The First Fantasy
Brian Petro-Roy
agent57@coe.neu.edu

200 years ago, the Fiends Tiamat of Wind and Kraken of Water stole the respective Orbs from their altars, disrupting the flow of wind and greatly disturbing the sea. The people of this land live in fear of the final two Orbs being stolen and their world thrown into total Chaos, but they still have hope in an ancient prophecy.

'When the world is in darkness
Four Warriors will come----'

The time now is not right for this prophecy to be fulfilled, but the events must be set in motion. This is the tale, not of the fulfillment of the prophecy, but of how it was made possible.

This is...the First Fantasy.

From a distance, the town of Coneria looked normal - a peaceful, clean, orderly little burg. Nestled in a carefully crafted clearing in the middle of a forest, Coneria, or the Dream City as the public relations people referred to it, was hailed as the most peaceful community in the world. However, at this moment, the streets were quiet save for the slamming of doors and the shutting of windows as the citizens of the Dream City saw their nightmare stride down Main Street in the flesh. Wrinn was ticked again.

Soaked from head to toe, a sour scowl on his chiseled face, Wrinn Taylor felt like he was about to explode, and he looked it, too. The townspeople knew better than to even look at Wrinn wrong when he was in a state like this, and the street-clearing routine had become normal, as was Wrinn's final destination. Every time he felt like this, he knew exactly where to go to cool down - Lukahn's house. And, as always, he nearly destroyed the door on his way in.

"Blast that infernal Kraken! Can't he keep the seas calm for five lousy minutes?"

"Ah, then your day of sailing must have been a rousing success," the sage replied, barely able to contain his amusement. Lukahn was the only one who would dare sass Wrinn when he was in such a state - it was his duty as Wrinn's mentor, and besides, his knowledge of magic was so vast Wrinn would have to be completely insane to try to attack him. "Is your boat still intact?"

"Of course not! Why in the name of the gods would it? No, that would be beneficial of that wretched octopus!"

"If I remember correctly, Wrinn, I warned you that the seas were now barely passable by experienced sailors, let alone a neophyte like yourself. Once again, you've attempted to achieve skill through brute strength and force, and once again, if you'll pardon the phrase, you're all wet."

Wrinn opened his mouth to retort, but realized that it was futile, and that the old man was right once again. Wrinn resolved to himself that he would try again next week, but then snapped back to attention as he heard Lukahn speaking.

"...and after you've finished that, go find Gary and perform your training exercises together. Then, after your meditation period, come back here - I have something I have to talk to you both about."

"Yes sir," Wrinn replied, having no clue what the first thing his teacher wanted him to do, but afraid to ask, since it would reveal the fact that he hadn't been listening.

He turned to leave, and as he reached the doorway, he heard Lukahn call, "Oh, by the way, Wrinn -"

"Yes?"

"Next time, pay better attention - that's why I told you to clean your ears first."

"Uh...yes, sir." Aforementioned ears flaming red, Wrinn slinked out of the hut while Lukahn laughed quietly to himself.

"What am I ever going to do about that boy?" The old sage suddenly became somber. "It had better be good, considering what he's got in store for him..."

"So where's the boat?"

"Gone. Completely gone. If that damned octopus sees fit, maybe the wreckage will wash ashore sometime, but I'm not going to hold my breath." Wrinn wearily leaned against the tree, lifted his head and looked at his friend. Wrinn and Gary had met as boys playing in the forest around Coneria, and after being chased out of their woodsy playpen by an imp, they had both simultaneously decided to train as knights under Lukahn. The arrangement was working out well - what once was their play area was now a training ground, the pair were the strongest and best fighters in the kingdom, and everyone agreed that it was a matter of time until the King invited them to join the prestigious Honor Guard.

"What I don't understand is why you tried to go sailing anyway - Kraken's stirred up the oceans so badly that we only trade by land routes now! What on earth were you thinking?"

"I was thinking," Wrinn snapped as he shifted his weight to his other foot, "that maybe it's time somebody showed that black-hearted beast that we're not afraid of him! No wonder that the situation's getting worse - all we do is cower in fear of those damned Fiends, and nobody does anything about it!" Wrinn stood and drove his protected right fist into the tree he was leaning on, as if he was trying to send a threatening message to the Fiends.

"Look," Gary said as he shouldered his wooden training sword, "before you get too angry, would it be all right if we practiced while you can still think clearly?" Wrinn nodded in agreement and picked up his sword as well, then faced his friend. "Ready?"

"Ready!" shouted Gary as he rushed his friend, they crossed swords, and the battle began. Lukahn had endeavored to teach each knight a different style of swordsmanship - Wrinn's tactics were to parry as much as possible, and, using his superior strength, land blows on his opponent's sword that were usually enough to shatter a forearm. Gary's nimble feet were his weapon, as he danced around his friend, making swift stabs and short swings, mainly aiming for the arms and legs, as he would weaken his enemy with wounds until a well-placed stab would finish things nicely. The fight dragged on - Gary's forearms ached, but he still held his sword tight, while even though Wrinn's shins were killing him, he still stood. All of a sudden, Gary's eyes seemed to roll up in his head, and he advanced at Wrinn, his sword moving so fast it was frightening. This was Lukahn's secret technique that he had taught Gary - to leave his mind alone to control his body - and Gary had perfected it. His final attack in this state was a swift, strong swing to each limb, and then a series of spin moves that hit high and low, and then he would stab straight for his opponent's gut. However, for all his training and skill, Gary's attack was futile - Wrinn was so used to this move that he easily blocked the four swings, ducked and jumped away from the spins, and then sidestepped the death blow, bonked his friend on the head with the flat of his sword, and knocked the wood out of Gary's hand as he fell to the ground.

"Damn, I thought I actually had you that time!"

"No such luck, instinct boy," Wrinn laughed as he helped his friend up. "I'm way too used to that move. Come on, we'd better start meditating or we'll be late to see Lukahn tonight."

"Yeah, you're right." As each young man relaxed his body and sent his mind to dwell on otherworldly issues, both of them still had an expression on his visage. Wrinn's grin was fading, but was still there, and Gary's face showed frustration that bordered on fury.....

Apparently calmed by a half hour of meditation, Wrinn and Gary sat in Lukahn's hut as he lit a candle to combat the dusk. "So, did your training go well?"

"As usual, sir, except Wrinn knows the Instinct Spin too well."

"So well, in fact, that's it's becoming instinct for me to block it!" Gary shot a look at Wrinn at this, his face grim.

"Wrinn, stop bragging -" Gary seemed to relax - "I've noticed that your shin guards are a bit marked up. If the two've you had real swords, you wouldn't be standing right now..." Wrinn seemed to shrink a little bit at this chastisement, when Lukahn continued, "Of course, Gary, you would be dead, but that's a moot point." All three shared a chuckle over this, but soon Lukahn's mood grew dark again and he sighed dejectedly. "I only wish I had called you in here to make fun of your fighting techniques, but-" here he massaged his temples in dread - "I fear I must discuss something of dire importance."

Gary and Wrinn shot glances at each other - to some people, dire importance meant feeding the family, keeping a job, or rebuilding the house - to a Sage like Lukahn, that meant something big. Something that affected the very state of the world.

"I fear the Age of Chaos will soon be a reality." The Age of Chaos was the name people had given to the time when all four Fiends of Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire came together in an effort to destroy every sign of life on the planet, and were all blessing their luck that it was still just a name. "So far, only Kraken of Water and Tiamat of Wind have risen from the depths to steal the Orbs' powers - the Fiends of Fire and Earth still lay in wait, even though it's been 200 years since Tiamat first revolted."

"The time for the world to be truly thrown into peril is drawing closer and something must be done."

Wrinn suddenly spoke up. "So where do we come in? Every time an advance against the Fiends has been attempted, it's been a miserable failure! The Lefeinish only have one airship left due to Tiamat, gods know what happened to the five Sky Warriors that managed to reach Tiamat when he first revolted....."

Where Wrinn left off, Gary immediately picked up. "....and most of the Mermaids were killed when Kraken stole the Orb of Water from the Sea Shrine. What can we do? And why does it matter much? All that the Fiends have done since stealing the powers is sit stubbornly on their altars and be a nuisance!"

"Well, my pair of know-it-alls, I happen to have seen something in a dream I had last night that has convinced me otherwise." Wrinn and Gary perked up their ears at this - Lukahn's dreams often produced prophecies that were always correct.

"What did you discover, master?"

Lukahn silently appreciated his students' intuition before he spoke again. "The Fiends have left their altars. This can only mean that they are preparing themselves and their troops of twisted monsters for an invasion of the northern country."

"So what is our part in all this?" Wrinn and Gary asked in unison.

"The Twelve Sages must reconvene at Crescent Lake to discuss these events. I have no clue where they all are, since we all split up in despair after our failure to regain the powers of Wind and Water when we first lost them. And I can't even contact them telepathically any more, since none of them are listening for any communication from me. You must find them, let them know what's going on, and send them to meet with me at Crescent Lake. Even though every road in the world is treacherous now, what with even the lowliest wild dogs gaining courage at the Fiends' revolt, I am positive that the two of you will be able to survive. In any case, prepare for your journey tonight, and in the morning I will give you a crash course on magic so that each of you can learn a spell that you wouldn't do too well without. You may go."

As Gary and Wrinn rose, they gave each other worried glances - this wasn't a training exercise anymore, this was the real thing - this is what they had actually gone into training for. As they turned their backs on their master and moved towards the door, they were startled to again hear their master's voice. "Boys?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Never mind. Prepare well, my students."

After finishing their meal of venison, the two friends went to Wrinn's house to discuss the task that lay ahead of them. "So, what spells do you think he'll teach us? If all he gives us is boring old white magic, I'm going to be really disappointed." Gary was obviously excited.

"Oh, so keeping yourself alive is boring, eh?"

"It is when you could be roasting your enemy alive before they have a chance to hurt you!"

"Hmmm....I will admit, my friend, you've got a point there." They shared a laugh, but Wrinn's face clouded.

"What's wrong?" Gary asked, a concerned look crossing his features.

Wrinn paused a moment before answering his friend. "I was just wondering what failure feels like."

"What are you talking about? You failed at sailing this very afternoon - and gods know the amount of times I've disarmed you in training! You fail all the time," Gary retorted, with a wide grin on his face.

"This is different, Gary," Wrinn replied, with no trace of his friend's mirth. "What does it feel like to be entrusted with something important and fail? Something that involves the welfare of others? Every time I've failed, I've failed myself, and it was only myself that got hurt."

"And when you succeeded, it was me that got hurt - the bump on the head you gave me this afternoon still smarts!" Wrinn finally let a smile crease his face before replying. "I guess we're just going to have to be strong enough so that we don't fail."

"Now that's the way to talk!" Gary held out his hand, and Wrinn clasped it. "C'mon, friend. We've got a journey to prepare for! Here's to our test - our way to prove ourselves."

"I'll go you one better, Gary - here's to our success. Here's to us proving to the rest of the world that we belong at the top. Let our strength always lead to victory!"

The next morning, they met Lukahn in the forest clearing, who told them that in the short time they had, he could quickly teach them the basics of one spell each. Gary immediately said that he wanted the spell of Fire, which Lukahn said was a wise choice, but he should be careful about using it in the forest - a forest fire would only further advance the destructive rise of the Earth and Fire Fiends. Wrinn, on the other hand, elected to receive the spell of Cure, just in case either he or Gary met up with something they couldn't quite handle - however, he was so sure he would never need it that he didn't bother weighing himself down with magic potions, while Gary took as many as he could carry. After they were both prepared to leave, Lukahn said, "Come with me before you leave - there is something important that must be done." Wrinn and Gary shrugged, and followed their master with looks of confusion and curiosity on their faces....

Which turned to shock, and then pride as Lukahn lead them into the throne room of Coneria Castle. The King, the kind, wise ruler of Coneria, smiled at the two young men and said, "Wrinn Taylor and Gary Blackstone, approach the throne." The two men stopped five feet from the throne and knelt in reverence. "The Great Sage Lukahn tells me that you two depart this day on a journey that could determine the fate of the world in our battle against the cursed Fiends. In all this kingdom, I can think of no other men that I would rather send to save us from the evil that plagues our world. You two have long deserved the honor which I am about to bestow upon you, and now you are more than deserving of it - rise, my friends, as members of the Honor Guard of Castle Coneria!"

The two friends stood, faces beaming with pride, as the King continued. "Since not enough time is available to provide you with the armor of the Honor Guard, I will instead bestow upon you these armbands, red in color with the symbol of our great city stitched in gold. Wear them proudly, and good luck upon your journey." Gary and Wrinn executed one more bow of thanks to their ruler, and then, tying their armbands onto their right upper arms, followed their master out of the castle and to their journey.

As Lukahn proudly watched his headstrong students amble out of town on their way eastward to the port city of Pravoka, his thoughts were many. But, chief among his thoughts was this - "I just hope they don't get any teeth knocked out or have their noses broken on the way - if that happens, the most important part of all this is going to be a lot harder than it should."

"Nice day, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"Think we'll make it to Pravoka tonight?"

"Yeah."

"Think the Fiends'll destroy the world?"

"Yeah."

"I thought so." Gary couldn't understand it at all. Every other time they'd been walking through the woods, Wrinn had been personable, carefree and reckless. This time, he was aloof, terse, and wary to the point that it was creepy. Sure, they'd been attacked a couple of times on the way, but all they'd had to deal with was an imp who thought they'd be easy pickings and one thin, hunger-driven wolf who didn't have a chance. Both fights had been amazingly easy, too - they'd each had one chance to hack at the imp before he'd split it in two, and one snap of his fingers had summoned the fireball that made the wolf run off, yelping in pain. So far, this trip had been a walk in the park, but by Wrinn's attitude, Tiamat himself was lurking behind the next tree, ready to rip them to shreds. "What's wrong with you, anyway?"

"Whaddaya mean, what's wrong with me?"

"Never in your life have you acted like this before, pal. Every time we've traveled before, you've welcomed confrontations, not dreaded them! Either you're not Wrinn, or something's wrong with you."

"Nothing's wrong with me, Gary, I just don't want to get killed!"

"By what, may I ask? These are the same woods, from here to Pravoka, and everything more dangerous than a mosquito has been taken care of by the bounty hunters already! Just because Lukahn knows that the Fiends are going to make their move soon, it doesn't mean that the most benign forest in the world is suddenly going to become as dangerous as the Sky Castle! Lighten up!"

At that moment, Gary's tirade was cut off as the wind was knocked out of him by a wolf that had rushed from the bushes and leaped to the attack. As he hit the ground, he could feel the cold claws of the predator digging into his shoulder and he had to bite his lip to keep from crying out. Luckily, Wrinn had moved quickly, and in one swift move, he raked his sword across the creature's ribs, and still using his initial momentum, positioned his blade for a deadly stab straight through its spine. Once he was sure the creature was dead, he removed his sword and kicked the wolf off the body of his friend. Gary started to get up, but Wrinn stopped him.

"Hang on for a second, these slashes are nasty." He muttered a few words and motioned his right hand, and the healing magic stopped the bleeding and repaired any damage that might have been done. "So, Gary, continue - I believe you were saying something about lightening up?" Gary angrily got to his feet and prepared to retort, but when he saw how close his friend was to laughing, his mood softened and he continued in mock seriousness, but had no chance of keeping himself together. "Ahem. Yes. As I was saying, we all must travel in as (mmph) a somber mood as possible," - here Wrinn began to snicker, and Gary's voice trembled with mirth - "as to avoid (heh heh) dangerous confrontations such as that one!" By this time, both of them had lost it, and as the vultures descended upon the still form of the wolf, laughter was heard ringing along the forest corridor.

Later that evening, they arrived at Pravoka in fine spirits. Soon after the fight with the wolf, Wrinn had realized the wisdom of what Gary had been saying and had gone back to his old toughguy self, and Gary had been greatly relieved. Nothing important had happened on the rest of the way, save a few confrontations with the normal forest creatures, but they had been dispatched easily, now that both men's confidences were back. As they entered the town, Gary asked, "So, where does the Sage here live?"

"Lukahn told us that there was no Sage here, remember?"

"So why are we here, then?"

"He knows that there is at least one Sage who lives on the southern continent, so he sent us here to hire a boat to take us across the Aldi Sea. C'mon, let's head for the Inn and see who's in the oceanic business." The two started to walk down the busy main street, which lead to the Inn, which they could see off in the distance.

"Oh, so that's why he gave us all that money. I thought he wanted us to hire some help."

They had reached the door of the Inn. "Why on earth would the two of us need help?"

Wrinn then opened the Inn door and Gary said under his breath, "If it's that beautiful, we definitely need help!" At the sudden noise of the door opening, several of the Inn's patrons had looked up - most notably a rather beautiful white-haired woman off in the back. She was dressed in black, with a long, flowing red cloak, and gave a quick, ice-cold glance at the two newcomers before returning her attention to her drink.

"Come on, Gary, let's find out where we can hire a boat....Gary?" He looked around, but there was no sign of his friend. "Where...?" he started to muse, until he spotted Gary slowly approaching the lady's table. "Pfft," he muttered. "Women." As Gary reached her table, he thought to himself, hmph. Let him get shot down - I'm going to hire us a ship. We've got no time for this! He composed himself as he stood at the counter. "Excuse me, could you direct me to the marina?"

In the meantime, a very flustered Gary approached the table, and when he thought he was within earshot, he stammered, "uh....ummm....could...I...um...sit here?"

With a quick, disdaining glance, she replied, "You don't need my permission. Sit where you like. But, I don't think I'm going to allow you to ask any more stupid questions, though."

"Well, aren't we tough for a lady. You a merc?"

"Didn't I tell you I wasn't going to allow you to ask any more stupid questions? Shove off, pal. Even if you did try to hire me, I wouldn't work with a weakling like you, no matter how much money you have."

"Why the hell would we need you anyway? Myself and my friend are more than a match for anything that gets thrown at us! What makes you so special?"

"Well, if you haven't guessed yet from my cloak, I'm a Red Mage."

"Red Mage? I've heard of Black Mages that know all sorts of attack magic, and White Mages that learn curative magic, but I thought those were the only two types of magic. You find a third kind?"

"Nah. I just know'em both."

"Wait a second! I was always taught that once you learned one type, you couldn't learn the other type - that devoting yourself to one shut yourself off from the other one! It can't be done!"

"Well, if it can't be done, then I guess I don't exist, eh? And if I don't exist, how could I do this?" With that, she snapped her fingers, and a small bolt of lightning struck Gary's foot.

"OWWWWW!! Why on earth did you do that?" Gary yelled as he leaped out of his chair and jumped in pain, holding his foot.

"Easy, big fella. I did that so I could do this!" She motioned her hand, and immediately the pain was gone. See? First I cast Bolt, and then I cast Cure. Black magic spell followed by a white magic spell - a metaphysical quandary put into practice."

Gary stared at her, mouth open wide. "How on earth did you figure this out?"

"Sorry, pal," she said as she got up to leave, "trade secret. By the way, the name's Phia. After you and your friend get your butts whipped out there, come whining back to me. I'd love to hear it." She got up, wrapped her cloak around her, and stalked out, leaving Gary positively stunned, while thinking to herself, Hmmm. not bad, but it's too bad he's a wimp....oh well, can't be helped....

"Wow, what a woman!!"

"I wouldn't get that excited, kid," a voice said behind him.

"Huh?" Gary turned around to face the speaker, a scruffy-looking character who was seated at the table next to him. "Who the heck are you?"

"The name's Kural. I've been a merc ever since I was 14, and I've worked a couple of missions with her before. Believe me, she's not all she makes herself out to be."

"What do you mean?" asked Gary, skepticism clouding his expression.

"I'll explain. As you said, there are two standard types of Mages - Black and White. And normally, as you said, once you devote yourself to one type of magic, you can't learn the other. Well, she found a way around that by playing both ends against the middle, and ended up tricking the normal flow of Balance - but it cost her."

Gary cocked his eyebrow and stared at Kural for a moment, then asked, "Where the heck does Balance come into all of this?"

"Balance is what keeps each person's abilities even. For example, you seem to be a pretty strong guy - I'm guessing you've mainly been taught swordplay?" After Gary nodded, he continued. "As your fighting strength and skill grew through your training, your physical strength increased, but your ability to learn and use magic diminished greatly - you'll be lucky if you ever learn more than one spell without cheating Balance. However, Balance doesn't like to be cheated, so don't hold your breath."

"Wait a second!" An incredulous look had appeared on Gary's face as he said, "If Balance doesn't like to be cheated, how the heck can she do what she does?"

"I'm getting to that. She didn't cheat Balance, she just played her hand very well. While she does know both types of magic, she's limited - she can't learn all the really powerful spells or the spells that require devotion to that discipline. For example, she can't cast any type of Harm spell - exorcising the undead requires a total devotion to the purity that white magic represents. Same thing happens the other way - the most powerful black spells get spoiled by even the slightest bit of purity, so she can't use them either. And, the spells that she does know are a bit weaker than those cast by real Mages - but, once again, Balance evens everything out."

"If she can't cast spells as well as other Mages, how does Balance even things out again?"

"Most straight Mages devote their life to the study of magic and the increase of their mental self. All this concentration of the mind leads to a sapping of their physical strength - that's why most mages stink at straight combat. And that's also why your magical power is so pitiful."

"Balance at work again, eh?"

"Exactly. And since she doesn't have that much magical power, she's a decent fighter. She doesn't have what it takes with strength or skill to match, say, either you or myself, but she's no slouch either."

"So she developed a way to make herself a decent fighter, a decent Black Mage, and a decent White Mage all in one package?"

Kural nodded. "The perfect merc. She takes any group and rounds it off into an even unit. She may not be that impressive by herself, but when she joins up with others - all I can say is I wouldn't want to be in on any job that has to face her party at some point."

"'She may not be that impressive by herself?' I'd be intimidated if I faced her!"

"No you wouldn't. No matter what she threw at you, you'd just laugh it off while you whipped her. Every time she challenges someone, she loses - big time. If she's not a supplement, she can't hold her own. None of the mages respect her - her bouncing back and forth between black and white really ticked off the purists, and fighters like myself think she wasted her fighting talent on learning some weak-ass magic. Don't bother wasting your respect - or your infatuation, loverboy - she's just not worth it." With that, the hardened mercenary got up and left, leaving Gary staring pensively off into space as he thought about everything he'd just heard. Wrinn, having finished his business on securing a boat, walked over and waved his hand in front of his friend's face.

"Hey, you awake? A ship's leaving for ElfLand in about an hour. I got us on free in exchange for agreeing to handle any attacks while we're on board - pirates, sea monsters, whatever, I'm sure we can handle them."

Gary shook his head to clear the cobwebs, and then answered. "Yeah, Wrinn, whatever you say." Wrinn eyed Gary warily - Gary only got starry-eyed and standoffish when something was really troubling him. "You all right, pal?" he said, laying a hand on Gary's shoulder.

"Yeah, Wrinn, I'm fine," Gary replied, giving his friend a small smile of gratitude - it was good to have a concerned friend like Wrinn. "Come on, let's use some of that money Lukahn gave us to buy some fresh supplies."

A while later, provisions restocked, Wrinn and Gary waited on the dock. "How much longer? I thought you said the ship would be here in an hour!"

Irritated already, Gary's peevish tone annoyed Wrinn even more. "How in the world should I know?" he snapped back. "The inn owner told me his ship was coming in to offload, and the blasted thing was due here twenty minutes ago!"

"Dealing with unexpected difficulties, gentlemen?" They both whirled to see Phia standing there, a mischievous smile on her face. "Boat a little late?"

Wrinn, not having had the pleasure of meeting her before, got even more pissed at this stranger's amusement at his problems. "Yes, in fact it is! And if you don't mind, we can do without the sarcasm while we wait for our ship to come in."

"I doubt that will happen for a while - you two seem to be spending more money than you make." Her smile broadened a bit as Gary groaned at her pun. Then, suddenly, her expression turned to concern as she stared out to sea. "Wait a second. What in the world - ?"

Both Wrinn and Gary whirled around for the second time in three minutes, only this time, instead of seeing a sarcastic Red Mage, they were greeted by the arrival of a pirate ship! "Umm, I think it's safe to say that there's your delay," Phia said, taking a step or two backwards.

"Gee, you think?" Phia thought she could almost see the sarcasm dripping off Wrinn's tongue, but forgot about being mad as nine pirates leaped from the mighty frigate to the ground. Wrinn quickly drew his sword, glanced at Gary, and remarked, "Well, my friend, this should be fun."

Gary nodded in assent, his face grim as he drew his own sword. "A blast and a half. Let's go, friend."

Wrinn and Gary held their ground as the pirates advanced with frightening speed and murderous rage. Both faces were grim, but there was also concern - they both knew that they were hopelessly outnumbered and it was going to take all they had to stay alive, let alone win. "Boy, Gary, great odds, eh? I always love fighting nine against two!" Wrinn shouted, as he readied his blade for first contact.

"Make that nine on three!" shouted Phia, as her Bolt spell made flashes of lightning strike each pirate's sword, which disoriented them for a moment as the electricity coursed through their bodies. "Now's your chance, boys - go get 'em!" I just hope the two of you are as strong as you act you are....

Not needing the encouragement of their unexpected partner, the two fighters leapt to the attack. Luckily, the front pirates were still slightly stunned when Gary and Wrinn reached them - one moment and a few swings later, they were slightly dead. However, the remaining six regained their composure and then began the attack in earnest. Wrinn used his tactics perfectly, keeping his sword moving, making parries mid-swing, and crashing steel against steel whenever he could. He had three pirates around him, but they were all weakening, and finally, he got the opening he wanted - one pirate dropped his cutlass screaming in pain over his broken forearms - well, at least he was screaming while he still had his head. Moving quickly, he used one of his signature moves taught by Lukahn - he crouched and performed a quick leg sweep, knocking his opponent onto his back, and while still kneeling, slashed at the pirate's unprotected stomach. Then, glancing behind him, he slid his blade along the dead man's midsection as he swung his weapon around to block a vertical blow from the remaining pirate. A moment later, Wrinn got a bird's eye view of what his enemy ate for lunch, as he stabbed directly into the pirate's stomach to finish him off. Panting for breath, he looked up to see how his friend was doing.

Gary seemed to have the situation well in hand - his quickness was keeping him out of reach, while he kept inflicting the small but numerous wounds that always weakened his opponents. He had managed to get one down with a stab wound to the heart, and with a quick crouching move, sliced his second opponent's shins to ribbons and took him out of the action. Seeing his opponent drop low, the remaining pirate brought his blade on a deadly descent - that the knight was barely able to parry. As the seconds ticked by, the pirate kept his blade there locked with Gary's, and the fighter was showing obvious strain. Both blades were slowly moving downwards, and Gary thought he was finished - until his enemy screamed in pain and staggered backwards as Phia removed her rapier from his side. The pirate made a quick swing with his sword as he backed off, and Phia was able to parry it - but not without being knocked to the ground with a yelp. Gary took a quick look at the Red Mage as she twisted in pain, and became so ensconced with fury that one more swing was all the pirate got to live through. With all the pirates dead, Gary quickly crawled over to Phia. "Are you hurt?"

"N-no, I'm fine. Just got the wind knocked out of me, that's all," she managed as she got up. "He only hit me once - give me a little more credit than that!" This time, though, her tough exterior was crumbling, as there was no mistaking the gratitude shining from her eyes. Gary began to smile at her, until Wrinn interrupted by loudly clearing his throat.

"Um, we got more problems, guys," he said somberly as the remaining forty pirates jumped to the ground. It looked hopeless.

"Well, Phia, it's good to see you've remained in training!"

"Bikke?" Phia couldn't believe what she was seeing as her old friend shouted a greeting from the bow of his ship. "What on earth are you doing here?"

"Taking over the town, what else? The seas are getting a bit too rough for me - I figured I'd just find a nice town to live out my retirement in. And, of course, what's a retirement without a bit of a celebration beforehand? Think of the conquest of Pravoka as my retirement party!"

"Ah, Bikke, you always were a party animal." As the shock and relief of having their hides saved wore off, the Red Mage's expression turned pensive, then shrewd, as if she'd just figured out something. "Mind if I ask you a question?"

"Shoot."

"You didn't happen to capture a cargo ship on the way in, did you?"

Wrinn and Gary both looked positively startled (even more than they did than when Phia began talking with the pirate ringleader,) as they said in unison, "Wait a second! Why do you care about the ship?"

"Why the heck to you think I was on the dock in the first place? To say goodbye to the two of you? I'm on my way to ElfLand as well, and that ship was my ride!"

"Well, in that case, my dear Phia, you're fortunate, for we did capture that ship, and it's anchored just outside the harbor - if you need it, it's yours!"

All three of them sighed in relief. "Bikke, thanks a lot. For a bloodthirsty killer, you sure are a generous fellow."

"Well, you know me, I'm a sucker for a pretty face. Go ahead and wait on the Revenge, I'll come back and sail you to the cargo ship after we're finished here. We'll be done soon - the most trouble we'll probably have is with these two clowns here."

At this, both Wrinn and Gary looked up in alarm and the look on Phia's face was absolute shock. Gary muttered "oh, shit!" under his breath and Wrinn made a show of drawing his blood-coated blade. "Well, Gary, if we're going to go, we may as well go with a bang!"

"Couldn't agree more, friend." And although he could feel his heart ripping apart, Gary looked back at Phia, and with all the composure he could muster, remarked, "Well, m'lady, it's been a pleasure - see you in the next life!" As they stood in defiance of death, both men wondered how much longer they had to live. Across the way, the pirates wondered how many of them would fall before these two brave fellows were killed, and Bikke wondered how in the world Phia was going to get out of the way without getting chopped up in the process.

Luckily, Phia answered all these questions herself.

"Wrinn, Gary, hold off! There's no need to fight! Bikke, these two gentlemen are my...employers, and have hired me for protection as they cross the Aldi to ElfLand." Now it was the two men's turn to look shocked, as neither of them expected such an act from her.

"Well, thank you for clarifying that - I was wondering who those two strange men helping you kill people were."

"Let us introduce ourselves then." Wrinn and Gary sheathed their weapons and stood with their arms crossed, proudly displaying their red armbands. "Wrinn Taylor and Gary Blackstone, Honor Guardsmen of Coneria." Behind them, Phia was barely able to control her gasp - she knew the two of them were good, but she'd had no idea it was Coneria Guardsmen she was dealing with!

Her look of shock quickly changed to concern - it was well-known among the mercs that the Honor Guard only left the castle when they were on a drastically important mission - and as she stood there wondering what in the world they had been sent to do, Bikke replied, "Well, in that case, it's nice to know I lost my landing party to such worthy opponents. Go ahead and wait on the ship, and I'll be back in a few moments!"

Wrinn at first looked grateful, but soon realized what was about to happen. They would be spared, yes - but at the cost of the lives of the citizens of Pravoka as the pirates swept through on their bloody rampage. Faced with this realization, he knew that if he waited on the ship, he would be failing every one of the peace-loving citizens of Pravoka. Well, that wasn't going to happen - not while he was still breathing. He looked at Gary, and one glance at his friend's face showed him that he was thinking the same thing, and with a nod, they accepted their fate and placed their hands back on the handles of their blades, ready to draw. Phia, who had recently relaxed at her triumph, quickly lapsed back into shock as she saw the swords on their way back out of their sheaths, and quickly clamped a hand on each shoulder before they could move, and under her breath she muttered, "You fools, what in the world are you doing?? Are you crazy? He's letting us go and you're going to fight them anyway? One of you get hit on the head or something?"

Very calmly, Wrinn replied, "We are not going to stand here and watch innocent people get slaughtered when we can do something about it." In a panic, she looked to Gary, and although he could not meet her gaze, he nodded his assent.

"What are you talking about? Look at them! It's forty against two! All three of us know that you haven't a chance of surviving! Why throw away your lives for nothing?"

"Because, Phia, an Honor Guardsman's life is spent serving others and protecting them from harm. If we were to let these pirates through and slaughter the people in the name of our own safety, we would be disgraced. If we die in the defense of the town, at least we will die with honor."

"But, but...." Phia felt helpless. She'd heard of the Guardsmen's code, and it had all seemed very noble and good, and she knew that Guardsmen never changed their minds when faced with a choice between death and the Code. There was nothing she could do....or was there? Unfortunately, as she was pondering, things started to get ugly. The pirates were getting restless, Bikke was getting annoyed, and the grimness about Wrinn and Gary stood, hard as diamond and steady as a mountain.

Meanwhile, Bikke, up on his ship, was really getting impatient. Who were these three to stand in his way of retirement? Sure, Phia was an old friend of his, but friendships didn't mean THAT much. Finally, he could stand it no longer - damn it, he wanted to retire - and yelled, "CHARGE!!!" At his words, all forty bloodthirsty pirates rushed forwards, cutlasses raised high. Wrinn and Gary drew their swords, fury and defiance shining in their eyes, and readied themselves for battle. Quickly, the Red Mage ran into the center of the upcoming battle area, made a speedy incantation, and threw her hand in the air. Moments later, the clash of metal rose to a deafening level and the grunts of men filled the air - as every pirate along with Wrinn and Gary fell to the ground under the effects of Phia's sleep spell.

"Confound it, woman, what in hell are you doing?" shouted Bikke as he leaped to the dock, eyes filling with rage.

"Just calming some hot heads, Bikke. Those two can't die yet, and I'm sure you'd like to enjoy your retirement along with your men, right?"

"Why can't those bloody fools die? If they want to stand in our way, they deserve to go to hell!"

"Think about it for a second, Bikke! They're Coneria Honor Guardsmen! You know as well as I do that they only leave the castle on missions of dire importance! So basically, if they bite it, so does the world! And they're not going to back away from your army, since you know that the Guardsmen's Code changes more often than the sky changes color!"

Bikke bit his lip and reflected for a moment - Phia was right. "So what can I do about it? You know pirates! I can barely control them under normal circumstances, and the second they wake up, they're going to rip everything they can into pieces - including those two down there. There's no way I'll be able to make them listen to reason!"

"Don't bother telling them how important those two are. Just wake them up and tell them to look mean, and then march into town and tell the people that you're an army of occupation, then lay down a law of fear so harsh that no one will even come out of their homes."

Bikke tried to look skeptic, but Phia could tell that he liked the idea. "Well, I guess that cuts the work down for my men. You get on board, I'll go down and wake up my second-in-command and your friends, send my men in to occupy the city, and I'll sail you to the cargo ship."

"Thanks, pirate," Phia said, greatly relieved, and chucked him on the chin.

"Awwww." With a sheepish grin on his face, Bikke turned towards his men while Phia began to climb the ladder up to the deck. Halfway up, she paused, worriedly watching what was going on. Bikke had reached his first mate and woke him up, then spent the next moment whispering in his ear. Bikke's first mate nodded, and then the two of them went over to Wrinn and Gary. Phia held her breath, hoping Bikke kept his word....and he did, as the pirate simply shook the shoulders of her friends, muttered a few words of explanation, then began to wake up the rest of his men as Wrinn and Gary stalked over.

With a worried look on her face, Phia asked, "You two all right?" Wrinn, with a small scowl on his face, was the one to answer her.

"I suppose it's a decent compromise, but I whacked my head when I fell asleep."

Upon hearing such a ridiculous explanation for being so sour, the Red Mage burst out laughing as she finished her ascent up the ladder. Wrinn's frown deepened a bit, but he got even angrier when he heard suppressed laughter behind him. But, not even he was made of stone, and as the high-pitched giggling above him mixed with the guffawing below him, he could barely suppress his smile.

"Come on, you two, stop it. I mean it, cut it out! Phia! Gary! Stop it!" But it was too late, and he burst out laughing as well. Even down on the land, Bikke, the hardened old pirate, listening to the mirth aboard his ship, let a smile crease his leathery face as he led his men into the town square.

Late that night, Gary stood on watch on the deck of the Maelstrom, the cargo ship that Bikke and his crew had hijacked on the way in. Luckily, they had left the crew alive, and after convincing them that they were incidental friends of the pirates and not partners in crime, the crew had agreed to sail them to ElfLand, using the original agreement drawn up by Wrinn and the innkeeper, that they would protect the ship until it reached ElfLand. It had certainly been an interesting trip so far, Gary reflected. Earlier on, during Wrinn's watch, a full pack of Seahags had jumped from the water right onto the deck. Wrinn had been able to kill a few of them before Phia's well-timed Bolt spell zapped the ugly little darlings back into the water. Robert was right - Phia never really took on anything by herself, but with decent frontline strength, she was just what the doctor ordered - the perfect support for any situation. Gary now realized what this meant. Kural's explanation of how she attained her powers gave him insight into what had happened to her....however, his reverie was broken by her arrival on the deck.

"How's your watch going? Anything interesting happen?"

"Well, about 10 seconds ago, you came up here to ask me if anything interesting has happened. I'd say that's probably the most exciting thing that's happened all night." As he glanced back at her, he could not help but grin slightly. As Phia saw the grin on his face, along with the statement he'd made, she couldn't help but blush and blessed the darkness for hiding her face. "So, what are you doing up here? Like to live dangerously?"

"No, I was getting bored just sitting down there, and thought you might like some company - er, I mean backup," she replied, with a slight grin on her face this time, as she stared at him through the darkness.

Gary could feel his heart begin to beat faster and his head was swimming a bit, but he regained his composure as best he could and said (a little shakily) "S-so, what are you headed to ElfLand for?"

Phia noted with satisfaction the quiver in his voice, then answered, "I heard some rumors that there'll be good work in the southern country soon. All a girl needs to do is look. What are you two headed down there for? You never told me."

"I'm afraid it's nothing as exciting as your reason - we're just looking for some new students to send them to meet Lukahn, our master." Gary was surprised at himself for not telling Phia the true nature of their journey, but in the practical part of his mind, he remembered she was a mercenary, working for whoever paid her the most. Unless Wrinn and himself were able to scrape up enough money to pay her (which was well-nigh impossible, since Wrinn had heard she was fantastically expensive to hire,) he had to be careful about what he said and did around her - she could leave at any time and sell their information to the highest bidder.

Phia, of course, could see the gears in his head turning away from her, and her first instinct was pure, unadulterated anger. "Well! I certainly hope you enjoy the rest of your preciously boring journey!" With that, she spun on her heel and angrily stalked down the stairs to her room. After reaching her cabin, she slammed the door in fury and sat on the bed in a huff - and then began to calm down and actually think, and she realized what she'd done. She realized, as she had so many times before, that she'd brought this upon herself - that she'd made such a name for herself as a support mercenary that people thought of her as little else. She fought for any cause that needed her - once, she remembered, when her contract had run out with a group of revolutionaries and they hadn't had enough to pay her, she'd left and joined the enforcers trying to put down the rebellion. Sure, she'd made a killing off of the switch, but she remembered seeing one of the revolutionaries who'd survived a couple of months after the conflict ended....he had been the leader of the party she was in, and when he saw her, a look of such hatred crossed her old friend's face that Phia turned and immediately walked in the opposite direction. She could see that starting with Gary now - she knew that the two men she was traveling with were fighting something big, and whatever that force was, they would have no guarantee that once they ran out of money, she wouldn't sell the enemy their plans. The only guarantee she could give was her word...and what in the world was that worth? The word of a mercenary? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. The worst part, she thought, was about what she was doing to Gary. There was nothing to be gained from what they'd both thought was harmless flirting...now she saw the amount of pain she'd given to each of them. To her, it had been a smile and a blush - but what had it been to him? A sign of her attraction, or a clever ploy to get information after she'd discovered that they hadn't enough to pay her? No matter what she did to try to allay his suspicions, that would all it would look like - trying to allay his suspicions before she could slit his throat in his sleep, make off with all of their money, and sell whatever information she had to the enemy. And he was attracted to her - she could tell from the second she'd met him. And now that he truly knew what she was and realized the threat she presented, his only feeling would be betrayal and pain at having his emotions used like this. In despair, Phia buried her face in her hands, lamenting the death of yet another friendship.

"You sent for me, master?"

"Yes. We shall make our invasion soon. Make sure the troops are ready."

"Yes, master. I shall leave to perform your wishes at once."

"Excellent." After his underling was gone, the evil leader chuckled to himself. "Soon, the time will come when we once again have the glory we deserve!!!"

Up on the deck of the Maelstrom, something much like the ship's namesake was going on inside the head of a certain Conerian. The second that he hadn't told her their quest he knew he'd blew it - he'd ignored the fact that she'd helped them out of a certain death situation and had just thought of what she was, not who she was. But still, that damned rational part of his brain kept telling him that she couldn't be trusted - since he was well aware that everyone knew that the quests undertaken by the Coneria Honor Guard were always huge - and the last time any of them had left the castle was ten years ago, when the King sent his best knight on a quest to warn the entire southern country of the impending invasion of the Dark Elves. ElfLand, the Dwarf Cave, and Crescent Lake had been saved, but a colony traveling through the mountains west of ElfLand had been demolished and supposedly there were no survivors. Gary remembered the night he'd heard the news - Lukahn had locked himself in his hut and hadn't spoken to anyone for the next week, and Gary had shared his anger when he found out how the Dark Elves had discovered the colony's location. It had turned out that one of Elf Castle's guards had overheard a discussion between the Coneria Knight and the Elf King about the colony. That night, he made his move - he assassinated the Elf King, then ran off and sold his information and services to the Dark Elves. The country's new leader was the King's infant son, and in the confusion of losing their leader, the Elf Army could not be dispatched in time - and the colony had been lost. All because of a mercenary.

Gary's head ached and his heart throbbed. He knew he couldn't trust her, but he had already allowed his feelings to swing in her direction, and reversing the tide of attraction, especially to someone as beautiful as Phia, would be damn near impossible.

Phia sat forlornly on her bed, depressed and angry at herself. She knew he was attracted to her and her to him, but she had already made him distrust her, and reversing the tide of distrust, especially as they headed toward ElfLand (where a mercenary had ruined the last Honor Guard quest,) would be damn near impossible.

Gary lifted his head towards the sky, eyes filled with despair, as Phia, down below, looked at the stars through her porthole, her eyes a window to the pain in her soul. As they each looked to the sky, both hearts cried out in unison...

In the morning, Wrinn came up on deck with a confused expression on his face, which turned to concern as he saw his friend sprawled on his back, next to the rail. Gary, in fact, had collapsed with fatigue and grief a few hours before, and stirred restlessly as Wrinn arrived.

"Gary, are you all right? What in God's name attacked you?"

Gary knew that his friend would never understand, and would only chastise him for his weakness, so he thought quickly and came up with a somewhat decent excuse. "I'm sorry, old friend - I must have been a little seasick."

"That's strange, Gary, the sea has been unusually calm this trip - it actually had me worried, since it's such a departure from the norm. What's Kraken up to now?"

Gary thought for a moment. "Well, either he's beginning to lose the power of water, which I doubt, or he's putting so much energy into preparing his invasion that he hasn't been able to control the seas the way he used to, which I suspect."

Both friends gave each other the same worried glance until Wrinn changed the subject. "Have you seen Phia this morning?"

At the very mention of her name, Gary could feel his heart skip a beat, but he regained his composure as best he could and replied, "No, why do you ask?"

Unfortunately for Gary, Wrinn could read him like a book, and immediately knew that something was wrong. "Are you sure you're all right?"

"Fine, Wrinn - I'm fine. Now, what was that about Phia?"

"Well, I suppose it's nothing, except that she's gone."

"WHAT???"

"I went to her room this morning, and knocked on the door. When I got no answer, I opened the door and there was no trace of her. My room was right by the stairs, so I would have heard her go by if she'd left from the deck, and she couldn't have left any other way without making the ship sink."

"Who knows what Red Magicians can do, my friend - she may have realized she was close enough to the shore to Warp there, or something else to that effect."

"But I don't understand - why did she leave?"

Gary took a deep breath and gathered himself totally before answering. "She's a mercenary, Wrinn, and we don't have enough to pay her - what reasons did she have for staying?" His heart screamed in protest with each word, but he continued. "Besides, it's better now that she's gone - there's no place for such swiss-cheese loyalty in our quest." Gary knew he was going to lose it soon, so he finished with "and now, my friend, I'm going to get some sleep," and practically ran for the stairs to his cabin, the first tear coming just as he disappeared from sight.

After Gary had left, Phia stood on the deck, looking after him with adoration shining from her eyes - of course, since she was invisible, no one could tell. The facade he'd put up - and she knew it was a facade - of not being distressed at her departure showed her that he was a man of strong convictions and even stronger loyalties. As her eyes misted over, she thought I can't believe I'll never be able to see him again. And before she started crying, she leapt for the water and began to swim towards ElfLand - there was only about 500 yards left to the shore, and she knew she'd make it. No matter who had to make the sacrifice, no matter who died, no matter who felt pain, at least she always made it.

About an hour later, the ship arrived at the dock, and Gary and Wrinn climbed down and landed on the shore once again - to see three elves waiting for them. Both of them were surprised at this - the Elves were not known to greet their visitors, since ElfLand was surrounded by a treacherous forest filled with Ogres, wolves and other nasty creatures. And yet, here was an Elf escort....

"Gentlemen, welcome to ElfLand. You are expected, and we will escort you along the fastest path to Elf Castle - the prince anxiously awaits you."

Both gave each other skeptic glances. "How are we expected? We told no one of our destination!"

"Worry not, esteemed gentlemen. We received a letter from your master Lukahn that you were coming, and to direct you straight to the Prince, for you had urgent matters to discuss. There is no need to concern yourselves with anything but making full haste to the castle."

Gary seemed to be satisfied with this response, but Wrinn remained somewhat skeptic as they followed their unexpected escort into the deep forest surrounding ElfLand. However, Wrinn's mind was churning the whole time they were walking, his brow furrowed in deep thought. Every time Gary glanced at his friend, he became more and more confused at his behavior. As they followed the three elves along a forest track, he leaned over and began to whisper.

"What are you so puzzled about? You look like you did last week when Lukahn asked you what two plus two was!" Aside from flashing a dark look to counteract Gary's grin, Wrinn stayed silent. "Come on, Wrinn, I can't read your mind, tell me what's wrong!"

At this, Wrinn's brow furrowed even more - suddenly, his face snapped into shocked realization. Of course! Quickly he drew his sword and attacked the nearest elf, stabbing him through the heart, and it was Gary's turn to look shocked as the remaining two elves took one look at their dying comrade and ran off into the dense forest. As Wrinn cleaned and replaced his blade, Gary just stood there with a look of complete dumbfoundedness. After a moment, he finally managed to regain his composure enough to speak.

"Wrinn?"

"Yes?"

"Tell me something, would you?"

"What?"

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE KING AND THE GODS ABOVE DID YOU DO THAT FOR?!?!??"

Wrinn did not say anything, but simply bent down and tore off the elf's tunic, then rolled him onto his stomach so Gary could see the crescent moon tattooed onto the shoulder blade.

Gary was even more shocked at this point. "A Dark Elf?" After his initial shock wore off, he began to wonder just what had gone through the mind of his friend to bring him to this conclusion. "How....did you know?"

"When you said that you couldn't read my mind, that reminded me that Lukahn would have never send a letter ahead of us to ElfLand if he thought we'd need help, he would have just telepathically contacted the Prince and he himself would have escorted us back."

"Of course! But what were the Dark Elves escorting us for? And where? And how did they know we were coming?"

"Probably the Dark Elves aligned themselves with the Ogres and were leading us to a trap of some sort." Here he thought for a moment, then continued. "How they knew we were coming? No idea, my friend, no idea. Let's look for the real path to ElfLand, shall we?" As Wrinn turned around and headed back the way they had come, he was careful to stay ahead of Gary - he couldn't even look at him. Because he knew - he knew exactly how they had been found out. Exactly......

After a bit of a trek trying to find the original path through the forest that lead to ElfLand, the two friends proceeded through with minor mishaps, even though the creatures of the Elf Forest were more dangerous. This surprised Gary at first, but made no mention of it to Wrinn - he was sure he'd be able to discover why. A few minutes later, after they had just demolished a pair of Ogres that had ambushed them from opposite sides of the path, he figured out why. He and Wrinn had been fighting so much lately that it was almost becoming second nature, and the fact that they were traveling a lot by foot improved their strength and endurance, so it was natural that they would be getting stronger. At that moment, his reverie was broken by the arrival of a pack of six wolves on the path in front of them. Gary immediately set flight to three of them with a single fireball - the fire spread from one coat to another and the wolves ran off to find water as Gary watched his friend do his share of the work. Wrinn moved quickly to take the offensive on the first wolf, slicing straight through it with one slash, then jumped back to see what the other two were going to do. Gary saw Wrinn's eyes flicking back and forth between the two, and he saw what Wrinn was doing. Lukahn had taught them that wolves were in nature pack hunters, and Gary knew that Wrinn was waiting for the tandem attack that was coming. Wrinn had one wolf in front of him to his left, the other slightly to his right, and was slowly moving to keep himself in that position, sword at the ready. All of a sudden, the wolf on his right gave a deep growl and tensed its body, and Gary's eyes were locked on the snarling snout, the sharp teeth, and the evil eyes. Suddenly, the other wolf pounced with frightening speed and silence - and was met by Wrinn's blade, as he swung from right to left, spun on his heels to increase his speed, and came around full circle to meet the other wolf which had pounced a fraction of a second after the first. As the corpses fell to the ground, Gary commented, "Nice work."

"Same to you, my friend - you're certainly getting better with that fire spell of yours."

"It's almost second nature now. Bring on those damned Dark Elves!"

"That's the spirit! Come on, I want to reach the Elf Castle before nightfall - let's pick up the pace."

"Fine by me, you slowpoke!" cried Gary as he broke into a half run, and Wrinn laughed as he attempted to catch up to his friend. "You won't have that lead for long, Gary!"

After another hour of travel, they finally arrived at the clearing that marked the location of ElfLand and its looming protector, Elf Castle. The pair quickly made their way to the main door of the castle, and, as expected, they reached the moat the same time that the shout of "Who goes there and what is your business?" floated down from the ramparts.

Turning to Gary with a grin on his face, Wrinn remarked, "You do the talking, Gary - you're a lot better at sounding noble and snobby than I am."

"Really, Wrinn," said Gary, flashing back a sarcastic look, "you should learn to control that constant flattery of yours." However, their banter was broken with a second cry from the ramparts, and Gary composed himself and turned to face their questioners.

"Again, who goes there and what is your business?"

"Gary Blackstone and Wrinn Taylor, Honor Guardsmen of Coneria! We seek an audience with the Prince!"

"You are not attired in the usual manner of the Guardsmen - how do we know you are not impostors?"

Dropping back into his normal voice, Gary ordered, "Wrinn, turn yourself so that they can see your armband." Tilting his head back upwards as his friend shifted position, he shouted, " As you can see, good sirs, we bear the symbol of Coneria, though we may not be clad in the same armor as our comrades."

After a short conference on the ramparts, they seemed satisfied. "Very well, gentlemen - the Prince is being made aware of your presence. The drawbridge will be lowered in a moment!"

"Good job, Gary - maybe now we can actually talk to a Sage instead of just traveling around blindly."

"Gods know that would be greatly appreciated, my friend." As the heavy drawbridge thumped to the ground in front of them, they covered their faces from the dust cloud that sprang up from the ground and crossed the moat into the great castle of the Elf Prince.

"Rise, my friends."

Wrinn and Gary rose off their knees and looked at the ruler of the Elves. Young and handsome, the Elf Prince nonetheless had a small wrinkle under each eye, unheard of for a elf of his age, a hallmark of the stress he was under - ever since he was a few months old he had been recognized as the Elves' monarch, making decisions that a child shouldn't have to make. Still, Lukahn had taught him well (he had come south to help turn the Prince from an infant into a ruler after the Dark Elves were first defeated,) and with his and his wise Chancellor's guidance and counsel, the Elves had rebuilt themselves and their fair town from the devastating attack of the Dark Elves 10 years ago. A look of concern came into his eyes as he glanced up at the pair of knights in front of him.

"My dear gentlemen, I have been made aware of your quest. Luckily, the first of the Sages you seek is not far."

The two friends visibly brightened up at this, and in their excitement they asked where he might be found.

"Here." Wrinn and Gary whirled around to face the speaker - the Prince's Chancellor. "Before I became Chancellor to the Prince, I was one of the Twelve. My name is Rostol."

Wrinn spoke up then, a confused look on his face. "If you are one of the Twelve, and you know of our quest and the peril that the world faces, why are you still here? Why have you not left for Crescent Lake?"

Rostol's face looked pained as he answered. "I know I must go to meet with my colleagues - but I cannot leave ElfLand now, not when it is in this type of danger. The Dark Elves must not be allowed to rise again - they must be stopped!" The Sage closed his eyes and turned away when he next spoke. "I cannot leave my home in its time of need, no matter how dire the circumstances may be."

Gary's earnest look transcended what he was about to say. "Fine, then! Let's go put the hurt on those Dark Elves so that you and the rest of the Sages can get started on saving the world!"

Startled, Rostol looked first at Gary, then at Wrinn. The look on both faces was exactly the same. "You really wish to help us? But what of your quest?"

Wrinn spoke up now. "Rostol, you are part of our quest. We must get you well on your way to Crescent Lake - and if it involves defeating the Dark Elves and securing the safety of ElfLand, so be it."

Rostol looked again at the two youths, eager to rush into danger, to fight and possibly die, all to ensure that their quest would succeed. One couldn't help but be encouraged by such courage and worried by such foolheadedness. "Very well, my friends. I know not exactly where the Dark Elves have their base - but I believe that it is somewhere in the northwestern mountains, where" - here he had to regain his composure - "the ill-fated colony was supposed to have been established." The Prince got an especially pained look in his eyes at this point, for this was the time his father was slaughtered. "I suggest you go down into ElfLand and talk with some of the more adventurous townspeople - they might know more about it than I."

"Then, your Majesty, if we may take our leave?" The Prince nodded, and the two knights each executed a quick, well-formed bow and left. On his way out, Gary turned to Rostol and said, "Not to worry, sir - we shall return. You have my word." Rostol smiled softly as they left, but let his face drop into a frown after they had gone.

The Prince leaned forward, a concerned look on his face. "Rostol, my dear friend, whatever is the matter?"

"Nothing, your Majesty - just a small chest pain. Probably the cook added too much spice to our last meal." The Sage and the Prince shared a chuckle over this, as the Sage kept secret the exact location of his pain - the center of his heart.

Wrinn and Gary entered the pub in the center of ElfLand. They had recently stopped in at the blacksmith's and armorer's, and with Lukahn's money plus their findings on their travels, they each had new tunics of mithril mail and shining blades of silver at their sides. As they walked up to the counter, every pair of eyes followed them. The bartender eyed them warily as they got to the counter. "What can I get you two gentlemen?"

"Information, my friend. We're searching for the camp of the Dark Elves - we know they're in the northwest, but we don't know exactly where." At the words 'Dark Elves,' everyone in the pub looked up again, some of them with truly hostile looks.

The bartender was one of them - if these mercenaries were going to be stupid enough to find the camp by asking their sworn enemies, well they would get a fitting end. With a look that oozed distrust and hatred, the bartender growled, "And why, exactly, are you looking for them, eh?" Gary could see the bartender's hand moving towards his back, presumably to draw a dagger, and Wrinn looked around the room to see that every hand was on a weapon of some sort.

Gary realized all this instantly, and leaned in toward the counter and spoke in a voice as oozing with hatred as the bartender's. "So that we can kill...as...many...of...them...as...possible." And, for emphasis, he pulled up the sleeve of his tunic to proudly display his Conerian armband.

After the bartender and the pubgoers realized what Gary had said, the animosity ran out of the room as if a drain plug had been pulled. "So, you're on our side, eh?" grinned the bartender. "Sorry about that, gents - you can't be too careful with those bastards around." Gary nodded his head and grinned, as was about to speak again when a new voice came from off to his right.

"I know where you should go."

"Huh?" Gary looked around, startled, to see an elf standing there. He was about five feet tall, with great thick spectacles and a light blue robe. "What was that?"

"I said, I know where you should go. Come, sit with me."

Bemused, Wrinn and Gary followed the elf to a table in the corner. After they sat, the elf spoke again. "You seek the Sages, correct?"

Both knights were startled. "How do you know of our quest?"

Calmly as ever, the elf answered, "I am Rostol's student. My name is Johann. I spoke with him while you were getting outfitted, and he told me to wait here for you and give you the information you need."

Wrinn had let himself relax into a smile. "Well, we thank you and your master, Johann - but, right now, we need to know where the Dark Elves' camp is, not where the rest of the Sages are."

"No you don't."

Wrinn looked exceedingly confused. "Excuse me?"

Johann looked up at him with a wry smile. "I'll explain. About 30 years ago, the Elves were all one, and the Dark Elves did not exist. The King was a wise ruler and true, had taken a good and just Queen. Then a war broke out between the Elves and the Ogres, and the King left to fight. Along the way, they found a small camp of gypsies, and they took refuge there during the fighting. Now, you know how men are during wartime" - here he gave a knowing wink to the knights, who looked back at him in shock - "and the King was no exception. The war against the Ogres was eventually won, and the King returned home in triumph, and peace returned. 20 years later, the King and his wife produced a son, who is now our prince. Joy filled the kingdom and tidings spread throughout the entire southern country. A week later, a young man appeared at the gates and asked for an audience with the King. When asked why, he said that he was the King's firstborn son, Astos, the rightful Prince. Not believing him, the guards turned him away from the castle, and the young man flew into such a rage that his screaming was heard throughout the entire town. The people gathered in curiosity as he pleaded with the guards for an audience with his father. When the royal family finally appeared on the battlements to see what was going on, the young man revealed who his mother was, and demanded as the King's first-born son to be hailed as the Prince. When the King denied all that the young man said and turned him away, the man turned icy cold with rage and fixed his gaze on the crown of gold that had been placed on the head of the young Prince. He screamed, 'With the Fiends as my witness, that Crown will be mine and my kingdom regained!' With that, he stormed out of the town, along with those who agreed with him and those who had become disillusioned at the King's deplorable actions."

"They became the Dark Elves, and planned a devastating attack to conquer the Elvish throne, and now, you know the rest - a Conerian Honor Guard was given the task of warning the southern country and getting help for ElfLand, and a mercenary assassinated the King and left to join the Dark Elves." Wrinn ground his teeth and Gary sat with clenched fist as they listened to this part of Johann's story. "The country was in turmoil, and everyone knew that it was a matter of time until Astos and his followers attacked. The two great Sages of ElfLand, Rostol and Roland, decided that they only had one chance left - to hide the Crown somewhere Astos wouldn't be able to find it, for they knew that he would not take the throne if he couldn't get the Crown - Dark Elves that we had captured revealed under torture that he was obsessed with it. Roland agreed to take it, and his young daughter, with him and to hide in the northwest woods until we could send help. Soon afterward, the Dark Elves made their attack, and the Army of the South was able to hold them off. Somehow Astos discovered the Sages' plan. He then began to search the northwestern forest relentlessly, and as soon as the armies of ElfLand had become organized again, they traveled northwest to see how Roland was doing. However, they couldn't find him anywhere, until one of the soldiers discovered a note on a tree. It said that if there were any serious problems and they wanted to see him, their instructions were to climb to the top of the tallest tree in the Northwest forest, and to catch the light of the morning sun on a mirror - that would be his signal to walk to that tree and speak to whoever needed him. The armies of ElfLand decided that their situation at that point wasn't that dire, built a small fortress to keep an eye on the Dark Elves' activity, and most of the soldiers returned back home - which was a good idea, since now no Elf - dark or otherwise - knows where Roland or the Crown is. And now you see why you don't need to know where the camp is - you must find Roland before the Dark Elves do - first to let him know of the situation the world faces, and second to keep the Crown out of Astos' hands to protect ElfLand."

Wrinn, his face determined, replied, "Indeed you are right, my friend - Gary and I thank you for your information." Wrinn got up to leave and said, "Come on, Gary, the two of us had better get some rest before heading out tomorrow."

"Don't you mean the three of us?" Johann looked up at them, a sly grin on his face.

"You're coming with us? Why?" Wrinn looked absolutely perplexed as he took in Johann's frail form.

Gary was able to control himself a bit more. "Johann, we appreciate the offer, but I don't think we'll need a guide. Walk northwest and find the tallest tree - what can be so hard about that?"

"If the Dark Elves are about, you're going to need all the help you can get - besides, if we meet up with Astos, an accomplished black magician, we're going to have to give him a taste of his own medicine." Johann's grin had turned mischievous, and as the two knights looked at him, a small flash of lightning coursed through his eyes.

Gary jumped about a foot backwards, and Wrinn gave his friend an amused glance. "Well, my friend, it looks like we won't be needing that devastating fire spell of yours, eh?" Gary gave him a sour glance as he started to chuckle, and as Gary's scowl deepened, Wrinn's laughter grew in intensity as the pair headed off towards the inn. After they had gone, as Johann sat pondering the mission that lay ahead of them - foiling the plans of the Dark Elves and saving his home from destruction - the lightning that had flashed in his eyes had turned into a raging hurricane.

The bartender looked over at Johann for a second, then remarked to the patron at the counter he was chatting with, "I think he's pissed."

The next morning, Johann met the two knights in front of the pub, and after replenishing their supplies, the three left ElfLand to the cheers and wellwishes of the townspeople. Unfortunately for the trio, the plains surrounding ElfLand were no safer than the northern forest, and unfortunately for the plains creatures, Wrinn and Gary were no worse for the rest they'd gotten in ElfLand - not to mention the addition of a black mage of Johann's caliber. Although, as they were traveling, Gary never failed to praise the battle actions of their elvish friend, his thoughts kept returning to Phia - how she would have helped in the physical side when none of Johann's magic was effective, how the variety of spells she knew would have saved a potion or two, and, of course, how beautiful she was. He was still captivated by her, and every now and then Wrinn would glance over at Gary's faraway look, furrow his brow, shake his head, and tap Gary on the shoulder to pull his friend back into reality.

After a day of traveling as dusk was falling on the earth, the three arrived at the edge of the forest, and Johann immediately took the lead. "Follow me - I know where the tree is." Wrinn and Gary, nearly blinded by the darkness, voiced their agreement, but asked to wait to start off until their eyes had adjusted. Johann agreed, albeit a bit snippishly, and after a few minutes they stalked into the forest.

Johann, with his sharp eyesight, led the trio, as the two knights did all they could to keep from falling over. After about fifteen minutes, Johann stopped and motioned, and Wrinn and Gary started to arrange their camp for the night. Unfortunately, they had to do it in pitch blackness, since Johann would not allow a fire to be built - "do you know of a faster way to let the Dark Elves know exactly where we are?" he had snapped, and not without difficulty a decent place to rest was secured. Gratefully, Wrinn and Gary laid their heads upon their packs and were asleep in a split second - but the elf laid there awake, the responsibility and the danger pressing upon him so strongly he thought he would be crushed. Come on, Johann! Get a grip on yourself! I can do this! I can do this....I will triumph....triumph....triumph.... By saying this to himself over and over, he finally fell into a fitful sleep as the trio waited for morning.

When the first ray of sunlight hit Johann's eyelids the next morning, he was up like a shot and immediately waking the two knights, who after a bit of grumbling were fully awake as well. Gary stretched and turned to the elf standing beside him and remarked, "Now would be a good time for breakfast, right?"

In his normal, authoritative manner, Johann simply replied, "Actually, now would be a good time for you to start climbing."

Both Gary and Wrinn looked at him in shock. "Already?"

"Why not? The earlier we can reflect the sunlight, the earlier Roland gets here and the earlier we can get back to ElfLand. Oh, and before you ask, Wrinn, I'm sending Gary because he's light enough and strong enough to make it to the top of the tree." Gary looked over at Wrinn and shrugged, and then started on his ascent up the tree.

"This won't take too long, gentlemen - and to reflect the sunlight I'll just use my sword. See you later!" With that, Gary grabbed a low-hanging branch and pulled himself into the tree. He found the tree surprisingly easy to climb, and quickly lost sight of his friends due to the leaf cover.

Wrinn looked worried. "Think he'll be all right?"

"Worry yourself not, my noble friend, he'll be fine." Johann then yawned. "I'm feeling a bit sleepy, so I'll just sit down and take a short nap. If anything interesting happens, wake me, all right?"

Strange as the request seemed, since they had just woken up, Wrinn nodded his agreement, then watched as Johann sank to the ground and immediately seemed to fall asleep. He stared for a moment as the elf's face took on an almost euphoric look to it, then, for about five minutes furrowed into a creased concentration of deep thought, and finally settled back into an angelic calm. Wrinn shook his head in wonder and started digging in his pack for something to eat, when a rustling in the bushes made him look up and immediately freeze....

Dark Elves. They were everywhere! No matter where he looked, another leering face peered out at him. Front, back, left, and right, they were hopelessly surrounded. "Ummmm...Johann? Johann, wake up, we've got problems!" Wrinn continued to turn slowly as he drew his sword, and the Dark Elves slowly advanced, the gaze from each of them piercing his heart with their murderous intent. Suddenly an unexpected sound came from behind him - it was Johann speaking.

"Wrinn. Hurry. Get up the tree. Warn Gary." Wrinn whirled around and looked at him - he was still seated like he was before, with his eyes closed.

He blinked in disbelief for a moment, and retorted, "And leave you here to get slaughtered and have the two of us be trapped helplessly up a tree? I don't think so!!"

Even after this outburst, Johann's face remained the same as he lifted his head to Wrinn, his eyes still closed, still looking calm. "Wrinn. Hurry. Get up the tree. Warn Gary."

Wrinn's disbelief turned into anger as he began to shout at the elf - "Look, I told you once already that I'm not" -

"Wrinn." Johann's eyes had suddenly shot open, and as he spoke with the growl of a minion of hell, Wrinn had to avert his eyes from the bright blue light that shone from the flames in the elf's eyes. "HURRY. GET UP THE TREE. WARN GARY." Wrinn immediately sheathed his sword and leaped for the tree, scrambling upwards as fast as he could when he suddenly encountered Gary on his way back down.

"Wrinn! What are you doing here?" Gary quickly sighed and shook his head. "Oh, what does it matter...I got to the top of the tree and it turns out that there must be hundreds of trees taller than this one! What was Johann thinking?"

Wrinn opened his mouth to answer, but was preempted by a bright flash of blue light from below, and Wrinn and Gary were nearly swept off the tree by a swirl of snowflakes - going upwards. It took all of their strength to hang on, and by the time the last snowflake flew by, they were both half-frozen and shivering wildly. Once he was sure that the deluge had stopped, Wrinn looked over at his friend and said, "I was going tell you that there was a group of Dark Elves attacking us, but Johann beat me to it."

Wrinn and Gary slowly made their way down the now icy tree to the clearing where Johann had collapsed to his knees, panting for breath and surrounded by Dark Elvsicles.

"Nice work, Johann. How'd you know that they were following us?"

Johann looked up with an incredulous look on his face, and took a couple more deep breaths before answering. "How did I know? It was obvious. The Dark Elves' base is close by and they would be fools not to have sentries. They've probably seen our every step since we left ElfLand."

"Why didn't they easily kill us last night in our sleep, then?" Johann's know-it-all attitude was beginning to annoy Wrinn, and Gary saw the danger signs start to flash and quickly interjected before the magician could answer.

"Because, Wrinn, the Dark Elves don't know how the real Elves were supposed to contact Roland, so they waited until they knew what we had come here to do before attacking us. Johann just anticipated that and got that nor'easter ready so that he could kill 'em before they killed us." Wrinn nodded in understanding as Gary gave Johann a warning look that let the magician know he had better shut up about the subject.

Now that Wrinn had calmed down, he figured they had better get back down to business. "Well, now that we're pretty much out of danger, Johann, why don't you show Gary where the real tree is so that we can get on with it?"

"Good idea, Wrinn - let's go!" A few minutes later, for the second time that day, Gary swung himself into a large tree and began to climb. After what seemed like an eternity, he reached the top, and, swaying dangerously, drew his sword and used it to capture the sunlight into a single flash on his blade. Almost immediately, from the mountains to the north, he saw an answering flash. Excitedly, he clambered back down the tree to his waiting companions.

"We're in business! After I used my sword to reflect the sunlight, I saw another flash from the mountains! What do we do now?"

With a satisfied grunt, Johann slumped to the ground, his eyes closed, his back to the tree. "We wait. If you two want to get something to eat, that's fine with me. That blizzard spell really drained me, so if you don't mind, I'm going to get some sleep. If anything interesting happens, wake me, all right?" Johann popped one eye open and grinned as Wrinn whirled around in shock. "Don't worry, my valiant friend. I really am going to sleep this time." After glaring at the elf for a moment, Wrinn broke into a grin, too, and he and Gary prepared to wait for the arrival of Roland, the Lost Sage.

An hour later, Gary perked up his ears as he heard a crackling in the underbrush off to his right. He quickly tapped Wrinn on the shoulder to wake him from his doze on his way to shake the magician awake.

"Wuh...what's going on?" Johann mumbled, stifling a yawn.

"I heard something coming from the bushes over there - could it be Roland?"

"Possibly," interjected Wrinn, "or, it could be another Dark Elf ambush!"

"He's got a point, Gary - let's hide behind some trees and wait to see what's up." That being said, the three quickly got up and took strategic positions around the clearing for the best possible vantage points, then waited as the crackling grew from a far-off whisper....to a periodic crunching....and all three of them held their breath as a bush at the edge of the clearing started to move as someone struggled through it. What would it be? After all this work, would they meet Roland and finally have a trump card to use against Astos and the Dark Elves, or would they be embroiled in yet another battle against their sworn enemy? Finally, the leaves parted, and out into the clearing stepped...neither?

In front of the three adventurers' astonished eyes, there stepped an armored warrior, small in stature with broadsword held at the ready, although it was quivering and unsteady. The warrior took a hesitant step forward, quickly looking left and right, and after finding no one, swiveled around and repeated the searching process. All this time, the nervous nature the warrior displayed seemed to be getting worse, as Gary was able to hear the frantic breathing underneath the helmet as the warrior frantically searched for the enemy that could not be found. Finally, they could all see that the tension was too much, and in a high-pitched squeal, a female voice cried out, "Where are you, you bastards? Come out and get me!"

All three of them stared in open-mouthed shock, and Johann, in a daze, slowly emerged from behind his tree, and managed to stammer, "Lyra?"

The warrior let out a huge sigh of relief, dropped her sword, and yanked off her helmet to reveal the joyful face of a beautiful young woman. "Johann!! Is it really you?"

It was now Johann's turn to look joyful. "Of course it is, you dummy! Come here!"

And as Wrinn and Gary looked on with even more shock than before, Johann and Lyra ran toward each other and met in a ecstatic, clanking hug. At this point, the knights were befuddled beyond befuddlement, and as the two elves embraced, Wrinn shouted out, "What in the world is going on???"

"I believe I can answer that question." All four whirled as a man with a flowing beard and fire-red cape emerged from the shrubbery. "Johann and Lyra were good friends before we left to come here and protect the Crown. What you're seeing now is called a reunion, my good knight," and the bright blue eyes of Roland the Sage twinkled.

"Roland - thank the gods we've found you!"

The old Sage began to look puzzled now. "Why? As far as I can tell, the battle with the Dark Elves seems to be going well, especially since a large group of them was recently defeated," Roland said, winking at Johann.

Wrinn's face turned somber as he addressed the Sage. "Unfortunately, sir, we now have an enemy much worse than the Dark Elves to contend with - the Fiends are preparing to invade, and may do so before we are prepared. Myself and my colleague Gary are here to give you these dire tidings and ensure that you are sent to meet with the rest of the Sages post haste. Roland, we have no choice - you must leave for Crescent Lake immediately!"

Nodding grimly, Roland turned to his daughter. "Well, my dear, it seems that your mission is finally at hand - and you'll have help!"

Lyra began to look slightly uneasy as Wrinn and Gary became puzzled. "What mission?"

"The only way to fully ensure the Crown's protection is to keep it with me, hiding away in the mountains. Unfortunately, I cannot live forever, and I cannot ask my daughter to live her life as a recluse - besides, who would take her place on her day of passing? So, I have spent these years simultaneously waiting for the Elves to signal me as well as training Lyra to undertake the mission of hiding the Crown where the Dark Elves cannot possibly get it."

Wrinn's look became incredulous as he asked, "And where in the world can she go that the Dark Elves cannot follow?"

Roland, seemingly unaware of the sudden anger blazing in her daughter's eyes, replied, "The Cave of Marsh in the southern end of this continent. That place is positively crawling with the slimiest, most despicable monsters known to elves, and most of them are extremely poisonous. Due to the black magic that Astos has infused in his followers to attempt to make them stronger, they are extremely susceptible to poison. Once Dark Elves are poisoned, not even a Pure spell can save them. Therefore, the Crown must be hidden in the deepest recesses of the Marsh Cave to ensure that not a single Dark Elf who goes in will come out alive."

Gary then spoke up, his voice barely a whisper - "What about mercenaries?"

Wrinn cast a worried glance at his friend as Roland answered. "Your concern is a legitimate one, but easily remedied. The Marsh Cave is a den of slime and filth because of five evil Wizards who constantly work the black arts in its depths. If the right measures are taken, they can be convinced to destroy whoever attempts to take the Crown."

Johann indignantly exclaimed, "And you were going to force Lyra to face this danger all by herself?"

"If it meant the last possible measure that could be taken to ensure the safety of our people, then by all means yes, Johann. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, my boy - I thought you would have learned that by now!"

Successfully chewed out, Johann resignedly stalked over to his pack and slung it over his shoulder. "Well, if it's what we've got to do, then let's go, shall we?"

Gary, snapping out of the daze that he had been in for a few moments, snapped his head up and said, "Wait a minute - what is Roland going to do while we're all traipsing about in the Marsh Cave?"

"Pay my respects to the Prince. Talk about the Fiends with Rostol." With a grin and a wink, he continued, "And, most importantly, get some real food! Oh, and if you're worried as to how I'll make it back to ElfLand, all I can say is this - don't. Good luck on your journey - I'll see you all in ElfLand when the Crown is safe." With that, he took the Crown from within his robes and tossed it to Lyra. Then he turned, stepped through the bushes at the southern end of the clearing, and was gone.

"Well, that certainly was abrupt," Gary remarked, still somewhat in a daze.

"Oh, he's always like that," Lyra said, with a trace of disdain. "When he was training me, he wouldn't give me orders, he'd bark them."

Wrinn cast a sidelong glance at the good-sized broadsword strapped to her back. "What kind of, um, swordsmanship did he teach you, anyway?"

In a flat, toneless voice, she replied, "The type that matches my sword - you know, big sweeping strokes, use gravity and momentum to my advantage, blows from above, that sort of thing. He also taught me Pure so that if I got poisoned by any of the Marsh monsters I'd be able to heal myself - but, that's the only spell he taught me, probably to optimize my strength." Wrinn cast another incredulous glance at her as she suddenly brightened. "That reminds me - I've been meaning to do this for ages, but the old man wouldn't let me. One minute, gentlemen..." And with that, in front of her companions' surprised eyes, she began to rid herself of various pieces of armor - her right shinguard, left thighguard, right armguard, and left gauntlet. Stashing her booty under a bush, she turned back to the three men, a ridiculous figure in coarse leather and metal, twisting and stretching with a smile on her face.

Wrinn looked at her stranger than ever, and exclaimed, "What in the world was that all about?"

"I, um, know my style well enough that I can keep my armor like this and protect everything that I can possibly leave open when fighting and also have a lot of maneuverability, that's all..." as she drew into herself, looking embarrassed.

Wrinn, peeved at this weak display, sneered, "Well, m'lady, if you're all ready to go...." and stalked out of the clearing towards the south.

As Lyra's embarrassed look turned to hurt, Gary earnestly leaned towards her and said, "He's really not a bad fellow, just a bit....strong-minded." Lyra managed a weak nod and Gary hurried off after Wrinn.

With his face grim, Johann spoke up. "Come on, old friend - we've got a race of people to ensure the safety of."

Now with a grim set to her own face, Lyra nodded, and the elves stepped through the bushes to follow the two Conerians into the dangerous southwestern swamps.

The sun lazily stretched its thin yellow fingers through the leaf cover of the Northwest Forest to the southward path where the four adventurers tramped, casting small spots of illumination on each face as they passed through its beams. First the wielder of strength, Wrinn - his jaw set, his lips pressed, and his eyes fierce as he continuously pondered the challenges ahead. Then Gary, the wielder of speed - his countenance pensive and his eyes pained as he could not shake the vision of the lady in red. Next Johann, the wielder of magic - his face grim and steady but his eyes filled with fear as he tried to quell the doubts within himself. Finally Lyra, the wielder of pain - her visage was alternating between anger and despair while her eyes continuously betrayed the damage done. Ever since Lyra had pointed out the path through the forest that led to the Marsh Cave, Wrinn had taken off at a furious pace, and no breath could be wasted on conversation as they silently stalked along the tunnel-like forest floor.

After an hour of this silent travel, Wrinn suddenly stopped short and thrust his right hand behind him. With a start, his three companions clumsily brought their attentions back from the depths of their minds and attempted to concentrate on what was going on around them. Once their minds had fully returned to them, they naturally wanted to know why they had stopped, and as they began to voice their confusions, Wrinn silenced them with a wave of his hand. As their mutterings quickly ceased, Wrinn slowly twisted around to face his companions, and in a voice that simply dripped with foreboding, told them, "We're almost there." He then took a hesitant step forward, and the other three knew what he meant as they heard the unmistakable squelch of wet, sticky mud. They had arrived at the Marsh.

The mood of the four then became as gloomy as the place they were traveling as they squished through the swamp. A thick fog suspended itself over the entire marsh, making the dead trees that surrounded them look ghostly - it was almost as though the fog was the soul of that destroyed forest trying to escape, and Johann's fearful state only grew worse as he looked at the arboreal corpses around him. In his mind, each tree's final state was a death pose - some were limp and bowed, as if they had accepted their fate, and some rigidly extended each limb as far as it would go in a final cry for help. Johann shivered and continued on, following Lyra, who had moved up to help guide Wrinn. The move hadn't helped her confidence any - she constantly looked around her, frantically shifting her gaze left and right as she kept imagining being lost forever in this dreadful place, and waiting for the attacks by the slimy Marsh creatures. Surprisingly, nothing attacked them - but that was probably because of the two knights who bookended the procession. Wrinn was as grim and fierce as always, and Gary, albeit a little lost in thought, looked every bit as tough as his partner.

After about a half an hour of squishy travel, Lyra pointed towards a small clearing off to their left. "The cave's over here." Wrinn led them over to the clearing, and when they arrived, he stood in silent shock.

"THIS is the Marsh Cave?" he said, staring at the slimy , three-foot-wide hole in the ground that marked the entrance. Lyra nodded, and shrugging, Wrinn got back down to business. As the other three looked on, Wrinn walked around the edge of the clearing, tugging on different trees, knocking them with his sword and testing the firmness of the wood. Eventually, he found one to his liking, and turned to Gary. "Could you throw me that coil of rope you have?" Finally understanding what in the world Wrinn had been doing, Gary tossed Wrinn the rope and watched as he tied it around the tree, tugged on it to make sure the knot was tight, and then walked over to the 'entrance.'

Turning to the pair of Elves, still in his businesslike manner, he asked "Do either of you know how far down it is?"

Lyra squinted and thoughtfully bit her lower lip as she delved into her memory. "Um, Father always told me that it was about ten feet down - you'll have to climb down instead of jumping, Wrinn."

Walking over to a nearby tree, Gary suddenly chimed in. "You mean I'll have to climb instead of jump." Drawing his sword, he hacked off the last two feet of a nearby branch and smiled. "We're going to need some light down there first, right?"

Grinning back at his friend, Wrinn replied, "Indeed. Good idea!" and walked over to the trees himself and began hacking off branches left and right to be used as torches. Gary walked over to the hole and tossed the rope down, picked up a couple feet of slack, and then jumped down into the Marsh Cave. The rest of the group heard a soft "uch" as the rope went taut, and then another as Gary landed on the cave floor. A moment later they saw a soft glow arise from the hole as Gary lit his torch. Lyra grabbed the rope and was about to join him but stopped short as she heard his voice float up from the cave. "Hey - is Wrinn still grinning up there?"

Lyra glanced over at the knight as he cheerfully bundled together his torches, and called back down, "More or less - why did you want to know?"

"Oh, I just wanted to know if I'd 'lightened' the mood any!" Lyra groaned at his terrible joke, then joined Gary in his chuckling as she began her descent. Johann finally allowed a grin to crease his face as he descended, listening to the laughing of his friends, and Wrinn was feeling so bouncy that he tossed the torches to Gary and then jumped down the hole anyway. As the four adventurers lighted their torches and prepared themselves for the fight of their lives, a shadowy figure materialized at the edge of the clearing, took a quick look at the rope leading to the entrance of the cave, and quickly disappeared into the shadows again, heading towards the northwest.

With their torches lit and preparations completed, the adventurers began their descent into the depths of the cave. The lighthearted mood that they had entered with quickly lapsed back into grimness - but who wouldn't be grim in a place like this? The torchlight left an eerie glare as it played off the mud-covered walls of the cave, and every few moments a slight gasp was heard as some of the mud lining the ceiling succumbed to gravity and landed on somebody.

"Ugh....none of Father's training ever prepared me for a place as disgusting as this," grumbled Lyra as she wiped a glob of mud off of her right ear and flung it to the ground in disdain.

Wrinn, from the front of the line, said "I must say, Lyra, I can definitely agree with that - the sooner we leave the Crown and get out of here, the better," as a glob of mud landed on the back of his neck and he reached to wipe it off. He started to throw it to the ground, but stopped mid-fling and looked at his hand, which, instead of being stained with mud, was covered with a slimy, greenish goo. He tilted his head back to look at the ceiling, giving the oversized spider there the opening it wanted.

It made no sound.

It immediately dropped onto Wrinn's face and began chomping on his neck. Frantically, Wrinn dropped his torch, plunging the area around him into darkness, and began clawing at the monster as it chewed on his windpipe. Immediately, Johann dropped his own torch and held his hands out in front of him, index and middle fingers extended, and closed his eyes. A small ball of flame appeared at his fingertips, but was suddenly sucked back inside him as Johann furrowed his brow and clenched his eyes tighter. After a few seconds, the spider gave a high-pitched squeal and flopped off Wrinn's face to the ground, and before Gary and Lyra's astonished eyes, a single flame escaped from its midsection. As it writhed on the muddy floor, Gary took a quick look at Johann, who clenched his hands into fists and then relaxed. A split second later, a blinding flash filled the cave as the spider exploded, covering everything with its slimy blood as Wrinn blindly stumbled around the cave, gasping, choking, and coughing, blood flowing freely from the gaping wound in his neck.

Gary immediately went into action, flinging his pack to the ground and plunging his hands into it, a moment later coming back out with a healing potion clenched in each one. He poured the first potion over the dripping gash and then watched in amazement as the blood began to flow back up into Wrinn's body as the wound healed itself. A second later, Wrinn opened his eyes, blinked, and weakly grinned at Gary. "I'm much obliged, fr" - and was cut off as he violently retched, spewing yellow-green bile all over the cave floor. He then began to convulse, spastic jerks taking control of his body as his eyes were locked open in fear.

As for the remaining three adventurers, they all jumped back in shock at Wrinn's strange behavior. Then, as Gary and Johann stood shell-shocked, Lyra went into action. Kneeling down next to the shivering figure and closing her eyes, she clasped her hands together and, in a state of seraphic calm, smoothly said a beautiful incantation. A moment later, her skin began to take on a soft white glow, and opening her eyes, she reached out her hand and touched Wrinn's cheek. When she came in contact with the poisoned body, she shuddered, but kept the contact between their bodies intact and even moved closer to take Wrinn in her arms. And before the astonished eyes of their friends, the glow on Lyra's body began to transfer itself to Wrinn until they were both bathed in it. When that had been completed, Lyra clenched her eyes tight and the glow sank into the two of them. For a moment, neither of them moved.

Then, at the exact same time, Wrinn and Lyra opened their eyes and looked at each other. As Lyra looked deep into the eyes of the knight, she could see the fear melt away and gratitude replace it from the shelter of her embrace. For the first time, the hatred that she held for the strong exteriors of Wrinn and her father was beginning to be turned into understanding....but her reverie was broken by Johann's voice.

"I must say, Lyra, that's one hell of an antidote you've got there." A slight smile was on his face.

After all of Wrinn's injuries had been healed by various methods, the four of them continued on, this time much more wary. Wrinn, in front, watched the cave ahead, while Lyra kept an eye on the ceiling. Johann and Gary took turns watching out behind them - Wrinn had set up the watch system because he said that he didn't want anything like what had happened to him happen to any of his friends. Because of his plan, the rest of the trip had gone rather uneventful - any spiders that tried to sneak up on them were easily dispatched with fireballs, as were the slimes that frustrated Wrinn to no end - every time he tried to slash at them, his sword simply got stuck until the slime was melted away by one of his comrade's spells. His irritibility worried Lyra - she couldn't understand why the journey going well was making him angry. Instead of just putting it down to his seemingly violent nature, she thought about it for a moment and realized that his lack of help was what was wrong. The magic of Johann and Gary was the only thing that was effective down here, and the fact that he couldn't do anything was driving him crazy. After another moment of thought, she realized why that was so. Wrinn obviously took the unofficial position of leader that he had put himself into more seriously than just an opportunity to just give orders. He really is a noble knight, she thought but then frowned as she continued on, I just wish the dumb galoot would show me some respect!

Eventually, after much exploring, magic, and mud, the four of them arrived at another hole in the floor like the main entrance to the cave. However, there was a slight difference here insofar as there was already a makeshift ladder placed at the lip, leading down into a section of the cave that, from where they stood, looked blacker than the blackest night.

In a move surprising to her companions, Lyra was the first to head towards the ladder. "Here's where the fun begins, boys," her voice wavering and rising in pitch as she descended the rickety steps. "If what my father told me was right, what we've been through up here will be a cakewalk compared to what we'll face down there."

Splash...squish squish. Splash...squish squish. Splash...squish squish. Splash...squish squish. Two steps was all each of them could take before stopping dead and taking in the scene. Thick black mud poked out between numerous puddles of brackish water, which reflected the only sources of light in the room - the torches of the Four and the glowing eyes of the five wizards who faced them from the opposite side of the cavern. Giving his companions a nod, Wrinn took a few tentative steps forward and then turned back to see, to his pleasant surprise, that all three of his friends were close behind. Turning to the wizards with renewed resolve, Wrinn tramped on, and when he could he could make out the wrinkled faces of the black sorcerers he stopped and called to them.

"We ask a favor of you!"

The expressions on the wizards' faces did not change, but the tone of their leader's response was tinged with amusement. "Normally, any intruders into the Marsh Cave are killed immediately by the creatures. You seem to have made it through all right, either by your battle skills or your skills of stealth - and from the looks of you I suspect it was the latter - and anyone who makes it down here is usually killed immediately by the five of us. In actuality, you are only alive for one simple reason - I wish to find out, what sort of favor could you possibly need from us?"

The two elves stepped forward and as Lyra took the Crown from her pack and held it aloft, Johann answered, "We ask you to watch over this Crown and destroy anyone who attempts to take it from this chamber! What must we do to have our wishes granted?"

After a moment of silence in which the wizards were obviously taken aback by such a strange request, their leader replied. "If you can defeat me in one on one combat, the remaining four will guard the Crown for the rest of their lives. I remind you that this challenge is to the death.....if you wish to accept our offer, choose your champion" - here the fire in his eyes rose to a blinding fury - "and come for me!"

A wicked grin crossed Wrinn's face as his hand slowly went to the handle of his sword. "No problem, pal - I've got your champion right he" -

"Wrinn." It was Lyra's voice.

"Wha'?" Wrinn twisted his neck around to look at Lyra, who stood stock still, staring at the ground, her fists clenched tight by her sides. "What is it? I'm a little busy right now!"

"Let me take him on."

"WHAT? Are you crazy? You'll get fried!"

"Look, I don't mean to interrupt the witty repartee you two have started over there, but I'm getting impatient - so if you don't choose somebody to die, then I will!" Electricity began to crackle between the wizard's hands as he tried to decide which one to destroy - the impetuous over-confident fool, the weakling woman, the shrimp, or the other knight who had just stood there like an ass the whole time?

Wrinn turned back to the wizard and yelled, "Hey, give me a minute! I'll be with you as soon as I quiet down my idiot friend here!" Turning back around again, he started, "Now listen, Lyra" -

"NO!" Lyra's head snapped up and the fury in her own eyes nearly matched that of the wizard's. "You listen, damn you! I have been training for this moment my whole life" - finally the wizard had charged his spell and decided to kill the brash knight - "AND NOBODY IS GOING TO TAKE IT AWAY FROM ME!" With a diving leap, she knocked Wrinn to the ground and out of the way of the wizard's spell, then jumped up with surprising quickness and took the attack herself. Drawing her sword and letting out a bloodcurdling scream, she sprinted toward the surprised wizard, dragging the tip of her sword in the mud. As she approached him, she stopped moving her feet and slid the rest of the way as she swung, throwing up a deluge of disgusting brown water that obscured everyone's view.

However, the scream of the wizard was enough to tell all those involved just what had happened. As the water returned to its muddy home, it showed the remains of the lead wizard, cleaved in two by one mighty stroke of Lyra's sword. Lyra herself, who had fallen to her knees gasping for breath, turned her head around and looked at Wrinn, who in turn could only lay in the mud and blink.

Eager to finish their business in the not-so-pleasant Marsh Cave, the Four quickly left the Crown with the remaining wizards and immediately began their ascent back to the cave entrance. However, this time, Wrinn had assigned Lyra and Johann to the front of the line, Gary third position, and in seemingly a self-admittance of his own folly, relegated himself to the rear of the group. Lyra kept casting worried glances behind her, but Wrinn seemed to be constantly looking back himself. After little incident and only a few necessary magic attacks, they arrived once again at the entrance - but their rope lay in a broken pile under the entrance.

"Blast!" exclaimed Johann. "How are we going to get out now?"

"Not a problem, Johann," said Gary, as he began to coil the rope on his shoulder. "Whenever Wrinn and I were in the forest and wanted something to eat and all of the fruit was out of our reach, Wrinn would give me a boost and I would jump off his hand. We got quite good at it. However," he said, as he looked up at the cave entrance, "that looks a little higher than usual - Lyra, would you mind giving Wrinn a hand?"

Shaking her head, Lyra walked over to where Wrinn had crouched down and looked back at Gary, who tensed himself and after a deep breath, took a few half-running steps onto Wrinn and Lyra's cupped hands, and as they lifted him towards the ceiling, he bent his legs and jumped. When he reached the lip, he reached out his arms sideways and grabbed onto the edges. A few moments later, after a lot of grunting, he managed to lift himself out of the hole and onto solid ground. "Just let me find a decent tree, and the rope will be back down momentarily!" After some rustling noises and a little more grunting, the rope was thrown down to the waiting three. Johann was the first to climb up, followed by Lyra, and finally Wrinn.

As he reached the top and pulled himself back into the Marsh, he noticed Johann standing there looking perplexed, Lyra looking distraught - and he also noticed Gary was not there. After making a quick scan of the area, he walked over to the tree where the rope was tied - a note was attached there with a curious-looking dagger. Yanking the dagger out of the tree, Wrinn the read the note - and froze.

Lyra's look became even more worrisome as she stared at the stock-still knight. "What's going on, Wrinn? Where's Gary?"

In a toneless, emotionless monotone, Wrinn cleared his throat and read the note to the elves. "I have captured the knight named Gary and am bringing him to meet Lord Astos in the Dark Elves' Northwest Fortress. If you wish to see him alive again, I suggest you hurry to the Fortress post haste. If you do not, I sincerely doubt that he will live much longer. Signed," here Wrinn broke off for a moment and took a few deep breaths....

"Signed, Phia."

Wrinn stood with his back to his friends, so still that Johann and Lyra couldn't even tell if he was breathing or not. Lyra took a hesitant step forward and put her hand out towards him. "Wrinn? Are you all right?"

The knight, lost in a fog, didn't move. It wasn't until Lyra had called his name again that he finally snapped back into reality. Turning around, he calmly said, "Would you two excuse me for a moment?"

As the two elves watched, he smoothly walked into the fog at the edge of the clearing and disappeared. After a moment of complete silence, Johann and Lyra looked at each other in complete mystification - until a flock of birds flew over them at top speed, followed by a heartbreaking scream of pain, then by several war cries interspersed with the creaking of falling trees. Over the noise, Johann turned to Lyra and remarked, "Interesting method of stress management, don't you think?"

"Not funny, Johann."

With a shrug, Johann took his pack off his back and rummaged through it. Finding a magic potion, he held it out to Lyra, who shook her head. With another shrug, he took a sip and put it back in his pack as the noise from the marsh stopped. A few minutes later, Wrinn walked back into the clearing, as smooth and calm as he had left it. Lyra started to speak, but Wrinn held up his hand to silence her.

"I'm fine, Lyra. Don't worry about me - it's your home you should be worried about." As the confusion appeared on the faces of the two elves, Wrinn continued. "Isn't it obvious? The capture of Gary is simply a diversion to keep us from stopping the invasion of ElfLand."

Johann's confusion turned to anger as he understood what the knight was getting at. "Of course! After I destroyed the party that was supposed to kill us, they didn't know what we were doing. They didn't catch up to us until after we had entered the cave, and once they realized what we had gone in there for, Astos probably became so enraged that he ordered the immediate invasion of ElfLand - if he can't get the Crown by birth, he'll get the throne by force! What are we going to do?"

"Simple," Wrinn said. "You're going back to ElfLand to protect your home, and I'm going to go rescue my friend."

"Are you crazy?" Lyra shot back. "You're going to go into the lair of Astos alone and expect to come out alive? We're going with you!"

"No, Lyra, you're not."

"But why!?"

"Two reasons. One, the Dark Elves want all three of us to sidetrack ourselves into rescuing Gary, and I'm not going to give those bastards anything they want. Two, Gary has been my best friend my whole life" - he looked deep into Lyra's eyes - "and nobody is going to take him away from me." Lyra could do nothing but stare at him.

Taking his glasses off and cleaning them with a corner of his robe, Johann spoke up. "Wrinn, don't worry about ElfLand. We know how the Dark Elves fight, we've strengthened our armies considerably since the last attack, and both Rostol and Roland will be there." He put his glasses back on, and with a mischievous twinkle in his eye, he continued, "Besides, Astos is a formidable opponent, and now that you've seen what we can do, I don't think you'll be too adverse to having us along."

Wrinn allowed a small smile to crease his face as he answered. "You drive a hard bargain, elf."

"Blast it, Phia, you drive a hard bargain!"

"Sorry, Astos. Guess I should have warned you about the 'capturing former comrades' clause I put in my contract a few years ago. Drives the price up a bit."

"Righteous one minute and repulsive the next - all to increase your price. I must say, Phia, you are the shrewdest mercenary it's ever been my financial misfortune to meet." In his cavernous, dimly lit throne room, the Lord of the Dark Elves put a few more gold coins into the sack he had in his lap, fastened the strings, and tossed it to Phia, who deftly caught it and put it in her pack. "I still say you shouldn't have just followed them blindly after the rest of your scouting party was killed - as soon as you knew their destination you should have told me!"

"And how was a war party of yours supposed to catch up to them after I got back and told you, especially with the head start they had? I needed to scout out the abilities of the two elves they had with them - unfortunately, they weren't attacked on the way to the Marsh Cave so they're still a mystery. However, from the looks of them - a frail little nerd and a strange, frightened little girl - you shouldn't have any problems, but it's Wrinn you've got to worry about. By the way, have you discovered what the knights' quest is yet? I never did find out."

Astos raised his eyebrows and answered. "No - that blasted fool hasn't moved an inch since he got here and the interrogations have gone nowhere. I must say I'm impressed, though - doing advance work for us while you were still allied with those knights? You're more ruthless than I thought!"

Flashing a dark look at her employer, Phia replied, "My initial inquiry was purely conversational, Astos. Don't flatter yourself into thinking that I'd ever do anything for you that I wasn't paid extremely well to do." Turning around with a flourish, she stalked out of the Fortress' main hall, cape flowing behind her.

Watching the beautiful mercenary as she left, Astos muttered to himself, "You are more ruthless than I thought, O Phia D'Hiver. I'm going to have to keep a very close eye on you - and my wallet as well!"

In the meantime, the 'ruthless' mercenary was staring blankly at the floor in her quarters, her mind churning with remorse. "What have I done?" she thought out loud. "How could I have betrayed Gary like that without thinking about it?" Because you had a contract with Astos to do it, you silly girl. He paid you well to capture whoever came out of the cave first so that they wouldn't be able to prevent the attack on ElfLand. "That's true. I suppose I can't be blamed too much." Are you kidding? Of course you can! You knew the second you cut that rope that the only one who would be able to get out first would be Gary - you deliberately lured him into the dungeon! That's a great bit of thanks he got for falling in love with you - imprisonment and probably death at the hands of Astos. Or, maybe it might be even worse than that - of course you know as well as any of the other Dark Elves that the sick monster is a servant of -

"SHUT UP!!!! Shut up shut up shut up!" Clamping her hands over her ears and shaking her head frantically, she did everything she could to quiet the one voice that could not be silenced - the one in her mind. Closing her eyes tight didn't prevent the first tears from trickling down her face as she continued to fight a losing battle against her own personal demons....and if you had been passing by her room at that very moment, you would have heard the last thing she said before she passed out from grief - a single, haunting syllable from a tortured soul.

"Why......."

"What do you think our strategy is going to be, Wrinn?" Stifling a yawn, Johann looked at the knight, silent and strong in the glow of the firelight. "Got any ideas yet?"

"I would, if I knew what the layout of that fortress was. As far as it goes now, there's only one that I can think of - bust through the front door and hope that Astos has been foolish enough to only leave a skeleton crew to defend himself while he throws every elf he can into the invasion. Lyra, you were up in the mountains when the Fortress was being constructed - did you or your father ever get a decent view of it?"

Shaking her head, Lyra dejectedly answered, "Unfortunately, no. Father was still continuing my schooling at that point - it wasn't until we started my physical training a few years later that we even knew it existed. And even then, the best view we could get was just of a plain, square building. A battlement here, a battlement there, a couple towers, nothing special. For all we know, it could just be one big, empty room, or it could be a bewildering maze as fiendish as the Sky Castle itself." Lyra sighed and leaned her head back against a tree, then twisted towards Johann and said, "Well, we might as well prepare for the upcoming fight - just what kinds of magic does Astos know, Johann?"

For her reply, she got a resounding snore. "Looks like we've lost Johann to the unconquerable enemy," Wrinn remarked. "We'll ask him for details on the way to the Fortress tomorrow." After a moment of staring at the flames flicker and curl their way skyward, he spoke up again in a quiet, subdued tone. "That was quite a show you put on back there in the cave. I had no idea you were that strong and skilled."

Lyra's head snapped up with an indignant look flashing from her brown eyes. "Why wouldn't I be? I was trained by a Sage, same as you - alone in the mountains, no less, with no distractions and nothing else to do."

"True, but you've got to admit, you sure don't show it. I mean, when we first saw you step into that clearing, I thought that if we jumped out from behind our trees, you would have dropped your sword and wet your armor instead of cleaving us in half."

The annoyance faded from Lyra's eyes and turned to pain as she stared at the ground. "That's Father's fault. He was always extremely strict with me - kept babbling on day in and day out about how I had to be able to face impossible odds and defeat nearly invincible enemies to save our race, and, well....it scared me." Picking up a small twig and drawing aimlessly in the forest floor, she continued softly. "With him telling me that constantly, along with the strict training schedule and having orders barked at me, I guess it sort of - wore me down."

"Hmm. That's understandable. When....when....wuh...." Wrinn then cut himself off, clenched his eyes tight, and grimaced.

Looking up with a start and a concerned look, Lyra asked, "Wrinn? What on earth is wrong?"

After taking several deep breaths, Wrinn opened his eyes and replied through clenched teeth, "When Gary and I were training together, we didn't have any heavy objectives or missions put upon us - our only goal was to make it into the Honor Guard. I guess that gave us a little more leeway and allowed us to grow up as cocky little brats." He then seemed to relax and smiled weakly at Lyra as he leaned his head back against his tree.

Concerned, the elf stared at him for a moment and posed another question. "Why did you pause a moment ago? Was it because you were thinking about Gary?"

Turning his head away and looking off into the darkness of the forest, the knight replied, "Yes. I've failed him. I've never failed before when it meant that anyone else besides me would get hurt, and now I finally fail somebody - and who does it end up being? Only the guy who's been my best friend for my entire life!" Wrinn slammed his head back into the tree, pounded the ground with his fists, and his voice became choked with rage as Lyra's concerned look turned to shock. "We're like brothers - been together since we were kids - have always backed each other up no matter what....." Wrinn finally gave in and buried his face in his hands, and he spat out words between ragged breaths. "And now.....when it finally means something....when the two of us had been entrusted with the safety of the world...and he trusted me to take care of him, the same way that I trusted him....and I....I....!" Wrinn's rage consumed him now, and he could say no more.

Lyra then got up from her tree and knelt down next to Wrinn. As the fire sputtered down to smoldering embers, she tenderly put her arms around him and tried to calm him down. "Don't worry, noble knight. You've still got a chance. You haven't failed him yet."

In the dank, dripping dungeons of the Northwest Fortress, Gary Blackstone sat stock-still, leaning against the wall and staring blankly into the darkness. Ever since the moment that he had pulled himself out of the Marsh Cave and seen Phia standing there, his mind and body had been drugged into submission by the shock of her sudden return and then, the order for his imprisonment. In the day and night since he had been put in this place, the only thoughts that crossed his mind were continued shock and a painful, bewildering mystery - how could Phia, the woman he loved, heartlessly put him in a place like this, with nothing to look forward to but the inevitable fate that they all knew was coming?

The sudden noise of footsteps made Gary blink. Probably just another stupid attempt to question me, he thought. You'd think they would have figured out by now that they're not getting anything out of me - even the torture didn't work. Wonder what they're trying now? A moment later, when Phia mounted her torch in the wall and turned to face the bars of his cell, his curiosities were answered.

"Hello, Gary."

Silence. Maybe a blink in the darkness, she couldn't tell.

"I haven't come to interrogate you and find out what your quest is - heck, even you probably know that's not why you're here in the first place." Clearing her throat and sweeping her cloak behind her, she continued. "I came to apologize."

Several blinks in quick succession.

"I'd like to say that I had no intention of ever fighting against you, but when I discovered that it was the Dark Elves who would be hiring me, I knew that our paths would eventually cross. I didn't think they'd meet this directly, but fate works in mysterious ways."

More blinking. She could hear his breath getting heavier as he listened to her, and it was getting harder and harder for her to keep her composure.

"I can't believe I'm about to admit this, but....by the end of our time on the ship, I....I....had really started to care for you..."

"Enough to throw me in here, eh?"

Taken aback by Gary's sudden response, Phia stammered,