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Archives: A New Balance

Chapter 6: Roads of Flaim

    The six warriors rode out of the desert city without a hitch. No one had noticed Zira under her hood, or at least nobody called the guards to investigate her. Once the city walls were shrinking on the horizon, the dark elf eagerly removed her cloak and tossed it to Edwin. “Put that in my saddle bag, will you? I think the left one has extra room.”

    Zira stretched her arms up over her head as Thunder walked smoothly under her. “That thing is uncomfortable in this weather. I just wish I didn’t have to hide in the city,” Zira told her companions.

    Edwin caught the cloak and nodded his head as he shifted to place the cloak into the left saddle bag. “Well, I am sure in time you won’t have to hide, through it is a shame that at the time being you are force to hide.” He looked forward patting Night Raven’s neck as he rode slowly. “So how long will this journey take us?” Edwin turned his head to look at the others, taking note of how they traveled, trying to get a better understanding of them.

    Hopefully Edwin was right, some of Zira’s other friends assured her things would change, and she had about nine hundred years of life left in her to see that happen. If only the majority of her kind would abandon their evil roots like Zira’s family had. “It should take about three or four days, this road goes around the mountains and straight to Roid,” she replied.

    Ryna frowned as she listened to Zira and Edwin. Did she really want Dark elves to be more common and accepted? She’d met far too many evil dark elves to let go of her prejudices just yet, they murdered her Randy five years ago, they nearly killed her too. She was surprised to see Zira enjoying the sun, most dark elves weren’t to fond of the light. Maybe Zira was all right, but she wasn’t about to change her views for one good dark elf.

    Ashe held the rear of their group. Not necessarily by choice. Once they were out of the city it took his horse Patience time to get used to keeping up with the younger horses. By the time she came up to speed they were in the rear. However, Ashe didn’t mind. It gave him an opportunity to be led rather than lead. An opportunity to watch the new environment and people he surrounded himself in. Before leaving the limits of the city Ashe wrapped his hood and cloak around himself again. The additional heat was an acceptable exchange for protection from the sun and wind.

    Once the group set into a steady pace Ashe took the opportunity to move forward next to Zira. It took a few minutes for Patience to catch up the younger Thunder but she got Ashe where he wanted to be.

    “Zira.” Ashe nodded his head before turning towards her slightly. “Dark Elves. Tell me. Are your people strong?” The question came from genuine curiosity, the race was rare in Blade and even more so deeper in the desert. “Warriors? Hunters?”

    Zira regarded Ashe with an amicable smile as he questioned her, though his question made her ponder the definition of “strong”. “Well, we aren’t physically strong like the dwarves, but resilient unlike humans, and more enduring than light elves. We also use shamanism like light elves, but only dark elves use the dark spirits. I daresay, most of us are very arrogant in our abilities, but I don’t share that opinion. Other dark elves think they’re better than all other races, I know we all have our strengths and weaknesses. I think the weakness of dark elves is arrogance,” Zira explained, delving into her reply much further than intended.

    Leaf was listening in on the conversation and her curiosity drove her to ride up alongside Zira. “Umm...how come you’re different than other dark elves?” Leaf asked, though it probably sounded rude. Zira seemed so open to answering Ashe’s question that Leaf thought she’d probably answer hers just as kindly.

    Zira wasn’t offended at all by Leaf’s question, she was actually quite glad they were asking her so much. “Well, I suppose it was in how I was raised, I moved to the Raiden area from Marmo with my parents when I was sixteen. My parents had the idea to get away from all the evil and darkness of Marmo. I wonder what I would have become if I’d stayed there,” Zira mused on that finally thought grimly.

    “Your people seem so small.” Ashe’s eyes glanced at Leaf as well then recollected how other elves had looked. “How do you survive?”

    “I’m not that small!” Leaf said. “I know plenty of women, humans and elves as tall as me! And I don’t know what you’re thinking, but you don’t have to be big to survive.”

    “I think he was referring more to the fact that we’re not large in build, like him,” Zira told Leaf. She had sensed a primal energy in Ashe, something wild and not human, but she didn’t consider that he was a were-wolf, she’d only heard stories of them and had never been near one she knew of.

    “Leaf is right though, bigger isn’t always better. We elves are built for speed and agility, not brute strength. We also have our shamanism to rely on,” Zira explained to Ashe.

    “I suppose. So.” Ashe ran his hand across his chin and contemplated. They still seemed small. Maybe it was something he would have to see for himself before he could judge properly. “Speed. And Magic.” Another concept that was rather foreign. Though magic had reached out into the desert it was rare for his people to see it close enough to study. “Interesting.”

    Edwin just at the moment rode quietly having taken the time to listen to Leaf, Zira and Ashe speak taking it in about what Zira was saying. Edwin had never seen any kind of magic before but it had always held a place of interest in his mind at times. Shaking his head slightly and gazing around the landscape keeping his eyes open.

    As Edwin watched the road ahead, a raven landed on a signpost not far from them, seeming to watch them. It didn’t seem too out of place, but they way it watched them was...intrusive.

    Only a moment after seeing the raven, there was a chitinous clicking sound on either side of the party. The horses showed signs of agitation, depending on their personalities. Thunder’s head rose and his ears swiveled anxiously. Zira felt his muscles tense. Her elven senses told her that they were being stalked by something. Over the top of a dune to the right, she saw three curled tails of giant scorpions.

    “Get ready to fight...” Zira told her companions and drew her rapier. “We have at least six scorpions on either side of us.” It was very odd to Zira, she knew they were usually solitary creatures. They didn’t venture this close to the main road and in such a group.

    Patting Night Raven’s mane, Edwin was trying his best to calm down his steed since it was clear she was not adjusted for being agitated like this. He didn’t know much about giant scorpions so he didn’t know if his sword or bow would be any good but he didn’t want to get close to those stringer on their tail as he removed his bow from his shoulder and drawing an arrow from his quiver. Edwin knew he would only get one or two shots off before he would draw his sword but if he was lucky then he would strike down one of the scorpions before it attacked.

    Leaf had to yank the reins hard to get her horse under control. She wasn’t too good at fighting on horseback, so if she got off, hopefully her horse wouldn’t run away. She decided to stay on as long as necessary.

    Ryna leaned toward Garrack. “We’ll take them together, I can’t handle them alone with just a whip, but I’ll catch their tails and you can kill them,” she told him her battle plan.

    “Sounds like a plan.” Garrack also dismount, as large as they were the scorpions were still too low to the ground to fight from horseback without a lance or spear. He had encountered the giant scorpions before and each time he barely lived to tell about it. Even greatly outnumbered they don’t go down easily.

    “Leaf, keep your distance and only attack from the side. I’ll take them head on. And watch for the claws, they can be deadlier than the stingers and almost as painful.”

    Ryna dismounted and took her whip from her belt, she was ready to do her usual acrobatics at a moment’s notice.

    “Right!” Leaf called. “I’ll back you up with shamanism too!” She didn’t dismount yet though, she could cast some spells from horseback, she just waited for the scorpions to come in range.

    “Not. Natural.” Ashe unmounted quickly. He was not used to being on the back of the horse and was more familiar of the terrain than the mare. His hands shot down to his weapons and he fell into a crouch holding the two swords. Ashe swung them both in wide arcs, stretching and warming the muscles of his arms before engaging. “Damn. Bugs.”

    The six scorpions made a sharp turn towards the group, surrounding them on either side. They were far more aggressive than usual as well, all in all, this was far from natural behavior. Three went for Ryna, Garrack and Leaf, one from the right and two more from the left. The other three went directly toward Edwin, Ashe, and Zira—two right, one left. Far too organized. And that raven was still calmly watching from the signpost.

    Zira noticed Edwin with his bow ready, arrows couldn’t pierce the scorpion’s exoskeleton. “Don’t waste your arrows, use your sword, I’ll assist with magic!” she shouted.

    “Gnome, lend me your arms and bind our enemies to the ground!” Zira called. Tendrils emerged through the earth and wrapped around the scorpions’ legs. “Spirits of Darkness, drain their strength!” and a dark aura surrounded the arachnids, leaving them mildly weakened.

    “Hold the others back!” Ryna shouted to Leaf, then snapped her whip around the tail of the nearest scorpion. She ran behind it and pulled it’s tail back while giving Garrack a safer shot at it’s head.

    Leaf took a cue for Zira and summoned vines as well to bind the other scorpions, but she heard the dark elf summon dark spirits. If she was such a good person, why would she use them?

    Nodding his head hearing Zira, Edwin could see most shots would be a waste. Placing his bow to the side, he drew his long sword and a dagger as he jumped from his horse’s back and charged the scorpion to the left heading for him, Zira, and Ashe. He knew it was not going to do much, but it would be able to hopefully give him enough of a distraction to get behind the tail. Snapping the dagger out toward the eyes of the scorpion, either to hit it in one of the eyes or at least force it pincers to move as he readied his sword to deflect the stinger as he darts passed to get behind the scorpion.

    Thunder charged the weakened and bound scorpion on the right. The large gray gelding reared up, then brought his hooves smashing down onto the scorpion’s head. Meanwhile, Zira slipped around her horse with inhuman speed and blocked the scorpion’s tail from stabbing into Thunder’s head with her rapier. She was clinging to Thunder with only her legs wrapped around his neck, but the horse was perfectly calm about it. It was enough to kill that scorpion.

    Zira slid off Thunder and ran to Ashe and Edwin, ready to jump in and back up either of them.

    While Zira and Thunder took down one of the scorpions, the dagger that Edwin tossed toward the scorpion that he was engaging was reaching its mark quietly until the scorpion easily deflected it into the ground with one of its pincers. Seeing this as his chance Edwin kept charging forward, hoping the scorpion was to distracted by the dagger.

    The problem was that luck was not with him; while distracted to a point the scorpion didn’t avert its gaze from Edwin and with a snap of its tail brought its stinger down toward Edwin. Seeing the tail start to come down Edwin waited until the very last moment to jump to the side letting the stinger brush against his harden leather armor, feeling it crack from the force of the blow, but he was more than happy to do repair work on the armor later since he didn’t feel the stringer pierce his flesh.

    Quickly regaining his balance as the scorpion started to raise its tail up again to make another strike, Edwin knew he had to act quickly or else he wouldn’t be so lucky on another strike from that stinger. Darting toward the tail as it was lifting, he jumped onto it wrapping his arms tightly around the tail using the scorpion to raise him up to its back before dropping down.

    Fighting to keep balanced, it dawned onto him that this might not be the best place for him as he had to jump to the side as the scorpion brought its tail down at Edwin again only barely missing him as the stinger hit against the armor plating of the scorpion’s back. Making his way down the back of the scorpion keeping his face toward the tail and its deadly stinger so that he could jump out slightly out of the way of the sting. Jumping from scorpion tail stings as each one comes down closer and closer until one cuts into his cloak as Edwin gets close to his target the scorpion’s head. Timing it carefully, Edwin waited until the tail started to raise back up before turning around and grabbing the hilt of his sword in both hand and driving the blade down into the scorpion’s head. Feeling the armor of the head give and his blade sinking deeply, Edwin knew this scorpion life was finished but it was not going to go with peacefully as the scorpion thrashed around in pain fling Edwin off its back a good ten feet away onto his back leaving his sword embed into its head.

    With the opportunity bought by Ryna and Leaf, Garrack rushed towards the giant scorpion with no hesitation. As soon as he was in range Garrack summoned his formidable strength and brought down his ax on the creature’s head with full force. But rather than cleave it down the middle as he expected, Garrack only managed to dig his ax a few inches into the exoskeleton. As the giant arachnid shrieked in pain Garrack made an interesting realization. This was a an older one, its carapace had hardened to near steel toughness and unknown to Garrack he had happened to strike the hardest part of its armor. Rather than stand in pain the creature retaliated, with its stinger still bound by Ryna the scorpion used its claws to try to skewer him. Garrack narrowly dodged the first claw as it came inches to his head, the second made a shallow scrape at his thigh, but a third attack landed directly at Garrack’s torso in the center of his dwarven breastplate. He was then knocked back several feet with a sharp pain in his chest, but was otherwise unharmed. Garrack got back on his feet and grunted with frustration when he realized that his battle ax was still embedded in the scorpion’s armor.

    “You started this fight...” The mercenary grumbled to the scorpion “Are you going to finish?”

    “Garrack!” Ryna shouted out to him, but she couldn’t run to help him. Ryna was putting all her weight and strength into keeping that poisonous tail back. When it threw Garrack back, it decided to turn on Ryna, despite his taunt.

    The scorpion struck at her with its claws and she had to let go of her whip to dodge. Now its tail was free and it took the chance to strike at her with it, but it only stabbed into the sand where she’d been standing. Ryna dodged to side. Now she and Garrack were both disarmed.

    Leaf noticed that they were in trouble, so she hopped out off her horse and ran to Garrack’s side. Putting her hands out to summon a spirit, she chanted, “Spirits of the Earth, strike at my enemy with your knives!” Spikes shot up from the ground beneath the scorpion, aiming to impale it.

    Ashe’s feet carried him quickly over the sand. Amidst the heat and sand is where he had learned how to fight. Using the momentum of his run he knelt into a roll, barely avoiding the splash of sand where the scorpion’s tail hit.

    Switching to its secondary weapons the creature began flailing its pincers. Ashe kicked against the sand and slid to the left out of the pincher’s way. There was a brief opening and he took it. Ashe thrust the blunted sword’s tip past the scorpion’s mandibles and into his body. With Ashe’s strength behind it the sword widened the arachnid’s mouth and tore through its throat and further.

    With a feral growl Ashe moved himself forward as the creature flailed. Dropping his second sword he gripped the one embedded inside the scorpion and began twisting it and tearing the creature’s insides.

* * *

    Jeren Octavian Aldener sighed as the wind whipped past his face. Nightfire flew high up this day, preferring the calmer levels of air. Jeren grinned inwardly. This was why his life was as it was. This was why Jeren was who he was. He had the one thing that almost every man dreamed of. The dream to fly through the sky. Although he did not do it on his own accord, Nightfire was pleased to provide a solution to a seemingly impossible dream. Jeren was a soldier of the air and a knight of the night. Nightfire was his dream come true. And together, they were companions. Alone in the clouds. The wyvern banked left and out of the cover of a cloud. “The day is good for this!” he called out to her. She gave a low roar in response. “I am glad you agree!”

    Sir Aldener, or, one would say, ex-Sir Aldener was a warrior of Moss as one of their famed Dragon Knights. He left for reasons he wouldn’t care to think upon, even though, in his heart, he knew they were honorable enough. He decided that his life was too free for the limitational shackles that knighthood gave. And Nightfire tended to agree.

    They swung around low, peering down to the people below. What Jeren saw was not what he had expected, to say the least. Giant scorpions. People doing battle with them. And doing a well enough job, but, as they swung across the group from upon high, he felt that assistance they might appreciate. “Love! Down there is a battle. My spirit feels for the combatants. Do you care to come down upon them and give them the hand that we are paid to give so often?” he asked over the wind. Nightfire did not respond. “Very well then,” he muttered. But as soon as he finished, Nightfire began to turn on her own accord. “Is that a yes?” she didn’t respond. He knew it. Women never liked to tell the truth. They rather would have the man guess at it. To the pack on his side, he pulled out a javelin. “I take it we go to battle.” Nightfire just kept turning around.

    Above the combatants, the swift flight of a wyvern, the “dragons” of Moss, swept over them and swung around. The darkly-scaled wyvern came in low. As it approached, one could see a man rode atop it. Only one kind of person rode a wyvern in Lodoss. Dragon Knights. The man hefted a javelin as he came in on the approach. Nightfire had been quiet for the most part. But, as they grew closer, she let out a roar made to intimidate. As they swung very low to the battle. The man atop it, heaved a javelin towards the back of one of the scorpions. It landed dead on. The javelin slammed in between the carapace of its back and the joint to the striking tail. The giant scorpion screeched out in pain, struggling to move its tail.

    The wyvern swung back into the air with another roar. When they began to swing up, the man called out. “Hello!” As they ascended into the air, he reached for his bow to deliver a back shot. As Ashe, Zira and Edwin finished off their scorpions, the horses left unmounted whinnied and started behind them. There was a crack, and Zira turned to see one of the three scorpions Leaf, Ryna, and Garrack were dealing with impaled to the ground by a javelin. She looked up upon noticing a shadow over the ground and saw a wyvern above them with a man mounted on it. What was a Mossian Dragon Rider doing out here?

    was not the time to question what brought him to the desert, they still had one scorpion left. Zira waved to the dragon knight in reply to his greeting, and to let him know that his help was welcome.

    “Ashe, take down the last scorpion, I’ll finish off the one the dragon rider impaled,” Zira ordered. His blades were the best suited for smashing through the scorpion’s carapace. The dark elf darted to the impaled scorpion that was writhing in pain to put it out of its misery.

    Gracefully, with elven speed, she avoided its pinching claws by dodging to the side, then landing on one as she quickly stabbed her elven blade into its head. Yet, a head wound wouldn’t kill these creatures so easily. Zira continued her fluid assault on the monstrous arachnid until its struggles ceased.

    Nightfire swung across the sky again. It seemed well enough that they had things in hand. But it would be rude if he simply ran off. He nodded to himself in agreement. As Nightfire settled back into the wind, he called out to her. “My Love, perhaps it would be a good idea to visit these people. They may even have a dying sheep. Let us land before them and have polite conversation...” The wyvern let out a high roar before tilting to one side, slowly curving back around. “Besides... I want my javelin back... Good javelins are hard to find these days, you know.” The wyvern seemed to ignore him.

    The wyvern angled downward, letting gravity do the work for her until she was almost to the ground. They she held upward and blasted her wings to the ground, slowing herself. Slowly, but surely, she flapped her wings to get closer to the ground. Then, as if she didn’t care anymore, she just folded her wings in and dropped to the ground. The sand was thrown up by the wyvern’s landing and she snorted at the fact that her talons sunk in too far for her liking. By the time he landed, the battle was over.

    The wyvern looked around, snaking her head towards the others with a vicious glare on her face. Jeren didn’t seem to notice. The handsome man without much real armor just smiled in a way that women tended to fall for. Instead of regular combat gear, he wore a strange leather suit, tanned and finely surfaced. He swung both legs to one side of the flight saddle and untied his line. “Hail, travelers!”

    Ashe simply nodded towards Zira before running off at the last Scorpion. He tightened both hands around the grip of one sword before he was in range. With brutish strength he swatted the scorpion’s stinger aside, guiding it to land next to him. With the first line of defense thwarted he continued on. From the right and left came the pincers. There was only time to take one on if that many.

    Ashe spun once, evading the one from the left and slammed his sword into the one from the right. The impact sounded like an explosion. The heavy metal of the sword shattered the pincher’s tip and allowed Ashe to continue on. He slowed briefly in front of the creature’s face and raised the sword with both arms. With one last howl he brought it down with both arms, breaking through the scorpion’s shell.

    Once the creature stopped its last twitches Ashe headed back towards Zira, retrieving his other sword on the way. “Dead.” He reported quietly. “Fresh meat.”

    Getting up and brushing the dust off his body Edwin shook his head “I need to remember to hold on next time so I don’t get thrown around like that again” he rubs the back of his head as he made his way over to scorpion he killed and yanked his sword out of its head with a groan.

    Turning to bow his head to the wyvern and its rider as Edwin made his way over to his horse to pull out a piece of cloth from a saddle bag that he put in it and with a sigh started to clean his blade “Greetings yourself traveler and thank you for your aid.”

    Again he turned his head this time to look over Zira, Ashe and the others to make sure they are all right before turning to look back at the newcomer wondering what brings him here.

    Ryna removed her whip from the tail of the scorpion Leaf had finished off with her spell, then recoiled it and tied it to her belt. She was intrigued by the wyvern, but her concern for Garrack out weighed that. The buxom red-head went to Garrack and laid her hand on his chest. “Are you all right?” she asked softly.

    Leaf was amazed by the wyvern and knight and the half-elf walked over to him cautiously. “Wow...are you a dragon rider?” Leaf asked.

    The hardened mercenary placed his hand on hers. He then brought her hand to his lips and affectionately kissed her slender fingers. “I’ll be all right. Not the first time this armor saved my life.” he replied with a gentle smile. He then went over to the scorpion carcass to retrieve his ax, placing a foot on its carapace for leverage he pulled the mighty weapon free with a deep grunt. That’s when he realized that there was still a spark of life in the creature and quickly brought his weapon down on it a second time to finish it off. The act was more to end its pain than to eliminate its threat. There was no amount of spite towards the scorpion, it was merely hunting for food and the mercenaries were merely fighting to survive. He also pulled the javelin from the corps and quietly returned it to wielder.

    “I believe we owe our gratitude.” he said as he offered the javelin to the stranger, though he seemed cautious around the wyvern that carried him.

    Zira gave her rapier a sharp whip, tossing off any chunks of scorpion sticking to it, then sheathed it. She’d worry about cleaning it better when they made camp. The dark elf glanced behind her, most of the horses were huddled together in what they felt was a safe distance from the wyvern, but they hadn’t ran away, thankfully. She noticed Edwin go into the saddle bags and pull out a cloth, but she wasn’t sure of it was his pack or her bags. “Hey, that had better not be a pair of my panties, Edwin,” the dark elf warned with her hands on her hips.

    “Well, that all depends upon your point of view, milady,” he said to Leaf with a grin. He took back his javelin and slid it into a case, brimming with them. “Thank you, sir.” The wyvern retracted its head and looked at the new comer. “Its fine, Love,” he told the wyvern, sliding off of his saddle with grace. The man who handed him his javelin was right beside him. “I am Jeren Octavian Aldener,” he stated, holding out his gloved hand to him. “And it was really not a problem. I was just passing through and my throwing arm really hadn’t any good exercise in a while...” Jeren’s eyes glanced around to the people behind him. Women. Nice looking women at that. “And I wonder if there are names lovely enough to fit your beautiful comrades? Or perhaps a name for you as well, sir?”

    Edwin laughed slightly, turning to look at Zira as he folded the piece of cloth up, knowing he would have to clean it later. “Don’t worry, I might be foolish enough to dance on the back of a giant scorpion but I am not foolish enough to touch a ladies panties with out permission, especially one that is clearly very skilled with that rapier.” Opening the saddle bags and places the cloth in his pack, Edwin turned to study Aldener for a moment, bowing his head before patting Night Raven’s neck to help calm her down before turning his attention back to Aldener. “I am Edwin. Even if you arm hasn’t had good exercise of late, its aim was true.”

    Zira couldn’t help but be impressed by Edwin’s reaction. She was expecting him to be intimidated, but he wasn’t. The dark elf smiled to herself. While the others gathered closer to the dragon rider, Zira stood a safe distance behind them. She wasn’t sure if he had noticed that she was a dark elf yet. Despite Edwin’s easy acceptance of her, most humans still feared and hated dark elves, or at the very least, distrusted them. She’d allow her companions to introduce her, then she’d judge her limits with the new human by his reaction to her.

    “I’m Garrack, known as the Blue Meteor,” the mercenary stated, proudly and took Jeren’s hand in a hearty shake. “This is Ryna,” he introduced Ryna with an affectionate arm wrapped around her waist. “And that would be Leaf,” Garrack jerked his thumb toward the half-elf. He would have handled introducing his friends, but the dark elf wasn’t speaking up. “She’s Zira,” he added finally, pointing her out like he had done for Leaf.

    “I see... And the names they do have match them after all... And you, Sir Blue Meteor, your nomenclature fits you as well.” The dragon knight grinned, nodding his head. “So... what brings all of you to this harsh and foreboding path? Of course, I can understand completely should you see it as none of my business...”

    Nightfire peered over the shoulder of Jeren, seemingly curious concerning Garrack in particular. The lizard-like head snaked past Jeren to hover above the warrior, as if the creature was examining him. She stuck her head behind Garrack and inhaled sharply through her nose, before making a contented snort and retracting back to surveying the scene. “I see Nightfire has taken a liking of you, Garrack. Perhaps it is because your name places you both in the sky...”

    “We’re headed South, just short of the Forest of Mirrors,” Garrack replied. It was then that the wyvern started examining him, for a moment Garrack was nervous but hid it. Then his eyes caught Nightfire’s and realized that it was no different than letting a dog sniff your hand, instantly there was no anxiety to hide. In fact he began to admire the creature. “Then I am proud to share a kindred spirit.”

    Zira didn’t notice a reaction from the dragon rider after Garrack introduced her, but she wasn’t going to trust him just yet. The dark elf turned away and went back to the horses, who were huddled in a group out of the wyvern’s reach. Thunder stood protectively in front of group of mostly mares, perhaps he was the only reason they all stayed together.

    Zira petted Thunder’s neck, then reached out to pat the noses of the other horses in reach, giving them a little assurance. Once it seemed as if they felt just a little safer, Zira swung up on Thunder’s bare back and patiently waited, her ears perked upwards to catch the conversation between her companions and the dragon rider.

    Shaking his head as he picked up his bow Edwin wasn’t sure what to make of this Jeren through he was thank for for the dragon rider showing up to aid in combat. Letting Garrack speak to him for the most part since Jeren seem to take it that Garrack was in charged of this party.

    Pausing for a moment as Garrack and Jeren talked Edwin turned his head to look at Jeren ”So what brings you out here, helping travelers against packs of scorpions?” Edwin thought back to the scorpions he didn’t know much about them but he never seen that many together let along against the same target.

    At Edwin’s question, Jeren laughed and scratched his head. “Well, its been a rough week for me, you see. Ran out of opportunities in the last town I was in. I wasn’t quite sure where I wanted to go, so I put trust in Miss Nightfire here to lead me to our next place of occupation. Ever since I...uhh... retired from the Knighthood, money has been less than available for me. Miss Nightfire may seem like a very slimming lady, but she can eat quite a bit, can’t you, my dear?” he declared, leaning back to look at the wyvern. At the comment on her weight, the wyvern snorted back, obviously unpleased with it. “Very well, my love. I shall mention your form no more. She is quite sensitive, despite how she looks... So, I have been flying around the desert, waiting for something to come into view, really. In truth, I have absolutely no clue where we are. I am starting to get the feeling Nightfire isn’t as sure about her knowledge of the deserts as she might have previously believed, as well...”

    Edwin laughed slightly at the comment about the wyvern’s figure “She shouldn’t be to sensitive, she looks amazing.” It was true, Edwin never had seen a wyvern before but Nightfire was truly an amazing creature. “Well, the desert can trick most beings unless they are ready for it, and getting lost in it from what I have heard is very bad,” Edwin laughs to himself slightly. “But I have no room to speak, if I was not traveling with experienced travelers I would be lost myself already.”

    “I think she’s beautiful!” Leaf commented on the wyvern, giving Nightfire a bright smile. She was tempted to pet the dragon, but the half-elf wasn’t sure how she or her rider would react.

    Ryna smiled slightly at Leaf, the half-elf was a cheery as ever. “We’re not far from Blade, we left the city earlier today,” she told Jeren. “This is the main road to Valis.”

    “Ah! Valis... Land of the Supreme God... I hear they have fine dining as well!” Jeren declared with a grin. “I suppose I am overdue for a second visit there. And what do you think of Valis, my love? They have some fine sheep lands there...” he said, looking to the distracted mount.

    Nightfire had been looking off into the distance for something, but she snaked her head back into the conversation. To Jeren’s comments, she just stared at him. Her tongue slithered out from between her powerful jaws and came back in. She didn’t seem to really be paying attention at all. “One can kindly assume that fine sheep lands interest one with a fine pallet such as hers. I don’t suppose you all would care for an eye in the sky, should more of those nasties be ahead?”

    “Sure, that’d be a great help,” Ryna said with a smile.

    “Just try not to scare the horses anymore,” Leaf said, winking to Jeren as she pointed back at the horses huddled together down the road.

    “I suppose I will simply fly higher...” stated Jeren with a wink in reply. “You all don’t look like the type to dawdle on formalities, so what do you say we take back to the path, eh?”

    Ryna nodded and replied to Jeren, “Sounds good to me.” She turned back toward the horses, gently leading Garrack by the arm. Leaf followed, skipping backwards at first to get a final look at Nightfire on the ground. She waved to Jeren before turning around.

    Ryna saw that Zira and Ashe had been patiently waiting. Zira seemed to take the lead early on, but she made herself scarce when they met Jeren. Ryna supposed that she just didn’t want to bring too much attention to the fact she was a dark elf.

    “He’s going to be following us to lend help later on if we need it,” Ryna told the dark elf. Zira nodded in reply, but didn’t protest. Ryna mounted her horse, as did Leaf, and waited for the rest of the group to mount and prepare to leave.

    Jeren gave a stunning smile to the beautiful thief before he took off at a run towards his own mount. He practically ran up the side of the wyvern and slung himself into the saddle. He shifted his flying leathers a bit and grinned. He leaned forward to the neck of his mount and whispered to her. “It is time for us, once again, to take flight and be as free as our hearts will it.” With that, he drew Nightfire around. She spread her wings dramatically, showing the full length of her wingspan. Her powerful talon-like legs heaved off of the sand and her strong wings thrust a gale of winds underneath her. She, at first, seemed to struggle to get going, but once she was in the air, no bird seemed more graceful...

    Ashe finished up his work and bundled only the meatiest part of the scorpions onto Patience’s back. There was no reason to let it go to waste out in the sun. He sheathed his tools and swung himself onto the old mare’s back. “Go.” He nudged the creature’s sides and they took off at a slow trot.

    Letting Ryna and Leaf deal with the finishing talking with Jeren, Edwin moved to mount Night Raven patting her on her mane gently. “It is alright,” he whispered to his horse as Jeren took off into the air on Nightfire. Raising his head to look at Ryna, “I am sure Jeren will be a lot of help if we get into another fight, since I doubt anyone will be expecting him to swoop down on us again.” Turning his head to look at Zira and the others, Edwin nodded his head. “Shall we be off again? Hopefully we will be sidetracked by another group of scorpions like that again.”

    Zira turned Thunder and rode along with the group. Her demeanor had changed starkly. Earlier, she had been flirtatious and open, now she was silent and contemplative. She was relieved in the fact that Jeren didn’t have any reaction to her race, but she was still concerned about how he felt about her. Besides that, there was the strange occurrence of being attacked by six scorpions at once. One for each of them. Scorpions were usually solitary and avoided the roads. Was it coincidence?

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