A Tale of Fortunes Cross

Ch. 19: Whiteout

They exited the forest and the other elves turned around. As they walked they talked and Karaan decided that since the new elf was going to be living in the human world from here on out he would need a name. They talked as they walked to the next village. Sarah suggested "Archer" it was simple, sweet, and straight to the point and sounded like an actual name. Letholdus went off from that saying "Arthur" Arther sounded more respectable, which he argued would make humans see him in a better light; and ontop of that it really was a human name and not a title so it wouldn't confuse people. Karaan thought about it and couldn't come up with Bob. Veena suggested "Harris" because she liked his hair. Karaan finally turned to Zevesda and asked her opinion. She said "We'll I personally like Archer, it's a tile that describes what he is so it would be much easier for him to understand that it refers to him, and it does sound somewhat like a human name." They finally decided on Archer for his name. It took almost two weeks because Radluc would get tired of pulling the cart and lay down. As they left the forest one of the elves came up to Karaan and handed him a pair of antlers. They were special antlers. He said to use that as the symbol for the elves not to attack. He agreed as he left. They decided to walk to the next village. As they walked Karaan decided that Archer needed to learn to speak the human tongue so he told Zevesda that she would only speak to him in the human tongue, unless it was to translate new words or phrases. This way he would learn it faster and would talk to everyone equally instead of focusing around Zevesda because he can understand her more easily. Everyone was terrified to see a dragon walking through their streets; at the same time thought they were amazed to see it so well trained. Karaan didn't want to terrify people so he stopped and invited them to play with the dragon. Radluc loved the attention, and Veena kept him calm. They stayed in this village for several days before they taught Radluc how to act with people. They became quite famous people began giving Radluc gifts. Next they walked to the next town this took nearly ten days, but by the time they got there Radluc was pulling the cart without having to be prompted. He was exceptionally intelligent to; even though he had only been pulling a cart for such a short time he was already able to anticipate turns and such just as well as Epona. And he was overjoyed when he anticipated one correctly. As they walked through the next town word began to spread throughout the kingdom of the travelers with a trained dragon pulling their cart. Next was the royal city Gole in the kingdom of Kard. It took a little while to get there but they did so without much fuss. They reached the capital and were met with a band of soldirs outside the capital. The leader of the soldirs said "We've been expecting you. Why have you come? Karaan replied "My name is Karaan. I am the owner of the Brox Shop. I have secured a treaty with the elves that would allow me to sell armor to you and transport it directly through the elvish forest. I understand that you are in the middle of a war now." The leader thought for a minute saying "Ok, but I'll have to arrest you and detain you on suspicion of treason. I expect you understand." Karaan said "Yes, but I request fair treatment until I can meet directly with the king to bargain for my wares." They replied "We will have to get permission but that should not take long." Karaan replied "Excellent. Thank you." They were escorted to the castle and inspected thoroughly they willingly handed over all of their weapons as requested. They tried to take Karaan and everyone into the castle, but Radluc began growling. Karaan spoke up "I apologize, but he isn't use to people yet. If you want us to go into the castle you had better let him come as well; that is unless you want an angry dragon in your courtyard. I'll be sure to keep him under control. Then again I understand if you don't trust us with a dragon in your castle, so if you wish I or any of my companions would be glad to stay here with him. The leader didn't know what to do so he decided to let them stay in the courtyard under surveillance. They sat in a gazeebo as they waited for word. It was about an hour until someone showed up. It was a large man in very unique clothing, usually reserved for nobles. He had very short dark brown hair and a stout figure; he carried a longsword on his back and a regular sword on his side. He talked in a deed burly voice saying "My name is Vince. I am the general of his majesties army. I hear one of you claim to be Karaan of the brox armor shop." Karaan stood up and said "Yes I am Karaan." The man asked "You must understand, we are in the middle of a war and we cannot trust you so easily. And I've never heard of this Karaan having a pet dragon." Karaan replied "Have you ever heard of anyone having a tame, dragon? and yes I do understand, that's reasonable, and I expected it when I came here; however I am here to talk about business, not politics. So if you will, can we skip all of these formalities." The man laughed "Well you sure are full of yourself as I would expect the oh so famous Karaan to be. Ok lets get to it then. You wish to see the king I hear? First do you have any proof that you are who you say you are, or that you have this so called contract with the elves?" Karaan pulled out a bank note and handed to him and asked one of the guards to get the antlers that the elves gave him. It took ten minutes to get the antlers but in the meantime he examined the note. He said "This appears official enough, however I cannot trust that alone." He handed it back to Karaan and waited for the antlers asking "And what are these?" Karaan replied "These are a special pair of antlers that can be recognized by any elf in the north, it will allow passage through their territory." The marking on it did look elvish. But he was still suspicious. He said "I can arrange a meeting with the king, for you and you alone; but that also means no dragon. Karaan said "That's fine, but can I request a near by residence at a hotel, I can afford the rooms and you can station guards. But the dragon will not sleep if one of us is not near by, it still is not use to people, and I would not want a dragon running wild through your town. I also understand that you probably don't want to take the risk of letting a dragon in your castle. He thought for a minute and replied "No it would be an insult to his majesty. I will allow you to bring the dragon in your rooms, we will put you in another wing of the castle. The rooms may not be as nice, but we will have the servants move in better garments. I will place extra guards armed with r'ecumb powder along the hallway. Will that be acceptable?" Karaan replied "Yes it will. Thank you." He directed directed them to one of the dining rooms in the castel. It was a room used by the servants. They were placed in a wing of the castle normally reserved for servants. The table was cleaned and a very fine cloth placed over it, and chairs had been moved from another wing just for them. Three nobles, one from a neighboring town and two from the same town came to visit them and the amazing tamed dragon. One of them reported "I own several dragons, how do you keep it so tame?" Karaan replied "Honeslty I don't know. It's allways been like this. I feed it gold regularly, I'm sure that helps." All of the nobles were surprised by this the same one asked "Wait that's a minor dragon isn't it? Those don't even shit dragons gold, and even if it did how do you make that back. That's just a waist isn't it?" Karaan replied "No it isn't a waist. I have a perfectly loyal dragon in perfect health. While I wouldn't be willing to put it to the test, I would almost be willing to bet that my minor dragon could defeat any of your major dragons in the arena." The man laughed asking "Well does it know any tricks?" Karaan took a piece of meat and waived it in front of Radlucs nose, when Radluc was interested Karaan threw it to the other side of the room. Radluc ran after it and jumped onto the wall and grabbed it in midair using his wings to maintain his balance in the air so that he landed perfectly. Just as he grabbed it a female half elf servant walked into the room, seeing the dragon she screamed and fell to the floor. One of the nobles shouted "Don't be so disrespectful slave!" She got up crying apologizing profusely. Karaan asked her "You didn't hear that we had a tame dragon did you?" She replied "No sir." Radluc came up to her sniffing her she almost cried. Karaan said "It's ok pet him." She hesitated and shook but she did. After a couple of pets he rubbed against her, she jumped but soon grew to like Radluc. Karaan said to the nobles "See she's fine. In all honesty I would feel just as terrifies if I had seen a dragon jumping around in my eating quarters; and besides if this weren't a trained dragon then her reaction may have saved the king." The noble responded "You're being too nice shes just a slave, and shes a halfy, she might as well be an animal. Karaan replied "I disagree; I personally find half elves very beautiful, they are some of the best cooks I have ever tried, and my half elf could beat any human or elf in this city at a game of magic." The noble replied "Oh could it now, I am curious to meet this half elf of yours, does it even exist?" Veena spoke up "Hi, my name is Veena; I am a half elf." The noble grumbled to himself. One of the other nobles spoke up "So about this magic." Karaan said to the young half elf servant "Miss can you please fetch a castle mage." She jumped and replied in a surprised voice "Yes!" she turned arrond and walked out. Radluc began to follow her but Karaan called his name and he came to him. The noble asked "Why do we need a mage." Karaan replied "Well you can't know how impressive a spell is without a third party to verify it can you?" The man laughed saying "Yes, yes, you are right I suppose. I certainly cant use magic so an impressive spell to me may not appear so to a true mage. Karaan chuckled "exactly" and continued eating. After a few minutes a mage walked into the room asking "How can I help you?" Karaan said "Veena, if you please." Veena smiled and shouted "Flower snow!" Just then it began snowing crystals glowing every color. It was absolutely magical. It was unlike anything that any of them had ever seen. She had improved it drastically in the six years that she was with him. They were all impressed, the noble that had asked him for the demonstration turned to the mage and saw him setting on the ground, he had fallen over from surprise. He shouted to him "What kind of spell is this?" the mage replied "I don't know, I've never seen anything like this, its so... I don't know how this is possible. It doesn't add up..." he continued mumbling to himself the noble looked at Karaan and said "I am officially impressed sir. Consider me in your debt for putting on such a wonderful show to me. The other noble that hadn't said much up till now spoke up saying "Me too this is amazing." The one who argued about Radluc just sat there grumbling to himself. Karaan laughed with the other two nobles. After a while a guard came in. He started to say something but then he was stomped by the snow, he didn't know what to think of it. But Karaan said "What did you want?" He came too and said "Oh, yes. You're rooms are ready, whenever you are done I will take you there." Karaan replied "Yes, yes. Thank you." Two of the nobles had left the one who hadn't said much was still there, he stood up saying "I think I'll make my leave now, have a good day Karaan." Karaan thanked him for his time and company and told the guard "I think I am ready." The others agreed. He showed them to their rooms. By this time it was starting to get late so they decided to stay in their rooms and rest for the remainder of the day. A guard notified them that the meeting with the king would be scheduled for three days from then, but that they could request an armed escort through the town. Until suspicions were cleared they would not be allowed to leave the city. They sat and plaid several games until they were all tired. Night fell and they all went to bed. Karaan was awoken only a little past midnight by Veena who crawled in bed with him. This wasn't uncommon for her whenever something bothered her. Or she was afraid. He asked her "What's up?" to which she replied "We'll I've been thinking. You are very kind to me, much more than you should be; and you treat me as a member of your family, even though I'm only a half elf. You see all races as being equals, that's a rare trait for any human. I've lived nearly 70 years and I've never met a human like you before. I don't know if any others exist. I think that may be a reason for your success. But that doesn't matter now, I seem to have fallen for you. So I'll be upfront about it." Looking into his eyes with her arm wrapped around her she asked "Karaan, what are your feelings for me?" He laid his head back and calmly replied "I honestly don't know, I'm always thinking about other things; business, relations, food, money. I've never once thought about a relationship; but I suppose the time is about right, isn't it? So I'll tell you what, if you allow me to put my answer on hold, then I promise you that I'll give you an honest answered by the time that we leave this town." She smiled and through her face into his side wrapping her arms around him. They slept together that night. They awoke early in the morning, Karaan before Veena. They awoke the next day and Veena spent most of the day with Karaan. Sarah found herself getting jealous of their relationship. Even though Sarah had been with him almost 4 years more, Veena had become closer to him. They continued on for the next three days. They each bought some new clothing. Letholdus found some rare herbs in an alchemists shop that he couldn't let go. Finally the third day came. Karaan was brought to see the king bright and early, he was the first appointment of the day. They started off by introducing themselves. The king asked "So I hear that you have an unreal business proposition for me?" Karaan replied "Yes. I'm sure you've heard of me and my armor." The king interrupted him "I have, if you really are who you say you are, then you're armor is supposedly second only to dragon armor." Karaan replied "We employ only the most experienced experts to craft our armor your majesty." The king asked "So I've been told that you have a way through the elvish forest, a contract with the elves?" Karaan replied "Yes." And had a nearby guard take the antlers to the king. He continued as the king examined the antlers "This is an elvish artifact anyone who has these armors will not be attacked by the elves." The king asked "How did you acquire these, I do not believe that this is an item that could be bought or easily obtained." Karaan replied "The elves owed me a debt and when I asked them for permission to cross their land then they gave me these antlers." The king asked "And how do I know that this will work?" Karaan replied "Send a messenger with me. When he returns then you will know if they worked." The king asked "Ok that will suffice, now on to the matter of the price." Karaan interrupted the king, which he did not like, saying "The price is set, I recommend that you review it. You are currently in need of armor, I have the finest armor that your money can buy, and I offer you a discount for large purchases." The king sneered and said "Do you want my business or not?" Karaan replied "Do I want it? Yes. Do I need it? No." The king thought for a minute and said "Well I do hate negotiations, your prices are... ok. But only if the armor is of the quality that I expect." Karaan replied "Every piece is thoroughly examined before it is sold." The king smiled. Now there is a third topic that I wish to discuss. I hear that you have an amazing slave, a half elf. What is her value to you?" Karaan replied "I would not trade her to your entire kingdom." The kind rocked to the other side of his seat and with a grin said "I could just take her then." The guards picked up their weapons. Karaan replied "I will make myself clear. I am considered a page of the king of Resold; meaning that I report directly to him on any matters of my choosing and he takes care of it for me. This robe that I wear is my proof of that. Killing me would be the same as declaring war with Resold! Furthermore, I am a personal friend with the king of Dissent. Hearing of my death, he would aid anyone at war with you. On top of that I assume that you want my armor, armor that would go to your enemies upon my death. Listen I will be clear. You do not in any way scare me. You are already at war. I would assume that you do not want to fight two more wars on top of that. I am here to offer my aid; I am not here to be threatened. If you wish to do business with me then that is fine, my price just increased by one percent. Listen closely your majesty, we can be the best of friends or the worst of enemy's. I hold in my hands the power to aid you or destroy you. It's your choice. Now what do you choose?" The captain of the guard shouted "You will watch your mouth in the pres..." The king interrupted him "I like you Karaan! If you have the gull to stand up to a king and his army with nothing but words then you are a man not to be trifled with. I will accept your offer, we will begin trading immediately. They left the kingdom that day. The king sent with them a messenger that would report back as soon as he returned with the first shipment. The agreement was that the king would pay for each shipment as it arrived. That night Veena slept with Karaan once more and Karaan kept his promise. While everyone slept he said to her "I have known you for some time now, and we've grown close together in this time. I can't deny that I have feelings for you... But... I would like to wait to announce our marriage until we get back to the village. I would like it to be a surprise to everyone. Tears of joy began to flow down her face as Karaan held her firmly into his chest. She was overjoyed; and he could hardly contain himself either. As they approached the first village the villagers were overjoyed to see this amazing tame dragon once more, the children played with it and the adults marveled over it. They stayed in the village for one night then left. All of the villagers were upset to see them leave. They walked for nearly two days without a problem but midway through the third day they were stopped by what appeared to be a guard. Karaan asked him what he wanted and he replied with a chuckle. As he did at least twenty other men in armor snuck out from behind the trees the man replied "I heard of a group with a pet dragon passing through here, but I just had to see it for myself. And by the looks of it I wasn't wrong. You lot must be rich!" Karaan knew instantly that this wasn't going to work out in his favor; these men weren't normal bandits they were experienced mercenaries. He asked "How much do you want?" The man laughed "You don't understand do you? I want everything! I'll tell you what, you and your elves leave everything else here, including your clothes and I might just let you live." There was no way that Karaan could agree to that, but he didn't want to die either so be tried to talk his way out of the situation he said "Listen you don't seem to know who I am. My name is Karaan, I own the Brox armor shop. One of the most profitable businesses in the world. I am a page of the king of..." He was interrupted "I know all about Karaan, I also know that he doesn't own a pet dragon, and that he is on the other side of the elvish forest, a forest that even he wouldn't cross. So stop with your brox shit unless you want to die." Everyone gathered around Karaan and Radluc with their weapons drawn, they knew this would probably result in a fight. Zevesda and Letholdus were to the left or Karaan, with Sarah and Veena on the right, Archer stood on the bench in front of the cart to get a vantage point. Karaan said "Listen none of us are going to give up, we'll die together if we have to, and I'm sure you don't want to lose any men, so let's work this out. I'll leave the cart with everything in it, but I'm taking the dragon and out equipment with us. There is enough value in the cart to feast for a year. Let us go without a fight and everyone will be happy." He replied "You don't seem to understand the situation that you are in, you see you aren't in a negotiating situation, you are in a do what I say or die situation. So I'll ask you one more time. Strip naked, take your elves with you and leave the girls and everything else here." Karaan shouted "Now!" Veena unleashed several fireballs hitting several people and Archer let loose his arrows taking several other people. Zevesda began using her wind to weaken the armor of the men. Letholdus let loose several spells as well. Karaan pulled out his daggers cutting the leather straps holding Radluc to the cart and jumped off. The men charge and as soon as they did at least twenty others jumped out behind them. Zevesda and Sarah got into the fight holding them back. Radluc pounced on the man in front and swung his head down to bite off the man's head but as he did a dwarf walked ono the path hitting a strange hammer on the ground causing it to shake. It shook everyone up including his own men, this gave the Karaan and the others a slight advantage. Archer stood back shooting other archers that came out of from behind the trees, if he didn't have enough time to kill them then he shot them with air hurting their bows similarly to the way that Zevesda did his own in the forest. The dwarf then swung his hammer upward and sideways. A large bolder came out of the ground and in an instant smashed into Radluc, slamming him into a nearby tree. They could hear as his ribs cracked. He flopped on the ground. The man got up saying "Try not to kill it, that things worth a fortune." The dwarf chuckled saying "sure thing" as an arrow flew into Archer's right shoulder and left leg. He fell to the ground. Sarah had killed five men but there were too many as she broke the sword of a sixth man another kicked her in the gut and yet another punched her onto the ground. Zevesda killed eight men but she began to tire, one man knocked her in the back of the head with the butt of his sword; she fell to the ground. Karaan began crying watching his friend's fall knowing that he couldn't even help. He was born with such a weak body, he cursed himself for standing there doing nothing. Letholdus and Veena were the last two standing. Letholdus was running out of energy fast, he couldn't handle casting so many spells at once; he fell to his knees in agony trying his hardest to keep casting. Veena was doing well pushing people off as fast as they came, but even she couldn't handle this many people. Letholdus cast one more large spell before falling to the ground. An enemy archer shot Veena in her arm as she went to cast another spell and another enemy stabbed her through the chest. The man walked forward and chuckled as he held a sword to Karaans throat saying "You should have juuuussssttttt..." Everything slowed down to a stop. Karaan with his hands around his head sobbing tears. He had let his fiancé die. The rest of his friends. He just stood there. He knew that he couldn't do anything against trained soldiers, he could hardly defend himself against a child, he was so weak. The same thing ran through his head so many times as time appeared to stop around him. Veenas death had been such a large shock to Karaan. He a strange sensation surging through him. Just then he looked up and a boy stood in front of him. Holding the sword, it was a young boy with white hair that seemed to glow. The boy began laughing as he walked to the side phasing out of the man who was originally holding the sword. As he walked around Karaan in a circle he said "Chaos. It's so wonderful isn't it? Everything's so chaotic." Karaan interrupted him with a calm yet disturbed voice. "Who are you?" The child was behind Karaan now he replied "I already introduced myself don't you listen? Anyway isn't this just a wonderfully chaotic situation? Hahaha... You know chaos is merely the absence of peace. Sure peace may be nice but without chaos this world, every world; would be so boring, so uninteresting. Chaos is so fun. So you should embrace the chaos, make it your own, your reason for living. Embrace the chaos, add to the chaos, multiply! HAHAHahahaa..." He was almost in front of Karaan still walking when Karaan said "Stop with the nonsense, stop with the riddles. Explain yourself!" The boy chuckled as he took the place of the man once again. He disappeared in the blink of an eye reappearing just as fast standing and leaning his back against the Karaans and Karaan sat on his knees. The boy in a somewhat calmer voice said "It's just like money, you don't subtract, you only add." The boy vanished in a wisp fading into bubbles of white light that faded into Karaan. Something hit Karaan, he didn't quite understand it but something seemed to make sense even though nothing at all made sense. Just then the image of Veena being stabbed began to replay in his head over and over. Time seemed to jump backward. He watched again as Veena was stabbed and fell to the ground. The man walked up to him as the image continued to play through his head. The man said the same thing again holding the sword to Karaans throat "You should have just..." Karaan interrupted him throwing his arms out and shouting at the top of his lungs to make his throat soar "STOOOPPP!!!!" Time seemed slow down again but this time it didn't stop. A white spell circle appeared on the ground with Karaan at the center. It was huge and reached out to Radluc. A smaller similar circle appeared under Radluc, Letholdus, Sarah, Zevesda, Archer, and Veena. Time appeared to slow down for all of them. They got their strength back Letholdus felt all of his magic return four times Zevesda and Sarah felt the same for not just their magic but strength as well. The same applied for Archer. The man shouted
"Why you..." He was shot through the head with an arrow. Their enemy's appeared to be moving in slow motion. They could dodge and strike before the enemy could make a single swing. Radluc let out a terrifying roar so loud that everyone even Karaans group freeze. He then let out a billow of fire that melted the ground almost vaporizing five enemy's at once. The elf through up a wall of earth to protect himself but Radluc let out another bellow focused at him and melted through his stone wall burning off his skin and melting his metal armor to his body. In no time all of their enemy's were dead and their energy levels and strength began to fade once more. Letholdus and everyone else rushed to Veena who even though they all felt better still didn't get up. She was barely alive. Strangely her eyes had turned white like the elvish see'er in the forest. Karaan along with everyone else looked at Letholdus with tears in their eyes. Letholdus shook his head no, meaning that even with his magic enhanced he couldn't save her. Veena with her last breath said "Thank you." The life was gone from her, but even still they didn't have time to set around and morn. They all knew that. Archer and Radluc were still injured and needed to be treated. Letholdus grabbed some herbs from the cart and applied them to the wounds of Archer along with magic. Even though his magic was fading it was still more powerful than normal, so much in fact that it didn't take more than a minute to fully seal both wounds. He was amazed saying "This should be impossible, I don't even think that Malachi can do that. Archer replied "No." Letholdus then turned his attention to Radluc who was laying on the ground heavily affected by the blow to his side. Letholdus said "If my theories are right this should work for him too, but I don't know how well. And we can't see the damage so we just have to assume based on his response." He used his magic still enhanced on Radluc. He sat there for five minutes using his magic, as he did the others picked up Veena and placed her carefully in the back of the cart. Even Sarah couldn't stop crying, she may have been a rival but she was still family. It only took five minutes before Radluc was up and walking around like nothing had happened. Karaan threw his robe on the ground saying to Letholdus "At the very least we can preserve her so that we can hold a funeral that her brother can attend." Letholdus agreed saying "This coat will conduct magic very well." He began writing a seal on the coat right away. Karaan shouted "Take their heads, we're going back to talk to the king." No one questioned them they were too upset to they did as he said. They gathered nearly fifty heads and placed them in bags of cloth that they had used to store food that they ate already. As Letholdus drew the seal and the others gathered the heads Karaan repaired the reins and put them back on Radluc. It didn't take too long, but it was getting close to nightfall by the time they finished. Letholdus said "I'm done but we will need to take shifts, unless someone is keeping this seal active at all times then it will stop. I'm afraid to make it an automatic because it could kill one of us in our sleep. Archer volunteered to take the first shift because he had used the least amount of magic during the battle other than Karaan who still couldn't use magic. They decided that since there were four of them then they would split the shifts up four hours each. More than that could be dangerous but that way only two of them would need to stay up all night. None of them, not even Radluc, could sleep that night, so they chose not to waist the time and went on. They walked for three days without stopping. Since they didn't sleep at night they got through the next village without stopping and halfway to the royal city before Radluc finally collapsed in the middle of the road. As they walked Letholdus asked Karaan "So what was that exactly?" Karaan replied "I don't know, you don't think Veena could have done that do you?" Letholdus replied "No, that was almost certainly magic and it almost certainly originated from you." Karaan said "I don't have a clue, I've never been able to use magic before." Letholdus continued "Well that was strange. That wasn't any form of magic I've ever even heard about." Karaan asked what he meant. He said "Well that wasn't silver magic, it wasn't red, black, blue, brown, or green magic either. It almost looked white." Karaan said "Is there such a thing?" Letholdus said "well it's possible, I mean your father predicted it after all. You know that there are symbols for all of the other forms of magic. Black magic is just the symbol for subtraction. But that looked like the primary symbol for addition." Karaan replied "But that's used in pretty much every spell, if it were another form of magic wouldn't someone have discovered it by now?" Letholdus replied "Well we're still young in our understanding of magic, we learned it from the elves, who learned it from the fairys. Furthermore its said that the fairys don't have the ability to use black magic and forbid the elves from learning it; so it was only recently that we humans discovered it. It's possible that we just havnt discovered how to use that magic yet. Or it might even be that like the fairies can't use black magic maybe most humans can't use that... white... magic. I mean it's possible that you are the only human who can use this magic. But that begs the question, why you?" They knew that Radluc was pushing himself to get there so no one said anything or tried to get him to keep going. He slept for nearly a full day, but that allowed them to get some rest as well. Karaan practiced trying to use this new magic as they walked, he was serious about it and he reached the point to where he could use it sometimes when they reached the castle. He still didn't have the first clue how he even used it or how to control it but he was planning to use it and not let anyone else die. They reached the royal city in no time, the guards let them through. They walked up to the front gate of the castle where they met resistance. Nearly twenty soldiers. Karaan cast his spell with success. The slew the soldiers in less than a minute. Radluc used his fire and practically incinerated the wooden door to the castle. As they walked through the burned door the king shouted "Karaan, what do you think you are doing bursting into my courtroom like this?" everyone dumped a bag of heads out on the floor. Sarah kicked the head of the leader of the mercenaries. Karaan filled with anger shouted "What is the meaning of this?" the king agitated said "I don't answered to you!" there were another twenty guards in the room along with the captain of the guard and a mage. The captain of the guard shouted "Watch your tongue unless you wish it cut o..." an arrow went into his forehead, he fell to the floor. The king was stunned. The guards the room all drew they arms. Karaan swung his arm down and Zevesda swept one side of the room slicing the throat of all of the guards on that side in an instant. Letholdus simultaneously cast nine fire spells which burning the metal helmets to all of the men on the other side. All that was left was the mage. He grabbed his staff and Radluc jumped across the entire room and with a single motion tore off his head eating it in a violent display. The king was terrified. Karaan said "These mercenaries cornered us in your territory, while we were under your protection, explain yourself, Now!" the king shaking in his chair spoke with a stutter "We, well you... you see... with the war going on... we... we haven't had enough guards... to guard every road... road in the kingdom... I hum... humbly apologize..." Karaan shouted "These men massacred my fiancé in front of my eyes!" The king began crying "I... I... I'm sorry!... I hope that... we... we can still do... business?... please... please don't... kill me..." Karaan calmed down, he knew that there wasn't any more that he could do. He said "I'll charge you 200% more, you will pay for everything that we send you and you will ensure that none of my men die in your territory again, otherwise we will be back. Oh and these men should have a bounty on all of their heads... Your crown should suffice as payment." The king replied "This is a precious family heirloom passed down through..." he was interrupted by Radluc letting out a loud roar in his face that made his ears ring. He took off his crown throwing it at Karaans feet." He cried as Karaan picked it up and walked out the door. More guards showed up, one was the squad leader that met Karaan on the first day, he shouted "Stop!" They all ignored him and he with the other guards moved to the side seeing the bodies lying all over the ground and Karaan holding the royal crown. They hooked Radluc back to the cart and started applying the magic to Veena again. Sarah asked "What should we do now? It would be much shorter if we traveled south from here and met him." Karaan replied "No, there is a war to the south of here, I don't want to put us all in danger by going into a war zone, even with this we couldn't take on an entire army of trained soldiers, let alone two armies. They all agreed. Karaan said "Besides we should stop by the shop and let everyone know what's going on. We can do that on the way there." They did just that they started going back, as they walked to the elvish forest the rumor of the man with a dragon attacking the king and stealing his crown spread. As they walked Letholdus asked "So what was that whole fiancé thing before?" Sarah said "Yeah I want to know too." Zevesda agreed as well. Karaan said "Well we were going to wait until we got back to the village to make the official announcement but... as you can see that didn't work out as planned..." Everyone was shocked, but none more so than Sarah. With a tear in her eye she turned around and walked ahead of the cart. By the time they reached the village near the elvish territory everyone was afraid of Karaan and hid in their homes. They passed back through the elvish territory. They were met by the see'er before the left. He asked in the elvish tongue "Where is the see'er that was with you? Zevesda replied "She was killed." The see'er glared at Karaan saying "As it is." And walked away in silence. They walked on through. When they reached the next village the people were terrified to see Radluc. But they passed on through calmly and without hesitation. They limited their rest and walked at night when they could they reached the shop cutting nearly a week off of their time. By the time they reached the shop everyone had already heard of the creepy group with a dragon pulling their cart. When they walked into the shop they were welcomed by everyone Narl said to Karaan "I had heard of the group with a dragon, but I never imagined that it would be you." Karaan in a firm voice said "We need to talk." He told him the situation as quickly as he could." Narl said "We'll get started right away, oh the king wants to meet with you as soon as possible." Karaan said "Send a messenger, tell him the story, this will have to wait. Oh and in the letter don't put her name, mention her as being my fiancé... that's the only right thing to do after all." Hearing that he wrapped his arms around Karaan, this was unusual for him, but that's what the situation called for. They gathered what they needed from their rooms. Karaan noticed the letter that Agatha wrote him setting on his desk, he picked it up, a strange tingling sensation went up his spine, he took it with him. The journey ahead of them would take them through six cities and last nearly two months, all the way using their magic to keep Veenas body fresh. They started out. As they walked Karaan handed Letholdus the letter saying "Do you remember this?" Letholdus asked "No what is it?" Karaan replied "The letter that Agatha left me, remember?" Letholdus replied "Oh I didn't recognize it without... Wait... The curse, its gone." Karaan aske "huh?" Letholdus said "Yeah its just gone. Open it! C'mon hurry open it!" Karaan opened it, there wasn't much left to open though the paper was so old that it practically fell apart. He pulled out a single piece of aged paper torn, and with holes in it. Written on it in big bold letters was "Go South!" Karaan looked at Letholdus who said asked "What?" Karaan said "Her idea of a joke." Letholdus replied "That has to be the most intricate and completely untasteful joke I've ever heard of. That woman must have been like the devil. Karaan replied "Yeah, she could be." He crumpled up the note and threw it behind him.