Lassara - Shards of Neril - Story Thread

"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?"