

Legend of Fire and Ice

The Comet Appears

Book One

Xaiver Morden

Published by Xaiver Morden

Copyright © 2015 Xaiver Morden

All Rights Reserved

Cover Art by Jozsef Vajko

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

All characters and events in this book fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is coincidental.
Table of Contents

Map

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Glossary

About The Author

Other Books By Xaiver Morden

Connect With Xaiver Morden

Prologue

The war struck the continent of Algaron, which was at peace for nearly a century. The Nozgold Empire led by the demigod Vulgron and their loyal companions Birwulf, alliance of the orc and goblin clans, lost the last major conflict. The Dukedoms of the North, the barbarians of the East, Irwaldia, the dwarves of Tarmaria and the elves of Horeldien, crucially defeated the attacking armies. The devastated troops of the big empire retreated and strengthened their borders. The orcs and the goblins needed to change, in order to survive the storms of the upcoming ages.

They decided to turn away from their former alliances and open toward the world. Although they kept their traditions and habits, many of them left their clans behind and spread all around the continent. The world has changed and it accepted the members of these two races, whom everyone despised in the past. Generations have grown up since, who only heard the stories of the old wars from their grandparents.

However, folks of the world have been whispering, that the defeated empire is onto something and recruiting its forces, plans to burn down the continent once again soon. They have gained the alliance, of the demon-worshipping wild nomads of the Southern grasslands, who do not worship gods, but the demon lords. These were the last peaceful days in Algaron. Nobody knew that the events of the upcoming times could be compared to the horrors of the demon wars.

The gates of the outer lands were opened by that time and the continent was flooded by demon herds. The ancient nations had to use all their forces together, to be able to close the gates and repel the terrible creatures, and it claimed a lot of lives. Battles have almost caused the extinction of the intelligent races, all over the continent.

An important meeting takes place, in one of the small towns in the Northern Dukedom of Eregorn that will determine the future of the whole world. An ancient writing revealed from the haze of time, with its long forgotten secrets, but still many empires have tried to acquire it and solve its mystery.
Chapter One

The Southern mountains of Nozgold Empire served as a protective frontier, at the edge of the country. Moving through the high mountains, with a large army took a long time. Several smaller and larger fortresses were built there, to protect the borders. Regions were led by lords, who were all loyal and obedient towards the demigod Vulgron.

Councillor Fairnor always found pleasure in politics. He could position himself very well and always knew which hand to pay to be able to move upwards in the hierarchy. He wanted to become a lord and was lurking to get the position, however, his ruler became aware of his plan and took the necessary steps, to get rid of the enemy.

Tanervalda Vardo, the Faceless from the high-ranked member of the imperial assassin, was hiding at a tree in the forest. He was waiting silently for hours, becoming one with the shadows. His incredible vision and hearing inherited from his elf ancestors, allowed him to recognize approaching noises from a great distance. In the light of the late afternoon sun, a wagon with four men on horseback was approaching in the mountain-covered forest. The information, bought with heavy gold from the snitch, seemed to be accurate.

The armed forces were knights in shining, full-plate armors. They were escorting their protégés in pairs, two in the front and two in the back.

He was waiting until the wagon reached the branches, above the road where he was hiding. He was counting in mind, in order to time his attack perfectly.

One – two – three.

He leaned forward with his slightly curved blades and jumped off from the twisted, thick branch, right onto the knights riding in the back. He stabbed the completely astonished knights under the neck, where the breastplate and the helmet met. His weapons pierced the victims deep, taking their lives immediately. Their armors clattered as they fell from their horses. A second later, he was right on the top of the wagon and cut the throat of the man, sitting on the box.

Turning back their horses, the two armed knights grabbed their long swords. With their shields in front of them, they began their attack. The Faceless skillfully avoided the weapons. Jumping up in the air, he reached the ground with a spin behind the horse riders. They turned to him again, to protect their lord. They joined forces to attack the assassin again. Although they were excellent fighters, Vardo saw them moving as old men. No wonder they missed their target, who moved as fast as the light. He attacked them as a cobra, next to their loins, piercing through the holes of the armor. Turning back their squealing horses, the knights prepared for another attack. The assassin was counting in mind again.

Four- five- six- seven- eight.

As they were approaching, they both fell from their horses. Clattering and moaning, they reached the ground, blood pouring from the artery next to the loin, painting the armors and the ground red.

The door of the wagon opened and a bald man, with a tattooed forehead in a tunic, jumped out of it. While chanting some words, he pointed a finger at Vardo and a sharp flash of lightning, struck into the elf warrior from his hand. The power of the magic pushed him to the ground. His magic leather armor dulled the painful injuries. He was back on his feet within seconds, smoke emitting from the burn.

"Not going to be enough for me, magician!" he said, a strange smile behind the mask.

"I'll send you to hell, you assassin elf!" the man with the tattooed forehead shouted.

With slitted eyes, the magician prepared for another curse. Mumbling some words, he pointed at the enemy, but nothing happened. Vardo gracefully hopped towards him and cut the man's throat with a precise move, but he did not miss the opportunity, to whisper something in his ears with wicked joy.

"I prepared for you, wizard master. Even your most evil magic curses have no effect on me."

Gasping, the man grabbed his own throat as he fell to the ground with his last breath. The fat, balding old man, sitting in the wagon, was wearing an expensive garment made of silk. His face was reflecting dread and dismay. He started speaking with a scared voice.

"Have mercy on me killer! Whatever they paid you, I'll pay double, even triple if you keep me alive!"

He stepped to the man, trembling in the wagon. Behind the black steel mask, his turquoise eyes burned with a strange flame.

"The Faceless always get their work done and I don't need your money!"

He pointed his weapon, at the chin of the fat Fairnor and ripped up his skull, with a fast cut. His eyes popped out and the flame of life vanished from them. He ceremonially cleaned his weapons and headed toward the dark forest. He stopped under a tree and put his swords back into their cases, concentrating hard and initiating telepathic connection with the master of his order.

"Master Karundum, my duty is done. I'm coming back to the fortress."

"Great job valor! However, there is a new task for you, with a far bigger magnitude. Together with your fellows, you have to accompany one of the magisters of the Black Tower, to a secret and very dangerous mission, past the borders. You have to obey him unconditionally. Hurry on to get here as soon as possible!"

"As you wish, grand master, connection over," he terminated the telepathic link connecting the two minds.

At last there was a mission worthy of him. He started laughing loudly, as he jumped on the branches into the darkness of the forest.

*****

The merchant and his mysterious guest were negotiating behind the doors for an hour. They occupied one of the floors of the Pilgrim Inn. Corwen knew it was an important day. He had been serving as a guardian captain for Jahren Galdara, the dwarf merchant for almost a year. He had his men in each corner, closing down the whole floor. He had to be attentive. Many had attempted to rob his lord of his treasures.

Venuri del Corwen was born nearly thirty years ago, in the Northern Dukedom of Eregorn, into a prestigious family. He showed talent in weaponry at an early age, so his parents sent him to the best military school of the country, the Three Armor Military Academy. Soon he was known as a master of swords. After five years of military service, he went to many masters to acquire new warrior skills. He became a champion of the twin-blade fight. Later he became a guard and gained the title of captain despite his young age, which he was very proud of.

He was standing in front of the thick oak door, only turning his back to see if his men were doing their job. He heard steps approaching and the door opened creakingly. A wrinkled, balding man, dressed in black stepped in. They shook hands and he greeted Galdara, with a large purse in his hand. The old dwarf knew how to look good. He wore a golden-laced tunic as he was welcoming his guest, who brought valuable goods for him. His graying beard was braided right down to his belly, his small eyes flickering below his thick eyebrows. Although he was a tiny man, his appearance was always dignified.

"Well captain, the deal is done. You can ease up security. Send half of the guards to sleep and go to bed as well! We are leaving the city of Terran tomorrow."

"As you wish, sir. See you in the morning," the man replied.

"Good night, Captain Corwen," he answered as he closed the door.

"You two will stay in service and will be exchanged in every six hours!" He looked at the armored guards with spears.

They nodded grimly and noted that their service was not yet finished. He sent half of his men to sleep and he also went to bed. He took the twin blades from his back and got out of the segmented armour and the helmet. He felt relieved getting rid of the weight of the armor. He was a man with good strength, slightly above average height, his dark hair was cut short on the sides, his full beard well groomed. He was a handsome man, never having any trouble with women, but he only had short affairs with them. His lifestyle did not allow him to settle down. He was staring at the ceiling with his dark brown eyes. He was a real war veteran, despite his young age. He laid down comfortably, but could not fall asleep. His thoughts were twirling around the events of the day.

What could this strange, bald man, possibly give to the dwarf? They had been in correspondence for month. The merchant had always been secretive, but not like this. They trusted each other. Galdara shared a lot with him. Things might be revealed soon, he thought. He soon fell in deep sleep, only disturbed by a knock on the door in the morning.

"Wake up, captain! We are leaving soon, everybody is getting ready," one of the guards said, knocking on the door.

"Right, I'm coming!" he replied with a slightly husky voice.

He rubbed sleep from his eyes and donned his armor and weapons. He rushed down the stairs of the inn, leading to the yard. His men and the servants were already busy with the horses. Everything was going according to plan, so he went back to the merchant's room and knocked on his door.

"My lord, everything is ready for departure."

"Thank you captain. I will finish my breakfast and we can leave," the dwarf replied from the other side.

A few minutes later, the door opened and the merchant stepped out with a leather purse across his shoulder. "Let's go!" he turned to Corwen with a smile on his face.

"Are you in a good mood today sir? Did you get what we came for?" the man asked as they were walking down the stairs.

"Yes I got it. I've been waiting for this ancient map for a long time and now it is mine. It is the most valuable item in my collection. I can't wait to get home to Tarmaria, to the land of the dwarves and discuss its history, with the experts."

"Fine sir, your carriage is ready."

"One more thing, Captain Corwen. I guess you noticed, that I had not shared some confidential information with you lately, I had to take these security measures. If anything happens to me during the trip, read this please!" he handed him a sealed letter, with his own initials on it.

"Are you feeling more threatened than usual, sir?"

"I'm not, but it is very important, for this map not to get in the wrong hands. It is just simple precaution on my part," the merchant explained.

"All right sir. As you wish," the man answered, putting the letter in his pocket.

Stepping out to the yard, the caravan was ready to leave. Two large wagons with canopy, full of luggage and equipment, supplies for the trip, sitting next to the comfortable carriage of the merchant, along with several servants and a dozen armed guards waiting.

The dwarf got into the carriage and the captain climbed on his black horse and gave the command for departure. One of the servants quickly handed him a sack with delicious breakfast in it. The caravan began its journey, leaving the towered two-storey stone building behind, serving as a home for the whole company in the last two days. It pampered its guests with delicious meals and drinks.

They moved along a large cobbled square, with a fish-shaped, human-sized statue in the middle. Water was pouring from its mouth into the little fountain around it. Children were playing around it, who stopped the carefree fun to stare at the leaving crowd. The steel chainmail armours and weapons were glowing in the light of the morning sun. The youngsters were waving happily to the guards, who greeted them back. The hoofs of the horses echoed loudly on the cobbled street as they were heading towards the Southern gate. Poultry let on the streets for a morning walk, by the young keepers rushed to escape from their steps. Everybody was busy in this early hour, workshops opened, and the market was filled with fresh goods, the streets filled with life.

With its few thousand citizens, the city of Terran was not one of the most significant settlements of the Dukedom of Eregorn. Crossing the mountains from the South, wanderers and adventurers sometimes stopped by for a rest, but commercial routes fell far from the town. The wealthy occupied the center of the town, living in two or three-story houses. It was common to see smaller houses too, with cracked walls, including wooden cottages. A few minutes later, they reached the Southern gate of the city. The grand iron gate stood open, although it was always closed and guarded. Eight armored and armed warriors were standing there in burgundy uniforms, to check the incomers. They asked for the gate fee and let people in, if there was no hustle. They did not keep up the caravan and let them leave immediately.

The almost thirty feet tall walls and watchtowers had protected the town for centuries, from smaller attacking armies. It was surrounded by agricultural land, where peasants had already started their work, harvesting this year's crops. Summer was almost over and they had to prepare for colder and leaner times.

The armed guards around the caravan were lead by Corwen; four in the front, four in the back, the others were riding next to the wagons. The tall walls of the town disappeared behind them, as the dusty road turned to South towards the high mountains. The fields turned into dense woods of oak and beech. They only met a few wanderers and hunters on the road. It was not a busy path.

The captain's thoughts revolved around something else. The merchant acquired some ancient map? It must be important if he spent so much time and energy to get it. Stay alert, better to be safe than sorry. I wish he had included me too.

A few hours later, they arrived at the feet of the mountains; on the right of the road, it was slightly running up and it was slightly running down on the left. The weather was nice and sunny, perfect for a journey. The merchant called the guardian captain to himself.

"Search for a place, where we can camp, have lunch and where I can stretch my legs a bit," Galdara commanded.

"If I remember correctly, sir, there is a glade less than an hour from here where we can stop for a while," the man recommended.

"All right Corwen." he closed the curtains of his carriage.

Suddenly, the guards on the front stopped the wagons, so he rode forward to see what was going on.

"Sir, there is a fallen trunk on the road. We cannot go on until we move it." they pointed at a thick beech trunk.

"Two of you go see what can we do, and the others should look around. It might be a trap! The arches must be ready, the forest is dark and easy to hide in." he said, addressing his men.

Spurring his horse, he rode back to the carriage to report this master.

"For the axe of Geidon, why did we stop?" the merchant asked, nervously picking his beard.

"There is a fallen trunk on the road and we cannot go on, until it is moved."

The two armed-guards suddenly gave a shout, and then fell off their horses to the dusty road. Arrows stuck out from their backs, pointing to the sky.

"It's a trap!" the guards shouted.

In the exact same moment, arrows approaching from the deep of the forest on their right. Most of them hit. Cries, and rattles could be heard and the injured guards surrounded the wagons.

"Quickly, to the wagons! Shields up, protect each other tightly! Archers, fire back!" Corwen shouted as loud as he could, to arrange his panicking men back to order.

Men dressed in dark leather armor attacked from both sides, using curved blades, moving quickly and quietly. They were not ordinary bandits. This was a planned action. The guards attacked back the approaching enemy.

Sitting on his horse, Corwen took his skillfully hammered, perfectly balanced, Terwaldian steel swords out from the case on his back. Looking straight into the eye of the enemy, he began to fight. The attackers fought well. Blades were clashing. He managed to injure one of them and knock over another, together with his horse. Suddenly two arrows hit his back in a row and he felt incredible pain in his body. The segmented armour took up the arrows, but they pierced through the steel plates an inch into his flesh.

He turned back his horse and attacked the enemy with the rage of a bear. He cut down one's hand and slashed the throat of another. His sword was impossible to follow and the enemy tried to escape from the mortal hits of the captain. He felt the medallion on his neck becoming warmer, which meant that the attackers used poison. They must be assassins, maybe from the Night Blades clan, who had been spoken about for years now. The bastards want to make sure. They knew that we are coming this way and they prepared for it. This is a deathtrap.

Suddenly, they shot arrows again, toward the wildly fighting man. One hit the bottom of the horse, one pierced the armor on his leg, and the others missed aim. His horse stood on two feet, throwing him off. Corwen fell on his side, falling and rolling on the downhill, ground between the trees. One of the larger beech trees stopped him, as he hit his head in it. His steel helmet protected him from a mortal injury, but he immediately lost consciousness from the hit.

*****

A young girl was walking around the streets of Terran, in the noon sun. She was not even seventeen, but already a skillful thief. She went town by town, always on the run. She never stayed at one place for more than a few weeks, to escape her chasers. She did not know why she was followed, but suspected it was for an important reason that the members of the religious cult were after her. Her hood covered her face as she was wandering the alleys, to get some money from the unsuspecting pedestrians.

She slipped her small, but dexterous hands under the coats and capes unnoticed. She know quite a few tricks how to divert attention, then she quickly disappeared in the hiding of the alleys, before she aroused suspicion.

I am doing quite all right with this day. I have money to eat and I can pay for a room in the tavern, she thought.

She ran into three drunk men on a corner, so she turned around and walked the other way, headed into a dead end. She had to face the approaching men, stinking of booze.

"Well, well! What do we have here?" one of them asked, clenching a wine bottle in one hand.

They stepped closer to the tiny girl, to have a better look at her.

"Ah, a young, little girl waiting to be embraced," another toothless bum was laughing.

"Let me go or you will regret it!" the girl warned them with a fine voice, but still with confidence.

"And how will we regret it? We only want a little piece of you. It will be good for you too, you won't complain!" the third, biggest one stepped closer.

"Don't you dare touch me!" the girl hissed angrily and whipped out a little crossbow from her cloak, pointing it on the big man.

"Slow down, beautiful!" he surrendered with surprise on his face, backing cautiously.

The one with the wine, threw the empty bottle toward the girl, who evaded it quickly. The big one was on guard and using the gained time, threw himself on the tiny girl. He pushed her onto the ground and seized the crossbow.

"Now you'll get what you deserve, you little whore! You pointed a crossbow at us, so you might not enjoy what's coming next!"

He grabbed her legs and started to undress her, with the help of his fellows.

"No! Leave me alone! Enough!" the girl screamed, but could not escape the squeeze of the man.

Suddenly, her almond-shaped ocean blue eyes, turned bloody red and unearthly sounds left her small lips.

"Naas gaas zogul! Imyor el rangar!" the girl shouted in a deep, unearthly voice.

Blood started to pour out from the eyes and ears of the men. They screamed of pain and writhed on the ground. The surprised girl suddenly, became conscious again. Her eyes turned back to blue and she could not remember the past few seconds. She stood up quickly, got her pants back and ran away with her crossbow, leaving the men on the ground behind. It was not the first time she lost control when her life was in danger like now. After losing consciousness, danger usually goes away. She felt like she had to share her body with someone, even when she was a kid, but she got used to it and the feeling was not so disturbing anymore.

She headed towards the Pilgrim Inn. She had enough of the thievery for the day and she felt hungry after so much excitement. Her senses told her, she would soon have to leave this city too.
Chapter Two

Crows had already appeared on the forest road, seeing the dozens of dead bodies lying on the ground. They flew closer, driven by their curiosity and hunger to examine the territory. Suddenly, they all went up as they heard a noise, when a body thought to be dead, got up from the ground.

He opened his eyes slowly, his whole body struck with pain. He hit his head hard after the fall, a big hump appearing on it. His steel helmet was battered, but it also saved his life. The arrows with black feathers were still stuck in his back and leg.

That was a close call. These assassins almost done me right. I wouldn't have my poison resistant amulet. I would be dead for sure. I need to get myself together and head back to the town, he decided.

He stood up slowly, got his blades and limped back to the road, where the caravan stood. The sight was painful. Dead bodies, blood-covered guards, servants of the merchant and dead horses were lying everywhere. The assassins must have taken their own dead, because he could not see any of them. Next to a wagon, he found Galdara the old dwarf. He was tortured, his nails ripped off, one of his eyes gouged out and his throat cut open when they found what they were looking for. He sank on one knee and covered the dead body of the merchant with a cloak.

"I am so sorry I could not protect you my good sir! This raid was well planned and they left us no chance. I swear to my life, I will revenge your death and the death of my men. I will find out who did this and why we were attacked!" he shouted furiously, clenching his fist.

He remembered the words of the dwarf.

"If anything happens to me, please read this letter," he quickly got the writing out of his pocket, broke the seal and began to read.

Captain Venuri del Corwen,

If you are reading this letter, I am probably dead. Pay attention please, because the following few lines, can determine human lives and the faith of whole countries. The reason I was so secretive is to protect this secret from the outside world, but I am still afraid the enemy is after us. The map I recently acquired is from the time of the demon wars, several thousand years ago. According to my current knowledge, it might lead us to the hiding of an ancient relic, which if acquired by the wrong hands, can cause unspeakable events. It must be taken to the dwarves or to the Dukedoms so the great scholars can find out its history, which indicates the hiding place at the grand bogs. There is also an ancient, unknown script on it that has to be encoded. Good luck to you my friend. Wherever faith takes you.

Regards: Jahren Galdara,

So that is why we were attacked, they came for the map! Now he finally understood the events of the past few hours. I definitely have to get the stolen map back. I could never live with knowing that I did not try, he made the decision.

The captain already heard about the clan of the Night Blades, who he suspected with the attack, but never actually met them. They were feared around Algaron, but only a few could speak about, surviving their attack and Corwen was one of them now. They became notorious in the past few years around the whole continent. They took care of the most hideous and awful missions.

He walked to one of the wagons with the supplies, still feeling dizzy from the loss of blood and the concussion. He got a shirt out of the box, ripped it and looked for some strong alcohol. He found a few bottles of Southern-Varran firewater. He had a few big sips of it to ease the pain.

He got out the arrows one by one and disinfected the wounds with the alcohol, bandaging it as tight as possible. The attackers did not take much, only the easily transportable goods and some money. Several of the boxes were robbed and their content was thrown to the ground. The captain packed the valuables, the tiny sculptures, the crafted golden bowls and glasses, the fine weaponry in a case.

He looked around, searching for his horse Smokey, who was his companion for a long time. He whistled for him and after a while, he heard a familiar squealing sound, as the slightly nervous black horse appeared from the woods. Corwen calmed the ebony-eyed animal and carefully took out the arrow from the horse's bottom. He fixed the box onto his back and got on the horse, starting to walk back on the road towards Terran.

He rode slowly, his wounds were throbbing terribly and he bled through the rags. He stood no chance against the assassins alone, so he needed an experienced team to follow them and fulfill his revenge. The journey was long and the sun was down as he arrived back in town. They were just about to close the gate. The guards recognized the man immediately.

"Captain Corwen? What happened to you?" they asked with astonishment.

"We were attacked by assassins. It might have been the Night Blades. I'm the only survivor, everyone else was killed from the caravan!" he replied on a haggard voice.

"The Night Blades murdered not far from the city?" they looked at each other wonderingly.

"Yes, could you let me in? As you can see, I'm not in a very good shape!" the captain lost his temper.

"Of course you can enter, sir! We will send out a troop to examine the scene and report to the town lord." They stood out of the way, quietly discussing the troubling news.

He led Smokey towards the Pilgrim Inn, so he could rest his aching, tired body. Light and noise came out of the inn's windows. He rode to the yard, towards the barn that he had left behind not so long ago. One of the grooms rushed to him immediately.

"Take good care of my horse, boy! His bottom is injured, make sure he gets a good treatment!" he commanded the boy.

He put a few copper coins into the boy's hand who took the money happily. He even helped to get off the box from the animal's back, hiding all the valuables. Corwen, with the crafted box on his shoulder, entered the dining hall of the inn.

A lot of guests were having dinner at the round oak tables. The grand hall was lit with the chandeliers around the wall. The dancing light of the candles put the captain in a spotlight. The limping fighter went straight to the bar on the right of the entrance. Dozens of people were sitting around there. They were drinking, playing cards, telling old stories. A bard was singing a jolly song in the corner with his tambourine. Elves, humans, dwarves and orcs. All kinds of creatures could be found here.

Red Beard, the innkeeper dwarf recognized the Corwen from a distance. He got his nickname form his chest-long rusty beard that had the same color as his skimpy hair.

"What happened to you my good sir?" he asked looking worried, as he raised his bushy eyebrows.

"Everyone is dead, Red Beard!" the captain sighed.

"We were attacked by the Night Blades clan not far from here. They killed everybody at the fight. I am lucky to be here. I got three arrow shots."

"This is terrible!" he hit the bar angrily. "How could this happen here in the Dukedom, so close to our town?"

"I don't know innkeeper, but I will find out. I swore over the dead body of Galdara!" he looked very determined.

"The merchant was my friend too. He always came in when he had business around here. This is not the faith he deserved. How can I help?" he leaned closer, bending his brows.

"First, find me a priest or healer who can take care of my wounds. I need a room and a hot bath. Second, spread the word in the city that I'm looking for adventurers with knowledge of weaponry and magic for a dangerous mission and for a great price. I also need a tracker."

"You are my guest for tonight, Sir Corwen," he gave him a glass of red wine over the counter.

"Drink this now. You are in need of it," he clasped his shoulder warmly.

He did not have to ask him twice, the wine pouring down his throat filled his broken body with pleasant warmth.

"Room seventeen is yours. Here is the key. It is on the first floor on the right of the stairs. I will soon take care of that hot bath and will find a healer too. Your message will be received around the town. I promise! Make yourself comfortable until then." He calmed the captain down.

"Thank you, Red Beard, in the name of Galdara too!" Corwen shook the dwarf's hand.

"That's the least I can do my friend. I will pray for the dead too." He shook the captain's hand firmly.

Corwen said goodbye to the helpful innkeeper and limped up on the stairs with his box. Curious eyes followed him, but he did not care about them. He arrived at the first floor, searched for his door, and entered the room.

It was a rather spacious room, with a couch a cupboard and a small desk with a candle on it. There was a big bathing barrel in one corner, with a tiny window facing the street behind it. It was perfectly fit for average demands.

He put down his equipment, put the box in the cupboard, and laid down on the bed. Soon, servants came and poured hot water into the barrel. After they left, he locked the door, undressed and climbed into the hot water. His wounds were burning, but at least he could wash off this day and that made him feel better. He almost fell asleep in the cooling water, when someone knocked on the door. A sweet female voice was speaking on the other side.

"Excuse me. Are you captain Venuri del Corwen sir? I am the healer. Red Beard sent me."

"Yes it is me. Just a second!" he replied, a bit confused.

He quickly climbed out of the water, dried himself and got on pants. Then, he opened the door.

There was a snow white skinned, ginger-red haired beauty waiting there. She was about his age. She wore a white lace tunic, running down to her knees. It was tighter around her waist and the neckline went a bit deep on her round breasts. She wore a medallion on her neck, with a hand holding a burning sun on it. Her curly hair was long and she wore it with a golden headband. Her lips were crimson.

She examined the half-naked man and his lean muscles with her poison-green, beautiful eyes. The captain believed she was from the North. She wore a sack on her shoulder. She smelt like roses as she leaned forward to greet the man.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Tyrind Larianna, the healer. I heard you needed help."

"Nice to meet you. Please come in. I was waiting for your arrival."

What an attractive girl. If I wasn't in such bad shape, I would have her right here right now, the nasty thoughts ran through his head.

The healer was able to estimate his state of health in seconds.

"Your injuries are bad. Please lie on the bed and trust me."

Her eyes quickly ran along the muscled and scarred body of the captain. The woman, who was always hungry for lovemaking, really liked the view.

She examined the wound with her fine hands and softly pushed them.

"You are lucky! The arrows did not hit any vital organs. They don't even have to be sewn."

"I see you are an expert. If you could identify the weapon right away," the captain complimented the girl.

"Well, I've been a healer for more than a decade now. I've seen a lot. The wounds are quite clear, but I will clean them anyway. I brought an ointment made of special herbs. I will put that on you to help the healing. And drink from my gourd, this will strengthen your body's resistance," she explained.

The captain drank up the potion, that tasted like a strong mixture of spices. It burnt his throat like fine schnapps, but the unpleasant sentiment disappeared soon.

"Damn girl. It burns!" the captain coughed.

"I bet it does, my own recipe," Larianna laughed.

She cleaned and softly creamed the wounds with her pale grass green ointment. She bandaged them with clean lint and started murmuring. Corwen had a cool sentiment around the wounds and he suddenly felt much better.

"Wow. It's like the pain is gone in a heartbeat. You are an exceptional healer," he said with a happy smile.

The girl smiled and her alluring eyes searched for the captain's eyes. She had some impish thoughts in her head. I need to have this man, even if only for a night, she decided.

"Thanks for the compliment. My clients are usually satisfied with the service. But it's not only healing I'm skillful at," she caressed Corwen chest, trying to suggest something delicately.

"If you want some more tenderness, my door is always open. I live at room twenty-five now," she offered her hand to the confused man.

"And now I need two silver coins in exchange for my service," she lightly leaned her head on the side, raising one eyebrow cheekily.

"Here is your money," he handed her the silver coins.

"I will remember your room number, and I will come to you," Corwen cleared his throat.

"Fine. Good night captain Corwen. Get better soon," she turned her back to the man and walked out on the door, as the captain was following her dainty steps with his eyes.

"Good night to you too, Larianna," he said as the girl was leaving.

He closed the door and sighed.

"For the love of Hectenos. What a beast. It's been long since I met a fierce woman like this!" He scratched his groin.

He laid on the bed, exhausted, and fell asleep immediately. He woke up in the morning, relaxed, his wounds healing. The ointments had really worked and he could hardly feel the pain. He had a lot to do that day and could not waste any time. He grabbed the essentials and the treasure box, rushing to the dining hall to have breakfast. He jumped on Smokey and headed towards the town. He managed to sell the treasures from the box, to the merchants for good money. After long negotiation, he gained a hundred gold, which was a smaller fortune.

He got his armor fixed by the blacksmith and bought a new crafted helmet. It had a T-shaped gap on the front and it provided better protection than the old one, since it was made of Terwaldian steel. This material was always in demand in Algaron, since it was more resistant than regular steel. He got some new clothes too; ash-colored pants, baize shirt and a black velvet cloak. He deposited the rest of the money in the Dukedom's bank. He put the bank certificate in his pocket. Nobody could get access to the money but him.

It was late in the afternoon, when he got back to the inn. He sat down to a free table and ordered a cup of wine, making himself comfortable as sipping the red drink. He looked around the guests of the inn. There were local soldiers, simple craftsmen, who finished off a hard day with a pint. Of course there were some troublemakers too, who only came in to make a scene. There were all kinds of folks, most of them were human, but other races could be found in here too.

A big orc sitting at a table was constantly watching Corwen, who noticed this, but was not yet disturbed by the attention. The giant warrior soon got up from his table and headed towards the captain. His movements suggested confidence. He was obviously an experienced fighter. Everybody got out of his way. Nobody dared talk to him.

He stopped at Corwen table. He wore a shirt of chain mail armor with metal arm and leg braces. The giant was nearly seven feet tall. A real husky creature. Across his back, he carried a two-hand battle-axe. His skin was mold-green. He had a big scar across his face at his left eye, his nose was flat and stubby and he had no hair. He stared at the captain with his small, deep, light brown eyes. His half-inch eyeteeth stuck out of the wide jaw. The one on the right had a metallic glow.

He leaned over Corwen's desk, pushing it down with his giant, muscled and hairy arms. The captain could feel the booze on his breath as he began to speak in a deep, rich voice, with a little bit of accent in human language.

"You human, search fighter to dangerous mission?"

"Yes it is me. My name is Venuri del Corwen. You want to apply?" the captain asked, completely calmly.

"How much money, if I go with you?"

"I'll pay twenty gold if the mission is over. From this, you get five at the beginning, to see you can take me seriously. My only condition is that I only want experienced adventurers. You have to prove you are a master of your battle axe," he pointed at the weapon on the orc's back.

"You want fight me?" the giant asked.

"A fight until the first blood. What do you say?" he opened his arms with a calm expression on his face.

"Alright. I am Iron Tusk from Blood Drinker clan. I do not quit any fight!" the warrior answered proudly, flashing his teeth as he burst into a smile.

"After you, Iron Tusk from the Blood Drinker clan." Corwen pointed at the door toward the yard.

Meanwhile, he drank the last sip of wine and stood up from the table. He fought numerous fighters in his life and knew they hit hard, but they were slow and tired fast. He was curious, whether Tusk was a warrior like that.

The orc approached the exit with huge steps. The crowd let him go.

Wants fight? Gets fight! Just need to make sure not to kill him, Tusk was thinking carefully.

A few curious eyes followed them from the inside. They wanted to see the fight.

They faced each other. The giant took out his crafted, pale blue two-handed weapon and Corwen the Terwaldian steel twin blades. It was dawning outside. The sky was all colors of red, as the sun disappeared at the horizon. The fighters stood in starting position.

"Until first blood, Tusk. Let's do it!" he started to roll his weapons fast as the orc was approaching.

To his surprise the giant did not attack immediately. He waited for the opponent to come closer. He swayed the axe, which the captain could avoid, but then he unexpectedly tried to hit him in the stomach with the long handle. He could ward that off too. Corwen noticed that Tusk was a good fighter, despite his size and he moved the axe fast and furiously.

He tried to cut the column-like legs of the giant, but he was not successful. After the initial attempts, he began to make the giant very angry. He was waiting for the orc to miscalculate a move and that moment arrived soon.

He began a fierce attack, lifting the axe above his head. The captain would not have been able to counter the hit, so he rolled on the side. The missed weapon landed an inch deep in the ground. That was the orc's first mistake during the fight and it did not remain unanswered.

Corwen struck with his sword like lightning cutting the opponent's hefty leg, but careful enough not to make a deep wound. The orc bared his teeth on him, plucked his weapon out of the soil and put it back on his back, gasping.

"You win human!" he moaned angrily.

"Yes, but you are an excellent fighter too. You can use that giant weapon skillfully. I can see now that you are an experienced fighter, so my offer stands if you accept it." he offered his hand to the mold-green colored giant, who shook it fiercely.

"Me accept!"

Corwen flinched, when the giant clenched his hand. He could have easily broken his wrist if he wanted to.

"We are leaving the morning after tomorrow from the inn. Don't go too far," he informed his new fellow.

The orc nodded, turned his back to the champion and went back to the inn to continue drinking. He returned to his table at the inn. Many were nodding at him appreciatively, showing their respect. He ordered another cup of wine, after that he was planning to go to bed, but suddenly he noticed a familiar female figure approaching. Larianna was walking toward him with steady steps in her white tunic. The dance of her hips was admired by many male eyes. Arriving to his table, she smiled at the captain with a glass of wine in her hand.

"Can I sit down my champion?"

"Please, Larianna." he offered her a seat.

"I saw the fight too. You are indeed an excellent warrior like everybody said," meanwhile she drank the rest of her wine.

"Can you give me some of yours? Mine is empty," she smiled.

"Of course. I had many great masters, who taught me these excellent techniques," he poured some wine to the glass of the woman.

"How are your wounds?"

"Thanks to you, I feel much better and they are healing quickly."

"Happy to hear that. So, you are satisfied with my healing abilities?" she inquired.

"Yes. Next time I have serious injuries, I'll ask you again to heal me," he complimented the girl who played with her hair cheerfully.

"I heard you were looking for experienced warriors and magicians for a dangerous mission. I want to go with you, if you'd accept my company," she looked at her with her poison-green eyes.

"Dear Larianna. I don't think you are an expert of weaponry or magic and could be useful during the fights." he drank from his cup.

If you would know my talents, pretty boy. I am not just good at seducing men, now I will show you a little of my skills. Just see your face as you look at me amazed, the girl decided.

"You are very wrong, my captain,"

She pulled out a small ash stick, from her tunic.

"Please, examine this carefully." She handed it to him.

He took it and observed it carefully, touching its surface.

"I don't see anything special about it. It is just a wooden stick," he replied firmly.

"If you say so, but look!"

She touched the stick with her left index finger and after murmuring some magic spell, the stick turned into a black poisonous snake. It immediately spiraled on the arm of Corwen.

"What the hell! I never thought you are capable of something like that," the captain admitted with shock on his face.

"Magic, my dear. I know a few tricks and I could be useful to you."

"Fine. I see you are as dangerous as beautiful. You convinced me. Just get this animal off me!"

He looked at the snake cautiously. It was waiting for the command of the woman. She smacked and it turned right back into a simple stick.

"I have the following offer. If you come with me for this dangerous journey, you will get twenty gold by the end. I pay you five at the beginning, the rest at the end of the mission. If it is fine for you too. I want to leave the day after tomorrow morning from the inn. Arrange your affairs until then," the captain informed the girl.

"My affairs?" she asked playfully.

"You know the one affair I'm interested in," she put her finger in the cup and licked the wine off it sensually.

Oh God! I just want to have you right here until you scream for mercy, the captain thought. His forehead was sweating, but he could control his powerful desire.

"I cannot execute this demand, beautiful. We are fellows now. I could not take advantage of you," he replied, clenching his cup.

"Well I have to find fun elsewhere!" the girl said with disappointment.

You will be mine. No man can resist me. One way or another, I will get you captain, she was thinking.

She turned her head away, shrugged her shoulders and jumped up from the chair. She sat down at the table of a handsome elf nearby. She started flirting with him, but kept one eye on the captain the whole time. He rather ordered one more drink, then getting bored of the evening, drank it and left, going to his room to have a good night's sleep. The wine went straight to his head. He had trouble going up the stairs and had to use the handrail not to fall. He took off his armor uneasily, and fell on the bed, falling into a deep, drunk sleep.
Chapter Three

As he woke up the next morning, his head was aching form yesterday's drinking. After a big breakfast and a few glasses of water, he felt much better. He spent the rest of the day relaxing. He declined several applicants, because of their lack of experience. Hustlers. He thought about what he was going to do, when he caught the assassins and got the map back. What next? Who can I trust enough? he asked himself.

He finished his lunch around noon, when a strange couple entered the inn. One of them was a tall, thin, dainty elf warrior. He wore a starched leather mail, embroidered with silver scale plates for better protection. He had a crafted white birch bow on his shoulder and a curved saber on his side. His steps were airy, his shoulder-length golden hair in a ponytail. His face (since he was an elf), was like a perfectly shaped marble statue. His ocean-blue eyes quickly ran over the people of the inn.

His companion was shorter than he was. His face was like a black panther, with big, bright yellow cat-eyes and pointy ears. He was a 'rour', commonly known as a catman. These creatures were rarely seen in the North, because they were from the Southern lands of Rakashara, next to the sea. His face was covered in short dark hair. His age was hard to estimate. He wore a baggy-sleeved dark chestnut caftan and held a large staff in one hand that ended in a unicorn horn. The staff was covered in red ruin writing. The strangest thing about him, however was the little dragon sitting on his shoulder. It did not have wings and its body was covered in marble scales. It had tiny horns on its head and its eyes sparkled in a pale yellow light.

The appearance of the sorcerer suggested confidence and inner peace to the captain. His elf fellow examined the room carefully. He was searching for potentially dangerous individuals and the advantageous places in case a fight occurred.

The audience of the inn was staring at the strange new guests, who headed to the bar and exchanged a few words with Red Beard. A few moments later, they turned towards Corwen, headed towards his table and greeted him warmly.

"Greetings! I am Mergoth Al Sarran, a member of the Inner Circle magician order. This is Dergo, my servant dragon." he nodded toward the strange creature on his shoulder.

"Greetings!" the little dragon said unexpectedly in a clear, deep human voice.

The captain could not believe his eyes and ears, as he had never seen a dragon before, especially not one that could speak.

Now the elf archer started talking.

"I am Ulren Lowarien at your service, a warrior and tracker from Ertonfell. Arriving to the city, we heard you are in need of experienced adventurers for a dangerous mission. We are interested in your proposal, if you accept our help."

"Greetings to you too! I am Venuri del Corwen, a former guardian captain. The mission I am recruiting people for is indeed dangerous. I want to track down a group of assassins from the Night Blade clan. They murdered my men and my lord, Jahren Galdara, the merchant. I swore revenge for them and I am looking for fighters, who are not afraid of death. I can offer twenty gold in exchange, if you accept it.

"It sounds like a substantial reward, please continue," Al Sarran replied.

"I will pay five in advance upon departure and the rest after the mission. I usually have to make sure the applicants are experienced enough, but I can see that you have a bow made of elloro on your back, which only the best fighters deserve to receive among your people. The bow only obeys your will, nobody else can use it." he looked into the fighter's ocean-blue eyes.

"You are very familiar with elf traditions, captain! You judged my bow well. Only a few people have a weapon like this in the world."

"I once visited your land, Horeldien. It is unbelievably beautiful. It has the highest trees in the world and everything is bright green," the captain said.

"He ran Zandiel. We protect all the tree fathers. I am happy you like my homeland."

"I will hire you. I will be in great need of a tracker, but I still have to make sure your friend is also suitable for the task." He turned towards the panther man."

"I have never seen a dragon servant before. It is a strange little creature."

Al Sarran patted the dragon with his paw-like hand.

"Yes, everybody is astonished by him, especially when he starts to talk, although he does not do that very often."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but sorcerers can sense magic objects around them. Is that right?" the captain asked.

"You are right, we can sense the energy every object made with magic omits and therefore we can detect them," the rour explained.

"Tell me. Do I have any magic object with me now?"

"Yes. I can detect a medallion omitting magical energy."

"That is right. I can see now that you really do have magical abilities. You can be a member of my team. We leave tomorrow morning here from the inn. Be at the bar. An orc warrior and a healer woman familiar with magic will accompany us."

"Captain, what do you know about these Night Blades? I have only heard a few words about them," Lowarien asked.

"I survived their attack. Those bastards use poison. They are average fighters, but against an experienced fighter like yourself, they don't stand a chance," Corwen replied, rubbing his chin.

"What's the plan after we find them?" the rour asked.

"Whomever surrenders, we will take hostage. Whomever resists, will be killed. They didn't have mercy for my people either," the captain said firmly.

"I completely agree with you. I think we got everything we need to know. See you tomorrow captain. Early in the morning," Al Sarran replied, stood up, and left the table, together with the elf.

Corwen said goodbye too. He was thinking about his team and his possibilities. He had an experienced orc warrior, an attractive healer, who is familiar with magic, an elf tracker who was a veteran fighter and a rour sorcerer, whose knowledge could be valuable during the fights. It would probably be enough to take revenge and get the map back, he thought.

After his satisfying lunch, he was walking around the city for the rest of the day, collecting all the necessary equipment for the journey. Purchasing a tent, a sleeping bag, change of clothes, torches, alimentation and all the necessities.

Arriving back to the Pilgrim Inn, someone was waiting for him in his room. There was a short woman in a cloak sitting at the table.

"Who the hell are you and how did you get in my room?" he asked angrily, clenching his sword.

It was a slim, young girl with olive skin. Her dark brown, waist-long hair was braided. Her ocean blue almond-shaped eyes were glowing. She wore a light blue lace shirt under her cloak and he did not see any weapons. Despite her young age, she had a confident appeal.

"Calm down captain! I am not here to hurt you. On the contrary. I heard you were looking for adventurers for a dangerous journey and I want to apply," the girl replied with a thin, pretty voice.

"My name is Rawoldien Everly and I am a master of thievery. There is no lock or door I cannot open, but I can also defuse traps," the little thief listed her skills.

"It explains how you could get into my closed room!" the captain answered, still upset. "I am sorry but you're too young for a dangerous mission like this, we might not come back alive. The Night Blades are hefty killers. I would not like to be responsible for the death of such a young girl."

"I am almost eighteen and I can take care of myself! I have got out of so many dangerous situations!"

She got out a pack of cards, and threw two cards in the air. They were not even halfway down, obeying gravity, when she pinned them to the wall with her daggers.

"Impressive trick, but the team is complete and I do not want to hire anybody else. Go and live your life, do not get in trouble. Please, leave now! I have to get ready for tomorrow," the captain answered firmly, pointing at the door.

"I could be useful for you. Trust me!"

The girl got on her hood with a sad face and stormed out of the room, pulling out her daggers from the wall.

What did this girl think? Even if she was an excellent fighter or magician, I would not take her with me, because she's too young. Not to mention she broke into my room! He was in a fret.

He was trying to relax during the rest of the day. He only went down to the hall in the evening to grab a few bites. To his surprise, he found the black panther sorcerer there, playing cards with a large company. He had never seen a magician, who was so crazy about gambling. Iron Tusk was downstairs too. He was just getting into drinking and thy nodded to each other. He stepped to the bar and exchanged a few words with Red Beard.

"Dear Innkeeper. Thank you for all your help and service. I am leaving tomorrow to catch the assassins with a team of five. I think I chose wisely, they are all experienced and the masters of their own trade."

"The time has come now to take revenge. I will pray to Illtor for your success." He leaned closer to Cowen.

"End those bastards! Don't keep any of them alive!" the dwarf's eyes sparkled furiously.

"I was not planning to." The captain nodded confidently.

"Goodbye Red Beard. Hopefully I will come back to the Pilgrim one day."

"You are always welcome here, captain Corwen." They said goodbye to each other.

He went to bed early, to be well rested for the next day. The thoughts whirled in his head.

I hope I thought about everything, and this time I will surprise these low life's. They will remember it until the end of their lives. It is not good to be overconfident, but I feel the partners I hired worth their price.

He woke up with the first rays of the sun, washed his face, and packed his equipment. He gave back his key at the counter and headed toward the barn, where his team was waiting for him.

Lowarien, the elf tracker, Al Sarran, the rour sorcerer with his dragon on his shoulder, the beautiful Larianna, who put on a deep blue tunic for the journey, greeted each other.

"Has anybody seen the orc?" Corwen asked the others as he loaded his package on his horse.

"I saw him lurching towards his room yesterday evening," the sorcerer replied, shaking his head.

"We will wait for a little longer, but then we are going to leave, with or without him," the captain replied decidedly.

"Here is your prepayment, as promised," he threw a little pouch to everyone with golden coins jingling inside.

They were just about to leave, when the huge, muscular figure of the orc appeared on the other side of the yard, clomping towards them with a sack on his back.

"Sorry me late!" he was gasping, rubbing his head; he was obviously hungover.

"Fine. Just leave already!" The captain was impatient.

"Greetings! I am Iron Tusk, fighter from the Blood Drinker clan!" The giant straightened up, introducing himself to the team.

The others greeted him one by one, the orc got his gold and finally they left the inn and the waking town. They were galloping slowly with their horses. The well rested animals took the miles easily. The waking wind of the dawn, blew dark clouds towards them from the mountains.

"Larianna, what kind of magic do you use, if I may ask?"

Well we have a curious sorcerer. Better to be safe with him, before he finds out my secret. Who knows what the others thinking of me, if I told them the truth, thought the ginger haired beauty.

"Natural, practical magic, of course," the girl replied.

"Have you practiced this knowledge for long?" the rour further inquired.

"It's been almost ten years now, since my master initiated me in the secret. Now that we are asking questions, how did you find your servant dragon? I have heard stories about them, but never actually saw one until now," she looked at the little creature curiously.

"I was on a dangerous mission with a few mates. We broke into the laboratory of a scientist, involved in dark magic in Northern Terwaldia. That is where I found Dergo, locked in a cage. I liberated him and out of gratitude, he offered me his service," the catman replied.

Looking out from one of the pouches, the little dragon nodded in agreement. When they were walking fast with the horses, he climbed down from Sarran's neck, to search for a more comfortable and safe place.

"The storm is upon us, which is not good news. It can wash off tracks," the elf said, turning to Corwen.

"Go faster then. We will soon reach the mountains. The location of the attack is not far from there," the captain on the front replied.

Increasing the pace of his horse Smokey, the others followed his example and the horses were running furiously in the forest.

"Your horse is fast, captain. What a beautiful animal," the Ertonfellian warrior riding next to him said.

"I bet it is. We've been padding the roads with Smokey for a long time. We've become inseparable friends," he said, patting his horse proudly.

"I once had the chance to fly on a Pegasus. They are glorious animals. Really close relatives to horses," the elf explained.

"It must have been a wonderful experience, but I feel better just walking on the ground," Corwen replied.

Arriving with a thunder, the rain began to fall, pouring a lot of water on the adventurers. The dusty forest road drank the fresh water thirstily. There had not been any rain for weeks. They could smell the fresh rain and nature was reborn, thanks to the nourishing water. They arrived to the scene of the fight in minutes. The garrison already transported the dead bodies. Only a few blood puddles, black feathered arrows and a few thrown objects marked the location of the battle. They stopped and got off their horses in the pouring rain.

"This is the location of the attack, Lowarien. It is your turn to find traces and tell us where to go." The captain opened his arms.

"I'll do everything I can, but the garrison walked over the whole area. It won't be easy to find the assassins traces," the marble-faced elf replied and started examining the ground.

Soon he disappeared into the heart of the forest.

The others put on their hoods, covered themselves in the cloaks and let the rain shower them. The face of the orc, thanks to the refreshing rain, seemed clear of hangover. He was picking his nose apathetically.

Larianna was scanning the captain's eyes from under her hood.

The captain was leaning against a tree, only glancing at the poison-green eyes a few times.

She is staring me at almost all the time, but I need to concentrate on the events lying ahead me. I don't want anything to alter my attention, let it be even as beautiful as Larianna. I hope the elf will succeed and find the track of the assassins, he thought.

Al Sarran started meditating, clasping his legs, floating in the air a few inches above the ground, with his dragon on his shoulder. The wind changed and began to blow from the direction of the town. Tusk stopped picking his nose and took a few deep breaths.

"Someone is coming, I smell human!" he broke the silence with his deep voice.

"From the town," he pointed to the road behind them.

"Quick, take the horses to the forest and let's see who is after us," Corwen commanded.

They were waiting and hiding, grabbing their weapons. After a while, a rider dressed in black appeared on the muddy road. Stopping and getting off the horse, she started examining the objects on the ground. She pulled back her hood in order to see better.

The captain immediately recognized the tiny, olive-skinned girl. He sighed and came out of the bushes angrily, signing to the others that there was no danger.

"Were you following us, Everly? I told you that you could not come with us," he snapped at her.

The girl was a little surprised when the other four came out of the bushes, but she tilted her chin up and started talking confidently and fiercely.

"Even if you forbid me, it does not mean I will obey!" she answered stubbornly.

"Who is this young lady?" Al Sarran asked the captain.

"A troublemaker thief, Rawoldien Everly. I cannot get rid of her!" he replied angrily.

"I sense some inexplicable power about this girl, I've never experienced anything like this before. She is not an ordinary girl, that's for sure. I don't know captain, but I have a bad feeling, which doesn't mean any good," the panther man stepped closer to the girl suspiciously.

"Why are looking me like that? Haven't you seen a thief girl up to close before catman?"

"Who gives me the creeps, not so often," replied the sorcerer.

"This little human girl does not look dangerous," the orc was leaning on his battle-axe.

"She has plenty of confidence and as you can see, she does not take no for an answer," the captain said.

"Greetings, I'm Larianna!" The ginger-red haired beauty stepped to her, offering her hand.

"I am Everly, expert of locks and traps," the young girl introduced herself.

"If she really wants to come, why couldn't she?" she turned towards the captain, putting her arms around the young girl.

"I believe it needs to be decided by voting. Who would want our group to grow by one member?"

"I would like to captain. If she followed us until now, take her in," said Larianna firmly.

"I relying on my intuition, I would say no," said Al Sarran.

"The tiny human girl can join. I like the companion of women," smiled the huge Tusk.

"You are very young for a dangerous mission like this, why would like to be part of it so badly?"

"Since I know my mind, I lived my life in danger. What difference would this one make? You never know captain, when you need to pick a lock or disarm a trap, and by the way I heard you pay the members very well. Is this true?" straightened up the small thief girl.

"Yes, that's true. I will pay five gold on the spot and fifteen later. You reason well Everly. Although my right mind says, I should leave you here soaking in the rain, but I will listen to my intuition. You can stay, I take you in the group, but you need to follow my orders in any case! Am I clear?"

"Yes, absolutely. Thank you captain for changing your mind and taking me in," the young girl was smiling.

The warrior with the twin blades threw a little pouch to the newest team member.

"Here you are, Everly. It's the same as I paid everyone. Don't make me regret this."

"You'll see captain, I'll be useful during this journey," she replied joyfully, putting her pouch away.

"I don't agree with it, but I will accepts the others decision. I am Mergoth, Al Sarran from the Inner Circle magician order. This is Dergo, my servant dragon." He pointed at the reptile on his shoulder.

"What a cute lizard," she examined the little creature.

"Greetings, young human girl! I am not a lizard. I am a servant dragon," Dergo said in a deep voice.

"You can talk?" the thief girl was surprised.

"As you can see," the dragon turned his head away.

"Me Iron Tusk from the Blood Drinker dynasty." The orc nodded.

Soon the elf returned from the forest.

"I have some good news. I found some tracks, hardly visible, but they were departing. Do we have a new member in the team?" he looked at the girl curiously.

"Yes, a thief who we could not get rid of. She followed us from the town, although I told her I did not need her services. We voted and took her in the group, do you agree with this decision?" asked Corwen.

"You are the leader of the group captain, if it's good for you, then a new companion wouldn't trouble me. Let me introduce myself. I am Ulren Lowarien, a tracker from Ertonfell," the graceful elf greeted her.

"Nice to meet you. I am Rawoldien Everly," the tiny girl replied.

"Don't waste any more time with chitchatting! Show us the way to the traces, we have to catch the assassins! They have two days advantage. We have to hurry!" the captain was pressing them.

Following Lowarien, the extended team entered the forest and approached the mountains. They were following a little path in the persistently heavy rain.
Chapter Four

Bald travelers, with soaking wet grey coats arrived to the Pilgrim around noon. There was a strange sign on their forehead, resembling a three headed snake. There were half a dozen of them and they walked straight to Red Beard at the bar.

"Good day Innkeeper! We are looking for a short, young girl with olive skin and blue almond eyes. She must have been here not so long ago. Have you seen her by any chance?" one of them asked.

"Gentleman, why are you looking for this girl, if you don't mind me asking?" the dwarf looked around the strange company.

"Because she will be in danger, if we don't find her. If you know where to find her, please help us!" he put three silver coins in front of the innkeeper to encourage him to cooperate.

"Well, if she really is in danger, it is my obligation to help!" he put the coins away in his pocket.

"If my servants informed me well, she left the inn this morning and rode toward the Southern gate."

"Thank you for your help innkeeper!" they turned around and left.

They got on their horses and left the city of Terran through the Southern gate. Their leader initiated a telepathic connection with someone far away.

"High priestess, it is your humble servant Marquel. The girl left the city toward the Southern mountains. There's little chance we can track her in the wild."

"Greetings brother Marquel! Fine, continue the search anyway, until I command otherwise. The comet will soon appear in the sky. We have to catch her before that!" the female voice said in his mind.

"As you wish your Majesty," the telepathic connection terminated between them.

High Priestess Orzalla was sitting on her bed in her room. She rubbed her face and sighed after hearing the news.

"I have no choice, I need to summon Zandurin, the strongest representative of the goddess."

She was a middle-aged woman, with slightly above-average height. Her dark hair was in a bun. Her brown eyes reflected cruelty and her face seemed anxious. She wore a dark dress, which was floor-length, but was cut up on the side up to her limbs. The loose sleeves hardly covered her elbows and the neckline was cut out in a curve. She wore her sacred symbol in her neck. The three headed snake. She had been the high priestess for almost ten years.

She was born in the Dukedom of Therwold to a wine merchant father. She never found her place in this world. When she was young, she accidentally met a strange old man, during one of his journeys. Later she found out he was a disguised servant of the goddess of pain and distress, who saw potential in the girl. He introduced her to the girl, who began to admire her new goddess fanatically. She found at last, what she was looking for. The lost piece of her soul.

Stepping out of her room, she arrived to an aisle lit by torches. The old stone walls surrounding her had been there for thousands of years. She went down a spiral staircase ending in a huge iron door. She opened it and arrived to a large, dark hall. Candles were burning around the walls in steel chandeliers. The symbol of the three-headed snake, was carved into the floor in the middle. In front of her there was an altar standing with sculptures of disfigured, suffering figures. Next to them, there were some blood red candles lit. Half a dozen men and women in crimson tunics and hoods were waiting in the room.

Orzalla walked to the altar and grabbed a black steel mask, depicting a painfully shouting face, with hair of squirming snakes. She put it on and turned to the waiting crowd.

"Brothers and sisters, the time has come! The comet has appeared on the Eastern sky. We cannot wait any longer, we have to bring the chosen one here or our Mistress Kyrion has to wait for centuries, to materialize in our world. Bring the sacrifices for the ambassador of the Mistress, so we can start the ceremony!" she commanded the crowd.

Soon a side door opened and six of them brought in three young, naked men in handcuffs. They were chosen carefully, all of them were strong and healthy boys. They chained them to the center of the snake symbol, surrounded by the hooded figures with the sacrifice dagger in the right hand and a blood red candle in the left. They started chanting together.

"Come to us Zandurin, servant of our Mistress, we are calling you! We sacrifice these innocent young souls, for you to prove our loyalty! Please accept them and manifest yourself! We need your endless strength and power. We are calling you!"

They cut the bodies of the victims. Not too deep. Only to make them bleed slowly. The nourishing fluid spilled into the carved symbol, as the chained men's heart pumped the flowing blood. The candles, meanwhile, were put on the edges of the symbol. Orzalla the high priestess raised her arms and began to chant a summoning song on an unknown language. She got a cup, cut her own wrist and spilled some blood in it. She walked to the dying victims. When they were almost begging for their own death, she stabbed them with the sacrifice dagger right in the heart, one by one. Their blood filled the whole symbol. She spilled her own blood on the sacrificed men. They blew out the blood red candles in their hands together. The old stone walled room filled with a strange, thick and thrilling smell.

The nourishing fluid strung into existence, assembling in the middle of the symbol, forming a female figure with bat wings. The horns on her head were twirling like dust, her eyes and lips were dark as the night and her skin white as snow. Her face was emotionless. Only a few could stand her look, but her face was still somehow beautiful. The braided locks of her dark and long hair ended in snake heads that squirmed tirelessly. Her dainty figure was covered in a black full plate armor, made of an otherworldly metal. The shoulder and arm parts ended in pointy, sharp forms. It followed the shape of her body perfectly, besides her wings. The high priestess bowed down, before the creature in the deep of the hooded crowd.

"Welcome Zandurin, who was sent by the goddess Kyrion!" Orzalla started speaking with respect.

"We called you, because we need your power to bring us the chosen one, before the comet disappears from the sky. Please help, so the goddess can come to life in this world! Bring us the girl, unscathed. You can find her, wherever she is," she asked the summoned creature.

"I was created by the goddess of pain and distress and her power is endless! I will bring you the girl, so our goddess can walk this earth once again!" the thunderous female voice replied, spreading her enormous wings.

*****

The little team was walking with the horses, with the elf in the front, who was examining the ground, looking for traces. He was searching for broken sticks, footsteps, anything to suggest that someone walked the ground before. The rain had almost stopped. It was just sprinkling as it was getting dark. They were in the middle of the mountains, far from the roads.

"We should camp down soon, sunset is coming," Lowarien said, turning back on horse.

"You are right. Let's find a suitable place to wait for the morning," Corwen agreed with the elf.

They arrived at a little field on a slope. They prepared their tents and lit a fire. They had no problem with the wet wood since Al Sarran dried and sparked up the wood with his fireball within seconds. Drying their wet clothes, they all assembled around the fire. The sky went completely dark, and following the dark clouds, stars appeared on it. Together with a rare flashlight-like phenomenon. The dancing flames were reflected on the faces staring at the fire. Their constantly changing dance almost mesmerized them.

"Can you see that light in the sky?" Al Sarran pointed with his horned staff.

"It only appears every few centuries and it always brings some life-changing, important events for the whole continent. Maybe it won't be different this time either and we will witness some big events, like our ancestors did," he informed the company sitting around the fire.

"It is highly possible. People have been whispering about the coming of a great war around the whole continent," the elf tracker said.

"Maybe the news is true. It has been long since, the Nozgold Empire threatened the world with its armies," Corwen added.

Meanwhile he got out a hunting knife and shaved himself with the blade, leaving his full beard untouched.

"Orcs don't go to war for the Nozgold Empire. It was enough, chief decide to make peace with humans, elves and dwarves," Tusk was chewing on a salted pork leg.

"This light is beautiful. I feel like it is calling me up to the stars," Everly said, staring at the sky under a blanket.

"I haven't seen anything like this, even though I saw many years ago," the little dragon said.

Tilting his head, looking at the flashlight curiously from the magician's shoulder.

"Captain, what's the plan if we find the assassins? Do we kill all of them?" Everly asked, curiously.

"I will prepare a plan for the attack, when we find them, I'll need everybody's knowledge. It depends on how many of them are there and where they are camping. We attack them and take hostage of whoever surrenders, and kill all who don't. When we finish them, we go back to Terran, I pay everyone, and we're done."

The orc chewed almost all the meat from the bone, when he began to glare at the little servant dragon.

"Do dragons taste good?" he asked with a gorged burp.

"You will never know, Tusk!" the little dragon flashed his pale yellow eyes at him.

"Just kidding. Not a serious question," the large fighter said with a grin.

"How many assassins are we following in your opinion, Lowarien?" the captain was inquiring.

"Hard to say, they are travelling with horses too. My guess is that there must be about one and a half dozen of them, if not more."

"Isn't that a bit too many for us?" the thief girl asked.

"Not a problem if we can surprise them. We can overcome the numbers with a well crafted plan," the captain answered with confidence.

Larianna covered herself in a blanket. The warmth of the fire caressed her wet and cold body. She was sitting next to the captain and looked around the small company.

"We and our lives might have to depend on each other since we applied for such a dangerous task, we should get to know each other a little better. What if everybody tells a little about themselves? I will begin if you don't mind."

"I have been wandering and healing for years. I earn my living with taking off curses and hexes and if necessary, I serve people with practicing natural magic. I was born in the Dukedom of Argwira, in a village twenty-nine years ago, to an average bourgeois family. My father was a blacksmith. My mother was a servant. I left my family at an early age. The priests of nature took me in and taught me. That's how I became the master of healing and magic. I have been going on adventures all around the world and I'm not afraid of danger. This is why I applied for this mission," he turned to the brown-eyed captain next to him and poked him a bit with her elbow, to motivate him to start speaking.

Clearing his throat, Corwen began to talk.

"I was born in the Northern Dukedom of Eregorn to a noble family. I appeared to be talented in weaponry, so my parents took me to the Three Shield fighting order, where I served for five years. After that, I went to several masters of weaponry, to teach me different fighting techniques, because I wanted to become the best. After a few years, I became a mercenary and a guard. I gained the title of guardian captain, not long ago and started serving my latest master, Jahren Galdara, the dwarf merchant. May he rest in peace. I am here now, to take revenge for him and my men," he finished his story.

"I guess I am next," Al Sarran continued.

"I grew in my motherland, Rakashara in a coastal town. I have always been fascinated with the supernatural and especially magic. Since we don't have any sorcerers, I left the empire of the rours for a while and went south, leaving my family behind at an early age. In Kirson province of the Southern City-states, I was accepted at the Inner Circle sorcerer academy. After many trials and tests, I had studied the deepest connections of magic for more than ten years before I could become a sorcerer. In order to gain the title of magister of the Inner Circle, I had to study and gain a lot of experience. This is a high honor among sorcerers, which is deeply respected. That is why I am wandering around the world and educating myself. That is how I found Dergo in the laboratory of a scientist, where I saved him from and he offered me his services in return. I wandered to the North, across the wilderness, crossing populated and dangerous, unpopulated areas. I met Lowarien six months ago and we have been wandering together since."

The little dragon started talking next, still sitting on his master's shoulder.

"Servant dragons were created several thousands of years ago by your sorcerer ancestors. They needed servants, who were intelligent and able to speak and perform magic too. After a series of experiments involving magic, of course, the first servant dragons were born. We live to serve the sorcerer, who we choose with free will. I am several hundred years old and Al Sarran is the third sorcerer I have served humbly. I am able to perform a few charms to help my master. By the way, we are peaceful creations with a respect for life. We only kill when it is absolutely necessary."

Next in the line was the elf fighter leaning on his bow.

"I was born in Horeldien, the land of the elves. I became an Ertonfellian frontier hunter and tracker by choice. I fought in the last war against the Nozgold Empire and their allies, including the orcs," he looked at the mold-green-skinned giant, next to him who listened to him calmly.

"As a gift for my heroism during the fights, the leaders of my folks, the Illvars gave me a bow made of the ancient and rare tree, the elloro," he stroked the beautifully crafted weapon with his palm.

"Only a few can receive this high honor. Later I lost my wife in a tragic accident and decided to leave my homeland, travel around the world to mourn my love. Then I met Al Sarran, who I get along with well and we've been travelling together ever since."

The next one to talk was the young thief girl.

"We have been always on the road, since I was a little kid, though, I only remember my mother. She was taken away from me by armed men. I was forced to grow on the street, following its laws, this is how I mastered the art of thievery. I am from Terwaldia, or at least I have my earliest memories from there. I have been chased by strange monks from time to time, but I always manage to escape. I never stay at one place for long. I am here now to get to know some new places and collect experiences."

Last one to talk was the orc, who was well fed with the meat he chewed on so loudly while listening to the others. He had his large sip from his wine flask and burped.

"Me from clan of Blood Drinkers from the tribal nation. Me descendant of the chief. I had argument with my father years ago and we had a fight. He won. This is big shame among orcs. My father send me away from the tribe. So I go search for adventure and danger in the world. I left past behind. I love beautiful orc women, wine and firewater," he drank from the flask again.

"We suspected that!" the others laughed.

"It was nice to get to know you a little better. We can be more open towards each other and form a real team," Larianna said, looking deep into Corwen's eyes.

"I agree with you," the captain said.

"But it is late now, let's go to sleep, we will need all our strength tomorrow. I think we should guard the camp in two-hour shifts to avoid unpleasant surprises. I will take the first two hours."

They said goodnight and everybody went to bed; Corwen began the night watch and he was exchanged by Lowarien in two hours. He lied down in the tent, but soon someone entered the tent and the smell of rose filled the space. He got up and instinctively grabbed his weapon, but then he saw it was Larianna.

"What do you want so late?" he asked.

"I am really cold, my clothes are still wet. Can I sleep next to you?" she asked on a thin, kind voice.

"Fine, come here," he replied, slightly tired.

Larianna slipped into the sleeping back, she pressed her breasts to his body and put her arms around him. Her hands slowly slipped down towards the man's loin. Before they reached their destination, the captain softly grabbed the woman's hands and put them back on his chest. He turned towards her and caressed her face gently.

"Larianna, don't think I am not interested in you. On the contrary. I think you are painfully attractive, but it is not a good time for a liaison. I have to stay focused so we could finish the Night Blades. Let's sleep, tomorrow is an important day!" he revealed his feelings to the woman.

She smiled, knowing that there was hope for her to get the captain. The captain put his arms around her and they fell asleep.

The night was eventless. They gathered their equipment in the morning and left, going up the mountain, following the footsteps of the assassins. They were up quite high, close to the top. The air was slightly colder. The greenery transformed, the beech, oak and ash, exchanged by evergreen pines. The forest was quiet. They met a few wild animals like deer and boar. Lively squirrels were chasing each other on the trees and birds were singing joyfully. They arrived to a rocky area, where the traces were hard to follow and there were hardly any plants. Then the perceptive tracker noticed a cave mouth on a slope, under a reef with horses waiting in front of it.

"I see something on the mountaintop, it is probably a cave!" The elf stopped the team.

They could not see anything, but they could not compete with the sharp sight of their elf fellow.

"One of us should go closer and explore the area. Check how many guards they have and where are they located," Corwen suggested.

"Who can make the least noise possible and hide the best? You Everly, or Lowarien should go, if you are willing to do this dangerous task," he looked at the thief girl and the elf.

"I can make the hiding part easier, I can temporarily make one person invisible," Al Sarran said.

"This is fantastic. It will be so much easier this way. Who wants to take on the task?" Corwen asked his mates.

"I will go, because I move faster than Everly and my eyesight is better, plus I have more experience in the field," the elf warrior replied.

The others agreed. The sorcerer grabbed his unicorn horned staff and began to murmur magic spells. He pointed towards the Ertonfellian warrior who disappeared in a blink of an eye.

"You will be under the spell for about an hour, but after that, you will become visible immediately, do not forget that!" the panther man warned him.

"We are waiting for you here. Be careful. This is just exploration!" Corwen said to the invisible elf.

Lowarien headed to the mountain with airy steps that could not even be heard on the rocky surface. He reached the cave in fifteen minutes. To his surprise, he found something completely different than what he expected. He did not see any movement around the cave. The horses were waiting quietly, tied to poles. He sneaked closer and looked into the dark creek, where the footsteps led. Thanks to his thermal sight, he could navigate in darkness too. He stepped inside the cave to see what was inside.
Chapter Five

The team was waiting nervously, especially Corwen, who was walking up and down, as he could not stay in one place.

Where the hell is Lowarien? Did they catch him? Impossible. He is invisible and almost inaudible, he thought.

These were decisive moments and he could finally fulfill his oath to master. Everyone was deep in their own thoughts.

Tusk was leaning on his double battleaxe against a tree. Larianna was sitting on a smaller rock, fumbling in her backpack and watching the others. The Panther man was sitting cross-legged, preparing for the upcoming fight with Dergo on his shoulder. Everly was playing with her throwing knives.

An hour slowly passed. When the lanky figure of the elf appeared behind a rock, the others gathered around him impatiently, waiting for him to tell them what he had seen at the cave. Lowarien stopped in front of Corwen and looked deep in the captain's eyes with his ocean blue eyes.

"Dead! They are all dead!" he said shortly and briefly.

"What? How is it possible? What did you find exactly? Tell us!" he asked his partner impatiently.

"I entered the cave, still invisible. I did not see any guards outside, which was suspicious. However, I found the assassins inside, all covered in blood, killed with cuts and stabs. There were no signs of a battle, the enemy seemingly got in easily, because the fight went down from the inside to the outside. Come up with me and see it yourself," he said, sharing the details with the others.

Everybody prepared for a fight, not for somebody to do the work for them and kill all the assassins. They got on their horses and quickly went up to the cave, where Lowarien led them inside the heart of the cave.

It was a natural cave, carved into the mountain by wind and rain. Some torches hung on the wall to provide light. Al Sarran lit them with a click of the finger, so they could finally see what their elf mate talked about. Going inside, they saw Night Blades lying dead all around the ground. Most of them were stabbed in the throat during close combat. There were not too many rooms, only a few with mattresses on the floor. A small storage with food and beverage and a little container with iron bars to store the valuables. They had a few cases too. The elf estimated their number well; there were sixteen dead bodies.

"They have been dead for half a day at least, judging by the bodies," Larianna examined one of them.

"This must have been their leader," Al Sarran pointed at a bearded man in leather mail.

"How do you know my friend?" Corwen asked.

"I only sense magic from him. His weapons and the ring on his finger have magical power. I can sense that clearly!" he replied confidently.

"Can you tell what kind of power that ring has?" the captain asked.

"Of course I can," he grabbed the object and concentrated for a few moments. "This ring can increase the physical power of its holder," the sorcerer replied.

"Fantastic, this can come handy in the future, it would be foolish to leave it behind," he put away the golden ring carved with ruins.

Lowarien was examining the footsteps. Leaning down, he analyzed the possible events in the dancing lights of the torches.

"There were not many attackers. Probably half a dozen and they did not lose any man."

"They are good fighters sure," the orc muttered.

"There was no pint coming here captain, somebody already took revenge," Everly said, playing with her knives.

Corwen knew he had to tell the truth to the team about the ancient map so he came across to share the story.

"I'm afraid there's more to the story than my personal revenge, Everly," he took off his helmet and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Listen to me all! There is something I haven't told you before. Besides taking revenge on these assassins, I had another goal. They took something my master, the merchant had. It is an ancient map, which is several thousands of years old, and it leads to the hiding place of an ancient object. If it got into the wrong hand, it would have fatal consequences. The dwarf merchant made me promise, I would not let this happen. I have to find out what happened and who has the map. If you decide to come with me, we will go on a much more dangerous journey across empires. I wanted to make this clear," he revealed the truth to the others.

"If it is big mission, my friend, Tusk is with you, whatever danger comes!" the orc replied immediately, banging his chest with a fist.

"Thank you mate for standing by me," the captain looked around the pensive company.

This adventure will be longer than I thought, but let's see the positive side. I will have more time get know the Corwen better. I feel it won't just a one-night stand. I like him. I would like to spend more time with him, to know him better. So I stay with him and help.

Larianna stepped toward him.

"Wherever you go, I go too. I will be next to you, whatever danger may come!" she embraced him and the captain did not draw apart. He welcomed her kindness gently.

"If it is such an important mission, you might need a sorcerer on your side," Al Sarran said, nodding firmly.

"Two magicians are always better than one. I will follow my master wherever he goes!" the servant dragon said on a rich voice.

"I cannot find my place in the world since I lost my wife, Feraldina. An important mission can give a meaning to my pointless days. I follow you captain!" the elf held his weapon above his head.

What kind of adventure have I gotten myself into? Ancient map, a thing of great importance, involving countries? I always got out of trouble somehow, should destiny chase me anywhere. I can't go back to the town and I'm a little bored traveling alone, so let's bring it on. thought Everly.

"If we find some treasures along the way, you won't be able to get rid of me captain," the thief girl said with determination.

"I am happy you decided this way. I will need your help along the way," Corwen thanked his team.

"We have to find out who took the map and where it is now. Does anyone have an idea?" he asked them, looking around the company.

"There is a way, but it requires some preparation and black magic. In other words, we have to wake the dead. I summon the soul of the dead chief assassin and interrogate him about the events," Al Sarran suggested, narrowing his cat eyes.

"I don't mind how you do it. I'm not a member of the inquisition. If it helps to find the map, then do it!" the captain said, rubbing his chin with determination.

"There's only one problem. It cannot be performed without a name. I have to know the real, full name of the summoned soul," the sorcerer shook his head.

"Let's find it out, then! There must be some information about him," the thief girl interrupted them, pointing at the dead body.

She leaned down, examined his pockets and she found a large copper key.

"I bet it opens the room with the bars. Let's go and see!" she waved toward the others.

Having no better idea, the others followed the young thief with the braided hair. The key fitted perfectly in the lock and the huge door opened with a click. There was a large and a smaller case inside. The large was full of the stolen treasures, gold, silver, jewelry and gems. Everly's eyes were sparkling.

"I don't think we will have any financial problems from now on," she looked at the others, smiling.

The smaller one however was full of books, papers and they found a diary in it. Running through the little book, interesting facts were revealed. The following lines were written on the last page.

Written by Artuli Ardokon chief of the Night Blades assassin clan. Thanks to our source in Eregorn, I learnt that the famous dwarf merchant, named Jahren Galdara will soon arrive to the city of Terran for an important meeting. He found a very valuable object. Some kind of ancient writing or map which leads to a mysterious object. We immediately spread the news around the black market. Many have wanted to acquire it, but the best offer came from someone from the Nozgold Empire, who introduced himself as the Obsidian eyed. We agreed that we would bring him the map for a thousand gold. We planned the attack, managed to find out the route of the merchant and the date of his arrival. The attack was successful, although his guardian captain caused some trouble, I lost a few men because of him, but after being shot with three arrows he fell down the slope and broke his neck. We succeeded in acquiring the object we came for, which was an old, stained leather scroll which pictured a place around the Great Moorland very accurately. It also had some unknown writing on it. We got back to our hiding place in the mountains of the Dukedom, where we agreed to meet the ambassador of the Nozgold Empire.

Meanwhile, I thought it would be a good idea to copy it and sell it to more customers. If it is worth so much, we could get so much more than a thousand gold. I began to copy it, but it did not turn out as well as the original. I hid it to a secret place, so only I can find it. Diary entry ends here...

"If the Nozgold Empire has something to do with it, this map really has to be important," Lowarien said to the others anxiously.

"I am not dead, Artuli Ardokon, unlike you," the captain rubbed his nose.

"I hope the copy is somewhere around here. We have to find it somehow, whatever it takes," he said, feeling a bit optimistic.

"If the man with the ring is called Artuli Ardokon, I can summon his soul to get some answers," Al Sarran replied.

"Let's do so my friend. This is the best we can do now!"

Corwen put his hand on the sorcerer's shoulder, who nodded and began the preparation.

He lifted up one of the dead man's weapons and drew a pentagram on the ground. He lit a candle and sat down with legs crossed to the middle of the symbol with it. He closed his eyes and focused hard, murmuring unknown words and finally he pronounced the name of the deceased.

"I am calling the immortal soul of Artuli Ardokon to appear among us!"

As he finished the sentence, a cold breeze crossed the room and the presence of someone could be felt. The others watched the events tensely from a distance. Al Sarran closed his eyes and started to communicate with the newcomer, but no word left his mouth at all. A few minutes later, he blew out the candle and the strange cold breeze disappeared from the room. The rour opened his large cat eyes and looked at the others.

"I interrogated the soul of the assassin chief. He was the one writing the diary. He told me that the secret case with the copy can be opened by moving one of the torches in the smaller room. The one he called the Obsidian eyed, is actually a half-eyed man. He was familiar with dark magic and had a black obsidian gem instead of an eye. There were five strange figures with him. Their faces were hidden with steel masks. Their bodies were covered with leather armor. One of them had ash grey skin and pointy ears like an elf. They had longer and one shorter curved blade and they could use it like the devil. They had no chance against them. They all died. There was also a stranger in a dark coat. His face was covered with a hood who seemed too large. He moved cautiously, with a creaking sound. He could not have been a human. That's all what I could learn from the soul," Al Sarran finished his story.

"This is essential information my friend. So we are against five dangerous fighters, a sorcerer and a non-human creature," Corwen concluded.

"I am worried about the ash grey skinned elf captain!" the Ertonfellian tracker warned them.

"Who do you think he is?" Corwen asked.

"An extremely dangerous fighter. A shadow elf. Some of my folks had left our land a few thousand years ago and joined the Nozgold Empire. Their appearance and attitude changed after several magical experiments. Most of them became assassins and acquired some unique warrior skills nobody else possesses on the continent. I once saw one of them fighting and I couldn't believe my eyes. He killed twenty fighters by himself in a very short time. He might easily kill all of us if we have to face him!" he warned the others.

"I am no scared of smoky colored warriors with pointy ears!" Tusk bumped his fists confidently.

"He is not immune to magic is he? We will help you with Dergo so the elf doesn't cause you so much trouble," the panther man calmed the others.

"We only have to find the copy of the map then," Everly said enthusiastically.

"I saw a room that might be the one he mentioned. Let's go back on the aisle and it's on the left if I remember well." The thief girl was thinking aloud.

"Let's go friends, find that paper thing!" the giant orc tried to seem smart.

They all headed towards the room the girl had mentioned. Entering the room, they saw an ottoman in the corner, a small wooden desk and a chair. There were two torches facing each other on the wall as the summoned soul has said. The almond-eyed girl tried to move them, but nothing happened with neither of them. The orc pushed Everly away to solve the problem by sheer force.

"Wait. You will break it!" Everly shouted at her giant mate, who turned to her and grunted.

"No breaking stupid girl. Just checking!"

"You are the stupid one, you huge beast!" she snapped at him without thinking, not being scared of the consequences.

The orc was huffing, his tiny eyes were burning of fury, but Corwen put his hand on his shoulder.

"Calm down Tusk! Don't get upset over this. She is young and hasty. Let it go."

He calmed down the giant warrior, who leaned closer to the tiny girl and farted under her nose. He grinned in her face and then walked out from the room proudly, but he turned back to add something.

"I go drinking friends. I will be in storage if you search me."

"Disgusting, filthy animal!"

Everly was out of her mind, holding her nose to avoid the sickening smell. She tried to shoo away the smell and gasped. She coughed and turned to the others.

"I just wanted to say before, that the spirit was not wrong. We just need an activating device to switch on the mechanism of the torch. So I will search for it now."

She was eagerly touching and knocking the wall, going around the whole room, but she could not find anything. She examined the floor too, covered with rough rocks. Moving one of them, they heard a clicking sound.

"We got it!" Everly shouted out of joy.

She stepped to one of the torches and pulling it down, a little drawer popped out of the stone wall. There was a freshly drawn map in it. She took out the paper, rolled it out as the others assembled around her with curiosity. The map depicted mountains and rivers, and the moorland, with a town and a cemetery on one side. Under the drawing there was a text written in a strange, unknown language.

"It certainly depicts the moorland in the middle of Algaron," Corwen pointed at the drawing on the map.

"Yes, as far as I know there are no other moorland this large around here," the elf agreed.

"But this area is immense. About the size of a half country and it is at least a thousand miles away from here!" Larianna was worried.

"This journey would take very long and it would not be free of danger. It seems hopeless, if we want to get there before the men of the obsidian eyed," the thief girl was playing with her hair.

"It is not as bad as it seems my adventurer friends," Dergo the servant dragon said unexpectedly.

"I am able to open a space gate to the moorland. I have been there once and can recall it in my mind. Although it was a long time ago and as I remember it is a dangerous place, everybody tries to avoid it."

"This is great news Dergo! We will prepare for the danger as much as we can," the captain replied cheerfully.

"This way we have a great chance to get there before the men of the empire and find whatever this map promises!" Corwen was optimistic.

"They must have left with magic too. I cannot see any footsteps on the way out. They might be capable of a similar magical way of travelling," the tall elf warrior warned the others.

"This scripture is familiar to me," Al Sarran was frowning deep in his thoughts.

"It might be written in ancient Ferron language which is a dead language. Only a few dozen people know it nowadays. I had the chance to get to know the secrets of this language during my studies. I cannot fully translate it, but I can decode the essentials," the sorcerer said.

"It is important to understand as much as we can and we rely on you, my friend." Corwen gave the map to the panther man, who buried himself in the mysterious writing.

Where the Great Moorland is and the city of Xarion stands... There lies the grave of Orender Teroldo, the great warrior, who defeated the demon armies. The crypt that hides the key that shows the resting place of the Fire and Ice...

"The copy is not punctual. My knowledge is limited. I cannot understand the rest. This is all I can decode." He gave the map back.

"This is more than nothing." The captain put the paper away.

"So we have to find the grave of Orender Teroldo in the city of Xairon which must be a ruinous, deserted place," the captain concluded.

"If we really want to go there, we need some magical help. There can be dangerous creatures, as Dergo said. I will rune magical abilities on your weapons and armors, or even the cloaks." The panther man looked at the girls.

"It provides better protection and you can use your weapons quicker and better—injure your enemies more efficiently," the sorcerer explained.

"We need all the help we can get. It can come handy during our fights," the captain nodded.

"I need all of you to give me your armors and weapons, and the girl's cloaks. We will start the rune magic with Dergo immediately."

They give him their equipment. The elf only gave him his saber. His bow made of elloro was prepared with magic, by the best blacksmiths in the world. Only the mold-green orc was left. They found him drunk and snoring in the storage, next to empty bottles of firewater. One was still in his hand. The sorcerer shook him.

"Give me your armor and weapon Tusk, so I can put magical power on them!" the catman explained to him squarely.

"What? How?" the drunk warrior ask uncomprehendingly.

"Take off your armor and give me your battle axe, you will get them back soon!" he explained it slowly and loudly to convince the orc.

The orc stood up, giddy, leaned against the wall and slowly, and clumsily took off his chain mail and his weapon.

"But give it back to me or I will strangle you!" he grunted incomprehensively.

He slipped back to the ground, took a sip from the firewater and fell asleep immediately. The sorcerer just waved a hand and left the stinking giant behind.

The others lit a fire outside the cave and put up the tents. Nobody wanted to spend the night among the dead bodies in the cave. They released the assassins' horses so they could eat and drink. The sun went down behind the mountains, when Al Sarran returned with Dergo on his shoulder. His face was exhausted. There was a coin-sized area in all the armors and weapons with letters written with alchemist ink on them. This type of ink turned out to be more resistant, than the regular one.

"I am done with the rune magic. I have to warn you that the alchemist ink I used is only intact for a few weeks, or maybe a month. If the drawing is injured, the magical power is lost. I would need more time and the skills of a blacksmith master for more resistant carvings. That is all we have for now," the sorcerer explained.

"No problem Al Sarran. This will do." The captain took on his weapons.

Corwen swished his twin blades and felt like the long swords became one with his arms. They were easier to control than before. The others had the same sentiment so they complimented the sorcerer and the dragon appreciatively. Tusk floundered to the fire too.

"What's up mates? What next?" he asked with blurry eyes.

"My constantly thirsty friend, we found the copy of the map and tomorrow we are heading to the moorland, following its instructions," the captain answered, putting his hand on the giant's shoulder.

"It is good news fellow. This was a long day, so I go to sleep then." He waved goodnight to the others.

He stood up and stumbled to his tent.

"Does anyone feel like playing cards?" the sorcerer asked the company around the fire with sparking eyes.

Meanwhile he got out a pack of cards from his caftan.

"You want to play again, master, you lost the last time!" The little dragon was shaking his head.

"It is the game that matters, not winning or losing, Dergo!" he informed his servant sitting on his shoulder.

"I will play with you with pleasure, fortune is my good friend," the almond-eyed girl said, smiling.

Al Sarran and Everly were playing next to the fire, with laughter mixed with swearing. Lowarien got out his pipe and began the night watch with clouds of smoke emitting from his mouth. His thoughts were revolving around the shadow elf, the traitor of his nation.

If we meet brother, I will do everything to send you to the underworld. Even the captain cannot know how dangerous the elves of Nozgold are. But I do know and will do everything to kill at least one of them! This mission ahead of us also seems crucially important. If we really find the relic, we can save thousands of lives in the upcoming war, bringing peace to this world again, he thought.

A few hours later he was exchanged by Corwen, together with the ginger-red haired beauty, when everyone else went to sleep.

"You are an insistent woman, Larianna," he broke the awkward silence.

"Why do you think so?" the beauty next to him asked, covering herself in a warm blanket.

"You offered yourself to me upon our first encounter and I refused you at the inn when I accepted you in the team. Then I told you the whole truth about the map and you're still here at my side. Why are you still here? You could have left easily," he looked at Larianna curiously with his dark brown eyes.

"I like danger and strong men who know what they want," the ginger-red haired beauty replied, looking at the captain with sparkling, wistful eyes.

Corwen caressed her face and leaning closer, he kissed her mouth, and the girl kissed him back. She threw the blanket off herself and quickly sat in the man's lap and embracing each other, they continued kissing passionately.

"We should stand guard," Corwen said with the Larianna in his lap.

"We are, just having some fun in the meantime!"

She began to undress the captain and, as they got rid of the unnecessary clothes, they made passionate love. The woman was moving her waist in his lap like a demon, moaning, masterfully performing the art of love. After the act, which lasted for half an hour, they were lying on the ground, gasping and sweating in each other's arms.

"You are such a beast! It's been a long time since I was with such a passionate woman." He was caressing the girl's leg.

"Did you like it?" she asked flirtatiously, stroking the captain's hairy chest.

"Of course I did, you really know what a man desires." He kissed Larianna's hot lips.

"I found you very attractive from the moment we met."

"I really liked you too. I wanted to handle more than your wounds." She smiled perkily.

"Let's get dressed sweetheart." He kissed Larianna belly.

"Al Sarran will exchange us soon."

They quickly got on their clothes on and went back to the tent together.

Would you still like me if you knew who I really was? I cannot hide it forever. Sooner or later I have to reveal it, Larianna thought.

The rest of the night went by calmly. Nobody disturbed the little team. They packed their things in the morning and prepared for the journey to the moorland. They collected some food and drinks from the storage of the Night Blades. They divided the money and the gems between themselves. There were several bottles clinging in the orc's pack, so he could not die of thirst anytime soon.

"I heard you became very friendly with Larianna last night," the young thief girl teased the captain.

"Yes we could say we got to know each other quite well," he looked at the poison-green eyed girl, blushing a little.

"Enough of the chitchat. Can we go now?" He tried to change the subject, searching for Dergo with his eyes in the meantime.

The marble white little dragon was sitting on his usual place, on the shoulder of Al Sarran.

"I am ready captain, let's go!" he said in his deep voice.

Corwen got on his Terwaldian steel helmet, looked around the company and cleared his throat.

"If we enter the space gate, there is no turning back my friends, if anyone has changed their minds, say it now!"

They others looked at each other, blinking, and Larianna was to speak first in her thin voice.

"You know my answer, my champion. Wherever you go, I will follow you," the ginger-red haired girl was smiling.

"You can count on us captain. We all go with you! We did not change mind!"

"The orc says it right, we are with you till the end!" the elf warrior added.

"Hell yes, no one would want to miss this adventure!" the thief girl said confidently.

"I can gain knowledge during this journey that would help me finally become a real magister in the Inner Circle order. You couldn't stop me, captain!" the panther man said with determination.

"And I will follow you anywhere my master. Whatever danger we might face," the little servant dragon said on his shoulder.

"I am happy that you are all so determined and I am proud to go on this dangerous mission with a team like this. Dergo, please open the space gate for us that leads us to the moorland!"

The small creature began to mumble some incomprehensible magic spells one after another. Suddenly a small creek appeared in the air, expanding to the size of a door. On the other side, they could see a tropical forest and they could feel the hot, humid air streaming from the hole. Leading their horses through the gate, they travelled more than a thousand miles to the South, within a blink of an eye. As everybody crossed the gate, it closed itself and disappeared.
Chapter Six

The woman in the dark armor flew fast with large wing-beats towards the mountains, where she sensed the chosen one. She could almost feel the girl between her claws when she suddenly stopped, confused and floating in one place. She lost her sense for a moment, when suddenly she could feel the girl's presence again, far in the South.

"So you are escaping with magic, but you cannot hide from me!" the divine creature thundered in an unearthly voice.

A shadow appeared above her head, approaching so fast she could not avoid it. Blade sharp claws pierced her armor around the shoulder. The monster bit her with its jagged teeth on the neck, moaning loudly. The attacker looked like a dragon, but was much smaller. It could not be bigger than a buffalo. It had muscular legs, winged arms ending in disfigured claws. It used its long, flexible tail for maneuvering. Thick brown scales covered its body. It was a dragon hybrid, called a wyvern. It took the victim completely by surprise, since it was considered to be an excellent hunter.

The divine representative did not panic. Her face did not reflect pain or other sentiment. Her steel glove ended in sharp claws cut the face of the dragon, forcing it to let her go of her, screaming. They stared at each other for a second. The wyvern began another attack with its muscular legs, but its claws bounced back from the surface of the dark armor. Suddenly, a jagged broadsword appeared in the hand of Zandurin. The magic sword piercing through the scales on the neck of the monster. Crimson blood began to pour out deep from the wound. The beast was trying to escape, but she did not let it go.

The horned, armored woman pointed her sword to the sky and a flash of lightning struck the escaping dragon from a cloud. Burnt by the discharge, it plummeted, howling. The woman put her hand on the wound on her neck and her wounds immediately healed.

"You chose a wrong victim to kill, you stupid animal!" she said after the helplessly falling attacker.

"No one can destroy the representative of the goddess of pain and distress, but you won't make this mistake again!" she screamed with a thunderous voice.

Leaving her falling victim behind, she turned to South and disappeared among the clouds with enormous wing-beats.

*****

Raduem Morquol, the sorcerer of the Black Tower magician order was carefully examining the details of the map. His companions were waiting quietly on their horses. The strange warriors all wore night-black, starched leather armors covering their whole body including the legs and the arms. Their faces were covered with a dark metal mask and they wore a longer and a shorter, slightly curved blade on their back.

A giant figure was standing next to the sorcerer, who was walking on foot. It was at least eight feet tall, its body was covered in a coat and its face in a hood. It had thick arms and legs, but no weapon, although it did not need it.

Morquol had a black obsidian gem instead of an eyeball. He pulled the hood back on his head to see the map better. He wore a limb-long, burgundy baize coat with loose arms. He had a masterfully crafted staff in one hand, ending in the figure of a scull of a wolf-like creature. His shoulder-long, tangled hair was graying, just like his chest-long goat beard. He had seen more than fifty winters, his eyes were baggy, not from fatigue, but from the use of black magic. Whoever looked at him was overcome with a strange, gruesome sentiment.

"Commandant Vardo, we have to turn South-East according to the map, we have to follow this direction!" he said firmly.

"As you command, Master Morquol!" one of the horse riders replied obediently.

His skin was different than the others'. It was ash gray and his ears were pointy, like and elf's. His eyes were turquoise blue. His messy, snow-white hair was shoulder long. He was one of the shadow elves. He was the valor of dreadful imperial assassin clan, the Faceless. He was from the small group of elves, who joined the Nozgold Empire, during the demon wars thousands of years ago. Their appearance and attitude was altered with dark magic. They did not respect nature and animals anymore like their ancestors. They found pleasure in murder and destruction instead.

They spurred their horses and advanced slowly on the moorland. The giant creature followed them with loud, creaking steps, sometimes sinking in the bog to its knees. It rained every day here and the sky was usually gray. The sun rarely appeared between the dark clouds.

"If I estimated the distance well, we will arrive to the ruined town depicted on the map in four days. We just have to find the crypt of Orender Teroldo then, which hides the key to the relic," the black magician informed his men.

"We go where you tell us to. I was commanded to follow your instructions in any case," the ash gray-skinned elf replied.

"If we manage to find the relics, we can even influence the demon lords. They fear the power of the weapons too. This would be crucially important in an upcoming war." Morquol analyzed the situation.

"Anyone attempting to cross our paths will die a dreadful death, I can assure you!" the turquoise eyes flashed at the sorcerer.

"I did not expect anything less from you valor, but be careful, the moorland can still surprise is," he warned the elf riding next to him.

"Unexpected situations make me even more excited. We can face everything, dark magician."

"I heard the report on your warrior skills, Vardo. I know you are familiar with the shadow dance. It is highly possible that this rare skill of yours will soon become handy."

"We will see Master Morquol. I only use this dangerous ability in the gravest of emergencies as I learnt it from grand master Karundum himself."

The fog above the moorland soon covered the whole group as they went deeper and deeper in the immense swampy land.

*****

Somewhere at the edge of the moorland, six people stepped out of a space gate that immediately closed behind them in the middle of a dense tropical forest. The trees were thick and their crowns were immense. Their leaves hid the light of the sun. The air was warm and humid. The wind carried the noises of unknown animals from the cover of the plants.

"The moorland is on the East, if I remember correctly," the little servant dragon said.

"Thank you Dergo! Let's go towards the East!" the captain said, getting on the back of Smokey, who greeted his owner with a neigh.

The elf tracker walked to a giant tree, put his hand on the trunk, closed his eyes and concentrated very hard.

"What are you doing Lowarien?" the thief girl asked.

"Trees here are old. Their roots go deep in the ground. I am talking to them. They say we have to be careful! There are some dangerous predators here," the golden haired elf replied.

"Trees talk, good thing they don't run around," the orc warrior grunted.

"Just because you do not believe in Tusk, it does not mean trees are incapable of talking, you just have to listen to them," the fighter with pointy ears ended the conversation.

They all got on their horses and began the journey. After a few hours of monotonous walking, the tropical forest was becoming more diffuse and the trees were becoming smaller, letting more light onto the ground. It was late in the afternoon, when they got to a slowly streaming river and camped down on its bank. The girls went into the water to wash themselves. Everly wore a thin nightgown to cover her young female figure, but Larianna was not so shy. She went into the water completely naked to clean herself. The eyes of the members of the opposite sex followed the movement of her curvy figure, her breast and bottom like shadows.

After them, the men washed themselves too, except the orc, who hated water, so he collected firewood instead. The body of the rour was completely covered in dark hair, while the skin of the elf was almost completely smooth. They dried themselves around the fire. Tusk looked around slyly with his light brown eyes.

"I show trick to you. Watch!"

He took a few large sips from his firewater and blew the last one on the fire, which created a few large flames, scaring his unsuspecting audience.

"You will dry faster friends!" he grinned widely at the others, who were swearing at the jocular orc.

"Next time I would dry the traditional way, Tusk! I might prank you and smuggle a whole beehive in your tent!" Larianna frowned her eyebrows angrily.

The light of the comet appeared on the sky, as the sun disappeared on the horizon. It was a bit further than the last time they had seen it.

"How long will this light be up on the sky Al Sarran?" Everly asked.

"If I know well, for a week at least. Maybe a bit more," he answered.

"Tusk, did you know that your battle axe was made by dwarves, of a rare metal called blue luniar?" the elf tracker turned to the orc.

"No, I only know that when I got it, it was lighter than my old weapon. But it is sharp as hell. I throw away old one and keep this. Anyone want a sip?" he asked the others.

"Fine, give it to me, Tusk!" Corwen reached for the battle and took a large sip, then gave it to the others, only Lowarien refused to drink from it.

"I prefer eating the fruits than drinking a spirit made of them," he gave back the bottle to the orc.

"No problem. More for me," the giant shrugged his shoulder and took another large sip from the bottle.

"Tusk, you start the night watch, I will exchange you, I will be followed by Lowarien and finally Al Sarran!" Corwen made the command.

Following his command, everybody went to sleep. Only Tusk was left next to the fire with his almost empty bottle in one hand. He threw a few sticks at the fire and watched Larianna getting into the tent with Corwen. Larianna slipped next to the captain in the tent, embraced him with her legs and they started kissing passionately. He massaged her breasts and she reached into his pants. They were getting into it, when suddenly the orc shouted something.

"Get up friends! The wind brings some strange smell," he warned the sleepers.

"Goddamnit, why now!" The captain was swearing.

The others woke up quickly, got on their equipment and lined up next to the tents at the riverbank. Corwen commanded them expertly.

"Tusk and I will make the first row, Lowarien and Everly are next and the magic users on the back. Get ready!"

The cracking noises were undoubtedly approaching them, Groans and the noise of breaking sticks could be heard. There were more than one intruder.

"For Valinor's sake, what kind of monsters can those be?" Larianna was worrying.

"I told you, the old trees warned us!" the golden haired elf got out his bow.

"Let them come. We will kill them!" the orc was baring his teeth, clenching his battle axe.

"Calm down, there are fifteen yards between the edge of the forest and the riverbank, they cannot attack us so easily. Get ready, they are here!" the captain warned the others.

Soon four robust, huge humanoid figures appeared from the dark, approaching the little group. Their skin was mud grey with no hair on it. They had no eyelids and their eyes had a dark irises, like snakes'. They were watching their victims without blinking. Their ears were deformed, their noses also resembled to snakes' and their heads were flat. Even Tusk could have envied their large, sharp teeth. They had column-like legs and strong arms ending in claws. They enclosed the group like a pack of wolves, approaching them with an evil rattle.

The elf bent his beautifully crafted bow, aiming on one of them. The arrow pierced the creature's muscular neck, he tore it out with a painful moan and attacked the group with mouth wide open. The sorcerer pointed his unicorn horned staff and casted a magic spell on it. An invisible power struck the attacking beast in the chest and pushed him onto the ground. The other monsters began to make a run at them together.

Larianna pointed at one of them with one hand, murmuring some unknown words. Suddenly the creature was covered in stalks and branches, clenching his robust body, pinning the attacker to the ground. Everly fired her crossbow, shooting one of the attackers in the chest.

The other two attacking beasts got very close to the fighters in the first line. Their stomach suddenly opened and a gross antenna reached out from under the thick skin, ending in insect mouths with blade sharp teeth. Corwen was cautious and avoided the hit of the antenna. He quickly cut down the strange lump with his sword in his left hand.

Tusk was not so lucky. He was caught by surprise. The sharp teeth got through the magically strengthened chain mail and pierced his chest. The orc was baring his teeth in pain, whisked his battle axe above his head and cut the antenna. Pulling back their antennas, the two monsters aimed at their victims, whisking their clawed hands and screaming awfully.

Corwen managed to avoid the attack and to pierce the monster with one of his weapons, cutting the other's hand with the other weapon. His ring with the magical power was at his service. The beast tried to bite the captain on the neck, but fell aside and he managed to cut him in the knee too; the giant body collapsed and the beast fell to one the knee. He managed to behead the monster with his next move. Blood shot from its body and it fell on the ground.

The orc was defended himself successfully, and began an attack, striking his battle axe into the chest of his opponent, whipping out his weapon, knocking over the beast with a kick. He aimed at its skull with the next hit. The head of the gasping monster ripped up after the terribly powerful hit.

The monster attacking the sorcerer got up from the ground and began a new attack, but before he could reach him, Dergo put a magic spell on it. One of the thick, fallen trunks next to them came to life and hit the creature in the back, who stopped in its tracks vertiginously. Using the opportunity, Al Sarran clenched his fist and a large fireball appeared above his head. He aimed it at the beast, who burst into flames. He tried to escape, whining and screaming, but his burning body finally collapsed to the ground.

Meanwhile, the fourth attacker managed to get out of the squeeze of the stalks. The thief girl and the elf aimed at it, hitting the robust body of the creature. The shots stopped its momentum right at the moment Corwen attacked it from the side, cutting down one muscular arm and piercing through the creature with his other weapon. It tried to hit him with the other clawed hand while shouting painfully, but the magically reinforced, segmented armor protected the captain. He beheaded the bleeding monster, with a cross cut and the lifeless body fell on the ground like a sack.

Then, clomping out of the forest, another mud gray creature appeared in front of their eyes.

"Bloody hell, there are more!" Corwen was swearing.

The orc was feeling giddy. He was obviously not in a good shape. He was leaning on his huge battle-axe and hardly managed to stand.

"Quickly, get Tusk! These monsters might be poisonous!" the captain shouted to the others.

Everly and Lowarien jumped there in front of their mate, who was about to collapse, aiming at the quickly approaching enemy. Larianna began a new magic spell, writing signs in the air and pointing at an attacker with her left hand. Suddenly the ground was open under the monster and it disappeared in the pit. It was trying to climb out, but could not escape as the creek was slowly closing in, squashing its victim.

The rour was not idle either. He used his magical power again by whispering a new spell. He created three arm long, blade sharp spears made of ice that were floating in the air. He aimed them at one of the approaching monsters. The ice spears pierced the chest of the robust creature and killed it immediately.

Corwen, who twirled his deadly twin blades in front of himself, skillfully avoiding the clawed arms attacking him, occupied two of them. He cut one of their stomachs open, wounding the other at the knee and the monster collapsed.

The antenna suddenly appeared from its stomach, the captain turned around, but its mouth hit him on the shoulder, piercing it with its sharp teeth. His medallion warmed up as the magic started working against the poison in his body. The other monster reached his side and wounded his limb with its claws, cutting through the magical armor. The warrior winced in pain and made a spin to the other side to avoid the next hit.

The elf and the thief girl protected the orc. They made one shot each, one hit the forehead and the other hit the shoulder, but they could not stop the brutal creature. Lowarien got out his narrow bladed saber, but it was already too late. The attacker aimed at the seemingly weaker young girl and the antenna appeared from its stomach. Everly screamed and her eyes turned bloody red as a thunderous voice left her lips.

"Rajib nas Zogul!" she shouted.

The antenna stopped a foot from her, the creature rose above the ground, blood began to pour out from its body and it simply exploded. Bloody chunks of flesh were flying everywhere.

The air was frozen at that moment. Everybody was watching the events with terror. The tiny thief girl could not be recognized, she transformed into something different. She regained her consciousness and she was blinking confusedly.

The elven fighter standing next to him was looking, dumbfounded, with his ocean blue eyes.

For the soul of the ancient trees, what was that? I never seen anything before in my life, and I walk this world several hundred years by now. What has possessed Everly? The thought flashed through his head.

Then they heard a horse approaching along the riverside and a man in a knightly armor on a warhorse appeared in front of them. He immediately attacked one of the beasts fighting with the wounded Corwen. He pierced his long spear through the creature, who turned to the newly arrived, howling. The knight turned his horse around and got out a large knight sword. He skillfully divided its head from the body.

Corwen, using the momentary chaos, stabbed the only beast left with both of his swords right until the cross guard. The top of the blades appeared on the other side of the body, giving a lethal wound to the monster. It rattled one last time, life disappeared from its reptile eyes, and its robust body collapsed to the ground.

"Thank you for your help, dear Sir!" Corwen greeted the rider.

"You are welcome my friend. I am Sir Alvin DaMatta, the priest/knight of Dermeron, the god of battle and bravery," the man introduced himself.

The tall man got off his horse and stepped closer to the group. He was wearing a shiny full plate armor. He had a long knight sword in one hand and a medium sized, peaky shield with a symbol on it, a battle-axe and a sword, crossed. He was a bit taller than the captain was. He took off his knightly grilled helmet, which was a skillfully crafted masterpiece. There was an aged man looking at them. He had a carefully cut, short and dense beard and he had shoulder long, messy brown hair. His eyes reflected honesty and wisdom.

"I heard the sound of a battle and I immediately got on my horse and followed the shouting. As my wise master said, help whoever you can, my son! So I thought my help might be needed."

"We could really use your help, Sir DaMatta! I am Venuri del Corwen, former guardian captain, veteran warrior of the Three Shields," he shook the priest/knight's hand.

Tusk was still in a bad form, he could hardly stand on his feet. He was sweating and shaking like a leaf.

"Thank you, friends, for not leaving me behind," he said with his teeth chattering to the elf warrior and the thief girl standing next to him.

"You would have done the same for us, you giant bear." Everly tried to lighten his mood.

He could be a massive twat, but somehow I began to like him. I wonder why.

Larianna rushed to him and made him drink from her flask.

"Drink this. It will help to defeat the poison!" she instructed the gasping orc.

He took big sips from the potion. They covered him in a blanket and after a while, he began to feel better as the herbal juice began to work.

Everybody greeted the knight and they all introduced themselves.

Larianna was examining Corwen's wounds. She cleaned and bandaged the wounds on his arm and leg and he drank from the potion too.

"Why didn't the poison have any effect on you, my champion?" Larianna asked suspiciously.

"Because I have this," he pulled out the protective medallion from his shirt.

The poison-green-eyed girl took it in her hands and examined the object.

"A magical object against poison!" She was astonished. "What a handy little device, I can make this too, but it requires a lot of time."

Al Sarran stepped to them, clenching his unicorn horned staff.

"Maybe it is not the best time, but we have to discuss a few things! Did you see what happened to Everly? The creature living in her has revealed itself, which is the source of the power I sensed before. I cannot find out what it is but probably our priest/knight friend can," he looked at DaMatta.

"What happened to the girl?" he asked curiously.

The thief girl stepped closer to eavesdrop the conversation about her.

"I was next to her. I saw the events with my own eyes. We were in a life-threatening situation. One of the antennas of a beast almost hit her and something awakened in her. Her eyes turned blood red and she started to scream in a language I could not recognize and the beast suddenly rose above the ground, sprinkled blood and exploded," the dainty elf explained.

"Did I really do this?" the almond-eyed thin girl asked with astonishment.

"I can never remember what exactly happens to me in dangerous situations, but my problems are always solved. I often lose control for a moment, but it usually happens once a day, not more. But I also have been having a strange sentiment lately, like something is living inside of me." The olive skinned girl looked around the company with innocent eyes.

DaMatta frowned his eyebrows and started speaking with a concerned face.

"Something nested itself into the girl's body and is only awakened if the host body is in danger. It must be weak if it can only take control of her once a day. It is extremely curious. If I ask for the help of my god, I might be able to find out what it is exactly. Supposing that the young lady agrees," the priest/knight suggested politely.

"Sure, let's find out what is happening to me," the thief girl replied, looking down deep in her thoughts.

Did something really possess me and takes control? Who or what can this be and what does it want? I have so many questions unanswered. It would be good to finally get some answers, she thought.

"But I think we should wait for the morning and rest for a while," DaMatta suggested.

"There is something that could not wait until the morning!" the panther man clenched his unicorn horned staff.

"Larianna, you have a secret, who you really are! Your magic and the way you do magic have revealed your true self. You tell them or should I?" he looked deep into girl's eyes sternly.

The young woman's eyes fell and stared at the ground for a second.

There is no other way, I have to tell them the truth, she decided.

"Fine, I will tell you who I really am, since I have no other choice!" she was searching for Corwen's eyes as she started speaking a bit confusedly.

"There is something I kept a secret from you. I am a member of the Flaming Palm witch order. Many have the wrong idea upon hearing I am a witch, but our order and several others are dedicated to do good deeds. We do not spell curses and hexes and we are not involved in black magic. We only use our abilities with regard to the balance of nature," she was explaining as the others were listening to her in silence.

"I know your order and can assure everyone that it is true!" the priest/knight added.

"I have encountered members of the Flaming Palm order and the girl tells the truth. They are kind of mistresses of the nature and they help wherever they can. They fight the real evils of the world. However they cannot reveal themselves, like in this case, to avoid prejudice," he said sticking up for the girl.

Every beautiful woman has a secret, Larianna. Now I know yours. Although I never dealt with a witch in my life, but until what I saw about you, there is nothing blameworthy, thought the captain.

"You could have told us your secret. If your order really follows these principles mentioned, it is absolutely acceptable for me."

Corwen looked at Larianna, who seemed relieved to be able to reveal her secret.

"Does anyone have an opposition or anything to add?" she asked the others, but they were all shaking their heads.

She wasn't acting like the other witches I met before. She doesn't turn to dark practices, she won't bother me, pondered Al Sarran.

"Fine, we are over with this, but we have another problem! We have to learn more about Everly's case tomorrow. DaMatta, do you think we can expect another attack from these creatures tonight?" the captain asked.

"I don't think so. I have met these beasts in the area, but I think we killed them off in the neighborhood. So we don't have to worry about them for a while," he shared his views.

"We really need some rest now. If you wish, you could join us for the night. You are welcome here", the captain invited the priest/knight to the fire.

"I would happily accept the invitation, if I am not disturbing you," the armored man replied.

They went back to the tents and the campfire still burning on the riverbank. They sat around it to relax after the fight. The orc was feeling better too and joined them with a bottle of wine in the hand. He introduced himself to their new mate and slowly began to drink his refreshing drink with a shattered face.

"Sorcerer, what is that strange little creature on your shoulder?" the priest/knight asked.

"I am Dergo the servant dragon, Sir DaMatta," the marble white scaly reptilian replied.

The armored man was shocked to see the dragon talking.

"You can talk too? Amazing. I have never seen a creature like you before!" his eyes were round with surprise.

"You won't see more either, sir. There are only a few of us left. We live for a long time, but we will be soon extinct," the dragon said.

Can we trust him? Well, I know the god and priests of battle and bravery, but anyone can say they are one of them until they prove it. I'd like to know what he is doing at this dangerous, isolated forest, the panther man was thinking.

"Sir DaMatta, are you travelling through this unfriendly neighborhood all alone?" Al Sarran asked.

"Yes. Unfortunately, I lost all my priest mates during a mission and it was my fault. I came to this dangerous and distant place out of atonement to regain the trust of my god, which is only possible through hopeless fights," the armored man replied.

"For what reasons did you came to the far end of nothing? If I may ask," the newly arrived warrior asked.

"We are looking for a map stolen by the men of the Nozgold Empire and if they find what the roll hides, we will face dangerous times," the captain answered.

"It sounds like a risky and important mission. You have an interesting group here." He looked around the company around the fire.

"An orc warrior, a rour sorcerer, an elf tracker, a witch, a fighter guardian captain and a young girl possessed by some unearthly entity," he rubbed his beard.

Should I join them? Is it possible that my god lead them in my way to challenge me? They seem like a brave, honest company, that's what my intuition says, the priest knight/thought, drawing the consequences.

"Your mission is at risk. Would you accept the help of a priest/knight?" they asked the others around them.

It is curious. A sane person would never want to join us. If he cannot explain himself, his interest is suspicious, the captain thought.

"Why would you like to be part of such a dangerous mission, my sir?" Corwen asked.

"I believe that your mission is dedicated to a noble cause. It is not a coincidence my god led me to you. It might be a challenge for me and if I succeed in it. I might gain his good graces back. What do you say?" he asked the company around the fire.

This was convincing, he is not lying and he is a nice man, Corwen decided.

"I believe another skilled fighter might come handy," he said out loud and the others were nodding in agreement.

"Let's drink to that! The knight deserves it, he fought well!" Tusk said with the wine bottle in his hand.

He felt much better thanks to the herbs. He passed on the bottle, but first he had a huge sip from it.

"As my wise master said. A man has to be careful with fine wine and fine women. But a little drinking cannot hurt." The priest/knight accepted the bottle.

Everybody drank from the bottle with the exception of the Ertonfellian warrior, who stuck to remained faithful to his principles. He lighted his pipe and began to sing a wonderful elf song on his beautiful voice next to the fire.

"What a wonderful song. What is it about, Lowarien?" Everly asked curiously.

"It is about a lonely elf girl, who lost her love in the war," the warrior with the pointy ears replied.

"How sad, but the song is beautiful," the thief girl said.

Tusk stood up and rushed to the location of the battle. A few minutes later he returned to the company, holding a bloody heart in his hand.

"What the hell are you doing?" the captain asked.

"According to orc traditions if you eat the heart of your enemy you gain their power. So I will eat the heart of this dangerous creature," he answered proudly.

"Ew, how disgusting. Luckily the civilized societies do not follow these disgusting orc traditions!" Everly was outraged.

"That's what makes is great fighters, but a little human girl cannot understand this!" Tusk waved resignedly.

"That's not what makes you a good fighter my friend, it is knowing who deserves death and who does not," the elf tracker shared his wise thoughts.

The orc, not caring about the reproving looks, put the heart on a stick and roasted it in the fire, then ate the whole thing.

It was late. They went to sleep exhausted and exchanged each other in the night watch at the dangerous riverside. They packed up after sunrise and prepared for going forward to find the grave of the great hero.
Chapter Seven

Everybody was watching Everly and the priest/knight. They were facing each other. She touched the sacred symbol of his god and looked deep in the almond shaped eyes.

"Are you ready to find out what creature lives in you?" the armored man asked her.

"Yes, let's do it!" the ocean-blue-eyed, young girl replied with determination.

He took the symbol of his god off his neck, clenching it in his hand and murmuring sacred spells with his eyes closed and a few moments later a bright, flashing aura appeared around DaMatta. He opened his eyes and put the symbol on the girl's forehead.

"Dermeron, god of battle and bravery. I am asking you to reveal the truth about the creature living in this girl!" then the aura moved to Everly and began flashing.

The appearance of Everly changed. It transformed into a tall, snow-white-skinned, perfect and ageless woman. She was beautiful and only her blood red eyes disturbed her perfect appearance. Nobody could stand her look. It was so powerful and terrifying. She had long, dark and curly hair, braided in endless braids until her bottom, ending in snakeheads wiggling tirelessly. DaMatta pulled the symbol away from the girl's forehead and stepped back with a terrified face and the phantom disappeared. He started talking with dread in his voice.

"I can recognize who this is we just saw! It is the forgotten goddess of pain and distress called Kyrion!"

"For the staff of Arwald, a goddess, I never would have thought!" Al Sarran was surprised.

If I did not respect life and followed the dark path, I would kill Everly immediately! If the goddess living in her awakens, it is terrible even thinking what she might be capable of doing with her power. I have never read any stories like this. The sullen thoughts crossed the sorcerer's mind.

"Old stories have talked about similar cases, but I always thought these were legends and this could not actually happen!" the elf looked around, confused.

A goddess from the ancient times who wants to be born into this world, to spread her dominion? Only the Illvars told us such stories. In those times they were very young as well, and now they are almost three thousand years old. As a child, I thought these things are impossible and it's happening in front of my very own eyes, pondered Lowarien.

"I have never heard about the goddess of pain and distress before," the witch said, shocked by these new turn of events.

"I am not surprised. I have only heard these stories during my theological studies. Her worshippers were killed a thousand years ago in Algaron," the priest/knight said.

"They did not do very good job," the orc grunted.

I thought thief girl is not dangerous, for the ghost of the Great Wolf I was wrong, the orc was wondering.

"What do we do now? We cannot fight a god!" Corwen asked with crossed arms.

I really did not need this burden. Another immense problem like one, was not enough, the captain grouched in his mind.

"Can't you get it out somehow?" Tusk asked.

"There is no method for this I know of," DaMatta replied.

"I have been running away from monks for years. Is it possible that they are the servants of the goddess inside me?" Everly asked, blinking tensely.

"Absolutely, little lady. This proves that the servants of the Mistress are in action. Although I don't exactly know why now," the armored man was thinking.

"I think I know. There will be a great magical alignment happening soon, also involving the strange light appearing on the sky earlier. This is an exceptional opportunity for the goddess, to manifest in our world," the rour replied.

"What can we do to avert the birth of the goddess?" Corwen turned to their new mate.

"They will probably try to free the goddess from the girl's body, through a ceremony that would end with her death. We have to stop this from happening. If the magical alignment is over and the ceremony is not performed, the goddess will stay in Everly forever, but will be too weak and will not be a danger anymore," DaMatta explained.

"How lucky they cannot find me in this wilderness, so far from everything," the thief girl said nervously.

"We will protect you. If the light on the sky disappears, you will have nothing to worry about," the captain consoled her.

"What would happen if the goddess in me awakened?" Everly asked cautiously,

"She would search for worshippers, as much as she could and gain power by this. She would eventually become unstoppable. There would be no army or force that could resist her will," DaMatta informed her.

This is a historical moment. Is this why Dermeron led me in the way of this company, to find the mortal remains of Kyrion? If it is, I have to do everything to avert the rebirth of the goddess, I cannot fail, the servant of the god of battle and bravery, made the decision.

"Let's focus on the mission ahead of us. We have to cross the river to reach the moorland as soon as possible!" Corwen suggested to the others.

"I saw an old wooden bridge crossing the river not so far from here," the priest/knight said.

"Show us the way to the bridge then, my friend!" the captain waved a hand, letting the armored man on his horse to go on the front.

They turned to the North with the horses, following the winding river and a few hours later, the old and shaky wooden bridge was in their sight. The structure standing on decaying piles did not seem very safe. The captain got off Smokey and walked up on the bridge, to see if the old structure could endure them. As he stepped on the boarded bridge, something unexpected happened. Out of nothing, a strange creature appeared in front of him, with a cloud of thick smoke. Its skin was dark brown and it had large pointy ears. It had a strange sign on its forehead. He looked at the captain with tiny, foxy eyes. It was wearing a loose turquoise blue robe.

"Greetings strangers. I am Eroldin! If you wish to cross this bridge, you will have to pay duty," he said in a high voice.

The sight of the creature appearing out of nothing, shocked the team.

I sense powerful magic from him. This creature has immense power, he is familiar, but I don't know why, Al Sarran was wondering.

"Why would we pay duty to you?" the warrior in the segmented armor asked in a calm voice.

"If you don't pay me gold or gemstones, you cannot cross the bridge!" the tiny creature answered with a face like stone.

"How could you possibly stop us from crossing?" the captain asked.

"Like this!" the creature laughed, smacked his fingers and made the bridge disappear like it never had been there.

The captain previously standing there fell in the water and got on his feet, swearing.

What a goddamn creature is this again! Don't we have enough problems already? Corwen was raging in mind.

The team was astonished, nobody expected this, the strange creature really took them by surprise.

"This is just an illusion right?" the captain asked angrily, turning to the sorcerer.

The panther man was concentrating, drawing things in the air and a few moments later, he turned to Corwen frowning.

"I do not sense any illusion or invisibility. It simply disappeared," the panther man replied.

"Bring back the bridge, don't make me ask twice!" the captain grunted at the small creature, who was floating in the air.

"Choose your words wisely man, or you could disappear too and you will find yourself at a place, where there is no way back from! You will be the only person in a desert!" he replied, with a slightly louder voice.

"Captain, I think he speaks the truth. Don't make him angry! This creature has a great magical power. If I guess correctly, this is a genie from another world," the sorcerer warned the captain.

"Fine, you win. What is the price of crossing the bridge, you bastard?" Corwen turned to the little genie, opening his arms.

"Five gold for each, or a smaller gemstone," he replied with a shady look, smiling secretively.

Having no better idea, everybody got the requested gold out of their pouches and they handed it to the strange creature. He counted it carefully and put the coins away. He smacked his fingers and the bridge reappeared out of nothing.

"You can cross now. Have a nice trip!" he said and disappeared, leaving a cloud of thick smoke behind.

"I hope we will have an easier journey from now on without any unexpected turn of events." The captain was in a fret while crossing the bridge.

They led their horses through the old and shaky bridge. A few planks were missing from its floor or from the banister, but the decaying structure could easily endure their weight. They felt relieved that the strange little creature did not deceive them, when they got to the other side.

"Al Sarran, was he really so dangerous it would not have been worth fighting him?" the captain asked.

"I have never met a genie before either, but I read about them and they all have immense magical power. We don't know anything about their origins. They do not live in this world. I believe whoever can teleport a bridge in a second is a dangerous opponent. He definitely has greater power than me," he shared his honest thoughts.

"You should not always believe your eyes, captain. There are many creatures in this world that seem innocent and vulnerable and they turn out to be more dangerous, than a beast with sharp claws and teeth," the dainty elf said.

"As my wise master said, never judge your opponent by appearance," the priest/knight shared his wisdom.

"You convinced me. I have to agree with you. I will be more careful the next time, before I infuriate another creature that is much stronger than us."

Corwen got on the back of Smokey. He got out the copy of the map and examined it carefully.

"If I understand it well, we need to head towards the Southeast. This is where the ruin town and the grave is," the captain pointed forward.

"What are we waiting for then? Let's go!" the orc spurred his horse and headed in that direction and the others all followed his example.

The thick tropical forest was soon exchanged by a swampy, watery area. There were less trees, which were much smaller and the land was covered with puddles and lakes everywhere. The mild wind was carrying thick gray clouds around the sky. It rained every day. This was the paradise of seaweed, swamp reptiles, amphibians and waterfowls. The land was loud of frogs croaking and birds screaming. They had to move carefully, as the horses could unexpectedly sink in the water till their breasts, but sometimes they had a proper firm road ahead of them.

A few hours later, they stopped to have a rest and eat a little. There was a light, but consistent rain, slowly soaking the small team. Tusk suddenly stood up and pointed at the open water on the side.

"There is wine barrel under water, I go get it!" he murmured a bit confusedly.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Corwen asked, staring at the water surface.

"Suddenly he also noticed a sparkling weapon-like object in the direction the orc was heading. His common sense told him to stay still, but he walked into the water anyway. Lowarien was following them with mesmerized eyes, walking into the slowly deepening water. The others were shouting, but they did not react. They moved forward, enthralled until they slowly sank in the water. As they got to the deep part, the mesmerizing objects disappeared and they sank under the water, paralyzed and drowning helplessly.

DaMatta, Al Sarran, Everly and Larianna quickly jumped into the water to pull the helpless men out of the water. The laid them down on the shore. They coughed up the water, but they were all alive.

"This is extremely curious. Something got over them. I have to find out what mesmerized them!" the panther man was gasping, soaking wet.

His paw-like hands clenched the unicorn horned staff and he was focusing really hard.

"I sense an old and angry wandering soul, who is furious, it mesmerized our friends. We have to find its corpse and destroy it!" he revealed the identity of the creature behind this curious attack.

"I can take care of it, I am an excellent swimmer" Everly said quickly.

She got off her cloak and jumped into the water, came back to the surface a few times and she finally succeeded with the mission. She found the remains of the soul drown in the water hundreds of years ago. She collected the remaining bones and took them out to the lakeshore.

"This is all I found!" she was gasping exhaustedly.

"Fine. Stand back. It is my turn now!" the rour commanded the thief girl.

He stretched his arm and a wide flame shot out of his palm, covering the bones in fire. Al Sarran burnt them until they became ash. They others suddenly came to their senses after this mirage.

Larianna was caressing Corwen's face, who slowly regained consciousness. He sat up, coughing.

"Something got into my head, I could not do anything," he explained, confused.

"We know my champion," the witch replied anxiously,

"We were afraid you would drown in the swamp, so we rescued you all. It was a soul drown in the water who took over control, but we managed to destroy its remains, making it disappear forever."

Is she really that attracted to me? I have to reward her for not letting me die, the captain thought. He grabbed the witch's waist, pulled her closer and kissed her.

"Thank you for saving me and worrying for me! For you to as well my friends." he looked around gratefully.

Larianna's eyes were sparkling of happiness. The first man in my life, who knows what he wants, he is an excellent fighter and an even better lover. I am starting to fall in love with him, I will not just let him to leave me, the honest thoughts ran through her mind.

"I wouldn't have let you to drown just like that. You cannot get rid of me this easily," she said joyfully.

Tusk and Lowarien were feeling much better too. The orc was scratching his head, grunting.

"For the drums of Growalda, why did dead soul have no effect on you?"

"Because our minds are protected by a magical shield, although I do not know if Everly has one," the priest/knight replied.

The panther man was nodding approvingly.

"I sense relatively strong shields at Everly. How did you acquire them?" he asked the young girl.

"I once helped a fire sorcerer during my journeys to break into a place and he built me these shields in return. He said it would protect my mind from anyone trying to enter it."

"You are full of surprises, Everly!" the sorcerer said.

"To avoid danger like this, I will build a powerful magical protection for all of you against attacks like this," the panther man promised the others.

"This is a more dangerous land than I thought. Although, I have been to a lot of places in the continent in the past centuries. We have to be more prepared if we want to succeed in our mission." The elf was tapping out water from his clothes.

"I am happy we all survived this adventure. We really need to function as a team, which is essential to complete the mission. Let's rest for while and move forward after. Al Sarran, we trust you with the protection of our minds. Please, build those shields!" Corwen sighed.

They all tried to regain power. There was still a long journey ahead of them in the moorland. They were still soaked by the rain, its tiny drops entered every creek, but this was the least they had to worry about.

*****

Vardo pulled out his magical blade from the crocodile's back and the lifeless body did not move anymore. The other two were killed by his companions. The animals thought the men jumping into the water were easy targets. They were wrong, as they came across the elite assassins of the Nozgold Empire, who had no problems defeating much stronger opponents either. They were carefully selected to become members of the elite clan, where they were trained for long years so they could finally become perfect killing machines. They were always assigned the most dangerous missions. If they did not succeed, they had to commit suicide after arriving home, as they could not tolerate errors and weakness.

"Did you clear the area?" the black magician asked.

"This was the last predator sir!" the shadow elf replied, ceremonially wiping the blood off his blade and putting it back into the case.

"Your creature slows us down, Why did we have to bring it with us?" the ash gray skinned warrior asked puzzled.

"My servant might be slow, but it is the most resistant and loyal guard I can wish for," he pointed at the giant creature sank in the swamp to its waist, following the magician in the back with careful, slow steps.

"We have to find a place where we can put up the tents. Send some trackers forward, it will get dark soon," the obsidian eyed magician gave the command.

Following the command of Vardo, the armed men went forward in different directions. Encouraging their horses, they soon disappeared in the distance.

"I will contact our master, the omnipotent Vulgron. Make sure nobody disturbs me!" he told the valor.

I hope I won't disturb the great lord. Otherwise I will be in trouble. A man can have great power, but never can reach the demigods. So I hope I will find him in a good mood, thought the mage.

He cleared his throat and swallowed nervously. He was focusing hard to find the mind he wanted to communicate telepathically with and he soon succeeded.

"Master Vulgron! I am Raduem Morquol, magister of the Black Tower, leader of the force searching for the relics," he started talking cautiously.

"I am listening, magister," the voice, usually making intense commands replied in his mind.

"We will soon reach the ruin town, where the cemetery lies with the grave of the hero hiding the key to the relics. The weapons even demon lords fear."

"I really hope the legends are true and you will not return empty-handed, magister. Our armies are prepared and are assembling at our borders, waiting for my command. The wild nomads are ready too, to burn down the North with the help of the demons. If the demon lords cross the dimension gates with the help of the shamans, chaos may rule the world. We will not be able to control without the weapons," the voice replied.

"I will find the relics for the empire, I swore to that my lord. The legends say that Orender Teroldo killed three of the demon lords with them, during the demon wars. Even if one is true, it still could have an incredible power," the magister explained to the demigod.

"You get a week to acquire the legendary weapons, if I do not hear from you until that, I will start the attack against Birwulf and the Eastern Barbarians, with our without the relics!" the demigod replied and terminated the telepathic connection.

Morquol took a deep breath and blew out the air from his lungs. He turned to the shadow elf, a bit relieved.

"When the trackers are back we will camp down, strengthen up and quickly continue our journey. Our lord will began an attack against the North in a week," he stroked his graying goat beard.

"I hope the wild nomads are as good fighters as they are said to be. Our living dead legion and troops will not be strong enough to conquer the whole North without help," the valor replied.

"The threat of the nomads does not lie in their warrior skills, but in their tight relationship with the demons. A few dozen demons can defeat a smaller army. Imagine what a hundred or a thousand can do. The shamans can easily summon them, not to mention the dreadful demon lords, who the wilds admire like gods. Even if one of them enters our world, it can change everything in the whole war. That's why we have to find those weapons, to control these ancient powers," Morquol explained.

"We will get them, magister, there is nothing that would stop us in this stinking swamp," the ash gray skinned warrior said confidently.

He looked into the distance with eyes burning of relentlessness.

*****

Above the high mountains, a winged creature flew with great speed among the clouds, sliding quietly, riding on the warm updrafts towards the South. She could feel the presence of the chosen one and there was nothing in the world that could stop her from completing her mission. It had been a long time since she visited this world. She liked the colorful diversity of this world. Her home, the dimension of pain was rather gray and dull.

Run little girl. You cannot escape from Zandurin, whatever trick or magic you may use! The goddess will come to life again and I will use all my power to make this happen. Anyone standing up against her will be cruelly destroyed by me! The representative of the goddess of pain and distress thought to herself.

It has been a thousand years ago that the goddess ruled the world and her power was complete. Thousands over the continent followed her will. Human sacrifices were made for her regularly. She preferred young men. This age can come again if she succeeds and brings back the girl to the monastery, where the high priestess can perform the ceremony. As long as the light of the comet can be seen in the sky, she can succeed, which means she has about a week left. She slowly left the high mountains behind. In the distance, she could see tropical trees reaching to the sky, absorbing the nourishing light of the setting sun. The land was slashed by endless rivers. Her emotionless, rigid face almost burst into a smile-like expression.

"I am coming!"
Chapter Eight

The little team was moving forward on the swampy land, soaking wet although the rain had stopped, but their clothes did not dry, because of the humidity. The land was covered with thin, green bushes and cedars used to wetness, along with huge open waters. The thick clouds still hid the sun. It was late in the afternoon. Their steps were followed by hungry reptiles, waiting for the moment to attack their victims. The members of the group spent the journey with quiet conversation.

"What is your stand on men, Everly?" the witch asked the olive skinned young girl.

"I haven't met the one yet. Only drunk idiots or fat, gold digging merchants. They wanted to take advantage of my young age, but they never got what they wanted from me," she replied impassively.

"You've never been with a man?" she asked quietly, leaning closer to her.

"No, but I don't even mind. If I give myself to someone that will be the person I want to spend the rest of my life with," she replied with sparkling almond shaped eyes.

"You are such a romantic. When you grow up you will realize it works a little differently," the witch explained.

"You and Corwen got really friendly as I can see," the thief girl was smiling.

"Yes, I think we are getting to know each other better. We will see the rest. Making love to him is amazing, even though I've been with many men," she poked Everly with her elbow.

"Sir DaMatta. Do you regret that you have came with us? You are only with us for a day, and yet we faced countless dangerous situations," asked Corwen, turning toward the knight.

"Not at all captain! My god marked this path for me, and I will walk on it until the end, no matter what we face on the way," he answered definitely.

"So be it my friend. So be it." Corwen rubbed his check.

"Just don't run out from booze on the way. Problems needs to be solved, one way or another," grumbled the massive orc on his deep voice.

They could only smile on their partner's alcohol addiction

Soon Lowarien started talking.

"I believe I see houses ahead of us, there might be a settlement," he pointed forward.

Naturally, the others could not notice anything. The elf's eyesight was much sharper than the others'.

"We can spend the night there, if the locals take us in," the captain said.

A few minutes later, the others could see what the elf was talking about. A few dozens of reed cottages could be seen in the distance on an island, surrounded by water. The only entrance for the island, was a planked bridge-like structure on stakes.

The habitants of the little were tiny, non-humanoid creatures. Men were wearing breechclouts made of seaweed, while women were wearing tunic-like dresses.

They were no taller than four feet. Their head was larger and their face was flatter than a human's. They had large brown-green eyes. Their wide mouths were frog-like ad they did not have lips. There was no visible hair on their bodies and their skin was moss green and a bit wrinkled. They had webbed hands. The men had long, jagged fishing harpoons. Some of them had primitive arrows.

The tiny warriors were friendly towards the newcomers. They stopped the horse riders and began talking on human language to their guests.

"Greetings strangers! We are the nation of the iblorgs. You are welcome here, if you came in peace," one of them said, lisping.

"Greetings to you too! We would only like to spend one night in your village. We just want to have some rest and leave," Corwen told the little creatures.

"Please, follow us. We are taking you to the chieftain, who will decide the rest," one of the iblorgs with a harpoon said.

They crossed the wooden bridge leading to the island. The reed cottages were built in circles. A few of them were visibly ruined, their roof smashed open, and some completely destroyed. Curious eyes were staring at the strangers from the houses. Children of the small creatures were following them a bit nervously, whispering to each other. There was a larger building in the middle of the village, which was probably the townhouse. The harpooned warriors of the swamp led the company straight to this building and escorted them in.

A few dozens were watching the newcomers as they arrived in the building. There were long tables and benches next to them. Opposite the entrance, there was the chieftain sitting on a small throne.

He was a bit larger than the others and obviously old. He had a huge belly and wrinkled skin. He wore a strange medallion made of silver with an emerald in the middle. He only wore a breechclout too, like the others and he had a strange creature next to him.

He wore the skull of a smaller crocodile, clenching a pinned staff with endless feathers, shells, bones and other curious objects clinging on it. He had a knee-long dress, made of animal leather and greenery.

The chief opened his webbed hands and started speaking, slightly lisping.

"Greetings strangers! I am Hajrinana, chieftain of the iblorgs. Why did you come to Seaweed Village?" he asked the adventurers.

"Greetings to you too! I am Venuri del Corwen from the Northern Dukedoms and the leader of this group. We would like to spend this night in your village, if you are kind enough to let us."

"Of course, you are welcome here. If you came in peace. Unfortunately we only have one free cottage for you since many of them were destroyed," the chieftain said.

"What happened? Who attacked you?" the priest/knight asked.

"There is a swamp giant in the area. He not only attacked the village, he also kidnapped my successor; my daughter Jaralanda. So we are quite tense nowadays. My folks are scared and I have to assure them that I can take care of this and nothing similar can happen ever again."

The adventurers looked at each other secretively and they thought of the same thing, so Corwen cleared his throat and began talking.

"Dear Hajrinana, we might be able to help you, if you help us too. We are searching for an ancient ruined town that can be found somewhere around here in the swamp."

"There is a former human-built town that sank, not so far from here. It is about a one day walking distance from the village to the Southeast. We know that way well. We will be happy to show it to you, if you bring back my daughter unharmed and make the giant go away."

"It is a seal chieftain, we will take care of that giant and bring back your daughter," the captain replied confidently.

"Great, this is good news for us!" Hajrinana said joyfully with arms up in the air.

"Please show us where the giant lives," Corwen said.

"I will gladly lead you there, the giant lives on the west, not far from here," the iblorg with the leather dress and the strange staff said.

"He is the well respected shaman of the village called Crocodile Mesmerizer Borlog," the portly chieftain introduced the bloke next to him.

"I will lead you there tomorrow morning, where the giant rests so you can take revenge on him. I am leaving now. I'll be waiting for you at your cottage as the sun comes up."

He turned his back to the company and walked out of the building with his staff knocking on the floor.

"Bring food and drinks to our guests!" the chief commanded the others.

They were seated to one of the tables and they were brought fresh fish, mussels, and some kind of a green local beer made of seaweed. The orc took large sips from it and tasting the drink, started speaking.

"Even though it is made of seaweed, it is quite good."

"Tusk, you would drink anything with alcohol in it," the young thief girl snapped at him.

"That is true," the huge warrior shrugged his shoulders.

The others were laughing loudly. The rour was feeding his servant dragon with a little fish and he was munching on them happily. After dinner, the golden haired elf got out his pipe, put tobacco in it and blew out the large clouds of smoke. He was obviously deep in his thoughts.

"Something is strange, as far as I knew the giants of the swamp, were not particularly aggressive creatures."

"Have you ever met one?" Larianna asked.

"I met one of them once. It was not really aggressive," he answered pensively.

"Who knows what happened whit this one, maybe we can get on with it and solve this without any violence," the captain said.

"Giants can be dangerous, if we have to fight him it might not be so easy," the priest/knight said.

"Larianna can mesmerize him, to walk away quietly," the thief girl winked at the witch.

"The mind of the giants works differently than ours. I don't think any of us could control it," Al Sarran informed the tiny thief girl.

"There are excellent fighters at this table, they will take care of him," Everly replied quickly, fiercely looking around the group with her almond shaped eyes.

Corwen almost chocked on a bite and turned to the girl, coughing.

"Sure, we will take care of that giant, no problem."

I have never fought with a giant so far, I hope we can defeat him together. If we have to fight with him. We do not have any other choice. If we want to find the hero's grave quickly, thought.

"Friendly little creatures these iblorgs, aren't they captain," asked Everly.

"They seem like that, and it comes in handy that they know the swamp very well."

"It's sure that is not an accident that we stumbled into them. The gods wanted it this way," said their armoured companion.

"Whatever led us here, my good paladin sir. I hope it did it for a good reason." He leaned backwards in his chair the panther man as he pet Dergo.

Everybody was full after the copious dinner, when a few harpooned warriors appeared at their table.

"Please follow us, we will show you your cottage, where you will spend the night!" the swamp creatures told them.

They said goodnight to the chieftain and followed the small warriors. It was already dark outside. There were torches lit around the village, to provide some light for the habitants. They were led to one of the cottages, at the edge of the island.

"We are here, this is the place you will sleep strangers, we will leave now, have a good night!" They left the group behind.

They left the horses tied to a pole. The round, pointy building made of reed, was fixed with stalks. They only found a few blankets inside on the floor and a large bucket-like case made of fibers. It was a bit small for all seven of them. Larianna nestled close to Corwen and they fell asleep hugging each other. As the sun came up, they woke up to the noise of the shaman's staff knocking at the door.

"We have to go. It's morning. Get up!" the man in the strange clothes said from the outside.

They quickly got themselves together as Borlog was waiting from them impatiently outside. He was sitting on a scaled, large lizard-like animal with a harness. He had a rein in one hand and he was riding the creature like a horse.

"Follow me. We have a few hours of riding ahead of us. The giant does not live so far."

Leading the reptile, he headed out from the village on the bridge. The members of the group got on their horses and followed the iblorg on the lizard.

"Have you ever had any problems with the swamp giants before?" the elf tracker inquired from their leader.

"We could always get on well with them. There had not been any incidents like this."

"You have many fighters. Why don't you go after giant and kill it?" Tusk asked.

"We have brave fighters, but a giant would simply smash us. We would not stand a chance against him, and he took hostage of the heir so we cannot attack him," the shaman explained.

"Why did he kidnap the girl?" the captain asked.

"He has not come up with any requests yet, but I think he will soon return and ask for ransom."

"We are here to stop this from happening don't worry, we will take care of the giant easily!" DaMatta said confidently.

"I really hope these are not just some empty words and you are as good of fighters as you say," the shaman looked at him, narrowing his eyes.

The group, led by the Crocodile Mesmerizer, who knew the moorland well, moved fast. They crossed several large watery areas without sinking. They had been walking for two hours when they stopped for a moment.

"Stay quiet. I have to focus!" the shaman said to the others.

Moving his staff up and down making the shells and bones rattle, he pointed at the sludgy water around the team, which began to change quickly. The horses were neighing and they sank to their breasts with their riders into the swamp that captivated all of them.

"What the hell are you doing with us?" Corwen shouted with outrage.

"I tricked you fools. It was a trap!" the shaman on the lizard was cackling mockingly.

"Don't you want us to help your village, you idiot?" DaMatta asked furiously, stuck in the sludge with his warrior horse.

"You foolish adventurers! I planned the whole thing, and unfortunately, you were in my way, so I will leave you behind in the swamp. You will not be the first ones disappearing in this dangerous land," he was grinning like a frog.

"I will leave now and tell Hajrinana that, sadly, you were killed by the giant. He will be disappointed and my plan will be in motion. Have a nice drowning, my friends!" he headed back to the village on the huge lizard, singing joyfully.

"I will strangle little frog, if we get out of trap!" the orc grunted.

"That little bastard. He tricked us!" Everly replied, angrily.

"Somehow, I had a bad feeling about this shaman and now it turns out it was true," huffed the Ertonfellian warrior.

"Let's think about how we could escape from this sludge which will slowly, but surely swallow us up," Corwen suggested to the others.

"Panther man, you always have a good idea!" the witch, clenching her horse's rein and turning to the rour, said intensely.

"Yes, I have an idea. Tusk, are you strong enough to pull all of us out, if I got you out of the clench of the swamp?" Al Sarran asked the mold green skinned, strong warrior.

"I do everything I can," he replied confidently.

"Anyone who has a rope put it around the horse's neck and pass it to the next person!" DaMatta encouraged the others.

Following the wise command, they quickly put a rope on the horses' necks and linked them together. They were deep in the swamp and only had a little time left. The horses were jittering desperately and were neighing nervously. Everybody was panicking.

The rour began to focus and murmured some word, pointing his staff towards Tusk. The giant warrior was lifted up from the back of his horse. The magic flew him to a least swampy area next to them, where he could land safely.

"Tusk, here is my ring that will make you stronger, we need all of your power now!" Corwen shouted, throwing the crafted golden jewelry to him.

The orc put it up. It only fit his little finger, and he grabbed the end of the rope they threw to him and began to pull it with all his strength. His muscles tightened and he used all of his power. The magical object began working, helping the orc with the challenge. The stretched rope was crunching as he tried to rescue his mates, while struggling and gasping. Luckily, the rope was made of a strong material and could endure the load. Large drops of sweat were falling from the face of the giant warrior, but they slowly moved towards the shore. He pulled out the captain first who, together with Smokey, joined in the rescue process and they quickly pulled out the others, before the swamp swallowed them. Everybody was pulled successfully out and besides being covered in mud, they had no injuries. Larianna hugged the captain.

"I was so scared we were going to drown, but when I saw you pulling us out I knew it was going to be fine," she said, holding Corwen tight.

"It's all right, my lovely, everything is fine now, and the shaman will regret this. I can assure you!" he caressed the witch softly.

"My clothes are so muddy that I will cut that frog in half for this!" Everly was in a fret.

"What do we do now Corwen?" the elf warrior asked.

"I would like to go back to Seaweed Village and impale that bastard! But my mind says, we should go to the giant's house and rescue the chief's daughter," he replied edgily, taking a deep breath.

"I'm of the same opinion," the sorcerer joined in.

"The habitants of the village would not believe us if we just turned up there and confronted the shaman."

"Let's find this bad giant. It cannot be that hard," Everly said on her thin voice.

"Let's split up, but remain in seeing distance so we could explore a larger area and find him sooner," the Ertonfellian tracker suggested.

"Good idea. We will do that. Go on, let's find that little monster!" the captain ended the conversation jokingly.

They split up and began to examine the swamp, searching for the tracks of the giant. They had no luck in the first thirty minutes. Then they could hear the thief girl shouting as she found a couple of huge footsteps heading west where the giant's home was supposed to be. With the elf in the front, they quickly began to follow the footsteps, occasionally disappearing in the water and reappearing in the muddy ground. Less than an hour later, they noticed a small hill with a wooden hut, covered in moss and a large swamp cypress tree next to it. There was an iron cage swinging on the tree's branch in the soft wind. Leaving their horses behind, the team was approaching the hill with careful steps. Getting closer, they could notice the kidnapped iblorg girl in a shattered tunic. She was happy to see the newcomers.

"Jaralanda, your father sent us to rescue you! Have you seen the giant?" Corwen asked her quietly.

"He is not here! He is gone, but he never goes so far, so he can be back any second!" the young iblorg urged them.

There was a huge iron lock hanging on the swinging cage.

"Can you do something with this lock, Everly?" the captain asked the thief girl.

"Are you kidding? No problem!" she replied confidently, rubbing her palms.

"I just have to get up there somehow," she looked up at the cage hanging on the tree.

"It is easy. You will fly!" Tusk stepped there, grabbed Everly and threw her up powerfully.

"Stop, you idiot!" the girl was screaming as she was flying towards the cage.

She grabbed the strong bars with great reflexes, swearing at the orc, who waved to her from the ground, grinning.

"You solved this quickly Tusk," the captain looked at him with a hidden smile.

"Come on, queen of locks, before the giant gets back!" he was urging the Everly from downside.

The almond-shape-eyed girl, climbed up on the bars to search for the lock. She got out her thief kit and began to work on the lock. Soon they heard a click as she succeeded to open the door of the cage.

"How will we get down?" the young girl asked the others from the height.

"Jump. We will catch you!" DaMatta replied.

"I hear a noise approaching, something big is coming, hurry up!" the elf said nervously.

Everly and the iblorg girl jumped down and the others caught them. The noise was coming closer as someone was approaching with pounding steps. Branches were breaking and soon a head appeared among the crown of the cypress trees. Noticing the group rescuing his hostage, he shouted and stepped out from the trees.

"Stop! Intruders! The hostage is mine, you will not take her anywhere!" he shouted in a loud, deep voice.

He was at least twenty-five feet tall. The humans only reached up to his knees. He had human shape. His dark hair was in a pigtail. He had deep blue eyes that sparkled with fury at the unexpected visitors. He wore knee-length boots, leather pants and a dirty canvas shirt with a wide belt on his waist. He approached the group with pounding, determined steps and he pulled out a whole tree from the ground on the way there. Holding the tree in one hand menacingly, he was approaching.

"This one won't be easy!" Corwen sighed as he pulled out his weapon.

The fighters surrounded him. The elf, the thief girl and the sorcerer with his servant dragon on his shoulder, went to the back to take care of Jaralanda.

The giant began its attack with the thick tree in his hand. He aimed at the largest opponent, the orc. He was cautious and jumped aside from the fatal hit. The elf shot him in the face with an arrow that only scratched him under his eye. Corwen and DaMatta attacked him from both sides. The priest/knight sprang on the giant with a strange battle cry, calling the power of his god for help and he threw his sizable spear, which pierced the leg of the immense opponent.

The captain aimed at its ankle and cut through the skin with curving hits. He stepped back, shouting, and swung the tree towards the heavy armored man. The uneasily moving DeMatta could not avoid the large tree approaching him and it skimmed his shoulder, even though lifted up his shield as protection. He was thrown back several yards by the hit and he landed in the sludgy water moaning.

Larianna just finished a magic spell. He pointed at the ground where the giant stood and flames erupted to the surface, two men high. The clothes of the giant were burnt and covered in flames.

"We have to get him to his knees, or we will never defeat this huge enemy!" Corwen shouted to the others.

"It can be done captain. Go a little further!" Al Sarran shouted.

"Should we make him dance Dergo?" he turned his head towards the little dragon on his shoulder.

"We sure should!" he replied enthusiastically and began to murmur a magic spell.

Following his command, the others took a few steps back, from the opponent busy with swearing and putting out the fire. As a result of the servant dragon's magic, the sludgy water was suddenly frozen under the opponent. The feet of the swamp giant became slippery and a few moments later, he fell on the ice with a crash.

The captain, the elf and the orc were waiting for this opportunity and they all threw themselves on the creature lying on his back. They stabbed the enemy with their weapons. Then something unexpected happened: the giant began to shout desperately.

"Wait, don't hurt me. I surrender!" he was begging.

Corwen and the others pointed their weapons at his neck.

"I am listening you, behemoth. Talk!" the captain snapped at him.

"Take the girl. I am not fighting you anymore. I only kidnapped her, because the shaman threatened me and told me if I did not obey, he would curse me and my whole family. His plan was to blackmail the chieftain to resign and take over the leadership of the village," he explained desperately.

"We believe you, that bastard tricked us too in the swamp!" the captain replied, putting away his weapons.

The giant sat up and sighed, looking down onto the team.

"So what will happen now?" he asked, covering his wounds with his hand.

"We will take Jaralanda back to her village and confront the shaman, and the chief will decide on his punishment. You will swear to never ever attack them again. Or we will come back and end your life," Corwen threatened the giant.

"Fine, I swear! I will never do that again if you defeat the shaman," he said and stood up.

"Thank you for letting me live. I hope you will succeed," he turned back and limped towards his house with big steps.

Meanwhile the priest/knight stood up from the ground, still a bit dizzy from the terrible hit and holding his shoulder, he joined the others.

"Are you really hurt?" the witch asked the knight.

"It is not that bad. I can ride. I will take care of it when we get back," he replied, hiding his pain.

I am not mad at the giant. He only did what he had to do to protect his family from the evil shaman. He is to blame for everything, he thought.

"I always suspected that this bastard wanted my father's power, but to plot something so evil, I never would have thought," the frog-mouthed girl rubbed her face with her palm that was obviously tortured by the time spent in captivity.

We thought the giant was guilty, but the damn shaman is responsible for everything! How should we have known what his real intentions were. Poor girl, she was in captivity for days. I know what it's like, I've been locked up once, Larianna thought, looking at the iblorg girl.

"Luckily, we managed to find out what is going on in the background. Let's hurry back to your village and report to your father about the things we learnt!" the captain suggested.
Chapter Nine

Without hesitating, they got on their horses and headed back to the village on the swampy land. It started to rain again, soaking the group, but at least it washed off some of the mud. It was afternoon when they noticed the iblorg village in the distance. The habitants were shocked to see them arrive back with the chief's daughter. They went straight to the townhouse. The old and portly Hajrinana was waiting for them at the entrance, with a few locals and his face was glowing of joy, when he saw his daughter. He opened his arms and hugged Jarlanda.

"I thought you were dead. The shaman told me that!" he turned to the group puzzled.

"Things are a bit more complicated than we thought," Corwen said.

"Why? What happened? Tell me everything!" the happy chieftain asked, impatiently.

"Father! It is all the shaman's fault. He planned the whole thing. He threatened a peaceful swamp giant, living nearby and told him he would curse him and his family if he didn't follow his commands. He forced him to kidnap me and attack the village. The giant would have asked you to resign as a chief and leave the village, so the shaman could take control," the girl informed her father.

"This is unbelievable! I never would have thought he would do such evil things. Come to the townhouse. We will bring the accused and we will confront him."

With his arm around his daughter, he went into the house, sat on the throne and asked the group to hide behind the podium where the throne stood. The harpooned guards went back to their positions next to the chief and at the entrance. They called in the shaman for some important cause. Soon he entered the big building, knocking on the wooden floor with his staff. He stepped in front of the chieftain throne and the entrance was blocked by the guards.

"I see your daughter is back in good health, thanks to our gods!" he said, hiding his astonishment behind courtesy.

"Don't play the fool, you two-faced snake! I know what you were plotting against me!" the old chieftain snapped at him.

"What are you accusing me of, my lord?" he asked, pretending to be innocent.

"People of Seaweed Village, you should know that Crocodile Mesmerizer Bolrog committed treason against me! He plotted a plan to gain my position. He made the swamp giant kidnap my daughter and he is responsible for the attack on our village too. The giant was following his commands, because he threatened him to curse him and his family. I am asking you, what does an iblorg like this deserve?" he turned to his people.

"That is a lie! I would never do this. This is crazy!" he shouted desperately.

"Is it also crazy that you trapped us and tried to kill us?" the captain stepped out with his mates, from behind the podium.

The surprised shaman was clenching his staff and tried to back out as the iblorgs were grunting and shouting.

"Death for the traitor. Die in hell!" the crowd shouted.

"Anybody who lays a hand on me will die!" he looked around sneakily, slowly backing out of the room.

"The will of the people is sacred and I will obey it," the chief waved to the iblorgs.

Hajrinana suddenly grabbed one of the harpoons from a guard standing next to him and skillfully threw it after the escaping shaman. It hit his chest, piercing though the traitor. He looked at the chief shocked and grabbed the weapon stuck in his chest with two hands. He wanted to say something, but only blood came out of his mouth as he fell to the floor, rattling and even though he was still struggling, life slowly left his body.

"People of Seaweed Village. The traitor got the punishment we decided on together! Treason is punished with death! Loyalty and bravery is rewarded with appreciation and respect. The people you see next to me are the heroes of the day, who rescued my daughter and stopped the evil plan of Bolrog. Let's have a feast today dedicated to them."

The iblorgs were clapping their hands and shouting out of joy and the village was happy again. The chieftain turned to his guests.

"My friends, we are inviting you for a celebration tonight and tomorrow we will lead you to the ruin town as we promised," Hajrinana bowed his head respectfully.

"Thank you chief, we would be happy to come to the feast. We would like to rest for a while so you can prepare for the night," Corwen replied and signed to the others to leave.

They went back to their little cottage and changed their clothes. The priest/knight took off his full plate mail armor and examined his shoulder, which was covered in dark bruises.

"Do you need any help DaMatta?" the witch asked him helpfully.

"No my dear. I will take care of it. My god will heal me."

He grabbed his sacred symbol and murmured spells for a while. His wounds slowly disappeared like they never had been there.

"I was surprised to see how fit the old chief was," Everly raised an eyebrow with surprise.

"It was something the old chief fought well, but a good leader is like this." Tusk scratched his ear.

"Faith finds everyone. The shaman's death was caused by the treason fuelled by the lust for power," Al Sarran was nodding.

"You speak well, my sorcerer friend. We stopped the traitor just in time," said the elf warrior smoothing his bow.

"Things turned out well for us, there's one less traitor out in the world. Speaking about our mission my friends. Tomorrow, the day will come to find the ruined town and the grave of the hero. We will be a mere step from finding the relics. We cooperated like a real team today. Let's enjoy this celebration and have fun. We deserve it," Corwen looked around the company, smiling at Larianna kindly.

"It is good news. I like celebrations. There is lot of alcohol!" the orc was raising his fist in the air happily.

"We can relax a bit at last," Everly said joyfully.

"My wise master always said that you should not have too much fun, but I think we deserve it now," the priest/knight moved his newly recovered shoulder.

"I have a few things left to do. See you in the evening," the ginger-red haired beauty winked at the captain.

Stepping out the door, she disappeared among the reed cottages. She borrowed a caldron from the iblorgs and poured water in it, which she boiled on the fire. She got a few rare ingredients from the local healers and began to make a magic potion. She was stirring it slowly, adding the ingredients in strict order, while murmuring the necessary magic spells. When it was ready, she poured it in small bottles and she started to make new potions. The sun was almost down when she was ready with the potions.

We have to be ready for everything tomorrow. Who knows what waits for us in the ruined city. The dragon blow potion can always come hand, she thought smiling. It helped her countless times when she was in trouble. She put away the magic potions in her sack and rushed to the townhouse.

The huge building was decorated with swamp flowers and feathers. The locals already started the feast inside. They were hitting the drums rhythmically and blowing their strange whistles, playing pleasant melodies. The tables were full of delicious food and happy drinks. Her mates sat on a bench and waved to her when they noticed the witch. They rushed to them and sat down opposite the captain.

"What took you so long? Is everything fine?" the captain asked her.

"Sure, everything is alright. I only prepared for tomorrow. I cooked a few useful magic potions, in case we need them in the future."

"Good thinking, beautiful. Would you like some wine, Larianna?" the captain asked.

"I got really thirsty in this heat, my captain." She was smiling gleefully.

"Let's raise a glass for success everyone! Everly turned to Corwen, already a little tipsy.

They raised their glasses in a good ambiance and they spent the night carelessly. The elf was smoking his pipe, his hand rhythmically moving to the sound of the drums. He thought of the past, when he lived happily with his wife, Feraldina.

The panther man convinced the thief girl to play cards and he was overcome by his gambling addiction again. Later the priest/knight joined them too.

Dergo was furiously hunting for the flies around them. He hated the insects that made him angry all the time.

Tusk was telling dirty orc stories to entertain the others while he was drinking himself under the table.

"Can I have a dance, my lady?" the captain asked the witch.

"You can!" she held the man's hand.

They were dancing to the rhythmic music joyfully laughing, dangerously close to each other. They were soon joined by Everly and the priest/knight, who left his heavy armor in the cottage. The witch was burning with desire again as he pressed her body to the captain's during dancing. Going back to their table, they had another round of the delicious drinks.

What is your move now my champion? Larianna thought as she pretended to drop her glass accidentally to the floor.

The captain quickly reached for it under the table. The woman on the other side pulled up her dress and opened her legs. She was not wearing any underwear. Corwen was so surprised, he hit his head on the table and started swearing as he picked up the glass.

"What happened captain? Did something scare you down there? Larianna asked while biting her lips sensually.

Fine, I got the message. I will let you seduce me and you will get what you desire, you fierce beast, he thought.

He gave back her glass and looked deep in the girl's eyes. He was overcome with desire. He grabbed the witch's hand and turned to the others.

"We will leave now, have fun my friends!" she pulled the witch to himself and they quickly left the feast.

"Well, they won't stop until bed!" Everly said tipsily.

How nice that they found each other. When will faith bring me the right man, she was wondering while sipping her wine.

They were kissing passionately as they headed to the cottage. The captain was holding the witch in his arms, who embraced him with her legs as they stepped into the hut. They quickly got rid of their clothes and made passionate love, biting each other. Soon they were completely exhausted and lied down next to each other, gasping and sweating.

"You did not regret bringing me to this dangerous adventure did you?" the witch asked.

"Are you kidding? I haven't met a woman like you for a long time, not only you are beautiful, you are also dangerous in a battle," the captain was praising her.

He lied on her, held down her two arms and began kissing her slim body.

"I am happy that you think that way and you accept me for who I am," Larianna kissed him back passionately.

"For being a witch? I don't mind, unless you eat children and don't wake up the dead," the captain replied.

"But I will eat you. I will squeeze you like a ripe fruit!" she rolled over him, climbing on the captain.

They had another few minutes of passionate and wild joy. When their drunk friends arrived, they were already sleeping next to each other.

The next day, the group struck with hangover was put in boats. Before leaving, the old portly chieftain said goodbye.

"Be careful, my friends. There are dangerous creatures out there among the ruins! Only a few can get out of there alive!" he warned the group.

"Thank you for worrying for us, but we have no other choice. We have to go there as soon as possible!" the captain replied with determination.

"May the gods be with you my friends. I hope we will see each other again!" he was waving to the leaving team.

"Thank you for everything, Hajrinana!" the group said goodbye.

They began their long and tiring journey through the swamp. The water was steaming in the slightly colder air of the morning, covering the land with fog, but it did not bother the tiny creatures rowing in the endless lake. The journey was mostly calm, it only started raining again, but they were quite used to it.

Will we be able to find the grave among the ruins? What secrets can it hide? I hope we can arrive there before the people of the Nozgold Empire, Corwen was wondering.

The journey was eventless for hours. They were moving forward in narrow and wider water surfaces, covered in water plants and reed. The witch gave the potions, she had prepared the previous day to her mates. Only the sorcerer and the priest/knight did not take it.

"Drink it as we arrive to the ruined town!" she recommended to the others.

"They will help you, if we have to fight."

"But how exactly?" the captain asked as he wanted to know a bit more about the potions.

"You will see, everybody will experience a slightly different effect," the witch was smiling mysteriously.

The boats finally reached their destination and they got to the shore. The sun was slowly disappearing behind the land.

"We are here!" the iblorgs were pointing forward.

"You can get to the edge of the ruined town in minutes now. We won't go there. This is a dangerous land, but we will leave you two boats for the way back. Good luck!" they headed back to the water and slowly disappeared in the distance.

Larianna got out a blurry sludge-like potion from her sack.

"Cheers my friends," she drank the content of the bottle and grimaced. It was obviously not a delicious drink.

The captain, the elf, the orc and the thief girl, drank the potions received from the witch and experienced a similarly bad taste.

The Ertonfellian warrior felt his motions even faster and more precise than before. The mold green skinned orc felt like he was given the power and bravery of the ancient souls. The little thief girl and the captain did not experience anything strange, but the beautiful witch ensured them that they would feel the advantageous difference during a fight. Led by Corwen, the group headed towards the ruins, menacingly standing out from the swamp.

*****

Coming closer, the living dead were surrounding the men of the Nozgold Empire. The sorcerer with an obsidian gemstone in one of his eyes summoned the power of the stone and it began sparkling. The approaching skeletons with rusty weapons in their hands stopped and started to back.

"Go back to your graves. You have no business with us!" Morquol shouted at them.

The rotting bodies obeyed him and disappeared from their eyes, sinking into the swamp.

"We have to find the cemetery as soon as possible. The grave of the hero cannot be far from here." The sorcerer was frowning.

"I believe it should be at the Western end of the town," the ash gray-skinned elf warrior suggested.

"Sounds like a good idea, let's go there right now!" the sorcerer encouraged his horse.

The followers of the dark empire, headed to the West among the ruins. There were destroyed walls, ruined stone towers and sunk houses around them as long as they could see. This city was lively a thousand years ago, but now it was surrounded by death and the waters of forgetfulness.

Suddenly a strange creature jumped in front of them, from one of the decaying houses, approaching them menacingly, grunting. At first, it reminded them of a giant wolf, it had a long face covered in scales and it had huge incisors. Its brimstone yellow small eyes were flashing angrily. It had thick, rough mane on its back and its skin was covered in dark, irregular stripes, it had sharp claws on its muscular legs. It had a lizard-like tail ending in a curved sting.

The Faceless grabbed their weapons and pointed it at the sneering enemy. They jumped off their horses with acrobatic movement.

"What kind of beast is this?" Vardo asked the sorcerer.

"If I'm not hallucinating, it is a chaos beast. One of the creations of the sorcerers of the ancient world, who are still alive. It is a dangerous monster!" the magister of the Black Tower explained.

"Great, let's see how dangerous it is," the shadow elf was smiling.

They pressed their curved blades to their arms and approached the beast with strange, dance-like movement. The monster quickly threw itself on one of the approaching masked warriors. The assassin, jumping above the creature, avoided the attack with a spin and wounded its back with his blade. He arrived to the ground easily and quickly faced the opponent. He was not fast enough though and he missed it.

The stingy tail hit him and it pierced deep into his neck. The assassin grabbed his neck, the sting hit the pulse and blood was pouring out from it. A pound of blood surrounded him, as his heart pumped the blood from his body. He silently sank to his knees, fell on his side and never moved again.

Vardo frowned his eyebrows behind his mask. Finally a dangerous trophy. Now my turn, chaos beast, he thought.

"Faceless, we cannot make mistakes anymore, this is a ruthless enemy, we cannot give it another chance! Let's do a Teidron style attack now! Get ready for my signal!" he commanded his men.

Meanwhile the chaos creature was looking for another victim and he chose the shadow elf to attack. He jumped up again with its claws open.

Vardo was faster and sliding on his back. He cut the monster at its chest, who missing its swift opponent and it started howling out of pain. The valor got back on his feet and gave a signal to the others. Breathing out air from their lungs, they began the perfectly harmonized attack.

The beast had to back out to avoid the fatal blades piercing its body. He tried to bite the attackers fiercely and wounded one of their shoulders.

Vardo jumped up in the air while the others occupied the beast. Spinning above it, he pierced the monster's skull with its blade. The perfect cut wounded the chaos creature fatally and life lefts its brimstone yellow eyes and it gave itself to death forever.

Another perfect victory for me, thought the shadow elf smiling under the mask.

"Our mate underrated the opponent and misjudged his possibilities. Do not follow his example again!" Vardo explained as he wiped off the blood from his sword.

"Yes, valor!" the assassins replied together.

"It was an excellent teamwork commander, but don't waste any time. We only have a few days before our troops will attack the North for our Lord's command," the sorcerer said.

The leather-armored warriors got on their horses and continued their trip among the ruins. The noise of the battle got the attention of the other unearthly creatures hiding in the shadows. They slowly, but persistently followed the intruders. A few minutes later, the commander noticed the place they were searching for with his sharp elf sight.

"The cemetery is there sir Morquol!" He pointed towards a small hill.

Going closer they could see graves and crypts lined up among the decaying ruins.

"Excellent, we have to find the grave of Orender Teroldo, hiding the key to the relics as soon as we can!" he urged his men.

"Search for the sign I showed you on the walls of the crypts. I feel that we are close. Hurry up!" the magister of the Black Tower commanded the warriors.

This is the finish. Soon we will find the crypt and inside, the hidden key. I will receive a great reward, when I return to the empire, grinned inside the dark mage.

It was getting dark, when one of the assassins shouted.

"I can see a sign here, which is very similar to what you showed us!" he called his mates.

As they assembled, Morquol examined the domed grave with the strange symbol, which was locked down with a carved stone door. He ran his fingers through his goat beard and began talking with excitement.

"This is what we have been looking for, step back, I will open this door!" he commanded the others.

He mumbled some unknown words and began the magic, pointing at the door with his staff. A few moments later, the thick stone plate moved and slipping at the floor it enabled them to go into the crypt. Narrow, spider web covered, dusty stairs led down to the deep. The obsidian eyed man turned to his giant servant.

"My loyal guard. You will stay here and keep an eye on the entrance! Do not let anybody in, whether it is a living or a dead creature!" he gave the simple instructions to his silent servant.

He grabbed his wolf headed staff and stepped into the crypt with the Faceless behind him.

In the meantime, not far from there, the seven adventurers reached the edge of the ruin town and entered the tendril-covered ancient ruins. It was almost completely dark by then and they lit a torch to see better. There were strange shades above them that slowly surrounded the little group.

"Living dead!" DaMatta cried out.

"I can create a protecting aura around us that can inhibit the creature from approaching us for a while."

"Do it my friend, or we can only rely on our swords and the power of the magic users!" the captain urged him, grabbing his weapon.

The priest/knight held the sacred symbol of his god and murmured prayers to him. A few moments later an invisible aura with a ten feet radius appeared around the heavy armored man. The decaying corpses smelling of death suddenly stopped around them. They were clenching rusty weapons in their hands. Some of them had shattered armors hanging on them. They started to back because of the magic and let the group move forward. However, they were following them persistently from a distance, rattling.

"This magic comes very handy now DaMatta," the panther man said.

"I cut all of them no problem. I am not scared of walking dead skeletons!" the orc clenching his battle-axe cut in.

"Still, it is easier this way, don't you think Tusk?" the almond-eyed girl asked the warrior who just grunted.

"Let's stop for a second, I see fresh horse steps on the ground!" the elf tracker was examining the ground.

"How many riders were here Lowarien?" the captain asked.

"Let's see. I see six. Yes, there were six horse riders and a giant creature, who can be really heavy, based on the depth of its footsteps," the Ertonfellian fighter was rubbing his chin.

"These are the men of the Nozgold Empire then, who killed the Night Blades in the mountains. Damn, they got here first. However fast we were!" the captain was swearing.

"The footsteps are fresh. They cannot be so ahead of us," the elf said.

"Let's follow them and see where they lead us. I hope we can catch up with them before it's too late," Corwen said with hope.

A little later, the footsteps towards the West led to two corpses: a masked man in a dark leather scale and a terrible beast.

"This is an assassin from the Nozgold Empire. I recognize his weapons," the elf warrior said.

The ginger-red haired beauty leaned down and examined the body.

"They are close my champion. The corpse is still fresh."

The orc was poking the terrible beast with his weapon.

"So disgusting. What could this be?" Everly looked over the corpse with disgust.

"Some kind of ancient beast, and it can be very dangerous. If it could kill one of the assassins of the empire," their mate in the full plate mail armor replied.

"Let's go forwards and hope they haven't found what they are searching for!" the captain said.

The footsteps soon led them to a large cemetery on a flat hill. They split up among the graves, but soon led to domed vault. Its marble door was open and it was guarded by a silent robust creature in a coat and a hood. There were destroyed skeletons all around it. The living dead were no opponent to the strange guardian. Even Tusk could have been jealous of his size. Noticing the arrival of the group, he turned to them with a metallic creak.

"Be careful, this is a dangerous opponent, a guard golem! Weapons cannot even harm it, not even magical ones!" the rour warned his mates.

"Fire and ice in turns however can wound it," he looked at the witch.

"Let's lure it from the door and I will attack with ice! Are you ready Larianna?"

"Of course I am ready, Al Sarran. Let's do it!"

The rour pointed at the robust creature with his staff as glazes of ice struck out of its peak into the opponent's body, making it cold.

The witch was up next. She created a human-sized, flaming creature that glid above the ground, hitting the golem with a huge explosion. His coat and other clothing burned, revealing his real form.

The body looked like a statue made after a muscular man. On his angular, unfinished head, only the two eyes were carved out. Its surface was covered with magic signs and figures. The attack made it furious. It started moving with creaking loud noise towards the group. The fighters surrounded it, but did not attack since it would not have made any difference. They could avoid his hits with its arm briskly.

"Can you tear that tower on it?" DaMatta shouted, pointing at the dome of a ruined building nearby.

"Lure him under it!" the rour shouted.

"We will take care of the rest with Dergo," he was backing quickly.

The steel monster was not so smart and the group could trick it to go to the right place. Then Al Sarran created an explosion at the bottom of the tower and the ancient building fell apart and shattered, burying the creature with stones, who did not move anymore.

"We destroyed it!" Corwen shouted happily.

"I hope so too captain, but we cannot be completely sure!" the panther man said, worrying.

A few moments later, smaller and constantly growing pieces of rocks began to roll down, from the mound and a steel hand appeared from it, followed by a head, as the golem slowly climbed out from under the rocks.

"This cannot be real! How can we destroy this creature?" Larianna shouted angrily.

"We only have one possibility left. We have to break the magical sign responsible for its movement. It looks like the letter "K" but it is always hidden to a hardly visible place. Around the armpits for instance. However, if we manage to break the drawing we can paralyze it," the sorcerer shared his knowledge about the weak point of the golem.

"Occupy it for a while and Lowarien and I will break the sign!" the thief girl shouted, getting out her throwing daggers.

"We will really have to fight it then goddamnit!" the captain was swearing.

The golem had already managed to escape from the pile of stones and was approaching him with long steps. Tusk, DaMatta and Corwen were waiting for the opponent with their weapons in their hands. They began fighting with the dangerous magical creature. Their blades could only scratch the metallic surface. They tried to avoid the powerful hits of the steel arms that made the whole land shiver, when they hit the ground. The elf tracker and the olive skinned young girl were watching them silently, waiting for the right moment.

"I saw something under its left arm, that's the sign Al Sarran was talking about!" the elf shouted, holding his stretched bow in his hand.

Hearing the golden haired elf's words, the captain spun to the left side of the opponent and cut the metallic surface of the body, to encourage it to attack him.

It lifted its arm high to kill Corwen with a hit. At that very moment, an arrow and a throwing dagger crossed the sky and hit the palm-sized sign, with fatal precision under the armpit. With a little explosion, the arm of the golem was paralyzed and stopped moving.

"Nice shots my friends. Finally we managed to brake the magic sign!" Al Sarran was delighted.

Everly and Lowarien winked at each other appreciatively, after the crucially precise shots. They all sighed with relief, since one hit of the golem could have killed any of them.

"If everyone is fine, let's go into the crypt!" Corwen said.
Chapter Ten

They rushed back to the grave, with the door open and spider webbed, dusty, marble stairs leading down to the dark. The captain entered the vault with a torch in his hand and the others followed him. The stairs soon turned to the left and they ended in a spacious room.

There were torches lit around the wall, covered in beautifully carved embossment. It depicted the glorious battles of ancient times, when they defeated the demons. There was a marble coffin in the middle, with an ornately carved warrior with a sword on the front board.

There were five people standing around it. In the middle, there was a goat bearded elderly man, in a burgundy loose leg-length coat, with a skillfully carved staff in his hand that ended in the skull of a wolf-like creature. There was a black obsidian gemstone for one eye. He had wrinkled face and baggy eyes. It was not caused by years, but by the use of dark magic.

The warriors were pressing slightly curved blades to their lower arms. They were had black, full body leather armors and they wore dark masks, covering their faces. One of them had ash gray skin and pointy ears like the elves' and he had sparkling turquoise eyes, burning with a dangerous flame, that could make anybody shiver, who looked deep in it. He had shoulder-long, messy milky hair.

"So you are the ones making the noise outside," the older goat bearded man in the middle said.

"I suppose you passed my servant guarding the entrance, which is impressive. I am Raduem Morquol, magister of the Black Tower and these are the Faceless, the elite assassins of the Nozgold Empire," he pointed to the men surrounding him.

"Before we kill you, I would like to know who you are and how did you get here?"

"I am Venuri del Corwen, guardian captain form the Dukedom of Eregorn and these are my loyal friends. If I am right, you are the deputies of the Nozgold Empire, who murdered the Night Blades, after you had no use of them anymore."

"It was an unfortunate event, but we had to do it, to avoid anyone else knowing about the location of the relic, but as I can see, we were not careful enough." Morquol replied.

"Luckily, the leader of the Night Blades, Artuli Ardokon prepared a good copy of the original map," the captain pulled out the paper from his pocket.

"Oh, I see how you managed to get here then. Tell me, who was able to understand the scripture written on the map? Because you couldn't have come this far without that," the sorcerer smoothed his beard.

"I am Mergoth Al Sarran, sorcerer of the Inner Circle order," the rour said.

A sorcerer from the Black Tower order? I will need all my power to defeat this magister. I can sense that he has incredible magical power. The rour was clenching his staff nervously.

"Good job, only a few are able to understand this dead language on the continent. Unfortunately, this is your final destination. I cannot keep you alive with this dangerous knowledge. The North will burn in flames soon anyway. Our troops may have already crossed the border. Our lord Vulgron will need the weapons, to succeed with his plan. Commander Vardo, kill all of them!" he commanded the shadow elf standing next to him.

"Leave the sorcerer for me, I will take care of him!" he added, turning to the milky haired warrior.

We meet at last my elf brother, only one of us will leave alive I swear! Lowarien pulled out his weapon with determination.

The assassins were moving towards them silently. Al Sarran, Larianna and Everly backed behind their mates, who were ready to fight back.

The faceless fought with a special battling style. They pressed their weapons to their lower arms and started their hardly visible movements from there.

Holding his shield in front of him, DaMatta was protecting himself, countering the series of skilled attacks with his knightly sword.

The orc was baring his teeth as he threw himself into the fight, holding his battle-axe with both hands, while Lowarien was spinning his saber wildly.

Corwen was looking straight into the eyes of the ash gray skinned elf. Their swords clashed fast and furiously, their blades were sparking as the steels, were battling loudly. The weapons of Vardo were made of an extremely rare star metal, which was the best noble metal in the continent, only mined in a small quality in the Nozgold Empire. Luckily, the Terwaldian steel blades strengthened with ruin magic could hold the field.

They could estimate the opponent's fighting skills within seconds. The captain had never met such a dangerous enemy. The elf, demonically spinning his weapons, burst into a laugh during the battle.

"You must have had excellent teachers captain, but you stand no chance against me!"

He hit the head of the captain, with a well-maneuvered spinning kick. The helmet blunted the kick and he still had a magical shield around his body, he could not sense before, as it protected him invisibly. It must be the drink Larianna made, the captain thought with gratitude.

"Well, well, are you protected with magic? Then I will use magic too!" the dreadful opponent said.

There were mysterious black flames bursting out from his blades after his command.

Everly shot from her crossbow to the magister, but an invisible shield diverted the bolt. Whom smiled sinisterly, and looked on the girl with his one eye.

"I will deal you later you little snipper-snapper. After I finish these two," he pointed on the red haired beauty and the panther man.

Larianna and Al Sarran with Dergo on his shoulder were maintaining eye contact with the magister of the Black Tower. The magical battle was about to begin between them, they shouted words at each other and drew signs in the air.

A phantom stepped out from the shadow of the dancing lights of the torches, for Morquol's command. It took up human form and threw itself on the panther man in seconds, reaching his insubstantial arms through Al Sarran. The sorcerer brayed out of pain and he could not focus anymore.

Then Larianna's eyes were smoldering like fire, burning the attacking phantom, who pulled out his airy arms, from the body of its victim and was trying to escape. It hid between the shadows of the room, to regain power and be able to attack again. Al Sarran looked at Morquol with pain.

"You will regret this you one eyed bastard!" he grunted, collecting all his power.

"It was nothing, wait for the rest cat man!" the dark magician shouted, clenching his staff with two hands and began a new magic.

Murmuring words, Dergo summoned a human sized stone fist and controlled it fast with his willpower, aiming at the dark magician. He was cautious and created a stone shield in front of him, that blunted the attack, mutually extinguishing each other's magic.

The burning eyes of the witch were focused on the one eyed enemy now. She burnt his coat in seconds, bruising his body. The grey haired sorcerer shouted out of pain and pointed at Larianna, with his wolf headed staff.

"Damn witch, you will pay for this!" he shouted furiously and cried out a spell.

The ginger-red haired beauty grabbed her throat, as an invisible power lifted her up in the air and lashed her to the wall. She screamed of pain as she fell on the ground and lost consciousness immediately.

Corwen heard Larianna screaming and looked aside for a moment, worrying about Larianna. Then his opponent cut his leg, piercing through the magical shield as the black flames, were burning menacingly on his blades. The captain was struck with unbearable pain, as the weapon hit his body.

"Don't worry about the girl, worry about your own life that will soon end! I will kill you slowly, cut by cut, until you beg for your own death!" the shadow elf snapped at him, gloating.

The captain was gritting his teeth and by the sudden attack and had to protect himself. His Terwaldian steel swords were impossible to follow as he was spinning them in front of himself, but the elf avoided them, with dainty movement. Corwen applied a trick and stepped on his foot, to reduce his scope of moving, then hit him with the handle of his weapon. His power ring turned out to be very useful. The steel mask was broken in two and blood was pouring out from the ash gray nose of the warrior. He lost balance after the hit. A tattoo under his right eye became visible, depicting a series of strange signs, linked like a spider web.

"Don't underestimate me assassin, I have a few tricks left!" the captain said.

"I hope so. I like tough battles!" he was smiling menacingly with ruthless fire burning in his turquoise eyes.

Meanwhile, the panther man was in the middle of a magic battle, with the magister. Shouting out magic spells, there were fire gazes springing from his finger towards the opponent.

The servant of the Black Tower was cautious and created a water wall in front of him that extinguished the arrows of fire. Making the wall disappear, it was his turn to attack. He pointed at the floor, where Al Sarran was standing and suddenly, stone hands were reaching out from it, clenching the arms and legs of the rour, making him unable to move. The sorcerer of the Inner Circle order was moaning of pain, but his servant dragon came to his help. He was shouting magic words and smashed the stone hands.

"Thank you Dergo, that was perfect timing!" the panther man was grateful.

He turned towards the opponent again, to make a final beat at him.

The assassins of the empire slowly overcame the opponents, The orc was seriously wounded. The elf tracker was holding his side with one hand, covering an ugly cut. The priest/knight was holding on the best. A bright aura was glowing around his sword. There was blood pouring out from the joints of his armor, as the enemy only attacked these weak points. It seemed like our friends were about to lose shortly.

I have to help them, or we will all fail, Everly decided. She grabbed her throwing knives and aimed at DaMatta's opponent with three sharp blades. They all hit, although they were blunted by the magically strengthened leather armor, but it stopped the assassin for a while in his fighting rhythm.

The Faceless looked aside where the attack came from. Dancing away from his opponent, and flipping backwards, he was next to the small thief girl in seconds. He was aiming at the throat of Everly, which must have had killed her in a moment, but the power of the goddess living in her was awakened.

Her eyes turned blood red and she grabbed the throat of the assassin as fast as lightning and pushed him to the wall. The blades fell out of his hands, as he tried to escape from the unbelievably strong clench of the girl's small hands, gasping for air, but he was unsuccessful.

The almond-eyed girl tore off the mask from the assassin, with one hand and pushed in the eyes of the opponent with the other. He cried out of pain helplessly. She threw him away to one corner, like a rag doll. Bones were cracking as he reached the ground, but he was still alive. Waiting for the redeeming death, he was struggling slowly and painfully until life left his body forever.

The goddess gave back control over her body again, retreating silently. He looked around confusedly, with her ocean blue almond shaped eyes, to figure out what happened.

Taking advantage of the unexpected events, DaMatta, rescued from his opponent, rushed to the help of Tusk. He warded off a hit with his shield and they cornered the fleet assassin together, with the giant warrior.

The two-handed battle axe struck, the Faceless ran up to the wall and jumped behind the orc. The priest/knight waited for the opportunity and shouted a magic spell. Then an invisible hand strongly pushed the assassin and he lost balance, as he reached the ground. The orc was cautious and quickly pierced his giant weapon, into the shoulder of the opponent. He was shouting and spitted blood into the air. Pulling out the axe, it left a wide-open wound in the enemy's body, who shouted out one last time, but no other voice left his throat anymore.

They rushed to help the Ertonfellian warrior, who could hardly avoid the attack, of the viper-like blades anymore.

The panther man collected all his power, as he aimed at the dark magician with a powerful, blue, flashing flame, coming from his hand. He created a protecting aura around himself, which could ward off the devastating attack.

The phantom came out of the shadows again, but Dergo noticed it and he could protect his master. Before it could come closer, he created a flying disc of fire, that cut the airy body of the creature in two and it disappeared completely.

The battle between the two sorcerers consumed all of their power, their faces reflected pain and exhaustion as they used up all of their remaining resources. The aura protecting the magister was weakened for a moment and the blue energy flame struck him in the chest and hit him to the wall. He was moaning painfully and a foxed scroll fell out from his burgundy coat.

Al Sarran directed his unicorn horned staff at Morquol, who estimated his possibilities. The intruders, the priest/knight, the orc and the elf tracker just now, defeated the third Faceless. They needed all of their battling skills to defeat him together. Only Vardo was still fighting with Corwen, slowly overcoming his opponent. The magister underestimated the enemy and weakened by his wounds, he had no other choice. He turned one of his golden rings and immediately disappeared from their eyes, within a second.

"Dergo, find out where the servant of the Black Tower went! I am too exhausted to do that," Al Sarran asked the servant dragon on his shoulder.

Clenching his staff tightly, the panther man went down on his knee, being exhausted of the magic and the wounds received from the phantom creature.

"As you wish master!" the little creature began to focus and he soon began to talk. "I cannot sense him anywhere, He is not in the room. He must have teleported."

The captain could hardly hold the field, the shadow elf always seemed to suspect, what he was about to do next. Even though he changed the different fighting techniques, he learnt from his masters, Vardo always knew how to ward them off. He only managed to cut him once on his arm, but he was already bleeding from many wounds, despite the magical shield. The special blades covered in dark flames, could beat any protection. His opponent was only playing with him by now. Suddenly a few of his mates joined him in the fight, driving the dreaded enemy towards the wall.

Everly rushed to the unconscious witch and tried to wake her up, by softly slapping her face. She opened her poison green sparkling eyes. Her face was shadowed by pain as he tried to move.

"What happened?" Larianna asked.

"The sorcerer grabbed your throat and lifted you up with some kind of magic and pushed you to the wall," Everly replied nervously, as she tried to help the injured to sit up.

"Only the ash gray skinned elf is left fighting, the sorcerer escaped, the rour and the servant dragon defeated him, but they are both completely exhausted," she informed her about the current situation.

The witch was holding her side, she had several broken ribs and she probably had internal bleeding and she also hit her nape, which was covered in blood.

"Excellent news, I hope the boys can get rid of this assassin," she looked towards the battle with a painful face.

They managed to corner Vardo, who was forced to defend himself. His situation was becoming hopeless, as he still managed to ward off the constant line of hits coming at him.

"You cannot defeat me you fools, no matter how many of you try! You will see something, only a few have experienced on the continent, the shadow dance!" he shouted, laughing loudly.

He stepped above one of the shadows at the wall and simply disappeared in it like the shadow had swallowed him up. The group was left there clueless and shocked. They pointed their weapons, where Vardo had been standing before, but there was only air.

"What happened? I don't understand! Where did he go?" the captain shouted.

"I heard that the shadow elves, the traitors of our nation, have some special abilities, thanks to dark magic. This is it apparently," the Ertonfellian tracker was clenching his saber tightly.

Suddenly the giant orc began howling, as blade appearing from the shadows cut his back. They heard laughter from the dark, as Vardo was attacking the helpless fighters, from unpredictable directions. He played with the like a cat plays with a mouse.

The warriors pushed their backs together, to have better chances at warding off the attacks of the Faceless. He could reappear from any shadows in the room and disappear in the shadows again after his attack.

Suddenly the shadows came together in one point, melting into one big circle, obeying the will of the witch, forcing the shadow elf hiding in them to reveal himself. Larianna took a deep breath and like the breath of a dragon, she blew a several-yards-wide flame at the assassin.

Burning in flames and tortured, the elf was trying to extinguish himself, rolling around on the ground. The smell of burnt meat filled the room.

"Attack him now until I can hold on!" the wounded witch shouted desperately, leaning on Everly, but still in control of the shadows.

The priest/knight was chanting sacred words and bracing himself, began a devastating attack. His bleeding, wounded mates did the same thing.

Vardo, still in flames and with a heavily burnt body jumped up from the floor, but he could not avoid the long blade of the knightly sword controlled by the divine hand, cutting his side.

He could avoid the sword of Corwen, but the other pierced his shoulder. He leaned from the saber of Lowarien, but the giant orc pushed him over. The battle-axe struck the enemy, lying on the floor, but the shadow elf rolled over and avoided it. The two-handled weapon missed its victim and got stuck in the floor.

He stood up quickly, as the captain collected all his remaining power for on last attack, with his Terwaldian twin blades and cut down his left lower arm. The turquoise eyes were burning of fury and pain. Then the saber of Lowarien found its way through the defense of the one armed fighter and pierced the leather armor of the ash gray warrior at the stomach.

"Traitor of my people, your faith finally found you!" he shouted at him with fury as he dragged out his weapon from the body of the shadow elf.

Spitting up blood, he backed, and then fell to his knees as the pound of his own blood was constantly growing around him.

"You cannot defeat me so easily, I don't believe it!" he shouted in rage.

"You should believe it you bastard!" the orc howled as he swished his two-handed battle-axe and beheaded the opponent.

Spinning in the air, the head landed in a corner. The body collapsed on the stone floor, which was painted with the pouring blood around it.
Chapter Eleven

They leaned against the wall, gasping and squeezing their scars, after the exhausting battle. Only Everly was intact as the goddess of misery and agony living in her, successfully protected her well-being.

"That was a tough bastard, that smoky skinned elf!" Tusk groaned.

"Sure he was! I have never met such an excellent fighter before, even though I have been in the business for a while," the captain replied.

"I told you, he was going to be a dangerous opponent and he proved me right. Without Larianna, we would have failed!" the golden haired elf warned them.

"How lucky we drank your potions ginger," the orc thanked the witch.

"Without the magical shield I would probably be dead, we are all very grateful to you Larianna. How are you feeling, how bad are your wounds?" Corwen asked, limping to the witch.

"Are you worried about me my captain?" the girl asked with pain in her voice, but still with a little smile in the corner of her mouth.

"I saw how hard you were pushed to the wall. I was afraid you might not even survive it," he softly hugged the ginger-red haired beauty.

"My injuries are serious, but I will survive, I am not the fragile type," the girl replied, caressing the captain.

"I still have some power left to heal someone. Who should it be?" the priest/knight asked, getting rid of his helmet.

"Why can't you heal all of us?" the elf tracker asked while sitting on the floor and clenching his wound.

"I can only ask for the healing power of my god once a day," DaMatta replied.

"It should be Larianna, she is a healer and if she feel good, she will be able to help us. Right?" the panther man turned to the beauty.

"I can take care of everyone to avoid infections and bleeding out," she looked around the anguished company.

They all agreed this was the right choice, so DaMatta stepped closer to Larianna, and pressed the round and sacred symbol to her forehead. Murmuring words, he began his prayer to the god of battle and bravery. A few moments later, the witch could feel the magical power of his prayer. Her wounds were rapidly healing and the scars on her ribs and head disappeared completely.

"I have some good news captain. We have the original map with the full scripture," the sorcerer showed him the old yellowish scroll.

"This is excellent news Al Sarran!" Corwen replied with a painful face.

He rolled it out and examined it, as the beautiful girl was taking care of the others' injuries. She got out her bandages, herbs and lotions out of her sack and began working quickly to aid her wounded mates. They could not thank her enough for the help. The life of the elf was literally in her hands, as his wounds were the most serious. She managed to stop the bleeding in time and stitch the scars. It took around two hours to bandage and solder everybody up.

"What's next captain?" the priest/knight asked, smoothing his messy hair.

"Al Sarran, what did you get out of the ancient writing on the map?" Corwen turned to the panther man.

"I can understand more of it than from the copy, it has some new information we did not know. Listen, I will read it out"

Where the Great Moorland is and the town of Xarion stands, there lies the great warrior, Orender Teroldo, who defeated the demon armies, with the power of the relics, whose power is feared by the lords of outer dimensions. The crypt with the sign on it hides the entrance, to the key that shows the way to Fire and Ice. The power of the weapons can only be obtained by real champions. In the room with the marble coffin, search for the demon eye, that will open the path towards the key.

"It has a bit more information on it, but there is still a lot of mystery left. So the grave does not hide the weapon, only the key leading to it. And there are not one, but two weapons. Fire and ice?" the captain was thinking aloud.

"Yes, according to the scripture, this is how we have to interpret it," the panther man replied with the scroll in his hand.

"We have to find the eye of the demon, which will show us the way," the thief girl said. "It could be hidden in one of the embossments, let's look around," the olive skinned girl suggested.

"Good idea. Let's start it. Everybody should choose one, there are quite a lot and sign if you see something unusual," the captain said and he stepped to one of the embossment.

Everybody started staring at the walls, decorated with skillfully carved figures. There were humans and other creatures fighting with the immense demon army on them. There was one depicting Orender Teroldo, with two swords in his hands, fighting with a giant, four armed and winged monster. It got Lowarien's attention and his sharp eyesight came handy again. It looked like the eye of the demonic beast, could be pushed in.

"My friends, I think I see something interesting. Come here!" he called the others.

Everly rushed there and examined the embossment. She knocked it with a huge iron lock pick and put her ear on the artistic piece.

"Yes, there could be a mechanic structure here, but we have to be careful. It could be a trap too. Step back, leave it to the expert," the thief girl was bragging.

They backed from the sculpture, Everly touching its surface, cautiously pushing in the demon eye. They heard a loud clicking sound as the structure started working. The marble tomb in the middle sank into the floor and transformed into stairs leading into the deep.

"The road is open ahead of, just after you," the almond-eyed girl rolled her daggers in her hands proudly.

"Nice job Everly!" the captain praised the girl.

"Who knows what is waiting for us down there," the panther man said.

"Let's find out, I will go first to see, what is at the end of the stairs," Corwen said as he grabbed a burning torch from the wall.

The spider web covered stairs lead to a low and ten feet wide aisle with stone walls. The large orc almost hit his head into the ceiling. The place was damp and musty. The swamp provided enough water for the whole area, so the stones were all covered in mould. They swiped away the spider webs as they went along the straight, aisle that soon turned left and ended in a double steel door. In the middle there were two dragon like snakes rolled around each other and letters in a dead language were written under it.

"Can you read this Al Sarran?" the captain asked with the torch in his hand.

"I will try, let's see," he leaned closer to the strange signs.

Say aloud, how they are called and enter, wanderer!

"This is what it says, word to word," the panther man explained.

"This is a riddle we have to solve," the priest/knight shared his views.

The orc grimaced and scratched his head, but he had no idea what the answer could be.

"What did the map say? The crypt with the sign on it hides the entrance to the key that shows the way to Fire and Ice. Something like that right?" the witch asked.

"You are right dear Larianna," the rour confirmed.

"How do you say Fire and Ice in the dead language?" the witch asked curiously.

"Fiere urd Norgeld" the rour replied.

Suddenly the two dragon–like snakes on the steel door slipped apart and the immense and massive door slowly opened before them.

"You are smart my darling" the captain kissed her.

"Do I get a kiss for every riddle I solve?" Everly asked cheekily.

"As much as you would like beautiful," Corwen replied joyfully.

"Enough of the flirting lovebirds. Move forward. I don't like this place!" the orc was urging his mates.

The aisle led straight forward and after a few steps in turned right, slightly inclining. They found another carved scripture on the wall, in ancient Ferron language. Al Sarran read it aloud again.

Even the bravest regret their sins, so be careful!

The scripture on the wall said shortly and briefly.

"What could this mean?" Lowarien asked the others pensively.

"I don't know. What if we just go forward?" the captain turned to the others.

"Let me go first, I will look around!" the young thief girl made her way to the front.

With a torch in her hand, she examined the floor and the walls carefully. A few minutes later, she found what she was looking for. A narrow, half inch wide and long gap on both sides of the wall, around waist height.

"This will be a trap, be careful with moving forward!" she warned the others.

"A repentant man always bows before his god to pray for his forgiveness." DaMatta said.

"That's it, we have to get on our knees and climb under it," the almond eyes girl snapped her fingers.

"Ladies first." The captain pointed forward and looked at the girls.

"Sure, so we can walk into the trap first!" Larianna put her hands on her waist.

"I don't think so ginger, we understood it well, I will go in the front, just follow me, it will be fine," the thief girl replied confidently.

She got down to her knees and began crawling. Her thin body can easily go through the wall under the gaps. The witch waved a hand resignedly and followed the almond-eyed girl, together with the captain and the others.

"Do you like staring at my ass from so close?" Larianna asked the captain cheekily.

"You always think about sex woman! Wait until we are done with this, you will get some staring!" the captain replied, smiling.

The others were just shaking their heads, hearing the flirtatious couple. The orc was the last, as he really had to pull himself together to stay low. He was in the last yard, when he accidentally touched the top with his shoulder. The structure was immediately in motion and two giant, jagged disks jumped out of the wall. They were spinning menacingly, heading fast towards the mold green warrior. The captain was cautious and grabbed his huge mate, dragging him out, with the power of his magical ring. The mortal disks just missed them. Tusk wiped off his forehead and lapped the shoulder of the captain.

"This was close, friend. If it wasn't for you, I would be minced meat," he thanked the captain.

"You're welcome, be more careful next time! I don't want anybody to die, before we reach our destination. Let's move on," he recommended to the others.

"Wait Corwen, don't I deserve a kiss?" the small girl was joking around.

"Fine Everly, I have to admit that you are a great help for us and it was a good decision to listen to the others, when I wanted to send you away," he admitted.

The aisle soon widened. The thousand years old torches should have had turned into dust by now, but they lit up thanks to an alchemist potion, or magic and they lit the small hall. The floor was covered in foot-sized stone blocks. All of them had a letter in the middle in the ancient dead language. There was another board on the wall, with a new riddle. The text went as the following:

Be careful where you enter stranger, only the name of the great man can keep you safe! Anything else will be the last mistake of your life!

"Oh no, this again," the captain sighed.

"Who is great man?" the orc asked, looking around the room.

"Luckily it is not that hard. I would guess the heroic Orender Teroldo," Al Sarran replied.

"Well, let's see if we can spell his name with the letters on the floor."

Frowning and mumbling, he began to count as he pointed at the stones. His eyes lit up soon.

"I have a solution. Hopefully I am right." He looked around the group.

"Only step on the stones I do."

The sorcerer commanded the others and he carefully pushed in the stone with the first "O" letter.

Nothing happened, so he courageously stepped on it and slowly moved forward, followed by his mates. They were stepping from stone to stone, very carefully, but unfortunately, the heel of the priest/knight slipped and one of the stones sank, but he could regain balance in time and stepped back. Everybody froze for a moment.

"Wow, it was close my friends, I am sorry! I promise to be more careful in the future," he swore to the others.

Finally, they all reached the other side where the aisle continued. After a sharp turn to the right, they reached another double steel door, at the end of the damp and musty aisle. They saw two burnt corpses in front of it. The door was a skillfully carved masterpiece. It had two dragon heads on it above their head, looking down on them threateningly, with open mouths. Below them, there were three wieldy mechanic rolls, with one word in the dead language on each and an activating handle on their right. Above it, there was a little board with the following scripture.

What characterizes a real hero from the following words? Think about your answer carefully, if you don't want the dragons to bear down on you!

The corpses must have been several hundred years old, only their burnt skeletons were left there for the future.

"How sad, they could get here after so many trials and they died right here," the elf said regretfully.

"This is why we have to be more careful," the captain said.

"What is the writing on the rolls Al Sarran?" Larianna asked.

"Wait! Let me examine the structure first to see how it works," the olive skinned thief girl stepped forward.

She was humming as she examined the machine and after a while, she said the following.

"I believe it only starts working if all three rolls are turned and the handle is pulled. We can read the possibilities, there will be no trouble," she informed the others.

The sorcerer read the words on the rolls aloud, turning the first one, word by word.

"The first roll has the following words: clever, brave and crafty. The second says strong, obedient and persistent. The third has fearless, careful and honest on it. There are no other possibilities," he said loudly.

"I think we should vote which ones to choose and the possibilities with the most votes will win," the priest/knight recommended.

"This is a good idea my friend. I agree," Corwen replied.

"So let's vote! I vote for brave!" the sorcerer said.

Most of his mates chose the same, except Everly, who voted for clever. The majority chose strong from the second roll, but the witch and the priest/knight voted for persistent. There was a tie between fearless and honest on the third roll so the decision was Dergo's, who was sitting quietly on the shoulder of the sorcerer.

"I think a hero should rather be fearless, than hones, because many can take advantage of honesty," the little dragon said judiciously.

"Is it decided then? I will pull the handle, if we made a mistake you will still have a chance to try again," the captain said while looking at the group.

Larianna's eyes were glowing of concern.

"Step back so you cannot get hurt."

He blew out the air from his lungs and pulled down the handle with determination. They heard the gears creaking and the door suddenly opened in front of the adventurers.
Chapter Twelve

The thousand years old torches, blazed up around the walls of the room, lighting up the semicircle shaped hall. Opposite them there were skillfully carved columns lined up in a semicircle, surrounding a marble coffin with a glass top. On the two sides, there were crafted weapons and armors ranged.

The group entered the room and walked closer to the coffin. Inside there was a skeleton in enamel blue and golden embroidered silk clothes, typically made for noblemen with a wide buckled belt on its waist. Its arms were crossed and under them, it was clenching a masterfully crafted dragonhead shaped crystal jewelry. It was the size of a fist and its eyes were made of carved rubies.

On the side of the marble coffin, there was a scripture, written in the ancient Ferron language. The sorcerer interpreted the text for the others.

Here lies Orender Teroldo, savior of humanity and all intelligent races. Hero of the battle of Geldron Valley, destroyer of the demon lords. Glory to his descendants!

"Wow, this is the great hero the scriptures talked about?" the thief girl asked, putting her hands on the glass cover.

"Most definitely, dear Everly," the knight priest replied and murmured a quick prayer.

"Is that the key in his hands we've been searching for?" the captain pointed at the dragonhead.

"I sense powerful magic from it, it has to be it!" the sorcerer replied firmly.

"What are you waiting for mate, open and take it! We come for this right?" the huge orc was encouraging him.

Corwen's eyes wandered to the almond-eyed girl.

"Everly, could you check if there are any traps?"

"Sure, give me a few minutes and I will find out," she replied gleefully.

"I sense powerful magic from the objects lying on the wall in the holders," the panther man warned them.

Stepping closer they examined the objects, leaving the thief girl to do her job.

"These weapons are older than me, they must be very rare," the elf examined them.

The captain noticed a silvery armor on a mount. It was a segmented armor, similar to his, but it was even more flexible than the one he was wearing.

"What kind of metal can this be?" he asked, scratching his chin.

"It seems like a dwarf's work to me, it was probably made of luniar, although I have never seen it in this color," the elf was examining the armor.

"Luniar is a very precious metal, it is valued all over the continent," the rour explained.

The orc noticed a moon gray, giant scale mail, he immediately tried on and it fit him perfectly.

The elf chose a dainty saber, with a wave shaped cross guard and its handle ended in a skillfully crafted wolf head. Its blade was also made of luniar, the valuable metal of the dwarves. He swished it in the air and nodded appreciatively, the weapon fit into his hand, as if it was the extension of his arm.

The priest/knight was staring at a silvery full plate armor, why obviously astonished him. The armor must have been made by the best craftsmen and was perfect in all its details. The grids of the helmet formed an angry face, with crested ears on two sides. It was also made of the rare metal of the dwarves. He began to take off his current armor, to put on this masterpiece.

Larianna chose a dainty dagger for herself, with a handle ending in an emerald gemstone. Meanwhile, she found a little crossbow-like object, with rune signs around it and it did not have the traditional elements of a crossbow, only an aiming gear on the top. The thief girl will like it, she thought.

"Look what I found for you Everly, you will definitely have good use of it!" she walked to the girl, who was almost done examining the coffin.

"What an interesting structure, it is light, but easy to aim with," she looked into its crosshair.

She aimed at one of the corners of the room and pulled the trigger. Then a flash of lightning struck out of the weapon, hitting the wall and burning its surface with loud crackling.

"Wow, what a nice weapon!" the almond-eyed girl was astonished.

"Be careful! These objects all carry the knowledge of ancient magicians! They created dangerous weapons, that could successfully defeat even the demons," the rour warned them.

"I will be more careful next time Al Sarran, anyway, I examined the coffin and I didn't find any hidden mechanisms. I believe it is safe to open the glass cover," she replied confidently.

"Then there is nothing left, but to have a closer look of that dragon head shaped jewelry," the captain stepped closer in his new armor, which he felt comfortable in.

Everybody assembled around the coffin as Corwen carefully opened it, but nothing happened. He slowly took out the skillfully crafted object from the skeleton's hands and lifted it for everybody to see.

The light mysteriously glinted on the almost completely transparent crystal. Then suddenly the ruby eyes flashed and the captain's body tightened up, his eyes rolled back and a series of visions exchanged each other in his mind.

He was flying furiously towards the South in his imagination and he saw a giant, menacingly steaming volcano ahead of him. A cave on top of the mountain attracted him, like a magnet. As fast as it came, the dreamlike vision was gone in a matter of seconds.

"What happened, my champion?" the witch was caressing the captain's face with concern.

"I saw images in my mind of a huge, steaming volcano, somewhere in the South and a cave on top of the mountain, where I felt I needed to go to," Corwen was blinking confusedly as he regained consciousness.

"That's an obvious sign, where we have to go captain," the panther man said, frowning.

"Luckily there are not so many volcanoes in the South, as far as I know there are only two."

Suddenly the ground began to shake and stones fell from the ceiling getting bigger and bigger, followed by soil flowing into the hall.

"Quick! Go outside before it buries us!" the elf shouted.

They did not need more encouragement, the group rushed towards the door. The priest/knight grabbed the parts of the glowing armor. He had not had enough time to put on. They were running as demons were chasing them. The aisles were closing down too, as they were buried with stones and dust filled the air.

Luckily, the traps did not work anymore, as the earthquake destroyed their mechanism. They just ran through them, back on the stairs to the upper floor of the crypt, where not a long ago they had an almost deadly battle with the servants of the Nozgold Empire.

When everybody got up to the top, the entrance was closed down by the rocks forever. The shatter covered the door completely and dust was flying everywhere. They were all coughing and gasping as they rushed to the surface, leaving the grave of the hero behind.

Stepping out from the domed crypt, they could finally draw breath. The sun was coming up on the East and painted the sky in orange and red colors. The constantly dark sky was covered with less cloud than usual and they could see the stars, blinking bluntly, except the comet that was glowing brightly with its long tail.

"That was close my friends!" the orc was gasping.

"I hope there will be no more surprises for today, it was enough for one day!" Everly took a deep breath, relieved.

"My master always said. Son, don't count the chickens, until they are hatched!" the priest/knight said, sitting on the ground and putting on the rest of the full plate armor.

"Where to go now my champion?" the witch hugged Corwen.

The captain put his arms around her waist and kissed her, and then he turned to the others with a smile on his face.

"I think we should return to the iblorg village to relax and talk about our possibilities. I hold the key to the ancient relics, which could help the peaceful nations of the North to win the upcoming war," he held up the crystal dragonhead.

"Our ancestors could not have said it better captain!" the elf tracker said with his hand on his bandaged wound.

They could not even catch a breath after the events of the last few minutes, when a bat winged woman struck at the company from the sky. She created a whirlwind with her wings as she landed among them as a predator bird. She grabbed the shoulder of her victim she had been following for days.

The thief girl was screaming with dread, as the creature grabbed her up with its strong arms and lifted her in the air. The little magic crossbow fell from her cloak to the ground, as she tried to escape from her squeeze, but the claws did not let her go.

The whole body of the attacker was covered in a strange, ebony colored armor made of a otherworldly metal. She had the face of a beautiful woman, but her eyes and lips were black. She had twisted horns sticking towards the sky. The dark braids of her hair ended in constantly twirling snakeheads.

Everybody was paralyzed, as they watched their young friend being lifted up by the creature. The elf got to his senses first and shot an arrow at the unknown attacker, but it bounced back from the back of her mail. Events evolved very fast and a few moment later, they were far up in the sky above the clouds.

"I can't believe this! How could this happen? She just kidnapped her in front of our eyes," Corwen cried out confusedly.

"For a moment I sensed the power of the goddess of agony and misery from the creature. I suspect it must have been her deputy. Every god has servants like this, weaker or more powerful, who can decide the outcome of a smaller battle," DaMatta said, sighing.

"Then everything is lost, we could not protect Everly as we promised, damn it!" the captain smashed his fist into the ground angrily.

"Don't give up hope yet Corwen, we still have some hope. I put a coin into Everly's pocket, with magic signs on it and I can sense it however far she's taken. I can also open a space gate to get closer to her," the rour tried to drag his mates out of their desperation.

"Go and save poor Everly!" Tusk was shaking his fist with determination.

"We will do that, let's go back to the iblorg village, collect our power and decide what to do next!" the captain suggested to the rour.

"And I will give this back to her personally," Larianna picked up the magic weapon from the ground.

"I think we will need some reinforcement, if we want to rescue Everly," the sorcerer nodded towards the motionless golem next to the exit. "I am able to control it. I just have to overwrite the sign and place the stamp of movement on it and it will follow my commands."

The others looked at the panther man, astonished.

"If you can really make this dangerous creature your servant, do it!" Corwen nodded.

Al Sarran rushed to the golem and he was done writing up the signs on its body in less than an hour. He activated it with a command. The robust metal body made a creaking sound and was ready to obey its new master.

"Follow me my servant! We have a long and dangerous journey ahead of us," the sorcerer commanded the creature.

The sun was up in the sky, when they reached the boats at the edge of the ruin town. They all sat in them, the priest/knight and the orc conducted them, with strong laps, leaving the unfriendly, foggy land behind.

The steel servant walked right into the water neck deep and followed its new master faithfully. The company was deep in their own thoughts, as they regarded the water surface. The captain was looking at the dragon headed jewelry, rolling it in his palm.

Where will this key lead us? What kind of dangers do we have to face? Poor Everly, we have to save her somehow, Corwen was puzzling.

Larianna put her head on his shoulder and held his hand. They were so close to succeed and everything went wrong. If they sacrifice the young girl and the goddess living in her gains human form, dreadful events worse than the upcoming war could take place, bringing endless misery to the habitants of Algaron.

*****

Zandurin was heading to the North with large flaps, clenching the young girl with her strong arms, who was unable to escape. She soon stopped trying, because she did not want to fall into the deep.

"What do you want from me you monster?" she asked with fear in her voice.

"I will take you intact to the monastery of the goddess of agony and misery for the command of high priestess Orzalla, so we could begin the ceremony," the rich female voice replied.

"Will you sacrifice me?" she asked on a shaking voice.

"We will not sacrifice you little girl, we will wake the goddess living in you," she explained.

"What will happen to me then?" she asked, confused.

"Your soul will hide in the background like now the soul of the goddess. You should be proud that she chose your body from thousands of people's." the winged creature replied.

Everly sighed and could not reply to the answer of her kidnapper. Thoughts were rushing through her head.

Will the captain and the group come to help? Will they arrive there in time or I can only rely on myself?

"I suggest you save your energy. The journey will take two days and two nights to the monastery. I won't stop anywhere, don't even try. You cannot trick me! I know when someone is lying to me!" the deputy said, piercing the thief girl with her dark and cold look.

Everly was helplessly watching the swamp above them, bathing in the light of the rising sun. They were flying towards the North in a quick tempo. She could only hope for a miracle, to be able to get out of this life-threatening situation.

*****

Meanwhile in the ruined town on the upper and intact floor of the crypt, a body moved, it sat up, then got on his feet and walked into the corner. He got his head up from the floor, with his one arm and put it back on his neck.

"So much better now! The resurrecting tattoo really worked," he said on a creaky voice, touching the signs around his eye.

"It is so strange to be a living dead. I don't breathe and my heart is not beating. I cannot feel my arms and legs nor thirst and hunger, but I am still able to control my own body, as if I was alive. I only have to find my arm and I will sew it back together with my head."

He looked around the room full of dead bodies and he soon found his missing arm. He sat in a corner, got out a slim and sharp bone and string made of animal tendons and began sewing back the injured body parts. He advanced with skilled stitches and was done in a few minutes.

"This is done," he moved his head and arm. "Let's see what I can do with the weapons."

He picked up the hidden blades and rolled them with acrobatic movements. He did not lose any of his kills as a living dead. His turquoise eyes were burning furiously.

"Captain Venuri del Corwen, I will come after you and your mates, nobody can stop me! I will revenge my own death!" the shadow elf burst into a laugh.

He put his weapons back in their cases and rushed towards the exit. Mad fire was burning in his eyes fueled by one thing. Death...

End of Book One

###

Thank you for reading my book. If you enjoyed it, please take a moment to leave me a review. This is important to me.

Thanks!

Xaiver Morden Author
Glossary

Valor – highly ranked veteran assassin in the Empire's Assassin clan.

Night Blades − an assassin clan emerging all around the continent, they earned reputation by killing a prince a couple of decades ago.

Faceless − the most elite assassin clan around the continent, very few can survive the long indoctrination, whereby they become dreaded assassins.

Grandmaster Karundum − leader of the Faceless, one of the world's most dangerous swordsman, initiate of the Shadow dance, a technique that only a half dozen know in the world.

Shadow dance – a secret fighting style that only a few initiate know from the Faceless. The user of the style is able to step in and out of shadows, and travel between them.

Luniar – a very rare and valuable magic metal. Mined in Tamaria, the dwarves underground empire. There are four different variations. The least valuable is the blue lunair, then the red after the moon, and lastly the ancient silver luniar, which is the strongest and hardest among magical metals.

Star metal − only mined in the Nozgold Empire, in small quantities. It is a very rare magical material, the continent's most resistant and valuable precious metal. The colour of the metal looks like basalt.

Demigod Vulgron – child of Morguld, the god of death and destruction and a common woman. He is the head of the Nozgold Empire for centuries now.

Flaming Palm witch order – belongs to one of the few orders on the continent, which serves the good cause. They rather heal and help who is in trouble, than cursing and intrigues.

Hatchet of Geidon − an ancient dwarf relic. With it the nation living underground fought countless victorious battle.

Terwaldian steel – metal mined south of the continent and mostly found in Terwaldia. It is famous for its resistance. They make superb weapons and armours from it.

Kyrion, Goddess of agony and misery – a goddess forgotten thousand years ago, with only a handful of believers left. She gathers strength from the misery of young men, but the inquisition destroyed the order. There is only one monastery left, hidden up North in the mountains where a few are still praying to the goddess.

Varranian firewater – produced in North of the continent and famous for its high alcohol percentage and luscious taste.

Clan of the Blood Drinkers – notorious orc clan with the best warriors. The orc and goblins have a deep respect toward the clan members.

Inner Circle sorcerer order – a famous order founded south of the continent where they train the young, talented in magic. All races can be found inside the walls.

Ertonfell – a fighting school found in Horeldien, the elven realm, where they train outstanding warriors and scouts.

Three Shields fighting school – founded by the members of the Northern Dukedom. The most famous school in the North with several hundred years of history. It has given many talented swordsmen to the world.

Elloro – a rare wood, which from the elves make the best bows with magical procedures, around Algaron. The bow made from it has a special ability. Only the person who the bow was made for can draw it. In others' hand it is useless.

Father of all trees – the elven traditions say the huge ancient tree, which lives here, is the first tree, which wriggled out of the ground, at the beginning of time. The tree is guarded heavily day and night; they won't let strangers near it. Sometimes the elven leaders seek the tree for advice, as it is able to speak on its own unique way.

Illvars – sages and leaders of the elven nation. There are less than a dozen members, who are the oldest and most experienced elves.

Ferron language – the first settlers of Algaron spoke this language several thousand years ago. Now days only few knows this language, mostly scholars.

Black Tower sorcerer order – the Nozgold Empire's most famous sorcerer order, where from countless magicians, trained in the dark arts, came out.

Valinor – goddess of nature. Many healers and hunters pray to her, when they roam the wilderness, in order to protect them from danger.

Staff of Arwald – a long lived, famous sorcerer's staff, which was able to banish demons back to the outer dimensions. The staff disappeared when the sorcerer died, but they talk about its powers until these days.

Drum of Growalda – famous magic war-drum, which if played in the right rhythm, kills all fear in orcs and goblins.

Teidron fighting style – one of the Faceless's attack form, where they synchronise their attack with clockwork precision, and strike the adversary simultaneously, leaving the opponent unable to parry incoming attacks.

Iltor – dwarves' god of vengeance. The underground warriors often pray to him.

Big Wolf Spirit – god of the goblins and orcs, but scholars say it is just a powerful entity from one of the outer dimensions. They believe they descend from him, and always pray to him.

The battle of the Geldron Valley – the united nation defeated the demon armies in this final battle. Thanks to Orender Teroldo and his incredibly powerful weapons, they managed to roust out the demon lords and lock down the gates of the outer dimensions.
About The Author

Xaiver Morden lives in Hungary. He was born in 1983. Role playing games had a great impact on him when he was a teenager. This is why he started writing. He wrote his first novel in fantasy genre. He likes the sci-fi and the fantasy too. His favorite hobbies are body-building, and playing billiard.
Other Books By Xaiver Morden

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Legend of Fire and Ice Series

The Comet Appears Book One

Reptilian Series

City of The Reptilians Book One

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