Broken Traditions, Chapter 1

The snow begin to fall rapidly , as the reptilian takes its final breath , still entangled in its harness, crushed beneath the carriage. Leading away from the carnage are several droplets of blood , half frozen by the frigid air.

Snow being crushed under boot , carries through the night , echoing off the surrounding mountain walls , the young girl cradles her father close to her , as her breathing begins to slow , broken by her shivers, and frozen tears. She looks down at her father, whos body is a pin cushion of crossbow bolt.

Slowly , four soldiers, wearing grayish hooded cloaks, that cover their chainmail, break from the forest shadows. They pause, then begin to surround the girl, whom helplessly looks down at her father , then by at the advancing men.

An armored soldier , steps though the forest, an aged man , his crusty white beard hangs off his deep tan face, his appearance causes the soldier to stop. The age man , rubs his beard , as he breathes, “Have your fun men, but leave her breathing….”

The soldiers spring as one , on the girl , who twist , and struggles , digging her nails into their flesh, as her clothing is ripped from her body. In short order , the soldiers overpower the small girl, pinning her to the frozen ground , burying her face into the snow banks.

Watching from cliff , a few stories overheard , stands a figure , dressed in midnight blue trench coat, four swords across its back , forming an odd X, and from the nose to the opening of the trench coat is cover by a deep blue scarf. Haunting purple eyes, under an unkept mess of black mixed with red hair , stare down at the scene below. The figure turns its back , then walks away , only to return at a dead run , and takes a nose dive off the cliff.

The armored soldier , watches as his soldiers bicker over who is first, he smiles , as he comes up with a solution. He begins forward, the soldiers , turn just a shadow drops out of the pitch blackness, the armored soldier , is knocked down and back, smacking a huge pine.

The figure facing the soldier , states , “The girl is under my protection.” The oldest soldier, first class, second in command, begins to speak , as his cohort stare dumbly at the fallen commander. Before , First Class Ghilion even realizes what has happen, he drops to his knees, the taste of blood in his mouth, his breathe is ragged and broken, blood mixed with spent oxygen.

She watches the figure , draw a wakizashi , and in a heartbeat , the figure drives the blade into the belly of the soldier, then draws it upward to the man’s throat. She watches the remaining three soldiers, scramble for their short swords.

The figure allows them to draw their short swords, then the figure circles them so that the girl is out of the line of danger. The soldiers lunge as one , the figure, draws other short wakizashi from the lower right side , blocking , turning aside the soldier’s wild thrusts.

When the center soldier oversteps his thrust, the figure , rushes in quickly shoulder tackling the soldier aside , as the figure passes , he turns and drives a wakizashi deep into the center back of the left most soldier, with such force that blow knocks the wind from the soldier.

The remaining two soldiers , take a few steps back , then turn and run. The figure’s male muffled voice whispers , as those haunting purple eyes fix on her, “Don’t move.” The girl barely is able to nod , but the figure is already gone. Across from her the armor soldier , calls to the night , “Boy……. Boy!, bring my axe! Quickly now!…” The girl absently gathers her torn clothing to her, suddenly very cold and very tired.

His name was Kilu Yertiu , all he wanted was to become a knight under the great king Isital. Now all he wants is for this nightmare to end, he runs blindly though the night, and cold. Suddenly the figure breaks from the shadows , Kilu screams rise in his throat , but before they can escape , his body crumbles into the cold earth, memories races through his mind, unpleasant ones, the things that would make devils scream in pain.

The remaining soldier skids in the ice and snow , can’t stop , he screams , as his body hits the ground, and slides, the soldier desperately claws the earth, the ground turns to a slope , the soldier’s body is battered by brush and rocks before he is dump over a twenty drop.

The armored soldier , rises to his feet , as a young boy , maybe twelve drags a huge battle axe through the forest. The aged man, inspects his armor, dented but undamaged, he turns to the boy, and quickly crosses to where the boy stands. The soldier grips the huge axe in one hand, then closes the other hand around the handle.

His eyes focuses on the shadows , watching the darkness, for the first time in twenty years , he is scared , his instincts scream “run” , but somehow he understands , he can’t outrun this … this demon.

The girl is barely aware , but suddenly the figure is there , the aged soldier , lifts the battle axe , and greets the figure, “Hail , stranger , foul weather for one to about in. May I have your name so my ward can engrave it on a marker.” She.. She senses the words are empty , she.. she can feel how scared this old knight has become.

The figure only given answer is , the drawing a two handed katana, seemly from thin air, the small boy backs into the shadows, the girl watches , the armored soldier grip his battle axe with both hands. Then the figure is moving , the armored soldier brings the battle axe down heavily , but the figure easily side steps.

The figure slashes in at an angle , but the armored soldier , steps back , the blade tearing the armor. The figure , quickly follows , the retreating soldier, then the soldier lunges , bringing his battle down heavily onto the figure.

The armored soldier freezes for a second, then his eyes shut , and the figure pushes him away. Slowly the armored soldier finger untangle themselves from the axe’s hilt, the girl notices that the figure blade is dug deep into the heart of the soldier.

With a heavy thud the armored soldier , lifeless corpse drops to the cold earth. The figure turns to the girl, and begins toward her, the axe is dug into the earth behind him.

She watches, as the figure kneels before her , he opens his trench coat , and pulls out a traveling cloak. He whispers, “Put this on, then we must move on.” She struggles into the traveling cloak, and breathes, “What are you?” the figure’s eye fix on her face , “A friend.” She whispers, “What do you wish me to call you?” the figure answers softly, “I have had too many names in too many places, at too many points in time to remember each one.. At this point in time , I am simply Lost.”

The figure stands, then begins to move away he pauses, turns to face the boy, who has ventured into view. He stammers , “MmMaster.. SsSir , please….” The boy cast his dark green eyes about. The girl speaks up , “In our old country , by rights you own that boy.” Lost , speaks softly, “I wish ownership of noone. You are free to do as you wish boy.” The girl whispers, “He will freeze out here , please sir..” Lost turns away, the girl and boy trailing after him.

Within the same heartbeat , a merry sound rises from a three ring circle of wagons, laughter carries through the night.Flanking the inner most circle of wagons, is a grouping of covered wagons , in this grouping a shadowy figure darts from cage to cage.

Then a glimmer flashes in the darkness , the flap on the cover wagon flickers in the night. The creature watches , from the shadows, it sits on all fours , a mixture of wolf, bear, and some big cat, his eyes are silver , but reflect no light.

The shadowy figure calls him forward, “Penicorn ,” the creature, known as Wereanimal, dart forth, as the figure gently places a tiny bundle down on the straw. A small girl , maybe ten, unwraps her mouth, and eyes, from the blanket, she rubs her eyes. She knows better to speak , or move anymore , her tiny pointy ears search the air for tiniest sounds.

The shadowy figure , whispers, “Penicorn, take care of Alisa, keep her safe.” The figure pulls the blanket back a bit, and addresses the child elf , “Alisa remember that your mother and I love you… always. Listen to Penicorn’s counsel, keep close to him, no matter what you hear or see , don’t reveal yourself.” The figure darts away suddenly. Alisa closes her eyes…

A dark fog moves into the camp , as suddenly as the fog moves , a warning bell is rung, as the watch fires are snuffed out , shadowy creatures rush into the camp, the Elven on watch , are quickly overwhelm. Arrows fly from every direction, warcries break the night, shouts are heard , weapons clash in the darkness.

Penicorn and Alisa listen to the sounds beyond the cover of the wagon, the Wereanimal, voice whispers, “Climb on my back, we will be leaving soon.” The battle quickly dies out , the sound of the shadowy creatures searching comes from beyond.

Penicorn , trips the latch on his cage, and darts out, knocking things out of the way , as its races towards the forest. Voices scream in the Wereanimal’s mind, many times, Penicorn nearly crashes into a rock or tree , as the fog clings to them, creating illusions and assaulting its mind.

Minutes later , the girl stands behind figure, known only as Lost, she whispers, “My name is Sara, are you hungry? Can I …” She trails off , focusing beyond the figure to a patch of darkness. Lost doesn’t turn, as he says , “Try to keep up we have to move.” The boy approaches Sara, as Lost vanishes into the night, he pads after him , and she follows. The snow begins to slow.

Penicorn suddenly realize it made a mistake, then it curses , ‘Herded’ , as it comes to a sheer mountain wall , surrounded by huge boulders that extend into clouded sky. Penicorn turns, a mob of shadowy creatures, all different sizes , shapes, and colors. Some with dog like heads, and small humanoid bodies, others huge , taller than a grown man, with six eyes, some look like giant bugs, all of them waiting at the edge of the fog.

The Wereanimal places its body between elven girl and the mob, as a wizard steps forth, surrounds by four golems, with a giant lizardman sitting on top of a giant black bear. The wizard clearly an Elven, dressed in red and gold robes , smiles broadly, “Ah dear Princess Alisa , a nice little chase , but alas this game ends.” The wizard , looks at Penicorn , “While I admire you , creature, be warned that all I wish is the young princess…” the wizard shrugs , “Nevermind you noble minded fools , all have the same answer.” The wizard turns to the Lizardman, “Kill the Wereanimal, spare the child, bring her to me, and good Isital will reward us well.”

The mob rushes forth , the Wereanimal , moves in a blur , bashing creatures , with its giant paws, crushing a few of the smaller ones underfoot. The small Elven princess, uses a slender Elven short sword to strike the creatures , but in short order the creatures sheer numbers are beginning to overwhelm Penicorn and Alisa.

Sara watches Lost , the trip to get here was worn her and the boy out, she notes that Lost seem unaffected by the trip. Lost turns to her, “Stay put and stay hidden, I will return shortly.” Sara simply nods , she grabs the boy by his tunic , and drags him behind some rocks.

“Uh sir?” The soldier on top of a Reptilin, named Welye Sheur, possesses a gift that if he ever showed , he would be , beaten, cut up alive , then hung, he has begun to question his great king Isital, especially after last night. Slaughtering children, of any races even Elven was too much.

The old commander, pats his Reptilin’s neck , the raptor like lizard , shifts its body, as Welye continues, “Why are we killing the Elven?” The commander lights his pipes, “You see, boy, the Elven folk got evilness in their veins, magic corrupts them.. Magic corrupts everything , it is the reason why crops don’t grow right and children are born disfigured.” The commander shifts his weight, “The Elven folk kill our settlers, and claim the forest as their own…” The commander suddenly stops, as Lost appears from the forest.

From the right sleeve of his trench coat, a long slender blade slides into Lost’s palm, the commander begins to speak, but Lost’s blade strikes him down. The Reptilin stands motionless, then calmly walks over towards Lost, as the current rider drops into the snow.

Lost mounts , and turns to Welye , “Go home…” Welye watches as Lost disappears into the forest, slowly Welye , tears his unit symbol, from his plated hard leather jack, and the one from his chainmail leggings..

Alisa struggles, maybe a dozen small creatures have her entangled with arms, tails, legs and other appendages. She turns to look for Penicorn, who is under a pile of bodies. The Lizardman on the giant bear strides forth, trampling and knocking creatures from its path.

Alisa and the wizard both sense him both he burst though the creatures , and knights beyond the wizard. Lost charges towards the Lizardman, at full speed, a huge lance in his right hand. The Reptilin and Lost plow into the Lizardman and his giant bear , impaling the Lizardman, sending them sprawling.

The Lizardman lands with bear on top of it , but a few seconds later , the Lizardman, struggles from under the body. As it does, Lost draws out a wakizashi, and runs the Lizardman down. The creatures break into a run , fleeing the area e-mass.

The knights surge forth, noting one of their mount types , the wizard quickly steps forth, “What in the Gods name are you?..” Then the wizard, speaks with an even voice , and forces his voice to be calm, “This girl is enemy of King Isital!” The wizard watches , no reaction, to himself mostly , “Hmmm doesn’t impress you eh? I guess me being a very powerful wizard isn’t going to impress you either.. Hmmm..” A whisper of words , and the mob reappears , their eyes glazed over and foam drips from their lips, “Golems , bring the girl to me, kill the other two.”

The stranger turns to the Reptilin, a speaks in language that Penicorn has not heard in nearly five hundred years , simply translated to , “Leave” and “Not your fight”, Penicorn begins to ask , then decides it can wait.

In a wild rush the mob , surges forth, only to be met by death, Lost moving among the mob, slashing, cutting , and severing bodies. The spell that drives the poor creatures to mindless rage, also robs of them any ability to reason or feel. The creatures fall by the dozens, some of them , turning on each , others stand in the sea of creatures, stupidly watching. Penicorn , swats , and tramples , body after body, its silver gray coat , becoming a dark black, as the blood spats on everything.

Alisa , finding a shield and few short spears, has dug herself in , let the creatures impale themselves, and kicking or stabbing the ones that don’t, but very few get past Lost and Penicorn.

Penicorn , watches the four golems lumbering towards them, as the creatures begin to less, Lost begins moving towards two of the four. Penicorn, yearns to move towards the other two but remains with Alisa , she is more important than battle.

Alisa watches the stranger draw out a short flat bladed sword , with a dark blue blade , that simmers, and glows. She see.. She senses that the spell forcing the creatures to mindless throw themselves at Penicorn, herself and the stranger has weaken, and that the intelligent creatures now pause to watch the stranger. Penicorn pauses to watch as well.

Lost steps before the first Golem, the second , third and fourth begin to head for him. The first golem, throws a awkward punch , Lost easily side steps the attack. His blade comes down as the Golem begins to toss another punch, as the blade touches the creature , its arms drop motionless to the side, then it crumbles into stone and mud. The other golems shatter as well, the creatures with intelligence suddenly break and run.

A large knight behind the wizard , whispers to another, “What kinda of blade is that?” The wizard, turns on them, “It wasn’t the blade, that blasted Elven girl dispelled the damn things.” Wizard glares at the Elven girl, her eyes glazed over a bluish hue, then quickly turn back. The wizard smiles, speaking to himself mostly “She is untrained , though her parent taught her a few basic defense spells , being that they were pacifist weaklings.”

The wizard produces three orbs , one green, one black and one a clear color , a knight dressed in plated mail, with a chain coif , watches the wizard, “That is not a wise crystal to show to these troops, we remember the last one you released.” The wizard waves his hand in a dismissive gesture, “The girl is very powerful, very dangerous, that stranger ..” The wizard struggles with the words, the knight in plated mail , answer , “Is Archaic.” The wizard nods, “You know something of fighting styles, and weapons.. Let’s end this quickly.”

The wizard rolls out the green orb first , producing another mob of creatures, different than the ones before, these all have a weapon and armor of some kind , many are humanoid. The wizard knows most of them will resist his spells , so he orders them to fight, and waits.

The creatures are most troublesome, as many use weak magic , range weapons , mostly rocks or short bow. Lost moves through their ranks , cutting and maiming many dozens, disabling them from the fight. Penicorn hovers over Alisa , tackling and killing many, his heart loving every second of the fight. While a confused Alisa wonders if she risk using her magic again , as she stabs with her short spear.

“Didn’t Master instruct us to wait and hide?” The boy asked, behind Sara, she answers , “Yeah,” She struggles to explain, then whispers , “Why did he bother to help me?.. I just want to pay him back, and…” The boy , follows her , his grip on her cloak tail tightens , he wonders if she will still like him, if she finds out his secret.

Slowly Sara makes her way through the forest, following something she can’t explain. Then suddenly, something breaks from the forest, she freezes , the boy whispers, “Its ok , it’s a Reptilin, and friendly…” Sara begins to ask the boy ‘how do you know that’, when she feels a chill that causes her to shiver , and then a voice screams in her mind, suddenly she realizes it’s the boy screaming.

Penicorn had never seen one in over thousand years of life , nor had it ever wanted to. But now he was seeing one, an Offspring. The creature , a bluish-green demon, with four arms , huge legs , that swept back at thighs , then swept forward at the knees , its head , back and arms adorn with horns and spines. Its eyes glow a deep orange, steam exits it nose and mouth.

The smart creatures break in panic , the Offspring , kills everything in its path, Penicorn seems sick, as the emotions the Offspring creates in its wake , feeds his vampiric needs. Alisa in fear , watches the world , in a helpless frozen wide wake coma.

Lost turns to Penicorn, “Guard her,” Penicorn watches , as Lost begins toward the Offspring, the Wereanimal , protects its young Elven charge.. It shivers , for the Offspring is said to be next to immortal.

The mob thins out from attackers, to watchers , the path to the Offspring is mostly clear, Lost kills things enroute, the wizard, protected from the fear, though his knights, are in the same prison of fear as Alisa, watch. The Offspring smiles, its spines on the forearm , and knuckles sweep back, to form a razor thin blades.

Lost forms the two handed katana out of thin air , stopping a few feet from the Offspring. The two watch each other, Lost drops into a fighting style, with his sword at his side, then rushes the monster , the monster is surprise but pleased , its strikes are quick , Lost dodges, his trench coat , shredded, by near misses, his blade slashing the monster’s arms, chest and shoulders, the gapping wounds close before even a single drop of blood is spilt.

The Offspring , swing it top right arm , and bottom left arm, one punch connecting, then another, followed by a second , and then third , finally the fourth. Blood spats on the creature , as it pounds , Lost, holding him in place , with two of its arms.

Lost’s kicks, only slow the Offspring for a few seconds , then it continues batter him. The spines rip through Lost’s body, and trench coat. The Offspring is caught by surprise , when lets up for a second, only to have Lost , shove a long thin blade into its eye, the wound quickly closes though.

The Offspring enraged , bashes Lost with all four arms, Lost manages to response with a gut ripping uppercut from a wakizashi, the Offspring , shudders, as blood is spilt. The demon screams in anger , more than pain, the wound is slow to close , Lost takes the opening and cuts off the demon’s left paw.

The wizard shouts, “The girl, hurt her, she must be helping him,” The creatures , quickly rush forth, leaving a huge circle for the Offspring. Penicorn turns to Alisa , but she is still frozen with fear, Lost is damaging the Offspring though.

Offspring , screams , as wound after wound begins to rapidly grow. Its mind ablaze with fear, hatred, and envy, for this creature that hurts it so badly. It pounds away at Lost, as wakizashi making deeper cuts, the ground is soak with a mixture of bloods.

Penicorn begins to slow , the creatures are too many , then something comes flying out of the forest. Penicorn stares , his jaw open, ‘a human? That is unaffected by terror magic’. The girl , a little older than fifteen, with dark red hair , wearing a jet black traveling cloak, accompany by a small boy no older than Alisa , on top of the same mount that brought the stranger.

Something took over , something Sara never knew about herself, she charged head long into a fight, she donned a plated leather jacket , and gather , a kilt with thick leather cover metal plates sewed into between thick cloth.

The wizard , slapped himself , “Damn it all to Hell , what did the owner of that Reptilin train it to do?? Fetch heroes. Gods’ damn that motherless wyrm.” The wizard , turn as the Offspring , and Lost continue to go toe to toe. Both in bad shape but Lost in the worst shape, the wizard wonders ‘what in Gods name is it’

The Reptilin quickly clears a path, kicking creatures away, stomping on many. Penicorn backs away to protect his charge, it watches the newcomers with a weary eye. The boy is in the same freeze lock as Alisa , and the girl doesn’t seem to be effected.

Then suddenly Lost drops in a heap , the Offspring raises it foot , and begins to stomp on Lost, the stomping turns to jumping. Sara , starts to move towards the Offspring , but the Reptilin snatches her back by her cloak and hauls into the stone cliff. Sara’s eyes focus on Lost.

The Offspring , looks down at the broken body, then begins towards the small group, a few steps , then the Offspring suddenly turns. Lost forces himself up with a pair of wakizashi, he staggers , turns to the Offspring, the creature’s feature turn to puzzlement. It had never faced a creature like this before.

Lost stares at the creature , his face human, young maybe twenty, and he is smiling. The Offspring screams, its eyes are replaced by blood red slits, it begin to pound away at Lost, striking him time and time again, and each time Lost gets back up.

The creature , snarls , and lifts Lost up by his neck , and head, then begins to crush his skull, leaving Lost’s right arm free. From the right sleeve of his trench coat, a round slender cone slides into Lost’s palm, in the next heart beat, Lost palms the creature in the left eye. The creature screams , as Lost , drops to the ground, he slowly gets up , the creature watches as its wounds quickly close again. It smiles, but so does Lost, as he whispers , “Distort..” The creature simmers , and fades in and out, then begins to scream, swinging wildly in the air , as its body is torn up.

The wizard watches as the Offspring , a family heirloom, dies, ‘dies?? That isn’t possible?? Yet it has happen..’ Most of the knights had fled , only a small group of the monsters fled , since they had no place to go and could be summon at his whim.

Mostly to himself, “If I attack him, I wonder if I will survive? Maybe if I use a really powerful spell he seems to be a mage and a fighter, but that isn’t possible. Yet…” A group of knights appear, half Elven and half human , twenty in all, “Use your magic mage , we want his armor and weapons.. And his gold.” the wizard smiles to himself ‘Greed is always a good thing, they are too young to realize what has happen.’

The wizard extends both hands , then whispers a few words, “Lightning Beam!” a beam of reddish, orange energy leaps forth , striking Lost, knocking him into rocky wall away from the Elven girl. He then closes his eyes, and summons forth his favorite spell, “Lesser Meteor!” a very small meteor, crashes into Lost. Then the wizard whisper another favorite , “Freezing Sphere” encasing Lost in a block of ice.

The creatures once again begin to rush forth, Sara use a long spear and shield from the Reptilin’s pack, to defend the younger kids. The boy and Elven girl watch Penicorn , Reptilin and Sara, defending them.

The boy whisper a word over and over again, the Elven girl whispers , “Wat cha do’nng?” The boy pauses , “Someone showed me some spell… I am trying to make fire to help my Master…” The knights break from the creature heading towards Lost , even though it against everything she was ever taught , Alisa grabs the boy by the collar , and heads towards the frozen Lost. They are followed by the Reptilin.

“Gods’ damn on that boy” growls Penicorn, even though Alisa is leading the way. Sara half turns towards them, “She is gonna get them both killed…” Penicorn growls deep in his throat, “The princess has been trained…” Penicorn’s rant is broken as more creatures step forth and its rants die out in the battle.

The knights , twenty , without mounts, pause before the frozen as two kids step out. “Ha , would look at this?? what do you think you can do against us?” One of the knight asks though the sea of laughter. Another chimes in , “Two kids and a Reptilin, what a challenge!”

Alisa holds up her cupped hands , the first knight , looks at the girl, “Do you have something to show me?” When she opens her hand a ball of fire leaps out , the knight screams , as his armor and weapon melts. Alisa , looks at the knight as he stand there screaming , then the knight breaks into a run, as the hot iron and steel begin to burn him badly. Alisa comments, “I did something wrong.” She repeats the spell in her mind “Ardor” An elven word which translate to fire , but the way she pronounced it she cast “Armor Burst”

The boy , has his eyes shut trying his best to make fire , he begin to chant , “Fire, Fire, Fire, Fire, fffffff ireeeeeee!” The half-Elven knight, several of the creatures , and many people beyond the wizard , begin to scream, dropping to ground in pain, as “Psionic Fire” burns their minds and in turn makes them believe their entire bodies are on fire.

The wizard watches in amazement , ‘A psionic mageling teaching the Elven girl magic , oh this isn’t good.’ He watches as a fireball erupts through the ranks of his creatures, other spells he has yet to learn begin to appear , Lighting bolts, healing spell of some sort , he puzzles , then suddenly the spells begin to grow in strength but quickly fade back to low effect magics.

“Sire? Its best if we leave now , most of the knights have left , all your creatures are missing or dead, and I am afraid the resurrection magics failed on many of them. Something is preventing them from exiting the Void.” The wizard’s name is Sevenivth , employed by the powerful king Isital, this but his second defeat , his first came at the hands of the Elven king himself, but in truth the Elven king was the real loser, the spell cast on his wife killed her hours later. Now he had to contend with Isital childish ranting, and be told how great Isital was winning his first piece of the now great kingdom with only twelve men. The wizard turns away, ‘I pray to whatever Gods that protect the wicked , that child never grows into a wizard , her wrath will be one that I will not live through’ “Sire? Quickly..” Sevenivth looks around for his Werebear, then looks to the servant, whom shrugs, “Gone sire , stolen or frighten away by the battle.” Sevenivth nods sadly, it was his favorite mount, “When I get far enough away I will teleport us to my keep, I must find out what kind of mage that stranger has become.” Sevenivth’s servant, a Naga , watches the battle before follow her master.

Sara watches the boy, ‘such a strange power, I never seen or heard anything like that’ she smiles, “You two did an amazing job, I am very proud of you.” Penicorn, growls, “Amazing?? They wandered off and nearly got killed. And that magic where did you learn that child?” Penicorn stares at the boy , as if its all his fault , the boy is about to answer when, Lost, speaks up, “Don’t tell him, not yet. We need to move , these woods get very unfriendly during the day…” Sara watches him, “And that back there wasn’t unfriendly?” Lost replies, “That was the kind of welcome they give during this age.”

Penicorn , “What makes you assume we will follow you?” Lost turns to Penicorn, and answers, “Because friend, you and I both know what kinds of enemy you and your young charge have made. On top of that..” He turns away, “The boy knows where the Elven rebels are hiding.” Penicorn, growls, “I don’t even know that how could he possible know that? Damn you tell me…” Lost walks away, leading the Reptilin, with both sleeping children , the Wereanimal follows afterward.Sara speaks up, “Lost, the boy needs a name , you can’t keep calling ‘the boy’.”