Forgotten Greed: Volume One: Greed's Bonds

The Sorrows Of Travel

Shen's eyes opened to a starry night sky, a gust of cold wind brushing off his face. His body felt warm from the fire slowly burning beside him that was only embers by the time he managed to sit up from his resting place.

"You slept like a rock." Sillnia said. She was lying on her stomach in a sleeping bag with her arm supporting her head looking at Shen.

"What happened?" Shen said, rubbing the side of his face, now bruised from Sillnias kick. His hair was a mess and his hand was throbbing from the stab wound he had caused earlier. "The last thing I remember was fighting that Simlust earlier." Shen said, still groggy.

"Umm... you fell off the horse and hit your head." Sillnia said quickly. Her face turned a bright blue from embarrassment because of what really happened.

"Really? I must have hit really hard." He said convinced.

"Yeah you were knocked out instantly." She said playing along with the story she made up.

"So where are we?" He said getting up out of his sleeping bag, stretching. Shen noticed the horses sleeping near Murlock other than Sivir who was cosying up behind a log that was placed next to the fire. Sivir was still awake and seemed to be watching over Sillnia.

"We are just a few kilometers north of Phanlinde. We thought it would be a good idea to wait till you woke up before going in, so we camped out for the night." She said, answering him.

"Did anything interesting happen while I was out?" he said, curiously.

"Well Murlock was almost trampled by boars and Kally still hates me." She said with a sigh. "Other than that nothing really too important."

"Well Kally hates everyone. You two just met yesterday." Shen said reassuringly. Suddenly he looked concerned shooting up from his sleeping bag. "Unless I've been asleep for more than a day," he said with great concern.

"Don't worry it's only been... a few hours." Sillnia responded.

"But anyways, she sure gets along with you and Murlock." She said, sounding envious. "What's you threes story?" She asked.

"Well me and Kally go way back to when we were just kids." He began to say as he moved towards the log beside the fire pit. "She grew up in a very wealthy home with not the nicest of parents."

"Well that explains a few things." Sillnia said, shifting her face to rest on her other arm as she looked up at Shen who was now poking at the fire with a stick. The small fire began to kick back up and the warmth from the flame washed over Sillnia, comforting her.

"Anyway, when I was about fourteen I had no place to live and they took me in." He continued.

"Well they can't be that bad if they took you in." She interrupted.

"They didn't take me in to be nice, if that's what you're thinking then you have the wrong idea already." He said seemingly agitated. "They took me in because they wanted my magic abilities to support their rotten company." he said, staring at the small embers in the fire. "They used us for their pocketbooks, so... we ran away. She is like a sister to me." he said, ending his story.

"So what about you and Murlock?" She asked as a feeling of relief washed over her slightly.

"Murlock came down the line much later, only a few months ago actually." He said changing his attitude and becoming more positive. "When me and Kally got separated from our friend he showed up and saved us from a very bad situation."

"What was that?" Sillnia said interrupting again.

"Could you let me finish my story?" Shen said sarcastically with a smirk followed by an exaggerated giggle.