The Adventures of Max and Ross

Chapter 1: Two Unlikely Friends

The crackling sound of the campire dying out was all that could be heard as Max slept soundly next to his trusty traveling companion and guard dog, lightly snoring away as the sun rose over the hillside. The sudden glow of day break shining caused Max to stur in his sleep, he creaped open his eyes. Seeing that his best friend was now awake, Galileo sat up from his position and licked Max's hand to indicate it was time for breakfast. With a light chuckle at Galileo's adorbale behaviour, Max reached into his leather napsack and pulled out a small quiver of arrows. Time to hunt for some breakfast.

"What'll it be today buddy, do you think we'll find some rabbit?" Max didn't really care for rabbit, the meat was lean and kind of stringy, but it was the easiest game to hunt and frankly was better than starving. A larger kill would have been a waste of meat anyway. Galileo licked his mouth at the mention of rabbit, Max supposed that his dog did not care, he just loved food, he did find Galileo eating out of a compost bucket once.

Grasping his short bow, Max pulled back the string, arrow in place, lowering himself to a crounched position. He waited as a small fury head popped out from the ground, peaking out to see if the sun had come up yet. Preparing to fire, he muttered an apoligy to the cute little fellow. He prepared to fire...

That was until he heard Galileo let out a low growl. Turning his body, his bow was now aimed at the stranger. The first thing Max noticed was the ears a tail, the grey fur slightly muddy and unkept, like the man had been out in the woods after the rain. The rest of his feautres were human, brown shaggy hair cascading around the man's face, barley reaching his eyes, he hadnt had a hair cut in a long time, Max deduced. This man was known as a hybrid, half man half animal, a creation of mutation magic. This was typically used as punishment for those who offened a mage or deity, which lead Max to wonder who this stranger had made mad, and what he had done. Scratching his ginger stubble, Max addressed the man with causion.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"Please, I mean no harm, I'm just starving." The stranger replied.

"That isn't what I asked you." Raising to a standing position, Max kept his bow facing down but still drawn.

"Ross, my name is Ross." Max noticed how disheveled the man looked, and how thin, he was indeed starving.

"Well, I'm hunting rabbit. I don't see the harm in sharing." In the state Ross was in, Max determined that he was no threat. Raising his bow again, he fired toward the creature and stalked over to examine his kill. Plenty of meat on the legs, this rabbit was greedy. As Max fought with a piece of flint to try to rekindle the fire, he spoke again. "My name is Max, this is Galileo." He nodded toward his dog who had calmed down seeing his master ready to prepare food. "I feel I should warn you, he likes to chase squirrels."

This caused Ross to frown. "Good thing I like dogs, though I have been chased alot." Max's curiosity had reached its peak, he just had to know.

"Sooooo... Who'd you make mad?" He turned to look at Ross and saw the defeated look on his face, making Max feel like he pushed a button.

"Wizard." This was all Ross said in responce, but he could see the questions floating around in Max's head, the gleam of curiosity in his eyes. "I was his apprentice, but I'm... Let's say clumsy. I knocked over a potent vial of snake venom off a top shelf while retriving an old book, it nearly killed a client." Max's eyes were wide with bewilderment, he felt sorry for the man.

The fire now roasting, Max took out a small knife from his boot and began to skin the rabbit. The fur was useful, Max was able to sell it whenever he stopped into a town, he could buy a proper meal he wouldn't have to hunt for and sleep in a bed that wouldn't give him a bad back. Skewing the rabbit, he slowly turned the stick over the fire, holding Galileo back from eating the whole thing raw. "This will take a little while to cook properly, why don't you tell me what you're doing all the way out here?"

Ross hesitated for a moment. "I guess you could say I'm on the run. See the client I almost killed wasn't too happy with me either, he turned out to be some mayor and I'm pretty sure he wants my tail as a trophy above his fireplace. I've had guards after me for a week now." Max felt pity for Ross, patting him on the shoulder. "Why are you out here?"

It was Max's turn to hesitate, he awkwardly shifted in his position. "I used to be a knight, until our town came under siege, the whole place was ransacked and burned to the ground. I saved Galileo from a burning building and he hasnt stopped following me since. So little remained that I left it behind, there was nothing to salvage, no reason to stay. Now I roam from town to town." He revealed the trophies he kept in his satchel, dragon teeth, manticore claws, vampire fangs, and things of the like."I guess you could say I extreminate pests, I'm not a bad fighter, sometimes the odds are just against you. The town I'm headed is well known for its fishing, Posida." Ross had heard of the town before, he had dealt with imports of ingredients for his old master, some of which came from the town. "They've been having trouble out on the water, sailors going missing after claiming to hear a women singing, they suspect mermaids a mermaid's goal is to get them to crash and sink, they wouldn't go after one person at a time. This is a siren, siren's pick specific targets, killing one at a time, they can only do that much."

" Please let me go with you." Ross' eyes were pleading, the request taking Max off guard. "I know some spells and basic healing remidies from the time I spent as an apprentice, I can help you!" Ross demonstared as he picked up a twig, white light eminated from his fingers as the twig froze over. He knew totem magic. There were seven types of totem magic: water, fire, earth, wind, ice, electric and healing. The name totum magic was used because each of the seven deities were depicted in books and statues to wear totums around their necks which they used to harness and control their gifts. These gifts can be harnessed to a degree by humans willing to study the dying craft. Those who mastered this were said to be blessed by the deities to share their gifts with the humans.

Max was amazed by this, he had never seen someone with the ability to harness such a gift before. Smiling, he raised his hand to shake Ross'.
"We best get moving then, it's a two day walk yet and we dont want those guards catching up to you." Packing up and dousing the fire, Max, Ross and Galileo set off whilst munching on their rabbit, wondering how their adventure in Posida shall unfold. The start of a new friendship.