((K, goodnight!))

She nodded. "I know there's a way, I'm just not sure how." She sat down, facing the lake, and snagged a pebble from the edge. "I'm not exactly an expert, though Dragons are one of the things I've always been interested in." She tossed it at the water, and it skipped three times before sinking. She smiled, looked around for another one. "If it's against being called a girl, maybe it is a guy. I suppose I would sock someone for calling me a guy, but I expect them to call me a girl." She glanced over at him. "But who knows, maybe dragons have a different feeling on it then humans." She smiled at him.

Fallon sighed. "Listen, I don't feel like this is right. Killing for money. Sure, I want to help end this war, but I feel like this isn't the way for me to do it..." She contemplated whether it was to late to run for it or not.

((Sorry it's so short, I'm crazy busy. :P))

((No Problem. Short and sweet gets the job done.))

Lyle looked dissapointed, then nodded. "I understand. A lot of people have their own reason for fighting, and for not fighting." He walked over and held out a small bag. "But you did help today. This is your share. Take it, I insist." He dropped it ((into either her hand to on the ground, depending one if she catches it or not,)) then turned. "Spend it, donate it, give it to the church. I don't want it, it's yours." He glanced over his shoulder at her. "Because it's not about the money for me either. It's about ending this war. It's about stopping Taarn." He looked forward, putting his hand on the forward brim of his hat, pulling it down a little lower. "It's about making sure no one has to go through what I did." He looked over his shoulder again. "Good luck, whereever you go." He started walking forward again. "Come on, Era. Lets get back to the City. I need to grab the rest of my people, then we'll head to the Provincial Capital."

[How far do you want Ruby to say the nearest town is?]

"I see.." said Shrike as he looked up towards the sky once more. He wondered what the Souel towns were like. For that matter, he wondered what other towns were like outside of Talendar. "Hey princess, what's it like where you live?"

((Maybe about three miles North, as the Dragon Flies ;) . Not too far, should get there pretty quick.))

"In the capital?" She picked up another rock, but instead of throwing it, laid back in the sand and started tossing it to herself. "It's incredable. The city is massive. The outer area is alright. Most of the poor live there. Although, Lady Eral isn't poor, she just lives out there to help others. And she makes the best pies!" She sat up again just long enough to toss the rock across the pond. It splashed into the lake without skipping, and she scowled at it. She laid back again. "Then there's the city within the walls. Rows and Rows of stone houses, cobblestone streets, and smoking chimenys. Everyone's friendly, and the gaurds are more then happy to point you to where you need to go. Even when it rains, it feels so alive." She rolled over, laying on her belly as she put her chin into her hands and kicked at the water behind her. "Then there's the castle. Grand towers, sweeping walls, all made of white stone. And a lake, larger then this one, right in the middle of it. It's open in the center, you know." She glanced over at him. "I basically grew up at that lake. That's why I love the water." She smiled. "What about you? What was your hometown like?"

((*starts singing "Lonely! I'm so lonely!"* :P))

Fallon stared at them as they left. What had Lyle meant when he said "It's about making sure no one has to go through what I did."? She knew that was going to bother her. She looked down at the money Lyle had thrown in her direction. It was a good sum, in her opinion any way, but that still didn't stop her from hesitating to pick it up. She sighed. "Now what?"

((lol. Well, you can either follow Lyle or head to Souel. I'll be guiding Shrike and Princess Arana to the capital at some point.))

Lyle headed to the lake where he had found the crossbow bolts. "Alright, now that-a-way! He pointed left, back towards where the smoke from the previous battle was still rising. "I can see where the city is from this like." He glanced back at Era, then over his shoulder. "Dang, I was hoping she would change her mind." He pulled down on his hat. "Guess I can't win them all."

[I hope you don't mind me making it an hour's walk from where we are :) I googled how fast it would take someone to walk a mile and it ranged from 15 to 30 minutes. I made are pace around 20 minutes per mile since we're carrying the knight guy. :sweat:]

"My hometown's Talen. It's pretty ok if you have street smarts." Shrike replied as he thought about how to describe the capital. "Mmm, it's pretty big as well but even though there're lots of nice houses, not many of the local people get to live in them." He sat up and picked up a small stone.
"Only the rich could afford the better houses along the main roads. Most of the people are forced to take smaller houses along the smaller, less traveled roads so that visitors to Talen don't have to see how little the royals care about their people. The guards there aren't as helpful as your guards."
He paused to throw the stone across the lake, attempting to make it skip like the princess'. His ears drooped a little in disappointment as the stone didn't even bounce before it sank. "Most of them are under some of the richer merchants payroll. They even work with criminals if it meant getting more gold." He picked up another stone and looked it over before turning to the lake.
"But most of the other people are ok, even some of the bandits are nice. They'd take from the rich and give to the poor, the usual good guy stuff. The marketplace is pretty cool too. The food is great and me and my friends learned a lot while sharpening our skills there."
By learned a lot he meant how not to get caught and which people they could easily steal from. By skills he meant stealing, scamming, blackmailing, running and fighting. This time, he tried throwing the stone low, closer to the level of the lake. It skipped once then sank, but it was enough to reassure Shrike that he was close to getting it right.

Fifteen minutes have passed since Ruby had flown off in search of a village. The dragon was on its way back but took another five minutes to fill up on more bugs. Ruby was enjoying itself in this strange new land. Food was everywhere and in king sized helpings to boot. One of its new favorites was a giant, many legged insect that was nearly as long as the dragon was. Ruby especially relished the flavor of the poison in its fangs. After pinning one down on the branch of a tree and chewing its head off, the dragon carried the rest of its still squirming body as a snack on the way back to its companions.

[Be right back, I gotta do something. Feel free to post though :D]

Judith looked up at him, lost for words. She knew that things were hard in other places, and she wasn't so shallow as to be unaware of the hardships of people. Still, she had never though things were that bad for Arana's neighbor. Her father had never let her travel with him to Talendar. Was this why? She sat up. "That's terrible. Doesn't anyone try to do anything about it?"

((Sorry about short post, but it'll be longer next time, and with something involving Ruby))

[Sorry I didn't get back on soon enough :sweat: I had to cook dinner and do the dishes]

"Some have tried, but they got executed for treason or something like that." he replied as he stood up and picked up a stone a few steps away. He threw it low like he did with the previous stone but it only flew farther and still bounced once. "There's this one drow lady who's been leading a rebellion against Lord Vo for years now but nobody has heard from her since last year. Some say she got killed. But most people don't believe it since she had a huge bounty on her head and nobody has claimed it yet."
Shrike continued to practice throwing stones, looking up every once in a while to check for signs of his pet.

((Poor Fallon :lol: Maybe it's your turn to follow/stalk us? :P))

He shrugged. Not really caring. If the Fates really wanted them to meet, they will. If not, well, there's still that chance in the Afterlife, he supposed. Being a necromancer, he was used to pulling souls out from the Afterlife for his means, though they weren't really happy moments most of the time, as no one likes being randomlly yanked out from their place to do some errands for someone they've never even met before. He got quite the tantrum from one particular wizard the other day, who flamed up a good half of his cave before he hastily stuffed him back into the Afterlife. Sometimes, they would resist (and succeed), but occasionally the spirits didn't mind as long as a long-term slavery wasn't expected or demanded.

"I hope Baphi is done with his meal..." He muttered, gazing at the smoke floating lazily up into the sky from afar. He really needed those books. "Where are we heading now?" He asked Lyle. "The Capital?"

She looked at the ground. "I see. That's terrible. I wish that kind of corruption didn't exist." She layed back, looking into the sky. "Why can't people just help on another? Why do we always have to fight each other?" She closed her eyes. "I just wish everyone could get along."

"A noble dream, but foolhardy and worthless to the realities of humanity." The Princess sat and and turned to the Knight, who was holding his side on the bandage gritting his teeth. "I suppose I have you to thank for this? Well, thanks. I own you my life, it seems."

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Lyle nodded. "More or less. No one can actually get into the capital city, or really even close. The entire forest around it has been stripped, and Black Wyverns guard the fields. Plus, Prince Taarn converted the entire city's population into undead servents. He ordered everyone in the city slain to be sure he got a large army." He started walking towards the smoke. "There's a small town a few miles east of the Capital. It's largely unnoticed, so we use it as a base for our raids on the Convoys into and out of the city."

Shrike turned around after hearing a man's pained voice. The injured knight had regained consciousness. Apparently he had overheard part of their conversation. He walked over to the two, tossing behind him a stone he was going to throw before the man interrupted him.

"Well, thanks at least for that. I don't suppose you found a note I had on me."

The princess stepped forward, handing him the note. "Here. We... kind of read it." She stepped back a step, looking at Shrike. "So, um, who are you exactly?"

He looked at them, then shook his head to clear it. "It's Rovano. Sir Ramon Rovano. I am one of the Knights of Lady Rhashi's court." He leaned back. "Can I get some water?"

Shrike shifted his gaze to a nearby tree and started whistling a tune after Princess Judith glanced at him in slight accusation. After the knight asked for water, Shrike reflexively reached for one at the right of his belt but found that he had left most of the flasks from the Gur' Tyrus band back at the inn. He checked the left side of his belt and was relieved to find he still had the two flasks Sasha had given him. He opened one and handed it to the man to drink.

"Thanks." He downed it. "Don't worry about reading it. Better its message be heard then lost. I suppose you know what it means, then? Taarn has put troops in Talen, and he intends to use them to force Vo to join his cause. I need to get that letter to my Lady in the Capital." He started to stand, grabbed his side again, and sat back down. "After I rest a moment."

"We sent for help, just try to rest till it gets here." She glanced at Shrike. "Any idea where Ruby is?"


A little ways out, a group of four men walked through the forest. They we cutting their way though the trees, not exactly well hidden from the sky.

[Would you like Ruby to spot the men? If so which direction are they at? :)]

((yes, that would be good. They're East of the Lake))

Right on cue, the dragon dived out of the sky in a spinning free fall, having filled its belly with various poisonous bugs. Ruby stopped itself short of hitting the princess' head.

"So did you find anything?" asked Shrike, turning to his pet dragon.

The dragon nodded and flew a a few feet from them towards the town to show its direction. Then Ruby acrobatically flew in a vertical loop three times as Shrike counted silently. Ruby then gracefully landed on the ground.

"Looks like the nearest town is that a-way." said the boy as he pointed north. He then turned to the man and said, "Ruby says it's about three miles from here. I think we could be there in about-"
Shrike was interrupted by the four thumping sounds Ruby had suddenly made. He turned to the dragon with a surprised look. Again the dragon whipped its tail four times on the ground.

The Knight tensed up a second as the dragon desended, but relaxed as it became clear it was Shrike's. He leaned back against the tree as he watched it spin in the air.

When Ruby started hitting the ground, Judith turned to look at it. "What does that mean?" she asked Shrike, looking up at him curiously.

((sorry about the string of short posts. I was hoping to pick up the pace, but it's taking me a bit to get us to the city.))

[No problem, I've also had some trouble moving things along in some of my other threads before :)]

"Ruby says there are four guys somewhere not too far from here." As he said this the dragon turned to face east, the direction it had seen the men at. "They'd be that way." interpreted Shrike as he looked in the same direction Ruby turned to.
"Do you think they're Nezeruans? Or locals?" he asked the princess.

"Hard to tell, the way things are. We should chack it out." She walked over at petted the Dragon. "Ruby, watch the Knight, ok? We'll be right back." She looked over at Shrike. "Come on, lets go check it out."

"Wait!" The knight drew a dagger from his boot. "If you're going to go, at least take a weapon with you." He held the dagger out, and Judith walked over and snagged it. She looked at Shrike to see if he had any objections.

[Really short post, sorry :XD]

Ruby chirped happily as Judith petted it. Shrike nodded as he walked with her eastward. He took a quick look back at the knight and the little guardian before they entered the forest.

The Princess took the lead, sneaking though the bushes and hopping fallen trees. For a Princess, she was surprisingly stealthy, but not exactly a ghost in her movements. Eventually, however, it became clear that they wouldn't have to sneak up on these guys. They probably wouldn't notice them coming if they walked only feet behind them swinging swords.

"I tell ya, Kei, this is quite the haul!" A loud voice said, long before they saw the group. "You said it, Rei. Who would have thought we would strike it rich in that tiny cave back there?"

A third voice, quieter, responded. Still to far to hear it, the Princess motioned for Shrike to get down, and she started moving forward slowly, ducking as low as possible while still moving forward.