he had been traveling arbitrarily to the south. He did not know where his new companions wanted to go, but he did not feel like returning to the cesspit called Leon- not to mention the fact that Vayne's demons and the mysterious flying mountain were in that direction. But on the other hand, Frijyk also felt he had much to learn from Morangul... he didn't want to split up so soon.

After cleaning up the campfire, he wondered silently when his companions were finally going to wake up... he didn't want to resort to wondering noisily.

"Yes," Glungurd replied awkwardly, as he hasten over to Liana's horse. He stopped at the steed's side and puzzled over how he was going to get himself atop this animal. After a moment, Liana chuckled and dismounted. She then demonstrated how to properly climb onto the horse. Glungurd mimicked her as best he could, finding that his inferior height was severely disadvantageous for such a task. But he made it on his first attempt and sat behind the princess, feeling simultaneously proud and embarrassed. Odglok civilization had realized no uses for horses, being unsuitably shaped for riding them, and having developed little above-ground industry that they could be utilized in. One of the guards tied a rope onto the horse that had been intended for Glungurd so that they could take it with them, in case they needed an extra in the future.

As the riders began to take off, Liana warned Glungurd, "You may need to hold onto me." After saying this, she almost cringed at the thought of the Odglok's beefy hands grasping her waist. And indeed, Glungurd's grip was a bit too firm for her liking, as he did not realize the relative fragility of human teenage women. "Well, at least he's strong," she thought, hoping she would be thankful whenever they met their next danger. The Odglok's mind was more focused on not falling off his horse. And so the motley crew rode off toward Leon.