Eiyuu Kishi Den

The road leading west out of Novice was dusted with desert sand blown in on the spring winds promising another hot summer. Brest sat leaned up against a tree relaxing in the shade during the heat of the day. Steelheart stood a shortway off lazily flicked his tail to bat away flies which dared to try and land upon him.

The leaves of the tree above Brest flutter gently in the breeze and the scaping of stone across metal fills the air. Brest checks the keen edge of Ravenclaw and nods to himself in satisfaction. Examining the length of the blade he judged it passable and slid the sword back into the sheath and laid it down next to him. He looked off into the distance towards the western horizon.

Now that novice is behind me, I should not have any more trouble with people calling me betrayer. One would think that they would forgive and forget. It has been years. I guess I should not be surprised. I have not forgotten what Raster did to all of us by making his deal.

Brest closed his eyes and breathed deep pulling in the scent of the warm air. Down the road south to the Kingdom of Valis I go once more. Maybe when I come back next time, the angry stares will be gone. He continued to watch the horizon waiting for the heat to bleed off before setting out once again on the road towards Valis.

Katela had opted to take the Adan route out of Valis, and had traveled up through the mountain pass. It was rumored to be more dangerous, but this far, she had avoided by sticking with a merchant's caravan. However, the caravan had stopped off at a small village not far from the Alanian exit of the pass, instead of making the full trip to Novice right away. So, the half-elf was headed for Novice on foot.

Maybe the ease of the trip and clear skies had put her in an optimistic mind-set, but the red-headed ranger hadn't been paying much attention to her surroundings. Soon enough, a quartet of highway men stepped out of the roadside brush, surrounding her.

"Well well, I'm afraid there's a toll for this road elfie," one man spoke up, a lean, scruffy fellow who looked to be around thirty. His armor was reminiscent of a Marmo soldier's standard issue, though it had seen hard times and was missing a few pieces.

Katela's eyes drifted around her at the four men. At close range, she didn't want to risk a fight, and even if she did engage them, she didn't think she could really do enough damage. If she tried to summon a spirit, they could pin her before she finished the incantation. So, with a sigh, she replied. "Fine, how much?"

"Fifty gold," the leader said with a smirk, and his eyes drifted up to the jewel on her brow. "And that pretty little piece of jewelry you got there."

"Not a chance!" Katela spat, her temper suddenly flaring. Her circlet was the last gift her father had given her, there was no way she'd give up to brigands just for passage on the road.

"This one's got some spunk," one of the men behind her spoke up. Katela cast a glance over her shoulder at the ruffian. "She might rat us out. Mebbe we oughta kill her and take what we want."

"Hmph...A half-elf this pretty oughta fetch a few Raidens as a slave," the other man behind her spoke up in a deeper voice.

Good, they're distracted, Katela thought, suppressing a smirk as the bandits debated amongst themselves. That could give her the chance to call the spirits. Bowing her head slightly, she began to mutter a summon to Sylph...

Movement caught Brest's attention as a small shape came into view and slowly began to resolve itself as it came closer. The it was a she and was no cause for concern so Brest made no move to rise until she had drawn closer. The four men stepping out of the brush and surrounding her however, this was a different matter. This does not bode well.

His suspicions are confirmed when he rises from his place next to the tree and the angry shout of something unintelligible made its way on the breeze to Brest. Figures a perfectly good day is going to be ruined by some trash harassing someone on the road. Brest takes up the scabbard from the ground and clicked his tongue calling Steelheart to him. He swung into the saddle and coaxed the horse into a goodly cantor to close the distance between himself and the small group.

Brest stopped the horse 20 yards from the group and spoke up, "What do we have here? Marmo trash picking on a little girl for kicks?" His hand rested lightly on Ravenclaw's hilt. "Did you run out of toddlers to steal candy from or something?" HIs eyes sparkle in irritation at the bandits.

The bandit closest to Brest snapped his eyes in surprise and turned to see the mounted man. He spits on the ground and replied, "Look boys, we got us a hero come to save the day..."

Katela was finishing her summon as the knight came to her rescue, but with him there, casting the spell wasn't such a good idea. She meant to use it as a distraction to escape, but now if he came riding along to save the day, she'd have to stick around. There was no way she could leave him to the wolves, no matter how skilled or unskilled he may be. There was no turning back though. The wind rose around her, swirling her short cape, skirt, and red curls about her, then the wind pushed outward in a strong gust, knocking the bandits to the ground. Once they were down, the half-elf took off, running toward the mounted knight.

Brest's eyes widened as the 'little girl' unleashed the power of the wind and the bandits hit the ground. Not a little girl moron, an elf, open your eyes before you speak. Steelheart back pedaled at the sudden gust of wind and snorted in protest. Brest kicked the horse into motion riding forward closing the distance to the elf since she decided to make good her escape, Brest would make an object lesson out of one or two of them while he covered the elf's escape.

His sword cleared the scabbard in one smooth motion and as he closed upon the hapless bandit closest to him he let Steelheart trample the closest one, the one with the smart mouth. As he made his pass, he brought his sword in a low sweeping arc and clipped another of the bandits across the shoulder slicing through cloth and skin. Blood seeped from the wound and the bandit howled in pain and rolled away hand upon his shoulder. "You bastard!!"

Brest wheeled the horse about retracing his path avoiding the pair writhing upon the ground, one clutched at his chest where he had been stepped upon and the other bled from a sword wound. Brest spurred Steelheart into a run back towards where the elf fled and shouted as he approached. "Take my hand!" He offered his free hand as he approached on her right. Surprise is all well and good but if there are more lurking, this will go poorly.

As the night rode in, Katela stopped running and watched from a distance. He took two of the highway men down and rode back to her, arm outstretched. Katela took him up on his offer and swung up into the saddle behind him. "Thanks!" she called over the hoof beats of his warhorse. Tossing a glance over her shoulder, she looked back at the two uninjured men helping their comrades out of the road. It seemed as if they had no back up, and were more concerned with their injured than pursuing.

Brest rode back to where he had been resting for the moment and stopped the horse. He says to the elf, "What in the name of Myrii are you doing wandering around alone on the road?" He turned Steelheart about to look back to where the bandits were gathering their wounded together and stared at them as they slunk away into the brush. "I should really have put them all down. They are going to just plague the next helpless person who comes along."

Brest glances over his shoulder at the top of the red hair and seemed to remember his manners, "I am Brest. Are you injured?"

"Hmph...I can handle myself most of the time," Katela shot back, sounding offended. "I'm fine," she replied, then his name registered. Katela stifled a laugh, which came out as a snort, she was embarrassed by her reaction, but it was so hard to hold back. "I'm sorry... did you say your name was Breast?" she asked.

Brest sighed as the usual reaction came from elf. "Yes, my name is Brest. B-R-E-S-T, no a." He did not quite finish the sentence. The word sicko would fit in there nicely though. He continued speaking as if the unusual name misunderstanding happened everyday, which it did. "Well, fortunately for you, this time, someone happened to be close by. I am sure that filth had nothin good in mind for you."

"What possessed you to walk the road alone? I thought elves could walk from tree to tree and avoid such mundane things as roads."
He absently examined his sword as he spoke and gave it a hard flick to get the streak of blood to come off the edge. He laid it across his lap for the moment.

Katela felt a little embarrassed about laughing at his name, but she decided to move passed that part of the conversation. "Yeah, but then the trip would be boring," Katela replied. "I've seen plenty of forest, I came out here to find more. If I'm going to meet other travelers, then I'll have to stick to the roads."

Brest snorted at her response, "I would prefer boring to being assaulted by bandits. Excitement has a tendency to lead to a serious case of maimed, dead or worse." He gets a hold of his grim mood and stomps on it being quiet a moment. "You were heading to Novice then?" He taps Steelheart's flanks and brings him about again and begins him at walk back towards the city. "I shall see you there so that you do not come to any misadventure. I am certain they will be looking for some sort of retribution."

He continued conversationally, "What news from the south?"

This one has fewer brains than most. It is a wonder she has survived at all. Then again, sometimes it is better to be lucky than to be good.

"Well, I suppose I'm going to Novice. Really, I have no destination in mind," Katela replied with a shrug. "Anyway, I don't have much news to offer. Things have been pretty quiet since the war ended, so far as I know." The half-elf glanced back over her shoulder again to make sure that they still weren't being followed. Even if those bandits were looking for retribution, she wouldn't make it easy for them to find her. From what she knew of bandits though, they probably didn't have the men or energy to spare tracking down someone... unless they really wanted to sell her as slave. "Oh yeah, my name is Katela. Katela el'Baran," she finally introduced herself. If Brest's name hadn't caught her so off-guard, she would have said it sooner.

Brest continued the house at a walk and replied, "Well, I suppose you do not wish to head back south as that is the way I am headed. Did you happen to come from Valis?" Brest adjusted himself in the saddle and slid the sword back into the scabbard not to elbow her in the face. "I had planned to head that way."

He resettled himself properly in the saddle and continues forward. "Did you have any plan at all?"

"Yes, I'm from the Mirror Forest," Katela replied. "And no, I didn't have much of a plan. Honestly, I just had to get away from home for awhile, stretch my legs, and see the world. I suppose my human side doesn't like the slow pace of elven life," the half-elf continued. "So...how about you? What are you doing out here?"

Brest replied with just a hint of venom underlying his words, "Looking for the filth that would prey upon the unwary." He gestured behind him to where the bandits had gone. He stopped the horse and turned it around and began tapped his flanks into a little faster pace. "Well, if you have no plans, then going back south sound not be a problem then. "There may be quiet back that way but I am certain that something will present itself once into Valis."

He watched to the right of the path where the bandits had taken themselves off to, in case they had ideas about coming back out as he rode by. "There is always something that needs a good sword arm to deal with it. Some village or another will always have something that needs dealing with." He rode towards the foothills and the mountain pass. If the elf has nothing better to do, I am sure she will have a taste for adventure.

"Adventures abound, one just has to go looking for them...unless of course they find you."